Melding BR with MotP

[Chase_2346]

Guys~

First of all, I'd like to thank the people that worked hard at translating Birthright material from 2nd to 3rd edition rules-- that helped save me lots of $$ from going from one campaign setting (that I really loved) to another. (I'm not good at balancing rules, spells, ect. and your work is great!)
However, I have been purchasing other books, specifically from Sword & Sorcery studio and Wizards, and had a couple questions for anyone who has good ideas.

First:
I'd like to integrate the Manual of the Planes information into my BR campaign, however lightly as not to ruin BR's distinct flavor. How could I go about doing this? (Inner plane setup, how to arrange the Transitive planes, and which outer planes to add in the BR cosmology). Any Planar experts out there?

Second:
With the new release of Ravenloft, does anyone have any ideas of how to make this the default setting for the Shadow World? I think it would be a neat idea to open up the shadow world into a bigger, specific type of material plane of its own, either that or a modified Plane of Shadow, or ACK!! I dunno, that's why I'm posting here :) I love Ravenloft's dark feel and believe that, with some modifying, it could only add to Birthright's darker side.

If anyone is interested in helping me, or if you have any good ideas, pls post or email me. Thanks!

Chaser

P.S. If this infringes upon copyrights, pls take it off!! I don't mean to get anyone into trouble.

[Mortis]

Not to sure about the manual of planes but ravenloft is a very cool idea. With some minor drawbacks, the shadow world is a mirror world of birthirght, just twisted, kinda like some Tim burton movies ;) Second, ravenloft has to much history to directly incorporate. And thrid, ravenloft is a living world, the living do have many cities, its just dark and gothic, the shadow world as described in BR is an entire world where the dead populate and there are no living with few excpetions. Cities are run by ghouls, populated by zombies and what not. But with some tinkering you colud use idea's from ravenloft to the shadowworld. Good luck and hope to hear more about your idea's

[Lord Eldred]

If you are the DM and want to change what the Birthright Shadow world is like to make your own unique campaign, you should do so. I like the idea of making the Shadow World, Ravenloft. It would be an excellent way to combine both campaign settings.

[blitzmacher]

I agree with Lord Eldred, your the DM and if you want to make something fit in the way you like it then by all means do so, especially if it enhances your campaign

[Chioran]

I, personally, am a big fan of the Raveloft world and would like nothing more than to have it integrated into the Birthright world (HINT HINT El!) However, as opposed to seeing it become the shadow world, if I was in the campaign, I would prefer to have it be in the world of the living as a "dark continent".

Just a humble players opinion.

[Leland]

I wish I knew more about Ravenloft to add comments here but I don't and don't plan on buying it anytime soon. But I would like to say that Blood Spawn 2 has a really good depiction of the shadow world in my opinon (and its FREE!). The idea of Ravenloft being a separate continent I think is great! It could be a continent where portals from the shadow world are much more prevalent and so the shadow world has some influence over it. But I'm sure the bestiary would fit right into Cerilia.

Leland

[Lord Eldred]

Ravenloft as a continent where the Shadow World and the real world are so interconnected that it creates the distinct features of Ravenloft.

The only problem is some of the members of my group hate Ravenloft. I am not sure why something but bad prior experience.

Are there any Ravenloft players out there that could tell me the pros and cons of the campaign setting?

[Chioran]

Lord Eldred,

As a former Ravenloft player I can tell you, my favorite part was that it caused you to re-think all the things you would normally do. This was especially tru where magic was concerned because it did not behave the same in Ravenloft as it did elsewhere. Additionally there was a nasty side-effect that popped up if you happened to kill a ruler of a country in Ravenloft

[Chioran]

As a land it is structured similarly to Cerilia, et. al. which would make it a plug-n-play with birthright

[Strahd]

Well, in many ways Ravenloft is similar to the SW, only "the shadow world as described in BR is an entire world where the dead populate and there are no living with few excpetions", to quote another post. But what if the veil ("Evanessence"?)between the SW and Cerilia was completely torn apart and the SW gradually absorbed Cerilia?? A dark gothic medieval setting, living, yet dark and twisted, without magic etc. Maybe RL is BR in the future, or something.
On the other hand, one has to figure out how to incorporate the other RL domains (one from Dragonlance etc.)