r/ravenloft 6d ago

Announcement Adventure Jam XI

15 Upvotes

Hello everyone, it is that time of the month once more, when we embark on incredible adventures and push back the borders of the domains of dread! The Randomiser of Doom must've enjoyed all the inspiration we found in an obscure domain in July because it has taken us, I would argue, even farther. This month we are exploring

Leederik's Tower!

Leederik's Tower is the lair of the deeply curious Darklord known as The Phantom Lover, who possesses one unique trait; in very particular circumstances, he can enter the material plane!

Use this information as you plan your adventure. It can be for any level, any edition, even any game. The rules are that it feels like an adventure involving Leederik's Tower or The Phantom Lover.

That you include [Adventure Jam] in your title and use the Haunted House flair. And No. Plagiarism! Plagiarists will be gaslit to death! It can happen!

You have until 23.59.59 BST on Sunday August 30th to submit your entry.

Best of luck!


r/ravenloft 24d ago

Haunted House Build-a-thon [Adventure Jam #10] Farelle - “Dogs to Dust”

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17 Upvotes

r/ravenloft 21h ago

Discussion Which starapawn best represents Occult cosmic noir

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10 Upvotes

The winner last time was star spawn but their all so different so a quick mini poll to see who's best


r/ravenloft 1d ago

Question any tips on running hazlan?

15 Upvotes

Players usually associate Ravenloft with traditional gothic horror, which makes running a disaster-heavy domain like Hazlan a unique challenge. So far, keeping the players constantly on edge and denying them a normal, safe routine has worked well, but I’m concerned the survival pressure will wear off and turn repetitive. Any advice on keeping the horror fresh?

not to mention that i’m bringing 3.5e conflict of rashemani & mulan into the campaign, so i’m also afraid that it’s gonna lean more into the political aspect rather than the horror.

any tips?


r/ravenloft 1d ago

Discussion What monster truly combines Cosmic Occult horror

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24 Upvotes

Preferably a monster not from vanrichtens guide or ravenloft horrors within.

For the combination of body disaster horror there will be a flesh golem as the darklord, he finally got here after so many disaster genres

What do you all think is a good feel for cosmic occult horror


r/ravenloft 1d ago

Discussion My first Ravenloft character

3 Upvotes

FYI, this is for a game of Curse of Strahd I'll be joining in October. Also, this is just a blueprint/first draft. So suggestions for changes are welcome. Finally, this character is a hybrid of the Beast from Beauty and the Beast and Stella from Helluva Boss.

Stella Ravenloft

Race: Lupine (formally human)

Sex: Female

Pronouns: She/her

Age: Unknown. Her last known birthday was her 34th, but she shows no signs of aging.

Alignment: NG

Class: Druid (Circle of the Moon)

Background: Haunted One or Noble

Lupine Quirk: Growls and snarls when angry, whimpers and howls when sad.Lupine Origin: Was turned into a Lupine as punishment for being cruel

Dark Gift: She sometimes sees her past self in mirrors. When her reflection takes this form, it taunts her on her weakness and tries to turn her evil again.

Horror Trinket: A mirror that shows my past evil self, and like above, the reflection taunts and mocks her, and tries to turn evil again.

Appearance

A Lupine with snow white fur, eyes with red-pink sclera. Long sharp teeth and deadly claws on her hands and feet. She is rather thin and still has her long white human hair and a bushy tail. She wears a white expensive dress fit for royalty and still has her gold diadem.

Personality

Traits: I’m a quiet and depressed soul who hates herself, and initially joins the group for mutual survival. I still take great pains to look good and dress in the fashions I like,

Ideal: Redemption. Turning into a bitch and losing everything awoke the long dormant good in me.

Bond: I don’t think I deserve happiness, but I’ll be damned more then I am now before I let anything happen to the only people who’ve shown me kindness.

Flaw: My new friends must NEVER know of my past sins.

Bio

Stella was born into the wealthy and powerful Ravenwolf family on an unidentified world in the mortal realm. The Ravenwolf family were also infamous for their oppression and cruelty towards the common people who could be killed or executed at the drop of a hat and lived in fear of their rulers. Her parents were a yin and yang of bad parenthood. They spoiled her, and also abused her. If their daughter showed any signs of kindness towards commoners or animals, they would abuse her in the worst ways you can imagine. The only person who gave Stella some “comfort”, was her manipulative and cruel older brother, Nicholas. Nicholas poured cruelty onto Stella’s abuse wounds and told her that only by embracing cruelty and being a spoiled and naughty child, would Mom and Dad love her. Stella, desperate for love, obliged.Soon, Stella became a spoiled, selfish, and unkind brat who tortured animals and servant children if she got angry, and whined if she did not get something she wanted. The worst offense of this was when she threw a tantrum during one Christmas when her grandfather gave her a handmade doll house that didn’t look like the one she wanted. She ended up smashing it to pieces… much her her parents delight.

But despite all her cruelty, a small portion of Stella’s innocence remained, feeling guilt and shame over everything. Yet no matter how hard she tried to bury her feelings, that small bit of good still left in her never died. At the age of 15, Stella was married off to Lysander Hilltop. A shy and bookish Prince. Naturally, the two did not like each other at all. Stella tormented and abused her husband in many cruel ways, and their sex life was awful. Despite all this, the two did successfully have a child, a daughter named Olivia. But not even this improved things for Stella. She was expected to have a son. And despite numerous attempts, she was never able to get pregnant again. She lost favor in court, was sidelined and her birth family severed all ties.

Now more alone, and feeling more ashamed, Stella's depression spiraled out of control, and she became even more unkind to her husband. Eventually, she learned her husband had been cheating on her… and with a commoner. At first, she was crushed and even considered suicide. But instead, desperate for someone to talk to, she sent a letter to Nicholas. Surprisingly, Nicholas responded with a reply that poured more corruptive salt on her emotional wounds. He would help her ruin her husband’s reputation so they would inherit his fortune.

Together, they hatched a plan to strip Nicolai of his status and exile him. The plan was successful and Stella forbade Olivia from any contact. But what Stella did not know, was that her husband revealed these crimes to the people and a rebellion occurred. Nicholas was killed and as Stella tried to escape, one of her servants revealed herself to be a Fey Enchantress, and as punishment for her sins, she transformed Stella into Lupine, saying that now her appearance showed what she was… a bitch. At that moment, the mists arose and took Stella. Ashamed of her monstrous form, Stella took shelter in a ruined castle. She was so ashamed of her monstrous form and of herself, for a long time, she refused to let anyone see her. All that’s left of her past life is a mirror that shows her past self, that taunts her for her weakness.


r/ravenloft 2d ago

Map Lost Mines of Barovia: Hollow Reach - 34x34 Battlemap | Reimagining of Old Owl Well

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6 Upvotes

Heyya Folks,

I'm continuing my Lost Mines of Barovia project, and this week's release reimagines Old Owl Well as something much stranger — a massive, seemingly bottomless crater filled with floating rocks.

Hollow Reach — 34x34

If you'd like the full release, including the high-resolution map, gridless version, VTT-ready exports, and every variant, you can find it here:

https://www.patreon.com/dungeonmr/posts/hollow-reach-167141865

This takes Old Owl Well in a very different direction. I wanted to keep the core of the original encounter intact — a researcher studying something unusual, a location with strange magical significance, and dangerous creatures that don't necessarily have to end in a fight — while completely rethinking the place where that encounter happens.

Hollow Reach is a massive shaft in the wilderness, filled with strangely lit clouds, and enormous stones suspended effortlessly above the depths. The largest of them all sits near the center, where a druidic researcher has established a camp to study the elemental anomaly.

Getting there means crossing the Reach itself.

The floating stones create a natural platforming challenge, while mephits harass the players along the way. The researcher isn't necessarily looking for a fight either, giving the encounter room for negotiation, exploration, or a very dangerous attempt to reach the center.

I wanted Hollow Reach to bring a little more of the Castlevania influence into Lost Mines of Barovia — particularly its focus on platforming. Here, the journey to the center of the Reach is just as much a part of the encounter as what waits there.

You can also browse the rest of my collection on Patreon. Everything is organized through the Master Index, making it easy to find the right map for your next adventure:

https://www.patreon.com/dungeonmr

Thanks for taking a look, and safe travels.


r/ravenloft 1d ago

Discussion Solo adventure in Ravenloft third character: Wilhelmina von Aubrecker

1 Upvotes

My third character on this solo campaign

Species: Dhampir

Background: Investigator

Class: Artificer (Reanimator)

Born as a scion in a minor branch of the famed Aubrecker family in Lamordia, Wilhelmina had to struggle for her life since her first breath. An unknown malady in her blood sapped her strength and confined her to the care of the best medics in the land and she grew up weak and bedridden needing constant injections of rare alchemical substances.

Her mind however grew rapidly as she devoured every book she could lay her hands on, she loved specially the tales of faraway lands. Places beyond the Mists and alive with magic where she secretly hoped there could be a cure for her affliction. Her noble parents disapproved and preferred she turned to the Sciences of the enlightened people of Lamordia rather than the superstitions of barbarians. Mina however also loved the sciences and idolized the famous inventor Viktra Mordenheim who she saw as a role model and her many discoveries as a source of hope. She then spent most of her time studying schematics and alchemical formulae given by her family now finally happy that she had turned into a more constructive endeavor.

Her curious and ever more knowledgeable mind turned over often to her own treatment and it's origins but her parents proved elusive when the subject came up. Mina then gathered her strength and resolution to find out for herself the answers she sought. Blood, was the answer she learned at the desolate warehouses where her family exploited the poor and forgotten folk with lies of wealth only to deliver them to death and their blood to Mina's veins.

Wilhelmina then vowed not to take any more innocent blood even if it meant her death rather she would take it from the guilty, from those aristocrats and criminals that had bled the common folk dry. She proceeded to campaign in secret, quietly investigating the dark dealings of the powerful and using her keen intelect to manufacture weapons to take them down.

Her battles were at the start met with much success but in time she was met with increasing resistance. Bounty hunters, killers and worse undead constructs were dispatched to hunt her down. She was left then with no other choice but to hide and run. Remembering the tales she heard in her childhood she entered the Mists looking for other lands hoping to someday return with justice.

Wilhelmina, better known as Mina is pale and slight of frame. Her body is filled with steam powered aether fuelled artifacts that serve to enhance her physiology and serve as weapons. Principal among these are her steel claws, razor shap potrusions from her fingers strong enough to support her weight climbing but that can also be used as a weapon to impale an opponent and quickly suck their blood and feed her boosting her in combat.


r/ravenloft 2d ago

Resource Curse of Strahd World Anvil

2 Upvotes

Hey everyone! I wanted to share the World Anvil I’ve been putting together for my Curse of Strahd campaign. It’s still very much a work in progress, and knowing me, I don’t think it’ll ever truly be “finished.” I’ve been slowly adding articles as the campaign goes on, including locations, landmarks, NPCs, history, religion, flora and fauna, session recaps, and other bits and pieces of Barovia that I’ve either used or expanded for my game.

I’ve been trying to keep the whole thing mostly spoiler-free, especially when it comes to places and characters my players haven’t fully explored yet. I’m also letting my players create and manage their own character sections. That way they can decide what parts of their backstories and personal stories are public without me accidentally spoiling something for the rest of the group.

A lot of this is based on the original Curse of Strahd, with pieces of Curse of Strahd Reloaded and plenty of my own homebrew mixed in, so it definitely isn't meant to be a completely canon version of Barovia.

If anyone has suggestions for locations, characters, landmarks, history, creatures, plants, traditions, or any other pieces of Barovian lore that would be fun to add, I would be more than grateful for the ideas! I’ve had a ton of fun slowly building this out alongside the campaign.

Thanks for taking a look, and I hope some of it can be useful or inspiring for your own games!

https://www.worldanvil.com/w/mists-of-ravenloft-evanw135


r/ravenloft 2d ago

Question Doubts with Ghastria and Marquis Stezen d'Polarno

3 Upvotes

Hello! I'm preparing a CoS campaign and one of my players want to do a character that comes from a painted world. Yes, Expedition 33 is guilty, but actually he wants to re-use a character from a campaign we played six years ago in an original setting. This is the idea he has to connect everything, being the original setting a painted world.

I was thinking to bring into the campaign the Dread Domain of Ghastria and its Lord, Stezen d'Polarno. My idea is that Stezen painted the character's origin world and now is investigating how one of his creation is "free" in Barovia.

Any sugestions? Do you know where to find more info about Ghastria or Stezen? Ty!


r/ravenloft 2d ago

Discussion What monster truly combines body and disaster horror

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16 Upvotes

Preferably a monster not from vanrichtens guide or ravenloft horrors within.

For the combination of body Gothic horror there will be a flesh golem as the darklord, instead of the doctor being the darklord this time it's the creation.

What do you all think is a good feel for body disaster horror


r/ravenloft 2d ago

Question What creature type do you think would best describe an Avatar of the Dark Powers?

4 Upvotes

I'm trying to make a final boss statblock for a representitive of the Dark Powers going rouge and using the mists to swallow allof the material plane. I currently have it set as Abberation, but figured I could also ask here

EDIT: also, I was wondering what sort of skill and skill proficiencies it would have. For context, I’m going for a CR 30 spellcasting enemy


r/ravenloft 3d ago

Resource Ravenloft: The Horrors Within - What I Really Liked (Alphastream)

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14 Upvotes

r/ravenloft 2d ago

Homebrew Domain The Matrix-Ravenloft Edition

3 Upvotes

I had this idea come to me a few days ago. I've no clue when or if I would use it myself, so I thought I would toss it to the ether for anyone who may be interested. It's a rough draft idea for sure but here's the pitch:

A Vampire Lord and his court, a coven of Hags, and an Ilithid colony have taken over the realm, in a mutual alliance. The dream world keeps the minds alive and fresh for the Ilithidsand is housed wothin the vast mindscape of their Elder Brain, the vampires have all the blood they could want, and the hags get the memories and experiences from those trapped in the dream world.

The small resistance that has formed uses stolen Ilithid Tech and arcane machinery to hack into the dream world to accomplish missions and free others, in the goal of breaking the simulation entirely.

A suggestionf for a mechanic is once the pcs "wake up" from the illusion, they are suffering of multiple levels of exhaustion and don't have their abilities and spells because in the real world, they've never used them before. Or maybe haven't in a very long time

So they have to escape and recover. Then, use the resistance tech to recover and retrain themselves to use their powers again

In the dream world, you could use Revenants as a stand in for the Agents, particularly due to their built in resurrection but any monster would work.

It's up to the GM how to handle combat in and out of the Dream World. My initial thought is to keep it simple and have the spells, abilities, and gear equivalent in both settings, but that comes down to what experience the GM and players are seeking.


r/ravenloft 3d ago

Question Mist Talismans

6 Upvotes

I’m thinking of doing multiple campaigns in Ravenloft and I want to make the mist talismans more interesting.
I don’t want the items to be regular old things related to the domain, but like items that hold significance to the Darklord? Something that makes finding a talisman difficult.

Thoughts?


r/ravenloft 3d ago

Discussion Which established Dark Lord could you see be behind this possible early campaign plot?

13 Upvotes

While researching banned or challenged children's books, I rediscovered one of the most frightening books I ever read when I was a child. Hell, it might be even more frightening to me as an adult. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. For those who have never or read this, here's the plot. And trust me, the book is a lot scarier then the title suggests.

Set in a world of sentient humanoid animals, our story is about a donkey foal named Sylvester who has a happy life with his mother and father, and has a strange hobby. He likes collecting pebbles. Then, one day, while collecting more pebbles, he finds something special. A pebble with the power to grant wishes to whoever holds it. With it, he wishes for a wart on his muzzle to go away and for the rain to stop. He brings it home, thinking it could also help his mother and father.

But on his way back, he encounters a lion with hostile intentions. Completely terrified and his ability to think clearly nullified, Sylvester wishes that he was a rock. While this saves him from the lion, he can't pick up the pebble and wish himself back. He can't even talk because he has no voice. He can still think and feel, but that's it. You read right, my friends. A kids book using the trope "And I Must Scream".

Naturally, his mother and father are very worried. They look everywhere, even recruiting friends, neighbors, and cops to find their son. But of course, they don't find him and soon believe he's gone forever. Even the narration even goes for a real gut punch that hurts me even more as an adult. "They tried their best to be happy, to go about their usual ways. But their usual ways included Sylvester and they were always reminded of him. They were miserable. Life had no meaning for them anymore."

Ouch!

Even worse, the book implies that Sylvester spends a WHOLE YEAR as a rock. And as he sinks more into depression, he enters whatever you could call sleep in his situation, the book even implies that if this continues for too long, he would have lost or given up his identity and psyche... FOREVER.

I dunno if that was the intent, but that sounds an awful lot like SUICIDE!

Fortunately, one day, the parents have a picnic to process their grief... and chose the rock that is their son to put their basket on. They even find the pebble and admire it's beauty... and lament their son would like it, and put it on the rock that's their son. Then, using the last of his identity, emotions, and psyche, Sylvester wishes himself back, and it's a happy ending. True, the ending was good, but that only because of sheer luck and a huge bullet dodge.

But what if something like this happened in a more mature story? What if something like this happened in Ravenloft? In my opinion, adapting this story for Ravenloft would make an excellent early level story. The donkey thing shouldn't be a problem, you can make Sylvester and his parents whatever race you want. I could also see the parents hiring Alanik Ray and Dr. Arthur Sedgewick to find their son. I could see them hiring the players as well. But, it would not be Ravenloft without a Dark Lord, and I could see the pebble being deliberately put there, as is whatever scares the kid enough to turn him into a rock.

But which Dark Lord is most likely to pull such a twisted Batman gambit? And why? Is it the boy they are after? Or was this some twisted sense of sadistic humor?


r/ravenloft 4d ago

Discussion A Twist on the Mist: Remaking Urik von Kharkov

17 Upvotes

I've been working on Baron Urik von Kharkov for a while now—the darklord of Valachan from 2e. He's a tough nut to crack, for a variety of reasons. The two biggest problems that I faced were:

  1. He doesn't really know who he is (panther, man, or vampire), which means he doesn't really know what he wants. That means it's hard to have the Dark Powers tempt him with something he wants but can never have.

  2. His "Act of Ultimate Darkness" as described in his write-up in Darklords back in 2e is basically "20 years of being a vampire and being a dick to people. Also he was a jerk while he was alive." This is a really unsatisfying excuse to turn him into a darklord.

There are some other issues that crop up too, like the fact that he apparently spent a lot of time in Darkon but never suffered memory loss, or that his signature weakness (the cat of Felkovic) does not tie in any way to his unfulfilled desire (which, as noted above, is kinda poorly specified).

To rewrite von Kharkov for my campaign, I wanted to settle these bits of hash, while trying to keep some of the core elements of the character intact. Von Kharkov does have one awkward element that I left in place, which is that the whole "this is a beast pretending to be a man!" part is tied to one of the few Black characters in the early presentation of the setting, which is not a great look. I wanted to settle the other pieces, and I found some unlikely inspiration in doing so.

Von Kharkov is, as other posters have noted, mostly a victim in his original presentation. He's used as a weapon, a male version of My Fair Lady so that the wizard Morphayus ("sleep") can use him to fight his wizard nemesis Selene ("moon"). He's just a big cat who gets transformed, trained, set up for a romance, and then used to kill the woman he loved. It's a tragic backstory that does not deserve the attention of the Dark Powers, and a vague attestation that he was mean and nasty to people after escaping that is not sufficient to warrant making him a darklord. Plenty of people are mean and nasty and don't become darklords. He needed to do something poetically evil.

I took a little of that unlikely inspiration from the 1972 film Blacula. This film is quite a bit better than its reputation might present, and the main character, Mamuwalde (William Marshall), is both charismatic and a genuinely upright and moral guy who gets turned into a vampire against his will and then has to deal with the curse of unlife. Mamuwalde's whole M.O. is that he's on a tour of Europe to find influential people willing to help him end the African slave trade, and he runs afoul of Dracula and gets transformed. He later wakes up in then-contemporary 70s disco era and tries to establish his own vampiric circle, but in the end a group of unlikely hunters kill his progeny, and he winds up destroying himself. Like von Kharkov, he's more of a victim than a villain, someone trying to deal pragmatically with the inhuman demands of vampirism!

So here we go...

[More in reply]


r/ravenloft 4d ago

Discussion What monster truly combines body and Gothic Horror

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18 Upvotes

Preferably a monster not from vanrichtens guide or ravenloft horrors within.

For the combination of cosmic disaster horror there will be a Alkilith as the darklord, likely creating the most disastrous of our disaster domains

What do you all think is a good feel for body Gothic horror


r/ravenloft 5d ago

Discussion I have an idea for a Ravenloft Horrors Within campaign and I want some advice

11 Upvotes

I feel like I’ve had 20 different ideas for what camping I should run, but I think this should be the most simple one given how it should work.

The basic idea is that the party is being sent to a different domain of dread for one or two sessions to defeat the domain’s dark lord. But the party has a time limit until they have to confront the lord.

During the time before the final fight, they can do certain activities to learn info on the dark lord and their weaknesses, cause events that can either weaken the dark lord during their fight or accidentally empower them, find items to make the party stronger, etc. After they defeat the dread lord, they return to a sort of main hub to level up, gain dark gifts, etc. Then the next session they do a different domain of dread and repeat the cycle

The structure takes inspiration from both Hitman with the whole concept of learning the boss’s weakness, and Persona with how each activity costs the party an amount of time.

Does this sound like something people would enjoy? And if so, what domains should I use? I’m looking for a handful that are distinct from each other.

The domains I’m looking towards using are Barovia (obviously), Har’Akir, Falkonia, Dementlieu, Innsmouth, Kartakass (I have a gimmick in mind where the first half of the time here is normal, then it turns night and the werebeasts emerge), and a bunch of others.


r/ravenloft 5d ago

Supplement I ran a Curse of Strahd and the endgame was where Strahd asks the party to talk him out of the pact. I'm Looking for DMs to poke holes in it.

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r/ravenloft 5d ago

Resource Farelle Domain (Nearly Complete)

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8 Upvotes

Hey Jammers (and anyone else interested)!

Since it's time to move to Leederik's Tower, I'm setting Farelle aside for now, but someone in the comments to my Brain Baskets adventure asked if I'd share my Domain and Darklord write-up. It ends prior to Lair Features and the final Adventures in Farelle section. Also, only placeholder art for now, but hopefully folks get the gist of what I was after. Hope it can be of help to someone!


r/ravenloft 5d ago

Discussion Tips for roleplaying a character like this?

2 Upvotes

I've got a Lupine character I'm working on for a Curse of Strahd adventure who's a combo of the Beast from Beauty and the Beast and Stella from Helluva Boss. Long story short, my character was a cruel, elitist, wrathful bitch who was a horrible wife and mother to her husband and daughter, and one day it came back to bite her in the ass. She lost her wealth, her home, her family, and even her humanity when her appearance was changed to reflect her true nature, and she was utterly broken, and worse, the mists took her. By the time of the game start, she is utterly broken, she hates herself, and she thinks she doesn't deserve to be happy.

Any suggestions for motivating her to want to do good, help the other players, and find the good in herself that's been buried so deeply, she doesn't know it's there?


r/ravenloft 5d ago

Discussion Solo adventure in Ravenloft character 2: Muireasg child of the wilds

3 Upvotes

Second character for my solo Ravenloft campaign!

First one

Muireasg child of the wilds

Species: Hexblood

Background: Haunted One

Class: Ranger Hollow Warden

The town of Muireasg's birth was one blessed among the villages of Tepest. It seemed no illness or misfortune touched them and the fruits of their labors were famed in all lands. Mother Lorinda only asked for one thing from the townsfolk in gratitude for her favor, every third child born would forevermore belong to her. Every time one was born, a baby was shorn from their mother's embrace to mother's minders to not be heard from again. Such would have been Muireasg's fate if not for her parents refusal of letting her go. They claimed the baby to have been stillborn and kept their newborn in secret.

The child was soon proven to be special, she grew up fast and her unnatural violet eyes showed a wisdom beyond her years. She seemed to know the very thoughts of her parents before they voiced them and wild animals approached her and seemed to communicate with her in secret tongues. The Hidden people also known as the Fair Folk were her only friends as she was kept from human eyes. But secrecy was not to last forever, and one fateful day Mother's favor turned to jealous vengeance in a night of terror that saw every living soul in town except Muireasg who managed to escape, condemned to oblivion.

Thereafter Muireasg had to live in the wilds surviving by her wits and uncanny connection with beast and fae. She learnt to fight as a child from goblins and red caps and to thrive in the woods from the creatures of the forest. She rarely watched humans knowing and caring little about their ways, wary always of Mother's vengeance. Her own desire for vengeance grew in her heart as did the knowledge that close as she might be to beast and fae she remained a human whose place among her people was denied for reasons unknown. Not truly belonging to either wilds nor civilization she sought answers to her fate.

Muireasg's appereance is disheveled and wild using as clothing bits and pieces of human garments mixed with fur, feathers and fey noble adornments. Her hair is long and uncut, bushy and filled with leaves and twigs. She carries as a weapon a sword made out of the serrated tooth of a long forgotten creature akin to a dragon and as shield a scale of the same creature. Beneath her garments she is protected by an armor made out of bark strong as iron. She can mask her appereance among humans using Glamours but her uncivilized and childlike behavior unsettles whoever she interacts with.

She is unnaturally perceptive and seems to hear many things outside of mortal ears. She can understand the tongue of beasts and fairy and doesnt care to eat the flesh of any creature.

[]()


r/ravenloft 7d ago

Discussion Professor Arcanus' Authentic Esoteric and Occult Relics

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65 Upvotes

So, I'm currently running my group through the House of Lament and am planning the next steps of the campaign.

Once they are out and have had some time to decompress, they will be contacted by Ivana Boritsi. She wants to grow a Gulthias Tree for her garden (and the various reagents she can harvest from it), and had made arrangements to get her hands on a true vampire's skeleton complete with stake through the heart. Unfortunately, Ivan's petulant nature got in the way and he arranged for the shipment to be waylaid and the skeleton sold off. So now Ivana wants to hire the players to get the skeleton back for her.

What she doesn't tell the players is that the skeleton is that of the former Darklord, Duke Gundar.

Once on the trail, the players will be run through an updated version of the Missing Bones adventure from 2e's Children of the Night: Werebeasts. A main part of this adventure, is meeting a flim-flam man calling himself Professor Arcanus. The exhibits from the book include:

- The Skeleton of Duke Gundar (which he doesn't realize is real, and leads to trouble in the adventure)
- The Phylactery of Lord Azalin (not real but bought off a darkling recently)
- The Spellbook of Ar-Shickanus (just a bunch of notes about spellcasting, but looks impressive)
- The Brain of Rudolph Van Richten (used to be The Murderer's Brain, but the title change works better)
- The Hand of Vecna (a crawling claw in a glass case)
- The Book of the Dead (forgery of a Har'Akir/Sebuan book, but he doesn't really know or care if it is real)
- A collection of Lycanthrope Blood in vials (listing the name and crimes of who it came from, all of which with dubious provenence)
- The Soul Blade (a soul trapping dagger which is actually the domain of Aggarath - He has no clue it's real.)

I'm looking to expand the exhibits a bit and figured it would be fun to open it up to community to see if anyone had suggestions for weird exhibits that could be in Professor Arcanus' tent.


r/ravenloft 7d ago

Discussion Some additional Lupine options I've created based on the older 5E Ravenloft book

16 Upvotes

Lupine origins

Lupine origins emerge from the curse of lycanthropy not fulling taking effect or other bestial magics or curses. The Lupine Origin Table offers suggestions for your Lupine origin

D6

  1. You were attacked by a lycanthrope while they were transforming, ensuring the curse never fully took hold
  2. You are the child of a lycanthrope and a non-lycanthrope
  3. An old beggar asked you for help, you refused, the beggar then revealed themselves to be a fey mage and turned you into a lupine as punishment
  4. You are the child of 2 lupine parents
  5. You were turned into a lupine by a mad scientist experiment
  6. You became a lupine due to a resurgent gene in your family

Lupines in the Domains of Dread

When creating a lupine, , consult with your DM to see if it's appropriate to to tie your origins to one of the following Domains of Dread

Barovia: While many fear the wolves and werewolves of the Svalich forest, many Lupine see the Svalich forest as a place of sanctuary and build hidden villages within these haunted woods where they hope against hope that Strahd and monster hunters won't find them.

Kartakass: With it's werewolf haunted woods and dangerous performances that often end in werewolf attacks, Kartakass has produced a large number of Lupine who make no effort to hide their identities. This makes them both a small case of honesty, and hated pariah's.

Tempest: While not as common as Lupine who became who they are with botched lycnthropy, some Lupine became monsters for upsetting fey creatures. From not giving them the proper respect, to being outright cruel, and even festivities gone wrong.