r/ravenloft

I’ve been fascinated by the time period conflicts in CoS for a while. It’s Dracula adjacent which is based in the 1890s and has a cowboy with pistols.

So I figured a Realm that joined a bit later might be more WW1 coded. I also love the idea of waves of undead being funneled into choke point by trench systems but they’ve been fighting so long there is no ammo. So soldiers have resorted to using bayonets and rifles lay discarded on the ground. Over time things devolved back to using bows and crossbows.

The 1890s are also an interesting time as it’s just after the Franco Prussian war where Prussian Cavalry were still using armour but right before WW1. So it’s plausible to have a ton of soldiers with mixed Armour, sabres, a few rare pistols with ammo.

It’s right before the abandoned armour so it’s a perfect setting to mix concepts. And the choke points, defensive systems and waves of undead make for some interesting and scary encounters. Changing to attrition based encounters with PCs fighting massive amounts of undead and having to smartly create choke points to win and dealing with skeletal archers preparing actions to fire if you poke your head up from the trenches is 👌.

I’m using VTT for my campaign and imported a trench network to make maps for the encounters and it looks like a lot of fun.

But I think drawing that analogy of Falkovnia is to Prussia what Barovia is to Transylvania makes me probably too happy.

So I’m curious if anyone has any input?

Hi, I'm a Castlevania fan and have been interested in Ravenloft for some time but not explored it at all. Where's the best place to start? Old source books modules? VRGtR? Horrified or Castle Ravenloft (boardgames)? The TSR novels? Something else?

I'm happy to add more details if needed to find the right thing.