D&D 5E Ravenloft Previews of Dementlieu, Lamordia, and Har'Akir

WotC has been sprinkling previews of individual Ravenloft domains to various websites -- including Dementlieu, Lamordia, and Har'Akir. Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft is only a couple of weeks away, coming out on May 18th!

Dementlieu​

• Forbes takes a look Dementlieu, which has inspirations like Cinderella, The Masque of the Red Death, and Dark City. "Dementlieu is one of over 30 domains of dread detailed in the book. It’s a sharp contrast to Barovia’s dark forest and looming Gothic castle on a hill. Instead it’s covered in a glamorous sheen of fine clothes and fancy parties. Everyone is dying to be invited to the Grand Masquerade held by Duchess Saidra d’Honaire every week on her private island. And, in many cases, killed if they are discovered at the ball if they’re not supposed to be there."
• Syfy Wire looks at Lamordia, inspired by Frankenstein. "Many of the Domains of Dread are inspired by some horror tale or piece of creepy folklore, and Lamordia definitely has its roots in Frankenstein. But while the Domain is inspired by that classic horror story, its elements are then shot through the lens of D&D adventures and explored to dozens of horrific extremes. Mordenheim's land isn't just about resurrection gone awry, it's also the Domain for all different types of science gone wrong, bizarre experiments, body horror weirdness, and grim tales of society versus a frigid land. Just as there's more to Frankenstein than a scientist who abandoned his child, there's more to Lamordia than stitches and semi-dead flesh."
• Polygon has Har'Akir, an Egyptian-themed domain. "Why is there a Domain that is a desert that is riddled with these ancient, inexplicable haunted monuments and ruined pyramids? How does a Domain like that exist? How does it make sense? To an extent it doesn’t, and it’s going to be the players that come and explore that, who are some of the only people that realize that the entirety of the domain is, to an extent, gaslighting them."

Ankhetop, darklord of Har'Akir

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[Faolyn]

As much as I enjoy Groundhog Day loops, I'm not sure I like it as the basis of a domain. I've seen that done in one or two fan domains, and it always left me very ambivalent.

That said, I do like how, as Remathalis put it, it captures the hopelessness of war. But I have to wonder if it's a proper time loop or if it's just an undefeatable army of zombies that rises every month.

 

[Charlaquin]

I just don't have the rose-tinted nostalgia glasses for Ravenloft the way some people do. I was a teenager when Ravenloft (the setting) first came out. Some of my friends were all in on the setting, but my thoughts on it at the time were that it was hokey and quaint. It was very Bela Lugosi and, well, to quote Bauhaus, "Bela Lugosi's Dead".

And also, “Undead, undead, undead,” Which is not a terrible thing for a vampire to be

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Sort of off topic, but has anyone played A Plague Tale? I was running through it when the Ravenloft book got announced and thought it would make a perfect domain. Having deadly swarms dominate any area of darkness also helps make darkness scary, even for characters with darkvision.

How to mess with the obnoxious Darkness + Devil's sight warlock? Make the zombies obsessively disengage and try to gather in the small bloat of darkness created by the spell!

Very much like the Netflix show Kingdom where the infected zombies fear the heat and must hide in the shade when the sun is high, making walking in a tight space under a house or between two mountains a terrible experience indeed!

 

[overgeeked]

Umm... Pretty sure he’s named after the biblical Adam, just like the creature in every other adaptation of Frankenstein. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s where the Adams Family got it’s name from.

The Addams Family is named after their creator, Charles Addams.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Umm... Pretty sure he’s named after the biblical Adam, just like the creature in every other adaptation of Frankenstein. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s where the Adams Family got it’s name from.

Pretty sure it is a reference to the "I ought to be thy Adam" line that they quoted in the Realm of Terror set (which is definitely a reference to biblical Adam and to Paradise Lost---the latter which the monster had read)

 

[Bedrockgames]

As much as I enjoy Groundhog Day loops, I'm not sure I like it as the basis of a domain. I've seen that done in one or two fan domains, and it always left me very ambivalent.

The one domain/adventure where I enjoyed this sort of set up (not sure how Groundhog day it is as people aren't actually repeating days, it is more like a night that never seems to end) was the Dark Minstrel. I ran that adventure more than any other I think and it was quite fun

 

[Tonguez]

Pretty sure it is a reference to the "I ought to be thy Adam" line that they quoted in the Realm of Terror set (which is definitely a reference to biblical Adam and to Paradise Lost---the latter which the monster had read)

"I ought to be thy Adam" is what the Monster says to Dr Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's book, using the name in Lamordia is a direct Frankenstein reference. The namelessness of Mary Shelley's Monster is part of the tragedy of the story and is what leads it to crying out to its creator drawing parallel to the Biblical creation,

 

[Tonguez]

In a vain, final attempt to drag this thread kicking and screaming back on topic:

IGN has a preview of Falkovnia, which "has been reimagined as a nightmarish Groundhog's Day-style loop, where a struggling nation—which happens to be ruled by a brutal warlord—is endlessly besieged by massive hordes of the walking dead, who just so happen to look like everyone this warlord has ever killed."

Discuss.

As much as I dont like Zombie apocalypse stories this approach actually doesnt sound at all bad and kind of reminds me of the Halloween adventure that featured Scarecrows attacking a town (anyone remember that?). It also fits with Falkovnia’s existing lore and makes a suitable curse for the Darklord. Indeed as much as I may not like some of the changes nor the style of play, it is sounding like the designers have gone to lengths to make the Domains actually playable adventure sites with more than one cliche hook -thats a good thing (oh and the Zombie clot is cool).
I also like the notion that the book also gives ideas for other forms of ‘Disaster Horror scenario’, I can already envisage using insect swarms (including formians) in a similar non-Ravenloft manner, I wonder if Kaiju could work too.

 

[Remathilis]

"I ought to be thy Adam" is what the Monster says to Dr Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's book, using the name in Lamordia is a direct Frankenstein reference. The namelessness of Mary Shelley's Monster is part of the tragedy of the story and is what leads it to crying out to its creator drawing parallel to the Biblical creation,

Yup, one of Ravenloft many "on the nose" moments in naming.

 

[Hussar]

Apologies folks for going down this road. It's never productive. It never results in anything positive and only leads to me further digging myself into rhetorical holes of my own devising. Sorry.