Masque of the Red Death and Other Tales carbines" and for its rules on magic, "Reduced reliance on magic further nudges Masque in the direction of realism." He commented on the three adventure booklets, saying that they "answer most of the questions about staging campaigns. Red Tide serves up few surprises—anyone who can't anticipate the plot twists hasn't seen enough late shows—but plenty of action and a lot of fun. Red Jack, a Jack the Ripper take-off, put my entire party in the cemetery—consider that a recommendation. Red Death uses Edgar Allan Poe as a springboard for a tricky mystery. Swan contended that graphically, "the Ravenloft campaign remains
Masque of the Red Death and Other Tales of the Red Death setting combines real-world history with legends and literature. Thus, necromancers practice dark arts among the slave traders of New Orleans, while Buenos Aires agricultural barons attempt to squelch rumors of monstrous winged serpents. Spirit creatures stalk the settlers of the American West. Sherlock Holmes shares a railroad car with Count Dracula. Unlike the basic Ravenloft setting, where mysterious mists divide the realm into distinct settings, the Gothic Earth setting has no divisions. "Masque" begins by replacing the traditional character classes with soldiers (like fighters, but can’t specialize in favored weapons), adepts (wizards with limited magic and