CONFIRMED: Ravenloft for 5th Edition

[Jester of the FoS]

From the adventure:



I'm sure the artist will have it for sale on their website for anyone who wants to buy and even larger copy...

[alhoon]

ohhhhhhhhhhh...

That reminds me of the old days. Generation X people will know what I mean.
Also, is it me or is that map very close to the original?

[grimrandall]

The April release of Monster Menagerie miniatures from WizKids will have some figures related to Curse of Strahd.

http://www.minisgallery.com/dnd/dnd5.htm

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

The April release of Monster Menagerie miniatures from WizKids will have some figures related to Curse of Strahd.

http://www.minisgallery.com/dnd/dnd5.htm

OK, tell me about these... are they officially connected in any way? or just happen to match up thematically? Not familiar with this company.. (Guess Ral Partha's not in the mix anymore.... )

[grimrandall]

Yes. These minis are official D&D minis. WizKids have made a set for every story launch in 5th edition.

[Joël of the FoS]

CoS table of content released!

http://static.ow.ly/docs/01_CoS_Tableof ... s_4s09.pdf

The "village of Krezk" is detailed, as well as "VR's tower" and "VR's journal" (but VR is not in the detailed NPC list?)

From EtCR: Baba Lysaga is listed

[Ender]

Chris did say that meeting Van Richten is possible but not a given and, if we did meet him, we might not recognize him immediately. I'm willing to bet that Van Ricthen is still, canonically, dead and the only way to meet him might be through some Vistani magic.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

The "village of Krezk" is detailed, as well as "VR's tower" and "VR's journal" (but VR is not in the detailed NPC list?)

From EtCR: Baba Lysaga is listed

Ooh! also of note, "The Ruins of Berez".. a town mentioned in I, Strahd II, but never given much detail.

[alhoon]

Chris did say that meeting Van Richten is possible but not a given and, if we did meet him, we might not recognize him immediately. I'm willing to bet that Van Ricthen is still, canonically, dead and the only way to meet him might be through some Vistani magic.

Nah, I don't think so. This adventure is the first Ravenloft adventure re-imagined. As such, it takes place well over a century before Van Richten is born... and yet, in the adventure he is.
OK, they include him in for us loyal fans but I don't think the canon established still holds as far as the adventure is concerned. They just tried to make sure this adventure doesn't contradict it too much I think.

[Zilfer]

Well in ravenloft they're could be easily other versions of the same domain existing within the mists. Infinite worlds sucked up by the mists. (Heh, think about that one.... all our campaigns and versions living next to each other seperated only by the thin layer of mist...)

[Dion of the Fraternity]

Well in ravenloft they're could be easily other versions of the same domain existing within the mists. Infinite worlds sucked up by the mists. (Heh, think about that one.... all our campaigns and versions living next to each other seperated only by the thin layer of mist...)

I can imagine what happens when people from different versions cross those breaches.



(My 1000th post! Yay!)

[Guardian of Twilight]

Does anyone happen to know how many pages the Adventurers League module Suits of the Mist is going to be, or are all Adventurers League modules pretty close in page count? I'm trying to plan how to store them once they're released, either all together in one binder or individually in presentation books like I have Death House, which is twelve pages long - exactly the amount of pages in the presentation book. Might sound like an odd question, but I really like having that planned before I print them out.

[alhoon]

I guess they would be about Death-House in size and I would recommend putting them to groups of 4-5.

[Ender]

Chris did say that meeting Van Richten is possible but not a given and, if we did meet him, we might not recognize him immediately. I'm willing to bet that Van Ricthen is still, canonically, dead and the only way to meet him might be through some Vistani magic.

Nah, I don't think so. This adventure is the first Ravenloft adventure re-imagined. As such, it takes place well over a century before Van Richten is born... and yet, in the adventure he is.
OK, they include him in for us loyal fans but I don't think the canon established still holds as far as the adventure is concerned. They just tried to make sure this adventure doesn't contradict it too much I think.

While it is I6 re-imagined, Chris has also stated that this adventure doesn't erase the 2E/3E setting. That could mean that it takes place well before the canon setting material and, thus, doesn't affect it in any meaningful way or it could mean that it continues on from said setting. There are a couple other clues that lead me to believe this follows on from where we last saw the setting:

1. Not only is Van Richten potentially in it, but Chris confirmed that Darkon and other domains exist; we just won't explore them.
2. Volo traveled to Barovia from sometime after his arrival in the "late 1400s" in the Forgotten Realms, which is current Realms time.
3. Direct references to the Dark Powers are made.

They could just include VR and DP references for the fans, but VR's legacy looks like it's playing a big role in the adventure, rather than VR himself. His journal and "tower" (which is new to me) are what we see in the table of contents. It seems likely that the players, once they decide to confront Strahd, will be directed to Van Richten's work to aid them. If they wanted to avoid canon conflict, I think they'd make the adventure something that could fit anywhere/anywhen (like Expedition), but I get the impression they're following 5E's general style: advance the story, but try to work it in such a way that it appeals to fans of multiple editions.

Now, they could always do that by having the Dark Powers hit the reset button somewhere between 3E and now. In that case, the Dark Powers could reform the demiplane however they saw fit and it would still, technically, be after the setting material we knew. *shrug* I'm not super concerned whatever they have decided to do. I just like to retain hope that Curse of Strahd doesn't completely botch former canon.

Unrelated: Chris recently acknowledged on his Twitter that the architecture of Death House was based on the floorplans of an early 20th century New York row house.

[alhoon]

. Not only is Van Richten potentially in it, but Chris confirmed that Darkon and other domains exist; we just won't explore them.
2. Volo traveled to Barovia from sometime after his arrival in the "late 1400s" in the Forgotten Realms, which is current Realms time.
3. Direct references to the Dark Powers are made.

Unfortunatelly, I think that's interpreting what he said differently than intended. He didn't confirm that Darkon exist; he said the adventure explores Barovia only and more or less allows the DM to add more lands if he or she wishes. I.e. I don't believe we will see the word "Darkon" in print. I.e. I think we will probably see that Van Richten is\was "From distant lands". Not even "From different mist-bound realm", leaving it wiiiide open for the DM to say VR is\was from Darkon, "someplace else" or even Waterdeep if he so wishes.

But I do agree that it could well be a case of "VR was a great hero, here's what remains of him".