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

 

[humble minion]

I cordially hate the idea of the Raven Queen in Ravenloft, but I'm kinda resigned we'll see it this time around. Best case IMHO would be to just have her as one of the setting's deities (have we heard anything about the gods of 5e Ravenloft yet? Is Ezra, Hala, the Morninglord, the Lawgiver, the Wolf God, the Divinity of Mankind still around? CoS was profoundly perfunctory when it came to in-world deities...) but we already have a death-focused faith in the Eternal Order. Is there room for two?

Is the Raven Queen the jailor?

I skipped most of 4e so I'm not really up with the lore on the Raven Queen, but from what i do know she's usually impassive, neutral, patient etc, right? That's ... not how the Dark Powers work. They're capricious, calculatedly cruel in nastily ironic ways, and will cheerfully make the lives of thousands awful and brutally short so that their favoured targets continue to suffer appropriately.

I could just about live with the Raven Queen as one of the deities of the setting, but that's more than enough. The Dark Powers should remain unknown and ineffable.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

I cordially hate the idea of the Raven Queen in Ravenloft, but I'm kinda resigned we'll see it this time around. Best case IMHO would be to just have her as one of the setting's deities (have we heard anything about the gods of 5e Ravenloft yet? Is Ezra, Hala, the Morninglord, the Lawgiver, the Wolf God, the Divinity of Mankind still around? CoS was profoundly perfunctory when it came to in-world deities...) but we already have a death-focused faith in the Eternal Order. Is there room for two?

I am going to take a wild guess and tell you we will never see the Ravenloft specific pantheons again. No Core, no Ezra.

I skipped most of 4e so I'm not really up with the lore on the Raven Queen, but from what i do know she's usually impassive, neutral, patient etc, right? That's ... not how the Dark Powers work. They're capricious, calculatedly cruel in nastily ironic ways, and will cheerfully make the lives of thousands awful and brutally short so that their favoured targets continue to suffer appropriately.

I could just about live with the Raven Queen as one of the deities of the setting, but that's more than enough. The Dark Powers should remain unknown and ineffable.

Weirdly, the setting already has a Lady of Ravens.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

And my table is made out of non-artificial wood, and my shoes are non-artificial leather, and my garden is made from non-artificial plants.

It doesn't matter how "natural" your materials are, anything constructed is by definition artificial.

Thank you Mr Pedant.

What I meant (and surely you know this) was that the domain has appeared unnaturally (whether strictly created ex nihilo or draw from elsewhere) but the people are as real as you or I.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Indeed. Some parts of Ravenloft are lifted from real worlds, but the gaps are filled in with the material of the Shadowfell. Including some of the people, hence the soulless people in CoS.

No thank you, I'd like to keep that silliness out of the setting.

 

[humble minion]

I'm not sure what you're trying to argue. There already was a zombie domain. I don't need Falkovnia to be that. If I want an Island of Terror filled with zombies I will use Souragne.

I can see there's thematic room for both. Souragne (and Darkon/Necropolis even) are all about undead minions driven by the will of a malignant master. The zombie apocalypse thing is very different, zombies as a random mindless directionless hunger-plague (I'd be willing to bet that at least some of the 'new zombies' the preview talked about are of this sort rather than traditional D&D obedient necromantic automatons).

I'll certainly miss old-school brutal militaristic Falkovnia, but if you've already decided to break up the Core it loses a lot of it's raison d'etre without anyone for Vlad to want to invade, and I do think zombie-apocalypseville is sufficiently iconic and thematic to be a worthy addition. (Why isn't there a ghoul-centric domain? Where's Ravenloft Sawney Beane?)

 

[QuentinGeorge]

I can see there's thematic room for both. Souragne (and Darkon/Necropolis even) are all about undead minions driven by the will of a malignant master. The zombie apocalypse thing is very different, zombies as a random mindless directionless hunger-plague (I'd be willing to bet that at least some of the 'new zombies' the preview talked about are of this sort rather than traditional D&D obedient necromantic automatons).

I'll certainly miss old-school brutal militaristic Falkovnia, but if you've already decided to break up the Core it loses a lot of it's raison d'etre without anyone for Vlad to want to invade, and I do think zombie-apocalypseville is sufficiently iconic and thematic to be a worthy addition. (Why isn't there a ghoul-centric domain? Where's Ravenloft Sawney Beane?)

I don't think the concept's that bad, but really, just make the domain and give it a new name.

 

[humble minion]

I don't think the concept's that bad, but really, just make the domain and give it a new name.

That's certainly fair. You could have stuck it where the Shadow Rift used to be, that place was pretty useless.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

I can see there's thematic room for both. Souragne (and Darkon/Necropolis even) are all about undead minions driven by the will of a malignant master. The zombie apocalypse thing is very different, zombies as a random mindless directionless hunger-plague (I'd be willing to bet that at least some of the 'new zombies' the preview talked about are of this sort rather than traditional D&D obedient necromantic automatons).

I'll certainly miss old-school brutal militaristic Falkovnia, but if you've already decided to break up the Core it loses a lot of it's raison d'etre without anyone for Vlad to want to invade, and I do think zombie-apocalypseville is sufficiently iconic and thematic to be a worthy addition. (Why isn't there a ghoul-centric domain? Where's Ravenloft Sawney Beane?)

Actually now that I think about it the intelligent zombie thing actually covers Meredoth and his domain in the Nocturnal Sea (whose name I've forget temporarily). Neblingtode! That's it. The Lebendtod. So even that concept is already in at least one domain. shrugs

 

[QuentinGeorge]

That's certainly fair. You could have stuck it where the Shadow Rift used to be, that place was pretty useless.

I actually like the Shadow Fey, particularly their interaction with Tepest but I've never really been able to set anything in the Shadow Rift. Certainly has the whole creepy fey thing downpat.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I skipped most of 4e so I'm not really up with the lore on the Raven Queen, but from what i do know she's usually impassive, neutral, patient etc, right? That's ... not how the Dark Powers work. They're capricious, calculatedly cruel in nastily ironic ways, and will cheerfully make the lives of thousands awful and brutally short so that their favoured targets continue to suffer appropriately.

I could just about live with the Raven Queen as one of the deities of the setting, but that's more than enough. The Dark Powers should remain unknown and ineffable.

I skipped 4e too, but the Raven Queen is one of the better things to come out of it. Her alignment is chaotic neutral, she is incomprehensible, uncaring, and collects memories associated with negative emotions.


"The Raven Queen is trapped by her fascination with the past. She sits in her fortress, amidst all the memories of the world, looking at the ones that please her most as though they were glittering jewels. Many great wizards have attempted to understand her motives, but like a raven she has always remained cryptic, keeping her cache of secrets just out of their reach."