Ravenloft Dungeon Master's Guide

[Messageboard Golem]

Delve Into Darkness

It is a land of days spent dreading the coming of the dark in a world ruled by horrors unimagined. It is a place of nights filled with terror. yet, some hardy souls persevere in the struggle against evil. Though some may feel they have uncovered all there is to know about the world of Ravenloft, many secrets remain to be discovered.

Revised Third Edition

Now the classic Ravenloft game has its own Dungeon Master's guide, fully compatible with the new 3.5 Edition of Dungeons and Dragons! The Ravenloft Dungeon Master's Guide contains a wealth of vital information for your campaign. It offers ways to reshape the classes in the D&D Dungeon Master's Guide, provides tips on creating a properly horrifying atmosphere for players, discusses ways to use Ravenloft in crossover games, contains delicious new magic items, prestige classes with alterations - and much more!

Requires the use of the Dungeons and Dragons Player's Handbook, Revised Third Edition, published by Wizards of the Coast. The Ravenloft campaign setting is an officially licensed Dungeons and Dragons property.

 

[heimdall]

When I first heard of the Ravenloft DMG coming out, I didn't pay much thought to it. After all, I felt the core rulebook had done justice to explaining the rules difference between Ravenloft and "stock" D&D as well as presenting enough of what makes Ravenloft different from other settings. However, when I saw the book at the bookstore I took the time to flip through it and determine if I should buy it. I saw enough to warrant the purchase. If you're an old school Ravenloft DM you may be wondering whether this book is for you, just as I was. Hence the reason for the review.

The Pros:

• Psionics: I have players who love the psionic rules additions to D&D and therefore I decided to run a setting where psionics are part of the world. However, at some point I wanted to migrate them into Ravenloft but there were no rules on psionics. I was faced with either converting the rules myself or scrapping my original idea. After all, if spells get changed, so too, should psionics. Psionics are covered in this sourcebook so if you want to use them in Ravenloft, you now can. The rules include the "Psilich" template if you want to throw a new twist at your psion-favoring players.
• Storytelling Hints: I've played numerous game systems and among them the best I've found for expounding upon mood, settings, etc., are the Storyteller games. After all, White Wolf has put out Storyteller Handbooks for each of their main World of Darkness games in order to assist those running the story. In keeping with tradition, this DMG has the same sort of material. It may not be useful for everyone, but it is an asset for those faced with running their first campaign. I tend to refer back to this sort of stuff when planning out an adventure as most of the plot techniques are well-known, it's all about the execution. I find looking at the plot techniques and comparing my story line with them helps to keep them from getting too muddled.
• Creating New Domains: This is another one that's helpful to the new Ravenloft DM. If you're toying with creating your own domain within Ravenloft, this is enough to get you started. There are a lot of good hints even for the experienced Ravenloft DM. I took a couple of pointers as I had already planned on migrating the main city of my existing campaign into Ravenloft as the center of a new domain.
• Sinkhole Rules: Any good horror setting should have some sort of rules for "pits of evil" and the sinkhole rules are just that for Ravenloft. As I DM I have had my own home-grown rules for dealing with these sorts of places (based a lot on the faith rules from WoD) but it's nice to see something "official" as well.
• NPC Class Charts: Just as in the D&D DMG, the Ravenloft DMG has charts for NPCs with base stats and equipment, except they cover the NPC classes such as the Adept or the Warrior, charts that aren't in the D&D DMG. I'll be honest: I don't use the charts in the DMG. However, I know folks who do and having these additional charts will prove handy for them. The lack of them might be considered an oversight in the D&D DMG.
• Prestige Class Alterations: There is a section describing how the Prestige Classes given in the D&D DMG are altered in Ravenloft, much like the core book covers how the core classes are altered.

The Cons:

• Prophecy Rules: Maybe I'm just looking ahead to the Tarokka deck they were releasing afterwards but I'm not a big fan of these rules. I bought the original sourcebox that had the first Tarokka deck and the dice when it came out many a year ago and the first thing I found was keeping track of all the cards was a pain. So I scrapped using the props except in a few rare circumstances. The rules are back in this DMG and I can see how they'll be helpful in some campaigns (meaning this could be considered a pro if you're looking for these types of rules), but they are something I'll pass on. A nice part of the rules addition, however, is the prophet NPC (perfect for your Vistani hook), though I don't see myself using this class in the near future.
• Rehash of the Setting: Once again, the main places in Ravenloft are covered by this sourcebook... except the coverage tends to be brief. The book refers the reader to either the Secrets of the Dread Realms or any of the Gazetteers. However, I will say there is coverage about what a good starting realm would be for a new campaign and that's helpful info for a new Ravenloft DM.

Overall I've found the book to be a good one and would recommend it to anyone running or considering a Ravenloft campaign. There are a few things I would have left out, but they didn't deter me from picking this book up. It's 3.5E ready and that's a big plus as well. So there's no need to convert rules, etc., as there are with some of the older products in the line.

 

[frandelgearslip]

This product is $34.95 for 238 pages with average text density.

introduction: The introduction of the book contains a one paragraph description for all the darklords of ravenloft. Since over half the darklords have yet to be described in 3rd edition this is an extremely useful resource for people who want to know who the darklords are. The only thing that could have been added was one line stats for the darklords instead of just descriptive text.

ch1: This chapter describes how one can arrive in ravenloft. Next there is a section on 13 tips for creating atmosphere in ravenloft. These tips are useful and I already use several of them. There is also 3 sidebars of rules related information in these sections. The ones on how to handle the lack of common and what happens to pcs from lack of sleep are useful, but the gem is the sidebar on making combat more dangerous, which shows in-depth knowledge of d&d rules which is unusual for arthaus products. Other sections of this chapter include remidial information on using voice and gestures when playing npcs and using music in the game. This information is fairly obvious and including 6 pages on using music in the game seems a bit excessive. The chapter concludes with information on using pacing and cut scenes in the game. The information on pacing is excellent and includes things I, a dm of over 10 years, have never thought of. The information on cut scenes on the other hand was not any good. For one thing it does not cover the fact that cut scenes by there very nature hurts suspension of disbelief, plus the example cut scenes were incredibly corny (including the sterotypical villian kill underling).

ch2: Opens up with info on how to create ones own domains in ravenloft. This information is useful and probably a big help if one wants to create their own domains. There is also some tips on building communities in ravenloft and the information is okay. There are also some sample communities given. Next comes a discussion of the widely varying cultural levels in ravenloft. This section was ridicolous as there is another indepth several page discussion almost indentical to this one in the campaign setting book. Why they see the need to repeat information is beyond me. Next in the chapter comes expanded info on sinkholes of evil This information expands on sinkholes and describes the effects of sinkholes and the types of negative emotions that could be tied to them. The best part was rules for rank five sinkholes where the location begins to get an intelligence of its own, which is great for all those horror stories where the house itself is evil. Finally comes some information on conversions for races and prestige classes coming into ravenloft along with some information on psionic conversions. The outcast ratings listed for the various races and monsters seemed a bit low to me. An elf is a 3, but a vampire is only a 5? Also included in this chapter is advancement charts for the npc classes like there were for the base classes in the dmg.

ch3: Starts with info on using the various domains in ravenloft. The information is okay but for the most part is readily apparent without having to have it explained. Next comes information on campaign types and a sample campaign for each type. The campaign types and sample campaigns are fairly bland and obvious ones, such as vengeance and bandit lords and a lot of them don't particularly match the feel of ravenloft. The chapter ends with the worst part of the whole book the discussion of villian types. First off the discussion had little thought to it and most readers probably already thought of most of that which was discussed. Furthermore the discussion was so generic that it had little application to the actual ravenloft setting. For example the warlord is listed with orcs among his example minions even though orcs do not exist in the ravenloft campaign setting.

ch4: This chapter deals with fortune telling in the ravenloft campaign, including info on every card of the ravenloft tarroka deck. There is also a description of an npc class the prophet. The information is excellent since fortunetelling and future hintings are often used in ravenloft campaigns.

ch5: This last chapter details magical and cursed items including depth rules and suggestions for creating cursed items. Several of the magical items were not thought out including a wonderous item that turns its user into an instant darklord if they fail a powers check. In general they did not particualarly fit the ravenloft campaign and are not as interesting as those described in the relics and ritual books. The section on creating cursed items was interesting and thoughtful, but it looks like the authors ignored it when creating the sample cursed items.

In the end this is an extremely varied grabbag of information of varying quality, so it should come as no surprise that it ends up a 3.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Comparing this to the rest of the Art-Haus
Ravenloft line I would give this a 4.0. For me, this is equal to the best of the line, my other favorite being Denizens. I was also surprised to feel that this book was worth buying. Only buy this if you are a DM, though. Or are sure you will DM Ravenloft someday soon.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

I am very much of the same opinion with this reviewer. Of the two reviews here at this time this one is much closer to dead on, IMO.

 

[frandelgearslip]

But why would one compare it to the rest of the line before giving it a grade. If the whole line is garbage and the next product is average, why rate it as good?
Also I thought that van richten's arsenal, gazzeter 1, gazzeter 2, gazzeter 3, gazzeter 4, RLCS, and denizens of darkness were all better products than this one. Thats why it got a 3.

 

[Joël of the FoS]

Odd book. Because it is composed of many heterogeneous parts, and because it is excellent. Heterogeneous, because this book is more a 'guide to designing Ravenloft adventure' then a DM guide. While I was expecting much more rules for the Ravenloft DM, I got mostly guidelines and advice !

That said, I highly recommend this book. It is a priceless guide for DM in Ravenloft.

Chapter One: the 13 dramatic techniques are great, simple and useable in any game. The 'cut scenes' is something new for me, a veteran DM, and I used it with success since. The part on music suggestions is very good - I hunted many of these suggestions with the pleasure of finding gems to set the right mood in my games.

Chapter Two: The collection of advice on creating new domains is well made. I hope people submitting to our netbooks will use them ! The cultural level expansion is great and well explained. Developing the sinkholes of evil was cool (especially the ethereal 'taint' ). I can't judge the psionic expansion for Ravenloft, as do not know (or care) a lot on this topic. But I heard only good comments on this part of the book, so I'll take their word for it.

Chapter Three: Chapter Three is full of advice on creating a campaign. Very solid stuff !

Chapter Four: Chapter Four, on tarokka and dikesha use is interesting, especially the tarokka part. The Prophet NPC class seem odd to me - those NPC are very rare and mostly DM plot devices, did we need rules on creating them ?

Chapter Five: Chapter Five ends the book and is a little feeble, IMHO. Some of the proposed magic items are not very imaginative ('Barkskin Furs') and the section should be seen as items to enrich some domains description and atmosphere, not unique items driving plot like the ill-fated 2nd ed. Forged of Darkness was. However, interesting bits here and there and the potion section is presenting weird and cool liquids.

Strong book. I enjoyed reading it during my summer vacation (it was out in July 03, and I bought a copy the day before we left for the seaside). 4 on 5.