D&D Monster Manual (2025)

D&D (2024) D&D Monster Manual (2025)

It doesn't matter if there's a way around it. There are always ways to make getting that bypass more difficult if you want. The point is having the restriction because it makes more logical sense in-setting than not having it. That's my opinion, anyway.
I think the current werewolf mechanic (as seen in the Loup Garou) makes the most sense in-setting to me. Of course what "in-setting" means differs from setting to setting and group to group. So, not a real valuable statement on my part!
 

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Changing history means previous events could not have happened in light of the new information, or a radical change is made without explanation or any indication that the previous material is still valid. None of those things happened prior to VRGtR, so they are simply not as big a deal to me.
All those previous events could still have happened in Ravenloft--it's just the Dark Powers rewrote history, as they are known to do.
 

So this goes beyond replacing any slaadi in an adventure with some other monster. I like quite a bit of the new Ravenloft lore from VRGtR, and if I were to start up a new Ravenloft game I'd use it primarily. But if WotC were to put out a new sourcebook or adventure, it would be completely useless to someone who only wants the older lore.

But if you are using old lore there is a magnitude more of it that's available on DM's Guild than will be published at all by WotC. So why look to WotC as opposed to buying the old lore you want from there

On top of that in order to keep lore 100% consistent they would have to reprint what's already available... including any questionable material they way want to rework (looking at you original Vistani). I can already hear the cries of scam and repackaging from the fan base.

Lastly there's no way everything WotC publishes lore wise is going to match or slot in perfectly with your own lore... even if it stays consistent, eventually some add on will contradict or not be to your liking.
 

Both yes and no.

I mean, it's a hearty yes because tables make their own lore... or, at least, many do. There's a lot of tables that only use official lore and/or only run modules or whatever, in large part because they don't have the time, energy, or imagination to make their own, or somehow think that anything official is somehow superior to their own measly attempts at worldbuilding.

But it's also a bit of a no because, as I mentioned, every subsequent book will reflect the official lore. That makes it harder to disentangle the lore from the lore. As an example, I had to do a lot of rewriting to make Curse of Strahd fit with my preferred interpretation of Barovia because it added a bunch of really weird things I wasn't fond of (a walled town that ate mostly wolf meat, a town that had weekly you-will-have-fun-citizen festivals, the stupid, jokey epitaphs in the crypt) and removed things I liked (the Red Vargo Trading company, the occult shops of Vallaki, the entire town of Immol, everything I liked about Inajira). So, to keep the to the older lore, I had to do a lot of work, and in the end it felt like a mess. All in all, I would have been better off making my own adventure, but I've given up my dreams of having epic campaigns and realized my strengths lay in a more episodic style of play.

So this goes beyond replacing any slaadi in an adventure with some other monster. I like quite a bit of the new Ravenloft lore from VRGtR, and if I were to start up a new Ravenloft game I'd use it primarily. But if WotC were to put out a new sourcebook or adventure, it would be completely useless to someone who only wants the older lore.
Putting in the work to make Curse of Strahd align with your tastes . . . is cool, if that's what you want to do . . . but all of that work was optional and isn't really a good argument for WotC keeping lore in a straightjacket as the game evolves over time.

To me, the work you described sounds fun! Diving into older versions of a classic module, looking for the differences, and picking-and-choosing what I want to bring forward into my home campaign. If that doesn't sound fun, that's okay, but then . . . don't do it! Use the adventure as is, or just modify it on the fly.
 

All those previous events could still have happened in Ravenloft--it's just the Dark Powers rewrote history, as they are known to do.
There is a hint in VRGR that implies that the Dark Powers have destroyed and reset Ravenloft before. The Domain of Khor is full of the crumbling remains of domains that the Dark Lords were killed or escaped as well as alternative versions of domains where things went differently. I'm pretty sure it's there to imply all other versions of Ravenloft can exist, as different variations of the same idea. Frankly, that is some cosmic level of horror to know that even if you succeed, there are unknown versions of the same domain ready to take its place.
 




Werewolf regeneration always makes me think of the start of this scene from Monster Squad (note: language; about the 30 second mark):

 


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