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

 

[Disgruntled Hobbit]

Leave Zack Snyder out of this.

Cause of that, I won't be able to not think of VAN RICHTEN'S GUIDE TO RAVENLOFT as DC's Snyderverse

It really is an apt comparison

 

[TwoSix]

Imagine how it would feel if some new people took over DC comics, decided past Batman lore was lame and dumb, and rewrote it like GOTHAM

Now imagine it was gaming and not comics, where reboots tend not to be undone after 5 years. That every future Batman story was GOTHAM inspired

That might get me to actually buy a comic book.

 

[Remathilis]

And because of that they needed to do ZERO HOUR and INFINITE CRISIS and FLASHPOINT and REBIRTH to "fix" things after the fact and roll back some of the changes

Nah, it's because they keep screwing up the timeline and found that reboots make a ton of money.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Imagine how it would feel if some new people took over DC comics, decided past Batman lore was lame and dumb, and rewrote it like GOTHAM

Batman doesn't resemble the Batman from 1939's Detective Comics #27. He's changed and been rebooted quite a number of times since then. And many characters in his orbit like the Robins or Batwoman have been changed even more with various reboots. And those changes have stuck.

 

[Faolyn]

Imagine how it would feel if some new people took over DC comics, decided past Batman lore was lame and dumb, and rewrote it like GOTHAM

Have you read comics? There’s been reboots every few years since Crisis.

 

[Kurotowa]

Batman doesn't resemble the Batman from 1939's Detective Comics #27. He's changed and been rebooted quite a number of times since then. And many characters in his orbit like the Robins or Batwoman have been changed even more with various reboots. And those changes have stuck.

Man, the Batman of Detective Comics #27 isn't the same as the Batman of Detective Comics #38. Introducing Robin was basically a soft reboot of a character that was less than a year old. Hands up if you've read any of the stories from that first year. You know, the ones where he's using guns(!) to kill people(!!!) like he was a pulp hero instead of a superhero. Well, I say "like", but he basically was a cheap knockoff of The Shadow with an animal themed costume.

Characters evolve, stories get revised, the world turns.

 

[Rikka66]

Imagine how it would feel if some new people took over DC comics, decided past Batman lore was lame and dumb, and rewrote it like GOTHAM

Now imagine it was gaming and not comics, where reboots tend not to be undone after 5 years. That every future Batman story was GOTHAM inspired.

The previous version of Ravenlofy had been abandoned by Wizards for 15 years. The old plot was not going to be continued, at least officially. My heart goes out to fans hurt by that, especially if the new version is a worse one. But I see this more as a new Battlestar Galactica or She-Ra situation, and think your decision to choose anger and see malice as a misguided one.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

This sort of thread is likely why WotC is reluctant to update old settings.

They need to somehow simultaneously:

• Include and honor everything that's come before
• Not just make it a rehash of previously published material
• Update stuff that's dated or problematic
• Not fundamentally change the core product with their new inclusions
• Pat their head and rub their belly at the same time

Honestly, if I were them, I'd stick to adventure paths and MTG settings as well.

Nostalgia is a trap. Everyone upset that the previous versions of Ravenloft aren't being duplicated in 5E 30 years later almost certainly have those original documents, and if you don't, you can get them all easily from DMs Guild or Noble Knight or eBay. If you've been playing since the late 1980s/early 1990s, you are more than capable of updating that material to 5E.

A book published in 2021 is going to be reflective of its time, just as a boxed set released in the early 1990s was reflective of its. Accept that, or don't, it is what it is.

So, just want to throw my hat in the ring (as the resident Gen Z poster!) and say that in my circle, this Ravenloft book is generating quite a lot of excitement, probably more than any other setting published so far (although Theros was also popular).

Now, I'm not going to mince words here; I'm probably the target market, moreso than the players from the very inception of the game. That's just reflective the numbers WotC released themselves. So I'll markup your bullets here;

• Include and honor everything that's come before
  • Seems to be done so to me, though obviously some older players disagree.
• Not just make it a rehash of previously published material
  • Probably does rehash some older stuff, but I never played it, so don't really care.
• Update stuff that's dated or problematic
  • Glad to see this; stuff that reinforces stereotypes is going to annoy myself and my players.
• Not fundamentally change the core product with their new inclusions
  • Book seems pretty fundamentally consistent to me.

Anyway, Curse of Strahd is arguably the most popular and well-known 5E adventure in my circle, and this book looks a lot like "Hey, you liked that? Have some more!" Which my friends seem to like.

I haven't preordered the book myself (still need to finish reading Eberron and Candlekeep), but it's probably on the top of my list for next book to purchase. It looks more interesting than Ravnica, Theros, and the SCAG, which are the other settings I don't own.

 

[Umbran]

Seriously, stop feeding the troll.

Mod Note:
Seriously, stop making this personal.

stop lying about me

And you probably need to understand that how and what you write does leave folks with a perception of you. If you don't like that perception, rather than accuse folks of lying (which makes no positive change) perhaps you should consider some introspection on your approach to communication.


For everyone, please continue the discussion with respect - if what you're intending to say isn't respectful, you should probably disengage from that poster.

 

[Bedrockgames]

And you probably need to understand that how and what you write does leave folks with a perception of you. If you don't like that perception, rather than accuse folks of lying (which makes no positive change) perhaps you should consider some introspection on your approach to communication.


For everyone, please continue the discussion with respect - if what you're intending to say isn't respectful, you should probably disengage from that poster.

Umbran the guy accused me of being someone I am not, said things about the books on my website that weren't true, then called me a troll. All of those things are not true. I get people might not like me because of my opinions and how I express them.