Innsmouth added as new Ravenloft Domain of Dread, bringing Lovecraft to D&D

Innsmouth, the iconic home of several HP Lovecraft stories, is being incorporated into Ravenloft as a new Domain of Dread. Earlier today, Wizards of the Coast revealed the contents of Ravenloft: The Horrors Within, including the number of subclasses, ancestries, and new creature statblocks in the game. Wizards also revealed that 16 Domains of Dread will be profiled in the book, including the new domain Innsmouth. Assumably, its Darklord will be Cthulhu, who was previously confirmed to be in Ravenloft: The Horrors Within, complete with a statblock.

Cosmic horror has long had a place in Dungeons & Dragons lore, with Cthulhu originally appearing in early copies of Deities and Demigods. Due to a licensing dispute with Chaosium, TSR removed Cthulhu and other Lovecraftian creatures from later printings of the book. Cthulhu along with Lovecraft's other creations have since passed into the public domain, thus removing any restrictions on featuring the characters in a D&D book.

Of course, Innsmouth (at least in Lovecraft's work) is supposed to be a turn of the century New England coastal town, which doesn't exactly jive with the high fantasy trappings of Dungeons & Dragons. We'll have to see how much of Innsmouth is changed to line up with D&D when Ravenloft: The Horrors Within releases later this summer.

 

[Reynard]

Just what D&D needed...

 

[Mark Craddock]

Is Innsmouth in the public domain or is this part of an agreement with Chaosium?

 

[Zaukrie]

Love that art!

 

[EthanSental]

This is a nice surprise and addition to Ravenloft, look forward to eventually reading and working it into a campaign.

 

[abazaba]

I have to admit I never really looked forward to more 'Ravenloft/Strahd' content, because by now I have consumed so much 'vampire' content (books, movies, series) that I honestly cannot think of any new/fresh way in that territory that would really excite me. But now that Cthulhu/Innsmouth (and perhaps HP Lovecraft in general) is mentioned, I am genuinely excited. Even though I read all of Lovecraft's works. Yes, I realize these two statements are inconsistent. And excuse me, but I'm now off to re-read 'At the Mountains of Madness' (my favorite).

 

[Scribe]

Is Innsmouth in the public domain or is this part of an agreement with Chaosium?

Cosmic horror has long had a place in Dungeons & Dragons lore, with Cthulhu originally appearing in early copies of Deities and Demigods. Due to a licensing dispute with Chaosium, TSR removed Cthulhu and other Lovecraftian creatures from later printings of the book. Cthulhu along with Lovecraft's other creations have since passed into the public domain, thus removing any restrictions on featuring the characters in a D&D book.

 

[Remathilis]

Is Innsmouth in the public domain or is this part of an agreement with Chaosium?

It's definitely public domain, but Chaosium might have worked out an agreement. WotC did do that CoC d20 book after all, they have worked together in the past.

 

[MGibster]

Oh, wow. This is going to pick at some people’s old wounds. This seems like a fun addition. I might yet buy another D&D product.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Literal, actual Innsmouth feels like a cop-out to me, since unless they also put in a ton of 20th century tech -- which I can't imagine they will -- it's going to be a D&D late-Renaissance/early modern era version of the setting. And once we've done that, why not just make a new town, remixing all of the classic stuff into a more natural fit for D&D? I did a riff on this in my Ptolus campaign and it worked out great -- my players were in a very big hurry to leave this town and its weird baptism rituals on the cold beach.

I'm not anti-cosmic horror in D&D -- I think it can be done effectively, obviously -- but this feels a little weird. I also don't know that I'd want to invite a head-to-head comparison with Chaosium's take on the subject. (It's my understanding that they're putting out a full Innsmouth book soon, as a complement to their Arkham sourcebook.)