Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft for D&D - Everything You Need to Know
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- Опубліковано 22 лют 2021
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Dungeons & Dragons Expands Beyond the Gothic Horror in Curse of Strahdwith Van Richten’s Guide to RavenloftD&D Brings Multiple Horror Genres to (Un)Life Including Slasher Horror, Macabre Fairy Tale, and Zombie Apocalypse.
One of the most popular adventures published by D&D in the last few yearswas Curse of Strahd which begins when characters are pulled by creeping mists in to a land called Barovia. But Strahd’s domain is just one of the many Domains of Dread that make up the horror-themed setting of Ravenloft. Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenlof trefreshes the setting by giving Dungeon Masters descriptions of more than 30 Domains of Dread beyond Barovia as well as the tools to create their own horrific stories, including details on each domain’s Darklord, a ready-to-play adventure, new monsters, lineages and sub-classes. Be afraid for Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft to pull D&D fans into the Mists on May 18. “I’m a huge fan of all things horror, so it was an absolute thrill to frame this book around bringing frightening elements like mummy lords, cosmic terrors, and urban legends to more D&D tables,” said Wes Schneider, senior game designer and lead designer of Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. “Working with exciting new voices in horror and visual artists like D&D concept artist Shawn Wood was essential to make sure we’re updating the aesthetic for today’s fans while staying true to the roots of Ravenloft.”The correspondence of Rudolph Van Richten and other heroes of Ravenloft, like Ezmerelda d’Avenir and the Weathermay-Foxgrove Twins, introduce a new generation of monster hunters to the Lands of the Mists. Some of the Domains of Dread might feel eerily familiar to fans such as Lamordia, which explores the horror of experimentation on creating undead beings from deceased body parts by Dr. Viktra Mordenheim. Other horrors include the surreal, fairytale masquerades of Dementlieu; treachery in the war-torn rain forests of Kalakeri; and the endless zombie hordes of Falkovnia. Van Richten’s Guide includes rules and advice for DMs to create custom domains and Darklordsby portraying established horror tropes or whatever special new blend of terror they can imagine. Players can create more terrifying characters with Dark Gifts that provide roleplaying ties tothe Domains of Dread by bestowing benefits that may have a deadly cost. With Van Richten’s Guide, players can also roll upa dhampir who’s been created by a vampire, a hexblood descended from a hag, or a reborn who’s been brought back from the dead.Two new subclasses further flesh out the options with the College of Spirits for bards and the Undead pact for warlocks, as well as new backgrounds to explore and trinkets to collect. Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft features a cover by Anna Podedworna available everywhere and an alternate cover by Scott M. Fischer only available through game stores.The mists beckon on May 18, 2021! - Ігри
EDIT: Vlad Drakov is not a vampire however both Vlad and Strahd are based on not only Dracula but the historical inspiration for Dracula (Vlad Tepes). Vlad Drakov as a character was felt by the authors to be a bit repetitive.
I really hope you write in some in-universe reason he's gone. Maybe he was killed in one of his pointless wars, and one of his bastards took over?
He’s warrior class that eats dinner while people are being impaled to live orchestral music. More like a vampire than not.
I was going to reply saying this very thing. Thank you for the edit. Lol
I just really enjoyed when you said "revamped" because of the pun :D
Disagree. Strahd is more like the novel/Universal movie monster version of Dracula, Drakov is more like Tepes. Completely different characters, completely different domains. The novel was only loosely based on Vlad Tepes anyway.
At a glance thinking this was a D&Dbeyond video, my heart sank "Oh no, we lost Todd just before the perfect book for him".
Glad that isn't the case, looking forward to you gushing over this for the next several months, all your content to come on this channel, and for whatever it is you're doing next.
I second this comment, always love Todd's Wisdom and Insight!
What's wrong with D&Dbeyond?
Not D&D Beyond, and still a Todd Kenreck video on the newest book! Now that's just awesome. Thank you!
Okay. This was literally in a row in my UA-cam feed:
CritCrab- Necromancer story (months old)
Dungeon Dudes: How to build a Necromancer (1 year old)
Questing Beast: The Forgotten Rites of the Mouldering Dead NEW
And now you, with the Thirty Domains of Dread. NEW
Today's theme: Necromancy and You, a guide.
Now I want to play a Reborn Circle of Spores Druid, reanimated by those spores. His ambition? Supplant a Dread Lord and take his place.
I need permission to steal this idea lol
"Guess I'll un-die"
Coincidentally, a similar character idea is used in the High Rollers' Curse of Strahd campaign. Its name is The Mire which is actually two characters :D. A dead body which has split into two with the remaining halves substituted by gross plant growth. One half is Circle of Spores Druid and the other is Swarmkeeper Ranger.
high-rollers-dnd.fandom.com/wiki/The_Mire
My group started playing through Curse of Strahd last summer, then Chris Perkin's mentioned writing about the Ravenloft setting months later and I was wanting to do Tomb of Annihilation instead to wait for this to come out. But alas, we are attempting to free Strahd from his captivity and bring Barovia to the material plane.
@@UA-camStupidBullshit That sounds freaking Awesome!!
I will correct the statement that Vlad Drakov was a vampire. The difference between him and Strahd was that while Strahd was based on the vampire myth of Dracula, Drakov was based on the actual historical person Vlad Tepes, and was thus a mortal human. And that was the horror about the Drakov family, they were just mortal humans, and still terrible enough to be dark lords.
This. And Falkovnia was hardly anything like Barovia.
True. And the Dark Powers made him go from a warrior to a farmer by not allowing him to seal his borders, and giving him the biggest grain producing domain in the Core.
Thank you for adding this correction. You beat me to it. He also didn't mention Sourange, the OG zombie domain.
Also not to put too fine a point on it Drakov was more a medieval Hitler than Vlad the Impaler.
Just stating.
Thank you for staying on UA-cam Todd
Hoping to see more live play streams from ya, need some Cynicism in my life again
It really says something about my mindset when my first reaction to this book is reskinning a domain of dread to be Halloween Town, making "domains of dread" for each holiday door in the forest, and fleshing out the undead and undying warlock patrons to slide Jack Skellington into the campaign.
Now I have to go look up the homebrew warlock patrons on the Mage Hand Press website and see if they have a gambler or lady luck patron that can take the place of Oogie Boogie.
I uhh... need you to keep us updated
You should check out Tome of Beasts 2 from Kobold Press. It's got a Pumpkin King (CR10) and Snow Terror (CR8) that may work well for this.
I’m a simple man; I see ‘Ravenloft’, I click on the thumbnail. I appreciate your in-depth review of this! Bit disappointed about the lack of Lord Soth but as you stated, it does make sense. At least they included a way to integrate him and Sithicus though
Totally going to be recreating him if he's not in it as the first order of business.
Same here. Ravenloft? Yes please! *click*
Maybe with the whole Dragonlance lawsuit they couldn't do it
So glad to see all of the Domains of Dread being brought forward.
And bringing templates back into the game is awesome!!!
If you mean templates the way I think you do they have had them since the Core books, there are a couple in the MM! If that isn't what you mean then I missed something
I'm in the middle of building a zombie apocalypse campaign! This couldn't have come at a better time!
Look at the lost Citadel also. It might be helpful
@@chrislinscomb6286 thanks! I want to have hordes so I plan on using the horde attacks rules in the dmg. Got pretty excited when I found those. The plan is to never get higher than CR3 (wights), and as they gain levels just have more enemies instead of bigger enemies.
There was a pretty good game some years back I played, unsure if it's still in print but it was called "all flesh must be eaten", you'd have to adjust the rules of course but it had some great ideas for scenarios and the like in it...maybe worth a look
I'm sorry, they decided to reVAMP Falkovnia?
I'll show myself out.
Well said. Depending on the size of the bestiary will be the only reason why I buy this
Zombie apocalypse... Not really gothic horror anymore. More in your face adventure/survival domain. I liked Vorostokov for this.
Careful, dont bite off more than you can chew.
@@broke_af_games9661 Oh to be clear, I'm not showing myself out due to lack of interest. I'm showing myself out due to the bad pun. As a newer dnd player, I have no real connection to any of the old lore, so while I totally understand people not liking the change, it doesn't really affect me one way or the other.
Beyond the ability to make bad puns about it of course.
Seeing you on UA-cam makes my heart smile. I've missed your videos, Todd!
Thanks for sticking around for us todd. Just subscribed and hope to see your numbers exponentially grow. Your insight into the space is unique and needed for all who enjoy the game.
Vlad Drakov wasn't a vampire! The point was that he was human, and yet among the worst of Darklords. It still needed an overhaul, though.
Honestly this lessens my interest. If they wanted to ignore past stuff they should have advanced the timelne.
Thank goodness some else noticed this. Drakov's domain was the scariest domain for my players. Zombies? We had the Darkon borders for that.
@@VengefulJarl I was conflicted with the 5e Ravenloft, but I am thinking I agree with you.
Exactly. Drakov was more an analog for the real Vlad Tepesh, not "Dracula".
Glad someone else noticed this, pretty sure it's an advanced timeline Drakov was already dealing with tons of zombies from all his failed invasions of Darkon, I'm assuming the new lord is his offspring.
Kalidnay is good survival horror, it was a domain pulled from the world of Dark Sun.
It's fun to see Todd so excited for Ravenloft. Right up his alley :)
eh wotC shill fames interest in something he doesn't know anythingn about, he thinks Vlad Drakov was a vampire.
We've had zombies: Souragne was the 2e Zombie setting. It was plantations in the US South, with zombies in the swamp. I guess if they want to rewrite Falkovnia, okay, but odd they're ignoring Souragne.
Probably trying to stay away from the ethnic implications of zombies working a plantation.
Souragne was more voodan swamp setting. Falkovnia was supposed to be 1940s germany, Drakov is constantly waging war against neighboring nations and being defeated.
@@mitchywilson9892 I wish they had incorporated anything about the fact Drakov was from Krynn to make him have a little more flavor so I guess I can see why he was a bit superfluous just like they got rid of Duke Gundar.
Har’ Akir is a great domain, the Egyptian theme with a priestess of Set, a greater mummy Senmet as an ally/villan, the greater mummy domain lord Ankhtepot, Ankhtepot’s Children as a type of mummy. The module Touch of Death was basic but great. The old video game Stone Prophet was fun to play. I modified them both for 5e and thats how I introduced my party into Ravenloft. Wanted something better and easier to digest for party than Curse of Strahd.
also good old "your rogue didnt find the trap on the stairs that lead to another trap, your party is now being eaten alive by scarabs" 2e insta deaths
I got bad news for you. They missed the fact it's supposed to be Boris Karloff's The Mummy by design and mangled it.
Great video, lots of great info! I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to write for Ravenloft in the 3.5 era; it’s my favorite setting. Really looking forward to this book
Great to see Too still on UA-cam. Great to hear about this book. Crazy excited for it (and Todd).
I'm so glad you're still able to do these deep dive explorations! Keep up the great work!
Your excitement is contagious and I really enjoy your "Todd Talks"! Thanks!
When I started watching dndbeyond's Heroes of the Vale a few months ago I never imagined being pulled into this community and world as much as I have. been. From watching the amount of enthusiasm and love you have for this game, I was inspired to try and DM myself. I'm currently running HotDQ and looking for any way to learn and teach others in return. You are out there every day giving the truest form of your passion to the dnd community and that inspires all of us. Keep it up!
I am so stoked to see you still around covering D&D.
Amazing video Todd. Thanks SO much for the info and detail on this. Beyond excited for this campaign setting. Been a diehard Ravenloft fan since I6.
I'm glad you're still doing videos ❤️
I LOVE Van Richten’s Guides from 2nd Edition !!!! This is Most Excellent News !!
Same here. I own all of them and all the modules.
Back in 2nd ed days I can't remember what was first but I'm hoping to see Spelljammer and Darksun soon after this.
Ok but this doesn’t sound like a new VR guide so much as a bad campaign setting book
Yay! Todd still makes these videos. I am happy!
Thank you for doing what you do. I have been a follower of yours before DDB and I'm glad you keep on doing your videos after moving on. Your passion for the game is truly inspiring!
Thank you Todd! Incredible new content that I'm excited about running for my players. I expect we'll still be in my CoS come May upon release. This might provide a lot of cool "sidequest" material post-main quest. :)
Love this! Couldn't be more happier about seeing Tod continuing down this path!
I am really enjoying the content so far man. Keep up the good work!
The adventure hooks for each domain sound FANTASTIC. I've been wanting to run a domain-hopping adventure from levels 11-20 following Curse of Strahd, and this sounds like it makes my dream much more of a realistic possibility as someone not great at structuring homebrew adventures.
Just got my strahd revamped box a few weeks ago, and was digging through the Van Richten’s guides on drive thru RPG to augment it, so I am 100% on board with this!
TODD!!! YAY!!! TALKIN PROBABLY ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS ANNOUNCED!!! THIS IS THE BEST UNBIRTHDAY EVER!!!
Aweeeesome! Super hyped for this book! I've loved the Ravenloft setting in all it's versions. Crazy how many of my friends old and forever-retold role-playing stories are Ravenloft stories.
Glad to see you're still at it, Todd!
happy you are still making videos i was so worried i was never going to see you again :) made my day
This is very well done, not just the content but your explenation. I'm sold. :)
Todd, I want you to know that I watch your videos more than DDB news videos honestly
You say the info I’m looking for, and ideas that have made my games better
So glad you see you here!!
So Excited! Love me some horror in my d&d. Also keep up the great work Todd, I was sad to hear you left the d&d beyond team but glad your still doing commentary 😀
Awesome to see you Todd!
I saw this video pop up on r/D&D and I was so happy! Just subscribed, keep up the great work!!
Todd, you're the best! Thank you for sharing and I can't wait for this product, either! Keep up the great work, you beautiful bastard!
Thanks for the great video, Todd! Looking forward to this book even more now.
I like that deep dive on books and lores . this is great format and happy to see you finding your foothold after DNDB. we still mess you there though :)
Thank you for still making video! You're the best! And I can't wait yo make a "campain" of oneshot adventures in all of those realms. :D
Amazing video! Carry on and it's nice seeing you all excited about a sourcebook like you are about ravenloft in your raven loft
Awesome video!!! I'm very glad that you use a very clear, simple, and easy way to speak, it helps a lot to non-native english speaker. Good job.
Thanks for the upload Todd! Really looking forward to this- I really hope Lord Soth's domain gets included though (even if the domain itself is just mentioned)
It might not because of the Dragonlance lawsuit, I'm hoping to see him again also!!
October 2021 is gonna be a return to ravenloft when my group can play in person again! Loved this whole thing!
Good to see you again so soon Todd!
My personal domain plans:
Eberron + Ravenloft for the domain of Cyre! The Mournland is just a cosmic placeholder for the true horror that awaited Cyre. Keeping this dark lord a custom secret. It's psychological horror.
Another domain, "Portberg" would be floating along in the sea of sorrows, basically Giff who live on the wreckage of a spelljammer fleet, who fish for food and trade with travelers. The dark lord would be a Giff who started a mutiny upon this massive fleet due to greed and drunkenness. His goals are based through mercenary work for other Dark Lords in domains that become coterminous.
Thanks for continuing to make these videos. I learned a lot!
Thank you for making a nice, long, and juicy video on this.
While this is absolutely amazing, and I am really excited about it. I do wish they would be a bit more focused. With 30 domains on 256 pages, that gives you just over 8 pages per domain. In those 8 pages, they need to talk about the domain, its locations, its lord, power structure, culture, inhabitants, and more. And on top of that, there is supposedly a bestiary and other chapters as well? That cuts us down to even fewer pages. Waterdeep Dragon Heist had a similar issue where you ended up not using about half the book, and it also became really difficult to actually read and use the way it was written.
I would rather have fewer domains that are more fleshed out than a book with a ton of them, but with sparse information on each. It's not like you are going to be using more than 1, maybe 2 in a campaign anyways. And if you're gonna be mixing and matching, then the whole point of "30 domains!" kind of loses its meaning. It would be better to just make the whole book focused on how to make your own domains in that case. Not really. That said, again, I'm really excited about this, this is just my own little nitpick.
Yeah they have been cheap with the books in 5E! I didn't feel that Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica did a very good job of giving you history of the plane/world(pick your poison here they are kind of the same thing but one is MTG the other is D&D). I have little idea what all is actually in the Eberron book, was pretty ticked off when I saw that the "second" Eberron book just looked like 80-90% of the same stuff just slightly reorganized!
Swords and sorcery did amazing gazatteers in the early 2000s on the domains of the core, 30+ pages on each domain, be they are a fairly cheap grab on drive through RPG.
@@JacksonOwex yeah, a lot of people weren't thrilled about the amount of content that was reprinted from WGtE to ERftLW.
Overall, I really like the Eberron book but certain choices that came later annoyed me. The most glaring one is that they revised their stance on double types for PC races/lineages so now you can play a humanoid/construct PC, but not if you're playing a warforged - how does that make any sense?
@@unclefuzz2313 Oh really? I will make sure to check them out then! Thanks! :)
5e in general seems to focus less on incredibly in-depth, super-detailed descriptions, in order to encourage people to make the worlds their own. Personally I still found every Domain and every Darklord in the book absolutely fascinating to read about and discover. They packed a lot into those pages.
Happy you’re keeping up with the videos!
I'm really excited about this book. I can't wait to get it in my hands!
I'm so happy you're here
I'm really glad that they are expanding on the different planes of dread. In the novel "I, Strahd", Strahd himself mentions that he cannot escape Barova, but he has found entrances to other territories around Barova that seemed to also be self contained (and he even knows some of the rulers of these places) and regonizes that these are also 'prisons'. I'm glad I will get to play around with this idea in the CoS campaign I am currently running.
Super stoked for this setting book!
You just made me even more excited for this book.
I just pre-ordered from my local shop and I'm so fricken hyped. May can't get here fast enough.
Super hype about this book! I've been collecting the old Ravenloft modules, so this is exciting news!
Super psyched for this book. Already pre-ordered to mine it for ideas for my own setting and to make sure my CoS DM has access to it if they choose to use it.
Would love to see you and some guests talking about the domains y'all want to visit or DM the most in. Hit on each of the domains, but getting different people talking about the ones that inspire them the most.
The haunted house one seems like the haunting from call of Cthulhu. That’s a classic. Would love that actually
Didn't know you'd still be on yt, glad to see it
I'm 'bout 100% sure that cube is the Lament Configuration from Clive Barker's Hellraiser universe.
The Wrath of Adam was one of the best Ravenloft adventures. I can't wait for this book.
Duuuude, i'm so excited for this book. One of the only campaigns i've played through completely and it was EPIC. My character was so changed by the amber temple he felt more at home in Ravenloft as a monster. When the mists parted he remained. So this means he can still have adventures in Ravenloft or when I run something from this book I can have him travelling the various shadow realms or whatever they're called.
I think Ravenloft really needed to be fleshed out so this is great! Thanks for the video, made me more excited for the book to come out.
Yewwww! Cannot wait 😁
Great work Todd!
Zombies in Falkovnia? If I recall well, undead was the theme of Darkon, with a culture of the dead rising to protect the domain from the invasions of the military of Falkovnia. It had also a domain inside that was a city of undead. So... it makes no sense to me to reskin Falkovnia as a zombie apocalypse domain... Well, I am a huge fan of the setting and I love the work that Sword&Sorcery did long time ago, so my expectations are high.
I'm curious too. Darkon is basically the second most well known domain after Barovia. Azalin Rex even appeared in artwork in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything so they've got to be bringing him and his domain back in some fashion. I guess Darkon will be more focus on the memory-manipulation thing and the undead being controlled by and serving their lich-wizard-king whilst in Falkovnia the undead just run wild.
It also sounds like they're going to isolate the domains more and make it harder to move between them so I suppose Falkovnia as this nation constantly invading other domains is a little difficult to uphold. Although, I'd honestly find it funny if the whole reasoning for it being a zombie apocalypse is Vlad Drakov's pointless wars with the undead in Darkon eventually led to them getting fed up and attacking him back, ruining his lands and getting him killed.
Darkon was the largest domain in Ravenloft and was very diverse; in many of the other domains, dwarves, gnomes, elves, etc. can be very rare and are met with suspicion and hostility (complete with pitchforks and burnings at the stake). But not in Darkon, were characters new to the demiplane could adapt to the horror settings before traveling to distant lands where your racial features (pointed ears!) will get you into trouble.
I think the new spin on Ravenloft will make it less of a pain-in-the-rear if you are playing something other than human.
I started with 5e so I had nothing to compare it to but I thought Falkovnia as described in this book was fascinating. I love the idea of this bloodthirsty general trapped in this endless losing battle, who can never win no matter what she does. No matter how many zombies she destroys more hordes come, and every zombie has the face of one of her army's victims. It was very compelling to me.
I don't like horror as a genre, I don't even watch horror movies. But running Curse of Strahd was the best DM experience I've had.
Hawt diggity dawg!! Hell yes. The perfect video content for Todd; D&D and honor.
I plan on running Curse of Strahd after Frostmaiden. I will definitely be picking up Strahd and this setting book at the same time. Now if we could get a book to the plans along with some Spelljammer content, that’d be dope.
Keep it up Todd!!
Wait, have we ever got a tour of Todd’s loft?
There are so many subclasses that are great templates for a lord of dread, add some legendary actions, and you got a good base to build off of.
Fantastic video, thanks for sharing the gift!
As far as I remember, Sithicus' main theme was basically 'The past will haunt you'. The fact that the domain will haunt Ravenloft is fitting.
Love the description of the book. Subscribing now.
Great breakdown. Much more excited for this book after hearing whats in it.
I saw the announcement for this book and immediately knew, "Oh, Todd's going to love this...". I had to change my pants when I heard it was going to have *30* dread domains and guidelines for making my own; I already have more potential ideas than I care to count right now, but I think the one I want to make the most is the dread domain of Stepford...
Good to see the new channel :)
Can't wait for this.
I am running Curse of Strahd right now and I was thinking about what to do after and how to drop hints at a bigger thing. One thing I was coming up with was the group having to go to multiple Domains of Dread and something much bigger with the Dark Powers, so I am very much excited for this new book to help me develop these ideas!
Found this video researching the new book, and finding an undercover goth with a pleasant and friendly nature is an extra fun little nugget I wasn't expecting 😅
No Soth is such a damn cop out.
Glad the release date will give me plenty of time to prepare some spooky time adventures in October.
These are some really fascinating changes. I'm reserving judgement until I read the book itself, but I can imagine many elder Ravenloft vets (myself included) who are going to pretty cautious about the changes to established domains/darklords.
I think I'd like it a bit more if they made the changes part of the lore. It's not like that is anything new to the setting. Kinda like is hinted in the book for Dementlieu the old darklord was somehow replaced but still exists in a horrific new prison (for his specific pathology).
Happy to see you’ve got your own channel :)
Love your videos, keep up the great work!
I plan on using this to help run a Ravenloft game as the setting was originally written. Maybe with a little bit of the new stuff.
Glad to see ya still at it Todd!
I'm mixed on this book atm. I LOVE seeing different approaches to the horror genre, but with the recent "artic horror" of Rime of the Frostmaiden, I felt underwhelmed and disappointed in how WotC presents such materials.
I'm really hoping they provide us with some useful tools to run these different genres in each domain including: adventure hooks, tables, end-game alternatives, additional madness effects, and some in-depth guidelines to create our own.
Curious as to what you are hoping to get out of it?
Wonderful video. Keep up the good work.
Can't wait for this new book!
The LEGEND TODD IS BACK 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
I’m excited about this and that F. Wes Schneider is a huge part of this. I loved his Horror contributions with Pathfinder 1e and with Cthulhu
Thank you Todd.
I LOVE the concept of being able to create our own Domains of Dread! For example, I enjoy the folklore behind the Mothman from Point Pleasant, WV and this tome will allow it so that I can incorporate elements from that folklore into my own Domain of Dread.