Ravenloft: Heir of Strahd Cover, Synopsis Revealed

The cover and synopsis for Penguin Random House's new Dungeons & Dragons novel has been revealed. This week, Penguin Random House revealed the official title and cover for Ravenloft: Heir of Strahd, a new novel by Delilah S. Dawson. The new novel is due for release in April 2025. The new novel follows a group of adventurers who arrive in Barovia under mysterious circumstances and are summoned to Castle Ravenloft to dine with the infamous Count Strahd. This marks the first Ravenloft novel released in 17 years.

Penguin Random House has slowly grown its line of novels over the past few years, with novels set in Spelljammer, Dragonlance, and the Forgotten Realms released over the last year. Characters from The Fallbacks novel by Jaleigh Johnson also appears in art in the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide.

The full synopsis for Heir of Strahd can be found below:

Five strangers armed with steel and magic awaken in a mist-shrouded land, with no memory of how they arrived: Rotrog, a prideful orcish wizard; Chivarion, a sardonic drow barbarian; Alishai, an embittered tiefling paladin; Kah, a skittish kenku cleric; and Fielle, a sunny human artificer.

After they barely survive a nightmarish welcome to the realm of Barovia, a carriage arrives bearing an invitation:

Fairest Friends,

I pray you accept my humble Hospitality and dine with me tonight at Castle Ravenloft. It is rare we receive Visitors, and I do so Endeavor to Make your Acquaintance. The Carriage shall bear you to the Castle safely, and I await your Arrival with Pleasure.

Your host,
Strahd von Zarovich

With no alternative, and determined to find their way home, the strangers accept the summons and travel to the forbidding manor of the mysterious count. But all is not well at Castle Ravenloft. To survive the twisted enigmas of Strahd and his haunted home, the adventurers must confront the dark secrets in their own hearts and find a way to shift from strangers to comrades—before the mists of Barovia claim them forever.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

I mean, you do you but I generally like when heroes in rpg feel like heroes, even in WoD and CoC I prefer if I can feel my character could accomplish something, not be doomed to fail because status quo is too precious.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Knight of the Black Rose is title wielded by Lord Soth, who is the iconci Dragonlance villain

And it was a gothic trope long before that (see the Addams Family for example). I assume that's why the gave him the title. It symbolises doomed love.

Well that makes it perfect for a story it is telling about group of characters from moder D&D being dragged to Ravenloft, right?

If it wasn't straight up bad art. They need to pry artists away from their computers and stick an actual paintbrush in their hands.

But again, I don't see how you get gothic part of it at all

The stone steps, the arch, the torch, the shadows, the font (typeface, although an actual font would also work).

What makes it more "horror" than say this picture?

That picture does not have gothic tropes. Ergo it is fantasy. That also applies to your Black Company cover. gothic+fantasy = Gothic Horror, gothic+heaving bosoms = Gothic Romance.

Same guy, argurably even more horror-adjecent by scenery and the hands of the undead reaching to grasp the living. Yet it is not Ravenloft, it's Dragonlance.

You are correct, that cover suggests gothic horror. But here is the thing - D&D doesn't have to be Ravenloft to do gothic horror.

 

[Scribe]

I mean, you do you but I generally like when heroes in rpg feel like heroes, even in WoD and CoC I prefer if I can feel my character could accomplish something, not be doomed to fail because status quo is too precious.

I mean for me, it asks questions that the hyper-heroic modern D&D doesnt.

Who are you when the lights go out, and hope is lost?
Will you fight for what you believe is right, even if you cannot win?
Do you give up your morals, in the face of defeat?

Grimdark settings ask if the characters/players will hold to their conviction, or if they will just curl up and die.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Grimdark settings ask if the characters/players will hold to their conviction, or if they will just curl up and die

Who cares? You lose either way.

The only way to win is not to play.

 

[Remathilis]

I mean for me, it asks questions that the hyper-heroic modern D&D doesnt.

Who are you when the lights go out, and hope is lost?
Will you fight for what you believe is right, even if you cannot win?
Do you give up your morals, in the face of defeat?

Grimdark settings ask if the characters/players will hold to their conviction, or if they will just curl up and die.

I LIVE in a grimdark setting, I prefer my fantasy to have unrealistic things like hope in them.

 

[Scribe]

Who cares? You lose either way.

The only way to win is not to play.

I care, my character cares. You did not lose, you escaped Ravenloft, and you carried those lessons learned, especially about yourself (or characters self) forward through your next adventure.

I LIVE in a grimdark setting, I prefer my fantasy to have unrealistic things like hope in them.

Good thing 'default D&D' aka Forgotten Realms is exactly that. It would be nice if different settings were allowed to be distinctly unique.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

If it wasn't straight up bad art. They need to pry artists away from their computers and stick an actual paintbrush in their hands.

Irrelevant and too subjective to judge. Besides, we established it does a lot a cover hsould - shows off the setting, shows off the main cast and antagonist and puts them into a contrast so you know this will be a story about heroes being put into a situation outside their comfort zone, likely a fish out of water. From the setting and antagonist we can even infer it will have heroes not used to gothic horror being forced to confront it. It does what a cover to a book like this hsould. Do you have any criticism that isn't just your personal feeling as a basic to judge it as bad?

The stone steps, the arch, the torch, the shadows, the font (typeface, although an actual font would also work).

Gothic as in literature, not architecture.

That picture does not have gothic tropes.

The stairs and archways?

But here is the thing - D&D doesn't have to be Ravenloft to do gothic horror.

Except the complaint was that the new cover doesn't look like Ravenloft. Gothic horror only entered the conversation as an answer to question "what makes something look like Ravenloft then?". And if that answer is "gothic horror makes something Ravenloft", then it falls apart the moment we agree gothic horror can be put into D&D and not necessairly make it Ravenloft.

I mean for me, it asks questions that the hyper-heroic modern D&D doesnt.

Who are you when the lights go out, and hope is lost?
Will you fight for what you believe is right, even if you cannot win?
Do you give up your morals, in the face of defeat?

Grimdark settings ask if the characters/players will hold to their conviction, or if they will just curl up and die.

And to this I will ask:
Why are you playing this in D&D when Warhammer Fantasy does it much better? Why are you playing it in D&D when World of Darkness does it much better? Why are you playing it in D&D when Call of Cthulhu does it much better? Have you considered maybe you would be more satisfied playing a different game?

 

[Scribe]

Why are you playing this in D&D when Warhammer Fantasy does it much better? Why are you playing it in D&D when World of Darkness does it much better? Why are you playing it in D&D when Call of Cthulhu does it much better? Have you considered maybe you would be more satisfied playing a different game?

D&D is the monolith. I played/play those other games, but its not exactly foolish for Wizards/D&D to put out an offering that plays in the same space as those other systems.

When settings are allowed to be distinct, you are still playing D&D, but with alternate rules, tone, feel.

This is a good thing.

Making every setting the same, is just a mockery of the history of those settings, and at that point, why are you playing Ravenloft, when you could be playing yet another heroic romp through Forgotten Realms?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Gothic as in literature, not architecture

Check out the features of gothic literature I quoted earlier.

But in architecture, that arch is not gothic. Gothic arches are pointed at the top.

Irrelevant and too subjective to judge

In this case it’s technically bad, which is an objective measure. It’s already been pointed out how the figures are poorly executed.

Except the complaint was that the new cover doesn't look like Ravenloft

That was not the point I was responding to. Do not assume that discussions divide neatly into two teams. I’m quite happy to accept the cover “looks like Ravenloft” My point was that the cover of Knight of the Black Rose was clearly gothic horror, even without the word “Ravenloft”. It’s also hand painted, not photoshopped. The novel itself was terrible though. And, of course, the new cover is technically bad art. That doesn’t bother me, the novel itself may be fine. It is, however, a fact.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

D&D is the monolith. I played/play those other games, but its not exactly foolish for Wizards/D&D to put out an offering that plays in the same space as those other systems.

When settings are allowed to be distinct, you are still playing D&D, but with alternate rules, tone, feel.

This is a good thing.

Making every setting the same, is just a mockery of the history of those settings, and at that point, why are you playing Ravenloft, when you could be playing yet another heroic romp through Forgotten Realms?

The thing is, I do play Ravenloft in modern way - a "weekend in hell" addition to other campigns, where PCs can enter and are expected to escape eventually. True in Curse of Strahd my party lost and it will have consequences in future campaigns. But when I want a true 100% grimdark...I don't pick up d&d at all. I pick up Warhammer. I even consider running Dungeons of Drakkenheim in Warhammer Fantasy RPG in future. It sounds to me like you're trying to force a round peg into a square hole for the sake of "tradition" while better choice is right. there.

In this case it’s technically bad, which is an objective measure. It’s already been pointed out how the figures are poorly executed.

How is it technically bad?

The novel itself was terrible though.

That's like, your opinion.