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.

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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

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

Who? Who's saying you can't scare people with their consent?

Somebody says that "horror RPG is not meant to scare players but only characters".

Don't need to move the focus to obtain a dialectic win.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

So you think FUN is not to read/look/play anithing about orrible things of life?

I didn't say anything of the sort.

Do you think discussions are solely comprised of strawman arguments?

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

I didn't say anything of the sort.

Do you think discussions are solely comprised of strawman arguments?

I didn't say anything of the sort.

Do you think discussions are solely comprised of strawman arguments?

 

[Kurotowa]

For sure! There are great examples of this (Tarantino and Rodriguez' special film that went from gritty crime heist to something ELSE halfway through). I've also read a book or seen a movie that was very whimsical and light-hearted but with a super tragic ending (which was so poignant specifically because of the subtle overlap of nostalgia and sadness).

Also, it's important to remember that the audience and the characters don't know the Big Twist is coming but the author does and (if they're doing their job well) has been preparing for it from the very beginning. The characters have been prepared as ones that will have interesting and meaningful reactions to the Big Twist, because the Big Twist impacts their personal character arcs in important ways.

Pulling a Big Twist out of nowhere in a TTRPG doesn't work because the players are co-creators with the GM. Sure, the GM is taking the lead, but everyone's contributing. If the players don't know what sort of campaign they're preparing for they can't do their part of the job at all well. Instead of the Big Twist meaningfully impacting the PC's personal arcs, they can find themselves shrugging and just saying "Well, all my characters goals and backstory hooks just got rendered irrelevant, now WTF do I do?"

 

[Necrozius]

Somebody says that "horror RPG is not meant to scare players but only characters".

I don't think that's the general consensus here.

I believe that folks are saying that it is best during Session Zero (or through regular communication) what sort of scares you're going for.

GM: "I'm going to be scaring your characters." VS. "This campaign will scare YOU, the players."

I don't think anyone is against the latter (or both together), as long as they're aware that it will happen.

Basically, don't be a creep and suddenly switch from Scooby Doo to Martyrs without any warning.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Pulling a Big Twist out of nowhere in a TTRPG doesn't work because the players are co-creators with the GM. Sure, the GM is taking the lead, but everyone's contributing. If the players don't know what sort of campaign they're preparing for they can't do their part of the job at all well. Instead of the Big Twist meaningfully impacting the PC's personal arcs, they can find themselves shrugging and just saying "Well, all my characters goals and backstory hooks just got rendered irrelevant, now WTF do I do?"

Man, I wrestle with this all the time as a DM. My game has just largely moved to an urban/dungeon setting for the time being, and I am sweating trying to make sure the ranger and druid don't get sidelined.

 

[Faolyn]

So you think FUN is not to read/look/play anithing about orrible things of life?

So you think making people face the horrible things of life is fun?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

So you think making people face the horrible things of life is fun?

To be fair, there absolutely are people who feel that is fun. I mean, I'm not one of them, but I've met them and heard that view expressed. It's fair to say they're somewhat rare (and they're not necessarily sadists or anything, just have a weird POV I don't vibe with).

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

So you think making people face the horrible things of life is fun?

It Is a mature form of entertainment, posed that it is consensual
You can call it realism. You can also call it fiction with political elements in some cases.
Is the exact opposite of "remove the evil" / "remove the death" behaviour that seems to be the modern way of coping with racism, gender discrimination and any form of violence.

 

[Remathilis]

It Is a mature form of entertainment, posed that it is consensual

Consent is the key then; if I had a death fear of spiders, and you know it, then it is not your place it have me "face my fears" in the context of the game. It's fine though if my character has a death fear of spiders and I don't buy role play it accordingly.

I think it's a distinction that gets lost in these discussions that there is a difference between been scared and uncomfortable. No player, not even the DM, has the right to make another player uncomfortable for and reason.