I started playing Advanced Dungeons & DragonsTM when I was fourteen and, by necessity, was forced to become a Dungeon Master by the time I was fifteen. When the guy who had introduced me to the game quit playing it, a group of five of us found ourselves without a DM. The process by which I, with my six month�s worth of experience, was chosen to be the DM of five people who had been playing for at least a few years, is unimportant for this article. What is important is one of the effects that it had on my gaming future.
In March of 1990, the month that I turned fifteen, I found myself in a small bookstore in my grandmother�s hometown of Kennett, MO, looking for ideas for my campaign. While here, I purchased a copy of the first edition Monster Manual and an issue of "Dungeon Adventures." I also found a module that easily caught my eye. Although unused, it had been in the store so long that the plastic shrink wrap was falling apart. But the module seemed to leap out to me in an almost supernatural way and, with just a glance at the vampire on the cover, I gladly spent the extra seven bucks for it.
When I got back to my grandmother�s apartment, I tore into the already haggard plastic and hungrily devoured the contents of the module. The story was thrilling and read like a true horror novel. Although shorter than the few other modules that I had seen, the story line was amazing. I couldn�t wait to toss my players into Castle Ravenloft.
My group loved it. Strahd Von Zarovich just wouldn�t leave the characters alone. The PCs barely escaped the vampire lord with their lives. The heroes, for the first time since we had started the campaign, had found an arch-nemesis. Their hatred for Strahd grew as they returned again and again to face him, only to be routed by his minions or, more rarely, the Count, himself. That campaign was retired in the early winter of 1990, as I began to purchase the 2nd Edition books. Strahd, much to the chagrin of my players, was still very much alive . . . well, as alive as a vampire can be, anyway.
My home of Van Buren, MO, wasn�t exactly a thriving metropolis. The 800+ population didn�t seem subject to growth at that time. The closest large town was Poplar Bluff, nearly an hour away. And, in the early nineties, I know of no place even there that carried Dungeons & Dragons books. Kennett was twice as far, and the bookstore where I had purchased my early books closed down during my junior year of high school in early 1991. My only hope for purchasing new books came from a mail-order company called Wargames West. It was in the 1992 catalog of this New Mexico-based company that I found a small add for an $18.00 boxed set which detailed a campaign setting that brought delightfully familiar chills to my spine.
The gothic horror description was fascinating. But the name of the setting was what really caught my attention. It was the only word in the Dungeons & Dragons game that could bring forth memories of a war in a long-ago campaign . . . Ravenloft. I sent in the order within two days of getting the catalog and, within two weeks, I was updating my knowledge of the history of Strahd Von Zarovich, as well as his contemporaries.
A month later, my players found themselves lost in the mists . . ..
Now, I had tried to keep as much of my new boxed set a secret from them as I could. They were actually in the Demiplane of Dread for several sessions before they finally ended up in Barovia. Stalked through the Barovian countryside by an unseen enemy, they finally met their old adversary, updated for 2nd Edition rules, in a mausoleum in Vallaki.
I had never realized it before but, when I saw the gleam in they eyes of my players, I realized that this wasn�t about their characters. I realized that Strahd was their archenemy. As far as they were concerned, he had chased them through that campaign in 1990 as they had moved about the countryside, Irena Kolyana in tow, trying to keep an innocent from losing her soul to a monster�s lust. And now, it was payback time.
They fought valiantly, but they failed again to kill the vampire. Losing two of their number, they decided to regroup. In the next session, I delighted in sending their former companions up against them as Strahd�s new minions. As the campaign wore on, the players all but forgot their mission to find a way back to Krynn as they set up a base just across the Barovian border, from which they launched attempt after vain attempt to kill Strahd.
Over the next four years, we had a few different campaigns. Some of them landed in Ravenloft at one time or another, and they even found themselves unwittingly creating their own new villains. In my own Ravenloft world, there is an island to the north of the Isle of Demise that is ruled by a villainous wizard by the name of Arcanus, who, coincidentally, was once a PC mage.
In 1996, due to outside pressures best left unmentioned, I decided to get out of the RPG hobby. I sold my gaming supplies and tried to put the worlds of D&D out of my mind. It was Ravenloft, however, that brought me back. Well, to be more precise, it was the Kargatane web-site that did the trick. I found their site in 1999 and, through them, I learned of all that I was missing in my favorite world.
I began to purchase all of the Ravenloft resource material that I could find. Having moved to the St. Louis area, I found the selection of used bookstores to be invaluable. Ebay was also very helpful. I waited patiently for the release of the 3rd Edition books last year and now find myself waiting much less patiently for the re-release of Ravenloft for the third edition rules. I search the Kargatane web-site daily for any info that I can find.
We know that the main book will be a 224 page hardcover. The contents of the book will be player-friendly . . . That is, it will be usable by the players and, thus, will have no "DM Only" information. It has been written by Andrew Cermak, John W. Mangrum and Andrew Wyatt and has a release date of October 8.
The second book, Secrets of the Dread Realms, will be 72 pages in length and it contains information primarily for the Dungeon Master. This is the book that will include the stats for the Darklords and, hopefully, other important NPCs, as well. The book will come with a Ravenloft DM�s screen. Like the previous book, the authors are Andrew Cermak, John W. Mangrum and Andrew Wyatt. It has a release date of November 5.
The third book, Denizens of Darkness, will be the Monster Manual of the setting. It will contain 160 pages and has a release date of December 10.
I�m holding my breath in anticipation. A few of my players have followed me to St. Louis, and I can�t wait to continue the endless feud . . ..