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+.

 

[Distracted DM]

Fielle (the human) comes across as an innocent and becomes the focus of the party, they all coalesce to protect her from Strahd. Turns out, she is an incarnation of Tatyana. All of the characters, including Fielle, have dark secrets and were on the cusp of making a dark choice before being whisked away to Barovia by the mists. The party leaves Castle Ravenloft, and Fielle, on a quest from Van Richten to find a macguffin to save Fielle . . . but by the time they get back Strahd has turned Fielle into a vampire and she "adapts" to her new condition rather quickly. Each party member seems to move past their dark choices . . . except for Fielle, who embraces them. Turns out, because of her abusive family background, she really enjoys the power of being a vampire!

Spoiler: Oh really? I'm curious as to whether they retconned...

Did they retcon Strahd's curse with Tatyana? Strahd tried the "turn Tatyana into a vampire" before and it ended in tragedy, because the dark lords of Ravenloft make sure she's slain in such a case. Or did he find some way around it?

edit: also, how do you blur your text like that instead of putting it in spoiler blocks?

 

[Distracted DM]

It’s the cosmetic options that matter. A bunch of video games make most of their money by selling options that are purely cosmetic.

That's a pretty solid point. To be fair video games make money by selling options that aren't purely cosmetic as well, but the cosmetic ones get them in less trouble with the game's community (being accused of Pay-to-Win).
But I'd be lying if I said I haven't spent a lot of $ on dumb game skins :|

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

edit: also, how do you blur your text like that instead of putting it in spoiler blocks?

The leftmost set of vertical dots above the text entry box has another set of things you can do with text. Spoiler text is the one with the little mask icon.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Let's remember oldest horror movies are +13y or +7y for current standars. "Tales to tell in the darkness" could be a example of how horror doesn't need to be too explicitely violent.

I was a child when I watched in TV the horror movie "the Crow" (1963, with Vicent Prince and Jack Nicolson' first role, not that with Brandon Lee) and I didn't feel fear.

Or a child-friendly franchise like Scooby-doo can become "grimmer" with the reimagination "Velma". There are other examples of how a franchise for children can become a horror story.

R.L.Stine's "Goosebumps", "Frakenda's Books of Spooks" and "Are you afraid of the dark?" could show horror stories for children without a happy end but either graphic violence.

Disney's "Black Cauldron" is "dark fantasy" comparing with the standars. 1987 "Monster Squad" is a horror-comedy for children. Disney "the Black Abyss" is a good example of "dark sci-fi" that can be watched by children.

WotC wants Ravenloft to be "creatively flexible" allowing a softer or a darker tone.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

The flavor of horror 5e D&D is most adapted to is Evil Dead 2 style comedy horror and I don't know why that tone doesn't have its own ravenloft domain.

You could have someone like the crypt keeper, elvira or joe bob briggs be the darklord!

 

[SteveC]

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.

I am going to have to disagree with this. From the kids in Death House to the creature in the basement, to the Dream Pasteries to the experiments done by the Abbot to what Strahd did to Vallaki in my game ... it was plenty horrific. That's not to mention the dinner with Strahd and the eventual showdown there. My group was run ragged for the entire time they were there.

Now this novel? It gives off zero horror vibes. I'm sure that I'm too old to be the audience for it, as it gives off more of a YA vibe, and I expect they will enjoy it. Me? I would take a Final Destination approach to these characters, but I know that's not what they were going for.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I am going to have to disagree with this. From the kids in Death House to the creature in the basement, to the Dream Pasteries to the experiments done by the Abbot to what Strahd did to Vallaki in my game ... it was plenty horrific. That's not to mention the dinner with Strahd and the eventual showdown there. My group was run ragged for the entire time they were there.

I'm not saying it's impossible to do horror in D&D. I'm saying it's hard.

Death House is an overtuned encounter for level one characters, and isn't representative of how D&D -- or even horror-flavored D&D -- typically goes.

And that speaks to why D&D is generally a tougher sell for horror: The game, especially in 5E, is designed to let player characters stay in control and have lots and lots and lots of options to survive danger and to gather information, both of which run counter to horror.

So a DM can start ripping out parts of D&D to take those away from characters, make NPCs and the plot somehow immune to those abilities (effectively the same thing), or throw much higher level threats at characters (which only works for so long, unless the tarrasque is going to be jumping out from under a character's bed).

Horror-flavored D&D is popular and great. The Crooked Moon is the top-grossing D&D Kickstarter of all time, and you can't swing a creepy doll over on Kickstarter without hitting another dark fantasy D&D project. And it's super-fun to kill vampires and werewolves and brains in jars, etc.

But generally speaking, it's more Castlevania than Clive Barker. Which doesn't make it bad or not fun, by any means.

In any case, people on this thread -- not you -- saying this YA novel is a failure because it doesn't look horrific enough are holding it up to a standard that Ravenloft generally has never been able to meet and I don't think is genuinely attempting to do.

 

[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 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.

 

[wizard71]

WotC is an organisation which cares about maximising profits, just like TSR before them (but marginally less incompetently). They cater to new and current players, not old relics.

HEY, if they want to turn into the McDonalds of gaming with the same flavorless menu they can expect the same profits that McDonalds has now. Very little.

 

[bedir than]

HEY, if they want to turn into the McDonalds of gaming with the same flavorless menu they can expect the same profits that McDonalds has now. Very little.

Reality is that McDonald's is doing quite well.