Ravenloft Horror Within - source book set for June 2026

[Joël of the FoS]

First read yesterday. I must admit I'm surprised by the quality of the book. The art is truly superb. Excellent presentation.

Good news, no new characters have changed gender

A few typos here and there, Odiare is still written "Odaire."

The suggested pronunciation of names at the very end made me smile, especially for the French-sounding ones. Nope, d'Honaire is not like that.

Some odd design choices, like the number of powers a darklord can use per day being written as "3/day, 4/day in domain." I thought that by definition they couldn't leave their domain, but oh well...

There are stats for all the darklords. I'm not very familiar with the 5th edition mechanics, so I won't comment on that. There are monsters and NPCs at the end, including Ez, VR, and the WF twins. The monsters seem simpler to me, though, with fewer possibilities/complexities than in 3rd edition. But that is perhaps a 5e thing.

All darlords have “darklord restoration: If XYZ dies, he revives with all his HP in” random number of days or weeks. So the whole thing is very static: you can’t kill a darklord and somehow win as in previous editions (until somebody else is promoted darklord, or the domain collapses). While it makes for eerie scenes (the darklord is not afraid to die and is amused or whatever not expected reaction), I would guess a killed darklord is quite unhappy about the PCs when he comes back! You have to fight him again and again? Or run away to another domain? Not sure I like this. Where's the PC motivation?

There are still random tables to establish various things, the location of an object, the motivation of a darklord, etc. Not useful for a DM who really plans his games. Who plays their campaign randomly like this? The choices are interesting, but in a random table, no.

But hey, otherwise, all of this seems more solid to me, more fleshed out, thoughtful. It works well (in the VRGtR logic).

All domains have one or two basic adventure scenario, with small maps. That is very incomplete and I question its usefulness, for ex. Nedragaard Keep - you only have level 2 and 5 of the keep? And, to make sure one or two maps fits on a page, the building size have shrinked a lot!

3,5 blood drops.

Tarokka deck is nicely done, with eerie beautiful art, I like it. But I think I still prefer Talon’s version. 3,5 blood drops.

The Map pack is not recommended – random maps, “horror” themed, but they are all overdone and too much on the cartoonish horror (a map is in the intestine of a great beast?). Not needed for $35 Can, IMHO. 1 blood drop.

[Tobias Blackburn]

A few typos here and there, Odiare is still written "Odaire."

Another typo I noted for Lorinda is that, if killed, she resurrects in Mordent instead of Tepest.

So now I have an image in my head of her waking up and either cursing that she needs to walk home OR looking around and dancing around as she shrieks "I'm free! I'm FREE!" until the Mists come and fix the mix up.

[Tobias Blackburn]

The Lupin are... interesting. I'm currently thinking of a revamped Verbrek in which there is a populace of them, caught in a struggle between the werewolves and settlements. Maybe part of a lodge promising a cure for lycanthropy, but it transforms the person into a Lupin instead.

Hmm... or even Timothy's cursing being that he is a Lupin instead of a werewolf, and that he transforms into a human for the nights of the new moon. Leaves him unable to fully immerse himself in werewolf society, or transform into full wolf form for a hunt. Then it add in several days a month where he has to seek shelter from his own followers (who don't know it is him) among the humans he hates so much.

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

How is Soth back?

[Tobias Blackburn]

How is Soth back?

There's basically a dread possibility side bar that gives 3 options.

1. His curse has created two versions of him (one on Krynn and one in Sithicus). When he broods in his castle in Krynn, he remains active in Sithicus. When Takhisis demands his service in Krynn, he falls into a magical torpor in Sithicus.

2. Things are set before his escape, and he is destined to return to Krynn, at which point the domain will be destroyed or claimed by a new Lord (specifically calling out Inza Kulchevich as an option).

3. He's caught in a perpetual loop of being trapped in Sithicus, released, and trapped again.

It leaves it to the DM. Personally, I think they're decent options. Number 2 basically gives you the set up for the previous version. I think how well number 3 works depends on how Soth fairs/what he does in the post Sithicus Dragonlance novels.

While I really enjoyed the previous escaped version, I do like the time share idea of option 1. Where he can effectively go out and commit new crimes for him to be tormented about when he inevitably starts brooding again. But I don't know enough about the Dragonlance timeline to know how that works out, and I do have a hard time seeing the Dark Powers sharing.

[Speedwagon]

When I was on the VRGTR Discord server, I mentioned I had thoughts on the Shadowlands (as someone who, in collaboration with Ian Fordam, did an expansive detailing of the Cluster in QtR 31). A few folks there asked for my full review or thoughts on the 5.5e write-up and I provided. I figured I should also repost it here, since it would otherwise be confined to Discord and not available for viewing on a forum well-suited to that.

The Shadowlands from The Horrors Within


What I Like

The map is gorgeous! I love how it's made and I'm jealous that my hard work on Wonderdraft adding new locations and referencing older canon and netbook-canon ones is so ugly by comparison. Francesca Baerald really did an excellent job (assuming I'm right that it's her).

I love the expansion of the locations. The Borderlands and the potential of setting up a Bastion there is really cool and is a great way to anchor a party to the domain and have them care about what happens there. Proll and Wynderton remind me of locations my colleague Ian and I wrote about, so I'm glad that we were on a similar page as the designers. I like that they gave Banemaw a lair, as we did too, but we also have it as a fake lair since Banemaw isn't real in our version, and the ruins of Eckham and Ludyard are a good way to show Elena's willingness to put towns to the torch (but also in a way that makes some sort of logistical sense). I like Lake Amenta's new take and it references the connection to the Shadow Rift pleasantly.

I appreciate the explicit mention of the Shadowlands being about overt and covert evils. While I would characterize it more as human vs inhuman evils, I do like that they kept what the 3e designers were going for with the Cluster's overall thematic approach.

Love that they kept the strangeness of the Phantasmal Forest! The fluff and mechanical support for it is strong and exactly what I imagined.

Love the map for Shadowborn Manor. Idk how much it deviates from the original map from Bane of the Shadowborn (the 2e adventure) but it's great to have it as a map anyway. The maps really elevate this book for me.

I love the art for Ebonbane (and the art for this section, broadly speaking). It really pays homage to the influence of Stormbringer, the archetypal cursed sword of dark fantasy that inspired the likes of Ebonbane, Nepenthe, Frostmourne, and many more. I can hear a dark fantasy heavy metal album playing every time I look at the art, it's great. And the stuff here does enough to characterize Ebonbane for future DMs, enough that you don't have to read the novel Shadowborn.

I also enjoy that Ebonbane was made from the broken shards of Kateri's Holy Avenger. It's very similar to the idea of the "thrice-forged sword" that my colleague Ian and I came up with as a way to defeat Ebonbane for good. No issues with the stat block.

The Shadowlands Campaign Arc and the mini-adventure outline provided are good, they do their job well. I like the little reference to Lambert.

What I Dislike

Banemaw as a dracolich. I strongly believe that Banemaw shouldn't be real in order to better highlight Elena Faith-hold's human evil and made that a point in my own Shadowlands work, so it's expected that I don't like this.

I get why Morgoroth and Aurora get less focus compared to Elena and Ebonbane but I still miss him. We have such a lovely map of the Cluster with so much of Avonleigh being shown, and he's somewhat of a footnote. Same with the amount of references to Avonleigh's old map back in A Light in the Belfry---none of those sites that were referenced on this map are elaborated upon. It's a matter of page count and word count, to be sure, but I'm biased because in older lore, he was an interesting third party in the Elena/Ebonbane duality and my colleague and I tried to reflect that in our own Shadowlands write-up, but it's not unexpected. Just a bit disappointing.

No Belenus, just Ezra. I really don't like that. Belenus was a major part of the lore for Nidala in the past and having Elena Faith-hold being a zealot of Ezra really removes---to me at least---a major part of what made Nidala so unique. And what made Ezra unique to the Core and it gave more diversity to the faiths of Ravenloft as a setting.


What I'm Mixed On

I get why Ebonbane's backstory was changed and why there's no mention of Alexi Shadowborn. While I'm fine with and biased towards his original take, I also get that this is a more streamlined version of who he is and also doesn't get into the significant content-warning-territory of the original. Otherwise, I don't have a problem with his write-up and I like the reference to the Heretical Wars of older lore.

I've liked the concept of the Four Keys since older lore but I do wish there were more done with it. Much like the Tarokka cards giving Curse of Strahd significant replayability, I think the Keys can do the same for a Shadowlands campaign.

This is a minor point, but names. My colleague and I used Celtic names to reflect Belenus and the Celtic and Arthurian vibes of the domain (well really we used GonzoRon of the Fraternity of Shadows' names for settlements and they made that etymological choice and we're thankful to GonzoRon for sharing his campaign notes publicly and being a major inspiration and resource for our work), and this work goes in a more traditional Arthurian direction. There's nothing wrong with the names, this is me being nitpicky. I think Wynderton, Ludyard, Eckham, and Proll are fine, I'm just remarking on a difference in etymological choice by the designers compared to my own design choice.

Overall
I really am glad to see the Shadowlands in 5e, even if it's not exactly how I envisioned it. Despite my strong dislikes regarding Banemaw and Ezra, every other point is pretty minor or just a matter of page constraints. I'm overall really happy with what I see, and I know that the art, the maps, and the mechanical support provided in this book (even if it's just outlines and small stat-blocks) justifies my purchase and makes me happy to see more people using this really interesting domain. The overall themes and mood of the Cluster, while somewhat changed, are still really close to what they were. Enough that I'm satisfied and looking forward to seeing what others do with this domain.

[Tobias Blackburn]

I noticed that since they brought back Azalin's stat block and story

VIEW CONTENT:

(and included ways the PCs can return him to Darkon to halt it's dissolution)

they removed the "can't learn new magic" torment they had given Hazlik in VRGTR.

Instead, Hazlik's magic is no longer stable. His spells go awry and their potency is fading, rarely lasting for more than an hour. There's no mechanical penalty for him specifically, though the domain has wild magic issues and he can force a surge in combat to benefit himself.

They've also kept his paranoia and "can't sleep, dreams will eat me" part of his torment.

[Le Noir Faineant]

So...

A bit better and more closely attached to the 2e version of the setting than the original 5e - but still marred by questionable game design choices, and good-for-nothing changes?

Doesn't make it a bad book - but doesn't have to make it a good book, either.

...So, if Yours Truly wants to run "Servants of Darkness" or "Howls in the Night", any time soon: Would this one be of use?

[Tobias Blackburn]

So...

A bit better and more closely attached to the 2e version of the setting than the original 5e - but still marred by questionable game design choices, and good-for-nothing changes?

Doesn't make it a bad book - but doesn't have to make it a good book, either.

...So, if Yours Truly wants to run "Servants of Darkness" or "Howls in the Night", any time soon: Would this one be of use?

Howls in the Night can be run without much in the way of changes - it's a very self-contained after all. The only suggestion I would make is to add the brother's ghost into the kitchen in some way, but that is a change that can be made to add a bit more oomph to the original module regardless of the system/time period.

Servants of Darkness needs more work, as the 5e version of the domain is one that fell under the full sway of one of the hags. So it is no longer a domain focused around bigotry, fear, and witch burnings, and has instead embraced dark fairy tales and the Wickerman.

But frankly, if you don't like the 5e setting, you can just run it as written in an older version of the domain. No one is going to break down the door and say you're doing it wrong. Take what you like, discard what you don't.

[Joël of the FoS]

...So, if Yours Truly wants to run "Servants of Darkness" or "Howls in the Night", any time soon: Would this one be of use?

No, too different. But you could draw a few ideas here and there for a campaign set in 2e or 3e RL.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

'Random tables' in content that doesn't really need to be rolled randomly are extremely common in 5e. Even in purely flavour-related character creation stuff.
I don't think anyone is expecting you to roll these randomly - it's just a fun way of saying 'here are a ton of options, you can pick one or use these as inspiration for your own thing. If you can't choose, theoretically you can just roll randomly.'
Honestly I like the aesthetic of it - it feels to me a lot cleaner than a plain long list of examples, and the numbering makes it easier for reference.
On the other hand, as most roleplayers (including me) are knowingly or unknowingly autistic, maybe the creators shouldn't have left this important distinction to subtext.

[WatcherJeff]

Hi I'm new to the forums. A long (decades ) time ago I used to be on the Kargatane message boards. I recently started getting back in Ravenloft.

To be honest I hated Van richten's guide to Ravenloft 2014 and I had hope for the Horrors within. I got the digital book this afternoon. But to be honest it just left me a bit depressed and I wish I could return it. It doesn't hold a candle to the 2ed and 3rd ed stuff (not to say everything in those edition was gold)

I feel like the new Ravenloft betrayed the idea of the world and core, the Horrors feel flat and uninspired. Richemulot my favorite domain is a shadow of what it was. I really hated tempest, please bring back the hags! And I absolutely hate the concept of Bright souls. Reminds me in highschool when I had a debate, someone said you can kill anyone in Ravenloft it's like the holodeck in Star trek. They'll just revive.

Only bright spot, is I've been rebuilding my 2nd collection that I had to abandon when I moved from Canada to the Netherlands and I'm slowly converting it to 5e and introducing new players to the old lore of Ravenloft.

[Le Noir Faineant]

...So, if Yours Truly wants to run "Servants of Darkness" or "Howls in the Night", any time soon: Would this one be of use?

No, too different. But you could draw a few ideas here and there for a campaign set in 2e or 3e RL.

Thanks, brother. I'm pretty sure I'll run "Howls", at this point, perhaps as a Vaesen game on Gothic Earth. -- The new book, I will likely pick up when it crosses my path somewhere, and I can get a real look at it.

I am not associated with them in any way, but I think the next "proper" Ravenloft game I'm going to run is likely going to be something related to "The Crooked Moon". My domain in RL was always Barovia, and with the 5e campaign being so iconic, ironically now even casual players know all the secrets of that realm. That new place, with its ghost train, that one nobody knows.

..."Howls", however, yeah, well, that one might very well make for a good Halloween campaign, later this year. Even if I have to invent my own Mordent to play it, at this point.

[Tobias Blackburn]

Hi I'm new to the forums. A long (decades ) time ago I used to be on the Kargatane message boards. I recently started getting back in Ravenloft.

To be honest I hated Van richten's guide to Ravenloft 2014 and I had hope for the Horrors within. I got the digital book this afternoon. But to be honest it just left me a bit depressed and I wish I could return it. It doesn't hold a candle to the 2ed and 3rd ed stuff (not to say everything in those edition was gold)

I feel like the new Ravenloft betrayed the idea of the world and core, the Horrors feel flat and uninspired. Richemulot my favorite domain is a shadow of what it was. I really hated tempest, please bring back the hags! And I absolutely hate the concept of Bright souls. Reminds me in highschool when I had a debate, someone said you can kill anyone in Ravenloft it's like the holodeck in Star trek. They'll just revive.

Only bright spot, is I've been rebuilding my 2nd collection that I had to abandon when I moved from Canada to the Netherlands and I'm slowly converting it to 5e and introducing new players to the old lore of Ravenloft.

Welcome back!

I get preferring the 2e/3e version of Ravenloft. Personally, the new edition has grown on me. Since it is supposed to be a single book for the whole edition, and update the material (since they can't require people to rely on material last published 2 decades ago), I think they did a good job. I link it all together by having the new edition be the Times of Unparalleled Darkness, when reality is breaking down and things are more nightmarish.

It seems they made the choices they did to have more active domains with more active darklords. But even when they changed a darklord, the old ones are still there. Dominic and Urik still exist in Dementlieu and Valachan, and restoring them to their positions are baked in quest lines to defeating their usurpers.

The three Mindefisk sisters are all still there. Lorinda has only locked her two sisters away, alive and aware, in the resurrection cauldron, and is terrified of what happens to her if they ever escape. The change for Tepest was to refocus it so the horror isn't being an outsider amount small town zealots (which had nothing to do with the sisters), but is now about weird back woods cults (focused on the darklord) which is a popular type of horror.

For Richemulot, the 3e wererats focused their society around decay and disease, so the modern version works as a situation Jacqueline finds herself in if she decided to seize full power.

Again, just examples of how it can be easily be adjusted as something the PCs could face if they don't stop a Darklord's plan.

As for the Bright souls, I don't think it quite works that way. It isn't a Dark Souls like respawn, or that they are reborn the same person. They can look similar and have similar mannerisms, but even that isn't guaranteed. Instead their soul is trapped in Ravenloft and not allowed to move on. It sits after death, tormented in the Mists until the Dark Powers decide to let it be reborn.The person then has no memories of their past lives unless something awakens them, and then they have the memories of a different person in their head. All very much a trope in various horror genres.

There are a number of characters in the 2e/3e versions of Ravenloft in that kind of situation, Tatyana being chief among them. If anything,being a bright soul is a terrible fate. It means if you learn of the cycle you're caught in you have to face the fact that you have done this before, failed to make a difference, and will do so again without end. And each life brings the chance of being ground down or transformed and becoming a monster that truly belongs there.

Good luck in replacing the previous books! If you're more concerned in having them, and don't care about age of the actual product, the vast majority of the 2e books (if not all) are on the DMs Guild. And a lot of them have print on demand options, so you can have a physical copy without shelling out a vast fortune (though they don't print poster maps as separate posters, just as part of the book).

[doctornecrotic]

Having read it, I didn't feel fiery rage and fury this time around. Granted, I went in with different expectations. Honestly, I find it as ho hum and overall mediocre as many 5th Edition books. I expected not to be a fan. In some ways, they improved things. The art mostly looks appropriate and good, a major step up from before. That said, a lot still looks way more MtG than horror... but homogenization is to be expected as always. The maps are well done. But, I retain a lot of my criticisms and issue with the book. They did attempt to expand on the sensations of horror within their rebooted concepts. Sometimes, it does work. I bump it from a 4 to a 6 out of 10... Maybe 6.5 on a good day? I mean, that's a substantial jump. Again, I'm different compared to 2021 and this book is too... at least to some degree.

So, yeah, I don't like this book. But I don't hate it with burning passion. It has some things that were improved and I'll give it that.