I managed to find what I believe is a Dungeons and Dragons Easter egg...

So in the Acton's Nightmare map, there are two necromancers as the boss. They are named Rose and Thorn and it plays child like lullabies the entire time. In Curse of Strahd, the opening dungeon called Death House has two characters named Rose and Thorn who are children that *spoilers for opening dungeon* DIED A HORRIBLE DEATH WITH EACH OTHER! I'm not sure if I am over thinking this.... But that would be amazing if it was an intentional easter egg.

Would not surprise me in the slightest given that many uniques (and I believe that map) are made by/with players/supporters and often reference things important to them.

Waiting for Foreverhappychan to chime in... he will know.
I think it is likely that you're right, CD1337.

Here's another easter egg : " Do you not have nets , exile? "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly10r6m_-n8

Hard nope. GF has never played Ravenloft to my knowledge. She probably couldn't even tell you who Strahd is. We did meet through RP channels on irc long ago so there might have been some loose osmosis from other players but she definitely considers Acton and her fear of music boxes and fire her own thing. I remember brainstorming the map over the course of several weeks but not quite where Rose and Thorn come from. Will ask her. This may be an interesting case of cryptomnesia...


Mind you, roses and thorns are both pretty fierce cliches in fantasy symbolism and namimg schema (d and d alone uses them in both Ravenloft and Dragonlance prominently). Both carried over into my own 'grown up' work re Goddess of Swords with what I consider an unfortunate artifact of my darker, edgier past. I suspect that the GF feels similar about Acton and her nightmare, although we both reuse these ideas for naming and thematic convenience in various games that demand a certain quota of character identity.

Curious find though. Nothing new under the moon and all that.

What is a creation? A miserable little pile of other people's ideas...

Edit: okay, googled a bit. On my phone so please excuse any swypos...

Death House, as part of Curse of Strahd, came out in 2016 it seems. The GF and I quit RP together in 2009. So no chance of any influence there. Curiously Ravenloft itself is from 1986, TSR's heyday with Weis and Hickman as legitimately decent authors putting D and D on the NYT bestseller list with Dragonlance. No surpise then that the duo also created Ravenloft within D and D itself, probably with full intention to spin Strahd off into a new setting. Very likely influenced by the popularity of Anne Rice's 70s vampire novel about Tom Cruise's blonde wig and Kirsten Dunst's creepy child acting career. Unfortunately Ravenloft just wasn't romantic enough so Vampire: The Ennui Charade came along a few years later and whitewolfed TSR's attempt to hammer into what would eventually become Harry Potter fanfic for sexually repressed mormon ladies...and here we come full circle: Hickman is, much like Meyer, staunchly Mormon.

Which is all to say: no, but nice coincidence. Also, Death Gate cycle is awesome, or so my younger self seems to believe. Might have to revisit it someday to find out...ugh, no. I'd probably compare it to Prince of Nothing. Now THAT series is awesome. Even my non-fantasy reading 43 year old self thinks that.

Damn. Just looking at early Strahd artwork makes me nostalgic for the heady days of Elmore, Easley and Caldwell...

Okay just asked her. Rose and Thorn is an injoke related to the original RP of Acton circa 2008. A little wordplay thrown in for fun. Also just mentioning it to her set her off on a happy rant about how incredible the music turned out, especially given it was done not by the GGG composer at the time but instead their lead audio engineer, Andrew. Talk about going above and beyond for a mere Diamond design...and then there was the fact that the first people to run her map had the spund off because fucking streamers of course...


So here is something the GF noted: we designed this map in 2013. It went live in April 2013. To my knowledge Death House/Curse of Strahd came out in 2016. So while we both agree it's a huge coincidence, the chance of Acton's Nightmare being a D and D easter egg is much lower than it being the polar opposite...

Time sure is a funny concept on the internet. Hard to tell cause and effect sometimes.

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iuiulitza wrote:

Here's another easter egg : " Do you not have nets , exile? "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly10r6m_-n8

Another coincidence. I've been told that line was recorded well before that infamous gaff. Bestiary was march 2018. Cheng said that in November that year.

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Foreverhappychan wrote:

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iuiulitza wrote:

Here's another easter egg : " Do you not have nets , exile? "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly10r6m_-n8

Another coincidence. I've been told that line was recorded well before that infamous gaff. Bestiary was march 2018. Cheng said that in November that year.

Although the Bestiary league was in March of 2018, that line was not in the initial release if I recall correctly. He didn't say that during the league because we actually had nets and used them.

The integrated version of Bestiary was when that line was added, because we no longer had nets. It was integrated with Betrayal, which was December of 2018 -- after the Cheng gaffe. That doesn't preclude the possibility that it was recorded before though.

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Nubatron wrote:

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Foreverhappychan wrote:

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iuiulitza wrote:

Here's another easter egg : " Do you not have nets , exile? "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly10r6m_-n8

Another coincidence. I've been told that line was recorded well before that infamous gaff. Bestiary was march 2018. Cheng said that in November that year.

Although the Bestiary league was in March of 2018, that line was not in the initial release if I recall correctly. He didn't say that during the league because we actually had nets and used them.

The integrated version of Bestiary was when that line was added, because we no longer had nets. It was integrated with Betrayal, which was December of 2018 -- after the Cheng gaffe. That doesn't preclude the possibility that it was recorded before though.

Right. I was trying to find that info so thanks!

That said the chances of them recording it within a month given logistics especially around that time of year is pretty low. Also I did mention I was told the line preceded the gaff...implicitly by someone who'd know.

Silly me I thought it was some roundabout way of giving a nod to Arsenic and Old Lace, a "merry widow" horror trope from the 1944 Frank Capra movie of the same name.

And with Peter Lorre along for the ride, you can guess why the dead don't say "dead"