D&D 5E Meet Ravenloft's Harkon Lucas and Rudolph Van Richten

WotC has shared some artwork from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, featuring the titular vampire hunter himself, and the darklord of Kartakass, Harkon Lucas.

"Rudolph Van Richten prepares for his next expedition, watched over by the spirit of his son, Erasmus."

"A born liar and shape-shifter, Harkon Lukas orchestrates elaborate manipulations.
He's rarely seen without his signature wide-brimmed hat; wolf's tooth necklace; and violin, which he calls Bleeding Heart."​

 

[Estlor]

Why would anyone be upset about Karkon being Black?

Oh, no reason whatsoever. Just... don't Google that topic

 

[Waterbizkit]

A fun video talking about what knights wore in (some parts of) medieval Europe. I definitely think you can get closer to reality and still look cool, but I don't think it's something dnd actually needs to do.

And one about medieval hoods and later silly hats!

Warning, this one will make you hungry!

Even Eberron's "1920's" is definitely only loosely inspired by the fiction of the 1920's, with much earlier fashion, and an absense of an equivelent to the car, telephone, radio, or gunpowder weaponry. You can tell a story very like a 1920's bank or train heist in Eberron, but it definitely takes some translation of the thematics. Which is good! It helps make Eberron it's own thing that one of the characters in that caper might be a knight who normally wears plate armor, and a person made of living wood and stone, and a death-fetishist elf duelist, and a 3 foot tall sharpshooter with an animal mask and a pet dinosaur.

I'd probably buy a good "slightly more realistic but still very simple" ship suppliment from a 3pp, but I certainly don't see why dnd should need to have "realistic" ships, especially in the context of tech level. I mean, we're talking about another world where magic exists and people use plate armor in the same battle where people are using rapiers, and another guy is punching holes in people's armors with his bare fist.

The gunports are for the arcane mangonels, obviously.

Why would anyone be upset about Karkon being Black?

The wiki says he can look however he wants, but has prefered male and female human forms, but I guess the source material says he is stuck in one form per gender per race?

There's a lot you said in this post that I agree with, but if nothing else I'd like to thank you for linking the Modern History videos.

Love his stuff. Videos where he's talking to his horses are some of the best, it's almost calming. And I especially love how he credits the horses in any videos they appear in.

Anyway, that's all. Lovely YouTube channel... carry on.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Oh, no reason whatsoever. Just... don't Google that topic

LOL I’ll admit some mild facetiousness on my part. I know what the dumb reasons people are mad are, they just don’t make any sense.

There's a lot you said in this post that I agree with, but if nothing else I'd like to thank you for linking the Modern History videos.

Love his stuff. Videos where he's talking to his horses are some of the best, it's almost calming. And I especially love how he credits the horses in any videos they appear in.

Anyway, that's all. Lovely YouTube channel... carry on.

It’s also fun that he looks like Denethor from the LoTR movies, as a side note. But yeah it’s one of my favorite YouTube channels.

 

[Azzy]

There's a lot you said in this post that I agree with, but if nothing else I'd like to thank you for linking the Modern History videos.

Love his stuff. Videos where he's talking to his horses are some of the best, it's almost calming. And I especially love how he credits the horses in any videos they appear in.

Anyway, that's all. Lovely YouTube channel... carry on.

As someone that grew up around horses, I also love when he's talking to his horses. He's gotta be a good person.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I've never seen anything like a modern tablet in Eberron,

Spellshard, ERFTLW p 279.

not anything like a car, really.

Skycoach, Soarsled. Not pulled by animals, and can fly. In the real world C1920 animal pulled vehicles where still common. I would put Eberron ahead there.

There are floating wagons, but they're still pulled by animals. And I won't fall into the guns rabbithole, so lets just leave it at; I disagree, on that one.

And there certainly aren't telephones. No one in Eberron is having a fluid conversation in real time over great distance, except maybe high level magic users that can cast Dream. The closest we have is essentially a magical telegraph, except instead of a guy punching a trigger erratically for a minute, waiting, and then telling you what came back, a guy whispers into a magic stone, waits a minute, and then tells you want came back.

Telegraph makes Eberron about 30 years behind our world in terms of communication. Telephone and radio where around by 1920, but not ubiquitous. The USA led the way with about 35% of households owning phones.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Spellshard, ERFTLW p 279.

Not remotely similar to a tablet. It’s a spellbook.

Skycoach, Soarsled. Not pulled by animals, and can fly. In the real world C1920 animal pulled vehicles where still common. I would put Eberron ahead there.

Only usable in Sharn. The setting is rather larger than Sharn. The vast majority of people still need animals to pull vehicles.

Telegraph makes Eberron about 30 years behind our world in terms of communication. Telephone and radio where around by 1920, but not ubiquitous. The USA led the way with about 35% of households owning phones.

The US had at least 1 phone in every town. That alone puts it vastly ahead of Eberron.

And radio was over 60% of homes by the end of the 20’s, as well as most public facing businesses. Ubiquitous.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Not remotely similar to a tablet. It’s a spellbook.

It looks like a tablet, it just doesn't have all the functionality yet. Give it another 100 years.

Only usable in Sharn. The setting is rather larger than Sharn. The vast majority of people still need animals to pull vehicles.

News for you: even in 2021 a large proportion of the real world use animals to pull vehicles. Tech level is generally calculated on "highest available", which in Eberron would be Sharn.

The US had at least 1 phone in every town. That alone puts it vastly ahead of Eberron.

And radio was over 60% of homes by the end of the 20’s, as well as most public facing businesses. Ubiquitous.

The USA isn't the world. In the 1990s Trevor Baylis invented a clockwork radio when he learned that much of Africa didn't have access to radio.

But as I said, Eberron is more like 1890 in terms of communications tech. So what? That doesn't make it remotely medieval. Queen Victoria would be most offended (by wireless telegraph).

 

[doctorbadwolf]

It looks like a tablet, it just doesn't have all the functionality yet. Give it another 100 years.

It’s nothing like a tablet.

News for you: even in 2021 a large proportion of the real world use animals to pull vehicles. Tech level is generally calculated on "highest available", which in Eberron would be Sharn.

I get that you enjoy feeling you’re “schooling” someone, but no. A “tech” that only works in one city, and runs on a resource that can’t be moved out of that city (the manifest zone) is not anything like automobiles.

It’s a public tram, in a world where only one city has an electric power grid. Which was available in many cities before 1900.

The USA isn't the world. In the 1990s Trevor Baylis invented a clockwork radio when he learned that much of Africa didn't have access to radio.

What’s your point? Do you think Korvaire is based on Africa?

But as I said, Eberron is more like 1890 in terms of communications tech. So what? That doesn't make it remotely medieval. Queen Victoria would be most offended (by wireless telegraph).

Show me where I said it was medieval. Quote me.

You started this ridiculous pedantry when I pointed out that Eberron is influenced by the themes and tones of 1920’s pulp fiction, but the actual world is influenced by much broader range of eras, and doesn’t actually resemble the 20’s that strongly.

Eberron is a setting where the tech ranges from Early Modern to late 1800s, the fashion ranges from vague fantasy to late Medieval to Edwardian, the politics are largely Early Modern except where they’re futuristic (economic politics drawn from cyberpunk) or modeled on the progressivism of the 21st century (social politics), and lots of random stuff is just pure D&D.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

What’s your point? Do you think Korvaire is based on Africa?

In 1920 it could have been based on England and still had mostly horse-drawn vehicles.

And depending on which sources you read there are self-powered land vehicles in places like Korranberg.

Show me where I said it was medieval. Quote me.

I don't remember what your original point was. I think I was saying that D&D went from bronze age to 1920s, and you argued against. I would agree with you if you are saying that Eberron isn't monolithically 1920s, but that doesn't refute the idea that it has 1920s elements, and therefore D&D includes 1920s.

the fashion ranges from vague fantasy to late Medieval to Edwardian

Now this just depends on who the artist is. It doesn't say, for any setting that I can think of "people here dress like this". It's up to the DM to decide what the fashions are, using published illustrations as a resource if they wish. An awful lot of things drawn for D&D are in the never existed at any point in history category. Pure fantasy, if you like.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

In 1920 it could have been based on England and still had mostly horse-drawn vehicles.

I like how you ignore half the post in order to not have to deal with stuff you don’t have an answer for.

And depending on which sources you read there are self-powered land vehicles in places like Korranberg.

If you can provide a source, I will amend my point to; it’s a public trolley, in a world where 2 cities

I don't remember what your original point was. I think I was saying that D&D went from bronze age to 1920s, and you argued against.

Nope. I didn’t even initially argue with you about anything. I replied to a post stating that Eberron is 1920’s by adding that Eberron isn’t even simply 1920s, but is instead made up of a bunch of influences.

I would agree with you if you are saying that Eberron isn't monolithically 1920s, but that doesn't refute the idea that it has 1920s elements, and therefore D&D includes 1920s.

I never argued against the point that D&D includes 1920s.

Now this just depends on who the artist is. It doesn't say, for any setting that I can think of "people here dress like this". It's up to the DM to decide what the fashions are, using published illustrations as a resource if they wish. An awful lot of things drawn for D&D are in the never existed at any point in history category. Pure fantasy, if you like.

LOL forget it man, you literally don’t even remember what started the discussion but you keep harping on it while shifting goalposts.

That’s a no, from me.