Ravenloft Novel Coming in 2025

Penguin Random House will publish a new novel set in the Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting of Ravenloft in 2025. A listing for an untitled Ravenloft novel has recently appeared on various book retailer websites, along with Penguin Random House's official website. No author was named in the listing, but a description for the book states that it will feature the infamous Count Strahd and potentially other Domains of Dread as well. The book will have a recommended retail price of $30 and will be released in April 2025.

Penguin Random House has upped their Dungeons & Dragons novel releases in recent years, with books set in the Dragonlance, Spelljammer, and Forgotten Realms settings. While some books (such as the recently completed Dragonlance Destinies trilogy) have featured classic writers, other books have used contemporary fantasy authors and are geared more toward a mix of existing, new, and casual D&D fans. Some characters from the Fallback novels have also appeared in art slated for the 2024 Core Rulebook release. Given that we're getting more D&D novels, it seems this new line of licensed novels is a success for Penguin Random House.

You can check out the description of the new Ravenloft book below:

Journey to the Domains of Dread and face the fearsome Count Strahd von Zarovich in this upcoming official Dungeons & Dragons novel!

A group of adventurers must fight their way through a dark and twisted realm known as the Domains of Dread, where powerful darklords rule over worlds filled with supernatural horrors.

 

[Von Ether]

I always wondered what would have happened if TSR had not been locked in the exclusivity contract had been able premier books and book stores on the same dates instead of months afterwards.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I guess this can be said here, but if this writter has got enough experience after publishing several titles from diferent genres and tones, this work could help her to be known among new potential readers.

If the sales are good, other writters could dare to work for D&D titles to promote their own works.

I doubt seriously the main characters dare to go toward the Ravenloft castle. If it is a horror story then the goal is to survive, not hunt monsters to earn wealth, fame and glory. They will be lucky if at least a couple of final girl survive. And if the group in the begining start being very big, then you can bet it will be a bloodbath.

If Strand von Zarovich is the main antagonist, then the story shouldn't be only a survival runaway but how this manipulates emotionally to destroy psichologically his future victims.

Barovia can't be only vampires and Strand. The redesign was to avoid domains were too typecasted into certain and limited tropes. The reader has to be surprised with unexpected threats, and not only undead.

* Is there any official title for the subgenre of "dark fae fantasy romance"? Books style "Throne of Glass" or "Court of Roses and Thorns".

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I guess I can say it here (again)

Penguin Random House is a company with a lot of writters. I wonder if someone could be hired by WotC to publish a Cerilia/Birthright novel style dark fae romance, like "Throne of Glass" or "Court of Roses and Thorns". Would be possible without a reboot of the setting, or the main characters of the book stealing too much of the limelight, like in Dragonlance.

I hope the plot wasn't too predictable about "everybody dies but the final girls". I miss a little touch of classic gothic horror about "the sin is the path toward the punishment", but not more about certain tropes that are too offensive or politically incorrent for my personal taste.

* If the story is good, even could be adapted into an action-live production, or an anime style "Netflix Castlevania".

 

[Birmy]

Is that set in the Forgotten Realms?

Ah, I misread the question and thought we were just talking about new D&D tie-in novels! Some light googling suggests it is mostly set in "Shatterspace," with the protagonist having grown up on an asteroid, so it seems no Realms here. Carry on.

 

[Bedrockgames]

My understanding is that the novel line was never a "glut," and instead was a major part of the reason why TSR lasted as long as it did. @JLowder has, if I recall correctly, mentioned this before.

Personally, I'm excited to see a new Ravenloft novel, but I wish it was venturing further afield than being about Strahd. I get that he's the "face" of Ravenloft, particularly for this generation's crop of D&D players, but there's so much more to Ravenloft.

The line got bigger than D&D I believe. Everything James said in interviews about it matches what I remember seeing as a reader going into bookstores. Also they often hit the NY Times bestseller list and you would see people reading them

Strahd had a few novels in the 90s and appeared in a number, but they did a pretty good job of covering other ground. I will also say the Knight of the Black Rose is, in my opinion, the best book in that line and it kind of had a Monster Rally vibe with Strahd and Soth. People often point to Hammer as a big source of the Ravenloft vibe but Universal monster movies are also part of what made it work. I do think they would benefit though by not making them all about Strahd. There are more interesting domain lords (or at least there were )

 

[Micah Sweet]

My understanding is that the novel line was never a "glut," and instead was a major part of the reason why TSR lasted as long as it did. @JLowder has, if I recall correctly, mentioned this before.

Personally, I'm excited to see a new Ravenloft novel, but I wish it was venturing further afield than being about Strahd. I get that he's the "face" of Ravenloft, particularly for this generation's crop of D&D players, but there's so much more to Ravenloft.

There used to be anyway. Strahd's their best investment though, and for WotC it's all about chasing that paper.

 

[Micah Sweet]

You don’t always get the best perspective from the inside.

Nor from the outside. Qhy assume he's wrong?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Said it before and I will say it again. This all leads me to belive they will do a reboot of Curse of Strahd. Adjusting to the 2024 rules, remove some problematic content, expand it a little, and work in years of advice on how to run it.

Note, I'm not against that. Taking a good product and improving it is fine by me.

If they do that, it would make it the sixth, maybe seventh time they've re-released that adventure. The epitome of a lack of imagination and recycling for cash.

 

[EthanSental]

Fantastic news, I’ve enjoyed the various new D&D novels, the new ones besides the Drizzt from RA releases.

 

[Von Ether]

For me, the Ravenloft novels where some of the best D&D stuff. They were always unpredictable and kept you guessing to the end.