Ravenloft: Carnival CH 1

dikawolf

Ravenloft: Carnival Isolde (NWS-DECJ5B66C Campaign)
CH 1 - The Night People (NW-DIXKRK5YY Quest)

Author: @Innovator
Type: Story-based
Average Running Time: 25 minutes

On the board is an eerie, teasing flyer, with strange colored designs. It advertises a Carnival. You have better things to do than cavort with freaks and con men, and yet something prompts you to seek out this place.

This first chapter of an episodic campaign will introduce you to the Carnival Isolde, a small but unusual domain that skirts in and out of the Demiplane of Dread detailed in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Accessory: Carnival (TSR11382) by John W. Mangrum & Steve Miller, based on the Ravenloft setting novel Carnival of Fear by J. Robert King.

dikawolf

This first chapter introduces the carnival along with the outcasts and lost souls which find solace here. Followed by, the first of a collection of storylines suggested in the accessory: The Night People.

The features included thus far:

1. A functional Circus/Carnival for RP purposes. [Note: I really wanted to see a Carnival in the foundry, which I haven’t seen done at the level depicted here].

2. Much of the lore from the accessory is included, though truncated and spaced out with some aspects being optional activities rather than just hitting a player with walls-and-walls of text. Feel free to check out its source accessory and book for a more comprehensive exposition into the setting.

3. The first half of the chapter features non-combat story quests. The following Night People quest features combat interwoven by way of a new spin on encounter waves in order to make combat more dynamic and fluid favoring story-telling. Hopefully, you'll enjoy the experience.

In future chapters, expect the inclusion of more storylines suggested within the supplement as well as drawing back the curtain little by little on the Carnival’s dark secrets:

1. Opening up more and more of the Carnival so it unfolds along with the rest of the story.

2. Introducing more lore from the accessory.

3. Show how Neverwinter itself along with the towns of the Sword Coast become affected by the intrusion of the mists.

4. Possibly, include a visit to another Domain of Dread (I’m not going to spoil which yet).

Hope you have as much fun with this adventure (make that more fun) than I had making it!