Very nice 'hawkinization of Strahd von Zarovich and Barovia by Greyson. Lots of toothy little historical asides thrown in with a cool history of the family of everyone's favorite vampire. A good read, Don.
I very much liked the interweaving of GH with the Ravenloft background in this article. In my campaign, I employed Ravenloft as a demi-plane/parallel prime, using the "Valley of the Mists" as the gateway to get there, so I didn't really tie it in all that much to GH other than to use the Attloi for the Gypsies. Don's version here would have been much more interesting to use in my campaign, as it would have been a great way to throw my players into the Sheldomar- an area they have yet to run amok in. I have plans to send them there; I just need a good reason to do so as they have laid down roots in other areas. This would have been a near perfect solution.
Nice job on the background and location. _________________ - Moderator/Admin (in some areas)/Member -
Last edited by Cebrion on Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:38 am; edited 1 time in total
Thanks for the reviews, fellas. I've written several adventures for Living Greyhawk, and never really batted an eye. But, I was really, really nervous to submit a small article to Canonfire! So, thanks for being gentle on my first one.
I did try to respect Greyhawk and Ravenloft with this article. I know it can be considered "lifting" from campaign or the other. But, in this case it seemed really genuine to reconcile Strahd and his Barovia to Greyhawk. The elements in this article did work very well in our home game - the players were truly drawn into the game and the story having Strahd so intimately tied to "their" campaign world, if that makes sense.
Having done this first article for the site, perhaps I have built up a little enough nerve to do it again.
I especially liked how you tied the history of the family into the history of the Sheldomar, with multiple references to kings and political events of the time. Well done!
I found it a nice touch of irony that Strahd got his start in Greyhawk battling Vecna cultists, as when his realm was drawn into Ravenloft he would find himself battling Vecna himself!
The link to the canofire discussion did not work for me - I was especially curious since I do not remember my contribution to the discussion being worthy of being cited by name!
I liked the riffs on the names in general, the V to B shift, etc. The only one I found unlikely was Ravenia to Ravenloft, since Ravenloft has a much more obvious derrivation, loft of the ravens, or that castle up there where the black birds roost. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
That was an intresting and enjoyable read. I like the location. I have the original mod, but I think that there was been much done with the setting since then. So I dont know what else is out there. But I think a part two would be great to address the transition to vampirism, but more importantly the gypsies and what every it is that is supposed to kill him. Was it a sun sword, or sun holy symbol. Fertil ground. Good job. _________________ Plar of Poofy Pants
The link to the canofire discussion did not work for me - I was especially curious since I do not remember my contribution to the discussion being worthy of being cited by name! I liked the riffs on the names in general, the V to B shift, etc. The only one I found unlikely was Ravenia to Ravenloft, since Ravenloft has a much more obvious derrivation, loft of the ravens, or that castle up there where the black birds roost.
Kirt, thanks for the comments. Try THIS LINK for the Canonfire! discussion. You made a great post in that thread that has always stuck with me.
I agree about the naming of Ravenloft - something more akin to the literal name seems better. But, in my efforts to respect Ravenloft as a setting, I used the story Elrod presented in her book, I, Strahd. It is in there where she indicates Strahd named the castle after his mother. I'd hate the Ravenloft purists to get after me, so I dared not stray from that tidbit of Ravenloft canon.
Wolfsire wrote:
But I think a part two would be great to address the transition to vampirism, but more importantly the gypsies and what every it is that is supposed to kill him. Was it a sun sword, or sun holy symbol. Fertile ground.
Thanks, Wolfsire. Do you really think I should take the story further in Greyhawk? I am tempted to, but I did not wanna get too far into this classic adventure's established mythos. But, in our recent campaign in which we ran Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, we did have thorough Greyhawk backgrounds for the sunsword, holy symbol of ravenkind, the Vistani (without them being halflings), and what brought Strahd low. I'll go through those notes and see if I dare present those to the community.
Do you really think I should take the story further in Greyhawk?Don (Greyson)
.
Absolutely. I think you did a great job and combining these two settings is particularly appropriate in the location you selected as keoland/baklune equates with the europe/ottoman settings.
Run with it. You are doing a great job. _________________ Plar of Poofy Pants
I think you should do a follow-up aritcle too. I started my first reply above with "This almost seems like part 1 of a series.", but I edited that bit out prior to posting.
I say go with another article, even if it seems to contain what you might think of as odd things. It just lets us know how you chose to implement things in your campaign, and that will likely be of interest to, and give ideas to, everyone else anyways.
So, be a good lad and give us a look into the madness that has resulted from your method! _________________ - Moderator/Admin (in some areas)/Member -
I had my doubts about plonking Strahd into GH prior to reading the article. But you did a great job. An elegant fit where sometimes these cross-campagn fits can be clunky.
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