D.T. Pints
Instigator
JACKERCON 2018: WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY June 22-July 1st
Posts: 2,857
Currently Playing: D&D 5e, Pathfinder, DUNGEONWORLD, Star Wars Edge of the Empire
Currently Running: DUNGEONWORLD, PATHFINDER
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Post by D.T. Pints on Jan 16, 2018 7:46:32 GMT -8
Our 5e group just journeyed to Ravenloft for the Curse of Strahd. I was truly disappointed in this module. Horror in D&D can happen but this definitely was not it.
Just curious if anyone else has played this book yet? I liked the Tiamat books but the “gothic terror” of Ravenloft just felt pretty hollow and toothless (DYSWIDT?)
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Post by Kainguru on Jan 16, 2018 11:10:17 GMT -8
Ravenloft was really only ever a one trick pony - it worked when it was new/fresh because it was new. That first module, in the 1e days, was mind blowing then followed by the Demi Plane of Dread for 2e. What would be more interesting would be to gauge the reaction of the youngster to the setting, first timers so to speak (wirgins specifically) rather than we snaggle toothed jaded oldsters who have already had the surprise spoiled by previous encounters. Aaron
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Post by vyrrk on Jan 16, 2018 13:30:57 GMT -8
I read through the book, but haven't actually played it yet. I really liked the book's layout and flavor... but it didn't feel really scary. More just a interesting module that is in a kinda dark setting.
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Post by lowkeyoh on Jan 16, 2018 14:02:58 GMT -8
I played though Curse of Strahd and it was not run very spookily for us. Having run parts of SKT and halfway though ToA, a LOT LOT LOT of the heavy lifting for making an adventure good is left to the GM. There are few notes on how to hook players on a tone or inspire them to invest or care. Tomb of Annihilation in particular is just a collection of locations and plot hooks, with little to draw the players though to the end in a cohesive way. I just figured out today how I'm going to link act two to act three for one of my tables.
That being said, there are parts of Ravenloft that felt like they should have been a bigger deal. The dinner with Strahd the first time was almost a nonevent in our game. I feel like that's an event that should have foreshadowing and a slow burn of things happening that leads up to it.
There's also the idea that Ravenloft itself isn't new. We all jumped into the adventure with the knowledge of 'we're trapped here, we gotta kill the vampire'
We didn't need to see the suffering of the people or be convinced that Strahd had to go. We already knew that. I'd be really interested to see how people who have never experienced Ravenloft feel about the adventure.
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D.T. Pints
Instigator
JACKERCON 2018: WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY June 22-July 1st
Posts: 2,857
Currently Playing: D&D 5e, Pathfinder, DUNGEONWORLD, Star Wars Edge of the Empire
Currently Running: DUNGEONWORLD, PATHFINDER
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Post by D.T. Pints on Jan 17, 2018 20:58:21 GMT -8
Yep exactly. No big reveal no big complicated plot. Very few interesting characters. My friend wanted to run a scenario that was created by developers and hopefully explore more of the new 5e rules. We were just rather bored.
I talked to him about really using the module books as a idea generator and run your own game. That’s the plan anyway the next few sessions.
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Post by lowkeyoh on Jan 19, 2018 23:36:45 GMT -8
There are some characters in Curse of Strahd that have the potential to be fantastic and there are plenty of set ups for awesome moments. I won't name any because spoilers, but they are there.
The real problem is that the book doesn't really give advice on how to flesh out NPCs and make them memorable. It doesn't really help a GM hook players into Strahd's tangled web of intrigue. It doesn't help bring the towns to life. It doesn't help ground the players in the setting and make them afraid of the things that go bump in the night. It doesn't guide GMs to psych the players out. It doesn't give much advice on how to run a good game or even make Ravenloft memorable.
Instead, it's a book of people, their motivations, current events and machinations, locations, and encounters. You know, all the things a GM preps.
In the hands of a talented GM, it's got all the parts. Man, the Tarot Reading is fantasic. It's got the people. There's a great cast in CoS. It's got plot hooks for side quests. And it's got the atmosphere. But atmosphere and pacing aren't something you can read from a book. There is no box text for dread. When treated as a module for you to enter room 1a and encounter 1d6 skeletons, Curse of Strahd is a bore. That's what I went though when we played it.
But if don't treat it as an instruction manual, the game is incredible. If you treat the hardcover as 'prep you don't have to do' instead of 'this is a game to be run' you can really run a great Ravenloft game.
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Post by Kainguru on Jan 20, 2018 5:31:30 GMT -8
I talked to him about really using the module books as a idea generator and run your own game. That’s the plan anyway the next few sessions. THAT is a very interesting topic in itself. I come from the school of 'that's how all modules should be run', as well as a counter to the 'module nay sayers'. Because run as an 'ideas generator' even the shittest module can make for a great game. For a module to be able to be 'run out of the box' is almost impossible because the amount of detail required for ALL situations and outcomes would result in a tome made up of several separate books. The only exception would be the running of those old tournament modules as they were designed to be run - ie: one-shot convention games with a strict time limit and pregens. Properly used a module should be almost indistinguishable from a 'home brew' as, in developing the ideas in a module for play, the module becomes 'your game' as much as any 'home brew'. I think a lot of people are afraid to tinker with modules to suit their table just like a lot of people are afraid to tinker with the system to suit their tastes, because they fear they'll 'break' some undefined thing . . . Aaron
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honken
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 6
Preferred Game Systems: nWOD, GURPS, Drakar & Demoner
Currently Playing: Coriolis
Currently Running: Mongoose Traveller, D&D5E.
Favorite Species of Monkey: Homo Sapiens
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Post by honken on Jan 20, 2018 6:25:58 GMT -8
I have not read Curse of Stradh, so this comes out of a fairly general horror and RPG perspective.
Trying to make a game horror is hard. As long as you are communicating with your players outside of the rules, setting up a scene, describing a place, and describing a ambience, you can succeeed fairly well. Becuase this is outside of the frame that is the rules of the game.
But once you to start to interact within the rules of the game, then you have kind of limit what can happend, and thus, gives the players a familiarity. Once you say "roll initiative", that loss of control, loss of knowing goes away.
Horror is uncertainty, loss of control, and not knowing.
/Honken
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D.T. Pints
Instigator
JACKERCON 2018: WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY June 22-July 1st
Posts: 2,857
Currently Playing: D&D 5e, Pathfinder, DUNGEONWORLD, Star Wars Edge of the Empire
Currently Running: DUNGEONWORLD, PATHFINDER
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Post by D.T. Pints on Jan 20, 2018 13:21:22 GMT -8
The original Ravenloft 2e boxed set did a nice job of developing a gothic horror setting in dnd.
This scenario (and it might have been a big part just because my friend is a DM that hates scripts) fell flat.
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Post by ericfromnj on Jan 20, 2018 13:33:59 GMT -8
I have never seen the 5e version but I know the 3e version did not convey to GMs how to elicit that horror element.
Granted too a lot of what made the 1e version so original is old hat now. I still remember the look on my players faces when Strad cast spells at them.
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Post by OFTHEHILLPEOPLE on Jan 23, 2018 11:54:24 GMT -8
The OG Ravenloft modules are still great to mine for games. The threats in it were always deadly if your characters got heroic, because they'd pay for it usually with their lives.
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