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Dark Carnival and the Mirrors of Madness: A Multi-table Adventure

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Embark on a multi-table adventure that takes you and fellow investigating teams into the Shadowfell Carnival where a quest for Mist talismans leads you deeper into a sinister conspiracy.

Tindal the Barker likes to shock guests at the Carnival by boasting that he has no reflection. But somewhere in the dark confines of a hidden mirror lies the disembodied visage of a brooding mage bearing a striking resemblance to Tindal. When the leader of the Carnival troupers goes missing, a cold darkness creeps into the domain as malevolent reflections begin to reach into the real world.

Dark Carnival and the Mirrors of Madness is a multi-table adventure for Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. Written with interactive events that bring multiple tables together, Dark Carnival is perfect for local community events and online conventions. The document comes with player handouts and rewards designed to be compatible with ongoing Ravenloft campaigns and organized play leagues. The adventure can serve as a starting point or side quest for any campaign that takes characters across the Domains of Dread.

This document includes:

  • PDF bookmarks for easy referencing

  • Tips and suggestions for organizing a multi-table event

  • Interactive events to bring the tables together*

  • 10 carnival games like quipper pond, roper climb, and ride the gorgon

  • 5 carnival acts including the daring chimera tamers and sword magicians

  • 11 potential group patrons from across the Domains of Dread

  • Player handouts, including a carnival map, poster, and rewards

  • Maps and stat blocks for encounters, including a 5e adaptation of the Ravenloft Fetch

*Dark Carnival can also be played as a single-table adventure by omitting the interactive events.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

BUM LEE is an tabletop adventure writer and event organizer. You can find more of his adventures and other work here.


Update 2021/12/13: The document has been updated with additional changes and content.

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Discussions (3)
Customer avatar
James L October 21, 2023 2:44 am UTC
Mist Talisman's?? Well crap, I was hoping for an expansion to the original carnival, not another pile of non-canon nonsene.
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Customer avatar
Bum L October 29, 2023 4:14 pm UTC
CREATOR
Mist Talismans are canon in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft and the Mist Hunters adventurers league campaign set in the Domains of Dread. And many other aspects of the adventure, like Madame Fortuna, the Twisting, and Tindal's backstory, came from 2e canon. While the main intent was to provide a multi-table experience, I also hoped this adventure could bridge the 2e and 5e canons.
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James L November 09, 2023 8:13 am UTC
Part of the mistique that is Barovia, is that the players CAN'T escape unit they've sorted out an elaborate plan of HOW to do so. It's part of the whole horror genre thing. Allowing just anybody to use a mist talisman to go wherever they want is silly at best. No other setting would allow that sort of nonsense. It's simply one more attempt to "FIX" the Domains of Dread by the current imbecilic editorial staff at WotC because, and I quote "because it damned well needed it". ...Regardless of how bad it trashes previous canon. In fact, they prefer it did. So yeah.. at BEST mist talismans are contested canon. They leaped straight past questionable canon in to game breaking territory. Just like the rest of VRGtR.. DMs, new or otherwise, are advised to avoid the content entirely, and simply use it as a supplementary guide on how to run a campaign in a horror setting. ...Because that is the only GOOD content in the entire book!

All of that aside, honestly, I LOVE the carnival and was...See more
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Customer avatar
Bum L November 16, 2023 1:51 pm UTC
CREATOR
I think you're misinformed about the nature of mist talismans and how they work. In order to know where a mist talisman comes from (and where it can take you), you need to be a mist wanderer who has been to that particular domain. Otherwise, you need to research the provenance of that talisman, or you won't know where it will take you until you arrive there. Importantly, mist talismans are useless if the Darklord of the domain closes the borders of their domain, as is often the case in Barovia. There's nothing about a mist talisman that's game breaking. It's simply a nonmagical narrative device that allows the party to travel from one domain to another as needed for the story, as in the Mist Hunters campaign which takes the PCs across multiple domains.

In fact, odd knick knacks from all over that could take you to other dimensions seem like just the kind of thing you would find in the Carnival, which historically was a domain that moved around a lot between the other domains. If that's an aspect of...See more
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James L November 21, 2023 7:46 am UTC
Like the vast majority of people, I ignored the Mist Hunters.. Adventurer's League quest chain.. utterly, for the trash that they are. I honestly got more out of VRGtR than I did out of Mist Hunters.. and I only made it to page 3 of VRGtR before I threw it in a corner and ignored it.

False, the House of Lament moves around at will. That is its mistique. There are various other domains that change size/location as well, at one point or another. Various island domains come to mind.

Finally, I am not mistaken about the nature of the Mist Talismans. First off, you confirmed that as a non-majical device capable of inter-planer travel.. they are indeed game beaking. Second off, if they changed the way they worked in later edititions of the Mist Hunters series over the course of the three years it took them to make the drivel useful, I congratulate them on their attempts. I still won't accept it as any sort of canon in any self-respecting adventure.. but it's nice to know that THEY recognized...See more
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Customer avatar
Bum L November 24, 2023 10:21 pm UTC
CREATOR
Criticism is welcome, but please keep it civil.

You do make a good point about the House of Lament and other domains that move around, but that seems like a reason for mist talismans to be more common. In any case, they are simply *narrative devices*. You may dislike them as such, but they are no more game breaking than gothic trinkets. If players try to take advantage of them, the Darklord of the domain they are in can take notice and close the borders of that domain, trapping them where they are. They have not changed since Van Richten's Guide as far as I'm aware.
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James L November 27, 2023 7:42 am UTC
AH! Well there we go. The idea was first conceived in the Ravenloft Discord. It migrated in to the very first Mist Hunters books.. which of course were utterly ignored by virtually everyone. No shock that they ended up in VRGtR I suppose. I may have mentioned above, I didn't make it past page 3 of the book. I was already shaking my head at some of the suggestions about Tatyanna, but whe they gave Ezmerelda a THIRD backstory, I "threw the book in a corner" and never picked it up again. IE: if VRGtR discusses Mist Talismans at all, I wasn't even aware of it.

I beleive that this is the root of our confusion then. The infernal things started off as blatant cheat to prevent DMs from locking their party in the Domains of Dread. I suppose they used VRGtR to give the talismans a sensible use range, and the later portions of Mist Hunters just used the VRGtR version..? Yes?
Customer avatar
Choe C November 26, 2021 4:37 am UTC
PURCHASER
Customer avatar
Choe C November 26, 2021 4:23 am UTC
PURCHASER
Bum Lee master's anticipation and exciting scenario.
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Customer avatar
Bum L November 26, 2021 7:06 am UTC
CREATOR
Thank you for the kind words!^^
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File Last Updated:
December 13, 2021
This title was added to our catalog on November 25, 2021.