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

 

[Faolyn]

Darkon wasn't my favorite domain in the core, but what they ended up doing with it, made it feel completely unusable to me. I definitely would say bring back something more like the old darkon (because that was a domain I could at least wrap my head around and understand as the players went through it). A land of the dead is certainly cool in concept, but I think it probably needs to be built up from the ground up and explained better to the GM (I just never knew how to use something like Necropolis in play). I am sure other people had different reactions. But this was one big hurdle I remember feeling strongly as they developed that meta plot

I think Darkon's biggest problem to me was the memory wipe. I know what they were going for, with the horror of never knowing if you were really who you thought you were, but I don't feel like it was done really well. People who entered Darkon for business reasons that took place in any but the cities closest to the border would never return, which means that people outside of Darkon would never want to travel there, and those who are from Darkon would never want to leave, just in case they lose their memories upon doing so.

If they had made it so that people who entered Darkon took on additional memories, or felt a strong pull to move there instead of thinking they always lived there, or suddenly discovered "long lost relatives" upon entering, it would be a lot more insidious and less obnoxious.

 

[Remathilis]

I don't mind getting rid of Death, or at least, getting rid of Necropolis, the city. Having a City of the Dead is a cool idea, but not if you can't even enter it. Still, it'll put a crimp on my desire to play a cleric of the Eternal Order. It does sound like they're going back to the time when Darkon became Necropolis, the country.

I just hope they got rid of the memory wipe. I always felt that it wouldn't actually work they way they planned, and nobody would ever go into Darkon, or at least not further in than a day or two's travel, if they realized that anyone who stayed too long in the country would likely never come back.

Odd that Soth is the DL but also "beyond the Mists." I wonder if he's stuck between worlds like Gwideon is.

Honestly, I think they are going to "break up" Darkon into the six regions they detailed post Requiem (in DoD and on) with the demi-lords each controlling their partial domain. Azalin will be lord but not overtly, allowing for more squabbles and GoT type intrigue. I gotta imagine Darkon's main draw (it's like a real D&D world with non-humans, but spooky!) wasn't going to cut it now that nonhumans were going to be spread out to other domains, so give Darkon some of its post-Requiem development without having to death with Necropolis.

As for Soth, I'm reserving judgment. He showed up on Faerun to find the Raven Crown, and when the Mists showed up he fled. Later, the fortune teller in the Carnival called him the Lord of Sithicus and said it shouldn't be possible for him to leave, thus the "beyond the Mists" reference. Maybe the Mists are trying to claim him back? Maybe they never fully let him go, but gave him a day-pass for good behavior? Maybe this is the DM's personal addition and not reflective of the real book? Hard to say.

 

[darjr]

AL is starting a new season with mods set in the domains! Cool sneaks and “things” lie within!

 

[Remathilis]

I think Darkon's biggest problem to me was the memory wipe. I know what they were going for, with the horror of never knowing if you were really who you thought you were, but I don't feel like it was done really well. People who entered Darkon for business reasons that took place in any but the cities closest to the border would never return, which means that people outside of Darkon would never want to travel there, and those who are from Darkon would never want to leave, just in case they lose their memories upon doing so.

If they had made it so that people who entered Darkon took on additional memories, or felt a strong pull to move there instead of thinking they always lived there, or suddenly discovered "long lost relatives" upon entering, it would be a lot more insidious and less obnoxious.

My way of subverting it was to a.) start as "natives" to Darkon if I was going long-term or b.) keep the reason to being there less than a month or two (it took 1d4 months for the curse to work, and I always somehow rolled a 4 on that roll...)

 

[Faolyn]

Honestly, I think they are going to "break up" Darkon into the six regions they detailed post Requiem (in DoD and on) with the demi-lords each controlling their partial domain. Azalin will be lord but not overtly, allowing for more squabbles and GoT type intrigue. I gotta imagine Darkon's main draw (it's like a real D&D world with non-humans, but spooky!) wasn't going to cut it now that nonhumans were going to be spread out to other domains, so give Darkon some of its post-Requiem development without having to death with Necropolis.

That could be cool. I've always wondered if there could be an "Empire" that covered several domains.

My way of subverting it was to a.) start as "natives" to Darkon if I was going long-term or b.) keep the reason to being there less than a month or two (it took 1d4 months for the curse to work, and I always somehow rolled a 4 on that roll...)

Of course, then there's the chance that you weren't actually from Darkon to begin with...

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Dragon Talk | Official D&D Podcast | Dungeons & Dragons

Each week, the D&D team sits down with celebrities and personalities from across gaming and pop culture to discuss the world's greatest roleplaying game.

dnd.wizards.com

A new Dragon Talk is up... this time with a Lore You Should Know on the domain, Hazlan!

Some notes;

• Hazlik, a Red Wizard from Faerun, is still the Darklord.
• The land has been transformed in strange ways by powerful magic (a forest of petrified trees for example).
• The domain has a high population of wizards.
• Wizards are encouraged to explore dangerous magics by the society in charge, changing the land further for the worse.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

So, Shadow of the Weird Wizard, gone very, very bad.

The new Hazlan sounds like a setting you could easily run quite a number of games in before the players figure out they're in a Ravenloft domain, which will be a heck of a thing to watch them realize.

 

[tetrasodium]

Dragon Talk | Official D&D Podcast | Dungeons & Dragons

Each week, the D&D team sits down with celebrities and personalities from across gaming and pop culture to discuss the world's greatest roleplaying game.

dnd.wizards.com

A new Dragon Talk is up... this time with a Lore You Should Know on the domain, Hazlan!

Some notes;

• Hazlik, a Red Wizard from Faerun, is still the Darklord.
• The land has been transformed in strange ways by powerful magic (a forest of petrified trees for example).
• The domain has a high population of wizards.
• Wizards are encouraged to explore dangerous magics by the society in charge, changing the land further for the worse.

interesting twist that will make a nice setup for darker mageocracy type stuff

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

By the way, for people who skip the Dragon Talk interviews, Rufus Hound has a hell of a good story that begins with "D&D changed my life." It's long but worth it.

 

[JEB]

Thoughts (to add to what @Urriak Uruk said):

• At least 5E Hazlan seems like a logical evolution of Hazlan as it appeared in 2E and 3E, unlike Dementlieu.
• Hazlik still being around means they're not necessarily averse to darklords with potentially problematic aspects. However, what hints we get about his background suggest they've altered his darklord origin (sounds like some kind of evil magical experiments, and not the sadistic murder of his rivals, is what got him into Ravenloft). So I guess that would be one way to solve it.
• Hazlik's curse has changed as well - instead of being plagued by nightmares of inferiority, he can no longer learn new magic. That curse might sound a smidge familiar to veteran Ravenloft fans...
• One new cool ability - he can see through any symbol that resembles the tattoos on his body.
• Once again I get the vague impression that Wes Schneider didn't really think a lot of the old Ravenloft.
• They ask about how many of the folks in Ravenloft are real, and not just creations of the Dark Powers, but Schneider says it's basically up to the DM. Hopefully that alleviates some folks' concerns about the retcon in Curse of Strahd.