D&D 5E D&D Blog: Creating Ravenloft

[Remathilis]

How to Make D&D Scary | Dungeons & Dragons

We share some of the methods employed to spotlight horror in the Domains of Dread and help you focus on fright in your games.

dnd.wizards.com

D&D Blog updates with some design notes and a few Easter eggs from Van Richten's Guide.

 

[Helldritch]

When you have to second guess every images and texts to get the whole truth, it is bad design. This is a source book. Not a mystery novel. All these links (at the end of the article) should have been highlighted from the get go.

 

[Davies]

When you have to second guess every images and texts to get the whole truth, it is bad design. This is a source book. Not a mystery novel. All these links (at the end of the article) should have been highlighted from the get go.

All those things are just trivia. One of them is even a complete joke; the book only has 256 pages. Nobody needs any of this to get use out of this book.

 

[Helldritch]

All those things are just trivia. One of them is even a complete joke; the book only has 256 pages. Nobody needs any of this to get use out of this book.

And some are not trivia at all. A source book is a sour e book. Say what you want people to know. I don't mind Easter Eggs in pictures, but in the text? No way.

Today on WotC analytical chemistry, how do we make great compound. But we will not mentioned temperatures and specific elements as they are implied and you have seen them in an other book. Do your research people. See how silly it sounds?

 

[Davies]

And some are not trivia at all. A source book is a sour e book. Say what you want people to know.

Then you have my pity, for you feel the need to be spoon-fed at an age when you should presumably be able to feed yourself.

Writing is not analytical chemistry.

 

[Stormonu]

All those things are just trivia. One of them is even a complete joke; the book only has 256 pages. Nobody needs any of this to get use out of this book.

Try a black light.

 

[Davies]

Try a black light.

... I don't own one. Assuming you do, what are the instructions that I'm not supposed to follow?

 

[Helldritch]

Then you have my pity, for you feel the need to be spoon-fed at an age when you should presumably be able to feed yourself.

Writing is not analytical chemistry.

Keep your pitty for yourself. I am quite a grown man but I do think of others that do not have the background(s) to catch every little nuances. There are such things as new players and DMs out there that could and do need a bit more than obscure references to get the whole picture.

When you make a reference book, you need to be as clear as possible. Not everyone is a die hard fan of some settings. And some do not have the amount of money necessary to have bought every single books of every edition about such and such setting. If you make a reference to a previous book/edition, make it clear. It is as simple as that. Exception made for drawings and pictures.

That is my opinion. There are ways to make your references known and easy to get to with thw book's titles and pages' number. A reference index is something that is useful and seen in many other RPGs in their reference books.

 

[Davies]

When you make a reference book, you need to be as clear as possible.

There's something to be said for that, but the work under discussion is not a reference book. It's a source of entertainment.

 

[Helldritch]

There's something to be said for that, but the work under discussion is not a reference book. It's a source of entertainment.

Unfortunately, it is both. It is a source book and an entertainment book. For those that look at it as a reference book, it needs to be clear since the book catters to both audiences, it needs to be considered a reference book, just as any campaign books are.