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+.

 

[Yaarel]

Kenku were never seen as an evil.

Despite being traditionally Chaotic Neutral, the Kenku connote ravens of death, corpses, Shadowfell, the Raven Queen, burglars, and "suffer from a sinister reputation that is not wholly unearned".

While our heroes are quite diverse in race, the book does not have strong themes of race. But rather, all of these diverse characters all have dark secrets in their immediate pasts.

"The book does not have strong themes of race". I think that is part of the race commentary in the novel.

These traditionally Evil/dark "monsters" are now "normal" player character species.

 

[Paragon Lost]

What bugs me about the cover is they all look far too cheerful for people who’ve just been dumped into Barovia.

Cartoony anime style just doesn't do it for me. Barovia should be darker and more gothic in feel and look. I have the same issue with what I see posted art wise with Cyberpunk Red. It doesn't feel like the dark, dingy cyberpunk I read decades ago. Basically art like this takes me out of the immersion that the creators of in this case Barovia should be creating. Makes it hard to get past in order to read through the material, which could be really good.

 

[Yaarel]

Kinda but not really.

Maybe answer in a −spoiler− if the Human is lost in the end?

 

[Paragon Lost]

How is 5E horrific?

Ravenloft is horrific in the same way that the Haunted Mansion is: It's a fun theming atop D&D's heroic fantasy.

If you want a truly horrific RPG experience, Ravenloft/D&D is a bad place to look.

Now, Ravenloft and the Haunted Mansion are both popular and fun, but expecting either to be a horror experience is unrealistic.

Yeah. That's what Delta Green is for!

 

[Yaarel]

Is it though? Have we seen a data dump of any kind of recency? (Wait, is that not a word? Google says its a word...)

Obviously my experience is my own, and people I play with lean older, but the very random grab bag of character options seen here is not my experience at all.

Hmmm.

When we played 4e, what did my "3e" friends play? ... A kobold, a dragonborn, a dwarf, and a tree.

Maybe 1e Tolkienism ceased being the assumption a long time ago?

 

[Scribe]

Hmmm.

When we played 4e, what did my "3e" friends play? ... A kobold, a dragonborn, a dwarf, and a tree.

Maybe 1e Tolkienism ceased being the assumption a long time ago?

Not around here.

 

[Paragon Lost]

Hmmm.

When we played 4e, what did my "3e" friends play? ... A kobold, a dragonborn, a dwarf, and a tree.

Maybe 1e Tolkienism ceased being the assumption a long time ago?

Can you define what "1e Tolkienism" means? Never heard it and my mind is coming up a maiar, a hobbit and some dwarves in the case of the Hobbit. In the Trilogy you have a Maiar, an elf, an dwarf, four hobbits and two humans (well one is part elf, maiar and human... distantly).

So yep, I'm confused what 1e Tolkienism even means. Mostly non humans there in those four books. Majority non human. Feels like your being critical just to be critical and hair splitting? Or am I reading this all wrong?

Edit: Really want to mix it up, back in the 1980s we played some Albedo rpg. Which was fun and offbeat.

Albedo (role-playing game) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Yaarel]

Can you define what "1e Tolkienism"

Here "Tolkienism" means: the players are invariably 1e Human, Elf, Dwarf, and "Hobbit".

The real rebels play a Gnome.

 

[Paragon Lost]

Here "Tolkienism" means: the players are invariably 1e Human, Elf, Dwarf, and "Hobbit".

The real rebels play a Gnome.

Heh! Gotcha. I played a assassin/Illusionist gnome back in a grimmer AD&D 1st edition campaign while stationed in Europe. He was a hoot to play. There were two other gnomes in the party and we played them a brothers. Definitely fun when I got to be a player versus the usual forever GM.

 

[Distracted DM]

Kenku were never seen as an evil.

I think this is a little misleading. They sure do some bad stuff, even if their alignment isn't listed as evil.

MM2
Kenku may appear to be friendly, helpful, and even generous. They freely give treasure to humans and demihumans, but it is rarely genuine and crumbles into dust within a day. They may offer nonverbal advice to humanoids, but this is carefully designed to mislead. It may actually lead the party into dangers and difficulties they might otherwise have avoided. As a rule of thumb, kenku have only a 5% chance of actually helping people.

FF
Kenku favour kidnapping as a source of funds. They will freely give treasure but this is rarely genuine and will crumble to a valueless dust within a day. They will appear helpful to humans and will offer non- verbal advice, though this is usually carefully designed to mislead and to tempt the petty into danger and/or difficulties.

Vecna is one of their favorite deities.
I could go on, I believe that the Ecology of the Kenku from Dragon Magazine really makes them quite foul, but I think that's enough.