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

 

[darjr]

Probably a coincidence. I must say, I am impressed by your ability to dig up these hints, reveals and teases!

Probably is. Thanks!

 

[Remathilis]

Respectfully, I disagree. There's no such thing as the wrong type of horror or evil for Ravenloft. It's not meant to be a horror D&D setting, it's meant to be the horror D&D setting. So, all bets are off generally, though your specific iteration of it might exclude certain things.

Personal, psychological horror is what the Dark Powers are doing to the Dark Lords in their domains. It's not what the setting is about for the players. I think WotC has made that quite clear with their detailing various types of horror and including the types of horror each domain focuses on. The zombie apocalypse domain, the body horror domains, the gothic horror domain, the dark fantasy domain, etc. Note how psychological horror doesn't seem to be on their list.

To a degree I can see that, but that does beg the question why the Dark Powers grab only certain people and not others. What makes the Mists trap Soth, Strahd and Azalin but not Manshoon, Iuz, or Accerack? Why Hazlik by not Szass Tam? It's even stranger when you consider a villain who threatens the world isn't eligible for a domain, but Gabrielle Adderre or Dominic d'Honaire is.

I think it's fine to set Ravenloft off as being for certain types of horror vs generic evil if only to keep it from being 900 domains for every villain in the D&D multiverse...

 

[Faolyn]

Respectfully, I disagree. There's no such thing as the wrong type of horror or evil for Ravenloft. It's not meant to be a horror D&D setting, it's meant to be the horror D&D setting. So, all bets are off generally, though your specific iteration of it might exclude certain things.

Personal, psychological horror is what the Dark Powers are doing to the Dark Lords in their domains. It's not what the setting is about for the players. I think WotC has made that quite clear with their detailing various types of horror and including the types of horror each domain focuses on. The zombie apocalypse domain, the body horror domains, the gothic horror domain, the dark fantasy domain, etc. Note how psychological horror doesn't seem to be on their list.

I see where you're going, but I think I either didn't write clearly or you don't get what I mean.

The Dark Powers don't just drag any evil creature into Ravenloft. If they did, the rest of the settings would be scoured clean ("Hell is empty, and all the devils are in Darkon"). Instead, the Dark Powers look for those people who engage in overblown acts of evil for personal, reasons: there needs to be a strong motivation based in an emotion such as pride, a need for revenge, jealousy, self-loathing, contempt, and the like. Deeply psychological reasons. They're not looking for people who engage in petty evils, like a typical low-level D&D villain. Nor are they looking for people who engage in world-ending evils, like the D&D Elemental Evil cults. They're looking for people who are, basically speaking, really messed up in the head.

So there could be a priest or whatever of an Elemental Evil cult who was brought into Ravenloft, but it wouldn't be because they were a cultist. Their status of cultist would be, at most, ancillary to the evil they committed.

 

[overgeeked]

To a degree I can see that, but that does beg the question why the Dark Powers grab only certain people and not others. What makes the Mists trap Soth, Strahd and Azalin but not Manshoon, Iuz, or Accerack? Why Hazlik by not Szass Tam? It's even stranger when you consider a villain who threatens the world isn't eligible for a domain, but Gabrielle Adderre or Dominic d'Honaire is.

I think it's fine to set Ravenloft off as being for certain types of horror vs generic evil if only to keep it from being 900 domains for every villain in the D&D multiverse...

You misunderstand. Just because every type of evil has a place in Ravenloft doesn’t mean everything that is evil must only be in Ravenloft. Besides, that would leave nothing for anyone to do in any other setting.

 

[overgeeked]

I see where you're going, but I think I either didn't write clearly or you don't get what I mean.

The Dark Powers don't just drag any evil creature into Ravenloft. If they did, the rest of the settings would be scoured clean ("Hell is empty, and all the devils are in Darkon").

As my response to the other poster, you misunderstand.

Instead, the Dark Powers look for those people who engage in overblown acts of evil for personal, reasons: there needs to be a strong motivation based in an emotion such as pride, a need for revenge, jealousy, self-loathing, contempt, and the like.

All evil is selfish. That’s the defining feature of evil. There’s no such thing as altruistic evil, it’s a contradiction in terms.

Deeply psychological reasons. They're not looking for people who engage in petty evils, like a typical low-level D&D villain. Nor are they looking for people who engage in world-ending evils, like the D&D Elemental Evil cults. They're looking for people who are, basically speaking, really messed up in the head.

If that’s how you want your version to be, more power to you. I’m not sure why you’re making prescriptive claims about how the setting is. The setting is however WotC wants it. We get to change it to make it ours. But your version is yours, not the only or true version.

 

[Faolyn]

As my response to the other poster, you misunderstand.

All evil is selfish. That’s the defining feature of evil. There’s no such thing as altruistic evil, it’s a contradiction in terms.

If that’s how you want your version to be, more power to you. I’m not sure why you’re making prescriptive claims about how the setting is. The setting is however WotC wants it. We get to change it to make it ours. But your version is yours, not the only or true version.

No, my version is not the "only true version." However, that's always been one of the setting's caveats: the Dark Powers don't take evil creatures willy-nilly. They take evil creatures who act out of deeply emotional reasons. Whenever TSR/WotC include darklords who are evil just for the sake of evil--like Inza--those darklords are typically extremely unpopular. They just don't fit. It would be like throwing an Ebberon magepunk-style character or lightning railroad into Greyhawk. You can do it, but it's not a fit, and a lot of people won't like it.

So no, the Elemental Evil cults don't fit Ravenloft. An individual Elemental Evil Cultist might, but likely not because they were an Elemental Evil Cultist. Like, take Thakok-An from Kalidnay, the Athas domain. She's not a darklord because she was High Priest for a sorcerer-king (which, I would think would put her on par with a high-ranking Elemental Evil Cultist). She's a darklord because she murdered her family in a sacrifice to him, because she loved him.

 

[darjr]

Has that piece of art been seen yet?

or this one?

 

[darjr]

 

[overgeeked]

No, my version is not the "only true version." However, that's always been one of the setting's caveats: the Dark Powers don't take evil creatures willy-nilly. They take evil creatures who act out of deeply emotional reasons. Whenever TSR/WotC include darklords who are evil just for the sake of evil--like Inza--those darklords are typically extremely unpopular. They just don't fit. It would be like throwing an Ebberon magepunk-style character or lightning railroad into Greyhawk. You can do it, but it's not a fit, and a lot of people won't like it.

So no, the Elemental Evil cults don't fit Ravenloft. An individual Elemental Evil Cultist might, but likely not because they were an Elemental Evil Cultist. Like, take Thakok-An from Kalidnay, the Athas domain. She's not a darklord because she was High Priest for a sorcerer-king (which, I would think would put her on par with a high-ranking Elemental Evil Cultist). She's a darklord because she murdered her family in a sacrifice to him, because she loved him.

You're having the argument about evil cultists with the wrong poster.

 

[Voadam]

All evil is selfish. That’s the defining feature of evil. There’s no such thing as altruistic evil, it’s a contradiction in terms.

I'd disagree.

Evil causes harm, evil is malignant. I'd say that is much more core to a definition of evil.

People can do evil to benefit others. People can do evil for what they consider a greater good and not to benefit themselves.