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.

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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]

Between that and the "zombie meat" used to get in, the episode felt more Monty Python than Black Mirror. Which made it go faster and broke then tension somewhat, an important thing to remember when doing horror.

Absolutely. The most tedious horror eschews moments of levity. It becomes accidental comedy because it insists on nothing but down beat after oppressive down beat.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Absolutely. The most tedious horror eschews moments of levity. It becomes accidental comedy because it insists on nothing but down beat after oppressive down beat.

This is one of the reasons why Vincent Price is a horror god: humor can be very important

 

[overgeeked]

This is one of the reasons why Vincent Price is a horror god: humor can be very important.

Agreed. It’s also why I will always love Hammer Horror.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Agreed. It’s also why I will always love Hammer Horror.

Trouble with Hammer is they sometimes eschewed the horror all together.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Agreed. It’s also why I will always love Hammer Horror.

He was outstanding. Same here on Hammer. I loved Hammer Films. Whether the more serious stuff, or the more exaggerated outrageous stuff. Lots of fun to watch (especially the Cushing and Lee films).

 

[overgeeked]

Trouble with Hammer is they sometimes eschewed the horror all together.

We’ve done this upthread. They were mostly terrifying movies when first released. Only with the increasing intensity of horror films over time have they comparatively softened and are now seen as camp. Newspapers of the day hailed them as going too far, too intense, etc.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

We’ve done this upthread. They were mostly terrifying movies when first released. Only with the increasing intensity of horror films over time have they comparatively softened and are now seen as camp. Newspapers of the day hailed them as going too far, too intense, etc.

We have also done that they where laughable back in the day, since many of us had parents who saw them and laughed at them.

Newspapers will get hysterical about anything, because hysteria sells papers, and you can always find someone with a blue rinse willing to "stand up against moral decay".

 

[overgeeked]

We have also done that they where laughable back in the day, since many of us had parents who saw them and laughed at them.

Newspapers will get hysterical about anything, because hysteria sells papers, and you can always find someone with a blue rinse willing to "stand up against moral decay".

I laughed my ass off while I watched the movie Event Horizon in theaters, doesn’t make it a comedy.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I laughed my ass off while I watched the movie Event Horizon in theaters, doesn’t make it a comedy.

I quite like Event Horizon but laughed a lot too. Hammer spanned the gamut. I watched hammer in the 80s as a kid and the 90s in high school. Those are the years I first encountered hammer. I found most of the early stuff scary, with an edge of dark humor. Many of the characters were surprisingly cruel and nasty (which I liked). Later movies seemed to be a mix of horror, more camp, and shock (like both the early and later stuff). Sone of the effects were outdated but still worked for me. Most of what I heard from my uncle and parents about hammer was they were violent. They were accustomed to black and white 50s horror so I think that first Dracula movie was probably pretty striking to them. I am sure there may have been things they laughed at (which is fine because horror can be humorous). Heck my grandfather used to laugh watching The Godfather and gangster movies when people died because there is a kind of gallows humor in the way people die in those. Everyone has different reactions to films. But it seems to me the consensus was hammer movies were a bit shocking for their time (might have gotten different reactions in the US versus UK)

 

[Parmandur]

We have also done that they where laughable back in the day, since many of us had parents who saw them and laughed at them.

Newspapers will get hysterical about anything, because hysteria sells papers, and you can always find someone with a blue rinse willing to "stand up against moral decay".

To be fair, that laughable campy element can be seen as part of the charm, and part of what underlies Ravenloft to begin with.