Bleak House (2e)
Old soldiers never die... For more than three decades¸ Dr. Rudolph van Richten stood against the forces of darkness¸ and hunted their servants in the far corners of the land of Mists. Now he had thought his long battle over¸ had thought he could spend his declining years in quiet enjoyment with old friends. But for some¸ a tragic end is inevitable. Dark forces have been gathering in the Mists. Their objective is to see Ravenloft's foremost expert on the supernatural destroyed¸ shattered in spirit as well as in body. From the crumbling edifice of Van Richten's childhood home¸ an enemy long thought vanquished spins a web of powerful evils and lost souls¸ drawing Van Richten to his doom. And then a group of heroes gets trapped in the web as well.... Witness the final stand of Rudolph van Richten! Inside this box is a grand-scale Ravenloft adventure that pushes heroes to the brink of madness¸ and draws them into the terrifying scheme to annihilate Rudolph van Richten. The set contains: - Sea of Madness¸ a 96-page book detailing the island of Dominia and relating the events that start the cycle of doom. - Homecoming¸ a 64-page book describing the Van Richten family estate and the large haunted mansion known as Bleak House. Suitable for use with the Bleak House campaign or the Masque of the Red Death setting¸ this adventure is designed so that it can be played several times¸ and no two experiences will be the same. - Heroes¸ Monsters¸ and Settings¸ a 32-page book containing game statistics for some of Ravenloft's best known¸ yet never detailed¸ villains; a new type of vampire; information on Martira Bay in Darkon; and maps intended for use with the Bleak House campaign. - A color map revealing the layout and secrets of the Bleak House itself. Product History Bleak House: The Death of Rudolph van Richten (1996)¸ by William W. Connors and Dave Gross¸ is a boxed adventure for Ravenloft. It was published in March 1996. About the Title. Bleak House (1852-1853) is also the name of one of Charles Dicken's major novels. The real house now named Bleak House¸ in Broadstairs¸ Kent¸ was frequently visited by Dickens¸ but there's no indication it was the basis of the novelistic Bleak House¸ which is located in St Albans¸ Hertfordshire. Origins (I): Continuing the Ravenloft Line. As the Ravenloft line shambled to the end of its second incarnation¸ it consisted of adventures¸ boxed sets¸ and Van Richten Guides for various monsters. Bleak House manages to combine all of those elements¸ making it a capstone of the line. The only other new material that followed before TSR ended support for the Ravenloft Campaign Setting (1994) was a three-part finale adventure. Origins (II): An Adventurous Capstone. Bleak House reads like a capstone not just because it combines Van Richten from the Guides with an adventure published as a boxed set¸ but also because it incorporates foes and backstory from many previous adventures and supplements. The Van Richten Guides get the best attention¸ with many of the characters and events mentioned in those books being made physical here¸ but Bleak House also reaches back as far as RA1: "Feast of Goblyns" (1990)¸ the first adventure for the original Ravenloft line¸ to bring back a villain. Origins (III): Another Ravenloft. Bleak House also reads like it was a purposeful attempt to recreate the successful origins of the line in I6: "Ravenloft" (1983). The two bookends of Bleak House each offer a large sandbox environment to explore¸ complete with extensive backgrounds¸ architectural maps¸ and powerful villains. There's even a fortune reading to determine results¸ just like in the original. Genre Tropes: Gothic Horror. The genre tropes of gothic horror are sprinkled liberally into this adventure¸ which includes imprisonment in an asylu