Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Castle Ravenloft - Hunt For The Fiend Teaser

Due to overwhelming curiousity on the part of my beloved readers, I've decided to upload the first half of my Hunt for the Fiend campaign for use with the Castle Ravenloft Board Game. I will be releasing all of the adventures within a Superfly Circus Exclusive Special Limited Edition (yeah, that makes it sound all kinds of fancy-pants, doesn't it) release. In other words, it'll only be here.


Anyhow, this teaser will indicate the kinds of adventures that the clever lad might deign to create if one were to have the time and imagination.  In my recent Castle Ravenloft review, some morons at Boardgamegeek.com noted that by "changing the rules" I was not actually evaluating the game itself, but rather "my version of the game". It's clear that those who said this have never actually played the game or read the rules, or they'd have understood that this clearly was not my epiphany, but rather, expanding the game under the confines of the existing rule set was the realization I had.


Well, to those who said such erroneous things, I respond with this: "Fuck You Very Much."  I would be banned from Boardgamegeek for saying that (and have been) but I can say what I want here, so please, have a coke and a smile, get out of your parents' basement where you have been living while dodging real responsibility and  pursuing your third MBA (Masters of Being an Asshat). Get a real job for the first time in your lives, you miserable, bitter fucks, and try actually creating something other than a white, crusty stain on the bottom of your desk, rather than attempting to constantly prove how smart you are by tearing others' work down.


Moving on...and back to the regularly scheduled programming.


The game is more than just a game, as anyone who has played it beyond the first 3 scenarios can see. It is a game system with virtually limitless options on what you can develop for it.  I'm not talking about major rules changes like "Branam's Variant" that substantially alter the core rule set and make the printed manual and reference cards included with the game virtually obsolete. I'm talking about scenario-specific, sanctioned changes that do not alter the core rules one whit, but instead build upon what was in the rule manual as well as the examples given in the adventure guide.


So, without further delay, I am happy to furnish you with the first part of this multipart campaign, "In Ravenloft's Shadow":


http://www.box.net/shared/zx10xteedx

5 comments:

Alchemyguy said...

I have no opinion on Castle Ravenloft (beyond the original AD&D adventures, mind you), but I do share your opinion of the interweb peanut gallery. I could rant, but people need to get some perspective.

kenchan13 said...

Wow, Brilliant mate! And fuck B.G.G. Most of those babies over there just like to argue. Great blog and love where this Ravenloft campaign is headed.

CitizenBen said...

I really enjoyed your review and whole heartedly agree. It isn't so much a game, but a tool set. This is the equivelant of a DMG, PHB, & MM for boardgames. The group I play with loves the idea of building thier own scenerios, characters, and narrative in storytelling. I'm looking forward to trying out your work.

=+=SuperflyTNT=+= said...

I revised a few items regarding scalability (and readability), which was one of my goals with this adventure:

1. Changed verbiage a bit on the monster draws from the Adventure Deck. The main change was that I specified WHO gets the first card, and also that excess cards are discarded.

A key flaw in the Ravenloft stock adventures are that they are either too hard or too easy, depending on the number of players. I have fixed this by forcing the monsters to be handed out in a specific distribution, and thus less players means less monsters, and more players the opposite.

The next scenario follows in this vein, but is more closely tied to the concept that "the Vampire's magic causes the layout to shift continually". Thus, there are mostly random tiles with a couple of key points put into the mix.

Please play the hell out of it! Let me know if it sucks! :)

StephenAvery said...

I agree that programming the cards will make the game a whole lot better. Despite it beinmg a very good co-op game, It just didn't deliver the dungeoncrawling experience I was expecting (desiring). Adding the storyline and thematic encounters is one step closer to that.

I'm still not conviced though that the game in "Amazing." Good but dry with some great ideas on mechanics. I'd have to agree with some of the others that the D&D 4.0 gives you a richer gaming experience in the same vein.

Steve"reluctant h8ter"Avery