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

 

[Remathilis]

Wait a minute--Adam was the DL, not Mordenheim.

They are co-rulers. Any damage done to the Dr affected Adam and vice versa, and you couldn't permanently kill one unless the other was also dead.

 

[Erdric Dragin]

So the bigger question is: Are we getting a Tarroka deck or no? (If not, well, we better start showcasing the Tarokka rules to as many newbies as possible to build demand)

I feel like it's not Ravenloft without at least a scene or two where you pull out that deck to use for the game. Definitely sets the mood.

And, quite interesting how it can help a DM wing something interesting by "interpreting" those cards. I've made quite and adventure using it once on some PCs, the cards wrote the adventure for me.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I would assume Gale Force 9 will be reprinting their existing Tarokka deck.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I hope we get a table of contents soon. I'm not really in the market for another setting, but one of my PCs is changing her witchy character to retroactically be a Hexborn and Ravenloft monsters have historically been some of my favorites (the racial vampires, ghoul lord and zombie lord especially).

Depending on what's in the rest of the book, I'll either buy selected sections on D&D Beyond or spring for the whole book.

 

[humble minion]

I'm a bit on the fence when it comes to the new/reinvented Darklords. It's either going to be a complete retcon in which the old Darklord never existed (Dominic d'Honaire? Vlad Drakov? Never heard of 'em...) or else there's been a mass transition of Darklordship (seemingly along genetic lines, which flies a bit in the face of the idea that one's own individual sins damn oneself in a unique way and create one's own domain), which is going to be hard to pull off convincingly in a way that's true to the old lore. When this sort of transition has been done in the past the results have rarely resonated (Azazel the werebadger and profoundly inadequate successor to Soth, I'm looking at you...)

(I certainly understand why they wanted to get rid of Dominic though - there was more than a bit of the Unpleasant Sexual Implications about the guy)

Not 100% sure why Dementlieu is suddenly a 'twisted fairy tale' domain - we already had a couple of others which would have filled that role nicely. But on the other hand, Dementlieu is geographically situated in the more gaslamp-y, technologically-advanced bloc of domains along the coast, which I've always seen as the heart of the setting as a standalone setting, rather than as a weekend-in-Barovia oneshot, so I'm happy there's still a focus on the region. And i really, really hope they do a bit with higher-tech PCs coming from a gaslamp setting. Firearms etc. It doesn't sound like they're focusing on that side of things very much, but full plate in somewhere like Richulemont or Paridon or Mordent is just anachronistic, and the rules should reflect that.

Glad to see they're doing something with old Sri Raji - that had been neglected for far, far too long. Not sure why one domain with three darklords though. Why not have a couple of different Indian inspired domains? There's certainly scope for it.

 

[Charlaquin]

Really?? Playing through Death House is actually one of my fondest D&D memories.

Death House has a lot of potential to be awesome in the hands of a good DM. It also has the potential to be a series of dull, empty rooms, with the implication of a mystery but no satisfying payoff.

 

[Savage Wombat]

Dementlieu didn't have the strongest focus in the original books, which I felt actually made it better as a campaign region. You could live there and not really grasp the depths of the darkness around you.

 

[Alzrius]

I'm a bit on the fence when it comes to the new/reinvented Darklords. It's either going to be a complete retcon in which the old Darklord never existed (Dominic d'Honaire? Vlad Drakov? Never heard of 'em...) or else there's been a mass transition of Darklordship (seemingly along genetic lines, which flies a bit in the face of the idea that one's own individual sins damn oneself in a unique way and create one's own domain)

Well, there were a few instances of domains changing hands, and some of those were among family members; I think that Jacqueline Renier inherited Richemulot when she murdered her grandfather Claude, for instance. Malken, of Nova Vaasa, was (in some later products) hinted at being a generational affliction among the Hiregaard family line as well.

The idea, as I read it, was that those darklords who weren't immune to aging inadvertently recreated their circumstances among at least one of their children. Like a parent setting a bad example, they created the opportunity for their progeny to imitate and usurp them, taking over their domain in the process (though they'd typically gain a curse tailored specifically for them as well). That was a theme explored in Legacy of the Blood: Great Families of the Core, from the 3.X Ravenloft line.

Speaking of which, WotC seems to have the rights to republish those books as PDFs now, but hasn't put many up. A search through DriveThruRPG only turns up five of (if I counted correctly) twenty products, counting the PDF-only release of Van Richten's Guide to the Mists as the twentieth:

• Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3.0)
• Secrets of the Dread Realms
• Denizens of Dread
• Champions of Darkness
• Ravenloft Player's Handbook (3.5)

Hopefully they'll release the other books in the series soon. The Gazetteers were truly great!

Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.

 

[Faolyn]

When this sort of transition has been done in the past the results have rarely resonated (Azazel the werebadger and profoundly inadequate successor to Soth, I'm looking at you...)

You're forgetting about--or deliberately repressing memories of--Inza the Dark 'n' Edgy Anime Whip Girl. Either of those is completely understandable.

(I certainly understand why they wanted to get rid of Dominic though - there was more than a bit of the Unpleasant Sexual Implications about the guy)

Not 100% sure why Dementlieu is suddenly a 'twisted fairy tale' domain -

Maybe they're keeping the mind control, but everyone is getting mind-controlled into fairy tale-ness? It would fit with the Happiness Is Mandatory, Citizen thing they did with Vallaki in CoS.

 

[ppaladin123]

Are there just the two subclasses or are those the only ones that have been leaked/announced yet?