Wes Schneider Is the Product Lead for Ravenloft: The Horrors Within

Wes Schneider was confirmed to be the product lead for Ravenloft: The Horrors Within in a recent panel at Gary Con. Over the weekend, Wizards of the Coast hosted a panel discussion about the past and future of Dungeons & Dragons featuring much of the current game leadership and Luke Gygax. While discussing the upcoming Ravenloft: The Horrors Within rulebook, D&D game design director Justice Ramin Arman stated that Wes Schneider was the product lead for the book. Schneider notably was the product lead for the last Ravenloft book Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft.

Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft notably updated the lore of Ravenloft, with different Domains of Dread shifting to focus on different genres of horror. While it's unclear whether that change is being reversed or fleshed out further, the new Ravenloft book will notably include statblocks for the various Darklords, something that Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft curiously lacked.

Ravenloft: The Horrors Within will be released on June 16th.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

In the TTRPGs the creators can imagine their works in certain way, but after the players do it with their own style, and this is not wrong.

 

[M.L. Martin]

Hickman's influence on Ravenloft has been entirely negative since 1986 so no surprise there.

Controversial opinion: With the exception of Strahd and Castle Ravenloft themselves, the Hickman elements taken into the setting (the Vistani and Soth) have been more trouble than they were worth.

 

[Remathilis]

Controversial opinion: With the exception of Strahd and Castle Ravenloft themselves, the Hickman elements taken into the setting (the Vistani and Soth) have been more trouble than they were worth.

I would argue to the extent that they had any influence post I6 and I8, the Hickman elements were added by other people who interpreted them very differently then Hickman did. That's not to say the Vistani in I6 are done well, but moving them from small element of I6 to major power players in the setting (and expanding their otherness that came with it) was not Hickman's doing.

 

[M.L. Martin]

I would argue to the extent that they had any influence post I6 and I8, the Hickman elements were added by other people who interpreted them very differently then Hickman did. That's not to say the Vistani in I6 are done well, but moving them from small element of I6 to major power players in the setting (and expanding their otherness that came with it) was not Hickman's doing.

I didn't say that Hickman was at fault for anything (although part of my problem with the Vistani is the divination element, which Hickman did introduce--but it probably came across differently in 1983 or 1990 than today, and taking about it more would push the boundaries of the forum rules), just that the headaches they've caused for the Land of Mists, its authors, and its fans have outweighed the positives.

 

[Remathilis]

I didn't say that Hickman was at fault for anything (although part of my problem with the Vistani is the divination element, which Hickman did introduce--but it probably came across differently in 1983 or 1990 than today, and taking about it more would push the boundaries of the forum rules), just that the headaches they've caused for the Land of Mists, its authors, and its fans have outweighed the positives.

Yeah, Madam Eva was invoking a long line of stereotypes common in the 20th century and earlier. And if Madam Eva was a one-off character, you could at least mitigate the damage somewhat. Unfortunately, Every Vistani became Madam Eva, and the trope got pushed to rather uncomfortable extremes.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

A lot of the negative Vistani tropes (thieves, drunkards) were doubled down on in CoS. Perkins signed off on that, not Hickman.

 

[VashVet]

My personal view is that there’s nothing to be done about the past outside of acknowledging it but designers and DMs can make changes going forward. They’ve certainly made an effort to put damaging stereotypes behind them - one of the benefits of having a diverse group of designers working on it.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Hickman consulted on CoS, and he was right about how the writers of the 2nd edition boxed set interpreted the original two Ravenloft adventures completely wrong.

Weis, of course, was not involved in the creation of Ravenloft, but was clearly irritated by a character she created being taken in a direction she didn’t approve of for religious reasons.

What was her issue over religious reasons?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

What was her issue over religious reasons?

They has never spoken of it directly, but we know they put a lot of their faith into the books - which was a bad idea when you don’t have control over them. I think C. S. Lewis would be pretty annoyed if you changed the theology of Narnia (the movies haven’t tried to do that, but they have avoided the trickiest ones).

Specific issues I’ve come across (I’m an ex-Christian). The horror genre in general is mistrusted. “Evil is portrayed as powerful, and God not in control”. The Multiverse. “God(s) is diminished by being portrayed as limited to one world rather than ruling over all creation”.