Review: Ravenloft Carnival

One last AD&D 2nd edition Ravenloft product before moving on. This one is unique for me for a lot of reasons. First off, I never owned the original print version. I wanted to, but at the time it came out (1999), I was pretty much out of D&D completely. I made a comeback at the end of the year with my "Complete Netbook of Witches and Warlocks" and soon would come back fully with D&D 3.0.  Secondly, I also don't have PoD version of this since there isn't one. So it is just the PDF this time.

Carnival (2e)

1999. by John W. Mangrum and Steve Miller. Cover art by Todd Lockwood. Interior art by Kevin McCann. 64 pages.

Carnival, if memory serves me correctly, was the last Ravenloft product produced. It's banner is "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" with the late 90s "Advanced" part reduced in size, and "For use in Ravenloft" as a subtitle.  It is also one of the TSR Silver Anniversary branded books. Strange that there is as much time between now and this product's publication as there is between it and the publication of the original D&D rules.

This product covers "The Carnival," a traveling side show/carnival with some not-so-subtle horror elements.

The product gives the players some background on this carnival and very detailed NPC descriptions. As with many of the later-day Ravenloft products, this one is heavy on the "fluff," and the "crunch" is typically presented in boxed text.  The entire product is given from the point of view of the Carnival Barker. It a way it reminds me of the Planescape setting.  Though there is a fair amount of Ravenloft background here, ie. some language used in the previous Vistani sources are used here: "Vardos" instead of "wagons."

This can also be seen in the Mistress of the Carnival herself, Isolde is an Ghaele Eladrin from the Planescape setting. 

The vast bulk of this book covers the various people and things found in the Carnival. This is actually a good thing since the attraction of the Carnival is it's, well, attractions. The people that work for it. 

While there are implicit plot hooks spread about these pages, the adventure ideas and campaign only uses the last four-five pages of the book, along with Isolde's stats.

Honestly, despite that, there is a lot here.

This covers every concept from Tod Browning's "Freaks (1932)," to "Something Wicked This Way Comes" (book and movie). I would also say there is a little bit of the 7th Doctor serial "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy" here. There has always been something a little unsettling about a carnival. Hell, Rob Zombie has made a career out of it.  

I feel like it accomplishes more in fewer pages than "The Wild Beyond The Witchlight" does. However, both products could benefit from notes from the other. Both could benefit from ideas from Baldur's Gate 3's Circus. 

This would be a great product to have as a PoD, but at 64 pages it is not unreasonable to run off on my home printer and put it into a three-ring binder. I could then scribble notes on my changes.

Maybe I could even port over the clowns Dribbles or Thaco.  

I just need a good place to use it. I am certainly not at a loss of ideas here.