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

 

[Chaosmancer]

I'd disagree and say what makes Ravenloft unique is the personal horror; the idea that the horror is after you specifically, for something you did or didn't do, whether its actually fair or not.

The Dark Lords are just the ultimate expression of that. But they're not the end-all and be-all of it. Nor does killing the Dark Lord end the horror, since it might revive, or a new horror would just be appointed in its place.

This is an odd take, especially with how many times people have said "Strahd doesn't care about you."

Maybe this is something fans who are more familiar with the setting understand, but this seems to just add a kink where none existed in the weave of the setting.

 

[Remathilis]

I'm almost 100% positive the Vistani were just listed as humans in the original I-6 module. It wasn't until 2nd edition that someone got the bright idea of making them some sort of separate race and giving us the Half-Vistani character option.

Mostly. The Original I6 doesn't use the word "Vistani" at all; they are just gypsies. Vistani came around when the module was turned into a setting. In Monstrous Compendium Annual 2; they are listed (with "monster" stats) as "Human, Vistani" but it is heavily implied they have magical abilities and secret knowledge that makes them different (IE unplayable) from other humans. Half-vistani (a pairing of a full-blooded Vistani and a normal human) created a human who had some of the Vistani's secret knowledge but wasn't fully Vistani (and would probably be a subrace of human or a lineage mechanically today). Arthaus's verison kept this version of Vistani. In Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, Vistani are a tribe made of humans AND halflings (and lead by a green hag, less said about that the better). 4e turned them into a collective of wanderers who come from all races and peoples, only for CoS to return back to the 1e/2e Vistani. It seems like VRGtR is going to bring back some of the 4e lore though, judging by Tasha's blurb in the Tarokka of Souls sidebar.

 

[Chaosmancer]

The powers check, in my view, is what really sets ravenloft apart from other settings. Committing evil deeds in ravenloft has consequences.

okay, again, this sounds interesting. This is also not something I've ever really seen emphasized in any discussion about the setting.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I guess because you seemed to attack the idea of islands as a bad idea, but you haven't really given me any solid reason to understand why. Sure, trade and communication by water is different than trade or communication by land, but different isn't impossible. If the point is that you want Trade and Communication.. then you still have that with this new idea.

I am not attacking the idea, I am saying that isn't what I want from Ravenloft. The idea itself isn't an issue, it just doesn't suit me for what I want from Ravenloft. I understand the value people see it bringing. I just don't think that value doesn't have downsides (which I have explained: and either you agree or you don't, beyond that there isn't much point with a back and forth over the issue).

 

[Chaosmancer]

Perhaps an area has two potential Darklords in it. So when the Dark Powers snatches an area for domaining, they end up putting a Darklord atop a future potential Darklord. Thenthey have to seperate them.

This only makes sense if they created the domain knowing that in time a second dark lord would be born there. Which... almost works? Like if I squint and tilt my head, but that gets into them grabbing people before they are born and determining their guilt before they are born, which seems unlike usual DnD settings.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Really, whether I do or do not does not change where this started. What was described in the second wave of these posts was far more horrifying than what was initially described. But, I think you all just included those details subconciously, while not realizing that simply stating "oppressive military zone" is so broad and doesn't cover a lot of horror territory. Those details you didn't add until later paint a far far different picture than the one I was initially given.

I don't think there is any point going over this any more. The details were pointed out to you, and if memory serves you felt they were suitably horror-related once they were (if I am wrong here feel free to correct me). but what is the point of continuing to debate whether my posts adequately described Falkovnia for you?

 

[Bedrockgames]

To give a different example. If I said "I love Dragonlance because I can fight Dragons." then that is not a good reason to like the setting. It is very true and obvious that you can fight Dragons in other settings. If someone then said, "but if you get the Super Dragon Expansion of the Dragonlance line, you get to make really cool and epic dragons to fight." Then, wouldn't it be a fair counter to say "okay, that isn't an endorsement of Dragonlance, that is an endorsement of the Super Dragon Expansion."?

That is a perfectly good reason for liking Dragonlance. The storyline is about a war involving dragons. You certainly can face dragons in other settings, but you can more reliably face them in Dragonlance. But beyond that I really don't get this whole attitude of "your reasons are not adequate". People get to like things for whatever reasons they want. I don't know what a super dragon expansion is, but I don't think you've made the case against the van richten books not being a reason in favor of Ravenloft: they were made for the setting and reflect setting content. I really can't continue to debate on that. We've reached a point where we simply disagree (and I don't find your points convincing at all)

 

[Bedrockgames]

Because you can still have international politics between island nations, and we have done so on Earth for centuries?

I mean, if you want to make the "sea of mist" incredibly deadly and confusing and prevent its navigation, then go ahead, but if you don't I see zero reason that experienced captains couldn't navigate that sea and allow for the type of politics you want.

Of course you can. But the point is geography matters. Bodies of water are boundaries that matter. They have an impact on international politics and shape them. If the domains are separate islands then their 'international politics" are going to be different than they were in the core book. Your argument for islands as a model seems to be: islands are really great and do all these different things in the areas I want, but all the different things they do suddenly don't exist when you point them out as potential downsides. i just don't get this argument, and I don't get the argument for why you need islands in Ravenloft rather than having both a core and islands.

 

[Bedrockgames]

okay, again, this sounds interesting. This is also not something I've ever really seen emphasized in any discussion about the setting.

It is probably the most important feature of Ravenloft. Without powers checks, the setting wouldn't have clicked or made sense in my opinion. When you commit evil acts, there is a percentage chance of attracting the dark powers attention. This can lead to advancing through various stages of corruption (the number varies from black box, to domains of dread, etc). But essentially each stage gives a reward and a punishment as you progress towards a more monstrous end result. It an happen to PCs, but also is assumed to happen to NPCs in the setting. Many foes in Ravenllfot are simply those who have advanced through different steps of corruption. There are guidelines for which acts would produce what percentage chance of attracting the dark powers (these get quite codified in later books), and there are guidelines on how to handle rewards and punishments.

 

[Faolyn]

I don't need to know the whole history of this guy, but let me run through the issue. Mordent was created to punish some other darklord. This Dominic guy starts doing evil things, then an entirely new place called Dementlieu springs up around him? It starts to feel like prisons are spinning off prisons. Especially since, the domain's reset. The Jackalwere sees his home destroyed, then it resets and happens all over again. The Egyptian guy sees his home destroyed, then it resets and happens all over again.Strahd tries to get his love, she dies, then it resets all over again. So... why have spin off dark lords? Why didn't this guy reset?

A Domain, in most cases, an entire country, with lots of other people living there. As an aside, there was at least some debate as to whether or not those people were real people, or just copies of people (and thus, whether it was OK, alignment-wise, to then kill them). 5e didn't help much by saying that only 10% of Barovians have souls (which keep getting reincarnated), and those people who don't have souls have really flat affects. Personally, I'm not fond this particular idea, but I can also see it as a reason why the Dark Powers steal people away from the real worlds. Mars wants women, the Dark Powers want fresh souls.

Anyway.

Most of the people in a Domain are just regular joes who are just trying to live their lives in a place that often is rather awful. A lot of them become rather awful themselves, but in a boring way, so the Dark Powers ignore them. A person who steals from their customers or beats their spouse is banal. But sometimes, they become interestingly evil. Dominic's highly condensed backstory is, even at a very young age, he was a quintessential Whispers Bard with maxed-out Charisma who manipulated everyone for the heck of it, and people felt sorry for him because he was a cute wittle kid who's mom died in childbirth. So even if they realized how manipulative he was, they allowed it. One day, his actions ended up drawing too much attention and so to avoid it he convinced his family to move away. And thus, the Dark Powers created Dementlieu.

Another weird trick of the Dark Powers that they can create false histories and false memories, so even if Dementlieu never existed before that point, everyone now believed it always had.

So at this point, the Dark Powers started grooming Dominic for evil by rewarding him until his manipulative powers became fully supernatural in nature. As an adult, he became one of the advisors to the Governor of Dementlieu and the country's Darklord. Maybe he was the Darklord the second he entered Dementlieu that but didn't realize it until he reached adulthood. I dunno; there aren't any canonical child Darklords that I can think of.

So that's how a person from one domain can become a Darklord of another.

In rereading what (very little) has been written about Jack Karn, the jackelwere you mentioned, I see another misunderstanding. His domain, Farelle, doesn't reset. Jack does. He simply doesn't die if slain. If you kill Jack--he's not particularly tough--he's reborn in the body of a jackal that happens to be near his tinker's cart. Several DLs are like that. They are reborn, or magically reappear, or simply regenerate even if burned to ash and scattered to the winds. It's part of the curse.

Other Darklords can die permanently. The Gabrielle Aderre killed the former Darklord of Invidia. Duke Gundar was slain in an uprising and his body left to rot, and his former domain was split between Barovia and Invidia. Some Darklords continue to age (but usually slowly) and will presumably die of old age even if nothing else kills them. Drakov was like that; he was canonically 90ish but fit like he was in his 30s or 40s.

And still other Darklords are simply fired. Nathan Timothy had been bound to a riverboat but ended liking the beer-and-fishing life over the rampaging werewolf life, and so is no longer the Darklord (he's still bound to his boat). Same with Lord Soth, who spent all his time in his holodeck with his magic mirrors and got boring.

In these cases, the country is either absorbed by neighboring Domains or a new Darklord is appointed based on whoever nearby deserves it the most. For instance, Dominic has a main rival in the mind-control business. Should Dominic die, then his rival, The Brain (not a mouse) might very well take over--but as it stands, there's very little chance that The Brain will actually get his own Domain. He's evil, but he's not filled with the same kind of hubris that Dominic has.