I6: Ravenloft, A Review
Ah, the Vampire story. Who can forget classic films such as the original Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi, or the many Hammer Horror films featuring the inimitable Christopher Lee as the chief bloodsucker himself? Of course, the creators of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons are obviously no strangers to the darker of adventure hooks, and thus we have Tracy and Laura Hickman's I6: Ravenloft.
Ravenloft isn't set in any particular campaign world. Instead, it is set in a mysterious, fog-shrouded village. Upon entering, the players find that neither they, nor the villagers can leave due to the curse which has descended upon everyone within the small hamlet. The curse itself is embodied in the doomed soul who has become the vampire von Strahd.
Like U1: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (reviewed here), I6 is a module rich in plot and story, and like S1: The Tomb Of Horrors (reviewed here), it is most decidedly not a hack-and-slash module. Although Strahd himself is quite a challenge in combat, overcoming the curse that holds Ravenloft in it's clutches is the real goal here. The entire module is written with a fine feeling for gothic horror, in the classical sense, and while it embraces some vampire clichés to the point of silliness (including a demented cook who brews a pot of deadly monsters for dinner), overall the adventure doesn't come across as hackneyed or contrived. Best of all, in this reviewer's opinion, it doesn't delve into the oft-overdone Anne Rice style of vampire-as-postmodern-antihero, steeped in sturm und drang.
While the module could be placed in most any pseudo-medieval campaign world, it does seem a bit incongruous no matter where it's placed. Adapting it to the World of Greyhawk, for example, would require quite a bit of work on the part of the Dungeon Master.
My overall rating of this module is three and a half stars out of five.