The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Horror is a very popular genre in fiction today. The classic tropes of horror are found in the same old variety. The walking dead, the ghost shrieking in pain and frustration, the monstrous killer, the haunted house, Frankenstein's Monster, and things that go bump in the night are all common tropes in the horror genre. These are the types of terror that scare us in the Twentieth and Twenty-first centuries through the use of the printed page as well as movies and film.

After Roleplaying games were first being published, horror would be a natural inclusion in these games. After all, Roleplaying Games are based on Fantastic fiction. And fantastic fiction included horror stories and poems like "The Raven," Frankenstein, Dracula, and H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu series.

One of the first roleplaying games I know of that was exclusively horror was the classic Call of Cthulhu by Chaosium. After that, several followed. Beyond the Supernatural, Nightbane, and the World of Darkness™ series of RPGs are just some of the few that have been published.

These games were often and sometimes used (depending on your GM) to invoke terror with a negative impact. Especially the World of Darkness™ type games, where a game designer explained to me that it perpetuates sadism and masochism.

The Ravenloft module was designed differently. Players remember the old module well, although I was too young to play the adventure when it first came out. People who wrote about it on the Karagatane web site, remembering it as the scariest AD&D module ever written.

Perhaps it was because of the lessons learned while they played the module. After all, I see it as a good example of Terror being used to teach that we are in charge of our own destinies. My good friend, Tracy Hickman, can best explain it himself. I have taken the liberty to excerpt a piece about the Ravenloft adventure from one of his essays on Fantasy Gaming.

"I was the 'dungeonmaster' for a D&D game. We were playing Ravenloft, an adventure written by my wife and I about a vampire.

"On the surface, this seemed like a typical old movie plot; Eerie eastern European location with lots of fog and fallen leaves. There was the obligatory castle high on the craggy cliff with the wolves howling in the woods. Sure enough, the vampire was up there in the castle.

"To most of the players it seemed like a straight forward task: find the vampire and kill him.

"However, Ravenloft had more to it than that. The plot of the story behind the game dealt with why Strahd von Zarovich, the Count of Barovia had fallen from grace to become the first vampire. As the game progressed, one of the players began discovering this background.

"The vampire had once been a great and noble warrior. When he conquered Barovia and established the castle there he sent for his family to join him. There was a particular girl in the town that he wished to marry. In the end, however, the girl fell in love with the Count's younger brother. Strahd blamed his age for the girls rejection and vowed to live forever through the dark arts. He believed if he could rid himself of death that the girl would somehow find him attractive.

"Of course, the brother was killed by Strahd. The girl threw herself from the cliffs of the castle but her body was never found. Strahd found that his pact with darkness had caused that he should not die but that he should not live either. Thus did he become a vampire.

"At the end of the game, my friend held the sword which could destroy Strahd. As his companions fell upon the vampire, my friend found that he couldn't kill the monster. He saw all the sadness and tragedy which the man's life had once been. Ultimately his companions in the game were forced to finish the job.

"After the game, we spoke. 'He deserved to die better than that,' my friend said.

"'Yes,' I replied, 'But that is how it is with people who fall from greatness. He chose his end when he first chose to kill his brother. How could it be any different?'"

--- Tracy Hickman, Ethics in Fantasy, Part 3: The Moral Imperative of Fantasy

I joined the RPGA mostly because I wanted a copy of this module, even if it was updated for 2nd Edition (and when the 3rd Edition comes out, it will be easy to adapt). When I did join the RPGA and I did receive the module, I read through it and found that it was way too powerful for even a group of high level player characters: not that a character with so much experience would want to continue to adventure anyway.

However, the story was still there. Despite this, the 25th Anniversary Edition requires some work for a very good horror story. It looked like it was little more than a dungeon crawl to me, at least on the outside.

On the inside, this module is a gem to the experienced Horror Gamemaster. An experienced gamemaster of the horror genre knows when and how to milk a scene for the player characters to get them motivated to kill the vampire, Baron Strahd von Zarovich, and make that event a powerful climax.

Due to it's themes about moral agency and horror, being an update of a classic adventure module, and it's use as a great tool for an experienced game master I give this 25th Anniversary Edition of Ravenloft a 5 for style. For substance, there isn't enough for the new and inexperienced GM to work with, so I give it a 4. The adventure is available by joining the RPGA or getting the 25th Anniversary Boxed Set.

Still if you are an inexperienced game master at running horror, and if you want to give this module a try, at least get Nightmares of Mine by Kenneth Hite, published by Iron Crown Enterprises. You can use the advice in that book to make a night of playing this adventure a powerfully memorable one for your players.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Raveloft, 25th Anniversary Edition
Author: Original Authors Tracy and Laura Hickman Category: game Company/Publisher: TSR (Wizards of the Coast) Line: Dungeons and Dragons, 2nd and 3rd Editions Cost: Free Page count: 32 Capsule Review by Elton Robb on 06/22/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Horror Gothic	Horror is a very popular genre in fiction today. The classic tropes of horror are found in the same old variety. The walking dead, the ghost shrieking in pain and frustration, the monstrous killer, the haunted house, Frankenstein's Monster, and things that go bump in the night are all common tropes in the horror genre. These are the types of terror that scare us in the Twentieth and Twenty-first centuries through the use of the printed page as well as movies and film. After Roleplaying games were first being published, horror would be a natural inclusion in these games. After all, Roleplaying Games are based on Fantastic fiction. And fantastic fiction included horror stories and poems like "The Raven," Frankenstein, Dracula, and H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu series. One of the first roleplaying games I know of that was exclusively horror was the classic Call of Cthulhu by Chaosium. After that, several followed. Beyond the Supernatural, Nightbane, and the World of Darkness™ series of RPGs are just some of the few that have been published. These games were often and sometimes used (depending on your GM) to invoke terror with a negative impact. Especially the World of Darkness™ type games, where a game designer explained to me that it perpetuates sadism and masochism. The Ravenloft module was designed differently. Players remember the old module well, although I was too young to play the adventure when it first came out. People who wrote about it on the Karagatane web site, remembering it as the scariest AD&D module ever written. Perhaps it was because of the lessons learned while they played the module. After all, I see it as a good example of Terror being used to teach that we are in charge of our own destinies. My good friend, Tracy Hickman, can best explain it himself. I have taken the liberty to excerpt a piece about the Ravenloft adventure from one of his essays on Fantasy Gaming. "I was the 'dungeonmaster' for a D&D game. We were playing Ravenloft, an adventure written by my wife and I about a vampire. "On the surface, this seemed like a typical old movie plot; Eerie eastern European location with lots of fog and fallen leaves. There was the obligatory castle high on the craggy cliff with the wolves howling in the woods. Sure enough, the vampire was up there in the castle. "To most of the players it seemed like a straight forward task: find the vampire and kill him. "However, Ravenloft had more to it than that. The plot of the story behind the game dealt with why Strahd von Zarovich, the Count of Barovia had fallen from grace to become the first vampire. As the game progressed, one of the players began discovering this background. "The vampire had once been a great and noble warrior. When he conquered Barovia and established the castle there he sent for his family to join him. There was a particular girl in the town that he wished to marry. In the end, however, the girl fell in love with the Count's younger brother. Strahd blamed his age for the girls rejection and vowed to live forever through the dark arts. He believed if he could rid himself of death that the girl would somehow find him attractive. "Of course, the brother was killed by Strahd. The girl threw herself from the cliffs of the castle but her body was never found. Strahd found that his pact with darkness had caused that he should not die but that he should not live either. Thus did he become a vampire. "At the end of the game, my friend held the sword which could destroy Strahd. As his companions fell upon the vampire, my friend found that he couldn't kill the monster. He saw all the sadness and tragedy which the man's life had once been. Ultimately his companions in the game were forced to finish the job. "After the game, we spoke. 'He deserved to die better than that,' my friend said. "'Yes,' I replied, 'But that is how it is with people who fall from greatness. He chose his end when he first chose to kill his brother. How could it be any different?'" --- Tracy Hickman, Ethics in Fantasy, Part 3: The Moral Imperative of Fantasy I joined the RPGA mostly because I wanted a copy of this module, even if it was updated for 2nd Edition (and when the 3rd Edition comes out, it will be easy to adapt). When I did join the RPGA and I did receive the module, I read through it and found that it was way too powerful for even a group of high level player characters: not that a character with so much experience would want to continue to adventure anyway. However, the story was still there. Despite this, the 25th Anniversary Edition requires some work for a very good horror story. It looked like it was little more than a dungeon crawl to me, at least on the outside. On the inside, this module is a gem to the experienced Horror Gamemaster. An experienced gamemaster of the horror genre knows when and how to milk a scene for the player characters to get them motivated to kill the vampire, Baron Strahd von Zarovich, and make that event a powerful climax. Due to it's themes about moral agency and horror, being an update of a classic adventure module, and it's use as a great tool for an experienced game master I give this 25th Anniversary Edition of Ravenloft a 5 for style. For substance, there isn't enough for the new and inexperienced GM to work with, so I give it a 4. The adventure is available by joining the RPGA or getting the 25th Anniversary Boxed Set. Still if you are an inexperienced game master at running horror, and if you want to give this module a try, at least get Nightmares of Mine by Kenneth Hite, published by Iron Crown Enterprises. You can use the advice in that book to make a night of playing this adventure a powerfully memorable one for your players. Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Raveloft, 25th Anniversary Edition