Welcome toRavenloft , boils and graverobber ! Where it ’s always a sorry and stormy dark , where monsters are always under your bottom , and your line of descent always curdle in repugnance — right before avampiresucks it out . So what the hell is a gold elf from the Forgotten Realms doing here ? unretentive answer : Not having a specially fun time .
Vampire of the Mists is the very first novel set in Ravenloft , D&D’sgothic horrorrealm . First debut in 1983 , Ravenloft began as merely an dangerous undertaking faculty ( by eventual Dragonlance authors Tracy and Laura Hickman ) where players seek to put down the malevolent lamia lord Count Strahd in his boastful scary castle , also called Ravenloft . It only became a full campaign context in 1990 , after AD&D had explode in popularity with 2nd Edition , which is likely why publisher TSR was ready to capitalize on its new horror setting with a novel the very next year .
https://gizmodo.com/dungeons-dragons-novels-revisiting-streams-of-silv-1845544031
Partial cover of the 2016 Curse of Strahd adventure module by Ben Oliver. And yes, that is Strahd.Image: Wizards of the Coast
Written by Christie Golden — who has done a ton of new tie - Indiana to properties likeStar Wars , Star Trek , andWorld of Warcraft — Vampire of the Mists is about Jander Sunstar , a gold elf and self - loathing vampire who finds himself enthrall to the land of Barovia in the Demiplane of Dread after having a peculiarly uncollectible day — er , night . He ’s direct in by Barovia ’s ruler and boyfriend lamia Count Strahd , who ’s basicallyDraculawith a semi - tragical backstory and the ability to cast go .
As you might expect from a D&D vampire novel write in 1991 , it ’s a caboodle of Bram Stoker ’s Dracula with a healthy dose of Anne Rice ’s Interview With the Vampire boredom , good manners of Jander . It ’s a wide-eyed , more canonic version of both classics , of class , but I absolutely do not hold that against the book . In fact , Vampire of the Mists is the proficient D&D novelI’ve read so far — the best indite , the well plotted , and easily the most complex . That ’s not saying a gross ton , but the playscript reads less like a secret plan taking place and much more like an veritable write up , with help , no doubt , from the vampire fable it draws from .
Mists is primarily about Jander and Strahd and their uneasy camaraderie , since Jander does n’t really have anywhere else in Barovia to go , yet Strahd is also vastly evil on occasion . However , it ’s also a mystery storey as Jander research for the person who as if by magic destroyed the mind of Anna , a charwoman he fall in love with at the origin of the volume . Does her tragical tale have anything to do with the individual locked elbow room Strahd demands Jander never enter or ask about when the Au elf first go far at Castle Ravenloft ? I ’m not enjoin , but also , yes , obviously .
The original cover of Vampire of the Mists by Clyde Caldwell. So Dracula, you guys.Image: Wizards of the Coast
There ’s something genuinely compelling about Strahd , mayhap because he is , again , a Dracula . He ’s got the driverless baby buggy and castle door that open on his own . His rook is whole decrepit other than his library and study , because he ’s classy like that . He dally a jumbo Hammond organ . He delight in Jander ’s fellowship , but he also delight in do horrific acts of pitilessness in front of Jander , because Strahd know the gold elf hate it . He ’s speedy to anger , but quick to tranquilize down again . Strahd also invents an insane panel game called Hawks & Hares , which include gameplay that somehow leads Jander to say , “ The Doe has achieve the rabbit warren . According to the rules , that gives me five more kitten to introduce into play . ” He ’s technically a complex character , it ’s just that the complexness themselves are n’t complex .
Although Mists spends most of its time with the two lamia ( perhaps a little too much time ) , a smattering of interesting human case wind in and out of the history , evolving over clock time , literally , as the book principally takes place over 25 years . Jander ’s actions and inactions affect multiple generations , and Golden does an excellent job bring them together , leading to a instinctive progression where Jander , the non-Christian priest cum lamia huntsman Sasha , and the thief Liesl attempt to take out Strahd and his coven . Mists is n’t shivery , per se , but Strahd wreaks enough repulsion and carnage to drive home that Ravenloft is much , much more sinister than the Forgotten Realms . It all comes together into a solid narrative .
https://gizmodo.com/dungeon-dragons-novels-revisiting-spellfire-1845158757
…and the cover of the 2006 re-release by Jon Foster.Image: Wizards of the Coast
That ’s not to say Vampire of the Mists does n’t have its problems — of course!—it is , after all , a D&D novel . Jander ’s cataclysm is quite distraught ; his last name is Sunstar because his family was just so into the Dominicus ; Jander loved the sun so much he idolize the sun / rebirth / etc . god Lathander Morninglord , but now he can never see it ; and for some grounds Jander also really bonk place of adoration in world-wide , which he now can not go in . There are some really spoiled plot devices at the end , the most egregious of which is how Jander enters the as if by magic locked room , which is by tricking Strahd ’s well pull wires lycanthrope girlfriend into learning and then cast “ A Spell to Unlock Magically Sealed Doors ” one eve . ( That spell name is verbatim , by the elbow room . ) Also , the timeline of the book is … let ’s just say “ loosey - goosy ” and somehow , no one in Barovia realizes Count Strahd is a vampire , despite the fact he ’s been decree for 250 or so years .
Alas , Vampire of the Mists is also a D&D novel published in the other ‘ ninety , which mean lump of it have , as common , aged rather poorly . There ’s the Vistani , a wash of Romani analogues repeatedly called by the older daub , which is n’t great . Strahd is exclusively interested in make a coven of aphrodisiac lamia noblewoman , which mean a luck of female fiber exist solely to be victims . Specifically , Anna is very much a cleaning lady in a gothic repugnance icebox who give-up the ghost only to coif Jander on his pursuit for retaliation , although that ’s not the worst part . Jander finds her in a mental asylum , where he goes to fee when he ca n’t stand drink brute , which means he falls in passion with an effectively snare char with severe mental wellness issue . Nothing forcible happens , give thanks the Morninglord , but it still seems like this should have been flagged as exceedingly stinking even in 1991 , and of all the knotty things that have crop up up in the D&D&N series so far , I ’m moderately sure it ’s the bad .
And yet , it ’s still the best D&D novel I ’ve revisited so far . I do think part of this might be because I call up practically nothing about Ravenloft going into the book other than that it was gothic revulsion and Strahd was its malefic bill sticker male child , which I think is because I never knew anything about Ravenloft as a D&D - obsessed teen . A horror campaign setting just seemed a lot more restrictive to me than a traditional Forgotten Realms phantasy campaign , which still had lamia and werewolves , but also a million other things .
Partial cover of the 1983 AD&D adventure module Ravenloft. Art by Clyde Caldwell.Image: Wizards of the Coast
I ’m not going to diss either of us by using the io9 Spoiler Bar for a 30 - class - quondam novel you absolutely are n’t perish to read , but spoiler : plain , Strahd is the one who mess everything up . The Count , sulfurous that he was forced to waste his deadly life protecting Barovia from goblin armies , desired immortality . He lusted even more for the good - hearted Anna ( real name Tatyana ) and hate his effortlessly charming younger brother Sergei for being engage to her . So Strahd made a dark accord with some strange entity to become Ravenloft ’s first lamia and murdered his sidekick ; Anna went insane and stress to belt down herself but was secretly transported into the Forgotten Realms for Jander to find . In the present tense , study the truth in conclusion motivate Jander to kill his host , but the gold pixie can only wound Strahd grievously , forcing the Count to go into concealment for a few years , before Jasper decides to keep an eye on the sunrise one last meter .
It sounds like somewhat standard poppycock , but what ’s interesting is Strahd is n’t the main villain in Ravenloft . Jander calculate out he , Strahd , and Anna have all been control by the Demiplane of Dread itself . It feed in off wretchedness and hate , so it used Anna to make Strahd , it station Anna to Jander to wreak him to Ravenloft , and it boost Strahd ’s mercilessness and Jander ’s desire for revenge . It even reincarnates Anna every so often and then kills her to keep Strahd miserable . It also metafictionally explains the Count ’s plot armour ; the forces of the aeroplane will never allow Strahd to be really destroyed because he ’s their instrument in making Ravenloft a place of fear and pain . It ’s a thoroughgoing room to justify a XII novel starring Strahd , where the agonist still call for to defeat him to tell a satisfying tale but let the count to always turn back to sell more Ravenloft products .
It wrench out the malevolent sense of Ravenloft is all part of the campaign place setting . Golden is draw this straight from the source material , so peradventure I should n’t be so commendable of Vampires of the Mists and more praiseworthy of the plot . But I ca n’t help but feel even though the novel got a major assist from the biz , it still made for a neat last to a very readable novel . As such , Vampire of the Mists rolls a 10 on a 1d20 … but with an inauspicious -1 qualifier for the Anna badness , which just ca n’t be handwaved off .
I feel full about place Vampire of the Mists around the middle . It is neither genius nor food waste . It ’s got some flubs but is still write by someone who clearly knew what they were doing , which can not be said of many of the previous newcomer in this serial . If you ’re looking for a dear vampire tarradiddle , you could do importantly better than Vampire of the Mists , but if you ’re someone rereading a bunch of 30 - class - old Dungeons & Dragons novel , you could do much , muchworse .
Assorted Musings:
Ravenloft ( and I guess Forgotten Realms ) lamia have all the tropes : They can turn into bats , brute , and mists , and they do n’t ramble reflections . They can control animate being and enthrall people , to a degree . They ca n’t pass over running H2O , and they have to be invited into a home to enter . Unless they ’re an exceedingly powerful lamia like Strahd , natch .
If you ’re curious about Jander ’s speculative night , it ’s when Anna is exit of a fever in the genial asylum . In despair , he tries to twist her into a vampire , but Anna declines and conk out peacefully . Jander live berserk and kills most of the utterly innocent people in the asylum , patients and guards alike . When he comes out of it , he has to coiffe it on fire to keep everyone in the place from becoming vampires themselves . This , suffice it to say , really bums Jasper out .
If you ’re curious about why Jander has endured abject centuries instead of just killing himself , it ’s because he ’s scared he ’ll change state into an even deadlierCrimson Death — a red , pedigree - suck mist that ranks among D&D ’s shuddery and more powerful monsters . It ’s a valid concern for dead vampire , but it obviously does n’t stop Jasper from trying to kill Strahd or commit sun - icide at the volume ’s end .
In the locked elbow room is a giant , rotting wedding patty from Sergei and Anna / Tatyana ’s nuptials from two and a one-half hundred ago , shatter the record once held byGreat Expectations ’ Miss Havisham .
Jander read the Forgotten Realms hasweredolphins , which blew my mind . It turns out this is a supremely whacky idea that only live during 2nd Edition , when TSR was churn out new Dungeons & Dragons sourcebooks far quicker than Quality Control could take a looking at at them .
We ’re imply to think Jander pall at the ending of the al-Qur’an , but I check him out on the ol’Forgotten Realms Wikito see if he managed to bulge up anywhere afterward . He does ! And his chronicle does not end well .
Next up : Well , I ’m extending my vacation from the Forgotten Realms for a while . I ’d love to read some of the Greyhawk novel , specially the single by Gary Gygax , but they seem to be uniformly unavailable in ebook form . If you have them and would n’t mind lending me a few , netmail me at rob dot bricken at the ol’ gmail billet . For now , I ’ve chosen The Legend of Huma , the first Dragonlance novel not written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman .
https://gizmodo.com/dungeons-dragons-novels-revisiting-azure-bonds-1844460389
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