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

 

[Voadam]

There is no reason you have to run CoS as "all about Strahd". There is plenty going on in Barovia, and plenty of room to add more. You could easily turn CoS into a Barovian sandbox adventure and ignore Strahd. He just aint interested in this group of adventurers.

You could say he is currently taking a year to isolate himself for a new magical research project, but you would definitely have to change the basic setup as presented for him not to find out and get involved in playing cat and mouse with PCs at any point as they go through most of the stuff in CoS.

The default is that he is actively looking for dangerous outsider adventurers to pit himself against as his ongoing hobby and he has a network of informants and a connection to most every other element in the adventure. A lot of elements as written also point back to him actively. The default is very much an adventure all about Strahd and designed to support that.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

You could say he is currently taking a year to isolate himself for a new magical research project, but you would definitely have to change the basic setup as presented for him not to find out and get involved in playing cat and mouse with PCs at any point as they go through most of the stuff in CoS.

The default is that he is actively looking for dangerous outsider adventurers to pit himself against as his ongoing hobby and he has a network of informants and a connection to most every other element in the adventure. A lot of elements as written also point back to him actively. The default is very much an adventure all about Strahd and designed to support that.

Maybe he is catching up on WandaVision?

The simplest way to do it would be for the PCs not to be outsiders. Just a bunch of native Barovians with no knowledge of other lands trying to sort out local problems.

Alternatively, you could use the tarokka. Replace the standard meanings with a bunch of objectives and have the PCs select what they have to do at random. They could relate to individual quests within CoS (and any others you might care to add) or more general things like "perform one good dead" or "kill your dearest friend".

 

[Voadam]

The simplest way to do it would be for the PCs not to be outsiders. Just a bunch of native Barovians with no knowledge of other lands trying to sort out local problems.

Sure, its not like he has a history of messing with native Barovian clerics or such.

 

[M.L. Martin]

Sure, its not like he has a history of messing with native Barovian clerics or such.

That usually only happens when the clerics start staking his playthings or running interference against his latest attempt to claim "Tatyana," though. According to the older material (I'm not intimately familiar with CoS), Strahd typically cares little for the Barovians beyond a food source, so long as they don't get in his way.

 

[TwoSix]

The simplest way to do it would be for the PCs not to be outsiders. Just a bunch of native Barovians with no knowledge of other lands trying to sort out local problems.

One thing I hope for the book is that it has suggestions for playing RL natives, rather than assuming the party is trapped adventurers from other planes.

 

[Bedrockgames]

One thing I hope for the book is that it has suggestions for playing RL natives, rather than assuming the party is trapped adventurers from other planes.

What I think would be a great way to go is to provide enough setting material to play natives, but also for them to clearly lay out the different approaches and how to do them (i.e. talk about weekends in hell, talk about long campaigns where players are from other campaign worlds and trying to escape but will be adventuring in ravenloft for a long time, talk about playing natives, etc). It is one of these settings that registered in different ways for different peoples, and a good overview of the different experiences of Ravenloft would probably be very useful to folks just being introduced to it.

 

[Faolyn]

The whole thing doesn't even make sense, to me. If Borovia is a Dread Domain because Strahd needs to be punished, it is nonsensical for the consequence of his death to be...someone else becomes the dread lord....dark lord? whatever.

If Strahd dies, completely, then the Dark Powers would likely consider his punishment over. Or, the Dark Powers might just bring him back into unlife somehow. They do that sometimes.

The whole adventure is pointless if there is no possible ending wherein the people of Barovia aren't saved.

Horror doesn't need a happy ending.

 

[Faolyn]

Read the original I6 module. It is full of corny jokes of this nature. Indeed I think that one came from there. The Hickmans recognised the inherent silliness of the source material and incorporated it.

Good thing I never read that module then. It would have turned me off Ravenloft completely.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

If Strahd dies, completely, then the Dark Powers would likely consider his punishment over. Or, the Dark Powers might just bring him back into unlife somehow. They do that sometimes.

Yes, that is the thing I'm criticizing. Thanks for rewording it, I guess?

Horror doesn't need a happy ending.

I don't care about what horror needs or doesn't need, nor was my post related to happy endings.

A horror story wherein it is known to the audience from the jump that nothing the characters do can ever matter, where there are not multiple possible outcomes, where there is no element that if the characters do everything right they can get out alive and win the day, and the tension lies in seeing what choices lead them further and further away from that possibility, is pointlessly boring.

Why should I give a damn about what happens in literally any Ravenloft game, ever?

 

[Faolyn]

Yes, that is the thing I'm criticizing. Thanks for rewording it, I guess?

I guess I don't understand what the criticism is, then.

If Strahd dies, they might find someone more interesting to take his place.

I don't care about what horror needs or doesn't need, nor was my post related to happy endings.

You said "The whole adventure is pointless if there is no possible ending wherein the people of Barovia aren't saved."

If The People Of Barovia are saved, that's a happy ending.

Also, there are small victories. You don't have to save "The People Of Barovia." You can save Farmer Bob from the horror that's going after him--or if not Farmer Bob, then other people who might be affected by the same horror later on.

A horror story wherein it is known to the audience from the jump that nothing the characters do can ever matter, where there are not multiple possible outcomes, where there is no element that if the characters do everything right they can get out alive and win the day, and the tension lies in seeing what choices lead them further and further away from that possibility, is pointlessly boring.

Why should I give a damn about what happens in literally any Ravenloft game, ever?

Because horror is fun? If you don't think that, then it's probably not the setting for you. It's like with Call of Cthulhu. You can't destroy all of the cosmic horror. You probably can't even kill a single shoggoth. You know your character is going to go insane and die. You either enjoy the game for that, or you can just play in a different setting. Either is fine.