Van Richten Guide Question

[SpringHeeledJack]

While I am well aware of the guides and how they stand for the setting; I am curious about how these are seen in universe. I know that the guides exist in the setting but I was wondering how common they are. Are they able to be picked up in any bookstore, only available to those in the know or somewhere in between? If they are freely available do the darklords actively seek to suppress them?

I am curious since I am running my first full on Ravenloft campaign in a long time and I can't remember all the details (if any) that were given.

[thekristhomas]

Strahd has outlawed van Richten's guides, not sure about other domain lords

[The Lesser Evil]

Azalin seems to take a bemused interest in them. He even sent some texts to Dr. VR to help out the latter's research on fiends.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

In the time period that Ravenloft emulates, "bookstores" are probably few and far between and only patronized by the very wealthy. I imagine the guides could turn up in the private libraries that seem to be in most manor houses and such (a trope that probably gets overused, considering how expensive hand-scribed books must be), but only for those who would have an interest in the subject. Some people put early printing presses in their Ravenloft, but I don't think there are any in canon outside of Paridon, though I may be mistaken.

[Dion of the Fraternity]

I'm assuming that they won't be accessible to just about anybody, and will only be read by the nobility and/or scholars due to high publishing costs. Even then, it would be much more infrequent for one to have a complete set.

IMC I don't call them Guides; I call them "Journals."

[SpringHeeledJack]

Thanks for the replies! This does fit with what I had thought in that they would be rare and maybe owned by nobles, scholars and the odd secret society. This also gives me an idea of having fakes and forgeries running about as they would be rare. Nothing my players will find soon but something to use later on.

As far as printing presses go I know I am using them in the pocket domain that we are starting out in but only a few other domains would have them.

Just out of curiosity would this also be the case of the Doomsday Gazetteer? I had thought of including that in universe as an incomplete work by a now missing S.

[The Lesser Evil]

It seems to me that the Doomsday Gazs would be a lot rarer since S. only wrote them for Azalin's use.

[Jester of the FoS]

Ravenloft is a bit of mish-mash of medieval, Renaissance, and Victorian tech. I expect most lands have printing presses, at least ones with larger cities. There were likely a few print runs of the VanRichten books.

[Dark Angel]

Ravenloft is a bit of mish-mash of medieval, Renaissance, and Victorian tech. I expect most lands have printing presses, at least ones with larger cities. There were likely a few print runs of the VanRichten books.

But literacy rates aside, many would be interested in preventing them from reaching most interested parties (Strahd, Azalin, etc). I cannot recall where I read this, but I know I saw something about certain fiends obtaining and copying the Guide to Fiends just so they could alter the true names of the listed fiends (or just themselves) and the binding rituals so hapless adventurers can get cut up more easily. I am sure other monsters would be aware of them and likely to seek out and destroy any formal printing operation (less likely hags and mummies, but others more so).

[Garudos Celestar]

Ravenloft is a bit of mish-mash of medieval, Renaissance, and Victorian tech. I expect most lands have printing presses, at least ones with larger cities. There were likely a few print runs of the VanRichten books.

I actually play it as the opposite - the printing press is fairly new in Ravenloft (Paridon has had it for a while, and I assume there are a few in Lamordia), but otherwise only the most advanced domains have maybe one or two. For example, in "Anchors of Faith" (admittedly not formally canon) it's a big deal in the 750s that the TN sect of the Church of Ezra has gained its 1st access to a printing press... and none of the other sects have been able to create printed copies prior to this time. This is the religion that is the state faith of Borca and has close ties to the Weathermay family in Mordent, and printing presses are so rare that even they couldn't reliably print copies of their own sacred text.

Thus, I imagine that each of the advanced domains outside of Paridon (and perhaps Lamordia) likely has only 1-2 printing presses maximum. At one point, I had an idea for a "Printing Presses of the Core" article that would detail the known printing presses and who controls them, but I never wrote it. In brief, there would have been a handful in Lamordia, 3 in Port-a-Lucine (the anchorites' press as noted above, the Council of Brilliance's press, and one secret press controlled by agents of the Brain), 1 in Chateauxfaux (also controlled by the Council of Brilliance), 1 in Mordent (patronized by the Weathermays), 1 in Richemulot (patronized by the Reniers), 1 in Martira Bay (secretly backed by Kazandra and the Kargat), and 1 in Il Aluk (lost in the Requiem). Various factions in Borca would be interested but as of yet unsuccessful in obtaining one at present.

Bringing it back to van Richen, I would imagine a maximum print run for each Guide of a couple dozen, which may have been subsequently translated by hand after that point. Also, language is important here: VR's native tongue is Darkonian, but Mordent was his adopted home (and I imagine that the Weathermays were likely his patron in the print run - certainly the twins are using their family's fortunes to finance their versioins) so the original guides are likely all in Mordentish (although he potentially could be using Draconic if the twins' correspondence w/ Agatha Clairmont is any indication - which would further restrict the population who could read them). Thus, any guide in any other language probably runs into "thrice-translated" problems.

[steveflam]

I'm assuming that they won't be accessible to just about anybody, and will only be read by the nobility and/or scholars due to high publishing costs. Even then, it would be much more infrequent for one to have a complete set.

IMC I don't call them Guides; I call them "Journals."

I really like that idea. Makes sense to me

[Dark Angel]

Ravenloft is a bit of mish-mash of medieval, Renaissance, and Victorian tech. I expect most lands have printing presses, at least ones with larger cities. There were likely a few print runs of the VanRichten books.

I actually play it as the opposite - the printing press is fairly new in Ravenloft (Paridon has had it for a while, and I assume there are a few in Lamordia), but otherwise only the most advanced domains have maybe one or two. For example, in "Anchors of Faith" (admittedly not formally canon) it's a big deal in the 750s that the TN sect of the Church of Ezra has gained its 1st access to a printing press... and none of the other sects have been able to create printed copies prior to this time. This is the religion that is the state faith of Borca and has close ties to the Weathermay family in Mordent, and printing presses are so rare that even they couldn't reliably print copies of their own sacred text.

Thus, I imagine that each of the advanced domains outside of Paridon (and perhaps Lamordia) likely has only 1-2 printing presses maximum. At one point, I had an idea for a "Printing Presses of the Core" article that would detail the known printing presses and who controls them, but I never wrote it. In brief, there would have been a handful in Lamordia, 3 in Port-a-Lucine (the anchorites' press as noted above, the Council of Brilliance's press, and one secret press controlled by agents of the Brain), 1 in Chateauxfaux (also controlled by the Council of Brilliance), 1 in Mordent (patronized by the Weathermays), 1 in Richemulot (patronized by the Reniers), 1 in Martira Bay (secretly backed by Kazandra and the Kargat), and 1 in Il Aluk (lost in the Requiem). Various factions in Borca would be interested but as of yet unsuccessful in obtaining one at present.

Very valid point and that's assuming they are even willing to mass produce the 'journal's of some fantasy crackpot' (no this is not a shot at either Van Richten or fantasy writers in general).

[thekristhomas]

Bringing it back to van Richen, I would imagine a maximum print run for each Guide of a couple dozen, which may have been subsequently translated by hand after that point. Also, language is important here: VR's native tongue is Darkonian, but Mordent was his adopted home (and I imagine that the Weathermays were likely his patron in the print run - certainly the twins are using their family's fortunes to finance their versioins) so the original guides are likely all in Mordentish (although he potentially could be using Draconic if the twins' correspondence w/ Agatha Clairmont is any indication - which would further restrict the population who could read them). Thus, any guide in any other language probably runs into "thrice-translated" problems.

IIRC Draconian is used by the practitioners of magic, while Darkonian is regarded as the language of science, and Mordentish of culture, it seems likely, then that as Van Richten sees his work as a scholarly endeavour then he would publish in Darkonian.

That being said, if he had published in Mordentish, that might explain S's dismissal of van Richtens work somewhat, as she might associate Mordentish with fiction. YMMV

[The Lesser Evil]

Another factor might be altered or possibly falsified copies. Somebody on this board mentioned the idea of somebody tampering with VR's Guide to Fiends to make the names given in there not match the truenames of the fiends to prevent the players just summoning them.

[SpringHeeledJack]

I agree that there would be altered or even fake copies of the books out there. Which adds a nice layer of doubt to the PCs by getting their hands on a copy of one of the books just to find out the information was all bunk. Definitely something I can see certain enemies doing to keep their backsides covered while adding in a bit of false hope to those that oppose them.