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.

 

[jodyjohnson]

If this year is like last year, we still have over a month before they unveil the spring Event.

Last year was January 20 when Elemental Evil was announced (although a non-released product was leaked much earlier).

 

[Pauper]

Some D&D gamers. And given that there are a million of us, that's not really all that surprising.

So #notAllD&DGamers?

With that said, I'm not really thinking Ravenloft as a hard-cover adventure next season:

- As noted, we've already had the 'Shakespearean Giants' thing leaked, and the first three adventures have been specific as to their call-backs (Horde/Rise = Scales of War, Princes = Temple of Elemental Evil, Out of the Abyss = ?? okay, you got me on that one). I'd be shocked to see an adventure doing a call-back on the old G-series *and* Ravenloft.

- Also as noted by Perkins in his GameHoleCon keynote, the current WotC has no bones about inviting folks in to pick their brains about stories, and if they wanted to do a Ravenloft story (and do it well), there are a number of folks whose brains would likely be picked -- John W. Mangrum, Andrew Cermak, Andrew Wyatt, and other folks who were members of the Kargatane, the folks who contributed to the best of the While Wolf Ravenloft books and kept the Ravenloft torch burning online during 3rd Edition. If there has been some collaboration between those folks, everyone involved is keeping it very close to the vest, and if there hasn't, then I'm not convinced that a Ravenloft-inspired adventure would come out as great as it might have.

- Even if the first two points above are wrong and the next adventure does heavily feature a Ravenloft presence, it's not going to be a Ravenloft presence that a lot of old Ravenloft fans are likely going to appreciate. For instance, those two references in the DMG quoted by another poster suggest that the old 'Core', the cluster of domains that provided a very European flavor to the setting, is gone now, and that every domain is its own 'Island of Terror'. While I personally find this idea interesting, I can see that it would majorly irritate a lot of fans of the classic setting, since to many, the Core is to Ravenloft what the Free City is to Greyhawk or Baldur's Gate is to the Forgotten Realms.

I don't see that anything in the podcast really changes the idea of what we already suspected for the new adventure -- a romp inspired by the old G-series, featuring rummaging through old barbarian burial mounds (conveniently included in the map of the Sword Coast in the SCAG), and including a dragon who was part of the conspiracy to bring Tiamat to the Realms in Horde/Rise, who has had something of a change of heart and is "different now" (to use Perkins's phrasing in his keynote).

If there is some planar stuff, it won't be the focus of the campaign; it'll likely be just one stop on the overall story arc, which would play into the 'weekend in Hell' mode of most 2nd edition Ravenloft material.

--
Pauper

P.S.: I also seem to recall Perkins referring to Out of the Abyss as 'D&D on hard mode'; if you really want to see D&D on hard mode, find an old copy of the AD&D Ravenloft module Thoughts of Darkness. *That's* D&D on hard mode!

 

[DEFCON 1]

Last year was January 20 when Elemental Evil was announced (although a non-released product was leaked much earlier).

Well, then several people ought to be scouring the internet right now for some piece of information for a potential product that is going through the arduous steps of the publishing process! A title! A chapter heading! A piece of commissioned art! A registration code! SOMETHING that indicates something is being looked into! IT'S THERE! SOMEWHERE IN THE BOWELS OF THE INTERNET IS THAT EASTER EGG TO FIND! Because ONLY THEN can we declare it IN STONE that this is the next product on the docket and get all RIGHTEOUSLY UPSET when it turns out it was never going to be published.

WE NEED THIS! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO WITH OUR HOLIDAYS WITHOUT IT?!? HUH?!? HUH?!?

 

[Trickster Spirit]

It is not that that Barovia or the Demiplanes do not exist, it is that they might simply do a gothic AP set in the Sword Coast. The vampire could be one who has an history with the FR, like Manshoon. They would likely add 8 pages on the real Strahd and Barovia at the end of the book for nostalgic fans.

Almost 10 pages now of people going on about how excited they are that the next AP will be Ravenloft, or how much they're convinced WotC will botch it, but this is basically what I think is actually going to happen.

Literally nothing that's been said so far makes me think they're going to set it in the Domains of Dread. I'm pretty confident it will be set in the Realms proper - not "Barovia plunked down in the Realms", but somewhere in the Sword Coast. It could be a really good gothic adventure with vampires and lycanthropes and flesh golems and things from the Shadowfell, but it's another Forgotten Realms AP that'll have conversion notes to Ravenloft and Greyhawk and Eberron in the appendix like all the others.

Perhaps what is most intriguing to me is that they're potentially going with a shorter adventure and moving away from everything being levels 1-15...

 

[Mirtek]

I have to admit, I have zero interest in Ravenloft as a setting in and of itself. To me, Ravenloft has always been the "Trapped and must excape" adventure that it originally was. Then again, I never got into the Ravenloft setting as such, only played some of the early modules.

I could easily see an excursion Adventurers League season where your PC is scooped up from FR (so you can still use all the material out so far) and dumped into RL. I doubt they are going to go the full blown setting thing because then you can't use previous books. You can't be a Purple Dragon Knight if you're born in Barovia. They aren't going to create a new AP that won't support previous books.

I do hope we get another Player's Guide though too. That would be cool. All sorts of horror themed classes and subclasses for dealing with a RL AP.

if AL features RL the whole being trapped aspect won't feature, as you can play AL mods in any order as long as you're in the correct Tier.

So you might play a mod where you're "trapped" in RL, then play a season 2 mod where you kill a certain NPC turned evil and then play a level 1 mod where said NPC is a hero and quest giver (while wearing her signature sword you took from her dead body in the last adventure, which she is also currently wearing)

Doubtful there would be a rule that your stuck in RL until you find an exit, especially since you could play the last part with the exit before playing preceding mods Gully happening in RL

 

[GobiWon]

Just a friendly reminder to everyone who believes WotC will just slap Barovia in some corner of the Sword Coast map....

So canonically in 5e, Barovia is a Demiplane somewhere in the Plane of Shadow.

I agree. Ravenloft is the easiest of the settings to incorporate since it is a demiplane and can capture players who normally dwell in the Realms. For purposes of the IP they want the Realms to be synonymous with D&D. Ravenloft is easier to incorporate since it is an off-shoot that dwells within the Plane of Shadow and is part of the already established cosmology. A radically different setting like Dark Sun or Eberron muddies the waters and softens the brand identity while Ravenloft does not.

 

[ad_hoc]

My biggest disappointment with ExtCR is that it was just a generic retelling of I6 that either ignored the setting lore or actively retconned it. (Madame Eva, shudders). I'm hoping this one doesn't go Castlevania like the 3.5 module did...

Now you're insulting Castlevania

Unless you're talking about post SNES Castlevania which I know nothing about and may be horrible.

*Using the generic masculine pronoun because English, and I don't want to write s/he each time.

"They" is the pronoun you are looking for.

 

[Corpsetaker]

You might want to do a bit of research, especially on some of the early adventures (such as Feast of Goblyns).

The tragedy of Ravenloft applies to the Lords of Ravenloft. They're the ones who can never escape. They're given their heart's desire, only to see it all twisted and horrible, and they're trapped for eternity in that state.

In the classic Ravenloft adventures, the PCs are drawn within the Mists of Ravenloft and typically find they can't escape for the duration of the adventure; however, at the end of the adventure they are returned to their own realms (assuming they haven't become corrupted by the land and gained their own Realm). The 3E (White Wolf) version emphasized campaigns entirely within Ravenloft a lot more, but that isn't the classic setting, which allows long-form campaigns but the individual adventures tend to be of the "weekend in hell" type.

Cheers!

I am well aware of Ravenloft seeing as I own all Ravenloft material and I ran it for several years.

The only two beings that have been known to have escaped "Ravenloft" are Vecna and Lord Soth. An adventure does not cancel out the canon of the setting. If a Dark Lord of the domain does not want you to leave he has the power to control his borders. Only the Vistani can freely move through the mists and actually navigate through them.

You might want to do a bit more research yourself on the Demi Plane of Dread. You can't just appear in Ravenloft and then leave when you want. That's not how it works.

 

[Alzrius]

The only two beings that have been known to have escaped "Ravenloft" are Vecna and Lord Soth.

In terms of domain lords, this is true. However, the AD&D 2E adventure The Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga notes that she has a living wall in her hut, which she acquired during a stay in Ravenloft; that she got out makes sense, since her hut is a major artifact and canplaneshift, and the Ravenloft campaign setting notes that major artifacts can break the setting's rules.

Also, the Spelljammer adventure Crystal Spheres has a world (the Neutral Evil planet in Herospace, the name of which escapes me at the moment) named after a character who, if I recall correctly, was said to have escaped from Ravenloft.

An adventure does not cancel out the canon of the setting. If a Dark Lord of the domain does not want you to leave he has the power to control his borders.

It's worth noting that there are one or two exceptions to this; for example, Vlad Drakov can't close the borders of Falkovnia except by sending out patrols to try and apprehend emigrants.

 

[Remathilis]

I am well aware of Ravenloft seeing as I own all Ravenloft material and I ran it for several years.

The only two beings that have been known to have escaped "Ravenloft" are Vecna and Lord Soth. An adventure does not cancel out the canon of the setting. If a Dark Lord of the domain does not want you to leave he has the power to control his borders. Only the Vistani can freely move through the mists and actually navigate through them.

You might want to do a bit more research yourself on the Demi Plane of Dread. You can't just appear in Ravenloft and then leave when you want. That's not how it works.

The adventure When Black Rose's Bloom also allowed for escape by awakening Soth's memories (to Krynn) and House of Strahd allowed it if you free Siergi by "slaying" Strahd (who will reappear, but while he is out you can leave.)

It's easier to leave if you are a good person and further the Dark Powers mysterious goal, but imposable if you are wicked or trying to cheat using magic spells and items.