Café de Nuit

favorite boxed set cover art: Forbidden Lore

favorite module cover: Expedition to Castle Ravenloft

It nudges out I6, which I quite like, simply because I prefer Old Strahd to all other looks. This is just how I imagine him: gaunt and aged yet with the appearance of force and power, masculine, imposing.
The war years and the killing years...

favorite supplement cover: Van Richten's Guide to the Created

I like all the VR guide cover art, but the perspective and the action in this one push it to the top of my list.

favorite B&W interior illustrator: Fabian


favorite cartography: the Core map in Realm of Terror/'The Black Box'

No Shadow Rift or Nocturnal Sea for me. I get what they wanted to do, but the rivers made more sense before.


favorite color interior or card art: Ken Frank portraits of Darklords and kin, Weathermays

That last category is very small. Few Ravenloft books have had color art apart from the covers.


You guys?

Feel free to add any categories I left out.

favorite boxed set cover art: Castles Forlorn, narrowly edging out the original Black Box.

(the Black Box is so iconic. I just always am thrown off by: why is Strahd blue?)
Castles Forlorn is great and moody with the castle in the fog, and then Aggie pops up to say, "you think sea serpents don't fit in Ravenloft. Hello!"

favorite module cover: Night of the Walking Dead
I think it's the perspective that gets me. Hey, there's a bunch of zombies. Why am I on the ground?!?! get up! get up and run, you fool!

favorite supplement cover: Van Richten's Guide to the Created

No contest. Agreed. Might win the overall too. Super creepy, and like nothing I've seen before or since.

favorite B&W interior illustrator: Talon Dunning

His look IS Ravenloft to me. Getting my party portrait done by him was a highlight of my gaming lifetime.

favorite cartography: the original I6 Castle Ravenloft map

favorite color interior or card art: I've got a feeling I'm forgetting one I like more, but for now I'll go for page 8 of Curse of Strahd. The cover's pretty and all, but this interior painting really captures Strahd for me. (The guy on the cover's not as bad as "pirate elf" Strahd, but he seems like a different character.) by Daarken: https://daarken.com/shop/2016/02/08/curse-of-strahd/

How about this category:
favorite B&W interior or card art: Dr. Van Richten by Kevin McCann, page 4 of VRMHC vol 1. Can't find the original online, but here's my doctored version for my campaign with the stakes on the wall removed...

favorite boxed set cover art: I'll stay traditional and go with tbe Back Box. Clyde Caldwell drew Strahd very well. Honorable mention to Robh Ruppel's Red Box, which grew on me over the years

favorite module cover: I'll give it to Caldwell again on I-10. Strahd carrying the woman out of the mansion is iconic!

favorite supplement cover: Ruppel does a great job captureing mid-transformation on the cover of VRG: Werebeasts. What will she become?

favorite B&W interior illustrator: Fabian. With all due respect to Talon Dunning, I fell for the setting durign 2nd edition and that's the art that defines it for me. In particular the Black box Page 17 and 47, illustrations I stared at for hours.

favorite cartography: The Black Box map is the best. Argue about scale all you want, the Balinoks are real barriers to trade and exchange of ideas. Red Box is a skewed perspective, and the B&W maps from DoD forward don't convey enough useful data for DMs, although could pass for in-game maps I suppose. As this is the topc I probably chime in on the most, it makes sense I have such a strong opinion, but the first map is clearly the best.

favorite color interior or card art: I'll go with the Timothy family portrait from the Black Box, though I'm not sure who the artist is. I think it is an important picture in hindsight, once Alfred is fleshed out in 3rd edition and it shows the stark contrast between he and his father.