BLAUSTIEN!

[NecroDude]

So i decided to pay a visit to blaustien with my cleric Lucas Xandoth and so far i love it, im just wondering "is it a work in progress?" i love the design the appearance the music but i went  to the one and only apparent dungeon and im like "is this it?" as much as i love blaustien and wish i could have more people go there to RP with i think i know and its obvious what it is lacking. The Dungeons! The reaver dungeon is fun and the loot there is fantastic. But id like to think of Blaustien as more than just a stop before heading to Port. I think Blaustien has some real potential and here is my suggestion! (note this is a long term suggestion that i know would take time and effort so just something to pick at your mind on Blaustien!)

 Blaustiens reaver dungeon could be expanded into a much more complex dungeon:
     Add levels to the dungeon! It could be the only dungeon but make it a VERY long one 10lvls+ and make it harder as you go deeper and more interesting. Such as, im not sure if you've got the waterbreathing system down yet but as the lower you go make so sooner or later you hit underwater.
      Like a series of caverns with increasingly difficult enemies until you reach the water and thats where it gets really scary! Sharks! Giant Squids! Crabmen! All kinds of fearsome enemies lurk in the deep, and all the more twisted they are in the seas of the dread plane of ravenloft! As you go deeper in the water you have a certain amount of time for breathing until you make con checks to resist taking damage(drowning im guessing should be painful and do a bit of damage but constantly). As well as pressure! Certain areas of the sea bear down on you causing pressure damage to your body. And to make it possible have small caverns with air pockets. But this is simply another level in the expanse dungeon.
       Below that lurks the domains of the crabmen and other creatures deeper caverns. More water levels and cavern lvls with fearsome enemies and horrid gruesome leaders. Like say the end of the final cavern of the dungeon is a crabmen lord or something(just picking at ideas) capable of disastrous clerical spells or mage spells. While at the very first cavern you only have some simple reavers or sea zombies. Later on the fearsome twisted animals and elementals.
       I always wondered if blaustien was a work in progress but i see that it doesn't have to be a huge domain (since it is only just an island) but take its dungeon to newer levels and go beneath the normal surface into the dreaded sea of ravenloft! This I am sure would make Blaustien no longer just a stop or a place not worth spending the gold getting to. But a base for massive fun and exploring and bringing in the players for long term stays making the place more available for rollplay and teamwork.

Just a suggestion Im hoping you could possibly turn into something much more deep and exciting!
  -Just A Player With Ideals-Necrodude

[Badelaire]

Really, all Blaustein ever was in Ravneloft was a vehicle for the old French folktale it's blatantly ripping off like most of its source material though they tend to refer to it as either a homage or pastiche:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebeard

Things do happen there, just very rarely. I reckon some ghost/skeleton pirate themed dungeons are in order. Also, check out Gustav's illustration. Bluebeard McDerp amirite?

[herkles]

What would be neat is having intrigue between Blaustien and Dementlieu hehe.

though bladaire is right on the whole ripping off a french folk-tale, not like other domains haven't been ripped off from similar source material.

[NecroDude]

Oh I know Blaustien isnt really important but i think it could be, id like to see people visiting all domains as frequently as Barovia but i never do sadly. Id like to walk into Blaustien and see other players casually being around like in Barovia or same with Hazlan. I know DMs are busy and already working on a lot so im just saying this as a suggestion for future reference. I just think its a cool idea, that would certainly make Blaustien as worth going to as Barovia in my opinion. Just wanna see some more RP and adventure in other Domains as in Barovia! That will probably not be the case but would help

Cheers

[NecroDude]

and lol Bluebeards eyes look like they are about to explode from his head XD

[Badelaire]

Those are the sort of eyes that have seen incredible cleavage I believe.

[Amon-Si]

Well, he -is- giving that ----- a key
------s love keys!

[EO]

For all intent and purpose Blaistein is complete. It's a tiny domain and I feel I got it right. It's not a big domain like our others.

[Geiger]

With that in mind - could you consider only making Blaustein accessible from the ports in Dementlieu? As it is right now you leave from the Mists in a Caravan and show up on a beach. Lolwut.

[Badelaire]

Well, he -is- giving that ----- a key
------s love keys!

How stupid does Bluebeard have to be? No wonder he goes through so many wives. Give a woman a key to a door and tell her that's where you keep your "treasure" (see porn stash) and she's not to go in there and then get all pissy when she does. Yeah...

Blaustein's THE place to go for hiring near-incompetent but cheap Captains to take you on a sea trip. Liklihood of getting attacked by raiders, monsters, rocks-he-didn't-see-because-he's-too-drunk is high but you'll have fun. They remind me of:

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_EfW9znJYjw[/youtube]

[BalorVale]

I love Blaustian, it's like my favorite domain. Probably because it IS so insignificant, it never really has a main plot, but perhaps a deep cavernous system is not asking too much, he's asking for expansion on the Reaver cave, not that we should have 40 islands. I think he just wants more to do there.

[Badelaire]

I love Blaustian, it's like my favorite domain. Probably because it IS so insignificant, it never really has a main plot, but perhaps a deep cavernous system is not asking too much, he's asking for expansion on the Reaver cave, not that we should have 40 islands. I think he just wants more to do there.

Aaaaaaaaaah! You have a woman's post! I wager that post has never been mistaken for a rant against a political ideology or race! More reason to go to Blaustein would certainly get player population moving about the server. Can't really think there's much to do on an island full of ne'er do wells but drink rum and scheme though. Mebbe start up a Monkey Island style duelling acadamy based wholly on out-insulting your opponent? You fight like a dairy farmer.

[Budly]

I say its a bad idea to make domains popular just cause of dungeons. It is not in the policy of roleplaying to do that.

[BalorVale]

I say its a bad idea to make domains popular just cause of dungeons. It is not in the policy of roleplaying to do that.

Well, that seems to be the most of it, in the end we want something fun to do, it's why we play the game, asking for a revamp is not completely out of the question, the Lich tower was redone and the RP that comes off it now is fantastic. Longer Dungeons= More RP and another reason to go into an area is always RP inclusive.

[APorg]

You fight like a dairy farmer.

Even BEFORE they smell your breath? (Wait. Ouch.)

[NecroDude]

Well the sad truth is, the more dungeonsa domain has, and the more easier and worth it they are, the more frequently visited it is. I love Blaustien now, my guy spends numerous amounts of time there (Rping with the npcs, which lol is difficult since they dont reply) going down looting the hags mane and drinking in the inn. Id hate for that to be all there is to it is all. Like said im not asking for a whole domain to be re-created sorry if thats how the original sounded i was just rambling my imagination off. I just think the current dungeon should be expanded a nice bit so more people will go to blaustien for the dungeon, while the true motive is just to get the players there. For if a bunch of players come for a dungeon theres bound to be grand rollplay to follow with the amount of people. And sooner or later they might forget about coming there for the dungeon (which is my entire point) and come there to enjoy the unique rollplay blaustien has to offer with eachother. However a good dungeon will be needed to draw them over there in the first place. My motive is to increase the rollplay not just put in a uber dungeon. But if thats what is required to give it the rollplay or start off the rollplay then why not?

[NecroDude]

however also make the dungeon hard enough as you go deeper that it will require a good group to go together, so that the players are around eachother and not farming it by themselves as the current dungeon is easy to do just that. By doing this it inspires players to get other players to go with them like in Har'Akir and then you have the players with other players viola RP should follow, unless the players are entirely hell bent on the loot and xp rather than enjoying RP which i would find rather depressing and is my only worry.

[Daboomer]

One of the best experiences of rp+combat+dungeonering=fun. That is Har'akir to me. So far my favorite place on the whole server.

Edit: what i wish to say that Blaustein and other places should have similiar dungeon difficulties, it will make players come together even more. It does not mean we should expand the little island to 50 new ones. Just that the one could allways use even more attention.

[APorg]

Edit: what i wish to say that Blaustein and other places should have similiar dungeon difficulties, it will make players come together even more. It does not mean we should expand the little island to 50 new ones. Just that the one could allways use even more attention.

The main thing with Blaustein's dungeon is that its spawn difficulty probably has a higher degree of variance than most Har'Akir dungeons. At low spawns, it's really easy while at high spawns it's got Weaponmaster NPCs. This makes it unpredictable.

However, I expect Dementlieu-based PCs to want to go there often: after all the ship travel to and from the Port is instantaneous.

[herkles]

If/when dementlieu got a system of laws posted up and all, blauestien could benfit from it, rp wise that is. The reason is that it could produce interesting dynamics between the two realms, in addition to the fact a criminal in dementlieu is not a criminal in Blaustein. So a criminal could seek refuge in that forsaken isle.

[NecroDude]

only thing ive seen in blaustiens dungeon is reavers and usually only 0-7 of them.. its just depressing no offense lol never seen anything different than that

[Springer]

You ve seen low spawn. On high and maximum spawn there are reaver raiders and reaver taskmasters, which could be quite challenging even for a party of 10-12 lvls. Depending on the composition.

[Ercvadasz]

You ve seen low spawn. On high and maximum spawn there are reaver raiders and reaver taskmasters, which could be quite challenging even for a party of 10-12 lvls. Depending on the composition.

quite so, not even some of the most favoured potions can help you against those.

Yes, sadly seldom does anything happen in Blaustein, however i remember, when all of us got jailed:P and in the end we were to break out of the jail, and never return unless we wanted to be hanged...

[Budly]

I say its a bad idea to make domains popular just cause of dungeons. It is not in the policy of roleplaying to do that.

Well, that seems to be the most of it, in the end we want something fun to do, it's why we play the game, asking for a revamp is not completely out of the question, the Lich tower was redone and the RP that comes off it now is fantastic. Longer Dungeons= More RP and another reason to go into an area is always RP inclusive.

You know, like Bioware said, Authors/creators integrity should not be destroyed just cause players are into mad dungeoneering And Longer Dungeons do not mean more RP. It can also mean that half the outskirt need to run off and save people stuck in there and stop that RP.

I seen some servers who look like, scuse the language, crap! And just focus on dungeons. The whole non combat areas should be interesting aswell. Should be something to explore and get into. Areas of interaction and political foul play or diplomatic conversations. Roleplaying is more then just "Sir Randomknight! I need your support! ARGH! HEALER!" 

[NecroDude]

But thats just it there IS no special rollplay in blaustien there is nothing there. And because of that players dont go there often. The only other person ive ever seen there is Saxton Ironfist. No political troubles, no interesting RP unless made by players which none want to do because either other players wont follow it unless they are players of repute and popularity who have made their name known. The NPCs all tell you to screw off basically even the named ones so there is no RP there, no reason to ever go there. Even the hags mane which some herbalists like me want dont bother to get them since they make potions of frenzy which only few from what ive seen bother to make. The only thing to do there is to farm is easy dungeon and i think even for the small unimportant domain it is, has crudloads of more story or RP potential than its given. Im not trying to bash on the creators im just trying to state my opinion and criticize it, since i play real ravenloft in real life and ive been to blaustien and compared to what i experience and am now experiencing this is just sad.