D&D 5E Everything We Know About The Ravenloft Book

Here is a list of everything we know so far about the upcoming Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft.

Art by Paul Scott Canavan​

• May 18th, 256 pages
• 30 domains (with 30 villainous darklords)
• Barovia (Strahd), Dementlieu (twisted fairly tales), Lamordia (flesh golem), Falkovnia (zombies), Kalakeri (Indian folklore, dark rainforests), Valachan (hunting PCs for sport), Lamordia (mad science)
• NPCs include Esmerelda de’Avenir, Weathermay-Foxgrove twins, traveling detective Alanik Ray.
• Large section on setting safe boundaries.
• Dark Gifts are character traits with a cost.
• College of Spirits (bard storytellers who manipulate spirits of folklore) and Undead Patron (warlock) subclasses.
• Dhampir, Reborn, and Hexblood lineages.
• Cultural consultants used.
• Fresh take on Vistani.
• 40 pages of monsters. Also nautical monsters in Sea of Sorrows.
• 20 page adventure called The House of Lament - haunted house, spirits, seances.

​

D&D 5E - Full Wraparound Cover Art For Ravenloft

We've seen the cover already, but here's a look at the full wraparound art by Anna Podedworna. https://www.enworld.org/threads/updated-with-cover-the-d-d-book-is-van-richtens-guide-to-ravenloft.678411/ https://www.enworld.org/threads/heres-the-ravenloft-alternate-cover.678414/...

www.enworld.org

D&D 5E - Here's the Ravenloft Alternate Cover!

As usual, there is an alternate hobby-store exclusive cover for the upcoming Ravenloft book. Here's a look at it! And here's the full wraparound art. https://www.enworld.org/threads/updated-with-cover-the-d-d-book-is-van-richtens-guide-to-ravenloft.678411/...

www.enworld.org

D&D 5E - [Updated with cover!] The D&D Book Is.... Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft!

Yesterday's hints that a new D&D book would be announced today have born fruit -- we now have a product description and a title! It's a Ravenloft setting book, with tools and new rules for horror-themed games, and new horror-themed character options. I'll update this post with a product image as...

www.enworld.org

 

[Azzy]

One of my co-DMs is going to be running part 2 of his Ravenloft campaign soon. I wish this book would be out before then, but that's highly unlikely. Needless to say, he's rather excited about it.

 

[Azzy]

Then my computer crashed and I lost what I wrote.

I sympathize, having had the same kind of experience.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The zombie apocalypse domain could have a "reset button" where every so often (maybe when everyone in the domain is turned into a zombie, the dead residents are brought back to life and have to suffer it all over again like some Sisyphian nightmare. Bonus points if the residents remember each previous time around (including their time as a zombie).

I guess you are talking about a time loop, and I say my theory is all the demiplane of the dread is a time loop.

 

[Faolyn]

I don't feel confortable with Elena Faith-Hold, darklord of Nidala because she is the trope about the danger of faith without mercy nor good sense. This trope has been abused too much in the last years. I want to be a vampire-hunter PC, not to feel like the main character of "the tale of the maid". You may think this a ridiculous opinion, but we have to remember today old titles are now "politically incorrect" and they need special disclaimers. Maybe in the next decade "the tale of the maid" or Netflix's "Cursed" will need a disclaimer like the one from "Gone with the Wild".

<shrug> I don't see that as a bad trope myself, since let's face it, reality is filled with people doing pretty awful things in the name of their beliefs. I don't know what "the tale of the maid" is; I'd say "The Handmaid's Tale," but I see there's also a short story called The Vampire Maid, so I dunno? If it's the former, then I have no idea how vampire hunting and dehumanizing women by turning them into rape-baby machines with no personal rights or freedoms are connected.

I just see Elana Faithhold as exemplifying the dangers of the Awful Lawful paladin.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

See, my problem is that they weren't trying to be D&D enough. They were trying too hard to emulate the story that inspired rather than adapt it. Races other than human were feared and unplayable. Half several domains rejected magic outright. I get it was to highlight you feeling of isolation, but it made it really hard to focus a campaign in them. I tended towards Darkon specifically because it had all the races and magic of a D&D world, but spookier. I hope the settings feel a little more like 5e Barovia or Darkon so that tieflings and sorcerers don't have to fear mobs when they go into a town.

Yup, if anything it's supposed to be this "horror" place, why is it only non-humans being subjected to this? Why wasn't there an all-hobgoblin domain where humans are chased out of town or something?

 

[Alzrius]

Yup, if anything it's supposed to be this "horror" place, why is it only non-humans being subjected to this? Why wasn't there an all-hobgoblin domain where humans are chased out of town or something?

Sithicus was an elven domain where humans were, in fact, treated like that.

 

[Faolyn]

Yup, if anything it's supposed to be this "horror" place, why is it only non-humans being subjected to this? Why wasn't there an all-hobgoblin domain where humans are chased out of town or something?

That happens in some of the all-elf towns in Darkon.

But I guess the actual answer is, the original writers couldn't come up with ideas of what would really scare a nonhuman and thought that monster races would detract from the undead and golems and the like.

 

[Charlaquin]

So, I came across this, which I haven’t seen talked about much/

Dungeons & Dragons | The World's Greatest Roleplaying Game

The official home and digital toolset for Dungeons & Dragons. Dive into D&D books, create a character, and more!

dnd.dragonmag.com

Of particular note is this line:

This incarnation of Ravenloft reimagines a great deal of what came before. Past explorations of the setting directly linked many of the domains of Ravenloft into a pseudo-continent called the ‘Core’. We’ve taken the Core, the heart of the Ravenloft setting, and shattered it. In this new interpretation, every domain is a lonely island drifting through the mists.

So, it sounds like The Demiplane of Dread as a cohesive thing is no more, and all these Domains of Dread are truly isolated pocket dimensions. Which personally, I like the idea of. Oddly enough, that kinda makes me more ok with the apparent “theme park” nature of many domains.

 

[Alzrius]

So, it sounds like The Demiplane of Dread as a cohesive thing is no more, and all these Domains of Dread are truly isolated pocket dimensions.

And this suddenly became a lot less appealing to me.

 

[humble minion]

And this suddenly became a lot less appealing to me.

Urgh, me too, but I'll suspend judgement until i see more. What is important to me is that the setting is an actual functional setting, with its own residents who go about their daily lives etc, rather than a puppet show put on entirely for the benefit of Darklords and PCs.

If there's actually communication between domains, and reasonably routine ways for people to travel from domain to domain, conduct cross-domain trade and diplomacy etc, then I can deal with it. If the setting is reduced to 30-odd one-off adventure settings, all largely ignorant or disinterested in each others' existence, then I'll be cranky.