Where to start...
This game should run levels 6-15-ish. It will be complete by the end of summer provided we dont get held up somehow. Probably wll begin the game right after July 4th, I always provide a ton of pictures and what not, so it will take me a bit to prepare.
I will be running
5 players.
I plan to post more info in my actual game thread when its up. But here is a brief synopsis.
Basically all the player characters are people that have been taken by the Mists, to Ravenloft. Your characters can be from any campaign settings (with approval).
You can decide when you were taken and your own background. But you have been living in Ravenloft for the past 6 years, and have since aquired the basic info about Ravenloft I've provided below.
Life in Ravenloft is hard, there is less magic, more monsters, fearful village mobs etc etc.
NO magic shops.. Divine users from other planes feel a void where they once felt the love of there god. They can still cast, but feel no connection like they did before.
Over the 6 years you have been trapped in this misty hell, all the characters will have met each other. And out of the simple need to survive, put there differences aside and banded together with the Quest of trying to return to your own home plane.
house rules
•Starting level:6-th
•Only medium character optimization please. We all have different meanings of this, but no extreme cheese will be accepted.
•Character wealth: Standard for 5-th level - Magic items are less availible in Ravenloft then other Campaign Settings.
•Sources allowed: All D&D 3.5. Other sources allowed on case by case basis, such as dragon mag or 3.0 web enhancements etc. All specifically allowed sources need to still be run through me for possible adjustments. Also when you choose a campaign setting to be from, I would like it if you kept to that specific campaign. Example: your from Eberron, but have all forgotten realms feats. Try to stick with a theme.
•Setting: Ravenloft.
•Ability score generation: 32pt buy
•Cross-class skills are bought at the same rate as regular skills. The cap on ranks still remains.
•There are no multiclassing penalties, even though none of you would have used them anyway
•Nightsticks stack
•No homebrew please
• You can only wear 8 "constant effect" magic items at a time. Single use items like potions don't count against this. Wands don't count as "attuned" items, but staffs do. We're dumping the "body slot" system entirely. You can totally wear 8 magic rings if you want to, but that will be all the magic items you can benefit from at once. You can own more than that, but swapping them out will usually take 15 minutes of "attunement".
• Armor and weapon crystals don't take up an item slot or need to be attuned.
• Item Scaling bonus. For every 6 levels you have a magic item attuned to your character it gains a free +1 bonus enhancement.
The rationale for both the 8-item attunement limit and the scaling bonuses is that most magic items are powered by your own chakras/lifeforce/soul, and each soul can only power eight at once. Very minor items, such as potions and wands, do not draw enough of this power to matter, but more powerful ones do. Likewise, more powerful souls can boost the magic items attuned to them more than weaker souls can.
What is Ravenloft?
Ravenloft is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, which combines elements of the standard D&D game with the trappings of gothic horror. To quote from the original Ravenloft Black box set:
"Dark, gloomy castles, desolate landscapes, black clouds racing against the moon - these are the trappings of the Gothic tradition. Early Gothics were stories of mystery, and desire - of heroines imprisoned in a fortress, their purity and sanity assaulted by the evil lord of the manor. Later novels, such as 'Dracula' and 'Frankenstein', toss the heroine to the sidelines, and "evil" takes center stage. This is the classic horror in which Ravenloft has its roots."
For the appropriate gaming atmosphere imagine playing D&D on a dark rainy evening by candlelight. Not only that, but in a frightening place filled with phantom sounds, strange noises and horrors of the night. It is a world of haunted mansions, cursed bloodlines, with undead and primal beasts and yet with humans being the worst of all.
The Ravenloft setting ingame is usually referred to as the Demiplane of Dread by those familiar with the planes, or the Land of Mists is pretty standard. But any secluded domain/town etc etc could have its own term.
What are the Mists?
Some think the Mists are alive, some say they are the Dark Gods themselves. The truth is unknown. The Mists of Ravenloft act of there own whim and will. The reach across the very fabric of space and time, wrapping a unsuspecting victim within a dense mist, and transporting them back to Ravenloft. They have even been known to steal entire regions of land.
At the edge of any land not directly bordered by another land, the Mists rise up in a Misty Border, a pale whiteness so thick it is almost impossible to see through. The Misty Borders of domains are nebulous boundaries stretching back and forth, sometimes moving inward by miles and other times pulling back, revealing previously obscured features. The Mists have also been known to spontaneously rise within domains as well.
Legends speak of people who have walked into Mists only to find themselves moved elsewhere, emerging dozens miles from where they entered or even in a different time. Rarer still are the rumours of people being moved out of the Dread Realms, but this is so rare it is almost unheard of.
Only TWO people have ever been known to escape Ravenloft. One of them being Vecna.
What is a darklord?
Ravenloft is ruled by the darklords, also known as domain lords, people or creatures so tragic and evil that the Dark Powers of Ravenloft have granted them power and domain over a region. Typically, there is but one darklord in each land; they do not share power well. These individuals posses great power in their own domain but the Dark Powers also torment them and burden each darklord with a terrible price for their power. Each endures a curse designed to frustrate their most basic desires. Strahd, the lord of Barovia, suffers an endless search for his lost love Tatyana; this is the classic and most famous example of the Dark Powers’ touch.
Darklords are powerful forces of darkness in the Land of Mists; they have great power and influence and most have large numbers of minions and servants. However, darklords are not always an obvious political ruler. Many prefer to act from behind the scenes, enacting their plans with guile and cunning. In Second Edition, Domains of Dread divided domain lords into several categories: demilords rule pocket domains, lords rule islands of terror, overlords rule within clusters and darklords rule the domains of the Core. This breakdown has been dropped in Ravenloft Third Edition - all are simply "darklords". With very limited exceptions, denizens of Ravenloft do not use the word "darklord."
What is the Core?
The Core is the main group of nations that makes up the major continent in Ravenloft. It is considered the "heart" of the setting. Lands that fit the traditional European style of gothic horror were designed to be part of the Core, while the other more exotic lands are generally Islands or part of a Cluster. Large bodies of water are located on the Core’s East and West coasts. In each of these seas many islands are found, most of them being small domains, each with their own darklords.
What are Islands and Clusters?
An Island domain (also known as an Island of Terror) is a single land, completely surrounded by the Mists (note that the islands located in the two seas surrounding the Core are not usually considered Islands of Terror as they are not isolated and surrounded by Mists). They are not bordered by any other lands and are isolated from the rest of the world. Clusters are small groups of domains that have joined together, Islands that border other islands instead of simply being separated. The lands within Clusters usually share a cultural, climate or thematic link. Clusters can be thought of as much smaller versions of the Core.
What are Pocket domains?
Pocket domains are small domains that are completely contained within another larger domain but are able to move around, changing their position. This may be shifting around a region or radically moving across the entire continent without warning. True Pocket domains should be differentiated from smaller enclave domains such as Castle Island, which is entirely contained within another land. Castle Island and the like are rooted in place and have never moved from their position; they are as much a part of the land as Barovia. Pockets, however, can move from land to land, temporarily displacing part of another domain, (even if they very seldom do so, such as the House of Lament). Pocket domains are diverse and come in many shapes, from a small theatre to a land contained entirely within a dagger to a place that exists only within a sleeper’s mind.
How many domains are there?
Many! About Fifty. Although the 3.5 edition of Ravenloft only mentions the core and a handfull of others.
How do you leave a domain?
You walk across the border. As long as two domains touch each other there is nothing preventing someone from walking from one to the other. This can be done on the Core and on Clusters. On Islands one must simply step into the bank of the Misty Border and eventually it will lead to another land. Eventually.
It should be noted that some darklords have the power to magically close the borders of their realm and prevent anyone from leaving (or sometimes even entering).
Can you become a darklord without doing something evil?
No. All darklords are all but beyond redemption. They have done horrible and hideous deeds to earn their power and the powers that grant it do not reward nor punish those of light hearts with such power. Even if one becomes a darklord by killing the previous lord that individual must still be evil.
Poor quality map
( i will post better ones when the game starts )
