Pizza wrote: ↑Tue May 02, 2023 11:09 pm
alhoon wrote: ↑Tue May 02, 2023 7:40 am
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.
, for the later I believe one can adapt the new Dragonlance product to this with a few changes to make a mirror epic adventure.
) 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).
