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

 

[Reynard]

I really don't understand why people even want 5E Ravenloft if they get upset that they change things... if you like the old stuff, it's still there to pick up and play on the DMsGuild.

I really wish WotC wouldn't have installed the new feature that causes all of your old books to spontaneously combust when the new version hits D&D Beyond. My Eberron shelf almost killed me!

 

[Faolyn]

This is the part that keeps me scratching my head, though. If Valachan, I'Cath, Souragne, etc. were deemed too problematic to keep in their original form, what was the value of reviving those particular domains at all? (Especially I'Cath, which is not exactly one of the better-known lands.) If someone really loved the old version of the domain, and never had a problem with it to start with, you're just going to upset them. If someone new comes in, they won't care that the new domain has an old name, so applying it is a waste of time... or worse, they will like the fact that it has "history", only to be turned off when they actually dig into older versions.

Possibly because there's something really interesting or niche-filling about the domains that they kept. Possibly because those domains didn't have a big fanbase. Possibly they didn't want to come up with new names.

 

[overgeeked]

Possibly because there's something really interesting or niche-filling about the domains that they kept. Possibly because those domains didn't have a big fanbase. Possibly they didn't want to come up with new names.

It's a weird balancing act, to be sure. Use the recognizable names (even Ravenloft) to get the older fanbase hyped, but change things enough to keep the younger fanbase from rebelling and causing a PR nightmare. The more we learn about the book, the less inclined I am to use the actual domain write ups and use the old version of the setting, but the rest of the material is still at least partially useful. I think the direct benefit for me is there will be more 5E horror games (a few of which I will hopefully get to play in) and the idea of safety tools will become even more widespread and accepted.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Sometimes I think WotC is planning a multiverse crisis event causing a reboot of all D&D lines. It may be neccesary in a future, but if the changes are too radical maybe we don't feel too confortable. Other reason for the reboot is to cause the "obsolence" of the previous lore, one of the reasons because it is too known by the players, spoiling lots of possible surprises.

* Japanese folklore is too rich with ghost and yokai and akuma to not be included in Ravenloft. I guess WotC wants to publish a new book adding more domains and monsters. TSR wanted to publish a second Ravenloft spin-off based in Orient, the Masque of the Jade Horror.

* I like the idea of "Shadowfell domains", tainted but not totally controlled by the Dark Powers because this allows more freedom to supernatural romance and horror for kid stories where happy end is easier to be got. Why not a new setting where gods disappeared after a new war against the titans, and then the fey lords became the new pantheon, causing new troubles about who should be rewarded or punished in the afterlife, and besides that, the primal powers from the Far Realm trying a planar invasion.

Brainstealer dragon.

(Fanart of Inhumanoids, a forgotten Hasbro's franchise)

* I imagine Vorostokov, the domain by Boyar Gregor Zolnik, as an Oubliette, a displacer domain or pocket universe, allowing to attack different regions. Sometimes even they could send raids in zones of the material plane.

* I have thought to suggest two classic novels as sources of inspirations for dread domains: Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens and The Count of Chanteleine by Jules Verne.

The Secret World Wiki

secretworld.fandom.com

 

[Bedrockgames]

All four endings involve Van Richten dead or trapped in Bleak House. Regardless, by the time DoD came out, it was widely believed he was gone. The W-F twins kept his shop until he returned, or an heir comes forth. They also published his later books posthumously.

So yes, he didn't need to die per se, but for all intents and purposes, he was written out the setting by DoD.

Not having Van Richten dead is one change I definitely agree with. He should be able to die, but let it happen in peoples campaigns. The one big negative from the 2E era Ravenloft IMO is metaplot

 

[Parmandur]

Didn't the Bleak House have four different endings though? Surely Van Richten couldn't have died in all four of em..................................................................right?

That or Van Richten is in his own "personal" domain where he is dead but doesn't know/can't realize it

I mean, maybe Van Richten is the Dark Powers self-insert into the fiction.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I really don't understand why people even want 5E Ravenloft if they get upset that they change things... if you like the old stuff, it's still there to pick up and play on the DMsGuild.

I am sticking with the old stuff. But I was still interested in 5th edition Ravenloft if it were to appeal to me. And everyone gets to give their opinion (positive or negative). There are definitely lots of old fans that could be pulled into 5E if they get something like Ravenloft or Dark Sun right. But the old stuff still works for me

 

[Charlaquin]

I mean, maybe Van Richten is the Dark Powers self-insert into the fiction.

Clearly he’s The Archivist.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I am sticking with the old stuff. But I was still interested in 5th edition Ravenloft if it were to appeal to me. And everyone gets to give their opinion (positive or negative). There are definitely lots of old fans that could be pulled into 5E if they get something like Ravenloft or Dark Sun right. But the old stuff still works for me

Honestly, I doubt that "doing it right" is really going to pull old fans in. Most of the complaints I've seen here tend to be about lore (like things like this "reboot" or that it isn't the core anymore). And these don't matter for what system people use. I highly doubt that getting the lore precisely correct in the way the "old D&Ders" like is going to bring people to a system they already don't like.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Honestly, I doubt that "doing it right" is really going to pull old fans in. Most of the complaints I've seen here tend to be about lore (like things like this "reboot" or that it isn't the core anymore). And these don't matter for what system people use. I highly doubt that getting the lore precisely correct in the way the "old D&Ders" like is going to bring people to a system they already don't like.

It isn't about the lore mainly. It is largely about shifting away from gothic and classic horror that was the base of Ravenloft, and moving towards high fantasy with multiple genres of horror being held in equal balance. It would be very easy to appeal to us I think. Maybe doing so would lose the younger audience, I am not sure. The aesthetics, the shift in focus, the seeming dislike or discomfort with what came before, these are things that bother older fans like myself. Ravenloft can stomach some lore changes. But the why, the what, they are all important. There is nothing wrong with being an older fan (you younger fans will be old fans one day too) and there is nothing wrong with older fans not liking what WOTC is deciding to do with Ravenloft.