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

 

[Faolyn]

Maybe who look at horror films or play horror rpg love to be scared. Vicariously scared, obviously.
A DM can set up the horror level to keep the fear funny.

Look, I manage to creep out my players quite well through nicely creepy descriptions. But that's an optional benefit. The goal is to frighten the PCs, not the players. Which is why...

Yes of course. There is no perfect overlap. Generally speaking a player is scared of what happens to the character, by means of identification with his/her PC. This is the foundation of emotions in role playing games.

...They probably didn't want to have canonical sex offenders in the game, especially when there's a good chance that careless or cruel DMs will use them to go after the characters.

(Also, sex offenders are a real life horror, and a lot of people play to get away from real life.)

And if something actually is frightening the players, there's a chance that it's not a fun fear. A friend of mine is terrified of bees. It would be unfun for him if I had bee-people in the game.

 

[Faolyn]

In an attempt to make Vlad less of a Vlad the Impaler rip off, they made him Hilter. Not sure who thought that was a good idea.

Maybe they figured they needed yet another Always Evil Kill-On-Sight enemy for Ravenloft, and nazis fit bill? (joking)

 

[Faolyn]

Wasn't that half the point of the setting? Classic horror monsters in D&D
Feels like taking the dragons out of Dragonlance

Those are very different things.

First off, the point of Ravenloft is horror. It doesn't have to be classic horror monsters done exactly like those old monsters to be horror.

Was there any land that wasn't completely revised and is more or less the same as it was in the past? Or did all of Ravenloft secretly suck?

They didn't suck. That doesn't mean they couldn't be made better.

 

[Remathilis]

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Wasn't that half the point of the setting? Classic horror monsters in D&D

Those movies are coming up on being 75+ years old. WotC wanting to create content for modern gamers doesn't seem like a radical idea.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I find wrong the "scare the pc, not the player" thing, written as usual as "the right way horror rpg are meant to be played".

No one's saying you can't scare the PCs with their consent. The goal should be for everyone at the table to have a good time, not just the DM (or just the players, for that matter).

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

There are lots of videogames where nazis are the antagonists, for example the saga Wofestein, or thoses with zombies. They were monsters, but the fiction showed example of worse villains, for example the night king from Game of Thrones, or the elemental eye who wanted to destroy all the life.

But Vlad Drakov....wasn't only evil, but also... a horrible leader, a toxic boss. Varys betrayed Daenerys Targarien for much less. Vlad Drakov was fated to be betrayed by one of their men by fault of an "escape foward" (desperately go to the source of trouble instead dodge it) to avoid a cruel (and maybe injust) punishment. If the tyrant kill too many people this causes a demographic and economic crisis, waves of refuges to other region. Even Barovia would seem a better option (and maybe they would be right). If now the dark lords are relatively inmortal, then Vlad Drakov becomes a too boring character. Lots of DMs can create their own homebreed Drakovnian tyranny where Dark Powers aren't neccesary.

The really "good" big-bad-guys are the villains who knows how to be a true leader and because this their minions are loyal.

Villains do horrible actions, but any things shouldn't be mentioned to avoid the idea these are "normal" and it may happen usually. Lots of villains suffer racist predjudices, but we shouldn't allow to show this like something that can't be totally erradicated. And most of times this type of villains are punished by their actions. If dark lords do "politically incorrect" actions, but they don't fear the punishment for these because they are the rulers and their state isn't altered, we may be sending a wrong message.

 

[Azzy]

Is it just me or does Wesley give off some Mr. Rogers vibes?

 

[Swarmkeeper]

Is it just me or does Wesley give off some Mr. Rogers vibes?

That is just about the highest compliment one can pay another human being. I bet Mr Rogers was (or would have been, if he never actually played) a great D&D player, too.

 

[Disgruntled Hobbit]

Those movies are coming up on being 75+ years old. WotC wanting to create content for modern gamers doesn't seem like a radical idea.

So instead they turned to a movie from 1973 instead...