Masque of the Red Death

[Angel Tarragon]

I was surfing through the Sword & Sorcery catalog and found that Masque of the Red Death will be made into a 3rd Edition Campaign Setting. I am aware that 2nd edition had this as a Ravenloft expansion, but I don't know anything about it aside from the fact that it is an alternate history of earth with gothic elements. I was wondering if I could get a little background on the campaign. Any help would be appreciated. Also how would this be any different from running an OGL Horror game set in the same time frame? Thanks.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Oooo. This is cool news. Fantastic. I have fond memories of Masque. I can't recall if there was a meta-plot to the setting but I remember us hunting down cults in London by gaslight. It was fun. LXG-style.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Once upon a time, Earth was a "normal" world, where magic was possible and easy to those who knew how to use it. Unfortunately, at some point some outside force, named the "Red Death", intruded into it, tainted the magical fields, and created all sorts of monsters (the standard D&D beasties). IIRC spellcasters had to do a Powers check every time they cast a spell, with a success chance equal to the level of the spell...

That's all I remember right now, and since my boxed set is in another city, I can't say more at the moment...

 

[DarkSoldier]

Once upon a time, Earth was a "normal" world, where magic was possible and easy to those who knew how to use it. Unfortunately, at some point some outside force, named the "Red Death", intruded into it, tainted the magical fields, and created all sorts of monsters (the standard D&D beasties). IIRC spellcasters had to do a Powers check every time they cast a spell, with a success chance equal to the level of the spell...

That's all I remember right now, and since my boxed set is in another city, I can't say more at the moment...

It's all Imhotep's fault.

Y'see, back in the days of the pharaoh, Imhotep was tasked with creating the magical seals that would preserve the pharaoh's tomb or somesuch, and instead, he acidentally opened a portal to another dimension, where a formless entity of purest evil slithered into our realm. Imhotep tried to send it back, but the Red Death corrupted one of his assistants, dooming the world forever.

The MotRD setting takes place in the 1890's. Magic is real, although anything touched by magic is invariably corrupted by the Red Death into hideous beasts. Victorian characters are real, ie. Sherlock Holmes. Virtually all of the evil stuff that happened in history (Mongol hordes, Roman Empire, Inquisitions, imperialism) was influenced by the Red Death at some level in this setting; in fact, a few prominent "evil" figures are literal monsters (Vlad Dracul is actually a vampire, for example).

 

[shilsen]

Does this game have anything to do with Edgar Allan Poe's short story of the same name, or is that just a coincidence?

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

It doesn't look like it, though that story could happen in a world like that. I saw the title and though, "Wow, I love that story," but it looks like not. Heh...not like you could make a short story like that into a campaign setting.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Does this game have anything to do with Edgar Allan Poe's short story of the same name, or is that just a coincidence?

About as much as the Roger Corman-film has to do with the short story, I'd wager.

 

[Frostmarrow]

In fact. I'd love to try out the new Castles & Crusades rules in The Masque of The Red Death. It could be just the thing I'd been longing for. I think a gaslight RPG is well suited for a less tactical game. I guess we'll see.

 

[Klaus]

The "Red Death" was named after Poe's story. Before that, it was a nameless force that corrupted the magic in the world.

Magic in Gothic Earth is akin to a spiderweb, with the Red Death being the spider sitting at the center of it. Every time you cast a spell, it's like tugging at one of the web's strands. Tug hard enough and the spider will notice you. If it does notice you, it will attempt to poison your mind and heart, and eventually you become one of its servants.

MotRD was/is one of my all-time favorite settings, and I am very glad of being one of the illustrators for the new book (I even got to paint Imhotep at the precise moment he summoned the Red Death).

Oh, and the Red Death was responsible for the burning of the library at Alexandria (where all the knowledge humanity had of the Read Death was stored at the time) and for the fall of Camelot (where the wizard Merlin tried to create a force of good and high ideals that could keep the Red Death at bay).

 

[Zweischneid]

Does this game have anything to do with Edgar Allan Poe's short story of the same name, or is that just a coincidence?

Since "Red Death" in the Masque is some ancient, alien entity, there's not really a connection.

The old MotRD Box did feature an adventure inspired by Poe's Story though.