D&D 5E (2024) Ravenloft: The Horrors Within preorder page lists the book's contents

QuentinGeorge · 2026-04-16T07:51:06+0100

Muso said:
What a pity. Another missed opportunity to restore Ravenloft to its original flavor.

This is 5E - flavour is forbidden.

QuentinGeorge · 2026-04-16T07:51:57+0100

Paul Farquhar said:
2nd edition wasn't the original Ravenloft. 1st edition Ravenloft had no dumb fear checks.

Is your pedantry in service of a point or just to annoy people? You know exactly what people mean when they say "Ravenloft" and its not a Crawfordian dodge like you're trying to do here.

dave2008 · 2026-04-16T07:57:44+0100

QuentinGeorge said:
Is your pedantry in service of a point or just to annoy people? You know exactly what people mean when they say "Ravenloft" and its not a Crawfordian dodge like you're trying to do here.

I'm not Paul, but I sure don't know what people mean when they say "Ravenloft." Do you care to clarify?

Paul Farquhar · 2026-04-16T08:00:11+0100

QuentinGeorge said:
Is your pedantry in service of a point or just to annoy people? You know exactly what people mean when they say "Ravenloft" and its not a Crawfordian dodge like you're trying to do here.

I mention 1st edition Ravenloft because it's the one I encountered first. The 2nd edition Ravenloft boxed set I read when it came out. I thought it was bad then and it's even worse now. Nostalgia is a lie. Things were not better in the past, you just tend to be emotionally attached to whatever you encountered first. Which was 1st edition Ravenloft for me. But at least I recognise the cause of my attachment.

If you like, I can also cite original creators (some people believe it matters) for 1st edition Ravenloft. the Hickmans were cut out of 2nd edition Ravenloft and disowned it. They knew it was bad too. Tracy did come back to consult on Curse of Strahd though.

dave2008 · 2026-04-16T08:03:24+0100

TheSword said:
The principle of a sanity/spiritual degradation/corruption/shadow check is a good one. I’ve seen it used well in several game systems to add another way of threatening PCs without just targeting easily recovered hp.

Level Up uses Stress - accumulating penalties that represent being shaken by traumatic corcumstances

CoC uses Sanity - a scaling stat that increases as you gain knowledge of the horrors of the world and that ultimately results in madness and player retirement.

WFRP uses Corruption - which represents the influence of chaos gods and can result in mutation or madness. The system has a nifty mechanic where you can do a dark deal with the DM to take a wicked act to reduce your corruption by a point or two and keep your character in play.

Adventures in Middle Earth 5e also uses Corruption - which represented the influence of the Shadow and measured by the Shadow Stat. Of the four it was probably the closest to what I imagine in Ravenloft. I’ll briefly summarize.

Adventures in Middle Earth Shadow Corruption

Shadow Points are a foil to Wisdom and sits alongside it. You accrue shadow points for witnessing or experiencing harrowing events; entering tainted areas, keeping tainted treasure; and perpetrating misdeeds. It’s the antidote to the murderhoboism that would kill a Ravenloft game.

When Shadow exceeds Wisdom then the PC gains the miserable condition and suffers disadvantage on all attack rolls and automatically fails Charisma checks. When a miserable character fails a check with a roll equal or less to the number of points their Shadow exceeds Wisdom then suffer a temporary Bout of Madness.

During a Bout of Madness the PC is out of control and could react with Rage, Wretchedness, Desperation, or Lust (the players choice). This is Boromir trying to take the ring, Denethor sabotaging Minis Tirith or Thorin turning his back. Once the bout is over the shadow points are reset but the PC is left with a Shadow Weakness trait and they gain 1 permanent Shadow Point, effectively leaving them slightly more vulnerable to the Shadow.

These Shadow Weaknesses can be Curse of Vengeance as they become more spiteful, bitter and brutal; Dragon-Sickness where greed and selfishness becomes the norm; Lure of Power where they become resentful and arrogant ; Lure of Secrets where they becomes secretive and treacherous; and the Wandering Madness where they become idle, uncaring and cowardly. Each of these weaknesses is represented by an escalating roleplaying flaw as characters go through the cycle. If a player falls a check that is related to their shadow weakness then the DM is allowed to interpret an aggravated result. For instance if a character with Curse of Vengeance tries to intimidate a crowd and fails then the DM could interpret that as part of the intimidation the character struck someone in their anger.

What I like about this system is that it combines roleplaying inspiration with mechanical effect in a way that doesn’t leave the character crippled. I think Cubicle 7 did a brilliant job replicating the many frailties and weaknesses of LotR characters that made them fallible without ruining their awesomeness - Boromir, Saruman, Denethor, Thorin and more.

I’m sure it could be easily adapted to Ravenloft.

In general I don't like a mechanic similar to the shadow corruption for D&D (not even for Middle Earth). However; I do think it could work in the Domains of Dread. Specifically because the whole point is you are going to a curated plane of doom / horror / terror of some sort. It this, to me, makes sense as a framework for the whole realm - heck, I could see it applied to all of the Shadowfell actually.

TheSword · 2026-04-16T09:38:57+0100

dave2008 said:
In general I don't like a mechanic similar to the shadow corruption for D&D (not even for Middle Earth). However; I do think it could work in the Domains of Dread. Specifically sense the whole point is you are going to a curated plan of doom / horror / terror of some sort. It this, to me, makes sense as a framework for the whole realm - heck, I could see it applied to all of the Shadowfell actually.

Precisely. When the characters see the wooden puppet lapping blood from the neck of prone toymaker I want there to be some more reaction that 2d6 psychic damage. Something that leaves a mark.

dave2008 · 2026-04-16T10:34:19+0100

OK, pre-order content preview convinced me to buy. I really want to compare their Dark Lords to mine: Project Dark Lords

dave2008 · 2026-04-16T10:37:36+0100

QuentinGeorge said:
This is 5E - flavour is forbidden.

Interesting, I disagree. That being said I have not be overly interested in a lot of the TSR/WotC flavor/lore since the 1e MM, MM2, & Deities & Demigods and BECMI. I have found 4e and 5e wonderfully flavorful!

Thommy H-H · 2026-04-16T12:06:13+0100

There are actually mechanics for fear and stress in VRGtR. They revolve around "Seeds of Fear" that players are incentivised to interact with and use in roleplay. Also lots of advice for using horror and the distinction between inflicting it on players and characters. Which is not to say the discussion about this stuff here is without merit, just that 5e is already doing a lot of things people are talking about and there's no reason to think this Ravenloft book won't continue that.

Remathilis · 2026-04-16T12:27:53+0100

Thommy H-H said:
There are actually mechanics for fear and stress in VRGtR. They revolve around "Seeds of Fear" that players are incentivised to interact with and use in roleplay. Also lots of advice for using horror and the distinction between inflicting it on players and characters. Which is not to say the discussion about this stuff here is without merit, just that 5e is already doing a lot of things people are talking about and there's no reason to think this Ravenloft book won't continue that.

It's worth noting that fear and horror appeared in the 2014 DMG, was revised to fear and stress in VRGR and simplified in the DMG 2024. D&D has had these rules all along, but I wager they are not punitive enough for some people as they don't functionally remove your character from play for rounds if not sessions worth of play.