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+.

 

[Dire Bare]

Are we getting hung up on the word "heir"?

In the novel, there most certainly is an "heir" of Strahd, but . . . (spoilers) at the end of the story, Strahd is still trapped in Barovia, he is still the darklord, and he loses Tatyana once again. The "heir" is Fielle, who starts off as an innocent, but gives into evil and embraces becoming a vampire, murders her abusive family, and plots more mayhem all while being protected by her unwitting companions. Fielle is the "heir" of Strahd, his evil flows into other worlds now . . .

Darklords aren't supposed to be able to flee their prisons in the mists, although some have managed it. Strahd knows this and constantly strives to find and bind Tatyana to him for eternity and to escape the mists. This has been a part of the Ravenloft story from Day One. Can't blame a vampire for trying . . .

 

[belsonic]

Yeah, it's a fun little riff on the ingenue trope, I enjoyed that element of it.

 

[Jolly Ruby]

A terrible addition to that adventure that severely misunderstands Strahd's curse - it's tied to him!

It's an element present since I6 - Ravenloft, but on the original module it was awful: he used the spell Polymorph to turn the victim into himself, and then would turn into the victim and scape the mists. I guess CoS tried to preserve it in some form, but I think in the current incarnation and with the contemporary lore, Strahd wouldn't be able to "pass the curse on" even if he tried it.

 

[Tonguez]

At least the setting still gets content. Meanwhile I think everyone hjas given up on Mystara or Dark Sun ever getting a new book. And I like to quote what one Planescape fan said when describing how different 2e, 3e and 5e Planescape content is - you could very well run all 3 Planescapes in one continuity and happennign at the same time because "it's a big city". If a setting is strong, it can carry different interpretations.

Fortunately Mystara has some great fan made stuff curated on the net, theres lots available.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Fortunately Mystara has some great fan made stuff curated on the net, theres lots available.

Some of it by me!

 

[Tonguez]

Some of it by me!

Thank you

 

[Paul Farquhar]

It's an element present since I6 - Ravenloft, but on the original module it was awful: he used the spell Polymorph to turn the victim into himself, and then would turn into the victim and scape the mists

In the original module, there was no demiplane of dread. There was only Barovia. The demiplane, and its rules, were not invented until the boxed set.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

Some of it by me!

Some of it by me too, I contributed to few issues of Threshold

 

[JLowder]

WotC is an organisation which cares about maximising profits, just like TSR before them (but marginally less incompetently).

Since you are speaking to motivation and claiming special knowledge, you really should be sharing your sources.

 

[JLowder]

I think you're confusing Ravenloft with other settings. Ravenloft was never tied to "sales of books" since the Ravenloft fiction line was virtually a non-entity, and half of the time didn't seem to even get referenced by the RPG writers.

The Ravenloft fiction line was, initially, carefully coordinated with the game material. That changed after 1993 or 1994, but initially there was a lot of coordination. And the fiction generally far, far outsold the game material. Both Vampire of the Mists and Knight of the Black Rose sold well over 150,000 copies, just in English—probably getting close to or passing 200,000 copies each now, since they continue to sell as ebooks and audiobooks—and were translated into several languages around the world. The game material did not move anywhere close to those numbers.