A Dreadful Apocalypse

I've been always bewitched by the Demiplane of Dread. It was the second setting I ever played in Dungeon & Dragons, and I remember that ever before seen any pictures of browsing any books about the setting, a friend of mine described it like this: "in this world, whenever you enter a tavern, you have to pull out your cross and point it to every person there, to check for any vampire that may be lurking among the mortals. You can never tell who is the monster here". The scene I pictured in my mind went beyond the simple words of my friend's description. I was hooked up before reading a single word. So, here I'm not just entering a dungeon and killing everything that moves! That was my thought.

It's been a good while. We played the set of modules about the Grand Conjunction, among others. Hours and hours of play. I covered the windows in my room with newspaper, to make it pitch black during the day, and played with candle lights (sweating like hell, since my hometown has summer temperatures of 40+º C, but we didn't cared). The soundtrack of Coppola's Dracula sounding on the background. Oh, the good all days (or nights).

Recently I played one of the Grand Conjunction modules with my new group. With a homemade conversion of the D&DNext playtest. It was good. But one thing jumped in my mind. The Fear & Horror check didn't worked so well. I don't know what it was, but it seemed too pushed that when the player failed the roll, he had to runaway, and then the player asked "can I come back?". It may be the fact that lately I have been reading a lot of indie role-playing games and theory, from Vincent Baker, Ron Edwards, Joe Mcdaldno, Luke Crane, and others. Who knows.

Then yesterday, I can't quiet remember how, the idea of making a Powered by the Apocalypse version of Ravenloft sank its teeth upon my brain. And remembering my player asking if he can come back, I pictured the whole thing with the AW engine: "Yes —I said— but you'll be acting under fire". So here I am, I'll use this blog to this little fan project. I'll be posting my ideas, and advancements, and if you want to share your opinions and suggestions about this Powered by the Apocalypse setting, you're more than welcome.