Ravenloft is back in 5e?

[Jester of the FoS]

I'd prefer that they advanced the timeline and added new lords who were female (which would be perfect for Drakov) rather than gender-flipping existing characters, like Victor Mordenheim.

[Jester of the FoS]

A lengthy interview here:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/945-the ... cebook-van

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Well, I'm pretty stoked. Yes, they changed things, they had to. But THEY ARE ACKNOWLEDGING EXISTING DOMAINS OUTSIDE OF BAROVIA. That's huge. Aside from Azalin, Van Richten and the Kargatane popping up, and the odd Vecna/Kas reference, that hasn't happened since the 3e days. "Viktra Mordenheim"? OK, a bit odd, and like Jester I'd rather she be a descendent of Viktor than an alternate version of him, but I'm just excited they even used the name "Mordenheim". Ditto for Drakov, though please let "Falcovia" be a typo of the reporter, not in the actual book.

And there's an adventure!!!

With luck, this will bring the love of Ravenloft proper to a new audience. That's really the most I could ask for. Preordering now....

[ewancummins]

Seems to me like some darklords have also changed gender, based on their names.

That's no surprise to me, though; the "Legend of the Five Rings" reboot switched the gender of at least one important character (M to F).

I wonder if that is a feeble attempt at being 'woke' or a way of emphasizing that these are similar yet different characters.
The latter makes sense.

But what of the classic Ravenloft villainesses? Ivana Boritsi? Jacqueline Renier?

[ewancummins]

I'd prefer that they advanced the timeline and added new lords who were female (which would be perfect for Drakov) rather than gender-flipping existing characters, like Victor Mordenheim.

Same. Although, as I note, it may be a way of emphasizing that this is not the old Ravenloft, but a new setting built with elements of the original.

[Resonant Curse]

Being someone who really likes continuity, this drives me nuts. Ravenloft is by far the easiest campaign setting to slap a new location and villain into without any problem, so why do complete overhauls or major retcons to the existing domains/lords/characters? Make a new core or island of dread and put your new darklords there if you don't want to be interacting with the old core. Or have another conjunction reshape the borders if you want Strahd to have different neighbors or whatever. You don't need to invalidate or throw out all the previous material to include new, awesome things.

I'll still pick it up, but my expectations are pretty low.

[Resonant Curse]

I am really glad that they are expanding out to other domains though and at least some familiar faces should be showing up.

[Five]

With luck, this will bring the love of Ravenloft proper to a new audience. That's really the most I could ask for. Preordering now....

My pre-order is in, and is it just Amazon or has the cost just jumped huge? $27 difference between this book and Rime of the Frostmaiden...!

I expect Strahd to come over for a few pints and tell a gruesome tale or two to my kids for that price. It's the least Wizards can do...

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

The dndbeyond.com article name-drops a a few more people/places that make me happy. Dementlieu(!), the Weathermay-Foxgrove Twins, and The House of Lament (which is the setting for the adventure included). (also, Falkovnia is spelled correctly there, so that bodes well for it being right in the book, and just a mistake on the part of comicbook.com) The art for the most part is certainly Ravenloft-y enough for me. (I do miss the B&W style, but that probably doesn't sell these days.) Looks like they've done their homework. I'm pleased so far...

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Hey did you see the last image on that article the Holy Symbol of the Ravenkind resurfaces...
At first I thought look at that guy in a spiritualist session holding the artifact like it is some common holy symbol / trinket, but then I noticed the wereraven looking through the window. I guess the Keepers of the Black Feather found it after all...

[Jester of the FoS]

Another lengthy interview/ preview: https://io9.gizmodo.com/how-dungeons-dr ... 1846309760

[Jester of the FoS]

I wonder if that is a feeble attempt at being 'woke' or a way of emphasizing that these are similar yet different characters.
The latter makes sense.

But what of the classic Ravenloft villainesses? Ivana Boritsi? Jacqueline Renier?

I imagine Ivana and Jacqueline are still there. They probably just want to make the gender ratio for darklords closer to 50/50 and have some female darklords who aren't seductresses or have curses tied to love.

Which I'm okay with... if it's an advancement rather than a retcon. The Heir of Vlad Drakov being a woman would be fine. Having Vlad never exist rubs me the wrong way.

But the Curse of Strahd Barovia was already different in a few ways. This can be viewed as an "alternate reality" Ravenloft. The Marvel Cinematic Universe to the original 'lofts Marvel Comic Universe.

[Igor the Henchman]

I'm beyond excited by this!

And I'm not bothered one bit that they're rebooting the setting. I always felt (and argued, back when I was a regular poster here) that the setting could use a design do-over. I know that not everyone here will feel that way, and that's totally OK. But as much as I love the classic 2E sourcebooks, some of them were written by people who hadn't really played D&D that much. I think some rules and concepts weren't quite well playtested. For instance, I've tried to implement fear and horror checks in a D&D adventure I ran a few years back, and my players found it cumbersome and weird, and surprisingly I thought so too.

As for the continuity, I don't mind them altering it if it would get in the way of fresh design ideas. I'm really eager to meet Dr Viktra Mordenheim, and Vladesca Drakov too! Maybe the new authors felt that the names 'Victor' Mordenheim and 'Vlad' Darkov felt too close to their literary and historical inspirations? It's a fair point. I look forward to liking or disliking their new incarnations based on how they turn out, instead of what they're not.

I've long had this thought that what has stopped Ravenloft from being more popular is that what it offers is maybe too far removed from what people expect of D&D. It got to the point where I remember some people have convincingly argued that maybe it wasn't even the best rules system for it. I think the new book's intent is to make Ravenloft feel true both to gothic horror and to D&D. A zombie infestation in Falkovnia? Artificer tech/magic in Lamordia? Displacer beasts in Valachan? That feels very D&D and I'm excited by this.

Back when the 5E Eberron book came out, I remember reading somewhere that the trick to creating a D&D setting based around a specific literary genre is to adapt the genre to D&D, not the other way around. I feel that's what this new version of Ravenloft tries to do and I'm impatient to see the result. After all, they haven't published a book I ended up not liking in quite some time. So fingers crossed.

[ewancummins]

I wonder if that is a feeble attempt at being 'woke' or a way of emphasizing that these are similar yet different characters.
The latter makes sense.

But what of the classic Ravenloft villainesses? Ivana Boritsi? Jacqueline Renier?

I imagine Ivana and Jacqueline are still there. They probably just want to make the gender ratio for darklords closer to 50/50 and have some female darklords who aren't seductresses or have curses tied to love.

Which I'm okay with... if it's an advancement rather than a retcon. The Heir of Vlad Drakov being a woman would be fine. Having Vlad never exist rubs me the wrong way.

But the Curse of Strahd Barovia was already different in a few ways. This can be viewed as an "alternate reality" Ravenloft. The Marvel Cinematic Universe to the original 'lofts Marvel Comic Universe.

Yup. It's not the original demiplane, looks like.Which is not a surprise. 4E Domains of Dread were all different, I think, and also placed in the Shadowfell. I never expected a return of the classic setting as it appeared in 2E and 3E.

Whether this is retcon or reboot, I suppose only reading the book will tell. Let me know, guys.

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

Remember when 3rd Ed Ravenloft was announced and sometime at Arthaus described it as “not your momma’s Ravenloft”, we got worried but then we got writers passionate about the subject and not identity politics?

Yeah, this isn’t that.