It is back!!! What we do know about VR Guide to Ravenloft?

[Ceremorpheus]

There is a new issue of Dragon+ containing some more insights and I quote:

"This incarnation of Ravenloft reimagines a great deal of what came before. Past explorations of the setting directly linked many of the domains of Ravenloft into a pseudo-continent called the ‘Core’. We’ve taken the Core, the heart of the Ravenloft setting, and shattered it. In this new interpretation, every domain is a lonely island drifting through the mists."

So, guess we'll have to stitch it together here at FoS. Nonetheless I hope some of the reimaginings or newer domains will be inspiring.
Link to the article: https://dnd.dragonmag.com/2021/02/23/in ... ntent.html

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

"This incarnation of Ravenloft reimagines a great deal of what came before. Past explorations of the setting directly linked many of the domains of Ravenloft into a pseudo-continent called the ‘Core’. We’ve taken the Core, the heart of the Ravenloft setting, and shattered it. In this new interpretation, every domain is a lonely island drifting through the mists."

*sniff*... yeah, that one hurts. I'm sure around here, most of us will keep the Core, regardless. And wow, what a quote to take out of context, "We’ve taken .... the heart of the Ravenloft setting, and shattered it." Is that meant to be a good thing?

[Joël of the FoS]

What nothri said

No more Core, really? That's odd. We'll see how it plays out because domains politics was a lot of fun, and a lot of adventure possibilities.

[Mistmaster]

After all the effort I'm pulling to turn the Mistworld in a full fledged prime material plane, I don't think I would change it.

[TheSalemlord]

- I'm interested in the new domains.
- I want to check the new Darklords,
- Not so much the gender swapped Darklords.
- Trinkets may be cool...
- Always thought that there should be more Backgrounds than feats.
- Lineages seem interesting... but
- The Subclasses may be cool for NPCs... I don't like these for PCs.

[dreamingdark]

"This incarnation of Ravenloft reimagines a great deal of what came before. Past explorations of the setting directly linked many of the domains of Ravenloft into a pseudo-continent called the ‘Core’. We’ve taken the Core, the heart of the Ravenloft setting, and shattered it. In this new interpretation, every domain is a lonely island drifting through the mists."

*sniff*... yeah, that one hurts. I'm sure around here, most of us will keep the Core, regardless. And wow, what a quote to take out of context, "We’ve taken .... the heart of the Ravenloft setting, and shattered it." Is that meant to be a good thing?

Unfortunately this is the completion of what they started in 4e. There is no Ravenloft setting anymore, just the weekend in hell island trips or theme parks to visit. This is not written for Ravenloft fans but appears to be intended as the Heroes of Horror for 5e. This does not really affect us who know and love the actual setting but the new generation will have no idea it existed.

Will be interesting to see stats for Alanik Ray, the twins and what bits of lore they decide are worth keeping. The lineages in the playtest doc were neat and seems they will be included. I am sure there will be some fun new domain ideas worth grabbing.

[Thrackazoggg]

Things I'm really looking forward to in the new book:

A 20 page adventure on House of Lament. I've been waiting for an adventure based around this ever since Darklords. I think Death House from CoS was at best 10 pages? Hopefully, this really channels stuff like The Haunting or Legend of Hell House.

The reboot of Sri Raji - now called Kalakeri written by Ajit George and grounded in Indian folklore. It sounds like a good amount of research into Indian mythology went into this, and that's nothing but a good thing to me.

Valachan reboot turning the domain into a Most Dangerous Game motif. The concept of this one just works for me. Urik Von Kharkov's origin story was always a bit off. The only black NPC of note in the setting, and he's saddled with a somewhat dull backstory about being a panther-were(?) turned vampire. I know doing some research into African folklore was just not a thing back in the early 90s of TSR, but still - what a missed opportunity. We'll see what Chakuna brings to the table.

Saidra D'Honaire - Again, we'll see what comes of this character but the concept of an evil fairy tale a la Brothers Grimm sounds cool, and it sounds like it gets away from yet another male darklord murdering women origin story.

[Snake]

I'm pretty excited about this and a lot of it sounds like good stuff though I am sad that Soth probably won't be included.

[onmyoji]

After pondering this for awhile, I find myself wondering if we'll get a lot of RVR journal excerpts as flavor text. Based on how 5E books have been printed so far, it's not very likely we'll get more than a short quote for every chapter. But I'd certainly welcome that for sure. If they wanted to add filler to boost the page count though, that would've certainly been one way to do it.

— onmyoji

[Mephisto of the FoS]

After pondering this for awhile, I find myself wondering if we'll get a lot of RVR journal excerpts as flavor text. Based on how 5E books have been printed so far, it's not very likely we'll get more than a short quote for every chapter. But I'd certainly welcome that for sure. If they wanted to add filler to boost the page count though, that would've certainly been one way to do it.

— onmyoji

Something similar to

"Since my death and then resurrection in a parallel universe in the year 735 BC..."

-Rudolph Van Richten
After witnessing the events of Darkness of Paralleled Time

[Joël of the FoS]

You forget that 5e RL will surely be the CoS version.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

That doesn't mean it isn't the same Van Richten (from the non CoS version) trapped in a parallel Universe...

Maybe his info in CoS is what he wants DM's to think about him...
(obviously I failed a horror check that turned into a failed madness check after the news of the changes in Van Richt's guide to rave loft)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUD-HExh9ow

[Joël of the FoS]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUD-HExh9ow

Why, oh why, did I have to see this

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Valachan reboot turning the domain into a Most Dangerous Game motif. The concept of this one just works for me. Urik Von Kharkov's origin story was always a bit off. The only black NPC of note in the setting, and he's saddled with a somewhat dull backstory about being a panther-were(?) turned vampire. I know doing some research into African folklore was just not a thing back in the early 90s of TSR, but still - what a missed opportunity. We'll see what Chakuna brings to the table.

Am I really the only one here who likes Urik Von Kharkov as a villain?I personally thought the panther story really creative. I still remember the first time I read about him decades ago, I was estranged and intrigued at the same time. Also his story from Tales of Ravenloft thinking of the beast inside him as a kind of curse, although it is his origin, was describing really well his psychology and curse, that after all this forms he is still an animal deep inside. His background as a Kargat vampire that learned about population control from one of the best in the area (Azalin) plus his darklord powers, Felkovik's Cat, Fang of the Nosferatu, three Dungeon magazine adventures set in his domain (or better 2 and 1/89 as the Laughing Man was more of a side treck adventure, and not an interesting one, sorry Paul) Lady Adeline, the Black Leopards and as I 've said in another post his portrait by Stephen Fabian which is probably my favourite darklord portrait. The only problem I had with Valachan was of how to depict it's culture until the 3rd edition. For instance while the White Wolf gazetteer was showing the people of Valachan similar to Andean there was a picture from Felkovik's Cat adventure that looked more like they were inspired by Azerbaijani or Armenian while Urik was depicted more as a evil version of Simón Bolívar.

[Wolfglide of the Fraternity]

I am partial to any cat-related darklord, including Urik von Kharkov. I do enjoy the uniqueness of his background, being created from a panther as part of a revenge plot. Honestly, it makes me pity him for being used by that wizard.