Another example of the oddness of Mystara. The second adventure tied to the Karameikos campaign box is Night of the Vampire (1994). Because why not put out a boxed adventure about a vampire for one campaign the same year you re-launch Ravenloft? There is some precedent for this, though – a lot of earlier Karameikos material has those sweet, dark Transylvania vibes.

Even stranger: It is for character levels 1 through 3. Which is, like, easy meat for a 2E vampire. That said, there is a lot of very cool stuff here. The adventure starts with a convenient shipwreck stranding the party near Vandevicsny Manor (say that once, let alone three times fast). The manor and its environs are presented sandbox style and have a lot of great detail. The sandbox is punctuated by scripted events and culminates with a feast and a masquerade (RPG masquerade scenes are one of my favorite things ever; I think every campaign I have run has had at least one). The vampire’s evil scheme is pretty straight forward, but sussing it out is complicated for the players by a bunch of political feuds among the gentry and a couple of folks who, well, seem like they’re probably vampires, but aren’t. The climax is violent and deadly and I kind of love pitting the party against a monster way above their pay grade.

Oh, and it has the usual audio CD. No track listing for the Roky Erickson song, weirdly. Sweet Jaquays cover tho. And a very nice map of the estate!