good vampires!
evil van richten!
risk being trapped forever by way of good deeds!
Good work
Let me know if you need a hand
PS
I could write a short tale if you have something in mind let me know brother
Yes, I need a hand,I just have the seedf of an idea for how to go with this,but no idea beyond the seed & I gave away the seed with the intro.
This is a cool idea. After I read it last night I was trying to imagine how the Brightlords (doveloftian darklords) would function. I've been trying to imagine how a Brightlord version of Straud would operate.
He commits the ultra-good deed of forgoing his love for Tatyana and allowing her to marry Sergei. This act seals his fate and Barovia becomes part of Doveloft where Straud perpetually commits benign/good acts to try to keep Tatyana with his brother?
Perhaps she is secretly in love with Straud, but he keeps trying to keep their marriage from falling apart? The only way to free Barovia from the mists (or whatever benevolent replacement you can think of for mists) is by committing the ultimate act of betrayal/immorality and stealing his brother's wife.
Just throwing out some ideas.
Bel
Rather than hording magic and seeking its ultimate power in the form of a lich, Azalin strives to share all of his magical knowledge with the world. Unfortunately, his generosity leads to him unwillingly aiding with some dark ritual that sends his domain off to Doveloft. His flaw is that he believes only magic can right the wrongs of the world; however, the only way for him to escape Doveloft is by eliminating magic altogether. For example, all of his benevolent efforts are thwarted by the mysterious nature of the exact magic he is trying to use to help people.
Any idea what the mirror van richten would be like though?
For every brightlord there is a evil npc after all.
Also what would be the brightlord version of the headless horseman be?
Doctor Rudolph Van Richten? He is a vampire maybe? His vampire son was saved by a brightlord from the curse of vampirism and now the bad doctor, combats all the good guys and publishes his research on them: Van Richten's guide to the Paladin; Van Richten's guide to the Cleric; Van Richten's guide to the Celestials; Van Richten's guide to the Deathless.
What about he Vistanis? They were a force of extrem neutrality. Were they not?
Nice, I like the new Van Ricten. I think the Vistani could almost stay as written. They are exteme neutrality, so why change them?
The "villain" is a Witch Hunter name Veldran Grimes.
The "victim" is the spirit of a Vampire, confined to his castle in the frozen mountains of (haven´t figured out the location yet).
The "henchmen" is a dark clad shapeshifter were panther.
So I´am thinking of a way to make this story work, hehe. It happened a few years ago.
I´ll be posting some words this week.
What do you fine people think that santa's domain should be like in doveloft?
I think having elves everywhere is a great idea (or gnomes if you want them to be more like the christmas special elves). Also, Santa should have a giant workshop for making toys. His curse should compel him to give gifts on Christmas Day without recourse.
What if his compulsion to create and give toys creates a terrible strain on local (The domain's) resources. So, in the process of providing what every villager wants most on Christmas day, Santa starves the domain be raping the land and demanding high taxes to do so. Of course, he doesn't see this as a problem since he is only concerned with providing each villager with their grandest desire.
Likewise, Santa is never seen in public; some villagers claim to have seen him on Christmas day, but no claims have ever been validated. His workshop is in an arctic desert which has terrible, impassable storms.
This is a start.
You know, an NPC doesn't have to be evil to be an enemy. Think of the priest who, in his zeal to get everyone into heaven, goes wonky in the old head and starts drowning babies in holy water to preserve them from sin; think of the sheriff who resorts to draconian measures to prosecute crime and winds up shooting speeders or shoplifters. The pursuit of goodness can quickly evolve into thought policing or iron-fisted persecution.
You might want to do this for all the major villians of this & other worlds(maybe?)
GET OUTA MAH HEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAADDDD!!!!!
Seriously though. I had thought about this for a while. There are so many stories about alternate negative versions of our world where evil is honored and goodness is a criminal offense... so, why shouldn't there be an alternate Ravenloft for this kind of world?
But do you just make mirror images of the existing Lords, or do these Dark Powers roam the multiverse searching heroes to punish?
That could explain the disappearance of Van Richten.
Entrance to the Demiplane of Hope (?) occurs by passing through a rainbow (there IS suppossed to be gold at the end of them afterall).
On the Barovia note, what if it's Sergei who's the Brightlord of Barovia. Recognizing that his brother is head over heals for Tatyana he steps aside and allows Strahd to marry her afterall. His selflessness however results in Strahd once again acheiving what he wants, which wasn't what the gods wanted to happen. Strahd still continues down his darker road but now he's brought Barovia's purest soul with him. This results in a Sergei controlled Barovia being sealed off to prevent Strahds evil from further corrupting the world...
On a side note, since the 4th edition materials are tying Ravenloft to Shadowfell, and the Feywild seems to be Shadowfells opposite perhaps checking there will yeild some interesting results...