D&D 5E Travelling to the past in Ravenloft
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Aaron L
Hero
It sounds like you might be talking about Roots of Evil, one of the original Ravenloft modules from 2nd Edition, and involves Azalin sending a group of PCs back in time to try to wreck the original formation of the Demiplane of Dread by interfering with the events at Sergei's wedding and stopping Strahd's Pact with "Death." It's the final part of a series of 5 modules about Hyskosa's Hexad, a prophecy of a Vistani seer who predicted the Grand Conjunction, a massive event that lead to the breakup of the Land of Mists, and each module covers one of the verses, although you can still easily run the final adventure on its own. (The Grand Conjunction is the event that rearranged the Demiplane of Dread as presented in the revised Ravenloft boxed set.)
I've owned the module for years and have read over it many times but never run it, but if I ever did I would incorporate material from the novel I, Strahd as a source of more information. Such a great book, I was actually just recommending it to a bunch of people last week. (I persuaded my non-gaming mother to read it years ago and she loved it, and last week I convinced my non-gaming aunt to find a copy to read.)
I, Strahd would give you plenty of details and feeling to use in the game, including a lot of the main guests at the wedding and Strahd's activities during the event as well as a lot of atmospheric style. The book begins in the tent encampment of Strahd's army the morning after the final assault against the Terg warlord Dorian that won the Castle that would become Ravenloft, runs through the initial years of Strahd's rule of Barovia, through the events of the wedding and his transformation into a vampire, and then goes into some followup events a few decades later that tie into the night of the wedding. It's so good. (The story as told in "The Book of Strahd" is revealed to be an edited version of the events that Strahd altered to keep people from knowing the full details of his history, and the way he is written in the novel makes Strahd an extremely cool, sympathetic, and noble yet Evil character.)
There's a great character in the novel who isn't in the Ravenloft sourcebooks, Alek Gwilym, who originally entered Strahd's command as a foreign mercenary decades before the book starts, but rose through the ranks through sheer talent to become Strahd's right hand man in the army, and finally Strahd's main security/intelligence officer as ruler of Barovia, and his only real friend (even if Strahd doesn't realize it til the end.)
If you plan on running such a game using Roots of Evil, I would highly recommend incorporating the events of I, Strahd; the events straight from the module are pretty dry.
I've owned the module for years and have read over it many times but never run it, but if I ever did I would incorporate material from the novel I, Strahd as a source of more information. Such a great book, I was actually just recommending it to a bunch of people last week. (I persuaded my non-gaming mother to read it years ago and she loved it, and last week I convinced my non-gaming aunt to find a copy to read.)
I, Strahd would give you plenty of details and feeling to use in the game, including a lot of the main guests at the wedding and Strahd's activities during the event as well as a lot of atmospheric style. The book begins in the tent encampment of Strahd's army the morning after the final assault against the Terg warlord Dorian that won the Castle that would become Ravenloft, runs through the initial years of Strahd's rule of Barovia, through the events of the wedding and his transformation into a vampire, and then goes into some followup events a few decades later that tie into the night of the wedding. It's so good. (The story as told in "The Book of Strahd" is revealed to be an edited version of the events that Strahd altered to keep people from knowing the full details of his history, and the way he is written in the novel makes Strahd an extremely cool, sympathetic, and noble yet Evil character.)
There's a great character in the novel who isn't in the Ravenloft sourcebooks, Alek Gwilym, who originally entered Strahd's command as a foreign mercenary decades before the book starts, but rose through the ranks through sheer talent to become Strahd's right hand man in the army, and finally Strahd's main security/intelligence officer as ruler of Barovia, and his only real friend (even if Strahd doesn't realize it til the end.)
If you plan on running such a game using Roots of Evil, I would highly recommend incorporating the events of I, Strahd; the events straight from the module are pretty dry.
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Enrico Poli1
Adventurer
Actually "From the Shadows", whose second part is "Roots of Evil".
Best Ravenloft adventures, in my opinion, After the original.
Best Ravenloft adventures, in my opinion, After the original.
Aaron L
Hero
Yes, Roots of Evil is the sequel to From the Shadows, which itself is the 4th part of the Hyskosa's Hexad series of modules, which began with Feast of Goblyns.
Feast of Goblyns is a great module, if only for the wonderful specialized Ravenloft character sheet that is included with it.
LuisCarlos17f
Legend
I would dare to say we could see that modules published again, but complicated in one book.
I start to suspect Strahd is a monster because he rejects all opportunities to get rendition, and although he is responsible of the curse over his land he also has been tricked victim by some supernatural conspiration to force him to fall in the dark side of the force.
My homegrown lore allows time travels altering timelines but the original isn't erased really but it becomes something like a demiplane of dreams, with some planar holes could allow invasions by creatures from the far realm. This means more alterations by time travelers more planar holes allowing potential invasions by alien abominations. Some timelines with "sad ending" or distopies become "land of nightmares", not too different from the demiplane of dread. This allows strange surprises like a post-apocalypse Krynn where lord Soth who looks for redemption to be allowed to meet with his family faces again god Raistlin. And both sometimes have to become allies against a common enemy, the kingpriest of Ishtar, also a demigod in its own demiplane of knightmares.
The metaplot about Ravenloft will be stopped for some years more, but there are ambitious plans about this.
I start to suspect Strahd is a monster because he rejects all opportunities to get rendition, and although he is responsible of the curse over his land he also has been tricked victim by some supernatural conspiration to force him to fall in the dark side of the force.
My homegrown lore allows time travels altering timelines but the original isn't erased really but it becomes something like a demiplane of dreams, with some planar holes could allow invasions by creatures from the far realm. This means more alterations by time travelers more planar holes allowing potential invasions by alien abominations. Some timelines with "sad ending" or distopies become "land of nightmares", not too different from the demiplane of dread. This allows strange surprises like a post-apocalypse Krynn where lord Soth who looks for redemption to be allowed to meet with his family faces again god Raistlin. And both sometimes have to become allies against a common enemy, the kingpriest of Ishtar, also a demigod in its own demiplane of knightmares.
The metaplot about Ravenloft will be stopped for some years more, but there are ambitious plans about this.
Did that for both scenes in the hyskosa hexad. I do not know what chris did I used the 2e material.
In this, Azalin sends back the heroes through time to prevent Strahd becoming a vampire, but not the actual heroes but their spirits who possess e.g. guard soldiers, servants and other personnel. I nthe second scene they witness the wedding and killing of tatjana and strahd becoming a vampire.
Spoiler:
It was quite a railroaded scenery, it was intended to fool the players they could do something with their 10 hp cannon fodder serfs, bt of course they could not alter history. The adventure then recommended that any serf controlled PC coming close enough to alter something relevant would be killed off in a most gruesome way by Strahd(with his newfound vampire form).
The adventure even had a spreadsheet to track round by round actions and movements of the PCs. I think I can remember they could eventually even do something, throwing the symbol of ravenkind out of the castle or such , but I cannot recall anymore.
But you can read it up in the adventure. The series is highly recommendable but if you run it, you got to change the order of the adventures, and alter the strength of the mobs to the assumed party level. (Fraternity of shadows website has some advice on this) because only then they make sense in context of the prophecies occurring in the correct order.
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