D&D 5E Ravenloft Previews of Dementlieu, Lamordia, and Har'Akir

WotC has been sprinkling previews of individual Ravenloft domains to various websites -- including Dementlieu, Lamordia, and Har'Akir. Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft is only a couple of weeks away, coming out on May 18th!

Dementlieu​

• Forbes takes a look Dementlieu, which has inspirations like Cinderella, The Masque of the Red Death, and Dark City. "Dementlieu is one of over 30 domains of dread detailed in the book. It’s a sharp contrast to Barovia’s dark forest and looming Gothic castle on a hill. Instead it’s covered in a glamorous sheen of fine clothes and fancy parties. Everyone is dying to be invited to the Grand Masquerade held by Duchess Saidra d’Honaire every week on her private island. And, in many cases, killed if they are discovered at the ball if they’re not supposed to be there."
• Syfy Wire looks at Lamordia, inspired by Frankenstein. "Many of the Domains of Dread are inspired by some horror tale or piece of creepy folklore, and Lamordia definitely has its roots in Frankenstein. But while the Domain is inspired by that classic horror story, its elements are then shot through the lens of D&D adventures and explored to dozens of horrific extremes. Mordenheim's land isn't just about resurrection gone awry, it's also the Domain for all different types of science gone wrong, bizarre experiments, body horror weirdness, and grim tales of society versus a frigid land. Just as there's more to Frankenstein than a scientist who abandoned his child, there's more to Lamordia than stitches and semi-dead flesh."
• Polygon has Har'Akir, an Egyptian-themed domain. "Why is there a Domain that is a desert that is riddled with these ancient, inexplicable haunted monuments and ruined pyramids? How does a Domain like that exist? How does it make sense? To an extent it doesn’t, and it’s going to be the players that come and explore that, who are some of the only people that realize that the entirety of the domain is, to an extent, gaslighting them."

Ankhetop, darklord of Har'Akir

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[Remathilis]

Again, it is taste, but I liked the on-the-nose stuff. One, there was no confusion about who was who (though I will say I think a lot of people didn't pick up on Adam until the internet. Two, dark puns are fun. It adds something to the flavor for me.

I knew about Adam since Junior year when we read Frankenstein in school. Once I got to that, I realized where Adam came from and kinda rolled my eyes.

And my point is that for a mystery setting, some of those names reek of "Sir Fangsalot? Get the garlic and holy water" issues. You need a group who can lean into "Alucard is not Dracula" style play to make it work.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I knew about Adam since Junior year when we read Frankenstein in school. Once I got to that, I realized where Adam came from and kinda rolled my eyes.

And my point is that for a mystery setting, some of those names reek of "Sir Fangsalot? Get the garlic and holy water" issues. You need a group who can lean into "Alucard is not Dracula" style play to make it work.

I got into Ravenloft my freshman year of Highschool. But I never took a class where they had us read Frankenstein. That said, the quote is right in the black box, so I made the connection. But it was easy enough to miss (and most of the people I knew at the time hadn't yet read Frankenstein even if they had seen the movies).

For me it didn't prompt an eye roll. I kind of liked it and probably chuckled a bit.

The whole Alucard thing though isn't something that most people figured out (I am sure many say they did now, but I remember the first time I encountered Alucard and had no idea what the name referred to). Sir Fangsalot is obviously much more easy to figure out. But with Adam, encountering him, you don't immediately know its Frankenstein's monster because he is named Adam (there are plenty of other reasons to name a character Adam), you know because he is a stitched together monstrosity who was made by a mad scientist. Also these are just some of the major characters, not all characters have those kinds of names. You won't know Harkon Lukas is a wolf-were because of his name for example.

I will say, perhaps in the internet age, names like that may need to be a step ahead and bit more clever. But a lot of people now, and not saying you did this, act like they have things figured out, act like they pieced these things together or knew about them ages ago, when really they just found out about them on the internet because someone else did all the heavy lifting.

 

[Remathilis]

I got into Ravenloft my freshman year of Highschool. But I never took a class where they had us read Frankenstein. That said, the quote is right in the black box, so I made the connection. But it was easy enough to miss (and most of the people I knew at the time hadn't yet read Frankenstein even if they had seen the movies).

For me it didn't prompt an eye roll. I kind of liked it and probably chuckled a bit.

The whole Alucard thing though isn't something that most people figured out (I am sure many say they did now, but I remember the first time I encountered Alucard and had no idea what the name referred to). Sir Fangsalot is obviously much more easy to figure out. But with Adam, encountering him, you don't immediately know its Frankenstein's monster because he is named Adam (there are plenty of other reasons to name a character Adam), you know because he is a stitched together monstrosity who was made by a mad scientist. Also these are just some of the major characters, not all characters have those kinds of names. You won't know Harkon Lukas is a wolf-were because of his name for example.

I will say, perhaps in the internet age, names like that may need to be a step ahead and bit more clever. But a lot of people now, and not saying you did this, act like they have things figured out, act like they pieced these things together or knew about them ages ago, when really they just found out about them on the internet because someone else did all the heavy lifting.

You really do enjoy trying to prove people's opinions are objectively wrong, don't you?

Name's stupid. End of conversation.

 

[Bedrockgames]

You really do enjoy trying to prove people's opinions are objectively wrong, don't you?

Name's stupid. End of conversation.

No

edit: to be clear the no is for the first thing. I don’t think you are objectively wrong. It is entirely subjective in my view

 

[Stormonu]

Out of curiousity, what are the names in Ravenloft that telegraph their origins?

”Count” Strahd - Dracula
Adam - Frankenstein’s Monster
Vlad Drakov - Vlad the Impaler
Anketepot - Imhotep “the mummy”
Midnight Slasher - Jack the Ripper
Rudolph Van Richten - Van Helsing
Tristen Hireguard - “High Regard” / Jeckyl & Hyde?

Others?

Isn’t there a Bluebeard lifted directly from the old folk story?

 

[Remathilis]

Out of curiousity, what are the names in Ravenloft that telegraph their origins?

”Count” Strahd - Dracula
Adam - Frankenstein’s Monster
Vlad Drakov - Vlad the Impaler
Anketepot - Imhotep “the mummy”
Midnight Slasher - Jack the Ripper
Rudolph Van Richten - Van Helsing
Tristen Hireguard - “High Regard” / Jeckyl & Hyde?

Others?

Isn’t there a Bluebeard lifted directly from the old folk story?

Bluebeard - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Bluebeard - Mistipedia

www.fraternityofshadows.com

Yup.

 

[Istbor]

I like what I have seen thus far.

I also like the drinking game I have devised, where I take a shot whenever I read @Bedrockgames say Boxed set or Black Box.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I also like the drinking game I have devised, where I take a shot whenever I read @Bedrockgames say Boxed set or Black Box.

Now that I know, I’m just going to say Black Box every post

 

[overgeeked]

You really do enjoy trying to prove people's opinions are objectively wrong, don't you?

Name's stupid. End of conversation.

Sorry you don’t like the names. That’s your opinion, not a fact.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Sorry you don’t like the names. That’s your opinion, not a fact.

I don’t think he was saying it was a fact (in fact I think he was saying the opposite): the last line was a response to me (who he thought was arguing his opinions were objectively wrong)