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.

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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

 

[darjr]

I get it!
If you haven’t been watching there have been big changes in AL recently. Control especially has been made more centralized within WotC.
I was bewildered, but it get it. They are tooling it to work simultaneously with more “settings” or adventure books.

 

[Bedrockgames]

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?

There is Forlorn where you have Goblyns who tend to kill the human inhabitants. It isn't quite what you are looking for here, but I think there were places in the setting that definitely made humans feel that way. But again, to me this wasn't so much about picking on demihumans as emphasizing that it is a human-based setting, with really provincial inhabitants who mistake an elf for a spirit. It is there to play up the backwards nature of many of the locations more than anything else.

 

[tetrasodium]

I can't speak to 5th edition, as I don't really play it much. But mechanics definitely matter here. I played Ravenloft through the 90s 2E, into the d20 S&S version. With the 3E rules I found my campaigns didn't really feel the same anymore and the atmosphere wasn't there. I thought it was just me getting older, and maybe a bit of nostalgia for the 90s or something. But in 2008 I ran Ravenloft again with the 2E rules, and for me at least, it instantly felt like it had the same atmosphere as when I ran it in the 90s. If you find this part of the game hinders tension, you might try retooling it and see if that changes things.

I've tried various things with rests & such in the past, but 5e has a ton of things pretty tightly bound to the long rest recovers everything & short rest can recover a ton. There's an ocean of difference between "I wrote this paragraph or more of new mechanics for rests that we will be using" and "page 42 has a sidebar with a new set of rest mechanics that we will be using" when those rules massively dial back something only a couple steps shy of save scumming & pulling down the console to restore yourself in a computer game.

 

[beholdsa]

More than any realm, I'm super-hoping for Sithicus.

 

[beholdsa]

Removed. Double post.

 

[Bedrockgames]

More than any realm, I'm super-hoping for Sithicus.

I won't be getting the new book (just not really interested WOTC Ravenloft) but Sithicus was one of my favorite domains. There was a pretty cool adventure module set there. For me it tended to be more of a passing through place (but I do remember lots of interesting encounters and situations arising there in my campaigns).

 

[Alzrius]

I won't be getting the new book (just not really interested WOTC Ravenloft) but Sithicus was one of my favorite domains. There was a pretty cool adventure module set there.

That would be When Black Roses Bloom (affiliate link), which I thought was truly superb.

 

[Bedrockgames]

That would be When Black Roses Bloom (affiliate link), which I thought was truly superb.

That is the one. Lisa Smedman's stuff was usually very good in my opinion.

 

[Charlaquin]

More than any realm, I'm super-hoping for Sithicus.

You may have heard already, but it’s confirmed Sithicus is in, Soth is out.

 

[humble minion]

You may have heard already, but it’s confirmed Sithicus is in, Soth is out.

I honestly don't see the point of Sithicus without Soth. The whole place is atmospheric as hell with its rotting forests and mournful beetle-riding elves and Nedragaard Keep heavy with memory, but it circles around him like a whirlpool, and the various attempts to repurpose it around Azazel or Inza have really just looked like flailing attempts to fill the void.