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

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Because it's exactly what you said?


I don't know how much Ravenloft lore you know, but historically, most of the domains are either copies of real places or are made whole-cloth by the Dark Powers. Killing Strahd won't send Barovia back to its original world because there is no original world for it to go back to.

Also, going by the lore, if Barovia is destroyed, there's the possibility that the entire demiplane would be destroyed as well. The Dark Powers aren't going to let that happen.

And finally, the Dark Powers are the ones in who are ultimately in charge, not Strahd.

So let's say your adventuring party decides to kill Strahd, succeeds, and takes over, determined to make Barovia into a better place. They can do that! There are other domains that are actually fairly nice places to live (the political ruler of Mordent is Lawful Good), so Barovia could be changed for the better. Your PCs could make it so that the Barovians no longer huddle in fear of the creatures of the night, that they have access to education and higher technology.

But, what would also happen is that the DPs would assign a new Darklord. If one of the PCs in the party was actually quite evil, it may be that person. Or it might be an NPC like Leo Dilisnya, Jaqueline Montarri, Lyssa von Zorovich, or Ardonk Szerieza--or someone completely different. Whoever became the Darklord would end up changing the horrors of Barovia, but not eliminating them.

You keep explaining the lore I’m criticizing as if I don’t know the lore. I know the lore.

You can’t justify the lore or dismiss criticism of it by citing the lore.

I say, “It’s bad that beating Strahd doesn’t matter because the world is such that it just resets, either bringing him back or replacing him. This makes PC action meaningless.”

Then you say, “You’re wrong because the lore states that if you kill Strahd he will either come back or be replaced, and the land will remain a horror story.”

Yes. I’m aware. That is literally what I’m saying is bad about the setting.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

So between another DM my group used to play with and myself, we have run some iteration of Ravenloft three times (House of Strahd, Expedition, CoS). As an easter egg, there is a point where the group was asked to sign Strahd's "guest book" and amongst the names in the book I included the PCs from the previous two play-throughs. I included it as a handout, and each of the players "signed" the guestbook as their current PCs as well, nodding to the fact that perhaps those other times were cannon and the cycle has repeated before.

Of course, those other groups eventually escaped Ravenloft and went back to thier proper worlds and did other things, so to them, Strahd was defeated. But to the next group that wanders into the Mist?

Right, see...as a player I would just completely lose all interest in the story at that point, and it would sour my memories of the other two CoS games as well.

It’s a Dallas dream reveal.

 

[Faolyn]

So clearly, @doctorbadwolf, you don't like the setting. That's fine. You don't have to. There are plenty of D&D settings I don't like.

But you not liking it doesn't make it bad. It just means you don't like it.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

So clearly, @doctorbadwolf, you don't like the setting. That's fine. You don't have to. There are plenty of D&D settings I don't like.

But you not liking it doesn't make it bad. It just means you don't like it.

You’re the one that decided that you needed to tell me my preference was wrong, bud.

I literally said that I’ll never use the setting as written, for these reasons, and will instead use parts of it for worldbuilding, and you jumped at the chance to tell me my preferences were somehow wrong “because lore.”

 

[Faolyn]

You’re the one that decided that you needed to tell me my preference was wrong, bud.

No, I was trying to show you how your interpretation was canonically incorrect. Not that your preference was wrong. You say you know the lore, but your understanding of it didn't indicate that at all. Hence my correction.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Okay, I am now realizing there is a new feature of the forum where you can't see the quotes of the people who are blocking you. I didn't even realize I was being blocked, but it is the only explanation for this sudden madness where everyone is just speaking into the void and responding to nothing.

I am not a fan of how hard this makes it to follow any sort of conversation.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

No, I was trying to show you how your interpretation was canonically incorrect. Not that your preference was wrong. You say you know the lore, but your understanding of it didn't indicate that at all. Hence my correction.

You didn’t correct anything. You restated lore about how the world works that was literally what I had stated a preference against.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Domain lords can die, domains can be destroyed. It is really hard to kill important domain lords, but not impossible. Sometimes a domain is destroyed, or another person could become its new lord (that person doesn't morph into strahd though). It is essentially up to the GM. This hasn't always been consistently handled. The whole being reborn thing after death is when you don't kill them properly for the most part (it is also a horror movie trope). The way I see it, destruction and redemption should always be possible for a lord. It makes for more interesting outcomes.

 

[Charlaquin]

Okay, I am now realizing there is a new feature of the forum where you can't see the quotes of the people who are blocking you. I didn't even realize I was being blocked, but it is the only explanation for this sudden madness where everyone is just speaking into the void and responding to nothing.

I am not a fan of how hard this makes it to follow any sort of conversation.

This could explain why I’ve been seeing a spike in people saying that the way someone quoting them is making it difficult for them to understand.

 

[Remathilis]

Right, see...as a player I would just completely lose all interest in the story at that point, and it would sour my memories of the other two CoS games as well.

It’s a Dallas dream reveal.

As I said, they knew it was a replay, and they were excited to see what the game was like in 5e (and with all the additions). The names were an easter-egg, not a plot-point.