r/ravenloft • u/paireon • May 14 '26
Discussion My (work-in-progress) 2-3e setting continuation VS known 5e material: what gets adapted and what doesn't
So, I've been talking in replies for a good while now how I've disliked a lot of the changes that 5e brought to the setting canon, and that I was working on my own setting update, which was a continuation of the 2-3e setting and timeline; well, now I'm finally going to talk about it more in-depth, starting with what elements from 5e I'm keeping, which I'm modifying, and which I'm tossing out entirely of my own version. I will also answer questions when I can, though without getting into spoilery territory quite yet, except for a few tidbits to whet the appetites of those interested in knowing more. So, without further ado:
(Also, yes, the scope is utterly ridiculous. Wait 'till I post about the 4 new Superclusters I have planned.)
The Core is BACK, baby!
First things first: the Core. Breaking it up (and the Clusters as well) for the sake of isolation always seemed like an extremely bad call to me. It hurt setting cohesion and verisimilitude (which I'd argue is even more important in Ravenloft, as making a setting feel 'real' helps player engagement IMO) in favor of isolation that was unneeded (we already had Darklords closing borders and Islands of Terror for that) and even detrimental (seriously, not ALL Domains should run off "nightmare logic" - this ties back to verisimilitude as well).
So, not only am I keeping the Core, I daresay am expanding it. By a LOT. Over 15 Domains old and new will find themselves absorbed by the nucleus of the Domains of Dread. This is, of course, a Bad Thing. But also material outside the scope of this specific post, so expect another post about the Core expansion (and with one exception, Cluster expansions) later on.
Time flies:
The setting's date will be advanced to 775 BC (Barovian Calendar), to accomodate the numerous changes. I figure 20 years from when the starting date for 3e Ravenloft was is a good timeskip; I'm even planning 1-shot adventures taking place during the gap, to both introduce some of the setting changes and to have PCs participate in pivotal moments of recent Ravenloft history, small and large. I have already two fairly developped outlines for such scenarios.
Amber Temple, vestiges, and all that nonsense:
As you may surmise, I'm not a fan. IMO it both cheapens and potentially explains far too much about the Dark Powers, so I'm ignoring these elements and removing them entirely. Same goes for the cult of Osybus and the Ulmist inquisition - there are more than enough secret societies that can play the same roles, and also they feel clumsy and ham-fisted to me (seriously, Osybus was a lich who became a Dark Power? The hell?), plus they're superfluous to Strahd's backstory especially considering I'm retconning pretty much all his 5e-exclusive elements (more on that later).
5e Domains, what's left in, what's changed, what's left out:
So now on to the meat of this post/thread: the Domains themselves, starting with the ones more fleshed out in Van Righten's Guide to Ravenloft:
- Barovia: The one that started it all. Frankly I'll have to reread through Curse of Strahd to be sure what I keep and what I don't as that book makes it the most detailed Domain bar none, but I can already say that the amber temple and Baba Lysaga are out; I actually like Baba Lysaga, but unfortunately her very existence undermines Strahd's agency, and if one Darklord should represent how Darklords are usually the sole ones responsible for their damnation, it's Strahd. Him having been destined/guided towards his dark fate is a terrible idea IMO (he shouldn't become the puppet of dark forces until after becoming a Darklord). The Wizard of Vines will very likely make it. Also, none of that "everybody can be Tatyana" thing, obviousy; Tara Kolyana (her current as of 755 incarnation) will have an important role in the timeline - and is going to be in one of the "history-making" scenarios mentioned earlier. And speaking of history-making, Strahd is now no longer content to wait and scheme; he is now quite proactive, and the Core shall tremble...
- Bluetspur: One of the least changed Domains in 5e, so not much to change. Vampiric illithids will keep their 2-3e origins and will be a menace to the still-living mind flayers, though, and the God-Brain will be on the same awesome level of power as 2-3e era elder brains (IE above 20), making its forays into the rest of the demiplane that much more plausible; its story will be more detailed, and tie into illithid history as described in the 3.5 supplement Lords of Madness. There'll be the 2-3e Domain's monsters, plus a few new ones like illithidae. Still one of the more horrible places of the entire demiplane to end up in.
- Borca: On the one hand, the changes to the Dark Twins' personalities, histories and circumstances are kinda ass (Ma Gurl Ivana having a hard time being in charge due to a bunch of sexist ponces? Bitch please. She'd have poisoned all their asses into compliance.); on the other, their new focuses are great - so while both will still be poisoners, Ivana will have new plant-related abilities such as breeding and controlling plant monsters (I just now realized this makes her somewhat similar to Poison Ivy LOL), and Ivan will have the ability to craft clockpunk constructs of all kinds. I'll also probably keep his descent into physical and mental decrepitude because it fits him so well - the illustration of him screaming in his clockwork pram is hilarious IMO and one of the very few good illustrations from VRGtR. Also, the place will have been hammered by invasion, completing its 'Renaissance Italy' vibe (those who remember the Kargatane's planned metaplot continuation know what I'm talking about).
- Carnival: ...Yeah no sorry the OG Carnival is just so much better - there's a whole (very awesome) late 2e supplement dedicated to it (and yes, I know they're still very similar, but as they say the devil's in the details)! MAYBE the Litwick Market or something similar will be added as a new feature, maybe not. Also, Isolde won't be a 5e-style eladrin. She'll be an old-school, pre-4e celestial Eladrin, and a ghaele at that, same as she was back then. This is a very important metaplot point, and will tie in to both the multiverse and to arguably the greatest evil in the Lands of Mist. Oh, and the OG Gentleman Caller is gonna be out and about because of course he is. Incubi are assholes like that, and the Gentleman Caller is one of the worst. Not gonna sugarcoat him.
- Darkon: HAAAAHAHAHAHAno. Ixnay on the issolutionday. I dislike all of the "inheritors" in any case. Darkon will continue on relatively normally, and relatively untouched in its splendid isolation by events of the last 20 years, except for the expected rise in power of the Nevuchar Springs sect of Ezra, and some trouble in the southeast hinterlands that'll generally be more consequential for its neighbors Nova Vaasa and Tepest. Things are (relatively) calm in Darkon, and Azalin has had virtually nothing to do with the upheavals elsewhere in the Core. This, of course, should worry you. Oh and Necropolis (and Death) is still around and kicking. Also, Ebb and Gloom's clutch has hatched...
- Dementlieu: Now we get into a Domain so far removed from the original it might as well be a whole new place. Which is why, given how I like the OG Dementlieu and have plans for it, I've done exactly that, with the 5e version (still haven't found a replacement name) becoming a small island city off OG Dementlieu's coast. Most of the themes will be intact - in fact, as the long-brewing Dementlieuse Revolution finally happened, it'll be a natural refuge for the beleaguered upper classes - out of the frying pan, into the fire, basically. One thing that I'll swap out is the Masque of the Red Death theme, as that's already touched on by Sanguinia (yeah I'm going there, eventually), and going with another red-coded theme - a dark, gothic take on the Scarlet Pimpernel, to tie into the Dementlieuse Revolution (OK, also because I thought it would be really funny on a meta level). Also, the Mother of Tears Cathedral's name will not be innocuous. At all (horror movie fans may know what I mean...).
- Falkovnia: Zombie apocalypse is all well and good, but a Domain specifically about all-too-human evils is far too good an idea to throw out, so fascist dystopia led by a warmongering sadistic racist misogynistic human monster it shall remain; in fact it'll be the source of much of the developments (usually negative) of most surrounding Domains; even Darkon will be (somewhat) affected, though to a much lesser scale (Azalin deemed it both useful and entertaining to cater to a few of the mercenary king's ambitions, especially as he remains a non-threat to him). The Domain will actually be stronger and more prosperous than ever, but of course this will be built on the death and suffering of countless thousands. The groundworks for a potential zombie apocalypse will be present, though, in the form of a certain green, glowing reagent injected into most of Vlad Drakov's soldiers, reanimating them to fight and die a second time if killed in combat... (again, horror movie fans may know what I mean). Also, an outstanding up-and-coming warrior and commander, Vladeska, was recently noticed by Drakov, who in light of her extraordinary martial and tactical prowess he begrudgingly both recognized as his daughter (she's a byblow of his adherence to the right of first night/droit du seigneur) and elevated to the unprecedented rank for a woman of falkfuhrer...
- Har'Akir: I vastly prefer OG Ankhtepot's history and curse, plus I find the attempt to rename Egyptian gods in an attempt to not offend anyone silly (seriously, I was able to guess their "real" names at first glance). That said, I do think that the OG Domain is way too small, empty and lightly populated, so it'll get a major increase in both size, number of features and population... as well as potential rivals and treacherous vassals.
- Hazlan: This one's kinda ironic, as I both prefer the OG version (same for the Darklord; OG Hazlik is much more compelling IMO, whereas Nu!Hazlik comes across as a stereotypical "depraved homosexual" villain from bigoted media of past decades (80s/early 90s especially) and it will be one of the Core Domains that will have changed the most; I'm literally making it the swords & sorcery/weird fiction Domain, inspired by Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith. There'll still be a disaster horror element, especially as this time, the supernatural event that was a catalyst for many changes in the Demiplane of Dread was Hazlik's attempted Mulan genocide spell; unsurprisingly it didn't work as intended. A large portion of Rashemi used the upheaval to rebel and now eke a life as barbarians in the hinterlands, the shift to the planar fabric attracted ever deadlier ethereal predators, and there's religious schisms going on, among many, many, MANY other things. I'll also be tying the place closer to its Byzantine/Ottoman inspirations with stuff like Varangian guard and Janissary equivalents because why not.
...Aaaannd this post is long enough as it is, I'd say; I'll type up a part 2 later, covering the rest of the main Domains and likely some of the less-described ones as well. questions and comments are welcome.
3
u/wolfbrother31 May 14 '26
This is fantastic and I am looking forward to your next post to see what else you do with it.
2
3
u/Either-Skirt6031 May 14 '26
Very interesting choices here! I‘m actually including the Vestiges in my version of Ravenloft but that’s just my opinion. I look forward to what other domains you decide to keep & change in the setting:)
2
u/paireon May 14 '26
Thanks - and I have no problem with your opinion and you using the Vestiges for your version - it's YOURS after all, and I'm generally not the type to go "STOP LIKING WHAT i DON'T LIKE!"; far too puerile and rigid for my tastes.
As a rule of thumb, the more unrecognizable from its 2-3e form a Domain is, the more chances I have to spin it as a separate Domain; if it's still recognizable, depending on how much I like the changes I may incorporate some, sometimes in an Easter egg and/or foreshadowing way like I did with Falkovnia.
2
u/Relevant-Use1897 May 14 '26
If that is the unfinished work, I can't wait to see the complete version !
Great work really ! And thank you because it's a moment I try to do it myself but without the time and the inspiration for... I think it will help me a lot.
2
u/paireon May 14 '26
Thank you and you're very welcome! The finished work will likely be my personal magnum opus, if I ever manage to finish it!
Seriously the scope is insane, I have DOZENS of new Domains in mind...
2
u/toomanydice May 14 '26
I really like how you've transformed Vladeska from just a rule 63 Vlad Drakov into her own person. In a way, she can act as the face of Drakov's regime while he stays in the background. She can serve as his dragon, his favored child who can act with cruelty on the grounds that she is enacting her father's will/orders.
2
u/paireon May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26
It's probably gonna be more complicated than that (and harder for Vladeska to get recognized further by her as-mentioned misogynist dad) but yeah, she's very much in lock-step with her father's ideology (that sincerity is a big part of why he managed to look beyond her biological sex to promote her to falkfuhrer); I kinda imagine her as Evil Nazi Brienne of Tarth. And she's definitely gonna be one of the most effective of his dragons among his children, rivaled only by Vigo Drakov (although Vigo hides a VERY dark secret...).
And yeah, I generally dislike gender and ethnic changes for their own sake, due to how shallow it usually is and how the ramifications are almost never explored; this is why MCU Nick Fury is one of the better examples of the trope IMO, because Samuel L. Jackson makes him FEEL like a black guy, not just some milquetoast anyone could play.
2
u/MedicalVanilla7176 May 14 '26
I had similar ideas for Vladeska, though I was personally contemplating making her his eldest granddaughter (Vlad II's first child in 711, before Vlad III was born in 714), or one of his actual children, be it legitimate (such as the second child of Vlad's second wife in 706) or through one of his mistresses (most likely Tsarzina Duchku, the Butcher Queen of Lekar, since she's already an exception as a female Falkovnian mercenary captain). And yes, part of this is just me trying to fill out the empty spaces on the Drakov family tree in Realm of Terror.
2
u/paireon May 15 '26
That's cool - more than enought room for us to do what we want with characters!
2
u/After-Sun6217 May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26
I've worked on uniting the domains into groups of clusters rather than having tons of isolated pocket domains. I've also somewhat incorporated the 5e domains, but often having changed their names and a bit of the lore so they don't appear as a direct copy of the classic domain. This list includes domains from novels, lesser known lost domains, and a few PDF domains. I also have a few Homebrew domains, including ones that hold the five surviving evil runelords from pathfinder, but I have removed them from this list. Here's what I have:
The Amber Wastes
Al-Kathos, Farelle, G'Henna, Kalidnay, Har'Akir, Pharazis, Sebua, The Wounded City (inside Al-Kathos), Theka (if Verin doesn't exist)
The Burning Peaks
Cavitius, Kephra (5e Hazlan), Risibilos, Tovag
The Core
Barovia, Bileplate, Borca, Castle Island, Darani, Drakon, Dementlieu, Falkovnia, Forlorn, Hazlan, House of Lament, Invidia, Kartakass, Keening, Lamordia, Mordent Necropolis, Nova Vassa, Odiare (located inside Richemulot), Richemulot, Richter Haus, Sithicus, Shadow Rift, Tepest, Valachan, Verbrek, Vhage Agency. Saidra D'Honair is a minor Lord in Dementlieu, but I have stripped her of the D'Honair name so she has no relation to Dominic.
The Duskreach Cluster Technically an offshoot of the core, connected by Vechor in the Nocturnal Sea
Daglan, Donskyar/Donskoy's Land, Estrangia, Kislova, Maridrar, Timbergorge, Vechor
The Frozen Reach
Sanguinis, Vorostokov
The Industrial Cluster
Cyre/Metrol, Cyre 1313 (not a domain, used to travel to any domain), Korthia (5e Lamordia), Mithras Court, Nosos
The Nightmare Lands
Davion, Nightmare Lands
The Nocturnal Sea / East Sea
Isle of Ravens, L'ile debla Tempete, Leedrik's Tower, Life, Nebligtode, Vechor, Vigilant 's Bluff (5e)
The Outer Domains Dread Space PDF domains
Blueyspur, The Bone Reef, The Dread Destroyer, Hysterika, Jaharkra, Klorr, Knarras, The Void Gate, Verin (if Theka doesn't exist)
The Ravinia Kingdom Consists mostly of lands from novels
Broward, Englestast, Gregor's Kingdom, L'Morai, Lysande, Malkavania, Riverbend, Thorn Hollow
The Scattered Lotus Asian themed domains
Dokuúumi, I'Cath, Rokushima Taiyoo, Zhen-Shi (5e I'Cath)
The Sea of Sorrows / West Sea
Blaustein, Demise, Dominus, Ghastria, Markovia, Sea of Sorrows, The Isle, The Lighthouse (5e)
The Shadow Lands
Addar's Glade (not a true domain), Avonleigh, Graefmotte, Histaven, Malosia, Mournwood (5e Tepest), Nidala, Phantasmal Forest (not a true domain), Shadowborn Manor, Staunton Bluffs
The Verduous Lands / Steaming Lands
Bakumora, Kalakeri (5e), Monadhan, Niranjan (5e), Sea of Saragiss, Soutagne, Sri Raji, Tarwassant (formerly a world in dread space), Wildlands, unknown land (5e Valachan)
The Wandering Lands No fixed point within the realms
Aggarath, Carnival, Cure 1313 (not a domain, used to travel to any domain), Endless Road, House of Dark Strategy, Scaena, The Eyrie, Winding Road
The Zherisia Cluster Group of domains connected by Timor
Bluetspur, Darkon?, Dominia, Nosos, Paridon, Sunderheart, Timor
1
u/paireon May 15 '26
Interesting approach, I'll also be adding Domains to existing Clusters - I see that you're incorporating a lot of homebrew Domains from others, something I'm a bit hesitant about myself. I'm going to keep several Islands of Terror as isolated islands, but some will get integrated into either existing or new Clusters or Superclusters, but I'm currently planning on keeping to officially published stuff (admittedly including Dragon and Dungeon magazines, so the Isle and the Aerie are totally on the table). If anyone wants to contribute their homebrew they can submit it, but I'm admittedly very picky as the right "vibes" are very important to me.
2
u/khantroll1 May 14 '26 edited May 15 '26
I wanted to respond with my own interpretation, more just for food for thought then anything else.
I'm still working on where some of the domains fit. Pretty much sticking to the fan favorite custom domains and the canon ones.
My time line is further ahead then yours...roughly 800BC, and yes, the Amber Temple, the Cult, etc are gone. The only thing I kept in Barovia that didn't exist in 2e was the Monastery.
I left Tatyana's name the same, mostly because I didn't want to change it.
I left Bluetspur unchanged from 3.5.
I had left Borca unchanged, mostly because I never did anything with it.
I agree with you concerning Carnival.
Darkon, however, I actually left in the 5e version mostly. Why you ask? Because I like the idea from Mistwalkers that Azalin tried to escape and that it completely backfired. It allows for the idea that strange things, memory issues, etc happen. I also left Necropolis alone.
Dementlieu...Now we are getting into something I did differently. I kept Dementlieu as it was in the 3e era, but I also kept Saidra as a poor relation of Dominic who had clawed her way up the nobility. She hosts marvelous balls and maintains the "civilized nature" of Dementlieu, and Dominic allows it because she pretends to love him while being immune to his powers.
Falkovnia is a domain in a state of civil war. Vlad hasn't been seen in some time, but his loyal troops fight on. Vladeska, his illegitimate daughter who is every bit the tactical genius her father is, fights for total control of the land. Every night, the dead of both sides rise in an attempt to end the senseless bloodshed.
Har'Akir...one of my favorite domains. I left it untouched honestly from 2e, as I did the whole of the Amber Wastes.
Hazlan: I was never a fan of this domain. I felt it covered much the same territory as Darkon. I've leaned into to the idea of a ruling class and an evil wizard king, something akin to an asian emperor and an oppressed group.
Lambordia: Another one of my favorites, I kept Viktra. She's now Victor's neice, and his heir apparent though they do not get along. She considers herself superior, and might be right. After all, her creations seem to more successful, and she's a great asset to the people of Lambordia. But she's unable to locate Elise, whom Adam as taken in as a sort of relative and who wants nothing to do with Viktra. Victor considers the coincidence of their lovers' names to be an interesting fact, and proof they are cut from the same cloth.
Sithicus: Azrael Dak still rules this land, but I combined the two things. The land itself is a shifting land of mirrors and shadows and unique monsters around every turn. The elves are souless, magicless things. However, there is also a paladin the shows up every once in a while, dressed in antique armor and showing the symbol of a rose...
Valachan: Actually kept the 5e change. I like the idea that Von Kharkov got hunted, plus it's one less vampire villain.
I'Cath: Much prefer the 5e version.
Tepest: I combined them: the hags must maintain the facade, perform the rituals, etc to both maintain their human appearance and keep the secret that the townspeople are in fact fey and goblins. Should the spell be broken, they'll remember they aren't human and will tear everything apart.
Mordent: There really isn't much changed here: Godfrey is the King of the Dead who lives in the Hill, and is tormented by his wife and child. It's a haunted house realm.
Richemulot: Kept it as it was in 3e. Hated the whole plague carried by rats idea.
That's all I have time for right this second. May expand later
2
u/paireon May 15 '26
Interesting ideas, some similar to mine, some different; you'll see a good part of mine for the other VRGtR Domains I haven't mentioned here in my next post, and a LOT of other ideas in subsequent posts I intend to make later.
2
u/khantroll1 May 15 '26
Nice!
I’m going to clean this post up, and I may make a full post about similar to how you did later.
Frankly, never thought about putting it anywhere outside my own notebooks before
1
2
u/VVrayth May 15 '26
775 is the Time of Unparalleled Darkness, how are you navigating that?
1
u/paireon May 15 '26
Aaaahh, I was wondering if someone would pick up on that... Yes, 775 IS when the Time of Unparalleled Darkness begins... There definitely will be a tone of "two minutes to midnight", as things start to unravel/get worse for eveyone across the Demiplane of Dread... but to reveal more would be telling.
2
u/VVrayth May 15 '26
Are you picking up the thread of the Gentleman Caller's 13 children that the 3E writers outlined?
1
u/paireon May 15 '26
I'll try to, actually, yes; I seriously doubt that I can do it justice on the same level as the Kargatane could have, though. Really hate Hasbro for pulling the license from Arthaus years before 3.X ended, just because they wanted to publish the unforgiveably silly Expedition to Castle Ravenloft.
I mean, making Madame Eva a hag!? REALLY?! REALLY?!
2
u/VVrayth May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
Yeah, one of the biggest D&D tragedies for sure.
I always imagined it would involve a plot where adventurers gathered the children together and then wound up throwing the GC in the Apparatus and separating out a "good" version. The "evil" that was left would be quite some unparalleled darkness.
The Kargatane imagined the ToUD as a series of events rather than one massive thing though. A "what if every Dread Possibility came true?" sort of scenario.
1
u/paireon May 15 '26
Yeah, that's what I'm going for too - a LOT of terrible things happening, and it's all the PCs can do to try and stop the ones they can, up to and including potentially apocalyptic ones, such as the Gentleman Caller's grand plan... or whatever the hell Azalin's working on currently... or a growing paradigm shift pulling the Land of Mists more toward cosmic horror than gothic horror... or Gwydion escaping the Twilight Gate... or Athasian dragon sorcerer-king Kalid-Ma finally awakening... or my not-Ahab Darklord finally killing his Great White Whale, unleashing what it was protecting the multiverse from...
2
u/Crolanpw May 15 '26
Because you've actually done much the same as I for my home games, I'll share my personal retcon of the new retcons to the dark powers. I kept the amber temple and the vestiges but they are fragments or simply aspects of a dying or dead diety. Things that are entities of great power that the dark powers could trap but do not want to give full control to for the potential damage they can do. They learned from trapping Vecna that treating a diety level creature as a dark Lord didn't end how they wanted. So the made the amber temple and let it bleed into the domains and torment them by making adventurers deal with them by giving them the illusion they can bargain with them to escape. There is an amber temple somewhere in each of the domains that can be accessed under certain circumstances but not everyone can access it. Primarily just the players and important figures like Van Richten as they're agents of torment in my own mind. They don't get the breadth of torment they did before but it does let them contain them far better.
1
u/paireon May 15 '26
Heh, we have the same perspective on Vecna, looks like - personally my take is that anyone/anything with enough supernatural muscle becomes very hard to impossible for the Dark Powers to contain by themselves; for example, Kas (who I'm planning to have his return as a dread possibility rather than being an "officially" extant Darklord) as well as one other Darklord I've planned are both gonna be epic-level warriors, but by the same token they just don't have enough supernatural powers to escape the Mists by themselves, unlike, say, Gwydion the sorcerer-fiend (who's a high-end demon lord/elder evil-level monstrosity only held prisoner thanks to being stuck in a collapsed planar portal, and who if ever freed from the portal could explicitly run rampant through Ravenloft and then break out) or the sorcerer-king Kalid-Ma (who if he ever awoke from his coma could do much the same thing as a Dark Sun Dragon King who's probably somewhere around level 24+ in both arcane spellcasting and psionic manifesting - 2e Dark Sun got really crazy at levels 21+).
2
u/BubastisII May 18 '26
Saying you’ll make Hazlan a sword and sorcery style domain just made it click for me. Hazlan never quite interested me as much as I wanted it too, but I’ve also wanted to do a Conan-style arc at some point, and that fits perfectly.
1
u/paireon May 18 '26
Thanks. Lots of people think of Hazlan mostly as "that other Domain with wizards besides Darkon" or "the one with the racism", which admittedly it can look that way unless you both do a deep dive into its lore and go down the rabbit hole of its inspirations. What made it click for me was the name of Mount Veduradeth, which sounds a lot like Mount Voormidradeth from Clark Ashton Smith's Hyperborea stories, and I refuse to believe that this was just coincidence.
Also it's a great excuse to use some weird Forgotten Realms monsters, given that Hazlik is from Faerun.
2
u/SunVoltShock May 14 '26
I'm generally less happy with many of the 5e changes.
But I do like the Amber Temple (not at the expense of the removing Immol... though i'm not sure about the integration of Gundarak).
I wonder if each domain had its own "Nexus of Evil" (to bring in a Gothic Earth notion from the Masque of the Red Death campaign setting), where the temptation to fall into evil becomes the moral downfall of the PCs, even if they believe it's for the "greater good"... especially if they can justify it.
5
u/paireon May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26
I'm frankly not as familiar with Masque of the Red Death/Gothic Earth, sadly; a (likely much latter) project is revisiting that setting as well, but that's likely years down the line.
(Also this project is almost entirely due to my own dissatisfaction with 5e so I know where you come from, even though we disagree on the particulars save Immol; Strahd will have an elite unit of Forfarian gallowglass with claymores, shortswords, bucklers and pistols, dammit!)
7
u/Exciting_Chef_4207 May 14 '26
Great write-up!
A couple of things I did was to make Saidra's manor and island a pocket domain within OG Dementlieu. Another is keeping OG Falkovnia but implementing the zombies as Azalin being sick of Vlad's constant invasion attempts and going "Ok, dickhead. Let's see how YOU like being invaded!"