Really great vid Pyram! This is my fav location as well and I loved listening to the history on this location and all the great content you've added here. My friend, you have done the Abbey justice!
Great video! Running this tomorrow. Before i dive too deep into the lore of the Hapsburgs - I dont suppose the next video you run will be on the manor by any chance? ;) Or do you perhaps have a writeup of what your plans are with the storyline - is there an heir somewhere? Would love the help, thanks!
I am currently finishing up Ravenloft for the year-end. I have a map completed for the Hapsburg manor and will be adding that once Ravenloft is complete. Thanks for watching.
Hello, I wanted to ask whether there is a pdf file that contains all of the info for this revamped CoS game, because the work you've put into changes the game tremendously. I would love to run it as a follow up CoS adventure after my party realizes the Strahd is back after defeating him so I would love to use this updated version, however I'm using roll 20 so I find it hard to use the Foundry maps you're using so I thought I could just use the binder and make the maps myself. Thanks for the answer and all the awesome work you do.
@@PyramKing I see, so to make it work, I just have to wait for your file and then get the maps from Andy, gotcha. Thanks for your quick reply and stay amazing!
@@Kurtou I release PDF guides, tokens (digital), and PDF player handouts for each guide. DM Andy makes maps, he does provide some for free as well. Thank you for watching. I love CoS and this is one of my favorite locations.
Honestly, I would strongly recommend switching to FoundryVTT. You COULD patch parts of the content together to make some of it work in Roll20, but you would be losing SO SO much! It would like.. It would be like putting some tart grapes, kool-aid and sugar in to a blender to make Merlot wine, instead of making the wine the correct way. :)
Yes - I will be making all the modules for CoS, including the bonus and additional content. I release about 2-3 per month. I am currently completing the Amber Temple. Thanks for watching. There is a full list of modules on both Discord and Patreon. In addition, each month I post an update on what I am working on. Thank you.
Barovia was always Barovia, 5e CoS mucked it up by trying to say that Strahd named it after his father.. even though the von Zarovich family supposedly founded Barovia in the dawn of time?? Yeah, nobody can sort that knot, just ignore it. ;) One of the points of Pyrams modules is to help sort the mess that CoS made out of certain things. :)
@@Crogon I always wondered with all the rich lore from I6, 2e, and 3e, why did WotC ignore it and in some cases create significant continuity issues? It is as if they didn't bother to read or research what they had. Either way, I am enjoying weaving in the old and the new and my own flair.
@@PyramKing Well.. deadlines. Idiotic deadlines in the interest of publishing on a schedule. Most of I6 came together in a timely manner, so it mostly makes sense (except for some of the humour ad-libbed in at the 11th hour). TSR pissed off the Hickmans for the second module, House on Gryphon Hill, so they walked / got fired. Gryphon Hill was smashed together by the TSR editor in chief, and he learned a VERY very valuable lesson about why you don't do that. ;) At that point, the Ravenloft Canon turned in to a minor trainwreck, and the next handful of modules were about sticking RELIGIOUSLY to canon, while trying to ad-lib to explain what got mucked up. Then the 2nd Ed. AD&D module went batsh.. crazy. The module was well laid out and had decent maps AND was sensible! Everybody on the planet had to play it. By the time the boxed edition came out, TSR knew that this was a money train, and it was still picking up steam. The 2nd Ed Barovia became the BIBLE of the Ravenloft universe, because that's what everybody knew. So, rather than let that money wagon grind to a stop, they started throwing new regions in to the Realm of Ravenloft (later called the Dark Realms) with absolutely NO forethought to.. canon. The realms existed in their own little space at first, and didn't connect to Barovia proper. Except then some people started writing about realms intended to be historically connected to Barovia (the same way Romania has various sister realms), and nobody made those authors stick to old canon. So that was canon cluster-F number 3. That was a doozy, too. It took the Mistipedia folks about a decade to unscrew the mess. At that point, TSR was SICK of the mess, and White Wolf was taking over the market with their much better thought out Vampire the Masquerade vampires. White Wolf bought the rights to Ravenloft, wrote a PILE of background canon to sort the mess, and that's about it. They made a few modules, and told TSR that they were over it. To their credit, they helped move the canon along, and didn't muck anything up. Then WotC took over, and they didn't want to touch Ravenloft with a 10 foot pole either. Eventually by popular demand, they had some people put together CoS. Obviously neither those people or the WotC people had a CLUE about previous canon, and they made another GIANT mess out of it. The most disturbing part, is that rather than try to patch things up in the new Van Richten Guide, they added a bunch of gender bent horse manure, and just made up new cannon. Now Tatyana's incarnations can be boys, EZMERELDA, Vasilka or even TWINS (that's not how souls work). It's like they're trying to wreck the canon on purpose. Also, instead of explaining the discrepancy about Ezmerelda's family (who now goes by Ez, and has had one leg ripped off by a werewolf.. no explation).. they made up an entirely NEW version that her family was never really Vistani in the first place, and Van Richten hauled her mother off to jail. SO.. they are trying to make you choose Canon A or Canon B. Except Canon B is really Canon C, because the canon from CoS already had two different versions. That's honestly about as far as I got with the new Van Richten book before I threw it in a corner to collect dust. They added mistwalkers, which the new Adventurers League module is based on. Unlike the old CoS AL module though, it's a trainwreck. The book does explore the various other Dark Realms, but I didn't get far enough in to the book to review the content. I check it for references when researching, but it's important to understand that some of the canon in it WASN'T canon before the ink dried on the page at the printing press. So yeah, that's about as short of a description as I can give as to the various factors MUCKING up Ravenloft canon and Barovia proper in particular. To their credit or fault, rather than try to fix the giant MESS of CoS, WotC declared it to be a completely separate timeline from the original canon. That's a complete cop out, of course. TL;DR: What screws up Ravenloft canon? Deadlines, ad-lib humour, overbearing editors, not holding new authors accountable to canon, interjecting new ideals WITHOUT FORETHOUGHT / with malice. OH! and content warnings! When you're trying to write horror content that doesn't scare people.. it's gonna suck azz (IE: the new AL content that nobody has even heard of).
Really great vid Pyram! This is my fav location as well and I loved listening to the history on this location and all the great content you've added here. My friend, you have done the Abbey justice!
Thank you.
Your maps have made it an amazing location. Thank you.
Love the Tatyanas Soul idea it is so awesome.
Brother Valen diary made me cry 😢
I was moved during the appearance of the two sisters in the abbey.
Thanks for watching.
Great video! Running this tomorrow. Before i dive too deep into the lore of the Hapsburgs - I dont suppose the next video you run will be on the manor by any chance? ;) Or do you perhaps have a writeup of what your plans are with the storyline - is there an heir somewhere?
Would love the help, thanks!
I am currently finishing up Ravenloft for the year-end. I have a map completed for the Hapsburg manor and will be adding that once Ravenloft is complete.
Thanks for watching.
@@PyramKing Thank you so much for the quick response! Keep up the good work!
Hello, I wanted to ask whether there is a pdf file that contains all of the info for this revamped CoS game, because the work you've put into changes the game tremendously. I would love to run it as a follow up CoS adventure after my party realizes the Strahd is back after defeating him so I would love to use this updated version, however I'm using roll 20 so I find it hard to use the Foundry maps you're using so I thought I could just use the binder and make the maps myself. Thanks for the answer and all the awesome work you do.
I created PDFs and Foundry Modules for all the Patreon members.
Full list
www.patreon.com/posts/54861240
Thanks for watching.
The Maps are available from DM Andy and can be used for Roll 20
@@PyramKing I see, so to make it work, I just have to wait for your file and then get the maps from Andy, gotcha. Thanks for your quick reply and stay amazing!
@@Kurtou I release PDF guides, tokens (digital), and PDF player handouts for each guide.
DM Andy makes maps, he does provide some for free as well.
Thank you for watching.
I love CoS and this is one of my favorite locations.
Honestly, I would strongly recommend switching to FoundryVTT. You COULD patch parts of the content together to make some of it work in Roll20, but you would be losing SO SO much! It would like.. It would be like putting some tart grapes, kool-aid and sugar in to a blender to make Merlot wine, instead of making the wine the correct way. :)
Are you still planning on making the module for the Manor?
Yes - I will be making all the modules for CoS, including the bonus and additional content. I release about 2-3 per month. I am currently completing the Amber Temple.
Thanks for watching.
There is a full list of modules on both Discord and Patreon.
In addition, each month I post an update on what I am working on.
Thank you.
Before strahd arrival the land was called Barôvia? 19:26 the book about saint Markovia is written like that is the case
Yes. I changed it back to be called Barovia before Strahd.
Barovia was always Barovia, 5e CoS mucked it up by trying to say that Strahd named it after his father.. even though the von Zarovich family supposedly founded Barovia in the dawn of time?? Yeah, nobody can sort that knot, just ignore it. ;) One of the points of Pyrams modules is to help sort the mess that CoS made out of certain things. :)
@@Crogon I always wondered with all the rich lore from I6, 2e, and 3e, why did WotC ignore it and in some cases create significant continuity issues?
It is as if they didn't bother to read or research what they had.
Either way, I am enjoying weaving in the old and the new and my own flair.
Thank you all
@@PyramKing Well.. deadlines. Idiotic deadlines in the interest of publishing on a schedule. Most of I6 came together in a timely manner, so it mostly makes sense (except for some of the humour ad-libbed in at the 11th hour).
TSR pissed off the Hickmans for the second module, House on Gryphon Hill, so they walked / got fired. Gryphon Hill was smashed together by the TSR editor in chief, and he learned a VERY very valuable lesson about why you don't do that. ;)
At that point, the Ravenloft Canon turned in to a minor trainwreck, and the next handful of modules were about sticking RELIGIOUSLY to canon, while trying to ad-lib to explain what got mucked up.
Then the 2nd Ed. AD&D module went batsh.. crazy. The module was well laid out and had decent maps AND was sensible! Everybody on the planet had to play it. By the time the boxed edition came out, TSR knew that this was a money train, and it was still picking up steam. The 2nd Ed Barovia became the BIBLE of the Ravenloft universe, because that's what everybody knew.
So, rather than let that money wagon grind to a stop, they started throwing new regions in to the Realm of Ravenloft (later called the Dark Realms) with absolutely NO forethought to.. canon. The realms existed in their own little space at first, and didn't connect to Barovia proper. Except then some people started writing about realms intended to be historically connected to Barovia (the same way Romania has various sister realms), and nobody made those authors stick to old canon. So that was canon cluster-F number 3.
That was a doozy, too. It took the Mistipedia folks about a decade to unscrew the mess.
At that point, TSR was SICK of the mess, and White Wolf was taking over the market with their much better thought out Vampire the Masquerade vampires. White Wolf bought the rights to Ravenloft, wrote a PILE of background canon to sort the mess, and that's about it. They made a few modules, and told TSR that they were over it. To their credit, they helped move the canon along, and didn't muck anything up.
Then WotC took over, and they didn't want to touch Ravenloft with a 10 foot pole either. Eventually by popular demand, they had some people put together CoS. Obviously neither those people or the WotC people had a CLUE about previous canon, and they made another GIANT mess out of it.
The most disturbing part, is that rather than try to patch things up in the new Van Richten Guide, they added a bunch of gender bent horse manure, and just made up new cannon. Now Tatyana's incarnations can be boys, EZMERELDA, Vasilka or even TWINS (that's not how souls work). It's like they're trying to wreck the canon on purpose. Also, instead of explaining the discrepancy about Ezmerelda's family (who now goes by Ez, and has had one leg ripped off by a werewolf.. no explation).. they made up an entirely NEW version that her family was never really Vistani in the first place, and Van Richten hauled her mother off to jail. SO.. they are trying to make you choose Canon A or Canon B. Except Canon B is really Canon C, because the canon from CoS already had two different versions.
That's honestly about as far as I got with the new Van Richten book before I threw it in a corner to collect dust. They added mistwalkers, which the new Adventurers League module is based on. Unlike the old CoS AL module though, it's a trainwreck. The book does explore the various other Dark Realms, but I didn't get far enough in to the book to review the content. I check it for references when researching, but it's important to understand that some of the canon in it WASN'T canon before the ink dried on the page at the printing press.
So yeah, that's about as short of a description as I can give as to the various factors MUCKING up Ravenloft canon and Barovia proper in particular. To their credit or fault, rather than try to fix the giant MESS of CoS, WotC declared it to be a completely separate timeline from the original canon. That's a complete cop out, of course.
TL;DR: What screws up Ravenloft canon? Deadlines, ad-lib humour, overbearing editors, not holding new authors accountable to canon, interjecting new ideals WITHOUT FORETHOUGHT / with malice. OH! and content warnings! When you're trying to write horror content that doesn't scare people.. it's gonna suck azz (IE: the new AL content that nobody has even heard of).