It’s Time to Return to Ravenloft and See What Lies Beyond Curse of Strahd
Curse of Strahd is one of the best-received adventures published by Dungeons & Dragons in the last few years, so it’s no surprise that Wizards of the Coast has gone back to expand on it. The surprise mostly stems from how much they’re expanding on it. Curse of Strahd begins with characters being pulled into a land called Barovia by creeping mists, but this is only one of many Domains of Dread scattered throughout the horror-themed Ravenloft setting. Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft adds more than thirty other Domains to explore, each with its own Darklord, detailed descriptions, ready-to-play adventure, and new monsters, lineages, and sub-classes. The fresh additions range from gothic horror to macabre fairytales, slasher horror, and zombie apocalypse, so you can play through just about any kind of horror story you can think of.
“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 book includes the correspondences between Rudolph Van Richten and other heroes of Ravenloft, while showing off locations such as Lamordia, which “explores the horror of experimentation on creating undead beings from deceased body parts by Dr. Viktra Mordenheim“; Dementlieu, which offers “surreal, fairytale masquerades”; Kalakeri, which presents “treachery in the war-torn rain forests”; and Falkovnia, which has all the endless zombie hordes you could ask for. Van Richten’s Guide also includes “rules and advice for DMs to create custom domains and Darklords by portraying established horror tropes or whatever special new blend of terror they can imagine.”
We don’t know about you, but we can’t wait to see what else Wizards of the Coast has up their rotting sleeves!
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft will launch on May 18th, 2021. It is currently available for preorder.
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