204 lines
9.7 KiB
Plaintext
204 lines
9.7 KiB
Plaintext
==========================
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Results: Ravenloft Ratings
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==========================
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Compiled by: brooks@odie.ee.wits.ac.za (Goth)
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[Note: This file is one section of the ratings posted on December 22, 1994
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to rec.games.frp.dnd; it is included in order to make the publically
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available ratings as complete as possible.]
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==============
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Points Ratings
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==============
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In order for a product to appear on the points rating table, it must
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have at least five votes. Products are listed in points order, from
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highest to lowest.
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/-------------------------------------------------------\
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| - Key - |
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| Score = the product's average rating |
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| Low = the lowest rating anyone gave this product |
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| High = the highest rating anyone gave this product |
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| Voters = the number of people who rated the product |
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\-------------------------------------------------------/
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Note: Results for the 1st Edition modules are included in the results
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summary for the 1st Edition AD&D products.
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Product Score Low High Voters
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------- ----- --- ---- ------
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RM4: House of Strahd 8.6 6 10 7
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RA1: Feast of Goblyns 8.4 7 10 5
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RR3: Van Richten's Guide to Vampires 8.1 5 10 10
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RM2: The Created 8.1 6 10 7
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RQ1: Night of the Walking Dead 8.0 7 9 5
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MC10: Ravenloft 7.8 6 10 12
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The Awakening 7.8 7 9 6
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RA2: Ship of Horror 7.7 7 8 6
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RR5: Van Richten's Guide to Ghosts 7.5 5 10 8
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Van Richten's Guide to the Created 7.5 5 10 8
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Dark of the Moon 7.4 6 10 6
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RM1: Roots of Evil 7.3 4 9 7
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RR6: Van Richten's Guide to the Lich 7.3 4 9 7
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Forbidden Lore 7.3 6 9 6
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RQ3: From the Shadows 7.3 5 9 6
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RR2: Book of Crypts 7.2 5 10 7
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Castles Forlorn 7.2 6 9 5
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RR1: Darklords 7.1 5 10 8
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RR7: Van Richten's Guide to Werebeasts 7.0 4 9 7
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Realm of Terror 6.9 4 9 23
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MC15: Ravenloft II: Children of the Night 6.9 3 10 8
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RR4: Islands of Terror 6.6 4 9 7
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New Edition Ravenloft Campaign Setting 6.3 2 10 10
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RQ2: Thoughts of Darkness 5.2 3 7 5
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========
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Comments
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========
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This next bit is a selection of comments people have sent in. I've
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removed some remarks which were very similar, especially for products
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which provoked large quantities of comment and I've done some minor
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editing for grammar and spelling. Other than that, this is how they
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were sent in.
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Boxed Sets and General Comment
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------------------------------
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I really liked Ravenloft, possibly the best thing about 2nd Edition
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even though the domain lords, with the exception of Strahd and Lord
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Soth are wimps and barely worth most PCs time. However, if a clever
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DM has the guts, they can try and mix the same sort of air that a
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well run Call of Cthulhu game can have. Where Ravenloft suffers the
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most is perhaps that it falls apart too quickly when the PCs get past
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9th or 10th level, most other game worlds are the same, especially
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Krynn. This cannot be compensated for as was attempted in in Dark
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'Gamma World meets Rifts' Sun, Munchkinism doesn't work in AD&D, most
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characters should be retired after 18th to 20th level. Anyways,
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Ravenloft works well for PCs between 3rd and 8th level and can make
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a good stop over during a larger adventure, say in the Realms or
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Krynn. The DM, unless the PCs are aware that the game is going to be
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played that way, shouldn't go out of his way to drive the players
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mad. On the whole, I give the entire Ravenloft campaign setting a
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'7', probably the highest rating I can give any 2nd Edition piece.
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Forbidden Lore was wonderful. The dice seemed like a last-minute
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add-on, but the rest was superb, especially expanded rules on curses
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and Powers checks.
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Can't help but be a little disappointed by Castles Forlorn. The
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setting itself is well-detailed and very good, but the adventure
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hooks just weren't there for me.
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In general I like the feeling of Ravenloft, but there is often limits
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inherent to TSR's marketing policies that limit its usefulness. The
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monsters are were originally well done, but have now become more
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cardboard cut-outs of classic gothic horror works. The Van Richten's
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Guide series appear to have some use, but seem like TSR rip-offs of
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White Wolf material than anything else.
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The modules were good, and the short crypt adventures are pretty
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good. But the many world-specific domains (Dark Sun, Spelljammer) are
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a little strained. The whole world is better as a series of
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encounters than a world in and of itself. I take the best of the
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domains and transplant them into "real" campaign worlds (like the
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Known World).
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I'm looking forward to using this. Full of possibilities, and nice
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things to launch on PCs who fall into the dark side of the Force(tm).
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Ravenloft was OK, but should not have been another setting. In my
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view, this has sharply limited its usefulness, despite a generally
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good concept. Not as rich or detailed as other settings. Also, its
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lords were either pushovers or sure-fire party killers.
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Ravenloft is the only one of the campign settings that I have. It was
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rather hard to mark, as the setting was so cool, but the set itself
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so poorly put together.
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Not bad, but a little vague on world description (too much in too
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little space), and perhaps set a little too far forward in science
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for my tastes (17th-19th century).
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Ravenloft, I think, depends too much on the DM's own ability to
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strike terror into his players. The setting is meant to help you with
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that kind of stuff, Ravenloft didn't as much as one would want.
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I loved to play in Ravenloft as a player, especially on Friday
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the 13th...
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Supplements
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-----------
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Use the creatures from MC10 on a foggy night in WaterDeep and watch
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the players who memorize monster stats scream :-)
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MC 10 has a good mix of monsters, from low-powered monsters to
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master vampires. MC 15 is nice for generating adventure ideas from
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the monsters, but nothing is so unique a creative DM couldn't have
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come up with it.
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The plots in RR2 are usable most of the time though the adventures
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for the low levels are much better than the ones for the high levels.
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A comment on the reason for rating VRGtV a "10": Yeah, I'm the same
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guy that gave "10"s to FOR2 and Menzo. What can I say? I'm
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horribly, horribly biased. I admit it. I love vampires too.
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MC10, the obligatory Ravenloft MC, was just kind of there. Most of
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the creatures were run-of-the-mill spooky types, or filled in gaps
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from the MC system.
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MC15, Ravenloft Compendium II, contains some very compelling
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characters, and showcased one of Ravenloft's strengths.
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Individualizing opponents is one of the primary tools for making them
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"better" (read: more disturbing for the players). Although most of
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the NPCs are standard monster-types, all of them have a wonderfully
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twisted history which makes them much more than "ordinary." A very,
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very good work.
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Darklords gave needed detail on major lords, as well as other new
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lords that were very interesting (Ebonbane, the House on the Hill).
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The new lords in this book never made it to the New Edition; grab
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this while you can, Ravenloft DMs!
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Book of Crypts contains maybe one or two decent adventures; the rest
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is of lower quality than I would have expected.
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Van Richten's Vampires contains rules for vampires that I now
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consider essential, and use even in non-Ravenloft games. As with
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MC15, the designers of Ravenloft realized that individualizing the
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foe (in this case, so that you aren't sure how to defeat it) makes
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for rich horror.
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Islands of Terror is another hit-or-miss product, like Book of
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Crypts. A couple of the islands show imaginative design, but others
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should have been excluded. Not on my list as a can't-live-without RL
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product.
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Van Richten's Guide to Ghosts seemed hurried to me, but the
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information there is valuable all the same. Included here is a system
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for codifying all incorporeal undead, while making each unique; I
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like it a lot.
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Van Richten's Guide to the Lich is another superb VR's Guide. Can't
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write enough praise about it. Takes the demi-lich to a whole new
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level of power; now it's a foe worthy of the years it takes to become
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one. Liches themselves receive such detailed treatment that this one
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is a must-have for any campaign featuring a lich as a major opponent.
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Werebeasts was very good but suffered slightly from its (necessary)
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treatment of different wereforms. All told, though, the information
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adds tremendously to the understanding of these creatures.
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Van Richten's the Created is achingly good; golems in Ravenloft
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receive such detailed treatment that it's impossible to put down.
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Ancillary sections on golems other than flesh seemed like add-ons,
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but this too was necessary since flesh golems are so much easier to
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make (from Van Richten's point of view). Here, finally, is the reason
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WHY Adam turned on Dr. Mordenheim, and WHY a golem in Ravenloft is
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such an intractable foe.
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Van Ri |