D&D 5E Everything We Know About The Ravenloft Book

Here is a list of everything we know so far about the upcoming Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft.

Art by Paul Scott Canavan​

• May 18th, 256 pages
• 30 domains (with 30 villainous darklords)
• Barovia (Strahd), Dementlieu (twisted fairly tales), Lamordia (flesh golem), Falkovnia (zombies), Kalakeri (Indian folklore, dark rainforests), Valachan (hunting PCs for sport), Lamordia (mad science)
• NPCs include Esmerelda de’Avenir, Weathermay-Foxgrove twins, traveling detective Alanik Ray.
• Large section on setting safe boundaries.
• Dark Gifts are character traits with a cost.
• College of Spirits (bard storytellers who manipulate spirits of folklore) and Undead Patron (warlock) subclasses.
• Dhampir, Reborn, and Hexblood lineages.
• Cultural consultants used.
• Fresh take on Vistani.
• 40 pages of monsters. Also nautical monsters in Sea of Sorrows.
• 20 page adventure called The House of Lament - haunted house, spirits, seances.

​

D&D 5E - Full Wraparound Cover Art For Ravenloft

We've seen the cover already, but here's a look at the full wraparound art by Anna Podedworna. https://www.enworld.org/threads/updated-with-cover-the-d-d-book-is-van-richtens-guide-to-ravenloft.678411/ https://www.enworld.org/threads/heres-the-ravenloft-alternate-cover.678414/...

www.enworld.org

D&D 5E - Here's the Ravenloft Alternate Cover!

As usual, there is an alternate hobby-store exclusive cover for the upcoming Ravenloft book. Here's a look at it! And here's the full wraparound art. https://www.enworld.org/threads/updated-with-cover-the-d-d-book-is-van-richtens-guide-to-ravenloft.678411/...

www.enworld.org

D&D 5E - [Updated with cover!] The D&D Book Is.... Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft!

Yesterday's hints that a new D&D book would be announced today have born fruit -- we now have a product description and a title! It's a Ravenloft setting book, with tools and new rules for horror-themed games, and new horror-themed character options. I'll update this post with a product image as...

www.enworld.org

 

[overgeeked]

The 3e era of S&S Ravenloft was horrible about doing this, to the point of Powers Checks from leveling (!) And strict limits on nearly every spell in the PHB. (Tenser's disc? That's a powers check). Which was taking the notions of Ravenloft's "keep them off-balance" mantra to the extreme.

I wouldn't know. I never played 3E Ravenloft.

Even in this thread, people have suggested not letting PCs level past 3rd level.

Yes, I know. I suggested it. It makes it far easier to run horror with D&D if you don't have demigod superhero PCs casting ridiculous spells.

If the price i pay for horror is constantly being kneecapped by the rules,

Having mechanics that reinforce genre expectations is not "constantly being kneecapped by the rules". Bit hyperbolic.

I'll take my gothic fantasy.

That's a difference of play style choice. There's no wrong answer. If you don't want to play a horror game, fine. That's cool. Some people do. And we're talking about how to achieve that. I don't see what the problem is other than you wouldn't want to play in that style of game. We got it. Really.

 

[overgeeked]

I will add, the best way to do "horror" in a 5E concept is shown off well in Icewind Dale: Rind of the Frostmaiden. For example, the ice caves with the gnoll vampire has some great descriptors for how the gnoll should be making hit-and-run attacks, plus the psychological effects of the caves.

That said, it takes a skilled DM to pull that off, considering the players will be (I believe) level 10.

Right. You basically need to move into a "combat as war" style for combat to effectively present combat as horror.

 

[M.L. Martin]

The 3e era of S&S Ravenloft was horrible about doing this, to the point of Powers Checks from leveling (!) And strict limits on nearly every spell in the PHB. (Tenser's disc? That's a powers check). Which was taking the notions of Ravenloft's "keep them off-balance" mantra to the extreme.

To be fair, that only showed up in the 3.5 Player's Handbook, which was a developers' gloss/conversion attempt on the original 3E book. Don't treat it as representative of the designers' original intent.

 

[tetrasodium]

Ditto. It gets old and repetitive as well. I much prefer it when the PCs are competent and the situation is still dire.

How do you model that in D&D 5th edition? The rules as written don't really take into account the debilitating nature of taking a mace right to the knee or getting speared in the gut. And if it did, healing magic makes such injuries trivial.

Hopefully be turning to page xx-yy of vrg to ravenloft so both GM & players can make use of the rule or rules that they feel best supports the situation & need rather than the gm needing to say "I emailed everyone a word doc with some houserules a while back to cover this sort of thing"

I think it can work for levels 1-3. Past that though, it's pretty hard to scare the characters.

Jump scares are cheap easy to overuse horror, use other means.

• Turn a mirror onto the player or the PC itself. "You would make a good dalek" works because it does just that by showing the PC in that scene that he's so unhinged & deep into the abyss that he became the bigger monster. You can do this most effectively by doing it subtly over time till it goes from "guess I was a bit more agressive than I needed to be, but it works!" & just ticking it up a notch every so often
• Imperil a plan. Take the famous "GAME OVER MAN GAME OVER", the trained space marine loses it right then & there because he's been holding it together the whole time & watched the solution to all of his problems crash down in flames mere feet away. The Dark Powers are great for this with a penchant for giving hope & mabye even allowing that hope to come to fruition often enough to allow it to be snatched away when someone gets a little too full of themselves. Look at TWD as another example & think back to how many times a zombie had the thing the PC equivalents needed (weapons, keys, maps, etc) when the stakes weren't very high only to fail them when the stakes were critical.
• That last example raises another option in making an utterly overwhelming enemy into a friend or forced patron of necessity as a consequence of success elsewhere. Alexandria was too successful & the Dark Powers stepped in.
• maim an npc that destroys the PC & then draw out doing it again. Bonus points for added horror if you ca tie it to a previous choice.
• Use Prophecy against the players. This one is difficult without being vague yet detailed enough while using a bit of quantum ogre in the mix because the players will try to stack things to avoid it ever triggering, but Glenn from twd is a perfect example of this as everyone who read the comic knew exactly how he dies & even with changes in the tv show that gave hope that it might be different it was still as utterly soul crushing to watch as it was to read when the same thing happened.
• Play with a crisis of faith. Ravenloft in the past supplied a wide variety of tools for playing with this

Switch it up & don't overload on anything specific It's perfectly fine for a session or even a large number of sessions to pass without anything horror/fear related happening . Just let the drama build & keep putting sprinkles on it until the time comes to snatch that last cherry away with fire & flames.

The 3e era of S&S Ravenloft was horrible about doing this, to the point of Powers Checks from leveling (!) And strict limits on nearly every spell in the PHB. (Tenser's disc? That's a powers check). Which was taking the notions of Ravenloft's "keep them off-balance" mantra to the extreme.

Even in this thread, people have suggested not letting PCs level past 3rd level.

If the price i pay for horror is constantly being kneecapped by the rules, I'll take my gothic fantasy.

The tools were solid, but overuse of a tool in horror robs it of value so the GM needs to know when to apply & ignore them. Nearly any time someone wants to cast tensers disc it's no big deal... but casting it to haul that white marble from the blessed spring before the children of the night making music in the surrounding forest close in on the city the party has been trying to build up is a different matter.

Right. You basically need to move into a "combat as war" style for combat to effectively present combat as horror.

Agreed. Unfortunately 5e removes a lot of the toolbox for combat as war & includes mechanics to obliviate the risks it brings to the table. Hopefully the rvenloft book will include some variants a gm can point to rather than having to homebrew them

 

[Bedrockgames]

Old school rulings can go a long way dealing with things like broken legs

 

[Remathilis]

I wouldn't know. I never played 3E Ravenloft.

Yes, I know. I suggested it. It makes it far easier to run horror with D&D if you don't have demigod superhero PCs casting ridiculous spells.

Having mechanics that reinforce genre expectations is not "constantly being kneecapped by the rules". Bit hyperbolic.

That's a difference of play style choice. There's no wrong answer. If you don't want to play a horror game, fine. That's cool. Some people do. And we're talking about how to achieve that. I don't see what the problem is other than you wouldn't want to play in that style of game. We got it. Really.

If you get the chance to look at the 3.5 RL PHB, do so. It was horrendous. Some real wtf thoughts, like fighters having to make a Powers check with % chance equal to thier level every time the gained a level in fighter. Or wizards making one every time they learned an evocation spell. It was the literal definition of crippling, done to justify "toning down PCs to keep the horror real". It soured me to the whole line after that.

I feel Horror is like spices, too much of it ruins the soup. You need to use it effectively to get the biggest effect. Running CoS, the PCs often were able to handle the various foes that they faced, except for Strahd and the Abbott. They learned to fear those two and when Strahd showed up, they legit feared him. (Up to when they got the Sunsword, that is). That said, the felt like Big Damn Heroes fighting the hags at Old Bonegrinder or the druids at the Treeblight.

I just want to point out that Ravenloft works perfectly fine for a more actiony-horror system and true horror requires heavily modding. If that's your thing, that's fine. I don't mess with what's broke.

 

[overgeeked]

If you get the chance to look at the 3.5 RL PHB, do so. It was horrendous. Some real wtf thoughts, like fighters having to make a Powers check with % chance equal to thier level every time the gained a level in fighter. Or wizards making one every time they learned an evocation spell. It was the literal definition of crippling, done to justify "toning down PCs to keep the horror real". It soured me to the whole line after that.

I wouldn't know, so I'll let someone who does speak to that point.

To be fair, that only showed up in the 3.5 Player's Handbook, which was a developers' gloss/conversion attempt on the original 3E book. Don't treat it as representative of the designers' original intent.

Sounds like one bad book.

I feel Horror is like spices, too much of it ruins the soup.

Agreed. And without that spice the soup is bland and boring.

At times we seem to be arguing over definitions. You seem to think "horror" means 0-100 in 0.6 seconds and all blood bath all the time. That's not what I'm talking about nor am I advocating for what you seem to think I'm advocating for. Horror is: transgressive, violating, isolating, disempowering, and filled with both suspence and uncertainty. You can accomplish a lot of that without resorting to the rules. But, when you're backed into a corner, you just might need rules to handle things. That's all I'm saying. Rules to reinforce genre conventions are a must. The mere existence of those rules does not automatically mean they will be overused and spoil the soup.

You need to use it effectively to get the biggest effect. Running CoS, the PCs often were able to handle the various foes that they faced, except for Strahd and the Abbott. They learned to fear those two and when Strahd showed up, they legit feared him. (Up to when they got the Sunsword, that is). That said, the felt like Big Damn Heroes fighting the hags at Old Bonegrinder or the druids at the Treeblight.

Sure. And that can be fun. But that's almost exactly how most D&D games go. It's gothic fantasy. And that's fine. I've been bored with gothic fantasy for a few decades now. I want proper horror. The bolded bits undermine the horror, for me. Winning is definitely on the table, but every victory should be hard fought...and not everything can or should be fought. Some things should not be combat encounters and some combat encounters should end with the PCs running away, captured, half-dead, and scared for their lives.

I just want to point out that Ravenloft works perfectly fine for a more actiony

It does. If you're only after a thin veneer of horror tropes.

and true horror requires heavily modding.

It doesn't take much, honestly. Limiting PC levels to 5th or under. Presenting more deadly encounters than lesser threats. Presenting horrible things and terrible people. Atmospheric descriptions. And adequate fear, terror, horror, and madness checks. Only two of those are rules based. Only one of them would be a house rule. As long as the players know going in that it's a horror game, I don't see the problem.

If that's your thing, that's fine.

I will never understand the reluctance of people to using house rules. That's literally how the hobby began. How it's grown over the last 40+ years. And how it will continue to be relevant into the future.

 

[overgeeked]

Thinking about it more...you could use a lot of existing rules to accomplish proper horror in D&D, not just Ravenloft. Though I really hope they include more mechanical support for horror.

Going big, you could treat the entire setting as Haunted, according to Tasha’s. Treat travel through the Mists as Unearthly Roads.

Mid-range, you could ramp up the use of conditions like Blinded, Charmed, Frightened, Incapacitated, Paralyzed, Restrained, Stunned, and Unconscious. Just use them more. Give more creatures abilities that deal out those conditions. Especially Stunned, Paralyzed, and Frightened. Also using the harsher variant rules for healing and resting would make things more interesting. Also the sleeping in armor rules from Xanathar’s.

Low hanging fruit would be things like describing natural 1s as the character being too scared to be effective that round, dropping their weapon, etc, and other descriptive tricks like scene framing, build up, and reveals. Using surprise more and describing it as the PCs being too scared to react in time.

I’m proper excited by Ravenloft in 5E. I cannot wait to main, torture, drive insane, and kill some PCs.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Ravenloft is gothic fantasy, with horror and adventure. The gameplay is different, but not too much.

Terror doesn't mean repulsion caused by extreme violence. Terror is when you feel "this can't be right, it's impure or antinatural". If you only throw hordes of undeads against the players then it is not Ravenloft neither a terror game ever.


Most of players want to sock monsters, a "plague control", a crusade against unholy creatures.

A murder should be a dramatic happening, if the players are like Jessica Fletcher, the mistery writter where to she goes somebody is killed, then nobody worries about the victims.

* Fear check if a reborn finds other undead? If a undead-slayer or vampire-hunter with enough experience, a war veteran, is abducted into the demiplane of the dread, would he need fear check if he finds undead enemies again?

* Teorically the citizens of the demiplane don't know the existence of creatures, even if these are dangerous predators killing lots of victims. Anything doesn't fit. It would be like a lion only kills one prey once for month.

 

[Voadam]

I agree with this. If you have players who can act, then it can work, but when we did our trip to Vecna's realm some of the players were afflicted with despair and it was supposed to be a "secret". DM pulled them into a private chat, ect ect, no idea what exactly had happened to them.

Then they started droning on about how nothing matters and we were all going to die and that there is nothing worth living for while sighing loudly at the end of their sentences. It was so blatantly obvious what was going on that instead of being horrific it was just an annoyance, and trying to act like we had no idea what had happened was painful.

Ravenloft had a diverse line up.

There was lots that was atmospheric places to be experienced and tons of great adventures with neat mysteries to be investigated and fun twists. I thoroughly enjoyed and had great success with the modules Howls in the Night, Night of the Walking Dead, and Touch of Death for example.

There was also a lot of adventures where things happened to the characters and it forced you hard down certain lines. Surprise, the PCs are inescapably beheaded and become brains in jars and must do an adventure possessing different bodies to get their original bodies back. Surprise the PCs are transformed into golems and must do x to get their bodies back. Surprise a PC is killed off screen and the player finds out they have been playing an evil duplicate for a while waiting to betray the party. Surprise you are now an evil lycanthrope and soon to be an NPC.

There was also a bunch of Ravenloft things that were just D&D evil stuff ramped up to 11 on the power scale instead of being about gothic type stories. Vampires that drained 5 energy levels and required +5 weapons to hit, or obscure alternate weaknesses with no actual lore behind them.

I was not a fan of the latter two lines of Ravenloft design and play experience and a number of modules I got I chose not to run. But there is more than enough of the first kind of material for me to have run campaigns in the styles I like running a number of modules without significant modification.

For those who liked the 'roleplay what the story says happened to your character' style there was plenty of material for them too.

It sounds like you hit a strain of Ravenloft that did not appeal to you, which is too bad.