Check Out This Early Ravenloft: The Horrors Within Artwork

As part of today's reveal of Ravenloft: The Horrors Within, Wizards of the Coast also released several pieces of early preview artwork for the new book. You can check the artwork out in all its full glory below:

And here's the cover artwork (by Anna Podedworna) and alternate cover artwork (by Pam Wishbow):

Ravenloft: The Horrors Within was one of several products announced today. You can find a full rundown here.

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[ersatzphil]

The art is pretty unmistakable. And both Cthulhu and the Great Race have D&D history as both where in the original Deities & Demigods.

So now the copywrite is gone they (and probably more Lovecraft monsters) are being put back into the game.

But, like, tell me how the Great Race makes sense in the game…?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

But, like, tell me how the Great Race makes sense in the game…?

D&D and the Cthulhu mythos are two things that have never needed to make sense.

 

[mamba]

But, like, tell me how the Great Race makes sense in the game…?

are they that different from Mindflayers?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

are they that different from Mindflayers?

I seem to recall Deities & Demigods made them lawful neutral. That might be my memory playing tricks though. I used to have the original book, but I lost it decades ago. I couldn’t find an image of the original stat block on the net.

 

[mamba]

I seem to recall Deities & Demigods made them lawful neutral. That might be my memory playing tricks though. I used to have the original book, but I lost it decades ago. I couldn’t find an image of the original stat block on the net.

I mean, sure, they are different, but does one make more sense than the other?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I mean, sure, they are different, but does one make more sense than the other?

Aliens are alien. It would be stranger if all aliens were humanoid! If we are doing science, it’s mind flayer psionics that is most far-fetched.

 

[Charlaquin]

Bloodborne has shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that gothic horror and cosmic horror can work together to incredible effect. But the Lovecraft Mythos and Ravenloft are both very specific, very distinct things, that I really don’t think can be combined without changing one or both to the point that it’s no longer really that thing.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

I agree with you that that could very well be the rationale behind it, but "Cthulhu has to be in Ravenloft because Cthulhu is horror and Ravenloft has to have all horror in it" feels weirdly tautological to me.

It's pretty much the most uninspired approach. Ravenloft already has its own style of cosmic horror, why import someone elses?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Bloodborne has shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that gothic horror and cosmic horror can work together to incredible effect. But the Lovecraft Mythos and Ravenloft are both very specific, very distinct things, that I really don’t think can be combined without changing one or both to the point that it’s no longer really that thing.

Even as far back as the 2nd edition boxed set Ravenloft has had a Cthulhu Mythos domain.

Ravenloft is very meta - it represents D&D’s ravenous assimilation of anything in the horror genre.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

It's pretty much the most uninspired approach. Ravenloft already has its own style of cosmic horror, why import someone elses?

Err, in the same way as Ravenloft has its own vampire, which was not in any way ripped off from Dracula?!!!!