The topic of abusing the lower class particularly interested me with this setting, since my first thoughts were Victorian London and the practice of resurrectionists who participated in grade robbing for medical purposes. Hoping to see some of that here!
Love the fact that in Lamordia the Dark Lord isn’t a « big bad stat block » at all ! Horror lives better when you are stuck « inside the worldview » of the Lord.
When my game shop was open 13 years ago, when we run Ravenloft it was starting the first three to five games of playing .. normal .. everyday people. With professional jobs. 3.5e system skill: Profession ( fishermen/ town guard/ manager: son of the mayor/ farmer) Starting games to build up Xp, .. a.) villagers gathering to circle and walk a line to drive field rats out in mass in club and have the dogs play the game of " rat baiting." A rat bite could turn you into a wererat. b.) Clearing out a nest of .. large spiders .. out from under the windmill. c.) Catching and raising large spiders to harvest their silk wraps after you let lose rats into the spiders barn. Ravenloft have spiderwere called Red Widows that are all female red heads, they first show up as six year old little girls. d.) Start everyone off as rangers or druids with Animal Empathy and wolf companions, they are all sheep or goat herds, maybe cowboys if set in Nova Vaasa. They spent most of their time sling hunting small game and chasing down snakes. Along with fist fighting. After a few games let the country Hill Billy find out they are .. werewolves. e.) Barovia country teens, athletic rogues running the woods at night tripping up and pranking the zombies, and howling at the wolves from the trees' branches. They test their courage so a mage will train them, bold enough hunter runner to join a wolf pack, or to become a knightly defender of the land. As it was mention in the earlier Ravenloft setting books, to throw the PC a loop, have some living Lawful Neutral guards protecting Castle Ravenloft and going about on Strahd's orders. f.) Lamordia down to Mordent, the western coastal line is set in more of the early to mid 1800's northern French/ English culture. So my gaming group just love to run ourselves as Welsh fishermen. Young men of boys being boys getting into normal trouble and avoiding any .. real .. horror monsters. And anytime they face off with some form of Call of Cthulhu sea monster, even a very small one, they hit the bottle of rum after wards. But they/ we did have a few Verberk werewolves as PCs and they put out their addition to Van Richten guide to werebeasts: Everything you need to know about Verberk werewolves. After the Van Richten's guides been out close to ten years, more and more werebeasts in my shop's Ravenloft campaign setting were coming out in public. If no one hasn't just disappeared in a community for the pass 20 years, and the wild wolves have been stay away from the local herds cause of the werewolf .. efforts. Well, having a known werewolf as a town guard that can track down thieves, does keep people from robbing the town folk. outskirt farmer, " But you have a werewolf to deal with that monster out in the forest !" Village mayor, " That werewolf is a coward & mama boy, also that monster already broke his jaw along with a dozen ribs, his arm and both his legs. He ain't going anywhere anytime soon. We already lost four of our own men, and it take five others to drag that dog home. Can't lose a good rat eater." 2.) My game shop also played White Wolf/ World of Darkness: Vampire/Werewolf. So we did run whole campaign game in d10 instead of d20.
Spoilers: After reading the chapter, it seems that storyarch was skipped over. Victor have been changed into Viktra Mordenheim. She still try to save Elise but failed to save her in life, then revive Elise post death. So Elise somewhat replace Adam, avoiding her creator and mimicking Frankenstein's Monster.
@@matneyx Not that hard. You can actually keep the entire arch of Adam being an earlier model, then forward the plot to where Elise died, got revived and Adam still being around so you have two of the golems around, either in conflict, having their respective domain, or joining forces.
There is a lot of emphasis of the reborn as "Frankenstein's Monster" type beings. I see very few people who are exploring characters who are more like ... the Nameless One from Planescape Torment. Playing a character who isn't a constructed body, but rather by whatever means is in an immortal body, but with a mortal pysche. And that past you have to reckon with isn't like memories from a distant body. It's the memories of your body, but not yourself. Or, if you feel like ripping off a connected work, you could examine the idea that there is a wizard who is making reborn bodies to prolong his life, but you could play one of these reborn characters after he leaves the shell for another body: never intended to have consciousness, but when left without a "self" developed a working own sense of self. Or, alternatively, you could be a shell intedended to be inhabited by another being, but developed an internal existence before your body could be "inhabited". The concept of the Reborn speaks to me in much greater terms than just "flesh golem body."
So is Victor now Victoria? And does she still have Victor's tragic backstory involving Adam and Elise? Can't wait for the new book. Just hope it adds to what was included in the Domains of Dread book.
Obviously, D&D has gone political and I think you'd be naive to think this change wasn't to appease people concerned with representation. Because those people are a large part of the community and WotC is a corporation. However, its a meaningless, superficial change to appease people who don't look deeper than the superficial.
Victor is now Viktra. Elise is somewhat a partner to Viktra rather than a wife. In this book Elise have already passed away AND been revived by Viktra, but now avoids her. Elise is now kinda what Adam were. Elise is the Frankenstein's Monster.
@@Shannovian The "representation" angle doesn't make sense to explain the changes to canon. Had they kept themselves to canon, the 17 in-depth domains would have had 7 men and 8 women as the primary darklord/vip (+1 gender switching and one monster). Now its 3 men and 12 women. And its the work of a woman they skipped (Lisa Smedman).
I am also upset with change, and wanting to know why... Change is inevitable however, so I adjusted. I am running my group through a heavily modified Adam’s Wrath. I changed the adopted daughter Eva to Victor and Elise having a daughter: Viktra, keeping Adam throwing her from the balcony, with her surviving but becoming crippled (she walks with a heavy limp). The campaign takes place years later, Viktra now an adult, along with her father Victor, are trying to revive Elise. Took out all but the sea hag and took out the fleas of madness BS. Took out the sea wolves lycans, and kept the fact that Baron Aubrecker is mad, but is suffering from dementia instead. Keeping the maladies and injuries to real world equivalents/mad science theme due to the aversion to magic in Lamordia. Made it flow better and more of a murder mystery with the living brain and bagmen collecting bodies for Victor and Viktra. Party is having a blast with it so far. Next part will have the undead army of Azalin marching on Lamordia for “Recruits” on their way to Barovia, leading to a version of Roots of Evil. Will end at the Necropolis having the grand conjunction to come to pass, and hopefully the players can escape the Domains of Dread.
So they just throw the Adam character away? That's genuinely upsetting and disappointing, and because getting new Adam stuff was a big motivator of mine, really makes me reconsider purchasing this book.
@@Leiliel1 That's fine. Don't have him as the dark lord, but don't erase his existence. Reading the original Frankenstein or not has no bearing, Lamordia is adapted enough to be it's own distinct fiction. Besides if your argument is that the original Lamordia is bad because it deviates too much from Frankenstein then the New Lamordia is even worse, as the deviations are much larger.
@@tylerdavis6389 I mean, you could just add him back in. Have him be an enigma or a wanderer who doesn’t remember his backstory. He could be an ally or a mysterious antagonist. Could add in some lore pieces that your players could find and have them figure out what’s canon and what’s not
@@tylerdavis6389 I like that it is less direct from Frankenstein. I know that story, I'd prefer that we don't run that adventure again and try a new variant.
@@jamesonstalanthasyu I respect that. For me Adam was a big part of me buying the book. I really liked his story and deviations from the actual Frankenstein story.
@@Leiliel1 Both Victor and Adam are the dark lords in my eyes. They are already connected. Bums me out they rewrote the whole thing. Should have expanded it to the changes, not completely replace it. But it doesnt matter in the long run since we can get the Print on Demand of the settings on drivethrurpg anyway.
I didn't know Amanda had no clue she would be hired as a designer when she started working on this , that's amazing ! She did a great job on Lamordia , I really like that aesthetic of frozen wasteland with unspeakable horrors wandering about. Personally I would've listened to a two-hour podcast with the both of your as well as Chris Perkins & Greg Tito , I love hearing passionate creators talk about the stuff they make and the stuff they love.
Now I want to send fan mail to Amanda Hamon telling her about how I turned Lamordia into a spooky planet for the players to visit in my new Sci-Fi space travel campaign.
Well, Amazon said my book is in its way... hopefully I'll have it by lunch time, tomorrow! I kinda objected to the shift from Viktor to Victra(sp?) But thinking about it this could work for this realm. Maybe Viktor's body still ages in this realm and he has to transfer his brain or essence into a replacement body now and then... and a PC's body fits the bill for the next one...
So has Adam been cut completely!? He was always one of the most interesting characters in the setting. As a fan of Marry Shelly that’s incredibly disappointing.
Your game group, your campaign setting, your house rules. As it was stated in the Forgotten Realms box setting, the reason the city is listed as being .. next .. to the river in a given area is cause, one DM can have the city on the west side and another DM could have the city on the east side. Most of the Ravenloft games I been in, just treated Adam as a loner, if you don't start crap with him, he will not wreak you. If you are polite and treat him with respect he even help you out a few days during fishing season. When 3.5e came out, it was suggested to run a campaign not as outside heroes entering into a horror realm of Dread, but as native born living everyday normal lives where .. horror .. was a once in a life time experience, if you didn't survive the event. We normal played Mordent farmers, part time fishermen having to deal with werewolve pack wars drifting in & out from Verberk and little small size Call of Cthulhu sea monsters.
I never played or otherwise engaged with Lamordia in previous editions, so I can only speculate on the differences. I do understand the theme of the Dark Lord being there because of choices she made that essentially took her to her own personalized hell, rather than Adam being made that way and still irredeemable. The gender swap is an interesting choice but also seems in keeping with the idea that anyone can be a hero or a villain, and it's one's choices that make the difference more than circumstances beyond individual control.
@@WarpedLord I personally think they're trying too hard to play it safe in today's volatile, hair-trigger culture that causes a Twitter fuss at the drop of a hat. That said, I am personally willing to overlook it if the new material more than makes up for it.
@@forfaerghus8092 What did you think was in Frankenstein/Adam that could trigger someone that isn't still in the new Lamordia? I don't understand what you thought was the problem they had to shy away from.
Ugh! I wish that they'd just added a few new realm and Dark Lords, and left the originals alone! Aside from maybe expanding upon what was already there! In our campaign, Adam and Doctor Victor, will still be "alive ," and present. If anything, I'll make Dr. Victoria a working partner/colleague, who shares his obsession with science conquering death! Adam's a favorite of mine!
Leave it to the current mindset to change a canonically male dark lord and make him a her for . . . . reasons? What was the point of completely remaking a domain of dread and changing almost nothing but the gender of the dark lord?
FINALLY, I'm getting in canon rules for an elven centipede. Really dying to craft an 8 elven 'pede. Hopefully my PCs are too or they get to become the 'pede.
I'm sad to admit, but I'm not really much excited about this specific realm of dread. Body horror doesn't really scare me (heck, I'd love being given a Frankenstein's monster like body, mine sucks!), this villain, as I have heard her presented, doesn't really inspire me anything more than "Cool, let's go kill her, I have just a free spot on the trophy rack", the very name of the realm doesn't feel much inspired to me and for the life of me I cannot take steampunk seriously.
The topic of abusing the lower class particularly interested me with this setting, since my first thoughts were Victorian London and the practice of resurrectionists who participated in grade robbing for medical purposes. Hoping to see some of that here!
Love the fact that in Lamordia the Dark Lord isn’t a « big bad stat block » at all ! Horror lives better when you are stuck « inside the worldview » of the Lord.
One of my player just died fighting Baba Lysaga I need those Dark Gifts before my next game! Can't wait for the book and Lamordia sounds so awesome 😍🙌
As a DM, I'm getting a ton of ideas from this alone. Can't wait for the book to come out.
You've been inspired bardically.
When my game shop was open 13 years ago, when we run Ravenloft it was starting the first three to five games of playing .. normal .. everyday people.
With professional jobs. 3.5e system skill: Profession ( fishermen/ town guard/ manager: son of the mayor/ farmer)
Starting games to build up Xp, ..
a.) villagers gathering to circle and walk a line to drive field rats out in mass in club and have the dogs play the game of " rat baiting." A rat bite could turn you into a wererat.
b.) Clearing out a nest of .. large spiders .. out from under the windmill.
c.) Catching and raising large spiders to harvest their silk wraps after you let lose rats into the spiders barn. Ravenloft have spiderwere called Red Widows that are all female red heads, they first show up as six year old little girls.
d.) Start everyone off as rangers or druids with Animal Empathy and wolf companions, they are all sheep or goat herds, maybe cowboys if set in Nova Vaasa. They spent most of their time sling hunting small game and chasing down snakes. Along with fist fighting.
After a few games let the country Hill Billy find out they are .. werewolves.
e.) Barovia country teens, athletic rogues running the woods at night tripping up and pranking the zombies, and howling at the wolves from the trees' branches. They test their courage so a mage will train them, bold enough hunter runner to join a wolf pack, or to become a knightly defender of the land.
As it was mention in the earlier Ravenloft setting books, to throw the PC a loop, have some living Lawful Neutral guards protecting Castle Ravenloft and going about on Strahd's orders.
f.) Lamordia down to Mordent, the western coastal line is set in more of the early to mid 1800's northern French/ English culture. So my gaming group just love to run ourselves as Welsh fishermen. Young men of boys being boys getting into normal trouble and avoiding any .. real .. horror monsters. And anytime they face off with some form of Call of Cthulhu sea monster, even a very small one, they hit the bottle of rum after wards.
But they/ we did have a few Verberk werewolves as PCs and they put out their addition to Van Richten guide to werebeasts: Everything you need to know about Verberk werewolves.
After the Van Richten's guides been out close to ten years, more and more werebeasts in my shop's Ravenloft campaign setting were coming out in public. If no one hasn't just disappeared in a community for the pass 20 years, and the wild wolves have been stay away from the local herds cause of the werewolf .. efforts. Well, having a known werewolf as a town guard that can track down thieves, does keep people from robbing the town folk.
outskirt farmer, " But you have a werewolf to deal with that monster out in the forest !"
Village mayor, " That werewolf is a coward & mama boy, also that monster already broke his jaw along with a dozen ribs, his arm and both his legs. He ain't going anywhere anytime soon. We already lost four of our own men, and it take five others to drag that dog home. Can't lose a good rat eater."
2.) My game shop also played White Wolf/ World of Darkness: Vampire/Werewolf. So we did run whole campaign game in d10 instead of d20.
We need The Thing's Head Crab stats!
The book has stats for Death’s Heads, which are flying, disembodied heads!
@@ham1nator1337 Ah yes, how true
So Adam isn't the Darklord anymore? That's a shame.
He can be... Maybe the party is there to reinstate him?
Spoilers: After reading the chapter, it seems that storyarch was skipped over. Victor have been changed into Viktra Mordenheim. She still try to save Elise but failed to save her in life, then revive Elise post death. So Elise somewhat replace Adam, avoiding her creator and mimicking Frankenstein's Monster.
@@JemyM Revising Adam's Wrath to fit with this is gonna take some work. :)
@@matneyx Not that hard. You can actually keep the entire arch of Adam being an earlier model, then forward the plot to where Elise died, got revived and Adam still being around so you have two of the golems around, either in conflict, having their respective domain, or joining forces.
Read my response under HydeNseek. How I worked Adam’s Wrath may help a little.
There is a lot of emphasis of the reborn as "Frankenstein's Monster" type beings. I see very few people who are exploring characters who are more like ... the Nameless One from Planescape Torment. Playing a character who isn't a constructed body, but rather by whatever means is in an immortal body, but with a mortal pysche. And that past you have to reckon with isn't like memories from a distant body. It's the memories of your body, but not yourself. Or, if you feel like ripping off a connected work, you could examine the idea that there is a wizard who is making reborn bodies to prolong his life, but you could play one of these reborn characters after he leaves the shell for another body: never intended to have consciousness, but when left without a "self" developed a working own sense of self. Or, alternatively, you could be a shell intedended to be inhabited by another being, but developed an internal existence before your body could be "inhabited". The concept of the Reborn speaks to me in much greater terms than just "flesh golem body."
My wizard would be fascinated by the advanced science of this setting. It might be curiosity that spells her doom
So is Victor now Victoria? And does she still have Victor's tragic backstory involving Adam and Elise? Can't wait for the new book. Just hope it adds to what was included in the Domains of Dread book.
I'm surprised Todd didn't bring up the change in character from Viktor to Viktra to be honest
Obviously, D&D has gone political and I think you'd be naive to think this change wasn't to appease people concerned with representation. Because those people are a large part of the community and WotC is a corporation. However, its a meaningless, superficial change to appease people who don't look deeper than the superficial.
Victor is now Viktra. Elise is somewhat a partner to Viktra rather than a wife. In this book Elise have already passed away AND been revived by Viktra, but now avoids her. Elise is now kinda what Adam were. Elise is the Frankenstein's Monster.
@@Shannovian The "representation" angle doesn't make sense to explain the changes to canon. Had they kept themselves to canon, the 17 in-depth domains would have had 7 men and 8 women as the primary darklord/vip (+1 gender switching and one monster). Now its 3 men and 12 women. And its the work of a woman they skipped (Lisa Smedman).
I am also upset with change, and wanting to know why... Change is inevitable however, so I adjusted. I am running my group through a heavily modified Adam’s Wrath. I changed the adopted daughter Eva to Victor and Elise having a daughter: Viktra, keeping Adam throwing her from the balcony, with her surviving but becoming crippled (she walks with a heavy limp). The campaign takes place years later, Viktra now an adult, along with her father Victor, are trying to revive Elise. Took out all but the sea hag and took out the fleas of madness BS. Took out the sea wolves lycans, and kept the fact that Baron Aubrecker is mad, but is suffering from dementia instead. Keeping the maladies and injuries to real world equivalents/mad science theme due to the aversion to magic in Lamordia. Made it flow better and more of a murder mystery with the living brain and bagmen collecting bodies for Victor and Viktra.
Party is having a blast with it so far. Next part will have the undead army of Azalin marching on Lamordia for “Recruits” on their way to Barovia, leading to a version of Roots of Evil. Will end at the Necropolis having the grand conjunction to come to pass, and hopefully the players can escape the Domains of Dread.
Comment for the algorithm! Excited to get my hands on this book.
So they just throw the Adam character away?
That's genuinely upsetting and disappointing, and because getting new Adam stuff was a big motivator of mine, really makes me reconsider purchasing this book.
@@Leiliel1
That's fine. Don't have him as the dark lord, but don't erase his existence.
Reading the original Frankenstein or not has no bearing, Lamordia is adapted enough to be it's own distinct fiction.
Besides if your argument is that the original Lamordia is bad because it deviates too much from Frankenstein then the New Lamordia is even worse, as the deviations are much larger.
@@tylerdavis6389 I mean, you could just add him back in. Have him be an enigma or a wanderer who doesn’t remember his backstory. He could be an ally or a mysterious antagonist. Could add in some lore pieces that your players could find and have them figure out what’s canon and what’s not
@@tylerdavis6389 I like that it is less direct from Frankenstein. I know that story, I'd prefer that we don't run that adventure again and try a new variant.
@@jamesonstalanthasyu
I respect that.
For me Adam was a big part of me buying the book. I really liked his story and deviations from the actual Frankenstein story.
@@Leiliel1 Both Victor and Adam are the dark lords in my eyes. They are already connected. Bums me out they rewrote the whole thing. Should have expanded it to the changes, not completely replace it. But it doesnt matter in the long run since we can get the Print on Demand of the settings on drivethrurpg anyway.
"the original Total Recall"
there's no Total Recall remake. we don't talk about it.
accept reality and move on
I didn't know Amanda had no clue she would be hired as a designer when she started working on this , that's amazing !
She did a great job on Lamordia , I really like that aesthetic of frozen wasteland with unspeakable horrors wandering about.
Personally I would've listened to a two-hour podcast with the both of your as well as Chris Perkins & Greg Tito , I love hearing passionate creators talk about the stuff they make and the stuff they love.
I really can't wait to get my hands on this book. The art is so freaking scary! I felt sick looking at those terrified heads in the jars!
They posted a .. Woke .. warning in the book, then filled it with the scariest art work they could.
Makes sense.
I'm playing a crazy doctor wizard right now, need to get to Lamordia NOW!!
Now I want to send fan mail to Amanda Hamon telling her about how I turned Lamordia into a spooky planet for the players to visit in my new Sci-Fi space travel campaign.
Lamordia will be an interesting read.
"You wake up with someone humming the song 'Getting to know you'..." I can't wait.
Well, Amazon said my book is in its way... hopefully I'll have it by lunch time, tomorrow! I kinda objected to the shift from Viktor to Victra(sp?) But thinking about it this could work for this realm. Maybe Viktor's body still ages in this realm and he has to transfer his brain or essence into a replacement body now and then... and a PC's body fits the bill for the next one...
It may be because I’m fairly to D&D and don’t know Adam from old Lamordia but I love this demiplane!
So has Adam been cut completely!? He was always one of the most interesting characters in the setting. As a fan of Marry Shelly that’s incredibly disappointing.
Your game group, your campaign setting, your house rules.
As it was stated in the Forgotten Realms box setting, the reason the city is listed as being .. next .. to the river in a given area is cause, one DM can have the city on the west side and another DM could have the city on the east side.
Most of the Ravenloft games I been in, just treated Adam as a loner, if you don't start crap with him, he will not wreak you. If you are polite and treat him with respect he even help you out a few days during fishing season.
When 3.5e came out, it was suggested to run a campaign not as outside heroes entering into a horror realm of Dread, but as native born living everyday normal lives where .. horror .. was a once in a life time experience, if you didn't survive the event. We normal played Mordent farmers, part time fishermen having to deal with werewolve pack wars drifting in & out from Verberk and little small size Call of Cthulhu sea monsters.
I see Adam over there, he's in that hut behind the river.
Nice one Todd
Another great interview Todd! I am getting excited to get this book and run a party in Lamordia.
This book is so exciting!
Your content is AWESOME Todd, keep it up!
Tom does have great content. I love Tom.
The thing, blob or Alien even, at sea.
Cyre interview would be nice. Wonder if Keith Baker was contacted for it.
Ha! I got the even 200th like! Lol. Excited for this book, it's literally the only book that I've ever pre ordered.
Absolutely love her passion for the design and setting. It makes it so much more enjoyable to read and use.
I never played or otherwise engaged with Lamordia in previous editions, so I can only speculate on the differences. I do understand the theme of the Dark Lord being there because of choices she made that essentially took her to her own personalized hell, rather than Adam being made that way and still irredeemable. The gender swap is an interesting choice but also seems in keeping with the idea that anyone can be a hero or a villain, and it's one's choices that make the difference more than circumstances beyond individual control.
When are you going to interview Wes Schneider ?
I really hope they didn't retcon the lore too much. I'm open to Viktra as the new darklord, but Adam was a key part of the original one.
Basically Elise is now Adam. Elise have died, been revived, and is now lurking about as the Frankenstein's Monster.
It really feels like the lore with Lamordia specifically has been disregarded and disrespected.
@@WarpedLord I personally think they're trying too hard to play it safe in today's volatile, hair-trigger culture that causes a Twitter fuss at the drop of a hat. That said, I am personally willing to overlook it if the new material more than makes up for it.
Nothing wrong with exploring new ideas
@@forfaerghus8092 What did you think was in Frankenstein/Adam that could trigger someone that isn't still in the new Lamordia? I don't understand what you thought was the problem they had to shy away from.
So she's the one who rewrote it almost completely....
Ugh! I wish that they'd just added a few new realm and Dark Lords, and left the originals alone! Aside from maybe expanding upon what was already there! In our campaign, Adam and Doctor Victor, will still be "alive ," and present. If anything, I'll make Dr. Victoria a working partner/colleague, who shares his obsession with science conquering death! Adam's a favorite of mine!
Excited about all the creatures I can have Viktra create to hunt down either the party and Elise
Comments!
Leave it to the current mindset to change a canonically male dark lord and make him a her for . . . . reasons? What was the point of completely remaking a domain of dread and changing almost nothing but the gender of the dark lord?
FINALLY, I'm getting in canon rules for an elven centipede. Really dying to craft an 8 elven 'pede. Hopefully my PCs are too or they get to become the 'pede.
So she's responsible for this particular PC abomination?
I'm sad to admit, but I'm not really much excited about this specific realm of dread.
Body horror doesn't really scare me (heck, I'd love being given a Frankenstein's monster like body, mine sucks!), this villain, as I have heard her presented, doesn't really inspire me anything more than "Cool, let's go kill her, I have just a free spot on the trophy rack", the very name of the realm doesn't feel much inspired to me and for the life of me I cannot take steampunk seriously.