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

 

[Kurotowa]

Have to admit I've been avoiding any of the big youtube readthroughs etc. When the book gets here I want to sit down with it for an evening and form my own impressions. Dunno how all these people manage to get copies weeks before release anyway...

From what I've heard, if you've got a gaming channel or a website you can apply to the WotC promotional department for an early review copy. Which they may or may not decide to send you, but if they do they do so with a request that you not do a full-page page-by-page flip through of the book. Of course, every time one or two people do it anyway, and then act shocked when they get stricken from the list for future review copies.

 

[Remathilis]

It's probably a bit of both.

Us older ones are looking for rules, archetypes, and monsters. If we like the new domains, we'll use them. If not, we have two other edition's worth of books.

The newer guys--who have heard of Ravenloft and other old settings from people (like me) who talk about it on reddit--will pick up the new book and either not care that it's not like what the old folks said or be annoyed it's not Innestrad or however it's spelled.

I mean, Ravenloft (the IP, not the setting) has been active for a while. There was the 3.5 Expedition module, the 4e-based Board Game, various Ravenloft elements appearing in Open Grave or Dungeon/Dragon, plus Curse of Strahd. Ravenloft's name hasn't left the D&D orbit, but the Ravenloft setting (as in the everything outside of Barovia) hasn't. It makes absolute sense to use Ravenloft to sell a horror-themed D&D book.

 

[Disgruntled Hobbit]

A little presumptive to assume that your reaction speaks for "most of the fans", isn't it? Because that's not what I see. Most of the reactions I see are positive and excited. The voices against any updating are loud but few. If you look at the number of posters instead of the number of posts then the picture shifts a great deal.

Then broaden your horizons
I don't know much about Ravenloft so I checked its subreddit, one of the fan sites, and a facebook group. And they're not happy

 

[Remathilis]

Yeah, I'll be picking the eyes out of this book and ignoring the bits I don't like, just like I have for every other edition. The 'all domains are islands in the mist' thing is going to go, but to be honest I'm progressively getting less and less canonical with my taste in Ravenloft and am moving away from domains with hard borders at all (a bit inspired by the Castle Island domain from 3e, where crossing closed domain border imposed a penalty or curse rather than just being flat-out impossible or lethal). I'm really looking forward to seeing the brand new domains like the Sri Raji successor and Klorr, and a decent-sized writeup of Har-Akir for the first time in many, many years. The subclasses etc I'm mostly familiar with from UA already but new PC options are always welcome, as are new monsters.

Have to admit I've been avoiding any of the big youtube readthroughs etc. When the book gets here I want to sit down with it for an evening and form my own impressions. Dunno how all these people manage to get copies weeks before release anyway...

I gotta admit, I was one of those idiots who paused-and-read the flip-through videos to see how certain things were changed. Somewhat because I am prepping for a new game shortly after it comes out and because I felt there was a lot of misconceptions born out of conjecture about what is changing.

My takeaway from this is that the material is modular enough that you could use it to reverse engineer much of the old setting if you wanted to, or at least replace the parts you liked from the old setting, but I think people who are open to the change will find the new version is quite elegant and streamlined. Every domain has a hook that affects it directly that doesn't require the domain lord's direct intervention. For example, Dementllieu is a boring domain if you're not dealing with Dominic's manipulations, whereas the new domain's connection to false appearances, masquerades and such give you plenty of thematic elements without ever meeting Sadria.

I think, based on what I've seen in your Gazetteer readthrough, you'll be happy with many of the changes. It addresses a lot of issues you often brought up, and by removing the Core and the metaplot, each domain becomes much more flavorful and unique. Its streamlined, its thematic, and it really does support both weekend-in-hell play and natives (every feature domain has info for playing natives of that domain). My general takeaway is that if you are open to change, you'll find a lot of good ideas in this book. If you are adamant about keeping Ravenloft like it was 30 years ago, you will find some but not as much.

 

[Disgruntled Hobbit]

Do you really not see the value WotC gains from using an established IP connected to an extremely successful current module, or are you arguing in bad faith?

I don't see the value
It's like when someone makes a book into a movie and then makes major changes to the plot to "adapt" it. Just... why bother?

If they were going to change everything, why not do Ravenloft but just do all new domains? Or dodge the issue and do Innistrad
(My friend who cares more bout Ravenloft than me keeps saying it's the book equivalent of the Snyder DC Universe)

 

[Kurotowa]

Then broaden your horizons
I don't know much about Ravenloft so I checked its subreddit, one of the fan sites, and a facebook group. And they're not happy

See, that's a perfect example of selection bias. If you're checking small sub-communities specifically devoted to being the hardcore fans of previous edition releases, then of course they're going to be grumpy about anything that deviates from the ideal they've been curating for decades. If you look at forums more aimed at being players of the current edition, they're a whole lot happier.

 

[Remathilis]

Then broaden your horizons
I don't know much about Ravenloft so I checked its subreddit, one of the fan sites, and a facebook group. And they're not happy

BREAKING NEWS: PEOPLE COMPLAINING ABOUT THING THE "LIKE" ON THE INTERNET!

As someone who frequents fan groups for Star Wars, Doctor Who, Magic: The Gathering, Marvel Comics and Elder Scrolls, I can tell you the social media chatter almost always skews to the loudest voices, and the angry people are usually the loudest. Believe me, it's the same story: the brand is dying, the current regime is incompetent and hostile to the fans, the old stuff was better, the new stuff sucks, and nobody knows how to fix it but me.

You want a perfect example? Read this board.

 

[Disgruntled Hobbit]

See, that's a perfect example of selection bias. If you're checking small sub-fan communities specifically devoted to being the hardcore fans of previous edition releases, then of course they're going to be grumpy about anything that deviates from the ideal they've been curating for decades. If you look at forums more aimed at being players of the current edition, they're a whole lot happier.

Which was my whole point!

Why update a book for a previous edition's setting if it's going to upset the hardcore fans of previous edition releases???
The players of the current edition will be happy with anything. They'd be just as happy with something that pleases the hardcore fans. It's content
But if you're updating something and not even considering the hardcore fans... why?

 

[Kurotowa]

The players of the current edition will be happy with anything. They'd be just as happy with something that pleases the hardcore fans.

Yeah, no. I call BS on that assertion.

 

[Disgruntled Hobbit]

Yeah, no. I call BS on that assertion.

Yes, because all those new players hated EBERRON: RISING FROM THE LAST WAR