Let me also point out that there've been connections established between Earth and other worlds, before. For example, the natives of Mulhorand in Forgotten Realms were slaves stolen from ancient Egypt in Earth. I think the same is true for the people of Unther, as well, although they're from, what, Messopotamia? Babylon? Don't remember. Point is, this wouldn't be the first time that a D&D campaign world has had some ties to Earth.
It's possible that I'm thinking of something else.
Why wouldn't it? Because I thought it was fantasy purely. It's gonna be interesting as hell then to see this guy react when he not only sees magic but monsters too. :P
You say that as if no one's ever told a story with supernatural elements using people from Earth. :P That's never stopped anyone, before, so why now?
I could be totally wrong here, but aren't discussions of novels (for some unfathomable reason) completely against the CoC?
It's possible that I'm thinking of something else.
That ban was lifted ages ago. As amazing as it seems, people around here actually gotten more mature (that or the extremely immature ones left). Its a scary thought when you consider how bad these forums get at times.
That ban was lifted ages ago. As amazing as it seems, people around here actually gotten more mature (that or the extremely immature ones left). Its a scary thought when you consider how bad these forums get at times.
Really? Well, it's encouraging to know that I wasn't completely wrong about that; why the heck was that ever disallowed, anyway?
As for maturity... well, it seems folks are more interested in arguing about editions these days, rather than all the other ol' favorites. (Ninjas, novels, samurai, guns, and katanas.) Whether this constitutes maturity, I'm not sure. :P
Really? Well, it's encouraging to know that I wasn't completely wrong about that; why the heck was that ever disallowed, anyway?
I've been drifting in and out of here for years, so I'm not certain of the specifics, but if I remember right the issue was that several authors posted here until some "fans" drove them out with their constant negativity, mudslinging, and insults directed at the authors.
why the heck was that ever disallowed, anyway?
Because it caused too many flames.
As for maturity... well, it seems folks are more interested in arguing about editions these days, rather than all the other ol' favorites. (Ninjas, novels, samurai, guns, and katanas.) Whether this constitutes maturity, I'm not sure. :P
The flames have to be better then the book-induced flames (or at least less common) as otherwise comparing the editions would be banned ;)
Because it caused too many flames.
The flames have to be better then the book-induced flames (or at least less common) as otherwise comparing the editions would be banned ;)
I've been drifting in and out of here for years, so I'm not certain of the specifics, but if I remember right the issue was that several authors posted here until some "fans" drove them out with their constant negativity, mudslinging, and insults directed at the authors.
Yikes, no wonder: that is bad! What the hell kind of idiots would be so inconsiderate?
Out of curiosity, do you recall some of the authors?
Out of curiosity, do you recall some of the authors?
I wasn't here, I'm basing it entirely on what others have said.
In Urban Arcana, the forced movement of people and monsters from the traditional D&D worlds to modern-day Earth (by way of Shadow/the Mist) was the primary backstory to the campaign setting.
And now in 4e, the Domains of Dread (i.e. Ravenloft) is no longer a seperate demiplane contained within the ethereal (which no longer exists), but is part of the Shadowfell, and it is implied that the Dark Powers that have always existed (not fully explained) behind the power of the Mists is also the same mysterious Powers that were behind the Shadow power source (as talked about briefly in the 3e book Tome of Magic.)
In my personal opinion, the connection they've made between Ravenloft and the Shadowfell is a great fit, and helps really tie some things together. For example, the Mist and the tides of Shadow always seemed to me to be pretty much two slightly different sides of the same exact coin, and with the two Powers now connected I feel that they make a lot more sense. In fact, in 3e/Modern the tides of Shadow would often show up either as creeping unnatural darkness/gloom or as an unnatural mist (identical to the way The Mist would appear.)
For another look at "Ravenloft Modern," Wizards is currently publishing a series called Ravenloft: The Dominion which so far takes place predominately in 1980s London.
The books in the series so far are:
Heaven's Bones by Samantha Henderson (which I reccomend)
Mithra's Court by David A. Page (which I'm currently reading)
The Sleep of Reason by C.A. Suleiman (comes out 2/3/09)
These books are listed in the inside cover of Heaven's Bones but aren't listed on Amazon for some reason:
Madness in Harmony by Walter H. Hunt
Black Damask by Scott Fitzgerald Gray
A Crown of Ahses by Ari Marmell
From what I've read so far I rather like the series, and I really hope it continues. It worries me that the last three books don't appear on Amazon.
These books are listed in the inside cover of Heaven's Bones but aren't listed on Amazon for some reason:
Madness in Harmony by Walter H. Hunt
Black Damask by Scott Fitzgerald Gray
A Crown of Ahses by Ari Marmell
From what I've read so far I rather like the series, and I really hope it continues. It worries me that the last three books don't appear on Amazon.
I'm afraid that's because the Dominion line--that is, the new Ravenloft line--was canceled.
But, you can read A Crown of Ashes--under its original name, Black Crusade--on the WotC site. They're publishing it as a weekly serial. So far, the prologue and the first two chapters are up.
Prologue is here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4dnd/20090116
Chapter one is here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4dnd/20090123
And chapter two is here: http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4dnd/20090130
I'm afraid that's because the Dominion line--that is, the new Ravenloft line--was canceled.
But, you can read A Crown of Ashes--under its original name, Black Crusade--on the WotC site. They're publishing it as a weekly serial. So far, the prologue and the first two chapters are up.
Prologue is here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4dnd/20090116
Chapter one is here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4dnd/20090123
And chapter two is here: http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4dnd/20090130
It really saddens me to see the Ravenloft: The Dominion series prematurely ended, but I'm glad your novel at least made "print" in some fashion, and I wish you luck in your future writing endeavers.
I only hope that they give us the rest of the series in the same format (or even as a recurring feature in Dragon, which would kick ass.)
I would like to see the online serials continue (both new Ravenloft fiction and if we're really lucky maybe some Core setting fiction, in order to grow and expand upon The World / The Middle World, as they referred to the core setting in the DM's Guide.) And if they make these serials part of the subscriber-only magazines, then they could rationalize paying authors to write them.
Fiction Serials I'd like to see done in this fashion:
- new Ravenloft fiction - both The Dominion (1980s Earth) and The Covenant (takes place entirely in Ravenloft as far as I know, and is so far only consisting of reprints of old books, however new serial fiction could change that)
- fiction taking place in some of the Core setting locations to help expand that world and its place within the D&D cosmology (and help us, the players and fans, determine if the new core setting is indeed actually Oerth long after some cataclysm [as my friends and I believe] since it seems to have ganked a lot of Greyhawks classic elements - such as the Tomb of Horrors and the Temple of Elemental Evil... there's even a sequel to the old D&D/Greyhawk module Against the Giants coming out this August.) Stories in this setting could include "heroes from the Nentir Vale", stories spun-off from the "Scales of War", stories dealing with "The Bleak Academy / Skull City" from Dragon #371, a story of Sunderheart from Dragon #368 (would also be a cross-over between the core setting and Ravenloft), stories of adventurers having to deal with the Ashen Covenant from Dragon #364, stories of the Vampire Kingdom talked about briefly in Open Grave, and finally adventurers unearthing the ruins of Bael Turath, Arkhosia, and some of the other ancient empires talked about in the core books.
- fiction centering around Sigil, and the goings-on in the City of Doors
- cross-world fiction centered on a Spelljammer crew (of all my suggestions this would be my absolute favorite, which would cause me to happily throw money at WotC for an annual subscription)
- fiction taking place in the Urban Arcana setting from 3e/Modern (which I really hope gets a 4e update)
In fact, I'd almost love to see WotC slightly raise the cost of a DDI subscription and give us a third magazine, seperate from Dragon & Dungeon just containing 1-5 monthly serials at a time, with new stories starting as others finished. I would very happily shell out more money for an in-continuity fiction magazine of this nature... especially if they did a recurring Spelljammer series. I've always been a big fan of cross-world travel in D&D... growing up I loved the Spelljammer comics from DC comics, and the D&D campaigns I DM almost always involve cross-world travel.
In fact, my group's end-of-3e campaign revolved around a highly modified and expanded version of the adventure Basion of Broken Souls. In my version, the soulless baby epidemic was being felt not only on Oerth/Greyhawk (the 3e core setting) but everywhere throughout the cosmology. The PCs had to travel between Oerth, Toril, and the modern day Earth setting (of Urban Arcana) searching for clues to the mysterious malady and what was causing it. I remember that I had placed the "Sleeper" section of the adventure in Paris, France.
Edit: This would also give WotC a place to showcase D&D fiction that they wouldn't otherwise publish in novel form, or that they don't currently have a novel range for.
It really saddens me to see the Ravenloft: The Dominion series prematurely ended, but I'm glad your novel at least made "print" in some fashion, and I wish you luck in your future writing endeavers.
Thanks.
new Ravenloft fiction - both The Dominion (1980s Earth)
Just to clarify, the Dominion line isn't linked to any specific date; it's just linked to Earth history at some point. Some of the novels are set partly in Victorian London, but others are not (such as Black Crusade, in which the Earth-based chapters are set in the Holy Land during the First Crusade).
And yeah, I'd love to see Wizards do more serialized fiction, too.
I'll get around to Black Crusade after that... but of course by the time I'm done with Mithras Court, Black Crusade will probably be entirely released and I can just read it all at once. I did read the prolouge when it was put up on the web site and was quite impressed. After reading the prolouge though, I've just been downloading each chapter to my computer for future reading.
I'm also really hoping that they reprint all of the old Ravenloft books as part of their Ravenloft: The Covenant line. I'm especially hoping they'll reprint Knight of the Black Rose and Specter of the Black Rose. I was a big fan of the Dragonlance Chronicles and Legends trilogies growing up and really liked the character of Lord Soth. Several years ago, I bought a copy of each of those books for my brother's birthday (since he was an old fan of both Dragonlance and Ravenloft as well), and told myself that when I had the money I'd get a copy for myself. But now that I go looking for them, they're hard to track down, and besides, a brand new reprint would be nice anyway.
On a related note... a friend of mine read some of the recent Dragonlance books that take place in the "present" of the setting (the War of Souls and the ones that came after) and he said that Soth is back... I'm just wondering, how the hell did a Darklord escape from his Domain? Is it all explained in the novels or is it just because Weisman & Hicks said so?
Thanks for that clarification... I was basing that on Heaven's Bones and Mithras Court. Heaven's Bones was set primarily in 1980s London (with bits of Civil War era America), and what I've read so far of Mithras Court is based out of 1980s London as well. I'm reading Mithras Court right now, but it's slow going because I do most of my reading at work (11 hour shifts as a security guard).
Well, the Victorian Era--I assume you meant 1880s, not 1980s ;)--is definitely one of the first time periods that people think of when they think of Gothic Horror, so it certainly makes sense that many of the new Ravenloft novels were set then. Heck, if the line had continued and I gotten to do more of them, I had some ideas for that time period myself.
I'll get around to Black Crusade after that... but of course by the time I'm done with Mithras Court, Black Crusade will probably be entirely released and I can just read it all at once.
Hope you find it worth the wait.
On a related note... a friend of mine read some of the recent Dragonlance books that take place in the "present" of the setting (the War of Souls and the ones that came after) and he said that Soth is back... I'm just wondering, how the hell did a Darklord escape from his Domain? Is it all explained in the novels or is it just because Weisman & Hicks said so?
Well, I don't want to spoil any specific details in case you do get your hands on the Soth Ravenloft novels, but that issue does come up--one way or another--in Spectre of the Black Rose.
Well, the Victorian Era--I assume you meant 1880s, not 1980s ;)--is definitely one of the first time periods that people think of when they think of Gothic Horror, so it certainly makes sense that many of the new Ravenloft novels were set then. Heck, if the line had continued and I gotten to do more of them, I had some ideas for that time period myself.
Well, I don't want to spoil any specific details in case you do get your hands on the Soth Ravenloft novels, but that issue does come up--one way or another--in Spectre of the Black Rose.
Oops, yeah I suppose 1880s would make more sense huh?
As for Lord Soth (for always sounds like he should be a dark jedi or something = Darth Vader vs Lord Soth
)... I'm sure I'll get my hands on those books eventually. The important thing I was worried about is that it is in fact brought up, and that the later-on story wasn't just a screw up or an arbitrary decision by Weisman & Hicks to move him back to Krynn without explanation.Oops, yeah I suppose 1880s would make more sense huh?
As for Lord Soth (for always sounds like he should be a dark jedi or something = Darth Vader vs Lord Soth
Read Knight of the Black Rose. If ever any book showed us what a fight between Darth Vader and Dracula would look like... ;)
As for Lord Soth (for always sounds like he should be a dark jedi or something = Darth Vader vs Lord Soth
While I can't say for certain, I've always believed that Lord Soth was--at least in part--the result of either Margaret Weiss or Tracy Hickman saying "You know, I wonder what a Darth Vader-like character would look like in a fantasy setting?" :D