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I haven't had a desire to play a decent RPG in years, but now that I do I also remembered that there was one game series I had always wanted to finish: Ravenloft. Oddly enough the RPG Codex's info on these games is scattered about and old, so I'm creating a thread that aims to be the go-to place for these games in the future.
(It's possible that Menzoberrenzan can also find a home in this thread as it uses the same game engine, but as I don't plan on playing that game it would be little more than an afterthought on my half.)
I first played Strahd's Possession (hereafter referred to as Ravenloft 1) back when it was new in 1994 but didn't get very far. I tried again somewhere around 2008-ish and managed to complete it. I wanted to like the game, but it has problems and issues that prevent it from ever becoming a good game. I always wanted to play Stone Prophet (hereafter referred to as Ravenloft 2) and import my characters from the prequel, but I've never gotten around to it. This time I will do so, and I will both chronicle my journey in this thread and post interesting and useful information for others. Some of it will be taken stolen from other sites (such as the GOG forums) so "thanks" to those that supplied the info.
For this playthrough I'll be using the GOG releases of the games on a machine running Windows 7 x64, and while Ravenloft 1 works I'm having issues. The intro video plays slowly and has visible tears, while the music is too damn high. Fortunately I've found solutions to these that should help most people.
For the video playback, go into GOG Settings for Ravenloft 1 and enable "Double Buffering". This fixes the tearing issue. Do NOT tick "Keep aspect ratio" as this will börk the graphics.
More is needed for the audio issues. My solution was to install VirtualMIDISynth, download a soundfont bank and keep it running in the background while playing. In hindsight I'm not sure the soundfont bank is needed as the real prize lies in VirtualMIDISynth's volume slider for the MIDI output. I had to set it to 20% to get a decent balance in volume.
In addition I also edited the DOSBox conf file for Ravenloft 1 to set cpu= slow_pentium, memsize= 32 and cycles= 20000 in order to best emulate the hardware Ravenloft 1 was intended for. This makes the intro video play better, but further testing and tweaking may be required, especially as the audio playback in the credits video isn't 100% in sync. If anyone has a better idea of how to config DOSBox for these games, let me know.
Now I have a question before actually starting the game and creating my party: I've read the manual for both games, and in Ravenloft 2 there are abilities like backstabbing and trap disabling for Thief characters, and speaking to animals for Rangers. I'm certain none of these abilities appear in Ravenloft 1. While there are NPC Thief and Ranger NPCs in Ravenloft 2, I'm wondering if I'm better off creating these characters myself, or just using the NPCs.
Otherwise I'm considering a Dwarven Fighter/Cleric and a Human Mage for my characters. IIRC Ravenloft 1 has plenty of Clerics to support my low-level Cleric at the start, and Ravenloft 2 looks to do the same. Anyone see a problem with this?
Elf Thief
leather armor
bracers of ac 5
ring of protection +1
short sword +1
dagger
lockpicks
composite shortbow
quiver
- 8x arrow
Elf Fighter/Mage
white robe
bracers of ac 5
ring of protection +1
longsword +1
scroll case
scroll: invisibility 10 foot radius
potion of healing
composite shortbow
quiver
- 8x arrow
Elf Fighter/Thief
Leather armor +1
ring of protection +1
longsword +1
dagger
lock picks
composite shortbow
quiver
- 8x arrow
Elf Mage/Thief
Leather armor +1
short sword +1
dagger
potion of extra healing
lock picks
scroll: invisibility 10 foot radius
composite shortbow
quiver
- 8x arrow
Elf Fighter/Mage/Thief
bracers of armor ac 5
longsword +1
dagger
potion of extra healing
scroll: invisibility 10 foot radius
composite shortbow
quiver
- 8x arrow
Gnome Cleric
blue robe
shield
mace
sling
sling pouch
- 8x sling bullet
scroll: invisibility to undead
scroll: cure serious wounds
scroll: cause serious wounds
Half-elf Thief/Mage
leather helm
leather armor
short sword +1
quarterstaff
throwing dagger
lock picks
potion of extra healing
Half-elf Fighter/Mage/Cleric
cloak
bracers of protection AC 5
ring of protection +1
warhammer +1
quarterstaff
potion of extra healing
scroll: fireball
scroll: cure light wounds
Half-elf Fighter/Mage/Thief
cloak
bracers of protection AC 5
short sword +1
quarterstaff
potion of extra healing
throwing dagger
lock picks
Halfling Cleric
blue robe
mace
sling
sling pouch
- 8x sling bullet
scroll case
2x scroll: cure serious wounds
Halfling Fighter
leather helm +1
leather armor
short sword +2
potion of extra healing
pouch (4)
Halfling Thief
leather helm
leather armor
short sword +1
lock picks
potion of extra healing
potion of giant strength
Halfling Fighter/Thief
leather helm +1
leather armor
short sword +1
lock picks
potion of extra healing
potion of speed
Human Fighter
chain coif
chain mail
bag(8)
potion of extra healing
longsword +1
dagger
Human Mage
white robe
scroll: mage armor
scroll: agannazer's scorcher
dagger +1
ring of protection +1
bracers of AC 5
potion of extra healing
Human Paladin
plate helm
chain mail
shield
broad sword +1
sack (8)
Human Ranger
leather helm
leather armor +1
shield
longsword +1
short sword
composite shortbow
quiver
- 8x arrow
Human Thief
leather helm +1
leather armor +1
short sword
quarterstaff +1
potion of speed
lock picks
---
Otherwise here are some Frequently Asked Questions for the Ravenloft games in general:
Q: What are the Ravenloft games?
A: The Ravenloft games are a hybrid mix of a grid-based dungeon crawler (called 'Stepping Mode') and a 3D freeform movement game. Switching between the two is as simple as clicking the compass on the screen. Unfortunately it means they aren't very good at being either. Stepping mode allows for faster movement, but you can only attack what's right in front of you. Monsters are not bound by that rule as they can attack at whatever angle, even diagonally.
Q: What's the character creation process like?
A: You get to create two characters for your party, with the option of adding two NPCs later on. You can choose from six races and six classes, though multi-classing is also possible. The game follows the AD&D 2nd Edition game rules, meaning asinine restrictions placed upon many character builds. Fortunately race-specific level caps aren't one of those restrictions. You can either roll for your stats or modify them, like in the Eye of the Beholder series...and like in that series it seems that INT, CHA and Alignment are utterly useless, and Wisdom only being of use to Clerics.
A freshly created character has about 37000 XP which is enough to make most characters about level 5-6. There does not appear to be a level cap in Ravenloft except for the standardized 20 character levels, but the available spells in both Ravenloft games don't seem to account for a party level greater than level 13.
Q: Any hints for creating your characters?
A: INCLUDE A CLERIC! I can't stress this enough. Multi-class or otherwise, you'd be braindead to play a Ravenloft-game without one. For those planning on playing Ravenloft 2 I also recommend a Mage. The best party is, laughably enough, a Dwarven Cleric and an Elven Mage, because they can spot illusionary walls and secret doors respectively. Those are very useful abilities. This comes with the downside that a dead Elf cannot be brought back to life with the Raise Dead spell, but when one factors in that resurrecting a dead character permanently lowers a character's Constitution by a point, save-scumming becomes the way to play the game.
Q: But what about the NPCs?
A: There are 10 NPCs in Ravenloft 1 that cover the general spectrum of classes. Fighters, Clerics, Mages and Thieves. Unlike most RPGs I remember, NPCs will be joining and leaving your party A LOT for whatever reasons. Some of them only join your party while you're on one particular map, others are part of escort quests. Fortunately almost all of the NPCs can be found again and asked to rejoin later on.
Ravenloft 2 has 9 NPCs, of which 2 are only part of escort quests, leaving the total at 7. Of those 7 there are 3 Clerics, 2 Fighters, a Thief and a Paladin, meaning no Mage NPCs.
Q: How much Choice & Consequence is there in this game? Or replayability?
A: Ravenloft 1 is a dungeon crawler through and through, except for the option of taking on NPCs and refusing a couple of optional quests, you're on rails for the duration of the game. Some things can be done in a different order but that's it.
Ravenloft 2, however, has a "judgement" system in play. Certain actions count as a point towards either being judged good or evil. This could have an impact at a later point in the game and may prevent you from completing the game, but sadly I didn't get a chance to test this.
Replayability is pretty much nil for both games, except to try some bizarre party combinations.
Q: Are these games hard?
A: They present a challenge, yes. In both games one of the first monsters encountered can poison your party members, and you won't have easy methods to counter poison at such an early stage. Ravenloft 1 also has plenty of level-draining undead, but seemingly no way to restore those lost levels.
Ravenloft 2 has no level-draining Undead, but the addition of monsters with ranged attacks and more poisonous monsters ensures the challenge level remains high.
There are also monsters that deal absurd amounts of damage and are immune to most forms of attacks, "boss monsters" that you can stumble upon with little effort, and other nasty surprises that can kill your entire party in one go. Learn to save early and often.
Q: Do I have to worry about food or money?
A: In Ravenloft 1 food and water are never an issue, and neither is money since there are no shops in the game. Part of the main quest line requires that at one point you find a bunch of coins for a MacGuffin, but that's as close as there is to an economy in Barovia.
Ravenloft 2, however, has a Water meter which needs to be kept topped up or you'll be in trouble. Fortunately there's plenty of Water skins around and Clerics can cast the "Create Water" spell when all else fails.
Q: Is there an auto-map?
A: Yes and it's based on line-of-sight rather than proximity, making it much easier to map out the levels.
Q: What about pits, traps and teleporter puzzles?
A: Ravenloft 1 doesn't have variable levels of altitude (or odd angles for that matter). Barovia is a very flat land. Ravenloft 2 however, has a Fly spell which can be used in the outdoor maps to reach a couple of hard-to-reach places. Other means are also available to reach most of those places.
There are also teleporter puzzles, spinner squares and slider squares, so keep an eye on your compass. Various traps can be found in the game, but the majority of them are fireball/lightning spitters. Pits and pressure plates are only found in Ravenloft 2, but even they don't present much of a problem. None of these traps can be disabled by a Thief in your party.
Q: What version should I be playing?
A: For Ravenloft 1 there are a few versions: A 1.1 floppy disk version, a 1.2 CD-ROM version and a 1.2A patched CD-ROM version. Play the 1.2A version as it fixes some game-breaking bugs. GOG has the 1.2A version. A fix has been released which makes normal ranged weapons do damage again, see the GOG-link below.
For Ravenloft 2 there's a 1.0 and a 1.1 version. The 1.1 version fixes some pretty big bugs, so common sense would say to strive for that version, right? Yes, except there are certain cinematics in the endgame that are only played correctly under the 1.0 version. During those times while playing the 1.1 version you'll have to press ESC when the screen goes black for seemingly no reason to return to the game, and the game will hang when it tries to play the final outro.
GOG has the 1.1 version, and for many years no fix was available. But a fix has been found, but it must be installed manually, as per this GOG forum-post. Read that thread to the end, it seems it creates new problems.
YouTube has some of the cinematics available, so check there to see what the endgame was supposed to be like if you can't be bothered with manual patching.
Q: Were there any other versions released of Ravenloft?
A: A Ravenloft game was released for the PC-98 and FM Towns computers in Japan. Called "Ravenloft: Aku No Keshin" (Night Rush) this appears to be a localized version of Strahd's Possession, though I have virtually no info to even confirm that much.
Q: Are there any "Walking Dead" failstates in this game? Can I screw myself over?
A: In Ravenloft 1 I haven't found a way to do so yet, though I'm certain that it's possible if you put some effort into it. There's one instance where you can make things harder for you by exploring a house in the Barovia village too early, which leads to one of your characters being made unavailable if you stray away from completing a certain quest.
Ravenloft 2 has a judgement system where certain actions will count toward your party being judged "good" or "evil". It seems that passing this judgement is mandatory towards completing the game, but I can't confirm this at the moment.
All excellent information - many thanks. I shall implement these tweaks as I have not completed these games yet, but they have always been on my to-do list ! I have started a game with Menzo, have not got too far, still fighting that bloody fire in the village. lol
Unkillable Cat will you please add links to the few old codex threads in the OP? I looked these games up here once as well, and i think at least one had good info.
Old Thread #1 has interesting bits of info, though most of it is inaccurate. There IS a Restoration spell in Ravenloft 1, for example, and most of the bugs were in the Floppy Disk version, but the GOG version is the CD-ROM one. Always aim to play the CD-ROM version as it has extra content in the form of extra NPCs and sidequests.
Old Thread #2 has more of the same, including a 7-year old comment from yours truly. Part of the reason I'm starting this thread is to see how much of that still applies today.
One further bit of info: Only Ravenloft 1 needs VirtualMIDISynth for MIDI volume control, Ravenloft 2 has internal volume settings (yay for progress!).
The UI makes me cringe. You left-click on a character portrait to bring up the inventory screen, but must then right-click to exit it. To access a container item it must be placed in the character's left hand (right hand on the inventory screen) To reach the options menu, move the mouse to the top of the screen (ESC does nothing). Spells in effect are hidden behind an icon that appears only in the inventory menu.
Clicking on things in the view window does not give you any messages or indicators. Clicking on doors doesn't seem to do anything (least of all open them) and you can't adjust your viewing angle. The 3D engine used is on par with the engine Wolfenstein 3D used - meaning it was woefully outdated at the time of Ravenloft's release.
While character levels are gained automatically, the game doesn't bother telling you about it, which is very strange.
I had a look through the spells, and one of them catches my eye: Detect Scrying. Anyone know/remember what this spell is for?
The UI makes me cringe. You left-click on a character portrait to bring up the inventory screen, but must then right-click to exit it. To access a container item it must be placed in the right hand, placing it in the left hand doesn't seem to work. To reach the options menu, move the mouse to the top of the screen (ESC does nothing).
Clicking on things in the view window does not give you any messages or indicators. Clicking on doors doesn't seem to do anything (least of all open them) and you can't adjust your viewing angle. The 3D engine used is on par with the engine Wolfenstein 3D used - meaning it was woefully outdated at the time of Ravenloft's release.
While character levels are gained automatically, the game doesn't bother telling you about it, which is very strange.
I had a look through the spells, and one of them catches my eye: Detect Scrying. Anyone know/remember what this spell is for?
That's the manual talking, what I'm wondering about is what it actually does in gameplay terms. Will it matter at any point that I know who's watching me? Does it help me complete a quest, or solve a puzzle?
Spells in games like these are like Chekov's Gun: If they're in the game, they're there for a reason.
I remember trying to play Menzoberranzan, but thought it looked and played inferior to then popular EoB games, despite being released later. At least Dreamforge leveled up when they did Anvil of Dawn, despite the lack of a party it was quite good. Sadly their last dungeon crawler.
Strahds posession was purestrain shit imho. If you even managed to beat that, your gonna love Stone Prophet. The game has quite nice atmosphere for what it is. The only advice i can give is awoid taking the troll companion and get rid of him if you find a replacement. The troll cant do magic damage so hes useless past-midgame and you can get stuck in dungeons due having him do nothing.
I've finished what I would call "Chapter 1" of Ravenloft. This is the starting areas, the two Old Svalich Road maps and the village fort Barovia. This chapter ends on me talking to the Burgomaster whom insists I accept the gracious offer of Strahd von Zarovich for dinner tonight.
# The game dumps you in the first area in pursuit of an evil-doer, without even having you prepare spells or scribe spell scrolls. After quickly dispatching of the lone villain, searching through his stuff brings about the all-too familiar mists which whisk you away to another land. Now you're in a dark forest, surrounded by fog and with a ruined house right in front of you, along with a couple of big, hungry wolves. The manual barely tells you how to fight, let alone prepare you to be dumped in the deep end of the pool like this.
# Moving the party about is best described as "D&D on ice". It gets really annoying really quick.
# Party composition is a maximum of four members, two on the left and two on the right. The characters on the left are what's called the "front rank", and the others the "rear rank". This only matters when you're indoors for some reason, as then some bullshit limitations come into play where the rear rank character can't attack, though they're perfectly capable of doing so in outdoors areas, even ones with narrow passageways! The only saving aspect of this "feature" is that the front rank characters need to be killed first before monsters can attack the rear rankers.
# There are secret areas in both Old Road maps. The former one is an illusionary wall leading to a small encampment, but there's no loot there. The latter one leads to the brigand hideout and has some nice goodies guarded by Darklings, which can poison party members!
# Items meant for you to pick up are always on the ground. In addition no one seems to mind if you enter houses and take other people's stuff, so feel free to grab everything you can.
# Speaking of Darklings, if you're outside in Barovia itself after dark, you'll be beset by Brigands and Darklings fairly regularly. For an early point in the game this is a tough nut to crack.
# The "village" of Barovia is larger than many cities I've seen in other RPGs. It'll take a while to explore it and all the houses, but I suggest you save before entering a house. Most have nothing of value, some have loot, but a few have tough fights and other nuisances.
# In particular there's a house in the NE part of town you should stay away from. You'll be forced to go hunt down and slay a monster that you currently can't reach, which will lead to problems. Better to enter this house later.
# The toughest fight so far has been against 3 Broken Ones in a warehouse in Bavoria, mainly because they surround me the moment I enter the building and one of them spawns between me and the exit door! Good as time as any to start casting those Magic Missiles.
# The spells so far are the standard fare from EOB and Dungeon Hack, with the exception of the Draw Upon Holy Might spells, one for Strength and one for Dexterity. They temporarily raise those stats to 18, so they're useless if you happen to have 18 stats already.
# Detect Magic is a godsend. Use it to spot the magic weapons, then use Improved Identify to learn what they are. Dump the non-magical weapons, but it's best to do so in a designated dumping area, like one of the larger houses in Barovia.
# Scattered info online seems to point to ranged weapons being either a bit of a letdown in Ravenloft, or just plain not working. That said, pay attention to quivers and their arrows, as some of them contain Arrows of Undead Slaying, which may come in very useful in this game.
# Other noticable things in Barovia is an old Paladin who gave me a quest to recover his Holy Symbol, a house with a locked door, a house with a trap door I can't open and a house with the secret entrance to the "Lesser Catacombs below Barovia".
# With apologies to Jaesun who has been so kind to post videos on YouTube of the music from the game being played on a Roland soundcard, I quickly got tired of the music and just turned it off. Then I went one further and uninstalled the VirtualMIDISynth program because it was acting up.
# By this point you have access to 4 NPCs: A Fighter you found tied up in the starting map, a peacock of a lady who's looking for adventure, a beautiful woman in a house in Barovia and an Elven Mage in the Burgomaster's house. So far the Fighter and the peacock lady (Fighter/Mage/Thief) are proving themselves useful, so they get to be in my party until otherwise. The beautiful woman is a Fighter but her Strength and starting equipment is kinda weak, and I already have a Mage in my party.
Hey UC.
I decided to play along for a while for old times sake. I also had fond memories of Ravenloft, but ... yeah, this is an occasion where I have to admit I was remembering a game through rose colored glasses.
Most of your remarks are spot on, especially the criticism of the interface and the D&D on ice thing.
Stupid question: How do I heal a fallen guy? Someone was reduced to 0hp - I don't have a cleric (for ONCE I start a D&D game without a cleric...) but a Paladin, yet his lay on hands does nothing. Is that character actually dead? The stats screen says nothing of the sort.
In game terms he's dead. If you're lucky the Paladin can use Cleric scrolls, and for some reason there's plenty of Cleric scrolls of Raise Dead about.
Failing that, you only need to keep playing until the masked woman asks to join your party, as she's a Cleric. That should be just a little beyond where I'm now, as I remember her being a vital part of the first true dungeon of the game.
Cool, thanks for the heads up UC.
I actually have at least one Raise Dead scroll, but I THINK my Paladin is unable to make use of it. Can't be sure, though, as the interface is truly horrendous from todays point of view.
Funny, how even Pool of Radiance had a much better and clearer interface (it was immediately obvious whether or not someone was dead, for example).
I wonder if I'd better fall back to a savegame. Those combats are quite deady for me for some reason. Not sure whether it's my DOSBox settings or just good old ineptitude, but when I get into a melee for good, I'm as good as dead.
I had to run away from the wargs in the starting area and defeated most of the bandit dudes by cheesing them, for example flinging a magic missile or other ranged spell at them through the trees or from afar. I CAN survive combat with a single melee fighter, but even then, they kinda dance around and my weapon takes what feels like an eternity to be available again. I missed the fighter in the starting area you mentioned, though - so I'll see whether I can just head back and have him fill my ranks until I can get a cleric.
Or I just remove the gal that died from the party. Guess I'll need the room for someone else down the line anyway.
What I still love about this game is it's consistent voice acting. This kinda blew my mind back in the day when such a thing was still rare even in adventure games. The audio quality is horrendous for some reason (not sure if it's DOSBox or it was always like this), but other than that...
I know voice acting in RPGs is generally considered decline in these parts, but sometimes, after a busy day at work, it's just great to be able to lean back and have someone actually speak out at least parts of the text - plus a halfway decent voice actor can bring the subtleties of human conversations to life so much better than when it's just written down in the description.
# Party composition is a maximum of four members, two on the left and two on the right. The characters on the left are what's called the "front rank", and the others the "rear rank". This only matters when you're indoors for some reason, as then some bullshit limitations come into play where the rear rank character can't attack, though they're perfectly capable of doing so in outdoors areas, even ones with narrow passageways! The only saving aspect of this "feature" is that the front rank characters need to be killed first before monsters can attack the rear rankers.
this is a "feature" imported from the AD&D rules. a standard 5 foot wide dungeon cell allows only 2 people to fight side-by-side. the two in the rear can use reach weapons such as spears - isn't there a halberd or something in this game... been a LONG time.
sadly, tried to play it again a few times but i have the aforementioned rose-colored glasses as well.
rezaf The voice acting is consistent, yes, but still off to me on far too many occasions. They're just reading lines with a slight dramatic flair or accent, but still good for 1994 standards, except for the audio quality, which is just that bad.
When it comes to combat this game is a clickfest. Instead of doing it dungeon crawler-style and clicking on each weapon on each character, I just spam-click on the monster on the viewscreen. It's easy to get a lot of attacks in like that.
If you remove a dead party member from your party they're gone for good. Judging by your post, you're either talking about Velika the peacock, or Tatian the feminist. Velika is actually useful as she's perfect as a rear-ranker once she gets a polearm weapon (spear, staff, halberd), but Tatian only has Strength 12, so meh. I also checked the manual, and it doesn't say anywhere that Paladins can use Cleric scrolls. To use a scroll, put it in a character's hand, then either right-click it from there, or go back to the adventure screen and left-click on the hand holding the scroll.
RPK Thanks for the input, and welcome to the RPG Codex! I hope you survive the experience.
Unkillable Cat what soundfont were you using in VirtualMIDISynth? I've got a buried cache of bootleg soundfont booty I could share if you want to try to get it working. A good soundfont really makes a difference.
Will you do a full LP of Stone Prophet? There's already an LP of Strahd's Possession somewhere around here, don't remember who did it.
Hm, this is one of the games I always wanted to play for setting and atmosphere, but last time I tried I didn't get very far since controls are pretty shitty, imo.
Unkillable Cat what soundfont were you using in VirtualMIDISynth? I've got a buried cache of bootleg soundfont booty I could share if you want to try to get it working. A good soundfont really makes a difference.
I can't even remember what soundfont I dug up for this, and that was two days ago. It was the free one that the developer of VirtualMIDISynth recommends.
And while I appreciate the gesture, I'm not really interested in getting the game running with music again. Maybe if I come across a similar problem for another game.
Will you do a full LP of Stone Prophet? There's already an LP of Strahd's Possession somewhere around here, don't remember who did it.
Hm, this is one of the games I always wanted to play for setting and atmosphere, but last time I tried I didn't get very far since controls are pretty shitty, imo.
in its day, I thought it was incredibly atmospheric. I was about 16 and I suspect it caught me "at the right time" in the same way that Star Wars did that if i were to play it today for the first time, i might think differently.
But it had such an effect on me that I ran a Strahd/Barovia campaign and now that I'm starting to learn Unity 3d, am aspiring to a game spiritual successor to it. It will probably never be done, but who knows, right
Another long playsession over. Strahd's dinner party was a quest hook where he made me an offer I couldn't refuse: To investigate some caverns that run under the river Ivlis to the west, in order to find whether an interdimensional portal exists there, which may provide an escape route from the nightmare that is Barovia.
Before making my way to the caverns I thought I'd look around, see if I couldn't level up some. The road leading to Castle Ravenloft had nothing but more wolves on it, and the Old Church was locked tightly and surrounded by some undead stragglers. But the Old Paladin in town seeks to reclaim his holy symbol which he threw away in some catacombs beneath the village, so that's as good a quest as any. After a pointless detour to secure a key to the catacombs, I descend downwards to find a series of passages, many blocked off by living walls that attacked me if I got too close. The wererats and fireball spitters didn't help either, but eventually I found the long-lost holy symbol and returned it to the paladin.
With a new level gained and a fat reward from the Paladin, I made my way west of Barovia and find that I'm not alone in seeking out this portal: A masked Asian woman claims to be seeking the portal and has unique knowledge on its properties. Feeling confident that my pre-existing NPCs will be available at a later date, I dismiss Velika the peacock lady (even though she had just gained a Fighter level). I was somewhat more bothered to lose Fhalken the fighter merchant when some arrogant Half-Elf knight appeared in the caverns and demanded that he accompany me. He claimed to have knowledge of the caverns, yet he never said a word during my entire adventure there.
After a long trek through damp caverns full of skeletons I find the portal, step through and... find myself teleported outside the caves. Worse than that, my two accompanying NPCs have vanished! I return to the village to recruit my previous NPCs, then go through the ardous task of rearranging my inventory before preparing to head out on further adventures.
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# The Old Paladin quest is stretched out too much. He instructs you to find a unique item in the village and use it at an exact location in the village to get a key that opens a door behind a secret door that's in the village. While the Paladin gives you a map to the secret door, you can easily find it on your own. I didn't check, but if someone had advance knowledge of this quest (hint hint) they could probably use the footman's pick while facing east at the wooden stump in the far NE corner of the village, get the key, enter the Lesser Catacombs and recover the holy symbol without ever talking to the Old Paladin. Then again that might break the game, so save first.
# Living Walls are tough enemies. They hit hard and often, but their one weakness is that they're immobile. Spam then with ranged weapons if you're afraid to take them head-on (if you have the Dagger of Throwing this should be a cakewalk, see below). If you decide to fight them in melee it's better to attack from the sides rather than the front, though in a few cases you don't have that luxury.
# Don't be afraid to save often when in unknown places. You never know when you get jumped by tough enemies and torn to shreds.
# Remember that wererats need +1 weapons or better to be hit, so now is a good time to start using Detect Magic and Improved Identify to learn what magical weapons you have.
# The doors in the Lesser Catacombs are a pain, they open/close based on your proximity to them, and they can trap you if you aren't quick enough. This can be a problem when fireball spitters are added to the mix.
# To get the holy symbol you first need to find a Silver Star Key, then a Silver Moon key. To reach the Silver Moon key you need to go through a corridor with three one-way doors. To get back out, look for an illusionary wall.
# The paladin's reward includes a +3 Longsword and a +2 Dagger, so this quest is well worth doing for the sword alone.
# The map "West of Barovia" has skeletal bats and werewolves, though the werewolves are mostly out at night. There are three places of note here: A hut where you can recruit a Mage NPC, a cave to the NW where you can find a man plagued by lycanthropy seeking a cure, and the entrance to the Caves of Ivlis.
# The first step to curing the were-man is to kill the progenitor, an albino werewolf that appears in the south part of the map at night only after you've talked to the were-man. He's a little tough, but shouldn't be a problem. The rest of the curing process can't be done at this time, so just keep it in mind and Carry On.
# Irmgarde the bitch-ninja is a Lvl 6 Cleric, making her an extremely useful party member. She hangs out outside the Caves of Ivlis entrance. Unfortunately she won't join up unless you can prove you can get past the first door in the Caves of Ivlis dungeon (i.e. you must have accepted Strahd's dinner invitation). In return she'll unlock the last door in the dungeon.
# What's worse is that she'll only stay with the party while you're in the "Caves of Ivlis" and "West of Barovia"-maps. Try to go back to town and she leaves the party without a word. She can be recruited again until the caves have been completed.
# NPCs that leave the party always drop all of their gear. This means that the tactic of recruiting NPCs just to steal their gear is perfectly OK, as the next point will demonstrate.
# Once you're in the Caves of Ivlis proper your first obstruction is a warrior that demands to join your party...actually your first obstruction is a spinner that turns you around on the spot that's located right in front of the warrior, but I digress. Anyway, Vladislav (baby don't hurt me) has good stats, a high level and good gear, so there's no reason to turn him down, especially since his gear is now yours.
# Like Irmgarde, Vladislav (don't hurt me) will only stay in your party during your trek in the Caves of Ivlis. Even if you step outside to the West of Barovia he'll take off. As soon as you're done with the caves Vladislav (no more) vanishes, never to be seen again.
# The caves are a large mess of passages and open spaces, full of skeletons and the occasional Bone Golem. The goal is to reach the portal that's in the SW corner of the map, while the entrance is close to the NE corner of the map. To reach the portal you need to find 4 Jade Cavern keys and the doors that they open, then journey through a network of invisible teleporters to eventually get to the portal. You will want to use the note-taking feature of the automap to mark where the teleporters are.
# If you're having trouble, here's a rough guide on how to get through this dungeon:
Just where you start there's a long corridor where lightning bolts travel by. You want to go up this corridor to find the first key on the top left, and the first door on the top right. Past the first Jade door is an invisible teleporter that places you in an area in the center-west of the map. There's another Jade door there (the key should be nearby somewhere) and behind that is the third key. The exit teleporter should take you close to the third door, and a teleporter beyond that should put you on the path to the portal. When you reach a passageway that's shaped like a diamond, you need to find the illusionary walls to get further inside the diamond, as the portal is in the center.
# A VERY IMPORTANT item you'll find in the cavern is the Vestibule Key, which kinda looks like a golden bell. It opens the Old Church found to the north of Barovia, so don't leave without it!
# There's an extra invisible teleporter in the caves that takes you to the NW area of the map. While this section is optional it has lots of cool loot, including some very useful Mage spells.
# Somewhere in the caves you can find the Dagger of Throwing. This is a strong contender for the "Most OP Weapon" award of the game. It's a +2 Throwing Knife that returns to the wielder's hand once thrown, doing 3-5 points of damage (or 5-7 if the +2 bonus isn't calculated). Due to the primitive 3D engine Ravenloft uses, ranged projectiles don't need a "to hit"-roll, only that the projectile physically connects to its target. The ability to spam this dagger nonstop, at range, for guaranteed damage with every hit AND the chance to hit 2 targets with one throw (if it connects with a monster on the return trip) makes this a must-have weapon.
# Another cool weapon that's in the caves is a halberd. Give this to a rear-ranker that can use it (Velika) and you gain an extra hand in melee combat. Giving the Dagger of Throwing to the other rear-ranker allows the entire party to join in the fray!
# The only part of the map I couldn't enter was a room in the SE section, the one with a door on the N and W sides. If anyone knows how to get in there, let me know.
# Even though the skeletons are weak enemies they only take half damage from slashing weapons, so it's a good idea to bring maces and warhammers along for this dungeon.
# Once you step through the portal you'll be missing 2 NPCs and have a pile of stuff on the ground to sort through. Take your time, those things aren't going anywhere.
# While walking through the village of Barovia there's a surprising amount of fluff text your characters will spout about how miserable the village is. This can get kinda annoying, but not as annoying as the random sounds the game likes to play now and again. Screams of horror, creaking noises, babies crying, etc. Remember that Ravenloft doesn't have a volume slider...
Here's a question for the rules freaks: Does the Dagger of Throwing do extra damage to monsters if the wielder has a high Strength value? The manual says No, but I know better than to trust it.
