It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like RAVENLOFT

On the Down With D&D podcast, writer Shawn Merwin (who is writing at least one adventure for the next D&D Adventurers Guild season) responded to a query about whether the next season was "gothic" in nature -- "I can neither confirm nor deny that, although I've heard that much was talked about at Gamehole Con in Chris Perkins' seminar ... I think people who have heard that seminar know what's going on, but I still cannot say anything." That seminar, which I largely transcribed here, hinted really strongly at Ravenloft. (thanks to darjr for the scoop)

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In response to comments about Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolfman, Merwin said "You like that kind of stuff? I get misty-eyed about it myself."

Of course, none of this is conclusive. But it's hard not to think that - if not Ravenloft itself - something Ravenloft-inspired is coming with the next D&D storyline.

They went on to discuss Baldman Games' (hosts of Winter Fantasy) announcements about D&D events at the convention in February. Regarding the Epic adventure being used to launch the upcoming season, which will debut at that convention, they have the following exchange:

Shawn Merwin: ...if you're into D&D at all, or if you're into Adventurer's League specifically, you will not want to miss.

Christopher Sniezak: I hear there may be blood and stakes involved?

Shawn Merwin: It's definitely possible.

It sounds a little to me like they have discussed this subject in more detail off-air. Whatever the case, these are not the first "gothic" hints we've gotten - it's certainly Beginning To Look A Lot Like Ravenloft, as Bing Crosby once famously sang.

If you want to listen to the full podcast, click here or on Strahd up above.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Has it ever been established anywhere exactly where Barovia was originally supposed to be? On what world, I mean.

The original module wouldn't have bothered, or I suppose may have defaulted to Greyhawk.

I don't recall there bein any mention of it in the 2E campaign material, but it's been a while since I read any of that.

I skipped the 3E stuff...was it ever mentioned there?

If not, then they could tie Barovia to the FR even easier than folks have already suggested.

 

[Alzrius]

Has it ever been established anywhere exactly where Barovia was originally supposed to be?

[...]

If not, then they could tie Barovia to the FR even easier than folks have already suggested.

Not to my knowledge, no.

That said, there could still be some logistical issues with putting Barovia in the Realms, though not insurmountable ones.

For one thing, they'd need to establish that there was a country called "Barovia" to begin with. That's a salient point, because the adventure Roots of Evil takes place in Prime Material Barovia, showing that the country was still extant at that time (e.g. the year 740 in the Barovian Calendar, if I recall correctly). They'd also need to place the country's history, e.g. that in the year 351 it had overcome an invasion and long occupation by the Terg people.

Moreover, there'd be some issues with Ravenloft lore. Jander Sunstar, the elven vampire, was native to the Realms when he went to Barovia in the novel Vampire of the Mists, and yet all indications are that, when he spoke with Strahd (Jander stayed in Castle Ravenloft for years, if not decades), the latter didn't recognize any of the details of Jander's homeworld, such as Lathander Morninglord or Evermeet, etc.

So that might be a bit tricky to fit with the existing lore.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I think they could likely work around those, but yeah, those would have to be addressed.

 

[Alzrius]

Thanks, its been a while and its pretty easy to mix the two up.

Fun fact for the thread: contrary to popular belief, the Gentleman Caller did receive an official stat block.

It can be found in Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Compendium Volume 3, in the Guide to Demons section (renamed from the original Guide to Fiends), chapter five, which has been expanded from its original write-up to include several other fiends from various Ravenloft products that weren't mentioned in the original Guide, this time with full stat blocks. One of those is the Gentleman Caller.

 

[Valdier]

I believe previously, there was the indication that if Barovia was in the Realms, it would be in the area of Damara along the eastern mountain range. It would be easy to say that the reason Strahd doesn't know of Lathandar, etc is because he can't leave the area known as Barovia and the locals know not to go into the fogs.

 

[HobbitFan]

If they decide to revisit Ravenloft I don't see any need to shoehorn it into the Forgotten Realms at all...

 

[Parmandur]

If they decide to revisit Ravenloft I don't see any need to shoehorn it into the Forgotten Realms at all...

If they do, they won't; the core books made it pretty clear that Ravenloft is part of the multiverse, and how. No need to squeeze it in some hidden valley.

 

[TwoSix]

If they do, they won't; the core books made it pretty clear that Ravenloft is part of the multiverse, and how. No need to squeeze it in some hidden valley.

The only thing we usually squeeze out of hidden valleys is tasty ranch dressing.

 

[Hussar]

I guess my issue would be, why would you come out with a Sword Coast Adventurers Guide only to have the next (or maybe the next next) AP not reference it and render 99% of it completely useless. It's not like your Forgotten Realms background is going to matter in the slightest if the RL campaign doesn't actually take place in the FR. No one you meet will have any connection to your background.

I don't really think WotC is going to do that. The whole point of building a single brand is to have a single brand. Part of that brand has been the Sword Coast. "Hey, I know you just got that SCAG for Christmas and you haven't used it yet in Adventurers League play, but, too bad, the next AL season completely ignores that book" is something I really, really doubt they're going to do.

 

[Fralex]

Ooh, finally I can try out that 2e Ravenloft supplement I was given a while back about a traveling carnival. It had a really cool story, but I've never played RL before and it is heavily dependent on RL's unique world mechanics. I wasn't sure I'd ever get the chance to use it.