Ravenloft is back in 5e?

[Jester of the FoS]

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.

I wouldn't go that far. One of the people taking point is F. Wesley Schneider, who is a old school Ravenloft fan. (Formerly of Paizo, who added Ustalav to that world.) It's a passion project for him.

The iO9 articles has some nice tidbits on this:

The wildest reinvention of all might be Van Richten’s Guide’s version of Falkovnia: once similar to Barovia as a riff on vampiric horror, it’s now a full-on zombie apocalypse zone. “Falkovnia was always one of the places where the whole concept of ‘let’s bring these old domains back but really given them a new spin’ started coming from,” Schneider noted. “In the past, it was run by a character named Vlad Dracov, who was sort of Vlad the Impaler—that was sort of the whole domain’s schtick. Well, we’ve sort of got a Vlad-esque character with Strahd, already! So, with Falkovnia, this was one where there wasn’t really a good seed, so, what we ended up doing was when we updated it, it’s like, ‘Here’s a domain, it’s a cool setting, there’s a lot of cool places and whatnot’—what’s the neat spin we can give it? So, we turned Falkovnia into our zombie apocalypse domain. Ravenloft had never had that before just because that’s not really a gothic horror trope. Now, we have this entire domain that’s constantly crumbling under the weight of these endless zombie invasions—and the new Darklord is a terrible character, but also sort of the domain’s last hope to survive against this even more overwhelming supernatural disaster.”

Similar thought to the Grand Conjunction and tweaking the setting.
They're just doing it as a reimagining rather than the result of an event.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

In the interview it is written

"“In the past, it was run by a character named Vlad Dracov, who was sort of Vlad the Impaler—that was sort of the whole domain’s schtick. Well, we’ve sort of got a Vlad-esque character with Strahd, already!"

But my belief is that though Vlad Drakov was inspired by Vlad Tepes Dracula his domain theme is more about human atrocities, the domain being inspired by the atrocities made by the WW II era Nazi regime or Stalins USSR. It is about the evilness of humans, tyrants and totalitarian states but also about freedom fighters like Gondegal, The Shadow Insurrection, Freemen of Falkovnia, Spawn of the Lizard (I am writing an article for this years Quoth of the Raven).

I hope the story behind the rewrite is a satisfying one, because the zombie apocalypse doesn't sound intriguing for one of the nastiest domains in the Demiplane.

[Joël of the FoS]

A fun question is Sithicus? How did they redesign it? With whom as a darklord?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I wouldn't go that far. One of the people taking point is F. Wesley Schneider, who is a old school Ravenloft fan. (Formerly of Paizo, who added Ustalav to that world.) It's a passion project for him.

Indeed, Ustalav was darn close to Ravenloft, (Or unofficially, part of Ravenloft, thanks to Jester's Gazeteer in QtR) and a lot of the Ustalav products are super adaptable to our setting. With Wes on board, the passion is surely there, no doubt.


I'm sure any changes could be massaged to work as original Ravenloft's future, for those so inclined, even if they intend it as a revamp. (i.e. if Viktra's writeup doesn't mention Viktor, we can still feel free to make her a descendant. Family curses repeating themselves is a staple of Gothic Horror). I'm a continuity fan too, but being shackled to too much continuity can hold a property back from evolving. Alternate universes do work out sometimes (Tobey Maguire will always be Spiderman to me, even if Tom Holland is great. And Into the Spiderverse may be the best Spiderman movie of them all).

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

A fun question is Sithicus? How did they redesign it? With whom as a darklord?

That video said there are hints toward Sithicus, but no Soth.

[FiranDarcalus]

Agree w/ Mephisto! They could have leaned into that Nazi vibe for Drakov. But I think that would have offended a lot of people. I'm slightly irked with some stuff, specifically Falkovnia & Dementlieu (fairy tale masquerades???)

Have no issue w/ gender changes to Darklords (Victor or Viktra, who cares as long as domain stays true to its essence).

Nice to see Weathermany girls are there...I've always been a fan of theirs. Definitely there's some wokeness going on with this new edition, but I also suppose they weren't just going to do same old ame old of a setting that Wizards has not touched in 20+ yrs. Not surprised they want to update. But I really HAAAATTTEEE zombie apocalypse Falkovnia...ugh!!!

Also, anyone notice no mention of Azalin or Darkon? That seems weird!

[FiranDarcalus]

But Gonzoron's right.....too much continuity holds products back from appealing to a new fan base. Plus, it's our world, if we don't like something, just don't use it. I will personally keep Falkovnia as is, especially seeing as how they have mentioned that it's a new Darklord.

I always found Lamordia boring, for instance, so maybe a reboot will be cool.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

"They could have leaned into that Nazi vibe for Drakov. But I think that would have offended a lot of people.

I don't see how someone could be offended by a totalitarian racist fantasy domain unless if they support this type of governing and don't see themselves as capable of supporting "evil"... (I put the marks cause the human psyche is more complex than just stating an alignment)

Oblivion is also dangerous, so to not have a domain portraying the dangers of apraxia against tyranny is non-educating.

[ewancummins]

I wouldn't go that far. One of the people taking point is F. Wesley Schneider, who is a old school Ravenloft fan. (Formerly of Paizo, who added Ustalav to that world.) It's a passion project for him.

Indeed, Ustalav was darn close to Ravenloft, (Or unofficially, part of Ravenloft, thanks to Jester's Gazeteer in QtR) and a lot of the Ustalav products are super adaptable to our setting. With Wes on board, the passion is surely there, no doubt.


I'm sure any changes could be massaged to work as original Ravenloft's future, for those so inclined, even if they intend it as a revamp. (i.e. if Viktra's writeup doesn't mention Viktor, we can still feel free to make her a descendant. Family curses repeating themselves is a staple of Gothic Horror). I'm a continuity fan too, but being shackled to too much continuity can hold a property back from evolving. Alternate universes do work out sometimes (Tobey Maguire will always be Spiderman to me, even if Tom Holland is great. And Into the Spiderverse may be the best Spiderman movie of them all).

Even if Wizards explicitly overwrote Victor or allowed no space for him in the published history, who cares? It's your setting. You are the DM.

Looking at any 'update' to a game or setting I already own, I ask: If I shell out money for this, will I get a return on my investment? Will I actually use the book? And how much of it will I use?

Listing pros and cons also helps.

Pros:

It is often interesting to see how another DM modifies or reimagines Ravenloft.

Cons
5E rules may take up a significant chunk of the book, and conversion will be required to use it for other editions or games.
Possible intrusion of identity politics/SJW stuff...


I only have so much time for gaming, and within that, only so much for Ravenloft.

Mistmaster's rewrites are free to read.

[Resonant Curse]

https://www.polygon.com/platform/amp/20 ... date-price

Viktra Mordenheim has Elise as the escaped flesh golem apparently.

[ewancummins]

A fun question is Sithicus? How did they redesign it? With whom as a darklord?

That video said there are hints toward Sithicus, but no Soth.

They must keep Hickman from blowing a fuse, eh?

[Mephisto of the FoS]

"The last realm teased is called Valachan, where the darklord Chakuna relentlessly hunts down player characters for sport."

Firstly we had Verbrek for that hunger games thing. And Von Kharkov was one of my favourite darklords storywise but also I really liked his total control of his domain, having learned a lot as a veteran Kargat vampire. His portrait by Stephen Fabian is one of my favourite depictions of a Darklord . Chakuna's name was probably inspired by chakana (or Inca Cross) that is suggested to represent the other two levels of existence. So I guess it follows up the Andean-inspired version of Valachan of 3rd edition but still I wonder why reinvent a domain to be similar to Verbrek and then don't include Drakov because there is already a Vlad the Impaler inspired darklord in Barovia, while being practically totally different (Strahd being a kind of an elegant recluse while Vlad is a brute who wants to be cheered or at least feared to feed his ego).

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

My expectations are not high now.

I don't see how "brutal totalitarian regime with a racist, warmongering leader who hates demi-humans and is impotent at war" translates to "zombie apocalypse with a leader who is evil, but also the only savior of the domain."

I get gender swapping characters is a thing, and sometimes it works amazingly (Starbuck in Battlestar Galactica is probably the best example), but when you swap the backgrounds of characters to where they no longer resemble the original (not even in name in this case), is it even the same character? Rihanna Pratchett has been very vocal about how much distance she wants to put between herself and her father's estate when it comes to the Watch series. She hasn't hidden her disdain about the adaptation, going so far as to call out the director when he thanked everyone involved and didn't thank Terry. Why change someone else's work to fit your own vision?

Why not write new domains? Why not create new characters? It's creatively bankrupt to change a character someone else has written and crow about it.

These changes smack of WotC trying to appear socially conscious, without actually putting effort into doing so.

They've not made changes like this to any Realms characters because they know they'd face backlash, but if this is accepted, watch as we get Tassyhoff Burrfoot, manic pixie dream girl, or Raistlynne, wizardess of the red robes in the Dragonlance book.

[Five]

"They could have leaned into that Nazi vibe for Drakov. But I think that would have offended a lot of people.

I don't see how someone could be offended by a totalitarian racist fantasy domain unless if they support this type of governing and don't see themselves as capable of supporting "evil"... (I put the marks cause the human psyche is more complex than just stating an alignment)

Oblivion is also dangerous, so to not have a domain portraying the dangers of apraxia against tyranny is non-educating.

Could very well be the sensitivity reader's (is that even a real job?) input/suggestion in further separating (essentially severing) Vlad Tepes from Vlad Drakov. Don't want to portray a national hero in the wrong light, eventhoughacashinontourismisafineandacceptablethingtodo

I dunno. I always liked Falkovnia, but always thought the developers blew its potential. Maybe this "year zero" will finally raise it up to the same standard as the other domains.

I'll keep it the same, though an Azalin undead offensive storyline could be a pretty cool frame to put into play...

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

https://www.polygon.com/platform/amp/20 ... date-price

Viktra Mordenheim has Elise as the escaped flesh golem apparently.

From the article:

* Dementlieu, ruled by the cruel Saidra díHonaire, is a twisted take on the fairy tale genre.
* Lamordia is home to Dr. Viktra Mordenheim, who chases her escaped flesh golem, Elise, across the land
* Falkovnia has a new ruler named Vladeska Drakov and has been reimagined as a realm on the brink of a zombie apocalypse.

*The book will also include a lengthy section on setting safe boundaries to keep everyone comfortable at the table.

Nope.

I'm out. This can go in the "Champions of Darkness" pile of rubbish Ravenloft supplements.