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]

What? I wouldn't call a handful of conservative politicians upset about shoes a "satanic panic."

I mean, in the historical Panic the government had hearings and were questioning musicians on TV. Not even remotely the same to a callout on Twitter.

I think he's talking about certain online conspiracy theories that we dare no *Q*uote here...

 

[Steampunkette]

She, but yes, Remathilis, that's the Satanic Panic I'm talking about!

 

[Ruin Explorer]

This post seems to get into it (and has the code: having read it yet): RPG History: TSR's Code of Ethics (D&D "Comics Code Authority" rules) - SHANE PLAYS

It looks like there was a document for an '84 code, a document for a '92 code and a document for a '94 code on the blog

AHA! Thank you! I love that they got comments from all sorts of people, even Mark Rein*Hagen!

I see why I was confused though:

They were, to be blunt, patently ridiculous. Editors never enforced them. Entire TSR product lines, such as Ravenloft, would have been impossible if they had been enforced.

I was immediately thinking of stuff the Comics Code or similar would have excluded, but if it was just enforced completely inconsistently, well there we are!

Pretty sure some of the first 2E adventures I saw broke 1 & 3 right off the bat! Taladas is definitely in violation on multiple counts! I'm pretty sure a strict interpretation of the 1994 code would ban not just Ravenloft but also Dark Sun and Planescape.

3 really sticks out because I'm pretty sure if I combed through the adventures I owned and Dungeon I could find quite a few instances of dead "law enforcement officers". Or none, if you went with the idea that only modern-day police fit the term I guess...!

 

[Remathilis]

She, but yes, Remathilis, that's the Satanic Panic I'm talking about!

Mea culpa.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

She, but yes, Remathilis, that's the Satanic Panic I'm talking about!

Oh... well, I personally find the historical Satanic Panic was essentially the mainstream view at the time (amplified in media, local churches, and parents to their children), as opposed to the modern, conspiracy-minded online version that is mostly denounced (although it's given more legitimacy than it deserves in some circles).

 

[Parmandur]

Oh... well, I personally find the historical Satanic Panic was essentially the mainstream view at the time (amplified in media, local churches, and parents to their children), as opposed to the modern, conspiracy-minded online version that is mostly denounced (although it's given more legitimacy than it deserves in some circles).

That's not quite accurate: I think the percentages in the population are about the same, but those in the larger squishy middle have better information to see through the bluster.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Really the satanic panic started in internet among certain circles, but it is not showed by the main media at all. We also see something like McCarthy witch-hunt, with lot of famous people. And 2021 is going to be a "horrible year" for Disney and AT&T.

I can dare to say after this year the horror as genre will be different because people will want to forget some threads.

* I would add to the ethic code: promoting the respect for the human dignity.

* I miss the political conflicts between the different dark lords. The core had got a very boring geography, too "square" and regular when the tectonic plates aren't like this. I understand the metaplot has to be frozen for a time, but the demiplane is too small if you don't want adventures linked with the dark lords, among other reasons because the players get ready to fight against that enemy, knowing their strong and weak points.

Also I miss vampire bloodlines/clans.

* What if the afterlive in the demiplane of the dread is a mixture of the "Otherside"(Silent Hill), Estigia(Wraith: the Oblivion) and the "Hell"(Vampire Knight: Requiem) and Metropolis(Kult: Lost Divinity)?

 

[Urriak Uruk]

That's not quite accurate: I think the percentages in the population are about the same, but those in the larger squishy middle have better information to see through the bluster.

Maybe the percentages are the same (I doubt it, but I haven't seen proof one way or another), but in the 1980s the authorities like police and prosecutors were actively encouraging moral panic, even encouraging therapists to interview hundreds of children in an effort to uncover the Satanists. I find that a very different environment than the one that exists today.

It’s Time to Revisit the Satanic Panic (Published 2021)

As the United States shifted with the anxieties of the 1980s, baseless conspiracy theories about satanic cults committing mass abuse spread around the country.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Steampunkette]

I'm more inclined to agree with Parmandur about quantity of people who believe it and the now -much- larger amount of information access to debunk it, thoroughly.

In the 80s, people couldn't log onto a Filesharing Site and pirate a copy of AD&D to check for themselves and find only endless math and dorky cartoon drawings interspersed between the page-filling fantasy artwork marking each chapter.

I also like your "Respect for Human Dignity" note, LuisCarlos!

 

[Parmandur]

Maybe the percentages are the same (I doubt it, but I haven't seen proof one way or another), but in the 1980s the authorities like police and prosecutors were actively encouraging moral panic, even encouraging therapists to interview hundreds of children in an effort to uncover the Satanists. I find that a very different environment than the one that exists today.

It’s Time to Revisit the Satanic Panic (Published 2021)

As the United States shifted with the anxieties of the 1980s, baseless conspiracy theories about satanic cults committing mass abuse spread around the country.

www.nytimes.com

This is rapidly veering out of bounds, but...government authorities in the 20's are much the same in many areas.