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

 

[Voadam]

That is disappointing. I really liked how the domains interacted as a land mass and how realms had a history of growing out of villains from other realms and there are named families and connections across domains. Falkovnia invading Darkon was neat, the interactions of rulers of different realms playing against each other in a game of chess locked in their power base prisons. I particularly liked how you could do out political boundaries and rulers and half the time the visible rulers would not match up to the Darklords.

Islands of Darkness is a thing, they went pretty all in on that in 4e and it worked for their cosmology, but I am mostly an original boxed set in my preferred lore and setup. It means that the borders are generally misty and not an active thing the Darklords specifically do.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

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.

Also hasn't Ravenloft been relocated to Shadowfell in 5e? As it's no longer a single demiplane inside the Ethereal. The DMG seems to imply that all of the Domains of Dread are now in pockets in Shadowfell.

 

[MGibster]

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?

Probably because very few people want an all hobgoblin area where humans were chased out of town.

 

[Charlaquin]

Also hasn't Ravenloft been relocated to Shadowfell in 5e? As it's no longer a single demiplane inside the Ethereal. The DMG seems to imply that all of the Domains of Dread are now in pockets in Shadowfell.

Yeah, I think that’s the way they’re taking it.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Carrionettes confirmed as well, plus "new zombies". Strahd zombies were in CoS, so presumably not them; wonder which others they plan to dig up?

It's certainly not unheard of for monsters that have appeared in adventurers to be reprinted in monster or setting books...

 

[Savage Wombat]

That is disappointing. I really liked how the domains interacted as a land mass and how realms had a history of growing out of villains from other realms and there are named families and connections across domains.

Well, in theory, one could use the new material by combining it with the Arthaus maps. Depending on how much they changed the domains, of course.

 

[Remathilis]

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.

Not surprising unfortunately. I suspected that was going to be how they did it. However, there is an ace up their sleeve; the shadowfell binds these realms together and the shadowfell can appear as normal terrain, abit gloomy and distorted. It seems like (barring closed domain borders) you could walk into the Mists and enter the shadowfell and walk, ride, or whatever via the shadowfell to other domains. Of course, this is dangerous due to both threats and the potential to get lost. Luckily, there are people who could help you navigate: the Vistani.

Spoiler: Luba's Tarokka of Souls

For untold generations, the Vistani have wandered the Shadowfell, which includes terrifying demiplanes like the vampire-haunted realm of Barovia. These travelers have learned many secrets of these domains and encountered countless others wandering amid the Shadowfell's horrors. Most Vistani bands accept well-intentioned wayfarers from diverse walks and of disparate origins, embracing any who seek to find a home amid the endless roads and vistas hidden amid the mists.

So it might not be as simple as leaving Darkon and crossing the borders to Tempest anymore (which never made sense, but I digress) but it will be possible to travel between domains.

But yeah, it sounds like the death of the "campaign setting" Ravenloft and a return to something closer to "weekend in Hell"

 

[humble minion]

'New zombies' in combination with the new post-zombie-apocalypse version of Falkovnia hints to me that there's just going to be a few more iterations of zombie beyond the standard low-CR shambling D&D version, probably to better cover the beats hit by the last decade-and-a-bit of unrelenting zombie-centric pop-culture output. Infectious zombies, running zombies, smart zombies, guised-as-the-living zombies, hivemind zombies, monster zombies etc, plus maybe old Ravenloft standards like the zombie lord and juju zombie (though i expect they might rename the latter...)

 

[doctorbadwolf]

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).

That premise has to eventually lead to strongholds that are able to last a while, though, right? Like...zombie groundhogs year, you get some successful fortification eventually, unless the dread lord is mixing things up when that happens? Perhaps zombies change type some cycles?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Not surprising unfortunately. I suspected that was going to be how they did it. However, there is an ace up their sleeve; the shadowfell binds these realms together and the shadowfell can appear as normal terrain, abit gloomy and distorted. It seems like (barring closed domain borders) you could walk into the Mists and enter the shadowfell and walk, ride, or whatever via the shadowfell to other domains. Of course, this is dangerous due to both threats and the potential to get lost. Luckily, there are people who could help you navigate: the Vistani.

Spoiler: Luba's Tarokka of Souls

For untold generations, the Vistani have wandered the Shadowfell, which includes terrifying demiplanes like the vampire-haunted realm of Barovia. These travelers have learned many secrets of these domains and encountered countless others wandering amid the Shadowfell's horrors. Most Vistani bands accept well-intentioned wayfarers from diverse walks and of disparate origins, embracing any who seek to find a home amid the endless roads and vistas hidden amid the mists.

So it might not be as simple as leaving Darkon and crossing the borders to Tempest anymore (which never made sense, but I digress) but it will be possible to travel between domains.

But yeah, it sounds like the death of the "campaign setting" Ravenloft and a return to something closer to "weekend in Hell"

I am more and more wanting to form a campaign setting wherein the Feywild and Shadowfell (and thus the domains) are places in the world, not separate planes.