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

 

[dave2008]

Note that's not the definition of the horror genre. Which is what we're talking about.

But it is relevant and I think there probably isn't as simple answer for what is the horror genre. In fact, I think there are many types of horror genre,

Yes, horror movies have absolutely changed over the years. Part of the genre is transgression. Once you've pushed a certain line it become stale so you have to push new, different lines. Compare Dracula (1931) to Horror of Dracula (1958). Or The Blob (1958) to The Blob (1988). Where the lines are changes over time. The horror genre (at least a large part of it) is about transgression and crossing those lines. Once crossed, they seek out a new target.

One fairly recent horror movie I liked was The Descent. My wife hated it though.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

The trailer kind of proves my point. That's not horror. I'm not interested in breaking forum rules by posting a link to an actual horror movie trailer.

At best Castlevania is an action-adventure story with spooky set dressing. There's nothing wrong with that. But to point at that and say it's horror is like pointing to a balloon and calling it a car. It might be the closest to horror that D&D can get (which is to say not at all, besides extra blood, gore, and "horror" monsters), but to then claim that's horror is to again point to a balloon and call it a car.

I'm not sure you read my whole post, as I'm pretty much admitting that D&D does not suit your definition of horror (that it must be disempowering). The format of D&D 5E just isn't disempowering, and if you make it disempowering... well, that's really trying to make it into something it's not, and also likely to ruin the players fun (they came to play D&D dammit!)

I don't really find Castlevania as horror either (though I do find it a great example of D&D Ravenloft games), though @dave2008 's provided some good examples of horror that is not disempowering.

I think the closest you can make a D&D game to something like horror (not disempowering horror, just horror broadly), is Resident Evil. You have some pretty tough protagonists in those games (Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine), that are facing some insurmountable odds. To survive, they need to conserve their resources, be quick and clever, and not make mistakes. None of that is disempowering, but it definitely keeps players on their toes, tense, nervous, and well... scared. I don't think anyone can reasonably say that the Resident Evil games aren't horror (the movies, that's a different story!)

 

[Scribe]

What is it about D&D 5e that 'doesnt work' for Horror?

Nothing in the rules say the party must win. Nothing says they must be heroic.

People seem to be confusing the tone pushed by Wizards to appeal to the modern player, and saying that is codified into the rules.

One could make a Horror setting out of the D&D rules, no?

 

[Urriak Uruk]

What is it about D&D 5e that 'doesnt work' for Horror?

Nothing in the rules say the party must win. Nothing says they must be heroic.

People seem to be confusing the tone pushed by Wizards to appeal to the modern player, and saying that is codified into the rules.

One could make a Horror setting out of the D&D rules, no?

@overgeeked is holding to a definition of horror that says the players must be disempowered... this is largely incompatible with D&D 5E.

I don't agree with that definition, and think that yes you can make a truly horror D&D game.

 

[overgeeked]

Yes. But some players like to actually be scared, or at least creeped out with good, creepy descriptions. Mine do--they've said so--and so do I.

So do I and so do my players, on the creeped out, excited, thrilled, etc front. Scared players isn't something RPGs can or should do. How we colloquially use "scared" has drifted the meaning. Scared is fight, flight, or freeze territory. Being surprised by a jump scare isn't really "scared".

But it is relevant and I think there probably isn't as simple answer for what is the horror genre.

One simple definition is: 1) is it fictional; 2) does it feature the macabre; 3) are the characters scared.

If it's not fictional, you're in documentary land, like true crime. If it doesn't feature the macabre, it could be nearly anything, like Toy Story. It's fictional and the characters are scared, but there's nothing macabre about it. If it's fictional, macabre, but doesn't have scared characters, you have something like the Addams Family.

It's not a perfect definition, but it's a functional one.

In fact, I think there are many types of horror genre.

Yes, they're called subgenres. Body horror, slasher, serial killer, camp, summer camp, Christmas, exploitation, gross out, cosmic, gorn, etc. But they're all recognizable as horror.

I'm not sure you read my whole post, as I'm pretty much admitting that D&D does not suit your definition of horror (that it must be disempowering). The format of D&D 5E just isn't disempowering, and if you make it disempowering... well, that's really trying to make it into something it's not, and also likely to ruin the players fun (they came to play D&D dammit!)

Then we agree. It takes a lot of changes to make horror work in D&D. Baseline D&D can't do horror.

I don't really find Castlevania as horror either (though I do find it a great example of D&D Ravenloft games), though @dave2008 's provided some good examples of horror that is not disempowering.

If you mean their list of Ripley, Eleven, etc, you'd be wrong. The characters listed very much show fear and are disempowered for a good long while before they overcome the monster. That's what makes them horror.

I think the closest you can make a D&D game to something like horror (not disempowering horror, just horror broadly), is Resident Evil. You have some pretty tough protagonists in those games (Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine), that are facing some insurmountable odds. To survive, they need to conserve their resources, be quick and clever, and not make mistakes. None of that is disempowering, but it definitely keeps players on their toes, tense, nervous, and well... scared. I don't think anyone can reasonably say that the Resident Evil games aren't horror (the movies, that's a different story!)

At first I assumed we just used horror differently, now I suspect we're also using disempowering differently as well. Fighting for your life in a zombie apocalypse having to gather up resources or die...yeah, that's disempowering.

What is it about D&D 5e that 'doesnt work' for Horror?

Nothing in the rules say the party must win. Nothing says they must be heroic.

People seem to be confusing the tone pushed by Wizards to appeal to the modern player, and saying that is codified into the rules.

One could make a Horror setting out of the D&D rules, no?

If the characters are not scared, there's no horror. If the characters are super powerful and can generally take whatever's thrown at them, it's not horror. So yeah, you could make D&D into a horror setting, but you'd have to change quite a bit, including some long-standing baseline assumptions.

 

[Parmandur]

I think I'll just say one thing about Ravenloft, and whether it is horror.... playing a Ravenloft D&D game is a lot like playing Castlevania. There is a lot of horror appearing around you, but you're still a hero, and a pretty powerful one. Do you get scared? Maybe on occasion, by something truly gross or horrifying, or maybe a loved one (NPC) being threatened. Maybe you even encounter a difficult boss and fear for your (video game) life. But overall, it's not like your living in constant fear.

That is very different than say a game of Call of Cthulhu. Is it still horror? Eh, who cares, its definition-semantics. What matters is your emulating a certain type of heroism, spitting in the face of a vampire, even if deep down your frightened of the inevitable showdown.

Fun fact, Castlevania was originally riffing on I6: Ravenloft.

The very fact that we are discussing this in a thread about the latest iteration in one of D&D's most popular subbrands that has seen publication as a Horror Fantasy supplement in some form in five distinct decades for every Edition...yeah, Horror D&D is possible. It's heroic horror, or dark fantasy, not splatter house or Call if Cthulhu, it's Ravenloft.

 

[Parmandur]

If the characters are not scared, there's no horror. If the characters are super powerful and can generally take whatever's thrown at them, it's not horror. So yeah, you could make D&D into a horror setting, but you'd have to change quite a bit, including some long-standing baseline assumptions.

Being able to handle a situation is not the same as feeling like you can handle a situation.

Matt Mercer regularly puts the fear of God into the Critical Role crew with situations they are very well equipped to face, partly because of some clever misdirection, but mainly because the players after years of experience don't have a firm grasp on the CR system. 5E us actually very well balanced to create a sense of challenge vertigo, even if the odds are in favor of the PCs if you crunch the numbers.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Regarding Ravenloft and horror.

Generally speaking I think it is true that it is easier to do horror when the characters are more vulnerable.

That said, Ravenloft has lots of mechanics designed to disempower players. It is baked into the setting (though this of course varies from edition to edition).

More than that though: D&D monsters and threads can scale with the party. Anyone who has run Ravenloft knows there are plenty of monsters who can one shot low level characters, and there are monsters low and mid-level characters are not even close to being able to handle. One of the joys of Ravenloft characters going up in level is you can throw those major threats at them.

Definitely, because it is D&D, it is different from Cthulhu, or a horror game where all characters have a handful of HP and don't really increase in health as they level. But it can certainly be achieved. D&D has lots of extremely power enemies that are plentifully horrifying to higher level characters. And low level characters are extremely vulnerable. Plus Ravenloft has tools to help deal with keeping players on their toes (everything from horror and fear checks, to alterations to magic and class abilities, to highly customizable monsters and domain lords who have all kinds of special immunities. Ravenloft literally enables you to customize your monsters around the strengths and weaknesses of the players. It couldn't be more easy in my opinion, to do Horror in Ravenloft. Not as easy as a game where all the characters have 1 HP or something, but still entirely possible.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Then we agree. It takes a lot of changes to make horror work in D&D. Baseline D&D can't do horror.

If you mean their list of Ripley, Eleven, etc, you'd be wrong. The characters listed very much show fear and are disempowered for a good long while before they overcome the monster. That's what makes them horror.

At first I assumed we just used horror differently, now I suspect we're also using disempowering differently as well. Fighting for your life in a zombie apocalypse having to gather up resources or die...yeah, that's disempowering.

We don't agree. D&D as it is doesn't really require much changes for you to run a Resident Evil style game, running around a scary mansion filled with really powerful monsters and enemy NPCs, needing to save your spell slots and abilities as using them all too quickly will lead to your death.

I mean, that's literally Death House, and to a lesser extent Tomb of Horrors (weird, horror is in the name).

This is obviously much easier to do at lower levels (the higher the level, the more resource PCs have), but Curse of Strahd and other Ravenloft modules don't tend to be high-level anyway.

Now, I think the distinction here is most players don't want to be scared (it's why Tomb of Horrors is not actually fun for most players). Most players just want to play Castlevania. But the point is, you can run a horror game if you really have player buy-in for that kind of constant stress.

 

[overgeeked]

Being able to handle a situation is not the same as feeling like you can handle a situation.

Matt Mercer regularly puts the fear of God into the Critical Role crew with situations they are very well equipped to face, partly because of some clever misdirection, but mainly because the players after years of experience don't have a firm grasp on the CR system. 5E us actually very well balanced to create a sense of challenge vertigo, even if the odds are in favor of the PCs if you crunch the numbers.

But no one would mistake Critical Role for a horror game.