D&D 5E DMs Guild Ravenloft Sale

[GwaihirAgain]

Hiya
Ive gotten my copy of VRGtoR, and am planning a new Ravenloft Campaign. I notice that DMs Guild has a pdf Ravenloft sale.

What are some of the key buys to support a VRGtoR campaign?

Thanks
G

PS - not my first post, buts it been a while since Ive been here and my old signon "Gwaihir" is attempting to verify against an email address that hasn't existed in ten years. So here we are...

 

[humble minion]

Depends - what domains do you intend to use? (and bear in mind many domains have wildly changed in VRGtR when compared to previous editions)

 

[R_J_K75]

Depends - what domains do you intend to use? (and bear in mind many domains have wildly changed in VRGtR when compared to previous editions)

Which ones in particular? I started reading it Friday but didnt get that far yet.

 

[Weiley31]

So if your looking for one thing to supplement your Van Ricthen's Guide to Ravenloft, you probably can't go wrong with the 2E Ravenloft Campaign setting. This combines material from the original black box AND the Forbidden Lore supplement IIRC. So your getting two separate things together in one package, which is nice. (This is otherwise known as the Red Box) Plus original Domain/Dark Lord lore/info that you may freely choose to use or ignore or supplement in your 5E Ravenloft games. Also you can get something called Dark Lords which is 96 pages of more Dark Lord goodness, such as Bluebeard, Headless Horseman, the House of Lament and Ankhtepot.


There is also, if your have a certain Death Knight appearing or taking a slight visit/detour to Sithicus, When Black Rose Blooms which is the Domain guide to Lord Soth and his domain.

If your doing anything Van Richten related or going hardcore on having him be a source of knowledge on various monters, there are also the various Van Richten's Guide to (insert thingie) such as Van Richten's Guide to the Liches or VRG on Ghosts, etc ,etc, etc. There is also Van Richten's Secret Arsenal which is where both the Weathermay-Foxgrove sisters appear. That gives a ton of info about them in that book. AND you get a picture of them.


Opinions may be mixed about it, but I would also probably suggest The Bleak House adventure module. You not only gain Domain info on Dominia, but also its Dark Lord I believe (ala Black Rose Blooms with Sithicus). Plus the letter that Van Richten, wrote on page 11 of the 5E guide, seems like the perfect thing to read to the party at the start or end of playing The Bleak House for a 5E game.

Masque of the Red Death is pretty cool as its basically "Ravenloft" but in a version of "Victorian England" in what is known as Grim Earth. There is a 5E version of this on DMguilds which is pretty cool and totally recommend checking it out. *Your mileage may very if you go with its class system take or you just sub dnd classes in there.

Also since Ravenloft is kinda/somewhat/I think/Vistani/detoured into the Shadowfell this edition, you also got the 4E Shadowfell: Gloomwrought and Beyond book for lore stuff as well. (including the bases for the 5E Vistanti.)

Those are some of my takes.

 

[TheIdeaOfGood]

There is also a Ravenloft Bestiary for 5e which I found to be quite useful.

 

[R_J_K75]

There is also a Ravenloft Bestiary for 5e which I found to be quite useful.

Where?

 

[TheIdeaOfGood]

Ravenloft Bestiary - Monsters of the Dread Domain - Dungeon Masters Guild | Dungeon Masters Guild

Ravenloft Bestiary - Monsters of the Dread Domain - Welcome to the Ravenloft Bestiary. This book contains more than three hundred monsters of all types, sizes and challenge

www.dmsguild.com

Also, you definitely should get the old Van Richten's Guides (2nd Edition), they are just amazing for all the ideas and lore they contain. And let's be honest, conversions of some ideas to 5e are childishly easy.
One thing I always use, both in Ravenloft and out, is the thought that mummies are different from other undead because they are animated by positive energy, not by negative. Just switch around the resistances a bit and voila!

 

[R_J_K75]

Ravenloft Bestiary - Monsters of the Dread Domain - Dungeon Masters Guild | Dungeon Masters Guild

Ravenloft Bestiary - Monsters of the Dread Domain - Welcome to the Ravenloft Bestiary. This book contains more than three hundred monsters of all types, sizes and challenge

www.dmsguild.com

Also, you definitely should get the old Van Richten's Guides (2nd Edition), they are just amazing for all the ideas and lore they contain. And let's be honest, conversions of some ideas to 5e are childishly easy.
One thing I always use, both in Ravenloft and out, is the thought that mummies are different from other undead because they are animated by positive energy, not by negative. Just switch around the resistances a bit and voila!

I bought and read the VR Monster Hunter Compendiums years ago. They were great.

 

[TheSword]

I too throw my weight behind the old 2nd edition Van Richten’s Guide to XXX. They are terrific reads, full of great ideas, Ravenloft fluff and ways to make monsters truly memorable.

Funnily enough VR’s Guide to the Lich. Was one of the first actual roleplay products I bought as a new GM aged 14. I’ve loved them ever since.

All the original books were excellent... particularly fiends, ghosts, vampire, mummies and werewolves.

I’d also recommend the original Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium. AD&D monster entries always had a lot about habits and ecology and are particularly useful for a Ravenloft game, where you want to bring the beasties to life. There’s a great section at the end about writing a Ravenloft encounter as well.

 

[R_J_K75]

I’d also recommend the original Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium. AD&D monster entries always had a lot about habits and ecology and are particularly useful for a Ravenloft game, where you want to bring the beasties to life. There’s a great section at the end about writing a Ravenloft encounter as well.

IIRC the Vistani were detailed in the 2E Monster Hunters Compendium but were they ever statted out as a Monster Manual, Monstrous Compendium entry? I dont care which edition but I thought they were somewhere, anyone have an idea where? I looked a bit but couldn't find anything.

 

[Voadam]

For the 2e Van Richten's Guides you might want to go for the 3-in-1 Monster Hunter Compendium reprints instead of buying each title individually, they are either 2x or the same price as the individual titles so for example Van Richten's Monster Hunters Compendium Volume 1 contains VR's Guides to Vampires, Werebeasts, and Golems.

Beware though, while the information is fantastic, the scans and OCR of the 2e era PDFs are not the best.

 

[Voadam]

IIRC the Vistani were detailed in the 2E Monster Hunters Compendium but were they ever statted out as a Monster Manual, Monstrous Compendium entry? I dont care which edition but I thought they were somewhere, anyone have an idea where? I looked a bit but couldn't find anything.

You might be thinking of the Darklings, Vistani who are cast out and cursed with both power and drawbacks. They get their own entry in MC10 Monstrous Compendium Ravenloft Appendix.

 

[Stormonu]

Personally, I prefer the 2E Domains of Dread - it takes the revised 2E campaign set, adds in some info from Darklords and Isles of Terror. Supplement with Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium I & II, as well as III. Top with the Van Richten Monster Hunter Compendiums.

Unfortunately, I've never really been fond of the adventures beyond I6 - Ravenloft, though Night of the Walking Dead has lots of potential as a starting adventure, and I10 - House on Griffon Hill has some interesting tidbits if your group is into a more investigative-type horror adventure (though the climax needs a hard rewrite).

 

[R_J_K75]

You might be thinking of the Darklings, Vistani who are cast out and cursed with both power and drawbacks. They get their own entry in MC10 Monstrous Compendium Ravenloft Appendix.

Thanks, but that's not what I was thinking of, might've been in one of the later MM Annuals, Vol 3 or 4? Its been since 1997-1999 that I read any Ravenloft material in any depth outside of the 3.5 EtCR and the new 5E material. I remember that they were human but had a few special abilities. It may have been a race, class or MM entry I'm thinking of but with the passage of that much time I could be misremembering. I'm going to do some digging tomorrow as I'm prepping a short 1-2 session adventure in Lamordia for tonight.

 

[R_J_K75]

Ravenloft Bestiary - Monsters of the Dread Domain - Dungeon Masters Guild | Dungeon Masters Guild

Ravenloft Bestiary - Monsters of the Dread Domain - Welcome to the Ravenloft Bestiary. This book contains more than three hundred monsters of all types, sizes and challenge

www.dmsguild.com

Also, you definitely should get the old Van Richten's Guides (2nd Edition), they are just amazing for all the ideas and lore they contain. And let's be honest, conversions of some ideas to 5e are childishly easy.
One thing I always use, both in Ravenloft and out, is the thought that mummies are different from other undead because they are animated by positive energy, not by negative. Just switch around the resistances a bit and voila!

I bought that MM off DMs Guild yesterday. I will say that its packed full of lots of entries, and Im pretty confident they are great conversions. I have yet to read through it, but then again I'm not a MM cover to cover reader, more of a cherry picker so my opinion may not carry much weight. My only criticism is the layout is a little awkward and hard to read, and the lack of pictures makes it hard for me to browse and search for something I'm interested in based on my recollection of the old material. Those are more nitpicks than anything and nothing a bit of cross referencing between the old MMs to fill in the gaps wont fix. Overall, well worth the $7.99.

 

[Voadam]

It may have been a race, class or MM entry I'm thinking of but with the passage of that much time I could be misremembering. I'm going to do some digging tomorrow as I'm prepping a short 1-2 session adventure in Lamordia for tonight.

Domains of Dread has a Half-Vistani PC race with special powers.

Ravenloft 3.0 Core Setting Book has full-blooded Vistani in the Horrors of the Night Appendix along with vampires, lycanthropes, etc. as an expansion on Vistani as a specific supernatural breed of humans. It gives racial traits and powers but also recommends they not be used as a player race.

 

[R_J_K75]

Domains of Dread has a Half-Vistani PC race with special powers.

Ravenloft 3.0 Core Setting Book has full-blooded Vistani in the Horrors of the Night Appendix along with vampires, lycanthropes, etc. as an expansion on Vistani as a specific supernatural breed of humans. It gives racial traits and powers but also recommends they not be used as a player race.

Awesome thanks I will look into it. I'm just looking for a stat block that includes their special powers without having to create anything too detailed. Not a big deal though I can wing it. As monsters and lineages are being portrayed as more unique than ever before I think its appropriate to depict any Vistani encountered by the party in regards to powers and abilities different from the next.

 

[Voadam]

Unfortunately, I've never really been fond of the adventures beyond I6 - Ravenloft, though Night of the Walking Dead has lots of potential as a starting adventure, and I10 - House on Griffon Hill has some interesting tidbits if your group is into a more investigative-type horror adventure (though the climax needs a hard rewrite).

I found Ravenloft modules a big mixed bag.

Howls in the Night was great. I also really enjoyed running Night of the Walking Dead, Touch of Death, Feast of Goblyns, Ship of Horror, Web of Illusion, and a bunch from Book of Crypts.

Ones where the PCs are railroaded into being turned into Flesh Golems, beheaded so they can be magically blackmailed as spirits to do stuff, retroactively murdered offscreen for a doppleganger betrayer scene can happen, and where all the PCs die and are turned into undead are not to my taste as a DM.

Also a bunch are just power manipulations that are against the general tone I like. Strahd's niece provoking a ghost to use its aging attack on her so she can jump from new vampire to ancient vampire status with 5 level drains per hit in 2e. Adding a bit to the nonmagical skilled fighter Falkovnia domain so that the whole army is alchemically powered by and evilly bound by ground up artefact Tomes of Darkness.

 

[R_J_K75]

You might be thinking of the Darklings, Vistani who are cast out and cursed with both power and drawbacks. They get their own entry in MC10 Monstrous Compendium Ravenloft Appendix.

DM'd my last session for awhile thank the Darklords. Been running on empty for awhile, but went out with a bang. I used the Darkling and the Possessed Carriage in a Vistani camp last night as a plot device. My friend is picking up the DM duties next and asked me if he could use the Vistani guy that got cursed then ran over by his own vardo. I said sure, I wouldn't be doing my job as a DM if I said no.