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

 

[Remathilis]

The Domains were treated seriously, most of the time, even if the source material wasn't.

Now, Curse of Strahd having a crypt for "Sir Klutz Tripalotsky: He fell on his own sword"--that's corny. And stupid.

In Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, they changed the Crypts to serious names. In CoS they went back to the Punny names. It was the worst revision they made between them. (The second worst was removing the non-human servants and residents of Barovia in favor of humans and more humans, a small clutch of elves).

 

[Faolyn]

There are all kinds of discussions on this going on all over (on forums, in real life, etc). I have met and interacted with a fair number of people who play 5E, liked old Ravenloft, and want a connected core.

My two cents. I've loved Ravenloft since the Black Box. I've run it in 5e, GURPS, and attempted to run it in Fate until player issues stopped the game (note to all players reading this: if you don't like horror, please tell the DM instead of actively working to sabotage her game, thank you). I'm my group's Forever DM when it comes to Ravenloft. And while I see the appeal of a connected core, I'm also in favor of turning everything into Islands.

IMO, there was never enough in-setting stuff (that I was aware of; I almost never buy adventures) that dealt with active events between two Domains. There were a few things, like the plot-hook possibility of the Becoming Plague (I think that's what it was called) spreading outward from Richmulot, or Falkovnian soldiers chasing people across borders. But for the most part, it always seemed to me that the only things that really happened between Domains was background stuff, like trade. And nobody could even leave some Domains, like Darkon. Nearly all of the background conflicts seemed to me to take place inside a Domain.

And as for players... they either choose to adventure within a Domain, or to go to another Domain--but either way, that level of movement is up to the DM. I mean, if your players are in Tepest but you've always wanted to send them to Vechor, you can do so either through plot hook or through the Mists, depending on how you and the players feel about such things.

I've already decided that, in my Ravenloft at least, there will be Mistways, roads, or other methods of travel between Domains, so the background stuff, the trade of goods and culture, will continue. If it means that instead of boating down the Musarde they're boating down a nameless river in the Shadowfell, that's OK. I hope that they're going to include them in the book.

But I was just making the point that I don't really have a strong opinion one way or the other on whether shadowfell is a good idea, as I don't really understand it

I haven't read the 4e book on the Shadowfell, assuming there was one. From what I know about it, based on 5e, it's a mirror of Prime, but with the darkness, gloom, fear, and despair turned up to 11. In the same way that the Feywild is supposed to be a mirror of Prime but with the feyness dialed up. So the Shadowfell seems made to host the Demiplane of Dread.

 

[Faolyn]

In Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, they changed the Crypts to serious names. In CoS they went back to the Punny names. It was the worst revision they made between them. (The second worst was removing the non-human servants and residents of Barovia in favor of humans and more humans, a small clutch of elves).

I've always preferred a nearly-all human setting myself. We haven't gotten to the dusk elves in my game yet, but I'll likely change them to bound fey.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I’m not sure that it makes much practical difference either way. If the players defeat the Darklord, they defeat the Darklord. For the purpose of any individual campaign, that’s all that matters. The whole resetting thing always just seemed to me like a cheeky way to acknowledge the fact that the adventure keeps getting rehashed, with the details tweaked but fundamentally the same beats.

To me, it’s much easier to say “The last time we ran CoS bears no relation to this time.” Than to say “Strahds back but let’s just pretend that what your characters did when John ran CoS still matters somehow.”

 

[Remathilis]

So let me ask @Bedrockgames or @QuentinGeorge (or anyone else who want to chime in: a multi-part question:

You are in Barovia. Strahd hasn't sealed the borders. You walk up to the very Western edge of Barovia. What do you see.

1.) Invidia (or Borca, depending how North/South you are)
2.) A Wall of Mist

Step across the border "out" of Barovia, you are now see

1.) The adjunct domain you wanted to be in
2.) A large white wall of fog and mist which obscures all sight.

You look behind you, you see

1.) Barovia, as you left it
2.) Nothing but Mist and Fog

You arrive at the next domain. You can be reasonably assured you are now in

1.) Eastern Invidia/Borca
2.) Whatever domain the Mists decided to drop you into.

When you left Barovia, it was 12pm (noon) on Monday the 12th of January* (I don't recall if Ravenloft has a unique calendar, it's not discussed in any cannon books to my knowledge). Upon your arrival to your new destination, it is

1.) The same day, roughly the same time and you can account for any time discrepancy by travel time.
2.) The same day, but any random time later (dawn, dusk, midnight) which cannot simply be accounted for by travel time
3.) A completely different time, day or season. (8pm on August 19th).
4.) Different every time you cross the border.

I'm curious to see how you feel crossing the borders of the core works. Because

Spoiler

If the setting acts like a natural setting, all the answers should be 1. Leave the border from Barovia to Invidia should be like crossing the border of France and Germany or Kentucy to Tennesse. If the answers are mostly 2 or more, then travel between domains isn't much different between core to core neighbors and potentially traveling to any other domains; it's at the whim of DM/Mists and the "core" is merely a suggesiton. If it's the latter, it's not that much different in practice than isolated islands; you step into the Mists with a destination in mind and hope the Mists take you there.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

The Domains were treated seriously, most of the time, even if the source material wasn't.

Now, Curse of Strahd having a crypt for "Sir Klutz Tripalotsky: He fell on his own sword"--that's corny. And stupid.

I mostly agree, though I think they sometimes veered into the unfortunate area of "taking a fundamentally silly idea so seriously and po-faced-ly it turns into unintentional parody". This is sadly a common flaw of Gothic Horror specifically - World of Darkness definitely ended up there a few times so not a Ravenloft-specific flaw!

one minor point on this: Ravenloft was meant to be old fashioned horror. The whole point was it was going against the prevailing horror trends of the time (that is why you see such strong expression against things like slasher films in the black box—I like slasher movies but I got the point they were trying to make).

Yes, I've pointed this out several times in this thread myself! I think that it was a strong concept but if they'd kept the "core" like that then had islands with other horror styles (maybe even "archipelagos" of similar islands) they'd have done better and we wouldn't have needed so drastic a revision as this seems to be. In fact it could have been amazing - they could have almost made a sort of "history of horror" via the core and islands. But I think the 2E authors of the setting REALLY hated modern horror so it wasn't on the table (like you I liked horror old and new).

But anyway it's 2021, not 1991 (30 years!), so it's very sensible to change that! I love Dark Sun and Planescape but I don't expect them to remain unchanged if they come back. I certainly hope certain aspects of them remain (Factions for Planescape, Psionics or something akin to them for Dark Sun), but I don't expect things to be otherwise unchanged.

 

[Voadam]

You are in Barovia. Strahd hasn't sealed the borders. You walk up to the very Western edge of Barovia. What do you see.

All ones. This is what made things like the moon discrepancies particularly weird.

From the Original box set unless one of the lords sealed a border you could not tell there was a border and anyone (but the darklords) could cross them.

"The domains are solid and real, and most appear no different from the material plane. Natives and visitors to this demiplane can travel across the borders between domains. The lords cannot."

 

[Voadam]

(I don't recall if Ravenloft has a unique calendar, it's not discussed in any cannon books to my knowledge).

Realms of Terror Book one page 9: "The time line below is measured on the Barovian calendar. It was the year 351 when Barovia fully entered the Ravenloft demiplane."

The then-current campaign date is set at 735 Barovian Calendar.

 

[Charlaquin]

To me, it’s much easier to say “The last time we ran CoS bears no relation to this time.” Than to say “Strahds back but let’s just pretend that what your characters did when John ran CoS still matters somehow.”

Yeah, I agree.

 

[humble minion]

@Remathilis - all ones. With the caveat that sometimes weird mist stuff happens, and every so often you might end up wandering in a foggy forest and ending up in a minidomain like The Endless Road en route to where you're going, or even possibly being redirected entirely into some weird cluster or Island of Terror, possibly the Shadowlands or Frozen Reaches (possibly depending on the weather!) - and when this happens, bad things inevitably ensue. And these diversions occasionally happen to NPCs too, and everyone is aware of the possibility and dark stories are told about it in undertones in Barovian taverns and Mordentish gentlemen's clubs alike.

But these happenings should be largely GM-driven for the purposes of plot, or at worst, a slight possibility when you're checking for random encounters.