Got a game shop hardcover on pre-order, for completeness. I'm actually toying with using the lineages and subclasses as pvt homebrew experiments rather than going in for a digital edition right away (maybe a future sale if the book weighs more in my game in the long run). I'm curious about Domains of Dread, particularly its design guidance, because the way I'm setting up my homebrew world, it may sort of function as Domain of Dread coincidentally (although the bad behavior of the "big bad" or "cursed center" was apathy, so he doesn't have a lot of agency or intentional malice toward those in his realm, though his apathy has lead his world to become a very dangerous place, entropically rife for exploit by lots of sinister powers), so I'm curious about that and the book more broadly for world building brainstorming purposes than I am players options.
I don't have strong opinions on horror or gothic (which isn't necessarily horror) in D&D. I'm having fun prepping one of my games to go through an adaptation of Candlekeep Mysteries "Book of the Raven" which I feel is a low key gothic adventure which shows how it can be done in an otherwise "mainstream" D&D game. It's a low level adventure, but there's seeds for higher level exploits.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I'm reasonably excited as for every new content, that being said I'm not a huge ravenloft fan. Having suffered through the original module (it was beautiful and innovative but honestly ridiculously balanced with the amount of level draining in there), I never really recovered from it. On top of it, I consider D&D to be really high epic fantasy, and heroes and horror don't mix well(I love CoC on the other hand, because horror is perfectly suited to weak-minded meatbags destined to die or go crazy quickly). And most of the games that I've been in or seen are not really playing the horror genre anyway (but you are welcome to prove me wrong with your games, of course).
But I'm going to give it a chance, who knows, there might be a few things in there that I can reuse.
I’m relatively excited about this book, primarily as a potential tool for world building. The Dark Gifts and other character creation options added to this book set up a good foundation for creating different blessings, curses and other mystical or supernatural effects that a character might earn or gain due to the influences of your own world. The creating of a Domain of Dread could be useful in my own endeavor to create several demi-planes connected to my worlds deity-like beings. Not to mention the different ideas for campaign settings, locations, and potential plot hook inspirations for those who want some darker elements in their campaigns but aren’t very adept in dark theme (speak for myself personally).
Plus I really want to play Spirits Bard and a Aarakocra Dhampir. Great for a reflavoured bat person.
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"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
I have some opinions on them reworking Falkovnia (I'll spare you all). I'm prepared to accept that there were good reasons to change it, but no one has said that the good reasons were the reasons it happened. I like CoS, I like running it, but in the 90's, Ravenloft as a setting always felt...sloppy? Masque of the Red Death was probably as close as I felt it ever got to a unified campaign setting
On a tangent, does anyone have any good recommendations for D&D Domains of Dread -based novels? I recently read I, Strahd: Memoirs of a Vampire. My campaign right now is very much dark fantasy in nature, but I don't feel like I am hitting the target thematically, so I would appreciate some inspiration.
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Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews!Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
There is a few Ravenloft novels that might be what you are looking for
Vampire of the mist (about Strahd and Jander Sunstar)
I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin
Knight of the Black Rose
Spectre of the Black Rose (this story is least about Lord Soth but still my favorite Ravenloft novel)
Or To Sleep with Evil, this novel is not for everyone but still have a interesting domain not in d&d books and characters, one among them is a obscure yet popular character amongs hardcore Ravenloft fans.
There is still more but those are my recommendations, most of them are fairly easy to find if you want a physical copy of the book.
There is a few Ravenloft novels that might be what you are looking for
Vampire of the mist (about Strahd and Jander Sunstar)
I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin
Knight of the Black Rose
Spectre of the Black Rose (this story is least about Lord Soth but still my favorite Ravenloft novel)
Or To Sleep with Evil, this novel is not for everyone but still have a interesting domain not in d&d books and characters, one among them is a obscure yet popular character amongs hardcore Ravenloft fans.
There is still more but those are my recommendations, most of them are fairly easy to find if you want a physical copy of the book.
Appreciate the recommendations.
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Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews!Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
I would also recommend taking a look at Tales of Ravenloft, which was a collection of short stories. The book covers many of the different domains and corresponding concepts/flavors, so it useful in getting a variety of ideas on how you can approach the horror concept from different aspects.
I really enjoyed all of books that Bloodycard mentioned above, but Tales of Ravenloft was one of the best source of inspiration for my Ravenloftian campaigns.
I have both physical and digital versions pre-ordered (I'm a sucker, I know) and can't wait to read into all the horror genre stuff they have. I'm most excited about the new monsters and fear/stress system. I love putting horror in my games so can't wait for some new tools!
I'm mainly interested in mechanical content, and not campaigns etc. as we always play homebrew in my group. I'm wondering if it's worth it for me. It's mainly spells and new features to existing races etc that I'm interested in. Not so much magic items and new monsters.
I think it's pretty interesting, probably better if you're new to D&D or new to the domains of dread. It sort of acts as a jumping-off point for further delving with subsequent material. I like that it encourages you to be creative with your morbid settings and monsters. That being said, it could use more, like others have said. Overall, I found it worth buying, as I'm someone who's relatively new to the hobby and very interested in horror, but if you're already familiar with all of this then I would just say buy the subclasses separate and move on.
NGL, a big part of my preorder was for some swank gothic dice and cool backgrounds though. Don't regret that at all.
Also if anyone is curious, from what I can tell, the Undead Warlock and College of Spirits Bard seem almost entirely unchanged beyond slight wording and the renaming of features.
2 new subclasses, both of which were in UA previously. They're pretty good imo, but I'm an grungy little POS. The Warlock subclass finally gives people a more viable necromantic patron option and the Bard adds some interesting randomness with the table feature, which is always fun to me.
No new items.
The new lineages are Reborn, Hexblood, and Dhampir. Essentially, someone who was once dead, someone with magical blood (probably a hag but there seems to be room for something else?), and Dhampir is pretty explanatory. you can start as these races or switch to them, but they just sort of overwrite your previous stuff; If you were a half-orc in statistics before, after turning you would just be one in appearance alone. I think the idea is that you're supposed to just use the custom lineages feature to fix the parts to better fit your original race/actual race? I don't know. They're interesting enough I guess?
If you're a player I would just get the subclasses and perhaps the races, the book adds no new content for players beyond that, though if you want to try DMing it might be worth it if you're going to get creepy. Otherwise it's a skip.
UPDATE: On the app at the top there is link that allows you to update your books. Most apps usually will do that for you in this case there is an extra step. It is now time to read and have fun!
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WHO IS READY FOR THE EPICNESS OF VAN RICHTEN!!! TELL ME ALL ABOUT IT IN THE CHAT, AND IF YOU HAVE ALREADY BOUGHT IT TOO!
I preordered it. The dice and backgrounds are cool.
I have a weird sense of humor.
I also make maps.(That's a link)
Got a game shop hardcover on pre-order, for completeness. I'm actually toying with using the lineages and subclasses as pvt homebrew experiments rather than going in for a digital edition right away (maybe a future sale if the book weighs more in my game in the long run). I'm curious about Domains of Dread, particularly its design guidance, because the way I'm setting up my homebrew world, it may sort of function as Domain of Dread coincidentally (although the bad behavior of the "big bad" or "cursed center" was apathy, so he doesn't have a lot of agency or intentional malice toward those in his realm, though his apathy has lead his world to become a very dangerous place, entropically rife for exploit by lots of sinister powers), so I'm curious about that and the book more broadly for world building brainstorming purposes than I am players options.
I don't have strong opinions on horror or gothic (which isn't necessarily horror) in D&D. I'm having fun prepping one of my games to go through an adaptation of Candlekeep Mysteries "Book of the Raven" which I feel is a low key gothic adventure which shows how it can be done in an otherwise "mainstream" D&D game. It's a low level adventure, but there's seeds for higher level exploits.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Yeah, CoC is great.
I have a weird sense of humor.
I also make maps.(That's a link)
I’m relatively excited about this book, primarily as a potential tool for world building. The Dark Gifts and other character creation options added to this book set up a good foundation for creating different blessings, curses and other mystical or supernatural effects that a character might earn or gain due to the influences of your own world. The creating of a Domain of Dread could be useful in my own endeavor to create several demi-planes connected to my worlds deity-like beings. Not to mention the different ideas for campaign settings, locations, and potential plot hook inspirations for those who want some darker elements in their campaigns but aren’t very adept in dark theme (speak for myself personally).
Plus I really want to play Spirits Bard and a Aarakocra Dhampir. Great for a reflavoured bat person.
"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
Characters for Tenebris Sine Fine
RoughCoronet's Greater Wills
I have some opinions on them reworking Falkovnia (I'll spare you all). I'm prepared to accept that there were good reasons to change it, but no one has said that the good reasons were the reasons it happened. I like CoS, I like running it, but in the 90's, Ravenloft as a setting always felt...sloppy? Masque of the Red Death was probably as close as I felt it ever got to a unified campaign setting
Dunno...
I'm getting Tasha's flashbacks...
Hype high as Mount everest, dissapointing content overall.
"Normality is but an Illusion, Whats normal to the Spider, is only madness for the Fly"
Kain de Frostberg- Dark Knight - (Vengeance Pal3/ Hexblade 9), Port Mourn
Kain de Draakberg-Dark Knight lvl8-Avergreen(DitA)
On a tangent, does anyone have any good recommendations for D&D Domains of Dread -based novels? I recently read I, Strahd: Memoirs of a Vampire. My campaign right now is very much dark fantasy in nature, but I don't feel like I am hitting the target thematically, so I would appreciate some inspiration.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
There is a few Ravenloft novels that might be what you are looking for
Vampire of the mist (about Strahd and Jander Sunstar)
I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin
Knight of the Black Rose
Spectre of the Black Rose (this story is least about Lord Soth but still my favorite Ravenloft novel)
Or To Sleep with Evil, this novel is not for everyone but still have a interesting domain not in d&d books and characters, one among them is a obscure yet popular character amongs hardcore Ravenloft fans.
There is still more but those are my recommendations, most of them are fairly easy to find if you want a physical copy of the book.
Appreciate the recommendations.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
I would also recommend taking a look at Tales of Ravenloft, which was a collection of short stories. The book covers many of the different domains and corresponding concepts/flavors, so it useful in getting a variety of ideas on how you can approach the horror concept from different aspects.
I really enjoyed all of books that Bloodycard mentioned above, but Tales of Ravenloft was one of the best source of inspiration for my Ravenloftian campaigns.
CAN'T WAIT!
I have both physical and digital versions pre-ordered (I'm a sucker, I know) and can't wait to read into all the horror genre stuff they have. I'm most excited about the new monsters and fear/stress system. I love putting horror in my games so can't wait for some new tools!
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Exactly
that happened again.
For example, the dhampyr and the reborn (this one expecially) or for example what happens to spells used in the domains.
Sigh
Yeah...
Imho its not worth the price tag...
ah well...
"Normality is but an Illusion, Whats normal to the Spider, is only madness for the Fly"
Kain de Frostberg- Dark Knight - (Vengeance Pal3/ Hexblade 9), Port Mourn
Kain de Draakberg-Dark Knight lvl8-Avergreen(DitA)
What's the lineages thing under races?
I'm mainly interested in mechanical content, and not campaigns etc. as we always play homebrew in my group. I'm wondering if it's worth it for me. It's mainly spells and new features to existing races etc that I'm interested in. Not so much magic items and new monsters.
Altrazin Aghanes - Wizard/Fighter
Varpulis Windhowl - Fighter
Skolson Demjon - Cleric/Fighter
I think it's pretty interesting, probably better if you're new to D&D or new to the domains of dread. It sort of acts as a jumping-off point for further delving with subsequent material. I like that it encourages you to be creative with your morbid settings and monsters. That being said, it could use more, like others have said. Overall, I found it worth buying, as I'm someone who's relatively new to the hobby and very interested in horror, but if you're already familiar with all of this then I would just say buy the subclasses separate and move on.
NGL, a big part of my preorder was for some swank gothic dice and cool backgrounds though. Don't regret that at all.
Also if anyone is curious, from what I can tell, the Undead Warlock and College of Spirits Bard seem almost entirely unchanged beyond slight wording and the renaming of features.
It's ok Ranger, you'll always be cool to me.. Unless druid gets another use for its wild shape charges.
No new spells.
2 new subclasses, both of which were in UA previously. They're pretty good imo, but I'm an grungy little POS. The Warlock subclass finally gives people a more viable necromantic patron option and the Bard adds some interesting randomness with the table feature, which is always fun to me.
No new items.
The new lineages are Reborn, Hexblood, and Dhampir. Essentially, someone who was once dead, someone with magical blood (probably a hag but there seems to be room for something else?), and Dhampir is pretty explanatory. you can start as these races or switch to them, but they just sort of overwrite your previous stuff; If you were a half-orc in statistics before, after turning you would just be one in appearance alone. I think the idea is that you're supposed to just use the custom lineages feature to fix the parts to better fit your original race/actual race? I don't know. They're interesting enough I guess?
If you're a player I would just get the subclasses and perhaps the races, the book adds no new content for players beyond that, though if you want to try DMing it might be worth it if you're going to get creepy. Otherwise it's a skip.
It's ok Ranger, you'll always be cool to me.. Unless druid gets another use for its wild shape charges.
When will we see VAN RICHTEN’S GUIDE TO RAVENLOFT on the Mobil app? Nothing yet this morning 😔
UPDATE: On the app at the top there is link that allows you to update your books. Most apps usually will do that for you in this case there is an extra step. It is now time to read and have fun!