Despite Vlad Drakov's efforts to rebrand Falkovnia, it appears the nation is floundering. As recently reported, Falkovnia's citizens are fleeing the domain like rats from a sinking ship- except it's perhaps the rats that are staying behind in charge. Drakov has in recent days attempted numerous strategies to regain lost tax revenues. However, success in keeping to keep his borders closed for Drakov seems as slippery as Soth's resolve. This is because efforts rarely address the core problem- that his management is running it into the ground. Drakov's nightly impalings to lively dinner music do little to earn subject loyalty, for example. Apparently, offering Bloody Red Verified User checkmarks to speedup time through military checkpoints hardly seems to make up for the daily threat of having a spear through your gut.

Still, Drakov considers his land's lack of popularity to be a mere branding problem- hence renaming it "Super Happy Fun Land." (His initial idea of a name was inexplicably "Y"- perhaps as in "Y are you leaving?"- though his Ministry of Marketing at least managed to convince him only the greatest fools would rename a domain to a single letter. Whatever the case, it seems to have little effect in helping Falkovnia reestablish itself. And so once again, Falkovnia invaded the market but was repulsed- or perhaps it was repulsive.

Super Happy Fun Land's failures occur in the context of newly rising competition- though in some cases the competition seems to be doing little better. The Rex has established a nearby community on the border called "Dreads" to lure in Falkovnian defectors- though for various reasons it seems to be doing only slightly better. Darkon Zuckerberg seems to be seeking more souls to sacrifice for some farfetched plan or another- like blowing up the demiplane in another escape attempt or popularizing tire-sized VR goggles. Meanwhile, a Falkovnian defector is attempting to setup a BlueDie on Tepestani shores. Only time will tell if it will survive or go the way of Super Happy Fun Land's now extinct blue bird.

Happy Valentine's to my fellow Barovians.

WARNING: Very terrible valentines pick up lines. Want to woo'd by the fellow denizens of Barovia? The everso ancient and land or even his gloomy chamberlain. Or perhaps you prefer someone from the dread realm Mordent? Or perhaps you prefer the wanderers themselves from beyond the mist? Anywho there's plenty of bachelors and bachelorettes to suit everyone's needs. Be woo'd away into the blue water inn or castle Ravenloft. These are once again another remaster of old cursed valentines cards I already did. Enjoy. xoxo - Mizu

Azalin Reviews: Darklord Jacqueline Renier

Domain: Richemulot Domain Formation:  694 BC Power Level: 💀💀💀⚫⚫ Sources: Ravenloft (3e), Secrets of the Dread Realms (3e), Domains and Denizens (2e), Realm of Terror (2e), Domains of Dread (2e), Gazetteer III (3e).

Most Darklords are pulled into the Mists and “gifted” a land to rule (that is also designed to torment them) after committing an act of so-called evil. Others gain such titles through the act of killing another Darklord. Why one would want eternal torment, I cannot say. Self hate? Inability to recognize where they truly are? Oh and if you are thinking of doing the same, this ploy doesn't always work. Most Darklords simply come back after they are “destroyed” as even our tormentors will not let death free us from them.

Before Jacqueline Renier became the Darklord of Richemulot, her grandfather Claude Renier was Darklord. The Renier family was chased into the Mists by a group of monster hunters and their hounds when Jacqueline was a child. Most Darklords rarely remember much, if anything, of the land they came from, our tormentors erase such things from their minds. One must not believe a lying rat when they state they remember something when all evidence points to the contrary. 

The Reniers fled into the sewers and given the choice between death and a vault filled with a mysterious Mist, they chose the Mist and Falkovnia. Death may have been the kinder option than dealing with Drakov...The Reniers lived in the sewers of Silbervas in Falkovnia for a number of years before Vlad grew tired of their antics and ran them out of his Domain and into the Mists once more. This indicates that Vlad was successful in defeating the Reniers. Now that is a family history I’m sure Lady Jacqueline doesn't wish you to know of.

The Mists created Richemulot, which is mostly made of river valleys and untamed forests with the majority of its populace living in the three large cities. There is no known history of what happened in Richemulot prior to the Reniers settling there. The cities themselves were said to be empty when they arrived and like true scavengers, instead of questioning this oddity, the people merely accepted it and took up whatever residence they wished. To this day, only about a third of the buildings in each city are occupied by humanity, the rest lie abandoned and given over to decay and the infestation of rats.

Claude ruled through fear and manipulation, bidding his rivals and relatives (often these were the same) against one another. Jacqueline and her twin sister, Louise, were his protegees and he was always encouraging competition between the two for his affection and praise. That is until Jacqueline had enough of it and had a servant send him a drink laced with lye. Each wererat in Richemulot has their own unique 'allergin' and lye was Claude's. Not that I would advise anyone to consume lye in the first place... 

Jacqueline ensured she was there as her grandfather drank the poison so she could gloat as he died. But the poison wasn’t enough for her and she also pushed him through a window where he fell through the roof of the family kennel and was half-consumed by hounds before his body was retrieved. Considering the poison killed him before he hit the ground, this was quite unnecessary and makes it far more obvious to even the casual observer who was responsible for Claude’s death.

Jacqueline is just as manipulative and cunning as her grandfather was, ruling the land through secrets and bringing down her opposition through rumors and misinformation. It is said the nobility trade more in secrets than coin in Richemulot and that a commoner may gain status by simply hearing the right rumor and knowing how to weld it. 

Instead of pitting her family against one another, Jacqueline encourages them to work together, though she herself kills anyone that appears to be working against her. Only her twin sister is the exception to this. Curious. Does Jacqueline have some form of misguided affection for her sister? Is this why she has all of Louise’s lovers and friends killed? Regardless of the reasoning, it is abundantly clear that Jacqueline does not take competition for her affections well.

She is patriotic and wishes to bring prosperity to her Domain. Of course, the prosperity she strives for would result in the end of humanity, but she does try.  Though there’s no formal militia in Richemulot, she expects all of her people to take up arms to defend the realm. So, her defense is the equivalent of untrained peasants with pitchforks. Drakov’s ever-failing attempts at conquering her Domain must be particularly crushing for the little mercenary. Still, he seems to have created enough stir in Richemulot to encourage Jacqueline to sign the Treaty of Four Towers with Borca, Dementlieu, and Mordent in defence against the war-hungry, impaling-loving idiot. 

Jacqueline’s curse is to only appear in her rat form to those she loves. A fact she discovered when she fell in love with the nobleman Henri DuBois. She attempted to inflict him with her lycanthropy but he managed to not only escape that fate, but Richemulot as well. Jacqueline, a word to the wise, if one cannot accept you in your rat form, are they really worth all this pinning and crippling monophobia?

Jacqueline is a formidable combatant, but only when she is surrounded by her allies. She can speak with rats, take mist form like a vampire, and climb along almost any surface. However, when she is alone, her monophobia cripples her to a point where she can easily be defeated.

Considering the majority of her people do not know of her wererat affliction, her mastery of manipulation and control, and easy defeat of Claude; Jacqueline is not a Darklord to be underestimated. Though, if one learns her fears she can be easily taken out by a well-placed assassin. I will grant her three skulls.

----------------------------

Domain: Richemulot Domain Formation:  Unspecified (694 BC older editions) Power Level: 💀💀⚫⚫⚫ Sources: Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft (5e)

The “good” Doctor’s new guide indicates that Jacqueline is not a natural born wererat, but was inflicted with the curse instead. Does this mean one could simply cast ‘Remove Curse’ upon her person to effectively neutralize her? Or any of her family members seeing as she changed all of them herself? Our Tormentors rarely make things that easy, but a theory I encourage any with such abilities to try. 

Born into the Renier noble family, Jacqueline analyzed the changes in her city as the commoners became more wealthy. To Jacqueline this was viewed as a threat to her family’s position. Would a wealthy class of commoners abide by the rules of nobility if they have no need of them? And though Jacqueline shared her concerns with her family, the other Reniers ignored them, content with these inevitable changes.

Without her family’s assistance, Jacqueline was left to her own machinations. This eventually led her to discover a secret society of esteemed families that called themselves the Trueblood Council…which ended up being made of a bunch of filthy commoner wererats.

She was disgusted to find this filth in place of what she imagined as elite masterminds. Given the amount of gold she spent on gaining membership, perhaps she should have done a bit more research on them? Was it really THAT surprising they ended up being wererats considering their secret meeting location was the sewers? Regardless as she cursed and spit upon them, they made her into a wererat. 

Jacqueline easily adapted to her life as a wererat and swiftly infected all of the Reniers. Except for her twin sister, Louise, who resisted. For her insolence, Louise was disfigured and cast out. In order to gain control of the city, Jacqueline unified the wererats and together they created the Gnawing Plague. However, instead of becoming the savior to the people when they begged for her assistance, she let them die, finding her hatred of the commoners replaced with a hatred for all non-wererats. Who exactly are you ruling over if everyone is dead? Well, no one is the answer and the Mists took her after the last person in Richemulot died.

Now Jacqueline rules half-empty cities in the land of Richemulot, but can only maintain her rule by controlled releases of the Gnawing Plague in order to suppress those that would rise up against her. Given the apparently disposable armies of rats, wererats, and animated armor stuffed with rats she has control over, this seems an unnecessary tactic. Not to mention the populace cannot be all that intelligent given their lack of awareness of Reniers affliction. Jacqueline wears a shawl of rats, rat shoes, and a rat bracelet. Her love of rats could not be more apparent and the rats are known to be the cause of the plague.

No wonder she has no love of ruling over her idiotic populace. I doubt they pose any real challenge for her. Her torments are rather weak compared to other Darklords. She dislikes ruling, misses decadence yet causes such things to be nonexistent with her plagues and has to keep on creating plagues? I would take those anyday over what I have to endure.

Jacqueline can control and communicate any rat in her Domain and mostly uses them as spies. Otherwise, she is an inflicted wererat who has a love for creating plagues. Considering her control would easily break if the labs that created said plagues were destroyed, I consider this version of Jackie to be less powerful than in previous versions. 2.5 Skulls.

What is a Wish? || OPEN

Strahd had everything prepared and had Sergei at the ready all the research, every single spell book he had looked over, the notes on the ways one could use power to twist the fabric of one’s very existence. He could wish for so many things, the very spell that would have allowed him to have Tatyana, that was a wish he could make, but at what cost? He had seen it come to pass and fail in bringing Ivan back, Ivan the version of Sergei that had been brought up by the Vistani.

:Readmore:

He wouldn’t wish for Tatyana not now, he had too much here for him, a loving wife, children, light had returned to Ravenloft, to Barovia. Sure these things had a cost he was certain would come, he dreaded the idea of it being twisted.

Sergei looked at him with those warm blue eyes, their Mother Ravenovia’s eyes. “What are we doing today brother?”

Strahd lead him down to the stables. “Come, I have something I wish to show you.”

Sergei gave a warm smile, a trusting smile. Always so trusting….

Strahd mounted Bucephalus as his brother did the same on his horse, together they rode from the Castle through the morning mists that hugged the air around the trees. Light filtered through in places but they came to the Vistani encampment.

“The Vistani brother? What are we going to do here? Have you come to ask for fortunes? Or perhaps for them to find you another bottle of Tuica?”

“No brother,” Strahd said reigning in Bucephalus and looking to him. “Does none of it spark a memory for you?”

“Should it?” He asked mildly confused.

Strahd reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder, “I wish you could remember not only who you are as my brother Sergei but your life here with the Vistani as Ivan.”

There was a strangeness to the world around them as reality once more changed itself to Strahd’s will Strahd felt himself weakening again and he could hear the voice of Vampyr in his mind, telling him how he would never be capable of making such a change again.

“Ivan?” He asked the man next to him, had he done it? Had he brought the man back? In some way?

Blue eyes met his black ones, “Strahd?”

He pulled him into a hug and felt the arms around him returned. Strahd wasn’t much for such things but was getting used to it between his children and others he has permitted such closeness. As they separated he felt a playful shove from the man.

“Next time I see that Lich I won’t fail to make sure he feels my holy weapon shoved up his undead a-“

“I thought priests don’t swear?” Strahd teased him.

“Who the fuck said I’m a priest I never got to be ordained in place of High Priest Kir.” Ivan reminded him. “Now who is forgetful? Careful I hear the more ancient the likelier to forget.”

Strahd shot him a glare. “Careful I only just missed you.”

“Aww it’s lovely to be missed big brother.” Ivan said. “Now I think there is someone who deserves to know I am back.”

“I think you should not forget that you are in a Castle with children.”

“It’s a big Castle tell them Uncle is busy with their Aunt kissing. That usually does the trick.” He laughed as he rode back.

Strahd still had other business to attend to, with Madame Eva.

“The times that one could find a gold coin instead of seeing two von Zarovich brothers getting along are enough I could be an Empress of no small means.” Eva said from beneath her tidy blanket wrapped over herself against the chill of the morning.

“I could still kill him. Again.”

“And undo all your hard work?” She raised a brow.

“Day’s still early.”

“I think advice for your fratricidal tendencies aren’t why you have come to speak with me.”

“No, it isn’t, there is a new land.”

“And I suppose you should like our help in learning of this land and it’s people?” Eva asked as they walked to her Vardos.

“Oh yes, I should very much like to learn if they’ve become the newest threat for my people. A card reading shall do for now.”

Eva chuckled, “it has been long since I gave you one last.” Her smile was wry as she went up into the wagon with Strahd’s help.

Strahd hoisted himself in after her ducking from the ceiling as he hunched his way to the seat. The door closing behind them subjecting them to the light of the candles around them.

Removing the carefully crafted Tarokka cards from the silk, then the box, before moving them in her hands skillfully before handing them to Strahd, “Ask.”

Strahd took them carefully, “What is the leader people the Fioraands?” A card down.

“The Dictator: A cruel leader who delights in fear and violence that is brought about by the laws of their land.”

“What shall come between our lands?” Another card placed down.

“The Warrior-“

“War? Again?”

Eva held out her hand, “have you come to ask what you already know Lord Strahd shall I take the cards back or do you wish to learn what you can from them?”

Strahd gave an annoyed sigh and swallowed down, “forgive me, I suppose I have grown used to the peace.” He was always prepared for war but he had as said gotten used to not needing to be.

“The Warrior: it seems they will bring you war, they are a warrior lead people much like your own, you may have met another who is your match.”

Strahd swallowed, “what shall happen shall I meet such a enemy in battle?” He placed down the card.

-

Strahd arrived back at Ravenloft weary from his reading and his restoring Ivan to the best of his ability. He got down and felt his vision black for just a moment he swayed as the memory of the third card reading played in mind the gruesome face of the card flashing as he held to the saddle to steady himself.

“There will be Great War like you haven’t seen in a long time. This time your enemies will be flesh, alive and well, innocents brought under sword, you will be their butcher, your claws will tear them down for they are only serving that which they are told they must. Following a crown made of bones, and a throne of charred stone, and drenched in the blood of siblings and family.

Such a telling had begged one more question a fourth he had to know, “was there another way? Is there an ally to be found?”

She motioned for him to place another card and revealed it’s meaning, “The Raven, hidden among them is the potential to turn the bloody events to come into something that will make it all the worthwhile. In this one there is a chance for a goodness to come to cease all war.”

He walked quietly to where he knew he could always find his wife dark circles under his eyes his already deathly pale complexion was even more. “I have found what I looked for,” he placed a hand on hers. “And restored my brother as he should be with us.” He leaned in to kiss her and his vision blacked and the floor came rushing up to meet him. “War. Fioraand will bring war.” He muttered as he drifted from consciousness.

Welcome to Wonderful World of Darklords! While superheroes and D&D are staples of geek culture, they don't necessarily go together; the occasional Sorcerer Supreme notwithstanding, superheroes are more associated with sci-fi than high fantasy. Luckily, not only is there a D&D setting that lets us embrace the technowizardry of Big Hero 6 without throwing all the fantasy tropes out the window, but it's a setting that doesn't have a full domain to its name yet. Topics discussed include:

How to get an ongoing story engine out of Callaghan/Yokai when his only goal in the movie is "kill this one guy;"

Horror possibilities for a dark superhero setting that are less obvious than the edgelord excesses of the 90s (please, we beg of you, don't make Gail Simone angry);

Settings and plot hooks suggested by the criminally underrated Big Hero 6 TV show, from secondary antagonists to sinister underworld cooking competitions, and an overarching theme to make them feel coherent with the domain;

Possibilities for the Big Hero 6 team that go beyond our go-to response of "kill them off so they aren't getting in the way of the PCs;"

and more!

The full writeup for San Fransokyo (or its non-copyright equivalent, San Franciskyoto) is available for free on DM's Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/472549/San-Franciskyoto-A-Ravenloft-Domain-of-Dread?affiliate_id=241770

All music recordings are in the public domain (mark 1.0) and are licensed through https://musopen.org:

Chopin Nocturne in B-Flat Minor, Op. 9 No.1 (main theme), performed by Eduardo Vinuela

Chopin Etude Op. 25, No. 12 in C Minor: “Ocean” (darklord theme), performed by Edward Neeman

Chopin Nocturne in F Minor, Op. 55 No. 1 (land theme), performed by Luke Faulkner

Rachmaninoff Morceaux de Fantaisie, Op. 3 - 2. Prélude in C sharp minor (Dread Possibilities), performed by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Chopin Nocturne in E Minor, Op. 72 No. 1 (parting thoughts), performed by Luke Faulkner

Dialog for Yensid was written by Azalin Rex himself @darklordazalin

The Wonderful World of Darklords logo was designed by Halite Jones, whom you can find @halite-jones or on on Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/insta_halite

Contact us on:

Gmail: [email protected]

Facebook: @wonderfulworldofdarklords

Tumblr: @wonderfulworldofdarklords

Patreon: www.patreon.com/WonderfulWorldofDarklords

Meg's Big Masterpost

You know, I legitimately never thought I'd see the day where Tumblr would be a place I try and set up shop for my everything, but here we are I suppose. So! With that in mind.

My Website

D&D Products

Thunder Sea Merfolk Report - Merfolk! It's all merfolk all the way down! It has druid merfolk, it has cleric merfolk, it has paladin merfolk. It has mers out the wazoo! This book is highly indulgent but I think it's fun.

Tiefling Treatise - So I could give in-depth insight to how I wrote this book to be an exploration of what it means to be a queer woman of color, but this is tumblr, so I'll cut to the chase: this book got 4chan hate and I wear it like a badge of honor. It's so gay. It's the gay tiefling book. It's for the Eberron setting, but it's gay tiefling book.

The Cyre 1313: The Mourning Rail - I wrote this book over the span of a month. It only has stock art. It's 11 pages including the front and back cover. This damn little Dread Domain done up in the style of Van Ricky's Spooky Book got me a gold medal on DMsGuild. I'm baffled. I'm utterly baffled. It's a haunted train. What more can I say?

Tidelings - So this is the true indulgence project. I wanted to make shapeshifting merfolk, and boy howdy did I make shapeshifting merfolk. It's my favorite thing I've made. I made it for me. If you like gremlin merfolk, this is the book for you. Cover done by the fantastic @kikyoyuuki-arts

Talvakri's Guide to Adar - I went insane and wrote a campaign setting for an often neglected portion of Eberron. It's full of martial artists and freedom fighters and some of the most batshit worldbuilding I've ever done. It's 192 pages, half of which are mine and half of which were written by one of the best DMsGuild mechanics authors. It's my DMsGuild magnum opus. I will never write a book this big ever again.

Writing

#writing - All the writing I've done over the years

#two together are always going somewhere - A collection of all the things I've written for my original story (that I'm theoretically still working on)

The Followers: A Discord Murder Party Fanfic - I wrote a novel length AU fanfic of an online audio drama. Check it out if you want, but tbh, just use my AO3 for that.

AO3 Account - Speaking of my AO3 account.

Genasi In My Eberron Post - Linking this just cause people like it

5e Homebrew Masterlist

A masterlist for most of my homebrew stuff so far.

Homebrew Subclasses

Artificer

Fleshweaver (Updated)

Barbarian

Path of the Whaler

Bard

College of Righteousness

Cleric

Darkness Domain

Fate Domain

Lunar Domain

Pelagic Domain

Druid

Circle of Ash, Blood and Bone

Circle of the City

Circle of the Ice

Circle of the Barrow

Paladin

Oath of the Outsider

Ranger

Stormborn

Rogue

Starsworn

Sorcerer

Astral Sorcery

Blood Sorcery

Ley Conduit

Warlock

Patron: Myconid Great Meld

Wizard

School of the Seeker

Homebrew Backgrounds

Gravedigger

Lighthouse Keeper

Herbalist

Functionary

Spelljammer Backgrounds

Spelljammer Lightkeeper of the Luminous Order

Homebrew Races/Lineages

Amalthean

Knocker

Racial Hybrids

Osh Derrinalina Subraces

Osh Derrinalina Weavers

Vitreous Remnants

Yves (Reincarnated Tree People)

Settings/Setting Elements

Osh Derrinalina: Land of the Lightless Sea

Domain of Dread: Harrow’s Rock

Domain of Dread: Erdelaur

Homebrew Deity Masterlist

Walking the Dark Road: Temple of Nuissas

The Legend of Miirikjilinth: The Bone Mother

The Kraken Brides of Ketan Point

Dragons of the Scholomance

Spelljammer Faction: The Telleril Conclave

Spelljammer Concepts: Here, Here

Faction: The Iron Carillon

Mysterious Junk Peddler NPCs

Thoughts for a Green Dragon Accidental City Planner

Villainous Druids

Dead Gods: Spelljammer Campaign Idea

Thought for a Draconic Ravenloft Darklord

Homebrew Monsters

Aigul

Astral Lepidopteran

Celestial Ooze

Iceheart

Jubbuko

Languorlon

Wake Dragon

Witness

Yllora the Starmaiden

Homebrew Magic Items

Homebrew Deity Artefacts: Iletal’s Ring, Assorted Artefacts, The Silent Toll, Salt Marks of Iskuur, Moon Door Handle, Khitim’s Tooth, Light of Truth, Green Flame Chalice

Other Items: Crimson Crozier, Moss Cloak, Gleamkey & Gloamshield, Bells & Lanterns, Irish Mythology Items, Spelleater/Sword of Leah, Symbiotic Tendril, Magical Junk,  Doorkeeper’s Chatelaine, Moonfire Crown, Star of Selune, Animal Items, Lodestone Boots, Ranged Weapons, Cursed Gems, Judgement, Magical Instruments, Potions, Obsidian Items, Penitent Shield, Magical Clothing, Faerun Deity Items, Three Weapons, Marrowmire Kit, Troublesome Teapot, The Viscous Rings, Grave Knight’s Regalia, 3 Magic Books, Some Nautical Items

Homebrew Spells

Poison & Acid Spells, Bouncing Bubble, Soporific Sphere, Ice Spells, Divine Rebuke, 3 Damage Cantrips

Freaks & Facades: The Introduction

Welcome one and all, to the beginning of Freaks & Facades, a 3e/3.5 Ravenloft campaign written recap series!  I am your humble avatar of the Dark Powers, @aboleth-eye!  

My amazing players are my d&d and ttrpg friends from my main blog’s discord, brought together across time zones (and even national borders) every two weeks to face the challenges I am compelled to set before them.

**Warning: this is a d&d horror setting campaign recap, there will be dark subjects touched upon.  Currently we do not wish to delve into any truly adult topics, the horror is expected to be Rated T for Teens as of writing this.  

**Multiple ttrpg safety net tools have been made available to our players, but as we are sharing this to the public we will do our best to tag our content to warn against possible triggers.  

**Please do not hesitate to request additional tags and warnings, this project is run by one person with some friends so we will do our best to keep things updated and safe for a general audience.**

Below the cut, meet the Host, the Player Cast and the Premise!

The Host

A humble worldbuilder and sculptor of adventure, Aboleth Eye has been hosting games of the beloved tabletop roleplaying Dungeons & Dragons for over 10 years.  They started sharing their thoughts and love of fantasy and tabletop roleplaying games through tumblr in 2015.  Ever since, Aboleth-Eye has continued to evolve their ways of sharing their hyperfixations and inspirations.  They are a stalwart believer in crediting artists, writers and all creators for their original work!  They are also obsessed with tagging every post to high heaven, mostly to help creative minds find things they love. :-)

Classic Ravenloft (Sword & Sorcery) is their absolute favorite setting for Dungeons & Dragons.  They are only a mostly-eternal Dungeon Master between multiple overlapping groups of players, and they love to create content for new D&D 3e/3.5 races, classes, etc. to share.  They are extremely privileged to have gathered together fantastic and creative people to be a part of this project.  

Inspired by several S&S Ravenloft modules and sourcebooks (as well as a re-listen to The Magnus Archives), Aboleth-Eye has gathered friends new and old alike to survive the gothic fantasy.  They host the game every two weeks, recaps written by them with the aid of the players.   

Dungeon Master  - @aboleth-eye / @aboleth-workshop; AbolethEye on twitter

The Player Cast

In alphabetical character name order below, from whence their characters started the campaign:

Channa Devir - human duskblade - @aureliagaming 

Fenri Sunwillow - halfling cleric - Redbrown (not on socials, recently a guest on Random Encounter Productions PvP tourneys)

Ludwig Hossler “Schrödinger” - human boneblade - @atlysium

Pryrrish Norfaer - star elf warlock - @moonstruck-vixen

Solange Therese Charron - banshee caliban gravedigger - @owldork1998 (owldork1 on Twitter)

The Premise

In the year 752 BC on the Core of Ravenloft, on an especially misty night, five strangers arrive at a mysterious tavern by unorthodox means.  Each of these strangers, some plucked from realms far beyond the Domains of Dread, experienced great horror before their arrival.  They pursued, fled from and sacrificed themselves to their fears and have all come together for purposes unknown.  All strangers and outsiders in their own right, wearing masks of incompetence, delusion and apathy to hide their innermost selves.  

What do the cards have in store for these strangers?

What to the Dark Powers have in store for these five Freaks?  

Why did they arrive in the mysterious tavern?  How will their adventures, starting in the elegantly bilious realm of Dementlieu, bring them together?  Or will they be torn apart by the pull of the Dark Powers in the land of mad opulence?  

Stay tuned.  We welcome our audience to watch these adventures unfold!  

**thunder crash, lightning flash!**

Love, Aboleth Eye

Past and Present: Part Two: Ireena Kolyana

Generations have passed since the fateful day the warlord traded his humanity for a failed bid to have his brother’s bride. He, and the land with him, were pulled into a domain of dread. The mists swirled on the borders of the countryside, impassable save for a few technicalities, and the people suffered in their isolation. The warlord, known commonly now as the Devil Strahd, ruled with absolute power in his personal hell- and his only pleasures were causing misery to his trapped subjects.

Because not only are they trapped in life, no- even in death they cannot escape, their souls tumbling in desperation until finally they are reborn to suffer anew.

Tatyana’s soul was no exception. Strahd’s unsatisfied pursuit has chased her across several lifetimes, all ending in tragedy. He eagerly awaits each new incarnation, certain that this time, he can make her his.

The most recent life in this long line of misery is Ireena Kolyana. Daughter of Barovia’s burgomaster, Ireena was raised in the shadow of Castle Ravenloft, under the all-encompassing cultural fear of the Devil Strahd. Despite this, she had as happy a childhood as any Barovian could expect. The village, while grim, was the safest it’d been in recent memory- thanks to the clever determination of Burgomaster Kolyan and that Devil Strahd seemed focused elsewhere. Barovians breathed a sigh of relief.

The other shoe, of course, had to drop.

Things had been going so well that the burgomaster cautiously encouraged the planning of a modest festival, wanting his children to have a joyous occasion to look back on when the “good” times ended. His eldest, Ismark, questioned the wisdom of such an event, but assisted nonetheless at Ireena’s prodding.

The festival was one of the happiest days of Ireena’s life- she danced and sang with her community, wore flowers in her hair, and for a moment forgot all about the Devil Strahd.

But just for a moment.

Not long after the festival, her father started behaving strangely- dazed and unresponsive. He invited a stranger into their house in the dead of night, a man with a courtly accent and a terrifying hunger in his eyes. Twice he was allowed in, twice Ireena woke the next morning with hazy memories and puncture wounds in her neck. 

Upon finding out, Ismark shook their father for an explanation and broke the hold of the spell Strahd had placed on him. Immediately devastated, Kolyan promised never to let Strahd in their home again, and begged his children to forgive his folly.

Without his invitation, the Devil Strahd couldn’t access Ireena as easily- so he smugly started a campaign of terror. Every night, his wretched minions would swarm the burgomaster’s estate, wailing, clawing the walls, circling the grounds until dawn. It was too much for the burgomaster, who, already weakened by Strahd’s influence, passed away after weeks of this unholy torment.

Their father dead and their community too terrified of retribution to help them, Ireena and Ismark desperately look to outsiders as their last hope.

**I’m running CoS for my friends and decided to rework some NPC art. In recent official art Ireena is often pictured with a red scarf and a plate chest piece, but I wanted to add some ties to Tatyana’s dress design and purple color scheme.

Curiosity have you ever considered making a creature type for Lords of Dread(ravenloft) or when commissions reopen a good long while from now would that be a thing you’d be interested in?

Pathfinder already has an analogue to the Lords of Dread! The aptly named dread lords are powerful creatures that gain supernatural abilities from their link to a cursed land, and the variant cursed lords are trapped there, but cannot die without special rituals being undertaken. They appear in the book Horror Adventures. I wouldn't be particularly interested in reinventing the wheel here, but I could be persuaded into applying that template to make some PF1e stats for classic Ravenloft villains.

TL;DR: looking for critiques on what I’ve currently developed for and resources on Romani culture for further development of  my Vistani replacement culture in a Curse of Strahd-inspired game

Ok, so a little background on my particular version of Ravenloft.

This universe was a high fantasy one of the fairly typically belief powered magic model. The problem with that, however, was that when a period of massive wars, famines, and other crises made the world’s fear levels hit an all-time high, the world was taken over by the Dread Powers, mighty and evil entities made of human fear. The only lands that survived were those that had been “chosen” via a powerful person in them making a bond with one of the Dread Powers, turning each chosen land into a Domain of Dread perfectly designed to maximize production of the associated fear (think post-Change Magnus Archives, but more long-term livable). The rest of the world was utterly obliterated, and covered in a thick, magical mist.

One of the ethnic groups in this world is the ahnwahrd (ahn essentially means people in their own tongue, and is the term for the wider ethnic group; wahrd refers to the specific type of covered wagons used by the ahnwahrd, and is itself fantasy-etymology related to the word “ward,” referring to their protection from the elements). Pre-change, they were essentially your average nomadic group, and they just happened to have a higher prevalence of a rare genetic disorder than other ethnic groups—like how some real groups have a higher prevalence of lactose intolerance, down syndrome, etc. This specific genetic disorder severely impairs the function of the amygdala, preventing those with it from feeling fear (for those interested, it’s very roughly inspired by the very rare real Urbach-Wiethe disease, though it functions a bit differently). This condition is known as being “fearless,” and frankly wasn’t a huge deal for most of history.

Then the Dread Powers took over, and the fearless were put in a strange position. Since they couldn’t feel fear, they were immune to many of the Dread Powers’ magics, and undetectable by them. This meant they were, in theory, able to travel through domains of dread freely (although they can’t control which ones they go to when mistwalking). However, the majority of ahnwahrd aren’t fearless, and thus if they traveled across domains, they would have to leave their loved ones behind—essentially impossible for a people with such a strong value of community and family. Many of the fearless ahnwahrd thus elected to stay with their trapped loved ones, and simply move within the domain they were trapped in, but others decided to band together and continue traveling across lands. (Note: Not all mist-traveling ahnwahrd are ethnic ahnwahrd—if proven trustworthy, they will accept members of other ethnic groups who also have the fearless mutation).

Over the centuries, they have determined that basically the main reason their immunity to the dread powers is tolerated is that the dread powers don’t notice they exist, because they don’t stay in one place long enough, are a small population (although over the centuries, due to mostly having children with other fearless or with carriers, their population has grown fairly significantly from pre-transformation numbers), and don’t tend to make waves.

They recognize that their continued existence and comparative freedom relative to the rest of the people of the domains—including trapped ahnwahrd—is due to staying outside of the dread powers’ notice, and so they’ve basically enacted informal rules to continue doing that on the whole, although occasionally individual people will spurn those rules.  While the fearless ahnwahrd obviously aren’t afraid of death, they still want to live, and thus are able to be intellectually cautious. This caution is drilled into them from a young age, and sometimes results in stressed parents due to the clash between the need for safety and the strong ahnwahrd belief in the importance of children being given chances to explore and be able to figure things out for themselves. 

Other aspects of their culture that I’ve worked out so far include a belief in the threads of fate—a belief that, essentially, everything is predetermined, but by cause and effect rather than a divinity, in a sort of Laplace’s Demon kind of way, and that it is impossible to understand all these threads, but that the best diviners can try to see a few. Ahnwahrd have roughly the same proportion of diviners as other ethnic groups (ie incredibly rare), but they are unique in their importance, as fearless diviners can predict where mist-traveling groups will end up—an invaluable ability. 

Additionally, they are matrilineal, and somewhat gerontocratic, although the latter is more out of respect for knowledge than any formal requirements (they do have a government system, I just haven’t quite worked it out yet). 

If you didn’t guess, the ahnwahrd are essentially my version of the Vistani, and as a result of that, I’ve had—and still have—to do a lot of work avoiding landmines as I develop them and their culture. I’d like to have a working knowledge of Romani culture to do so, but misinformation about it is plentiful, so I was hoping for resource recommendations and/or critiques on what I’ve done so far. 

Any help is appreciated, although it’s totally fine if you don’t want to give any. 

D&D Quotes Without Context

Ravenloft Edition, Fundertainment Land Arc FINAL

GM: A deep and dark hole, darker and deeper than any hole seen before, and at the bottom lays the ultimate horror; a stillborn dead godling, a true lord of the dead. One that has never been alive. Jonni: “Yeah, yeah, we’ve all seen Pat Sajak.” And suddenly, Gusto, Marshal's griffin mount, is there, gnawing on his head. Again. "Nope, nope. There has to be another way down there. I can't see the bottom, if there is a bottom.” “Maybe it’s a leap of faith? Eddie, you jump first.” You suddenly hear deep and ominous laughter from the hole. “Yeah, no.” GM OOC: Rule number 1 of evil baby hole. Do not mock evil baby hole. OOC: Unless say, you wanted evil baby to come out of its hole. Gorbash: “Okay flight options: Poom and I have our brooms, Marshal has a griffon gnawing on his head, Jonni has rocket feet.” Nyx: "You nasty thing, if that was a friendly warning it was disgusting. You really are just a big baby.” Nyarlathotep: "Probably of the ‘man’ variety.” Jonni: “Please. Do you how many ominous red lights in dark holes I’ve seen?” Poom: "Why are there red lights in said holes? Wait, I don't want to know.” Poom gets on her broom. Azathoth: "And your little dog, too.” GM OOC: So you guys are heading down the murder hole. “Go with your nerd heart.” “Just remember, what happens in the vessel, stays in the vessel.” There's a lot of bones, and heads on pikes, mostly elves and Tabaxi. Poom: "Homey decor.” GM: No sign of Danzi. "Danzi either ran, or got absorbed by the dead godling.” “Or the death tyrant.” GM: Or maybe he was never here at all. OOC: No, he was here. I mind-crushed him. "Gorbash. You are NOT eating the Atropal.” "This isn't your average everyday cold...This is...Advanced cold.” A giant rotted corpse of a baby, bigger than any of you, its milky dead eyes starring right through you. Jonni: “Yeah, yeah, I’ve seen Danny DeVito.” "I am the Atropal. But you may call me SUPER KAMI ATROPAL.” The hooded figures pull back their hoods, revealing horrible faces twisted in horror with black empty eyes. Poom: "It's like kindergarten all over again.” Holy flame lights up the chamber as Marshal's slab-sword ignites. It gets even brighter as Gorbash ignites his Sunblade. And just slightly brighter as Poom puts on mirrored shades. “Beacon of Hope!” Marshal shouts, as each of his allies feels the warmth of a blue corgi trying to give them kisses. OOC: Can't smite the shit out of them if I don't get closer. OOC: I think Stav made them so dead they are alive again. "If you want someone murdered right, DO IT YOURSELF!” GM: *rips off shirt* Come on. I CAN TAKE IT. I CAN TAKE IT. Kentucky fried Atropal. Sadly not even in the bottom 5 of Marshals worst dishes. Gorbash: “I needed practice for the next god-bomination on my shit list. You were an okay warm-up.” Suddenly the room is full of spectral figures; Park patrons, workers, elvish and Tabaxi nobles. Jonni: “Ladies.” "You all are fired. Go in what peace you can find in the Domains of Dread.” "Why do so many bosses rig their places to collapse after they are defeated?” "Scab labor.” "Hey Jonni, when’s the last time we did it on top of a pile of our vanquished enemies?” “What day is it? Friday? So last week I think.” “Damn, that long?” Jonni vaporizes a guard beating an ice cream mascot. Edmund: "This is insane!” Poom: "Do you mean more than usual?” "...." Edmund gestures with one hand, like weighing a scale. Gunder: ”THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!” Jonni: “I need you to be more specific.” Poom: “Why?" And they proceed to choke each other before the YetiTarrasque steps on them. Poom: "They tied.” Jonni: “Guys, we’ll catch up. Vesh ‘n me are gonna do it on that burning carousel to warm up for later.” Poom pees on something. Marshal: "My Lord HADES! the great evil upon the Domains is banished. but many need a new home worth living. In thy great name, I would lead this exodus." Jonni leans over to Gorbash, “He knows where his boss works, right?” Gorbash: “He's on a roll, let him have this.” Gorbash: “So Marshal, you just razed the birthplace of your nightmares to the ground... How do you feel?” "I'm pretty sure eating there gave me a parasite, and I'm a genie. My stomach is a literal furnace.” “It’s true. She got acid reflux once. Thirteen people died.” As you watch, a huge metal tripod suddenly emerges from the forest, moving slowly towards you, it emits a deafening noise. Azathoth: "B-movie territory, woohoo!” It looms over, and fires a blast of concentrated heat at Vesh, which....does nothing. Vesh: ”HA! You think thats gonna hurt me? I bathe in hotter shit than that. You're gonna have to do a lot better....” Then it tries stepping on her. Vesh: ”OH CRAP ITS DOING BETTER.” Jonni: “No one steps on my wife but me! And maybe Crushinator, if she’s into it!” Poom, broom, vroom. OOC: Exchange at work: Co-worker: Are you a licensed professional? Me: No, but I am an enthusiastic amateur! OOC: Ever sell any haunted houses? OOC2: That’s Realtors. OOC: Ah.....Ever appraise any haunted houses? OOC2: None that anyone told me they thought were, but I know someone that did. Fun fact, you can be sued if you sell a house you believe to be haunted and you don’t disclose it. OOC: You can’t kill Real Estate. Realtor: “So how was the home?” Family: “Oh it was fine except for the HORRIBLE MONSTER HAG NEXT DOOR.” Realtor: “Oh right, her. But aside from that it’s fine right?” Guy: “Alright real talk, my boss caught me writing inappropriate comments about him in the bathroom stall so now I get all the creepy nightmare houses. Believe me when I say that this is the least terrible place I could have showed you. Be grateful I didn't show you the pig house. I lost three people giving a tour of that house.” OOC: I'm here. What'd I miss? GM OOC: The evil hole cabbage burped on you.

Tumblr plays Ravenloft - update 17

From somewhere beyond the shadows, a group of incredibly hideous figures appears. Their bones are delineated and brittle-looking beneath their gray-green flesh. They’re zombies! They wear the tattered remnants of the uniforms of guards and move together, as if they still remember their training in the land of the living. You know that the zombies of Ravenloft must be more powerful than regular zombies, or else they would have fled the instant they saw you. Your communion with your gods as a high-level paladin would have seen to that.

If you have the Sunsword, turn to 292. If you don't, turn to 99. (we don’t)

Seeing Ireena frozen with fear, you quickly hold up your holy symbol. Surely only goodness can hope to conquer this mighty evil. At sight of the symbol, the dreadful undead creatures in front hesitate, and the ones behind run into them.

Roll two dice. You need only a 5 to turn the creatures away. Add 2 points if you have the silver Icon of Ravenloft; add 2 more if you have the Holy Medallion of Ravenkind. If your total is 5 or more, turn to 148. If it is less, turn to 110.

On a Disney podcast, dear,

Why is there live theater here?

Why this Broadway musical?

It ain't right, and it ain't natural.

Listener, it's Hadestown. Regardless of how long anyone was gone and how lonesome we were or weren't, we couldn't resist such a perfect darklord and domain--especially since we're just coming off another domain with Hades as a darklord. Topics discussed include:

A bit of reiterating who we are and what we do here at Wonderful World of Darklords, since we recognize that we might have people who will just click on anything with "Hadestown" in the title (and we can't blame them);

How to adapt the gods of Hadestown to non-gods in Ravenloft, including some canonical characters who map surprisingly well to Hermes and the Fates;

The horror inherent to both Hadestown proper and Up Top, and how to make your PCs feel the loss of Persephone's summer bounty;

Plot hooks that allow your PCs to fill the Orpheus role without necessarily having a star-crossed lover;

and more!

Click on the link or not, little songbird. The choice is yours if you're willing to choose, seeing as how you've got nothing to lose...

The full writeup for Hadestown is available for free on DM's Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/468990/Hades-Town-A-Ravenloft-Domain-of-Dread?affiliate_id=241770

All music recordings are in the public domain (mark 1.0) and are licensed through https://musopen.org:

Chopin Nocturne in B-Flat Minor, Op. 9 No.1 (main theme), performed by Eduardo Vinuela

Chopin Etude Op. 25, No. 12 in C Minor: “Ocean” (darklord theme), performed by Edward Neeman

Chopin Nocturne in F Minor, Op. 55 No. 1 (land theme), performed by Luke Faulkner

Rachmaninoff Morceaux de Fantaisie, Op. 3 - 2. Prélude in C sharp minor (Dread Possibilities), performed by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Chopin Nocturne in E Minor, Op. 72 No. 1 (parting thoughts), performed by Luke Faulkner

Dialog for Yensid was written by Azalin Rex himself @darklordazalin

The Wonderful World of Darklords logo was designed by Halite Jones, whom you can find @halite-jones or on Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/insta_halite

Contact us on:

Gmail: [email protected]

Facebook: @wonderfulworldofdarklords

Patreon: www.patreon.com/WonderfulWorldofDarklords

life update: i love dread metrol so much i almost started crying looking at the cover.

[image: The cover for "Dread Metrol: Into the Mists. By Keith Baker. An Eberron/Ravenloft crossover with Andrew Bishkinskyi and Imogen Gingell." In this image, the human queen Dannel ir'Wynarn stands high above the beseiged city of Metrol. She holds her crown in a prosthetic metal hand and wears green robes depicting the Cyran crown. She is surveying the city from atop the towering spire of rock known as the Royal Vermishard. Below her lies a large bay with city on both sides, some of it burning, and in the distance, there stand two more Vermishards with a destroyed land bridge between. /end ID]

i love dannel. i am personally going to make simon and liza hate her with all their hearts

Curse of Strahd Kitbashing pt3

So, previously, I was bouncing what to do with some of the Fey elements I want to bring in to augment the story. I had not one but two Archfey to pick from - Kannoth, a vampiric fey who survived the collapse of his city (with necromancy) and now serves as the court mage of the Unseelie from his city of the dead; and Neifion, a general of the Queen of Air and Darkness who resides on both the Feywild and the Shadowfell, and whose body is a mix of both man and bat, but has been imprisoned within his castle by a permanent artificial sun. I don't think I can do both. Originally, I was planning on Kannoth; after booting the Dark Powers, I'd have no need for the Amber Temple, and I could plop his city in its place. Or at least, a gateway to reach the city, if nothing else. I planned to force a connection between him and the Dusk Elves to perhaps justify the curse he placed on Strahd, and overall I was just interested in this necromancer vampire-fey. However, I've gained a bit of appreciation for the Dark Powers and the Shadowfell. While I'd still like to implement the Feywild, I also want to rock the Domains of Dread and the Dark Powers. And for that, Neifion, the imprisoned bat who's got influence in both, would serve me better. In addition, as he's imprisoned, this both informs his relationship with the rest of the realm (he, *too*, is a prisoner of this massive jail cell), and also conveniently keeps him out of the picture for much of the game so I can focus on Strahd (bonus: one of my players **already has a pact to help bust Neifion out,** so he was always going to play a minor role but now this just fits so well) One of the main reasons I wanted to include the Fey in the first place was because I wanted to play up Strahd's punishment; it already felt like the kind of karmic prank-punishment an insulted Fey might give someone who's slighted or wronged them. But an angle I never considered was that, for all his faults and his evils, Strahd legitimately protects his lands. Or, protected his lands, in older editions - from the Dark Lords of other Domains of Dread, and the Dark Powers. An angle that's been apparently dropped for the 5e version adds a lot more depth to Strahd's character - he's not just the BBEG, he's a lot more complicated than that. Strahd 100% deserves a stake to the heart no matter what. But even as he makes his world miserable, he also actively protects it from guys who'd make it even *worse,* and it'd be a shame to forget that. An interesting point of conflict for the party, or at the very least a neat detail. With Kannoth completely gone, with nothing left representing him on the board, that's just Neifion, the Dark Powers, and... do I need anything else? I'll have to answer the question of how this Neifion and this Strahd got imprisoned, but I'll have to do so later. For now, it's 2:15, and I need sleep. But I think I need to fill a Jailor role. I also think I'd like a copy of an older-edition Ravenloft book, so I could learn more about what I heard.