D&D followers, meet horror followers. There’s a brand new 5E sourcebook for Dungeons & Dragons, and it seems set to inject dose of gothic horror into the long-running TTRPG.
Van Richten’s Information to Ravenloft, because it’s known as, builds on the success of Curse of Strahd, one of the common D&D marketing campaign books but to be put into print. However the place Curse of Strahd involved vampires, swirling mists, and gothic castles, Van Richten’s Information to Ravenloft – itself a traditional setting within the D&D canon since its first version – is full of an enormous variety of completely different places, monsters and storylines for the budding horror DM, from Frankenstein-esque monsters and haunted homes to zombie hordes and extra.
The e book accommodates 30 such “Domains of Dread”, making certain what senior recreation designer Wes Schneider calls all kinds of “Cosmic horror, ghost horror, darkish fantasies, psychological horror – no matter your favourite taste of horror could be.”
There are even “guidelines and recommendation for DMs to create customized domains”, and the e book features a devoted marketing campaign that weaves by means of completely different domains in a single dread-hopping journey too.
There are additionally some new character creation choices that eagle-eyed gamers could have noticed in Unearthed Arcana (Wizard of the Coast’s means for playtesting official D&D content material earlier than launch) earlier this 12 months.
There’s a brand new Bard subclass, Faculty of Spirits, with a supernatural slant, giving gamers technique of contacting spirits and utilizing their talents as your personal. Budding warlocks also can choose a brand new Undead patron, corresponding to a vampire or lich, with the monstrous powers that will likely be bestowed on you.
When you ever wished to play as a part-vampire, you now can, with a brand new ‘Dhampir’ race choice – whereas you may as well play as a hag-descended ‘Hexblood’ or a resurrected ‘Reborn’, every with their very own distinctive horror taste.
The 256-page hardback of Van Richten’s Information to Ravenloft releases on Might 18. It is the newest 5E sourcebook since Candlekeep Mysteries, which launched earlier in 2021.
Enjoying it secure
As a lot enjoyable as it may be to be, effectively, completely terrified every now and then, it’s additionally vital to ensure gamers are considerably answerable for the expertise.
The information makes positive to run by means of making certain your gamers really feel secure and are supported all through, together with a devoted passage on the significance of ‘session zero’ – the sport earlier than the sport – the place the DM and their gamers can define no-go matters and methods to halt or course-correct the marketing campaign the place wanted.
