D&D 5E Everything We Know About The Ravenloft Book

Here is a list of everything we know so far about the upcoming Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. Art by Paul Scott Canavan May 18th, 256 pages 30 domains (with 30 villainous darklords) Barovia (Strahd), Dementlieu (twisted fairly tales), Lamordia (flesh golem), Falkovnia (zombies), Kalakeri (Indian folklore, dark rainforests), Valachan (hunting PCs for sport), Lamordia (mad science) NPCs...

Here is a list of everything we know so far about the upcoming Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft.

rav_art.jpg

Art by Paul Scott Canavan​
  • May 18th, 256 pages
  • 30 domains (with 30 villainous darklords)
  • Barovia (Strahd), Dementlieu (twisted fairly tales), Lamordia (flesh golem), Falkovnia (zombies), Kalakeri (Indian folklore, dark rainforests), Valachan (hunting PCs for sport), Lamordia (mad science)
  • NPCs include Esmerelda de’Avenir, Weathermay-Foxgrove twins, traveling detective Alanik Ray.
  • Large section on setting safe boundaries.
  • Dark Gifts are character traits with a cost.
  • College of Spirits (bard storytellers who manipulate spirits of folklore) and Undead Patron (warlock) subclasses.
  • Dhampir, Reborn, and Hexblood lineages.
  • Cultural consultants used.
  • Fresh take on Vistani.
  • 40 pages of monsters. Also nautical monsters in Sea of Sorrows.
  • 20 page adventure called The House of Lament - haunted house, spirits, seances.

​

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D&D 5E - Full Wraparound Cover Art For Ravenloft

We've seen the cover already, but here's a look at the full wraparound art by Anna Podedworna. https://www.enworld.org/threads/updated-with-cover-the-d-d-book-is-van-richtens-guide-to-ravenloft.678411/ https://www.enworld.org/threads/heres-the-ravenloft-alternate-cover.678414/...
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D&D 5E - Here's the Ravenloft Alternate Cover!

As usual, there is an alternate hobby-store exclusive cover for the upcoming Ravenloft book. Here's a look at it! And here's the full wraparound art. https://www.enworld.org/threads/updated-with-cover-the-d-d-book-is-van-richtens-guide-to-ravenloft.678411/...
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D&D 5E - [Updated with cover!] The D&D Book Is.... Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft!

Yesterday's hints that a new D&D book would be announced today have born fruit -- we now have a product description and a title! It's a Ravenloft setting book, with tools and new rules for horror-themed games, and new horror-themed character options. I'll update this post with a product image as...
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Morrus

Morrus is the owner of EN World and EN Publishing, creator of the ENnies, creator of the What's OLD is NEW (WOIN), Simply6, and Awfully Cheerful Engine game systems, publisher of Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition, and co-host of the weekly Morrus' Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk podcast. He has been a game publisher and RPG community administrator for over 20 years, and has been reporting on TTRPG and D&D news for over two decades. He is also on the socials.
Alzrius

Alzrius

The EN World kitten
Ruin Explorer said:
So far we have:
  • Barovia
  • Dementlieu
  • Lamordia
  • Falkovnia
  • Kalakeri
  • Valachan
That's only six out of the thirty.
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It's interesting to consider that the sample adventure mentioned for the book, The House of Lament, could be the seventh domain. The House was first covered in RR1 Darklords, and was confirmed to be a "pocket" domain in Domains of Dread, situated in southwestern Borca.

The House itself is a deathtrap, as its original depiction requires someone to sacrifice themselves in order for everyone else to successfully escape. Presumably the sample adventure will be the House's undoing?

Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.
 

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C

Coroc

Hero
Urriak Uruk said:
I'm personally very happy that the new slate of Darklords is more diverse (both in gender and race) than the old "All White Men" Darklords.

That said, I wouldn't mind getting a little taste of what events may have happened that lead Falkovnia to become zombie-world, and to the rule of the current Darklords.
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as an old white man i feel more inclusive by the diversity that women also can serve as a villain 👻
 

Faolyn

Faolyn

(she/her)
Alzrius said:
I'd hope new stats. Alhoons are "illithiliches," keeping their sentience when they make their transition to undeath. The mind flayer vampires were experiments gone wrong, turning into little more than animals as a result of their transformation.
Click to expand...
That's right! I got the undead mind flayers mixed up.
 


Alzrius

Alzrius

The EN World kitten
GlassJaw said:
This caught my eye and I couldn't recall much about the original Domain. I did some research and discovered an awesome adventure and source material in Dungeon #50: Felkovic's Cat.
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I remember when that adventure came out. It was great, because it ultimately put you up against von Kharkov himself; throw-downs with a darklord were rare for Dungeon (another one was in issue #31, "Bane of the Shadowborn," which introduced Ebonbane and kicked off the saga of that entire clan in Ravenloft).

Also, Lady Adeline (von Kharkov's elven vampire companion, also found in Children of the Night: Vampires; affiliate link) is one scary enemy!
 



Remathilis

Remathilis

Legend
Ruin Explorer said:
Many of them were so incredibly boring and un-horror-y that they didn't feel like "Domains of Dread" at all though, that's the problem there. Ravenloft's original 2E release (the first time it was a setting, I think), set up very specific and strong expectations that it was about "Gothic Horror", and like, a whole bunch of those domains, were neither really gothic nor really horror. They were like, "The Forgotten Realms only someone turned the lights down 15%".
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See, my problem is that they weren't trying to be D&D enough. They were trying too hard to emulate the story that inspired rather than adapt it. Races other than human were feared and unplayable. Half several domains rejected magic outright. I get it was to highlight you feeling of isolation, but it made it really hard to focus a campaign in them. I tended towards Darkon specifically because it had all the races and magic of a D&D world, but spookier. I hope the settings feel a little more like 5e Barovia or Darkon so that tieflings and sorcerers don't have to fear mobs when they go into a town.
 

MGibster

MGibster

Legend
Charlaquin said:
I guess what I’m getting at is I hope the domains feel like places not just theme-parks. “Zombie Apocalypse Domain,” “Most Dangerous Game Domain,” “Mad Science Domain,” etc. don’t sound like places to adventure, they just sound like themes. I don’t want it to feel like once you cross the border into Falkovnia you’re suddenly playing The Walking Dead RPG.
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I never thought of Ravenloft as a theme park but I think that's an apt description. In truth, Ravenloft is a curated setting much akin to Disney World with it's Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios. Except instead of a friendly guy with a mustache who wants people to have a good time we've got mysterious Dark Powers torturing heads of states.
 

Faolyn

Faolyn

(she/her)
JEB said:
Carrionettes confirmed as well, plus "new zombies". Strahd zombies were in CoS, so presumably not them; wonder which others they plan to dig up?
Click to expand...
Possibly inspired by the Van Richten's Guide to the Walking Dead. The only one I remember off the top of my head are the Tobin zombies, where Tobin was kind of an spirit-undead Joker and any zombie it spawned became part of its Borg-like hive mind. Each individual body wasn't really any more powerful than a typical zombie, but each body was Tobin, and it was impossible to know if you had killed all of him.

There were several other cool low-level undead in that book, but they were more ghoul-like than zombie-like. They had a "Countess Bathory"-type blood-bathing ghoul.
 

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