Ravenloft: The Horrors Within Announced, Release Date Scheduled for June 2026

[Paul Farquhar]

Yeah, Ravenloft's horror is about human evils and understandable villains.

Ravenloft is about any kind of horror. That's why it has lots of domains, each one an isolated mini-setting inspired by a different horror story or movie, rather than being a single world like CoC or MotRD.

You can kill Strahd and free the people of Barovia (for a time).

That's CoS. CoS isn't the only thing in Ravenloft.

Strahd is a good villain because he's tragic, understandable,

I can't say as I find anything tragic or understandable about a self-centred abusive stalker.

The main draw of Lovecraftian horror

You are right, D&D, with it's superpowered fantasy hero protagonists, doesn't do Lovecraftian horror. But punching out Cthulhu is it's own genre. There is more than one way to play with a toy.

And Ravenloft already has godlike cosmic horror entities in it; the Dark Powers.

Going by the stuff Perkins put in the Amber Temple chapter of CoS, the dark powers are decidedly limited, and prisoners themselves. They use smoke and mirrors to get the dark lords to use their own power to imprison themselves. Of course it would be very on-brand for everything we think we know about the working of Ravenloft to be wrong, but that cuts both ways.

Anyway, as pointed out, the text indicates Cthulhu is not a prisoner. Yes, he is stronger than the Dark Powers - so powerful that he can move in and the landlords can't do anything about it.

 

[Charlaquin]

Going by the stuff Perkins put in the Amber Temple chapter of CoS, the dark powers are decidedly limited, and prisoners themselves. They use smoke and mirrors to get the dark lords to use their own power to imprison themselves. Of course it would be very on-brand for everything we think we know about the working of Ravenloft to be wrong, but that cuts both ways.

The Amber Vestiges are never explicitly confirmed to be the Dark Powers. Perkins and his team (wisely, IMO) left it ambiguous enough that there is room to interpret them that way, or as their own thing separate from the Dark Powers. Though, personally I find arguments for the latter interpretation more convincing.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

What is MotRD?

WotC can use monsters of public domain and now Lovecraft's work is but they would rather content created by themself. Everybody else can use count Dracula but there is only one Strahd von Zarovich. Don't you remember in the last years Disney has created original characters for its movies instead adapted classical titles?

We don't need Chulthu when we have got brainstealer dragons.

Some players want more action-horror instead survival horror, terminating Lovecraftian monstruosities instead hiding and escaping.

* Some videogame studios could be interested into collabs with Ravenloft to promote their own franchises. The studio of "Dead by Daylight" is working in a survival spin-off where PC can fight and even shoot firearms.

* The action-live teleserie "From" can be a good example of a possible dark domain with XX century technology.

* My especulation is in the future Ravenloft metaplot will be linked to Vecna's machinations but also Innistrad and Duskmourn, and this will cause the creation of a "second layer" working like the "outdoors" of Duskmourn. Here in this layer Valgavoth can't eat the fear by the survivors directly but when slashers and cultists perform rituals of sacrificial offerings or when there are fights in "kill-boxes" (rooms with traps against intruders style tower-defense videogame).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The Amber Vestiges are never explicitly confirmed to be the Dark Powers. Perkins and his team (wisely, IMO) left it ambiguous enough that there is room to interpret them that way, or as their own thing separate from the Dark Powers. Though, personally I find arguments for the latter interpretation more convincing.

Indeed. Hint without confirming anything is the right way to go.

But it does mean there is no canon true Ravenloft lore.

 

[Parmandur]

Is that creature depicted supposed to be Cthulu himself?

Yes, it is the top of the two page spread with Cthulu on it.

 

[Parmandur]

using Cthulhu...as the love interest of a romance novel.

OK, now that sounds fun.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Yeah, Ravenloft's horror is about human evils and understandable villains. You can kill Strahd and free the people of Barovia (for a time). Strahd is a good villain because he's tragic, understandable, and stuck in a cycle that he is incapable of breaking.

The main draw of Lovecraftian horror is exploring an extreme version of "the fear of the other" by having immensely powerful and incomprehensible forces/entities that are terrifying because they're unstoppable.

Cthulhu should not be a Dark Lord. He's too big. And Ravenloft already has godlike cosmic horror entities in it; the Dark Powers. And the point of the Dark Powers is that they're immensely powerful and unknowable and should not be the villains of a Ravenloft campaign. They're a tool for worldbuilding and story creation.

People can (of course) disagree and do what they want. But to me, using Cthulhu as a Dark Power is as big of a mistake as using him as the love interest of a romance novel.

I think I've seen some of those movies, I believe the Japanese make them...

 

[dave2008]

Well I just saw this over on my artstation feed, posted by the artist of the cover art. So Cthulhu confirmed!

 

[Remathilis]

The Amber Vestiges are never explicitly confirmed to be the Dark Powers. Perkins and his team (wisely, IMO) left it ambiguous enough that there is room to interpret them that way, or as their own thing separate from the Dark Powers. Though, personally I find arguments for the latter interpretation more convincing.

My own Ravenloft head canon is that they are avatars of the Dark Powers; not them but speaking on their behalf. The real powers are unknowable.

 

[Remathilis]

Indeed. Hint without confirming anything is the right way to go.

But it does mean there is no canon true Ravenloft lore.

That is for the best. D&D needs more unanswered questions and less canon answers. Who is the Lady of Pain? What are the Dark Powers? What happened on the Day of Mourning? Questions with no real answer except what the DM decides.