DMing on the Road and My First Official Ravenloft Game

 Following my vaccination, I eagerly planned a trip home to Massachusetts to see my Dad and also my sister in New York. This whole Delta Variant thing has made me question how wise it was to go through with the trip (though if I get back to California without Covid, I'll count it as a win) but as it stands, I'm back in my hometown just outside of Boston.

I didn't get into D&D until my 29th birthday (probably documented on this now 9-year-old blog,) which always seemed like an oversight - I don't know why I wouldn't have gotten into it earlier, other than the fact that no one I knew seemed to play.

Anyway, I decided to run a one-shot for my friends who still live in the Boston area. Between them and significant others and other friends and kids (there's a 10-year-old kid playing, which is exciting!) we have a party of six. And we're going to be doing a Ravenloft-set game.

So, the party consists of a Tiefling Warlock (Undead Patron,) Mountain Dwarf Life Cleric, Half-Orc Paladin, a Dhampir Wild Magic Sorcerer, a Tabaxi Clockwork Soul Sorcerer, and a Wood Elf Ranger.

I'm going to set it in what I think is probably my favorite domain of dread, Lamordia, the frozen bay and mountains secretly ruled by its Darklord Doctor Viktra Mordenheim, the Frankenstein-like crafter of flesh golems.

I'm going to avoid making her the villain for now (even solo, at CR 2 she could be a bit much for level 1 players, most of whom have never played before,) and instead have a former protege whose laboratory she had sabotaged to kill him as the big bad.

The party is going to be swallowed by the mists and find the remote lab hidden beneath a ruined lighthouse kept by an old kook who is somewhat based on Willem Dafoe's character from The Lighthouse.

Under the lighthouse, the party will encounter some disembodied limbs as the big bad, Otto Totenfeld, had been trying to build golems out of just limbs. When they confront him, his spirit will possess a Swarm of Zombie Limbs to attack, supported by four Crawling Claws.

My hope is that it'll be a good, straightforward introduction to the game, but with a distinctive Ravenloft-y tone. And, you know, not too gruesome as to traumatize the 10-year-old player.

We're playing tomorrow, so here's hoping it goes well.