From MBLANK@UTCVM.BITNET Mon Mar 30 23:32:38 1992 Subject: RL-L: Vistani I was looking through my copy of Best of Dragon V and I ran across a class which would help fill out a vistanti village. The Oracle. It has several different kinds of fortune telling and prediction in it. I could post some or all if anyone is interested. Oh, about the spelljammer. The book says that Ravenloft is part of the ethereal plane. If this is true in your campagain then the spelljammer couldn't escape. And woe be unto the person who has to use a lifejammer. Who wants to be the lord of the realm of SS Hammerhead. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From c9e-al@danube.Berkeley.EDU Tue Mar 31 01:21:31 1992 Subject: Vampire Killing According to Anthony Masters, author of _The_Natural_History_Of_The_Vampire_, this is how one should identify a Vampire. 1. Are there a number of holes about the breadth of a man's finger in the soil above the grave? 2. Does the revealed corpse have any of the following: a. Wide open eyes? b. A ruddy complexion? c. No signs of corruption? 3. Have the nails and hairs grown as in life? 4. Are there two small livid marks on the neck? 5. Is the shround partially devoured? 6. Is there blood in the veins of the corpse? 7. Is the coffin full of blood? 8. Does the body look well fed? 9. Are the limbs fully flexible? If the answer to these questions is yes, refer to your neighbouthood Dhampir, priest, or witch to provide exorcism recipe. Final note: The wood used for the stake is made of aspen, the same kind of wood that was traditonally used for the Holy Cross. Chua ==== ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From kq07+@andrew.cmu.edu Tue Mar 31 11:23:03 1992 Subject: RL-L: A goal for the good guys Anyway, this is my idea, I haven't used it yet, but I figure that once the characters have been getting bashed for a while, it might be a good idea to allow them to see a light at the end of the tunnel, which ISN't the eyes of a carpathian beast. This will also allow the players an important goal other than LETS GET OUT"A HERE!!! I was thinking this... set up a sort of haven in Ravenloft. My idea is to have one of the ancient Greek heros stumble into Ravenloft (Having Nothing to do with the characters) Possibly even on his origional quest (i.e. Perseus to kill Medusae, I prefer something alittle more obscure like Bellerophon to kill the Chimerae) So this big powerful Greek hero is stumbling around the island realm of the Chimera (I chose Greek, because I have no Greek elements in most of my campaigns, so the players may look at it as being more exotic, the proverbial "Island Paradise") He goes on to defeat the Chimera, but now he can't get out of the demi-plane, but he is also powerful enough that the demi-plane can't "close" the island/realm before he leaves it. So he sets himself up as a sort of surrogate Lord, constantly battling with the Dark Powers to regain control of this little pocket. Now maybe this happened twenty years ago, or something, and it is this legend the players hear of. Possibly from the vistani. The only way to get there would be through the mists, thus the aid of the vistani would have to be enlisted, but the Dark Powers aren't about to be pushed around, and getting to this plane will not be easy. Perhaps the character needs to destroy a creature in league with the dark powers of 1.5x his own hit dice (or some fixed number) in order to open a window through the mists that the vistani could use to guide the character through. Not to mention the Vistani's payment. So after some sort of quest, the players arrive at this island. Perhaps a small scattering of other heros have also found their way, maybe some are the few legendary forces of good the people in the taverns have spoken about. They arrive at this Greek island, with the collumns and the olives only to discover that the price for staying is leaving. Bellerophon will meet the newcomers and assess their abilities. (For these purposes I have raised my Greek hero to the status of a Demi-God, not powerful enough to leave, but just powerful enough to hold the Dark Powers in check) Being as radically Lawful Good as he can be, he has dedicated himself to a major quest (Those Greeks and their quests) The destruction of the Demiplame itself! (Now you may or may not take this seriously as a DM, but Bellerophon definitely would) Anyone arriving, and being found "worthy" - understanding that allies are hard to come by here, Bellerophon's standards may have dropped slightly ; he would never allow an evil aligned character to stay, and if such a character actually had succeded in A Ravenloft Powers Check he would probably attack, the defense being immediate withdrawal into the mists, Bellerophon is trapped here as well - Anyone found "worthy" will be required, after a brief rest, to head back out into the mists and fight whatever evil that can be found. The primary goal is to discover inforation about the formation of the Demiplane and about the Dark Powers themselves - Back the Strahd... Bellerophon has had several "conversations" with the Dark Powers (in whatever form they choose to taunt him) but has made little headway into discovering any information that might be able to deal a real blow to the Powers themselves. Myabe he never will... I figure this could be a good basis for setting a up a long campaign in the demi-plane (is demi-plane hyphenated?) rather that the characters wanting to simply find a way out of a HUGE trap, they could try to find a way to disable it. All comments welcome - don't worry, be as harsh as you wish, my feelings don't get hurt through criticism - but please post your results to the mailing list, others might be interrested... RAX ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: alvalent@husc.harvard.edu (Lee Valentine) Subject: Researching Dark Lords I am doing some research (assuming I have the time) on Cesare Borgia, Ivan Dilysnia's real world renaissance poisonous counterpart. I'll post the results of my study as well as some notes about my campaign in Dorvinia as soon as I get a chance. If anybody's got some spare time, research on personality traits, goals, attitudes, history, etc. of real world or literary counterparts of the main figures in Ravenloft will certainly be useful to anyone running a game. What do you say, anybody up for a little research in the form of books, film, etc. Personality and background are key as they will help flesh out more mundane 2 dimensional characters.... Lee ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: bcoleman@weber.UCSD.EDU Subject: Favorite Gothic Novel bcoleman@weber.UCSD.EDU has asked us for reviews of our favorite gothic novels. I responded with a letter suggesting Poe's works, the Case of M. Valdemar and The Fall of the House of Usher. I suggested that the second be read in the light that the villain is the narrator, that Usher is not quite as insane as he might first appear, and that the narrator might also be a vampire. These are suggested reading techniques from a gothic literature deconstructionist. It makes a good deal of sense and the tale is quite a bit scarier in this light. Evil can hide where you least expect it, eh? Lee ---------------------------------------------------------------------- As of 3/31/92 topics up for discussion that you don't have samples of are: The problems associated with summoning Ravenloft elementals... Why are their good people who can stomp bad guys in Ravenloft? Problems with psionicists in Ravenloft.... What's your favorite gothic novel/story, and why? Include a synopsis... New reviews requested... How do you run your Ravenloft campaign? What do believe the nature/origin of the demi-plane to be? Post if you are interested in these topics, or start a discussion of your own. Ravenloft traffic is always appreciated!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- END.