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

 

[tetrasodium]

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).

I think it was more "d&d is this weird new craze among kids & the news keeps talking about it as if it's scary but gives little substance maybe it's one of those fantasy things" with little to actually understand it. I had a player who told us his parents apologized to him years after the fact for leaving a camcorder recording in the room he & his friends played d&d in to spy on him. They expected to have some kind of sit down talk & felt so embarassed at how utterly mundane it was that they never mentioned it for years

 

[Urriak Uruk]

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

Yeah I won't deny that... I do encourage you to read the article however, as some of the stuff people were doing in the 80s (in law enforcement and the media) really does feel like an order of magnitude different than today's issues.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah I won't deny that... I do encourage you to read the article however, as some of the stuff people were doing in the 80s (in law enforcement and the media) really does feel like an order of magnitude different than today's issues.

No, I know. But it's not that the extremes in the population have moved much at all, it's who the people in the middle lean towards trusting.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

No, I know. But it's not that the extremes in the population have moved much at all, it's who the people in the middle lean towards trusting.

Oh I agree with that. Suburban, middle-class educated America has definitely shifted its opinions on all sorts of topics.

 

[Charlaquin]

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.

I mean, a terrifyingly large portion of the police force does buy into modern conspiracy theories.

 

[Umbran]

I mean, a terrifyingly large portion of the police force does buy into modern conspiracy theories.

Mod Note:
This is entirely inappropriate discussion material for the site.

Please drop this line of discussion now.

 

[Remathilis]

Black Dice Society episode 3: Light Spoilers.

We spend the entire episode in the Carnival. Its remarkably faithful to the 2e version all things considered; Isode and "the Caller" backstory included. There is a lot more inner-discussions to pad the runtime.

Something I didn't mention last time: they travel through the Mists from when they are going to the Carnival. When they approach the Misty borders, the fog seems to thin out and create a path or road. The immediate area around them appears to be similar but indistinct terrain, but beyond the path, the Mists get noticeably thicker and its hard to make out what is there. The group travels from one domain to another fairly seamlessly, thought the cannot account for how long the travel took. The Mists seem ever-present on the borders of the carnival at all times, but the borders ebb-and-flow some. If anyone is wondering what domain cross-travel is going to look like in the Post-Core setting, be prepared for a lot of paths through the Mists...

Its implied the Mists respond better to some people than to others, but they respond best to purpose.

The Weathermay-Foxgrove twins are referenced as monster hunters. They are supposed to be important to this story.

Pickled Punks and a Brain-in-a-Jar feature as foes. Possibly from the book, since the DM has to "look up" the stats.

Nahara (the reborn aasimar) is a undeath warlock. She uses her Form of Dread, which seems similar to match the UA's ability.

Oh, we're going to Falkovia next. Looks like we will get a preview of the zombie domain. (It appears they started in Falkovia as well, since they were beset by zombies at the end of episode one).

***

Nine hours in, we're still at drip-drip status for clues. Its a fun listen (it takes me three days to listen to 3 hours, my attention span can't binge-listen to this) but I think now that we are going to a domain with confirmed changes, we'll get a better feel for how much BDS is doing its own thing vs. using the revisions from VRGtR. The zombie hordes in Falkvoia seemed on-point from the new VRG, but the Carnival, Ezra, Darkon, and Soth elements feel like they could have been ripped from '97's Domains of Dread with light modification and nobody would have batted an eye. Assuming this is all cannon from the new book, I think the new Ravenloft will still retain much of its 90's era lore after all.

 

[Faolyn]

For what it's worth, Brain In A Jar has been published in 5e a couple of times so far--once in the Lost Library of Kwalish, and once in Icewind Dale. I wonder if he just updated the 2e stats for pickled punks himself, or if they're in the book.

 

[Azzy]

Pickled Punks

Drunk hooligans?

 

[Faolyn]

Drunk hooligans?

Deformed fetuses kept in jars of alcohol. So you're half-right.

(Only these pickled punks are alive (or undead, maybe; 2e didn't have monster types) and capable of... making people act on their suppressed desires for 1d8+2 hours, almost like they, the people, were drunk.)