The Nightmare Lands: Ravenloft Accessory:

by Shane Lacy Hensley, Bill Slavicsek

It's just a bad dream - a very bad dream....

Beware the night, for sleep provides another path to the Demiplane of Dread.

In the unique domain called the Nightmare Lands, darkness offers not blissful slumber, but ultimate terror. Heroes enter this realm at the bidding of the night, drawn from their dreaming bodies and captured by an enigmatic figure known only as the Nightmare Man.

Trapped in this region of psychological fear, heroes face their worst nightmare in strange, surrealistic terrain.

If they escape the treacherous clutches of dark slumber, they'll be safe - at least until the next time sleep overtakes them....

This boxed set contains everything necessary to adventure among dark dreamscapes and twisted nightmares, including:

* The Journal of Dr. Illhousen: 32 pages of notes and information on the Nightmare Lands, compiled by the chief physician of Nova Vaasa's infamous Clinic for the Mentally Distressed.

* Rules of Dreams and Nightmares: 64 pages full of rules dealing with adventuring in dreams and nightmares, setting up nightmare scenarios, and translating player characters into dreamscape versions of themselves.

* Book of Nightmares: 64 pages of ready-to-play nightmares that incorporates all of the information in this campaign expansion into one full-length adventure.

* New Monsters: 16 pages of never-before-seen creatures unique to the Nightmare Lands and the dimensions of dreams.

* Poster Maps: Two full-color, poster-sized maps of the Nightmare Landss and other locations described herein.

Format: 2 64-page books, 32-page book, 16-page book, 2 fold-out maps

Genres: Role Playing Games, Dungeons and Dragons, Gaming, Horror

160 pages, Boxed Set

First published October 1, 1995

About the author

Shane Lacy Hensley is an author, game designer, and CEO of Pinnacle Entertainment Group.
(source: Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Benjamin]

People like this box set -- so why didn't I?

Here's the broadest possibility: while I'm still enjoying some RPG stuff -- I am just now reading an enjoyable Call of Cthulhu adventure -- maybe I've just moved away from some of the ethos of AD&D 2nd edition; and maybe, given my time constraints and related love of light rules, whenever I come face-first into the wall of D&D rules, my impulse is to cry out "why!" rather than ask the question "why?"

So, for instance, this box set sets out some new rules for adventuring in this dream/nightmare land, where, for instance, your strength is a reflection of your wisdom, your dexterity is a reflection of your intelligence, and you also have to keep track of your willpower and something else to see how you can survive/affect the malleable dreamscape. And rather than some over-arching and general skill like "shape dreams," we get a whole host of dream powers that you can learn and use.

All of which makes me cry "why!" Like, it could be a killer scene in an adventure where the strong warrior can't pick up something heavy, but why does it have to mechanically modeled this way? Is this the best way to get people into the spirit of dream and nightmare? (I did see one positive review that said (paraphrase), "love this, have to jettison some rules," which, like, ok, sure, you can love something and see its faults, but I feel like there's a difference between saying "I hate how my beloved chews their nails" and "I hate that my beloved eats food for energy" -- one of those feels a little more central to existence of the beloved, and here, I think the rules are constitutive rather than decorative.)

Here's another way in which history is maybe not so kind to this book: I really enjoy the changes they made to the Nightmare Lands. That is, in the original box, this was a weird land that was literally next to some other domains. Now it's a floating island of terror that can enter into your dreams wherever you are. And whereas the core box set says something about the Nightmare Man who leads this domain, now we have a whole Nightmare Court, each of whom is ruler over a particular feeling or trope of nightmares. That's fun!

And yet, considering how much material is here, the content feels pretty thin and repetitive. Today, we have indie developers creating amazing zines and pamphlets that rival this for inventiveness and utility. (Have I gushed recently about Amanda Lee Franck's Vampire Cruise? Go get it! https://amandalee.itch.io/vampire-cruise )

Whereas here we have four books:
* a journal of a Victorian-era alienist who runs a sanitarium and has come to suspect the existence of this malign Nightmare Land, where he goes into what he suspects;
* a guide to the Nightmare Lands and rules, which echoes a lot of the journal;
* a couple of nightmare adventures;
* a monstrous compendium supplement, which, for one thing, includes stats on the Nightmare Court that we've already read about in the first and second books.

So maybe you can already see the problem, but this box set doesn't make me feel like I'm caught in nightmares, except for the one where I'm caught in a boring lecture where the lecturer keeps repeating themself. I love when a book tells me "here's what people know" and then has a little sidebar "what's really going on." I don't love it when it's two book that're so repetitive.

OK, so let's revise and keep the cool parts:
* the idea of a Freddy Krueger-esque dreamlord who can reach out to you wherever you are;
* the idea of a sanitarium in the real world which is haunted by this nightmare land;
* the idea of a few lords of nightmare, who maybe all don't get along, but each of whom has a specific nightmare realm in the nightmare lands;
* the idea that your dream self might be a twisted version of your real self and that you might gain powers to control that dreaming world -- keep that idea, but none of the implementation.

So there's definitely good stuff here, and in that, I agree with the reviewers who like this a lot, but I guess I find the flaws to be a little more bothersome than other readers.

[Χρυσόστομος Τσαπραΐλης · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent Land of the Mists accessory providing a wealth of mechanics and lore concerning dreaming. There are some innovative cosmological ideas concerning the dream plane geography (not restricted to Ravenloft) which deviate somewhat from canon. The setting itself is roughly split in two: the clinic for the mentally ill in Nova Vaasa, and the Nightmare Lands themselves, a colourful chaotic island which features a lot of extravaganza. The clinic does not deviate from the typical Victorian specimen, but the Lands have some twists, the most interesting of which is probably the "race" of Abber nomads with their unique worldview: believe only in what you see at any particular moment, don't trust in the falseness of the cause-effect chain and disregard both past and future.

All in all a very enjoyable reading, containing 4 mini-adventures. I assume that incorporating the material in the campaign may prove somewhat demanding of both players and DM, due to the need for tightwalk roleplaying, the danger of meta-thinking and the malleable terrain of dreams.

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Nightmare Lands is another Ravenloft box set. The books are a fantastic fix of fluff and crunch. One book is an in-character journal of one character's experiences with the Nightmare Court (the big bag evil guys) meant to given to players to read. The second book is rules and crunch. The third is a loose campaign meant to ease characters into things before throwing them at the Nightmare Court directly.

There's a lot to like here. The adventures are well written though the capstone adventure got shortened due to space restrictions, unfortunately.

The art is top notch.

And I like the concept. I especially like how there is no effort to overly explain the Nightmare Court which helps though they seem to be much more powerful than usual for Ravenloft Dark Lords. Though, in that vein, NOT explaining them may be best since trying to make them fit the mold of dark lords would ruin their mystique.

[Reflex 1973 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very different ideas in here exploring the darker side of dreams in Ravenloft, which some DM's may love, others not so much. Three short adventures are included which interweave with a background storyline that is as dark as the land of dreams its self

[Malum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good Ravenloft supplement that introduces the dream world and the Nightmare Court. If I remember right, you also get some new monsters and a few adventures to get you started exploring the nightmare.

[Ανδρέας Μιχαηλίδης · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing resource if you really want to mess with your players in the already messy Demiplane of Dread!

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every campaign setting produced for AD&D 2nd Edition during the heyday of the 1990s had its share of items that were obviously just cash grabs for quick bucks. TSR gave you tons of options for your role-playing needs, everything from your standard high-fantasy worlds like Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms to space travel with Spelljammer, from the post-apocalyptic hardscrabble life of a gladiator in Dark Sun to the domain-holding, army-commanding world of Birthright.

And then there's Ravenloft, AD&D's gothic horror setting. Ohhh boy, do I love me some Ravenloft.

For an entire setting produced essentially as the result of a one-off module with the same name, it's got a lot to live up to, and the boxed set for the campaign gets most of it right. But unlike many of the other settings, where all the other boxes are filler (exciting though they may be), Ravenloft really needs two other key components to be considered "whole." One is the companion "Forbidden Lore" set. The other is "The Nightmare Lands."

The Nightmare Lands are yet another of the demiplane's awful potential destinations, but in this case there's no planning for a visit, no stocking up on provisions for the journey. To find the Nightmare Lands, one need only sleep. And whether you're commonfolk or baron, 0-level NPC or 21st-level Paladin, eventually you have to close your eyes. That's when the fun begins.

The reason The Nightmare Lands is such a necessary component to Ravenloft is that maintaining the challenge level for the players during an adventure, keeping that component of fear, is a balancing act that can be easily undone by one encounter with horrible luck. Random monsters that sap party resources at the start of an adventure can spell doom for even the best of players once the going gets tough. Nobody enjoys a game where they realize they could have won if it hadn't been for that pack of dire wolves they fought two hours ago.

So instead, give your players Nightmares.

Nightmares are the Ravenloft equivalent of those side-quests prevalent in games like Skyrim or World of Warcraft. They're not the main goal, but they offer challenges, risks and rewards to those who overcome them. In Ravenloft, the nightmares aren't there to kill you. They're there to keep the players and their characters on edge, to strip away the veneer of safety that sleep usually brings. They can give valuable experience or hints. But they're not going to kill you.

Probably.

The point is, The Nightmare Lands gives the Dungeon Master everything he or she needs to challenge tough parties (or boost up weaker ones) without needing to rely on the tired old trope of, "Oh look, a goblin village! Roll for initiative!" Your players won't even realize what you're doing, and because it's not the same old, same old, you'll have their complete attention. They're perfect for those interludes where you didn't have anything prepared, when you want to slow a party that's progressing through the adventure too quickly, or assist a party that's fallen by the wayside.

This is written for 2nd Edition AD&D, so if you're using later rule sets, you'll have some conversions to make before you can unleash it on your players. But those with a desire to get the best out of what the Demiplane of Dread offers should have no qualms about picking up The Nightmare Lands.

Sleep tight...