# Interest Check: Histhaven



## Insight (Jul 26, 2011)

I'm seeking interest in playing an adventure based on the "Domain of Dread: Histhaven" accessory Wizards released as part of the most recent Free RPG Day.  

Here is a brief blurb from the supplement's back cover:


			
				Histhaven said:
			
		

> The domain of Histhaven has suffered long under the harsh rule of Count Artius, a rotten man haunted by his own dark nemesis.  Time and again, the count suffers a coward's death in battle, yet, with each new moon, he is reborn and the terror begins anew.  To save the people of this withered land, brave heroes must end Histhaven's curse and confront the one man whose hunger for vengeance can never be satisfied - the only man Count Artius fears.




This release is intended for use with the excellent boxed set, "The Shadowfell: Gloomwraught and Beyond".  To my mind, it is a Ravenloft "domain of dread", cast in the 4E version of it, the Shadowfell.

I'm interested in running some sort of adventure in this setting.  The supplement itself does not contain an adventure, but has some hooks from which adventures could be created.  Post here if you'd like to explore this shadowy land.


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## Walking Dad (Jul 26, 2011)

What level and what kind of characters would be allowed?
Will this feel like standard D&D, investigation or horror story or a combination of this elements? If it is a combination, how strong are the parts to each other (sorry, bad English)?


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## Insight (Jul 26, 2011)

Walking Dad said:


> What level and what kind of characters would be allowed?
> Will this feel like standard D&D, investigation or horror story or a combination of this elements? If it is a combination, how strong are the parts to each other (sorry, bad English)?




1.  Not sure on the level just yet.  Probably mid heroic tier, so 4-6.  The characters are in the Shadowfell - in fact, they will not leave Histhaven at all.  Whether they are native to the Shadowfell or were brought there (willfully or not) is up to the player and will not really affect the adventure.  I'd prefer more of the "standard" races - humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, half-orcs, etc - just because I think the horror element is made easier to invoke if the characters are closer to "human".  Weird stuff like deva, minotaurs, and shardminds don't belong in horror stories (as protagonists) IMO.

2.  It would have elements of horror, but "D&D"-ish horror.  I would expect more investigation than in your vanilla D&D dungeon crawl, but this is not Call of Cthuhlu.  Maybe 1/3 of it would be horror-themed, 1/3 skill challenge stuff, 1/3 combat.  That sounds about right to me.


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## Goken100 (Jul 27, 2011)

*Interest and question*

I'm certainly interested.  

The original Ravenloft had a a town of mundane people who were afraid to go out at night due to the nearby cursed castle.  I'd love if the game could have that kind of feel: maybe the Shadowfell and the real world bleed together in places.  This way our characters can be ordinary folk drawn into the dark and magical realm in an attempt to set right the curse of Histhaven.  

Would that be possible, or will you be sticking to the strict and more definite Shadowfell borders that is the default assumption?


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## Shayuri (Jul 27, 2011)

I like that! Imagine a kind of planar overlap; every night the town 'slips' into the Shadowfell-analogue of its location on the Material plane. The stars and moon go out, and the night crawls with unearthly creatures. When the sun rises the planar overlap vanishes and the town reappears in the Material Plane.

Clearly, SOMETHING in the Shadowfell is responsible for this...but what? The answer may lie in the menacing castle that overlooks the town from atop a rocky crag...but only at night. By day the crag is there, with the ruins of an ancient castle to be found on the summit.

What has happened? Why is the castle gone here, but still exists there? Why has whatever presence that still haunts it reached out and tried to pull the town into Shadow after it?

What dark magic, and darker secrets, are at work here?

...

I'm SO interested in this, but I have so many games now. Let me assess and see if I can pull another one off...or perhaps there's one that's just not working out...


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## Insight (Jul 28, 2011)

Goken100 said:


> I'm certainly interested.
> 
> The original Ravenloft had a a town of mundane people who were afraid to go out at night due to the nearby cursed castle.  I'd love if the game could have that kind of feel: maybe the Shadowfell and the real world bleed together in places.  This way our characters can be ordinary folk drawn into the dark and magical realm in an attempt to set right the curse of Histhaven.
> 
> Would that be possible, or will you be sticking to the strict and more definite Shadowfell borders that is the default assumption?




I was thinking about how an economy would work in a town that's basically inescapable.  Couple that with the fact that all of the fields are essentially barren and un-farmable.  I don't know how these villagers survive.  And how they trade at all.  I think there has to be _some_ element of realism, at least to explain how things work.

My initial inclination is that the following occurs:

Once you come to Histhaven, your soul is trapped there.    You can leave, during the day (although "day" in the Shadowfell is kinda strange), but come "nightfall", you find yourself back in Histhaven.  At "night", the land is impassible.

That would explain how the village can possibly survive, how the PCs got there, and why they care about lifting the curse (they want to leave on a permanent basis).

Perhaps it is during "the daytime" that Histhaven slips into Nentir Vale (or wherever), where it is some backwater village, but a "positive" version of the "negative" Shadowfell version of Histhaven.  At nightfall, Histhaven slips back into the Shadowfell and all the nasty curse stuff starts all over again.


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## Walking Dad (Jul 28, 2011)

Sounds very interesting. I totally agree on the "standard races for horror". Do you also want to restrict the class choices? Already rummaging my brain for a character idea.


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## Insight (Jul 29, 2011)

Walking Dad said:


> Sounds very interesting. I totally agree on the "standard races for horror". Do you also want to restrict the class choices? Already rummaging my brain for a character idea.




The only class I want to avoid is the Vampire.  Their "sunlight" weakness would be completely pointless in the Shadowfell, where there really isn't any sunlight.

Other than that, I don't see a good reason not to allow everything else.  I'm going to take a look at the Shadowfell boxed set to see if they have any other suggestions on classes or characters.


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## Goken100 (Jul 29, 2011)

Sounds fun!  I'm thinking about creating an investigator-professor character like Van Hellsing.  Maybe Avenger could work as a character sent by the church to root out evil (but still be an investigative professor type).  Artificer might work as more of a tinkering type.


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## Insight (Jul 29, 2011)

Goken100 said:


> Sounds fun!  I'm thinking about creating an investigator-professor character like Van Hellsing.  Maybe Avenger could work as a character sent by the church to root out evil (but still be an investigative professor type).  Artificer might work as more of a tinkering type.




Great!  Adding some investigative abilities is a good idea.  Like I said, I would expect a great deal of investigation to be involved in the adventure.  That's not to say that a greataxe wielding barbarian won't be useful too, but there might be times when Conan would be bored.


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## Walking Dad (Jul 29, 2011)

Insight said:


> The only class I want to avoid is the Vampire.  Their "sunlight" weakness would be completely pointless in the Shadowfell, where there really isn't any sunlight.
> 
> Other than that, I don't see a good reason not to allow everything else.  I'm going to take a look at the Shadowfell boxed set to see if they have any other suggestions on classes or characters.



Thanks  Maybe I will play a Warpriest with the Death domain (I usually favor Sun, but that seems to bright for this ).

About the vampire:
Totally accept the decision for the flavor, but sunlight is more a 'fluff' weakness, than anything else. Just wear a cloak


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## Insight (Aug 4, 2011)

So it looks like we have 3 players possibly interested in this game.  I'm going to give it a little longer before deciding whether to continue its pursuit.  If we don't get any additional interest within say a week or so, I probably will not start a game.


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## Cor Azer (Aug 5, 2011)

I'd be interested in this. Probably a human (possibly vistani?) wizard, bard or a hybrid/multiclass of the two.


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## Insight (Aug 5, 2011)

Great!

It sounds like we may have enough players, then.

Everyone who has previously expressed interest - please post something here so that I know you are still in this.

Once we get confirmation, I'll open an OOC thread shortly.


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## tiornys (Aug 5, 2011)

If you aren't full up, I think I'd enjoy this.  Looks like the group needs a defender.  Fighter, Paladin, or Cavalier all interest me.  I'd likely decide based on skill coverage.

t~


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## Shayuri (Aug 5, 2011)

Still interested. Haven't thought about role much yet.

I'll see what other folks are doing.


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## Herobizkit (Aug 5, 2011)

I would be very interested.  Halfling Battle (?) Bard, merchant and dreamer and little bit healer.

Or, if the Vistani wants to do the Hybrid/Bard thing... 
And someone else wants to do the inventor thing...
And someone ELSE wants to do the investigator...
Heh, maybe a "Marshall/Lawman" type of character.  Not sure what class, will see what's "needed"... maybe a "Watson" to go with "Holmes"...


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## Walking Dad (Aug 5, 2011)

Would like to play a warpriest with the death domain. Either human, half-elf or dwarf.


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## Cor Azer (Aug 6, 2011)

Did you want characters PMed to you, posted here, or will you start a new thread elsewhere for them?


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## Insight (Aug 8, 2011)

Cor Azer said:


> Did you want characters PMed to you, posted here, or will you start a new thread elsewhere for them?




I'm going to start an OOC thread in the next few days.  Just give me an idea of what you'd want to play.  Or wait until the OOC thread.  Doesn't matter to me.


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## Cor Azer (Aug 8, 2011)

Insight said:


> I'm going to start an OOC thread in the next few days.  Just give me an idea of what you'd want to play.  Or wait until the OOC thread.  Doesn't matter to me.




I'll probably be going Vistani wizard; someone else expressed bardic interest, and I don't want to eat up two "ideas".


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## Shayuri (Aug 8, 2011)

Hmm...

A sorcerer, perhaps...or other striker. Maybe even a rogue. 

I could also do a defender. I am pleased with either.


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## Herobizkit (Aug 8, 2011)

I think it could be interesting if my Marshall/Lawman/Former Soldier takes Warlord as a class.  I... haven't heard much about the class or how (un?)popular it is.  Anyone have experience playing one?


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## tiornys (Aug 8, 2011)

Herobizkit said:


> I think it could be interesting if my Marshall/Lawman/Former Soldier takes Warlord as a class.  I... haven't heard much about the class or how (un?)popular it is.  Anyone have experience playing one?



I have extensive experience with Tactical Warlords (~50 levels worth of play), and I love them.  Warlords in general are considered the "best" leader, though that should be taken with several caveats (the leader classes are very close to each other).  They're quite popular in my experience.

t~


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## Cor Azer (Aug 8, 2011)

Herobizkit said:


> I think it could be interesting if my Marshall/Lawman/Former Soldier takes Warlord as a class.  I... haven't heard much about the class or how (un?)popular it is.  Anyone have experience playing one?




I've played them a few times and really enjoy them; to get the most use of them though, you really need to be sure your allies have decent basic attacks - mostly melee ones.


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## Herobizkit (Aug 8, 2011)

My only concern is that, as a player, I am not very tactically minded.  I do enjoy Leader classes though.  I considered Bard, but someone else was considering same, and Cleric too, so hey, 3 Leaders on the party...?  Is that a Good Thing?


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## Walking Dad (Aug 8, 2011)

Herobizkit said:


> I think it could be interesting if my Marshall/Lawman/Former Soldier takes Warlord as a class.  I... haven't heard much about the class or how (un?)popular it is.  Anyone have experience playing one?



I'm playing a warlord in L4W. Started at 1st level and is now level 8. Fun class, good enabler, can fight for itself and has decent OAs. I prefer it of all the 'melee' leader classes.


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## tiornys (Aug 8, 2011)

Herobizkit said:


> My only concern is that, as a player, I am not very tactically minded.  I do enjoy Leader classes though.  I considered Bard, but someone else was considering same, and Cleric too, so hey, 3 Leaders on the party...?  Is that a Good Thing?



Having three leaders around almost demands a high level of party cooperation in power selection and tactical coordination (in order to achieve enough damage output), else fights will tend to drag on and waste resources.  It will be very rare for an individual encounter to seriously threaten the party because of the amount of healing available, but if the party relies on that healing it will burn through surges and need to rest after only a few encounters.

In a 5 person party, I'd want a 2nd leader to be extremely offense oriented (or a hybrid).  In a 6 person party, 2 leaders is about right.

t~


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## Walking Dad (Aug 8, 2011)

Point for the Warlord. He is more an enabler / bonus giver than a healer (but he isn't bad at it, neither).


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## Shayuri (Aug 8, 2011)

Hmm...given the heavy focus on the Shadowfell in this game, perhaps an Assassin would be called for. A morally ambiguous hero...

...

I'm kind of liking this.


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## Insight (Aug 8, 2011)

Shayuri said:


> Hmm...given the heavy focus on the Shadowfell in this game, perhaps an Assassin would be called for. A morally ambiguous hero...
> 
> ...
> 
> I'm kind of liking this.




If you want to play a character with the Shadow power source, which I think is a fantastic idea, expect the Shadowfell to "call" to you from time to time.


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## Shayuri (Aug 8, 2011)

Yar. I'm thinking a character who, for what seemed like a good idea at the time, got in way over his head and wound up being touched by Shadow. Perhaps even became a Shade...if allowed.

In time he came to realize what a devil's bargain it was...perhaps he now wants to try to undo it. Maybe he hopes that he can find the piece of his soul that the Shadow took, and get it back...making himself whole again.


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## Herobizkit (Aug 9, 2011)

My warlord would be more offense.  I was opting for the... um... Cha build (I'm away from my books atm).  Not the resourceful one, though I wasn't against it either.  Inspiring, I think it was called.  

Would the group be suggesting I go the Str one?

Thank gawd for Brilliant Gameologists.


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## Insight (Aug 9, 2011)

Shayuri said:


> Yar. I'm thinking a character who, for what seemed like a good idea at the time, got in way over his head and wound up being touched by Shadow. Perhaps even became a Shade...if allowed.
> 
> In time he came to realize what a devil's bargain it was...perhaps he now wants to try to undo it. Maybe he hopes that he can find the piece of his soul that the Shadow took, and get it back...making himself whole again.




Shade is fine with me.  The only slight issue with the above is that the people of Histhaven will NOT want to associate with you.  If you're not the sociable type, no big deal.


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## Walking Dad (Aug 9, 2011)

Herobizkit said:


> My warlord would be more offense.  I was opting for the... um... Cha build (I'm away from my books atm).  Not the resourceful one, though I wasn't against it either.  Inspiring, I think it was called.
> 
> Would the group be suggesting I go the Str one?
> 
> Thank gawd for Brilliant Gameologists.



'Lazy' warlords depend much on good basic attacks in the group. All other builds should remember that Str is the primary stat, not Cha, Int or Wis.


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## Herobizkit (Aug 9, 2011)

Oh, I recognize that Str is the Primary stat regardless of build. I just couldn't remember the names of the "builds". Is this going to be a "build right or die" kind of adventure?

Edit: Rolled once too many times.

Array 1: 17 17 13 11 8 8
Array 2: 17 16 11 11 11 3

Tough choice there... or is it?  Does a 3 in a dump stat really hurt?


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## Shayuri (Aug 9, 2011)

Hang on, we're rolling stats? Not point buy?

Also, Insight, would using the Disguise function of Bluff ameliorate the social RP reaction to the race (with penalty for 'impersonating another race' of course)?


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## Insight (Aug 9, 2011)

Shayuri said:


> Hang on, we're rolling stats? Not point buy?




I don't believe I ever specified.  We're using the standard 22 pt buy system as presented in the PHB and elsewhere.



> Also, Insight, would using the Disguise function of Bluff ameliorate the social RP reaction to the race (with penalty for 'impersonating another race' of course)?




It could, yes.  It also depends on a number of factors, including who you are trying to interact with (some of them might not mind shadow creatures) and also your group's accomplishments and contributions to the health and welfare of Histhaven.


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## Insight (Aug 9, 2011)

Herobizkit said:


> Is this going to be a "build right or die" kind of adventure?




I certainly hope not.  The type of adventure it becomes is mostly up to you guys.  This is more of a "sandbox" style adventure.  The players will mostly decide what to do and how to do it.



> Edit: Rolled once too many times.




Yes.  Rolling once would be too many times


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## Shayuri (Aug 9, 2011)

Whew! Rolled stats don't go well for me, generally. 

Gonna try a few builds and see what sticks. I'm also interested in the Changeling race, but I suspect that might be 'too weird.'

Any final word on starting level? Your intial post stated somewhere btween 4 and 6, I think.


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## Insight (Aug 9, 2011)

Shayuri said:


> Whew! Rolled stats don't go well for me, generally.
> 
> Gonna try a few builds and see what sticks. I'm also interested in the Changeling race, but I suspect that might be 'too weird.'
> 
> Any final word on starting level? Your intial post stated somewhere btween 4 and 6, I think.




I dunno.  Maybe we'll split the difference and make it level 5.  Sound good for everyone?


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## Cor Azer (Aug 9, 2011)

Insight said:


> I certainly hope not.  The type of adventure it becomes is mostly up to you guys.  This is more of a "sandbox" style adventure.  The players will mostly decide what to do and how to do it.




Good to know. I like making competent characters, but don't enjoy having to second guess every choice.

You planning on using the backgrounds mechanic? I don't care either way, just curious.


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## Insight (Aug 9, 2011)

Cor Azer said:


> Good to know. I like making competent characters, but don't enjoy having to second guess every choice.
> 
> You planning on using the backgrounds mechanic? I don't care either way, just curious.




Backgrounds are fine as long as they make sense.  Nothing from FR, Scales of War, Dark Sun, etc.  The "general" ones are fine.


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## Goken100 (Aug 9, 2011)

I'm still interested in this game too!  Been following the discussion, I like what I hear.  As others are talking about leaders, Avenger seems the most likely choice for my vampire-slayer-sent-by-church idea.


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## Walking Dad (Aug 9, 2011)

I would like to stick with Death Warpriest, but a blackguard would be fine, too. Just say what would be more useful for the group


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## Insight (Aug 9, 2011)

Goken100 said:


> I'm still interested in this game too!  Been following the discussion, I like what I hear.  As others are talking about leaders, Avenger seems the most likely choice for my vampire-slayer-sent-by-church idea.




Avenger would be an excellent idea.


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## tiornys (Aug 10, 2011)

I've lost track of how many people are interested, but I've become rather fond of the Cavalier.  Probably Valor given the number of leaders, still debating race between  Half-Elf or Human or Eladrin.

t~


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## Herobizkit (Aug 10, 2011)

I'm a-goin' half-elf.  Their racial ability is awesome and fits my Warlord nicely.


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## Insight (Aug 10, 2011)

I'll compile all of the stated interest here.

Herobizkit: Half-Elf Warlord
tiornys: Half-Elf / Human / Eladrin (?) Paladin - Cavalier
Walking Dad: Dwarf / Human / Half-Elf Cleric - Warpriest (possibly Paladin - Blackguard)
Goken100: (Race?) Avenger
Shayuri: Shade Assassin (?)
Cor Azer: Vistani Wizard


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## Insight (Aug 10, 2011)

OOC Thread here.


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## Herobizkit (Aug 10, 2011)

So, as someone who isn't up and current on the 4e paradigm, what kind of a party are we looking at and what should we expect?

I'm currently working on a Resourceful Warlord, but I'm getting bogged down in information.  For example, why are weapon types keyed to different stats?

Also also, how is gear determined for level 5?


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## Insight (Aug 10, 2011)

Herobizkit said:


> Also also, how is gear determined for level 5?




This is detailed in the OOC thread (linked above).


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## tiornys (Aug 11, 2011)

Herobizkit said:


> So, as someone who isn't up and current on the 4e paradigm, what kind of a party are we looking at and what should we expect?



Role-wise we have a good mix.  Defender, Controller, 2xStriker, 2xLeader.  We're melee heavy, with only our Wizard as a primarily ranged character.  We'll probably benefit from mobility enabling, to help close with ranged enemies faster, and to help maneuver within the scrums that are likely to develop.

Out of combat, we look to have a good mix of skill coverage.  For stats we're looking at Str: 2 primary, Con: 1-2 secondary, Dex: 1 primary + 0-1 secondary, Int: 1 primary + 0-2 secondary, Wis: 2 primary, Cha: 1-2 secondary.



> I'm currently working on a Resourceful Warlord, but I'm getting bogged down in information.  For example, why are weapon types keyed to different stats?



Half flavor, half mechanical differentiation.  Even if you don't have good stats for your weapon (and a Resourceful Warlord has a hard time allocating points to the weapon stats), you still qualify for Expertise + Focus, and there are plenty of other feats out there so you can easily ignore the others.

If you want a bit more ability to invest in your weapon without interfering as much with your build, I'd recommend Bravura over Resourceful.  BraveLords only have Charisma as a secondary stat (instead of both Int and Cha like RecLords), and they care about their secondary stat less than any other Warlord build.  That makes it easier to have enough investment in a tertiary stat to qualify for weapon-related feats.  For example, as a Half-Elf you can easily go (post racial) 18 Str, 15 Con, 10 Dex, 10 Int, 8 Wis, 15 Cha, put all of your level bumps into Str+Cha, and qualify for all of the Axe related feats on time.  Alternately, 18-12-13-10-8-15 puts you in a decent place to manage Heavy Blade feats, although you'd need to divert a couple of Cha bumps to Dex to get everything on time.

I'm not sure how worthwhile it is to plan on paragon and epic development though; Insight, any idea how many levels you plan to have this go?

t~


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## Shayuri (Aug 11, 2011)

Considering a warlock MC actually...or maybe even just a warlock...

Things are still kind of fluid for me.


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## Insight (Aug 11, 2011)

tiornys said:


> I'm not sure how worthwhile it is to plan on paragon and epic development though; Insight, any idea how many levels you plan to have this go?




"Histhaven" will likely go to 10th level.  Anything beyond that will be based on whether people want to continue.  I imagine that adventuring beyond Histhaven would be into the rest of the Shadowfell, unless something more compelling turns up.


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## Insight (Aug 11, 2011)

Some of these new multiclass and hybrid options (DDI login required) might be appropriate for this game.


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