Which edition to buy for fluff?

[Pizza]

Between 2, 3, and 3.5 what is the best order to buy the editions for fluff?

[Speedwagon]

Between 2, 3, and 3.5 what is the best order to buy the editions for fluff?

For fluff, I’d say 3e, especially if you can find the Arthaus/White Wolf Ravenloft materials (the 5 Doomsday Gazetters, Van Richten’s Arsenal, and more). Then 2e for the fluff included in the many adventure modules published as well as the setting books like Realm of Terror and Domains of Dread. Hope that helps!

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Between 2, 3, and 3.5 what is the best order to buy the editions for fluff?

I agree with Speedwagon that the 3e Arthaus/White Wolf material mentioned are entertaining since they have this first person perspective as are also all the Van Richten Guides (both 2e and 3e) written about monsters (not the VRGtRavenloft this is completely different). Then I would also add the Ravenloft Monstrous Compedium Volume II that has many interesting NPCs and their background. Pay attention that the 3e material are more gory and include also drug descriptions etc. in case you want to use them as children bed time stories

As for 2e adventures one of the best modules is the Evil Eye set in Invidia in 747 BC and has a lot of info on the domain as well. What I enjoyed the most when I began DMing was reading Castles Forlorn: The Weeping Land from Castles Forlorn boxed set, the darklord's background story is as haunting as the Castle itself. Forbidden Lore boxed set has some nice books to read such as Forbidden Lore: Oaths of Evil and Forbidden Lore: Cryptic Allegiances. I also like Neither Man Nor Beast, The Circle of Darkness.

From the Shadows and Roots of Evil are happening just before and during the Grand Conjunction (thought Roots of Evil is too high fantasy for my taste and I would change some things in Azalin's dungeon crawl). I personally like Feast of Goblyns a lot (though it needs some massive reworking) but the Crystal Club and especially the layout of Old Kartakan Inn are amazing as well as the Dark Keep and Arkalia's Hills aka the Catacombs of Kartakass or Radaga's caverns.

There are other many great adventures but need some canonising changes such as the Requiem series (Death Unchained, Death Ascendant and Requiem: The Grim Harvest) and others need a bit of work too as When Black Roses Bloom set in Sithicus , for the later I believe one can adapt the new Dragonlance product to this with a few changes to make a mirror epic adventure.

Servants of Darkness (set in Tepest and Keening and is the only adventure that involves four darklords ) is nice but its follow up adventure/expansion The Shadow Rift is a mess and a PC overkill (needs major reworking). The The Nightmare Lands boxed set is also very interesting I really like what they made with this domain back then (I don't like the explanation given in VRGtRavenloft).

The Children of the Night collection of monster NPCs and adventures based on them have some nice additions and the Carnival is well written with a nice bunch of characters.

[alhoon]

The gazeteers by far, IMO. Then 2e. And finally... a couple of domains from 5e.

[Jester of the FoS]

There's some decent stuff for Islands of Terror in 2e, but generally the fluff in 3e is head-and-shoulders above anything else.
But the books are probably hard to find now. Only a handful are on the DMsGuild and some sell for decent money online.

[alhoon]

The Gazeteers are not for sale on drivethrouRPG?

[Pizza]

The Gazeteers are not for sale on drivethrouRPG?

I checked when ordering the campaign setting book. There are some (maybe all I don’t know), but they’re only available as pdfs.

[alhoon]

I checked when ordering the campaign setting book. There are some (maybe all I don’t know), but they’re only available as pdfs.

Ehh, that's what I meant. I don't really use dead-trees any more.
Except as guards, of course. Using wannabe undead trees just to make paper is such a waste.

[Wolfglide of the Fraternity]

I just did a quick search. DriveThruRPG and DMsGuild have only the Core Rulebook, PHB, Champions of Darkess, Denizens of Darkness, Secrets of the Dread Realms, and Expedition to Castle Ravenloft (which wasn't part of the same line). If they have any of the Gazetteers, I don't know the correct search terms to find them. I think all of the 2e stuff is there.

Maybe we need to start up an aggressive letter-writing campaign.

[alhoon]

If DrivethruRPG doesn't have the 3e Ravenloft, new members of the community will be going through the dark ages in a way.

[Pizza]

So I thought I bought a copy of the 3.0 Campaign setting. Maybe I got the last one? Guess I’ll find out in 3-5 weeks.

Now someone earlier mentioned an undead tree. How does that work exactly?

[alhoon]

So I thought I bought a copy of the 3.0 Campaign setting. Maybe I got the last one? Guess I’ll find out in 3-5 weeks.

Now someone earlier mentioned an undead tree. How does that work exactly?

Unsurprisingly, these goodies are mentioned in the gazetteers.

https://www.fraternityofshadows.com/wik ... ead_Treant

[The Lesser Evil]

The Gazeteers are not for sale on drivethrouRPG?

I checked when ordering the campaign setting book. There are some (maybe all I don’t know), but they’re only available as pdfs.

None of the official/canon 3e Ravenloft Gazetteers are available on drivethru or DM's Guild. Those gazetteer PDF products you see are 5e DM's Guild products written by fans. That's not to say they're bad but may or may not cleave away from previous Ravenloft canon.

As for official/canon lore, I would say it would depend upon you were looking for. For reinventions of domains as modular, more 5e core D&D experiences cleaving interpretations, Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft might be the place to start. 5e's Ravenloft interpretations I tend to see as more back to basics/simplified in terms of domain themes, rendering the domains to more self-contained and more obvious hell-holes to be escaped before all else than previous works. (Exceptions would include Kalikeri, I'Cath, and Har'Akir, which are all more expansive than their previous edition counterparts.) A big difference between 5e and previous edition versions is that all of the domains are effectively isolated islands of terror/shadowfell domains, whereas in 2e/3e era most of the domains were part of the Core, organized into clusters, or wander pocket domains. Only specific domains were islands of terror isolated in the Mists in 2e/3e.

For a more integrated Ravenloft as a world, the 3e products, particularly the Gazetteers, would be the first place to go, as these will tell you in detail not only about communities, histories, and other important domain details but also the cultures and daily lives of its populace. Note that the majority of the text in the 3e Gazetteers are done in an in-character travelogue format by a scholar agent of Azalin, if you have an aversion to reading in character passages. If I had any issues with the gazetteers, in making efforts to create a cohesive setting standing alone from other D&D settings, they tend to homogenize the culture/people of each domain a little bit too much for my liking.

The 2e works are perhaps the most variable in tone and approach from product to product across writers and the lifespan of the line. It makes sense, in many instances having been grown/developed perhaps the most organically of the time periods in Ravenloft's publication history. Under 2e, the product line tended establish the most connection to other D&D settings. Going along with that, the early to mid-product line tended to view Ravenloft through the lens of stranded outlanders with weekend in hell scenarios, such as much of the Grand Conjunction series of modules. (Many of which were only organized into a rough adventure series after the fact). The Black and Red Box sets left details on things like native religions to be envisioned by the DM or taken from other settings. Specific details on various subjects like locations, NPCs, or general topics tended to decentralized and spread throughout various products, especially in modules. The first core Ravenloft setting product to delve into the lives of native-born characters would be the late 2e hardback Domains of Dread. It was really the first fully organized attempt to really envision the Land of Mists as a world to be lived in.

An exception to the spareness/decentralization in 2e general world details would be the monster lore, particularly the Van Richten's Guides to various monsters (Vampires, Ghosts, Liches, Fiends, and so on), which created an inworld envisioning of monster psychology and monster hunting along with details, suggestions, and guidelines for monster customization. Many of such rules would be adapted to 3e in later 3e works, and they would be followed by two in print 3e Van Richten's Guides (the Guide to the Shadow Fey and the Guide to the Walking Dead), followed by one unpublished PDF released free on the net. (The Guide to the Mists was rough and unedited and contained some controversies with established canon). In general, I would recommend the VR Guides the most for ideas on designing and indeed imagining monsters as individuals, an idea core to Ravenloft, as opposed to merely stock creatures to be slain. The VR Guides are also handy for understanding Ravenloft's approach to the creature types contained within. (For instance, the Guide to the Created doesn't handle unintelligent golems but rather intelligent constructs of dread created through the obsession of their makers.)

So to summarize if TLDR, it depends on what you're looking for. For self-contained, streamlined/reductionistic (depending upon your perspective), more obviously dire take on the Ravenloft, the 5e stuff is probably the best way to go. For the most cohesive world in and of istelf, I see the 3e/late 2e product line as probably the best way to go. For the most organically grown/quirky/connected to other worlds, I see the 2e product line as probably the best way to go. For general monster lore/customization, I see the VR Guides as probably best way to go.