Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft: Heir of Strahd Review

Like many Ravenloft tabletop adventures, five adventurers are plucked from the realms by the mists to find themselves in Barovia. As usual, Strahd sends one of his minions to invite the newcomers to his castle to enjoy his hospitality, a.k.a. for Strahd to mess with their minds and tempt them.

The characters are:

• Rotrog: An arrogant Orc wizard apprentice
• Kah: A shy Kenku cleric from Waterdeep
• Fielle: A cheerful human artificer from Baldur’s Gate
• Alishai: A moody, hot-tempered Tiefling paladin to Selune
• Chivarion: A good-natured Drow barbarian with a hairless tressym named “Murder” as his pet.

Over the course of the novel, you discover that each one was taken when they were faced with a terrible choice or were poised to take an awful action. That sets the stage for the crux of the novel—which character(s) will succumb to either Strahd’s temptations and/or the malevolent energy of Barovia, embracing their darkest impulses.

Should You Buy It?​

I found Heir to Strahd interesting because while it presented elements of Barovia that Ravenloft players and DMs will be very familiar with, not everything was what I had expected, even though I’ve GM’d Ravenloft adventures. The spirit of Tatyana most notably was presented in a way I did not expect based on the prior information I had read.

I don’t want to explain too much about Tatyana, and how she factors into the plot because it could ruin the mystery of who falls prey to the darkness to become the titular character. I will say that I suspected the doomed character at first, then talked myself out of it, assuming it was a feint to distract from another option. A later character reveal reinforced my original suspicion, but I still thought there might be a twist to go in the another direction. There wasn’t but instead of being unsatisfying, the ending makes me eager for a sequel.

Regardless of how one feels about the mystery and certain aspects of the ending, this Ravenloft novel can be very useful for anyone thinking of DMing an adventure set in Barovia. Dawson, the author of a few Star Wars novels and several fantasy novels, not only sets the tone very well for Barovia but also shows how Strahd could be played by a DM. The audiobook in particular showcased how even a simple conversation with Strahd can be equal parts charming and sinister.

For those who like or prefer audiobooks, the narration by Ellie Gossage was very good. It’s also available in hardcover and ebook editions.

Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft: Heir of Strahd: B+.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

How is this different to 5E? Every player just plays tieflings as red-skinned horned Mod Edit humans. And so forth.

Sometimes I feel I get roleplaying from an all human party, to be honest.

Mod Note:

No slurs, please.

 

[wizard71]

That has been true in the published materials prior to 5e, but isn't really true of the 5e revised setting - WotC have deliberately taken an "anything goes" approach to their settings, and equally deliberately chosen to drop any prejudice associated with species. Even the prejudice Tieflings were said to face in the 2014 PHB has been almost entirely absent since.

I think that is a huge flaw. My favorite D&D fictional character is Tanis Half-Elven. I could relate to him as an awkward teen. To see how he handled prejudice and illogical hatred for nothing he did but because of who he was made me much more aware of injustices that others suffer and given me courage to speak out against discrimination. The friendships of characters much as Legolas and Gimli, Tanis and Flint and other unusual friendships are worth spotlighting. To say that the world is just some hodgepodge and there are no conflicts is both boring and unrealistic.

 

[Necropolitan]

I've read the original Ravenloft novels, they were scary horror stories. People suffered and died and that was treated seriously.

This book was nothing like them. It felt more like Hotel Transylvania than an actual horror story.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

We can speculate but I think it’s telling how they are all heading to the life boats after wrecking as many campaign settings as they could.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Some times I suspect formians have been cancelled and they don't appear in 5e because they could be used like an allegory of certain faction from the real life.

We are in 2025 and this should mean a great difference in the horror genre because today there is a lot of different lines from videogames, novels and indy comics. It is not only the the creepypaste, Resident Evil, American Horror Story (TV serie), the comics "a walk through the hell" or "Gliterbomb", or the manganime "Dark Gathering" (hunting ghosts like Pokemons). The players drink from different sources of inspiration and this mean they could want to "cook" their games in their own way. WotC or another publisher shouldn't fight against this.

Have you seen the "fanart/amateur" dark lords from the mistipedia? There are, literally, hundreds.

Category:Darklord - Mistipedia

For example this:

A.L.I.C.E was a mystic consciousness (a magical artificial intelligence) that betrayed her duty to watch over the various systems of a magical city she was put in charge of. Developing contempt for humans, ALICE slaughtered and enslaved the city's people. She transformed the city into a maze filled with twisted traps and mind games with which she torments and tests the city's endlessly cloned residents. ALICE may create an avatar resembling a young girl to communicate with people inside the city, or she may just talk through a disembodied voice. She holds a hidden desire to be human.

---

The "hellbred" PC specie from 3.5 Fiendish Codex should be recovered and they are perfect for Ravenloft, or Innistrad, or Duskmourn.

* What if Valgavoth, the devouring father, tried to invade Ravenloft? For example Yagno Petrovna, dark lord of G'Henna, may be enoughly fool to summon it in a ritual with human sacrifices. Maybe it wasn't his idea but "suggested" by a Vecna's agent.

Why not an Innistrad-Ravenloft crossover? Let's imagine Avacyn is reborn like a dark lady but this is a trick by Vecna because this has got a plan to take revengue against the Dark Powers.

Azalin could return like a vestige or incarnation, being the new Vecna's agent. Azalin could become Strach's archnemesis if they could face each other in the same domain.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Didn't you know? Humans are the "straight white American males" of D&D. Just like how Tieflings are the "horned queers", apparently

That makes me an angry Celtic dwarf.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Mod Note:

No slurs, please.

Is that not a self-identifier? I assure you I was not trying to slur anyone. I'll steer clear of it in the future.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

I have not seen anything for Ravenloft indicating that the domains have been substantially reconfigured. It’s really bad on WOTC to do this. No wonder the majority of the updated rules team has left.

Where have you been? ALL of the domains were substantially reconfigured, some to the point where they only share a name with the previous iteration. And this started with the depiction of Barovia in Curse of Strahd.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Is that not a self-identifier? I assure you I was not trying to slur anyone. I'll steer clear of it in the future.

Mod Note: in general, responding to moderation posts is not permitted, but in this case, I’m letting it slide. Next time, PM the mod you want to talk to!.

Yes, slurs can be used as self identification, and is often done in the name of “reclaiming” or “disempowering” the word. But it’s extremely, extremely risky to do so when your identity is unknown and essentially unknowable because you’re posting on the internet.

In some places on the net, people might use a particular slur as common banter between themselves. This isn’t such a place. So yes, avoiding such language is safest.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

To be clear, I am very happy with disentangling species from alignments and ability scores and away from inevitable references to reallife stereotypes.

At the same time, have concerns about messages that demonize White American males. This kind of reversal is just as wrong as the first kind of demonization.

I feel Spelljammer suffered from both kinds of demonizations. It seems to have targeted Black Americans with unconscious stereotypes accidentally. And it purposely targeted White Americans in a lampshaded way, demonizing "imperialist" tropes even to the point of coercing players to commit ethnic genocide, which is an astonishing transmission of hatespeech. First comes words, then comes actions. It is ethically urgent to avoid demonization of any kind.

In this novel, one character presents as conspicuously White. It seemed transparent that novel intended to demonize her - in this case somewhat literally. If the character presented as a White male, probably there would have been zero empathy for the character.

Mod Note:

Nobody is “demonizing white males/white people” in this context. Dog whistles get you the boot.