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

Voadam · 2026-04-15T17:47:50+0100

Jadeite said:
Adding Cthulhu and Innsmouth is pretty uninspired. Dracula, Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll were Public Domain as well, but we still got Strahd, Mordenheim and Malken instead.

FYI from 2e Ravenloft Darklords

Voadam · 2026-04-15T17:55:54+0100

occam said:
Which is unlike Dracula or Frankenstein, who generally don't appear by name in gaming products, despite having been part of the public domain for much longer. Why? I don't know, call it an RPG tradition at this point.

I have seen RPG books with Dracula in Vampire the Masquerade, 2e D&D Ravenloft Masque of the Red Death, a couple different versions in Mutants and Masterminds, and Marvel Super Heroes, among others.

Weiley31 · 2026-04-15T17:57:08+0100

Just play it straight: keep the New England town looking EXACTLY the same as it would in HP Lovecraft. The pcs should stick out like a sore thumb. Make it one big weird-off where the party or Innsmouth's fishy hybrids don't know whose stranger.

TravDoc42 · 2026-04-15T18:49:21+0100

I'm torn about this so far. As I said in the other thread, having actual Cthulhu in D&D feels a bit like having Godzilla

in D&D: I like both, but it feels weird having them together.

But seeing the details I have so far, I am starting to warm up to his unholy squiggliness being in D&D. The art and stat block presented are very well done, and I already have ideas for one shots and/or short campaigns themed around Lovecraft. Cthulhu being in Deities and Demigods helps soften the blow a bit, too.

I'm reserving judgement for now, until I see more, but I'm surprised how much I like what I see!

TravDoc42 · 2026-04-15T18:52:10+0100

Also, funny story: I have a Ravenloft T shirt with vintage art of Strahd von Zarovich on it; when I wore it to work once, and was talking about Ravenloft to a colleague on my break, they responded with "Oh, I thought that was Dracula" and pointed to my shirt. I have played D&D with this person a few times, but they didn't know who Strahd was...

Nothing against them, I just thought it was funny!

Jadeite · 2026-04-15T18:52:21+0100

Voadam said:
FYI from 2e Ravenloft Darklords

View attachment 434576

Fair enough, that one's pretty uninspired, too. Not as much of a cultural icon as Cthulhu, there was never even a presidential campaign for him (such innocent times).
I like the idea of adding more eldritch horror to Ravenloft (in a better way than Gwydion). Bluetspur is fine, but that only touches some aspects of it and it's rather difficult for PCs to actually interact with it (which is a problems of many domains, especially the ones outside the Core). Schneider did a fine job with Thrushmore in Ustalav, so it's a shame he chose such a boring path by just adding Innsmouth.

Jadeite · 2026-04-15T18:55:36+0100

@TravDoc42
To be fair, it's not like art of Strahd was never used to depict Dracula (not Konami's best).

Nebulous · 2026-04-15T19:14:44+0100

Remathilis said:
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.

i loved that book so much. I bought all the official Chaosium stuff after that, as it was my introduction to the Mythos

Thommy H-H · 2026-04-15T20:20:54+0100

Maybe worth pointing out that Cthulhu was explicitly called out as a possible Great Old One Warlock patron all the way back at the start of 5e, so he's always technically been canonical in this edition, if you care about such things!

Toriel · 2026-04-15T20:24:04+0100

TravDoc42 said:
I'm torn about this so far. As I said in the other thread, having actual Cthulhu in D&D feels a bit like having Godzilla in D&D: I like both, but it feels weird having them together.

But seeing the details I have so far, I am starting to warm up to his unholy squiggliness being in D&D. The art and stat block presented are very well done, and I already have ideas for one shots and/or short campaigns themed around Lovecraft. Cthulhu being in Deities and Demigods helps soften the blow a bit, too.

I'm reserving judgement for now, until I see more, but I'm surprised how much I like what I see!

Actually, D&D already has Godzilla in the form of the Tarrasque.