D&D 5E Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft Art Preview

SageAdvice.eu has compiled a bunch of art shots from the upcoming Ravenloft setting book. I've featured a handful below, but click through to the link for the full set of nearly 30 pieces.

ART Van Richtens Guide to Ravenloft26

Visit the post for more.

www.sageadvice.eu

 

[Stormonu]

Sorry pushing the button to fast and got 2, dont know how to delete

Strahd’ s always had pointy ears, see the I6 Ravenloft cover. They’re “bat” ears.

 

[overgeeked]

View attachment 136221
What's this? Haunted lightning rail? Eberron domain?

I thought the same when I saw a glimpse of that in the video released on the D&D YouTube channel yesterday. I had to pause it stare a moment.

 

[Parmandur]

View attachment 136221
What's this? Haunted lightning rail? Eberron domain?

Not necessarily: there also guns in some of these pics. The tech level and cultural style is much more 18th/19th century Europe.

 

[Dire Bare]

Dont think thats Strahd, notice the ears. Has to be Elvish or Half-Elf.

Pointy ears aren't a signifier of elven ancestry, they are a signifier of being not fully human.

Vampires, and Strahd in particular, have been depicted with pointy ears in D&D art for decades, although not consistently.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Dont think thats Strahd, notice the ears. Has to be Elvish or Half-Elf.

It's Strahd. He's always had pointed ears.

 

[Faolyn]

What’s up with the mad scientist’s right arm? It looks like it’s supposed to be turning transparent or something.

I assumed that he's missing the arm.

 

[Rabulias]

I assumed that he's missing the arm.

It looks to me that his he is reaching his hand out toward the viewer, palm up, so I think it's just weird perspective/foreshortening.

 

[Fritterfae]

It's not often I would ever suggest this, but this webpage should have been a slideshow/carousel.

 

[Aaron L]

I like the variety here! One thing I've always enjoyed about Ravenloft is how it really spans the horror genres- you've got mad scientists and headless horsemen and dark fey and vampires... Fun stuff!

Not to mention the Lovecraftian eldritch alien horror of Bluetspur!

There was a short Ravenloft story written by Mouseferatu several years ago, about a survivor who just barely make it out of Bluetspur, only to find that he didn't make it quite as far as he had believed. It was really, really good and written in Lovecraftian style. I keep a copy on my computer, it was so good.

 

[Aaron L]

So, tiefling horns come off the front of their head, while hexblood horns come off the back?

I much, much, much prefer the way Tieflings were originally portrayed, as unique individual descendants of fiendish ancestors, each with their own unique individual deformity.

Seeing as how the idea behind Tieflings came from the Medieval idea that birth deformities were caused by the sins of the child's parents and/or ancestors, it makes a whole Hell of a lot more sense that they would each have unique deformities, rather than being a full race of uniformly red-skinned, goat-horned, and lizard-tailed Devilpeople. I just cannot stand that massive alteration. It just makes them... flatter and less interesting.