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

 

[Faolyn]

Now I don't know you, are how you feel about diversity, so I'm not questioning your personal opinions. But I do feel that any argument that cites "Political Correctness" or "Wokeness" is inherently a bad argument, as these words mean essentially nothing (is diversity wokeness? What is wokeness?) They're buzzwords thrown about by bigoted people who can't craft real arguments.

I've been in three arguments with him before I decided to ignore him. You're probably better off just stopping; he's not the type to change his view no matter what evidence or ideas you present.

 

[Weiley31]

Well, that's in the player's hands, isn't it? Race isn't the only axis of character creation. There's class and feats and the Ravenloft book offers a set of Dark Gifts that are similar (though differently themed) to the Theros ones. So if you really want All The Spooky then roll a Reborn who's a Phantom Rogue with and has a Dark Gift that makes them extra haunted. I've roughed out a character concept for a Dhampir Swarmkeeper Ranger with the Touch of Death Dark Gift, so he can punch people with a life draining touch that also sets a swarm of shadowy rats and bats tearing at them.

Still isn't Mono-Typed as Undead though.

 

[Weiley31]

"the lore says they are all clones of this same guy." Which not only was wrong (Stormtroopers aren't clones)

Technically for a while, yes the Stormtroopers were all composed of Jango Fett clones. But after a certain point, the Empire/First Order pretty much started "recruiting" people for their Storm Trooper legions. So anybody saying a Black Stormtrooper can't happen is stupid.

 

[Weiley31]

Victor and Viktra are related.

Like I said before: Victor lost control/position of being the Dark Lord in the divorce with Viktra. Adam's enjoying that sweet possum life by fishing and eating grapes and ticks.

 

[Remathilis]

I've been in three arguments with him before I decided to ignore him. You're probably better off just stopping; he's not the type to change his view no matter what evidence or ideas you present.

A lot of the arguments against the changes aren't based around the specific elements being changed but the general concept of change. I'm reminded of grandma Simpson's quote:

 

[Bedrockgames]

To respond to your solid complaint, that these changes disregard some of the established Ravenloft lore... I largely believe it doesn't really matter. Do you really need a canon explanation for why Viktor Mordenheim is suddenly Viktra Mordenheim? Is it really so bad you don't have one? Can you not make one up yourself? Is it really disrespectful to the original writing to change it without explaining?

All I can say is the reason would matter a great deal. If they are just rebooting and swapping it around, it has a very reboot feel (which for me is a negative: I just haven't liked any reboots really). But if they are continuing on and its his daughter or his granddaughter, or a distant relative, that is something that both feels very in genre, and connects it to the previous material (the stuff with Mordenheim happened, but this is a new generation Mordenheim). To me the latter seems a lot more elegant, and more likely to appeal to both old and new fans. Often when they reboot and change everything, it brings in the new fans but the old fans are less enthused I think. Again, they can do what they want. I am just giving you my point of view on what would excite me as a fan

 

[Kurotowa]

Still isn't Mono-Typed as Undead though.

Don't fixate on a bit of rules minutia. What do you want for you character? Either mechanically or thematically? Clarify your wishes down to a specific end result and then figure out how to get there.

The Reborn offers a package of racial traits that are meant to evoke an undead nature while making concessions to game balance and ease of play. That package can be supplemented with other character creation choices, if you know what direction you want to go. Past that you can start tweaking the flavor of existing options, or entirely reskinning them if needed. And if even that isn't enough you can resort to custom homebrew options designed in cooperation with your DM.

But none of that works if you just fixate on a minor surface detail like what your creature type is classified as. Does that really matter if you can still make your daywalker vampire surrounded by shadows that manifest into biting rats, or your patchwork reanimate who's guided by the haunting spirits of all the many donors to their new body? Because you can totally make those characters. What your creature type technically counts as is a minor detail compared to that, IMO.

 

[Weiley31]

I mean, at least they still sell the PDFs of the the older editions of Ravenloft. So if anybody really wants to keep the same stuff, ya can.

Of course I don't know which of the older Ravenloft material would be the best to get without going "too overboard" with buying every single thing. I completely missed out on the early editions of DND/Ravenloft and opinions, from what I heard, seem to be mixed about 3.0/3.5 Ravenloft stuff.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I mean, at least they still sell the PDFs of the the older editions of Ravenloft. So if anybody really wants to keep the same stuff, ya can.

Of course I don't know which of the older Ravenloft material would be the best to get without going "too overboard" with buying every single thing. I completely missed out on the early editions of DND/Ravenloft and opinions, from what I heard, seem to be mixed about 3.0/3.5 Ravenloft stuff.

It isn't just the PDFs, you can buy the black box, Feast of Goblyns, Castles Forlorn and much of the 2E material as print on demand paper back books. I just got the black box and it came out surprisingly good quality (and full color). My only gripe is, unless I am missing something, the only 2E PHB they have is the revised version. I picked that up. I still have my old 1989 edition, but would be nice to get a new copy as mine is falling apart (and I think it is a better fit for the early Ravenloft material).

 

[Bedrockgames]

I've been in three arguments with him before I decided to ignore him. You're probably better off just stopping; he's not the type to change his view no matter what evidence or ideas you present.

It is worth pointing out others haven't changed their mind when I've presented evidence or made arguments. People not agreeing with you when you've made an argument is a normal part of life. People who suddenly change their whole world view because someone on a forum makes a persuasive case, are not only rare, but people I would be very wary around. That to me sounds more like a religious conversation than a real exchange of ideas. And for the record, I am capable of changing my opinion. I just don't agree with people on a lot of these topics