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

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Exactly. And it'd even more true with the original Superman and his socialist-leaning self.

Them briefly getting back to a Woody Guthrie hero of the workers Superman early in New 52 was a fascinating experiment.

 

[Azzy]

Them briefly getting back to a Woody Guthrie hero of the workers Superman early in New 52 was a fascinating experiment.

Unfortunately, I haven't read that.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Unfortunately, I haven't read that.

You can check it out here. It's a really solid and interesting run, where the world doesn't know what to make of this guy with the S on his chest who is just as opposed to slum lords as he is supervillains.

 

[overgeeked]

The publishers sell us the "pieces", and our hobby and duty is to use these to create our own stories. If I don't like the dark powers are characters with "names and surnames", with a clear identity, then I can change it and I say these aren't the true but simple collaborators, facade or front, but the true agents behind the cortain are others. A lots of DMs would rather to change the lore to avoid spoilers, because some players could read the fandom wiki to know who are the big bad guys and what are their tricks and modus operanti.

I don't feel confortable with Yagno Petrovna, dark lord of G'Henna, but I have found an easy solution. Their clergy are allowed poligamy. Sorry, but I hate when a trope is abused because somebody tries to teach me about something I have just listened too many times. I am not who needs a preach about those matters. Other little change is Zakhata doesn't promote the death by starvation, but only radical fasting with special aliments. And WotC should be the first who doesn't want troubles with a fictional sect that promote anorexia. If a preacher or authority behaves as a toxic boss, you can't be surprised by the loss of loyalty and followers. He would be replaced too easily by other more carismatic "oracle". Varys in Game of Thrones was one of the most inteligent and sensibles characters in all the saga but in the end he was eaten by a dragon.

Dark Lords are "inmortal" but nor unstoppable neither unbeatable. Dark Powers could allow the ultimate death of a dark lord if they find a better or more interesting option. Other point is they aren't totally irredeemable but rejecting their opportunities of salvation makes them even worse. If Dark Powers loves ironic hells then we could dark lord facing the most annoying nemesis, their "good noble-heart twin", somebody better than them, making to remember they are "unholy sinners".

We can say goodbye for an update adaptation of the modules about the Grand Conjuction. This will happen some day, but it will be a multiverse event altering all the D&D lines. Maybe we could discover more things about the material plane where the original Barovia was.

The level technology of the domains are frozen. This means the possibilities of new domains with XX or XXI technology (but PCs can't try reverse engenering to craft machine guns), and these being showed in action-live productions. One of these domains could be based in Gamma World (and the king cocodrile as dark lord).

Oh...holy...$&@?!#

 

[Paul Farquhar]

They may have been part of the original adventure, but they weren't in the actual setting materials, which were pretty seriously written. I would not have been a Ravenloft fan if they were (I don't have that kind of sense of humor).

I loved I6 since it first came out, bad jokes and all. I only bought the Black Box because I enjoyed I6 (and I10 The House on Griffin Hill) so much.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Batman doesn't resemble the Batman from 1939's Detective Comics #27. He's changed and been rebooted quite a number of times since then. And many characters in his orbit like the Robins or Batwoman have been changed even more with various reboots. And those changes have stuck.

Which is how Batman comics have remained in print for 83 years: by constantly changing to match the times.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Oh for the love of Pete...

They AREN'T getting rid of the Egyptian theming of Har'Akir. Anhktepot is called Pharaoh. Their are pyramids and deserts. Ankyb still wears funeral wrappings. What they have done is removed the overt Egypt references (like Osiris and the Egyptian gods) and made Anky more proactive as a living God of his realm rather than a sleeping treasure vault guardian.

They wanted to tell a story different from The Mummy where a bunch of foreigners go into a pyramid and awaken a sleeping evil trope. They wanted natives to have reason to adventure there and goals other than tomb raiding. Much like how Theros is "Greek inspired" but not adventures in Greek Myth, Har'Akir is Egyptian inspired.

Listen on it here:
Hope that clears things up. because I'd really like to stop these I'Cath whispers...

Given what they said earlier, I was quite surprised by this. Making Teapot a usurping high priest cursed with immortality is actually closer to the plot of the Mummy movies than the original. Of course it ties into RL Tutankhamun, who some archaeologists suspect was murdered and usurped by his chief adviser Ay.

I actually think Tut's dad Akhenaten would have made a better RL model for a dark lord, as he tried to completely replace the existing religion with one of his own, much of which was obliterated, presumably by the priesthood under the direction of Ay, after his death.

 

[Remathilis]

Given what they said earlier, I was quite surprised by this. Making Teapot a usurping high priest cursed with immortality is actually closer to the plot of the Mummy movies than the original. Of course it ties into RL Tutankhamun, who some archaeologists suspect was murdered and usurped by his chief adviser Ay.

I actually think Tut's dad Akhenaten would have made a better RL model for a dark lord, as he tried to completely replace the existing religion with one of his own, much of which was obliterated, presumably by the priesthood under the direction of Ay, after his death.

He did that too, usurped the old gods and declared holder himself and a cabal of minion greater mummies as the new gods. The old gods are lost to time and all references to them obilierated.

I mean, it's Egyptian in the way Amoneket is; inspired by but not a port of. It goes back to the OTHER major reason some Darklords changed: to make them less of a direct ripoff of the monater they are apeing. That entails changes in look, motivation, and or gender. While some are practically new ideas with nods to the old, ones like Anky are more just small adjustments to the core concept and the changes are being taken out of context.

 

[Mecheon]

Cool. I find most of Greyhawk boring as hell
Guess we can change that too

Sure! Let's do it! Change it to reinvent and make things relevant for a new audience. Continuing metaplots failed rather famously, let's take what worked, re-evaluate the worst, and get a better product out of it not beholden to decisions made... Like, 4 decades ago.

Being beholden too much to the past and what was already written is just a straightjacket when those things aren't interesting or relevant to new audiences any more. Otherwise, it feels dated

 

[Umbran]

He’s pissed his name was taken out of the books. He’s the RPGPundit.

Mod Note:
Are you trying to claim that Bedrockgames is RPGPundit?

Are you trying to publicly claim that Bedrockgames is one of the most odious people in the industry... with no actual evidence to back you up?

Attempting character assassination is not acceptable. You are done in this thread. The next time you try that kind of nonsense, you can expect to be banned form the site.