I should probably confess at this point that I know Ian outside of these pages and even GM him regularly. I also think I know who the ref in question was, but won’t name names – first because that’s neither here nor there, and second because I might be wrong :).

Then again, we were arguably of the mindset that ANY weird stuff in “our” castle simply meant that there was a monster someplace that we had missed.

But here’s the big question – how much effort did the ref put into keeping the ‘flavour’ of the haunted castle alive for you AFTER you took posession? Were there strange noises at night, doors slamming shut on their own, the occasional chill in the air, and distant snatches of haunting organ music? Or was it just like any other castle?

I’m willing to bet that the answer is a resounding box number 2.

Long ago, in an AD&D campaign, our party went through the original canned adventure for ‘Ravenloft’. After the dramas, problems and things to be killed were all dealt with; we eventually settled Top-Vampire Strahd’s hash once and for all. We did some celebratory looting, then started talking about where we to head next.

Then it began to dawn on us. Basically, we were standing there in a fair-sized (and very cool) castle in an especially good defensive position. Neither it nor the land around it was claimed by anybody. Granted, our Characters were only around 7th or 8th level, but there was nothing to say we couldn’t start establishing a permanent stronghold / base before reaching Level 10.

In short, why not stay? Do some clearing and renovating, and Ravenloft Castle would be a GREAT set-up for us.

So we did. Took the Ref totally by surprise (he had expected to keep using canned adventures for a while yet), but we soon cleared out the rest of the castle. In a couple of special cases, we negotiated mutual defense / aid agreements with certain monsters allowing them to stay. Establihed good relations with the locals – probably rather bewildered by this abrupt transition in rule. The Druid found a nice area close by to begin working on his personal grove. The Wizard took over a castle tower for her lab / workshop, and so on.

Set up defenses to deal with raiders from outside, started doing diplomacy with our neighbours. It was great.

So, in short, maybe a place and/or fixed structure can also be considered a form of treasure. A bunch of adventurers simply decide to settle down someplace; or a relgious type finds a ruined temple (originally dedicated to his/her god) and decides to rebuild (however long it takes); or an arcane-type finds a (vacant) Place Of Power and chooses to stay there (because of the benefits it offers). All these are valid possibilities, I think.

I like to describe the differences between the part of the world the PC’s are currently in and anything they are familiar with, but usually do not go above and beyond that (except for weapons and equipment). Maybe I should start and see what happens.

Though I DO go into as extreme detail as you mentioned for weapons and armor usually. If a character pays to get equipment made, they can either choose what they want it to look like or have the blacksmith decide what fits the character best. However, the +3 greatsword they loot off of the Blackguard will not change it’s evil and menacing appearance just because the party paladin now wields it. This sometimes leads to some interesting RP encounters, with the whole party having entire sets of equipment looted off of villains (and thus often looking evil) which is great cause one of the campaign’s primary themes is “don’t take things at face value”.