Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, Part 1b But...It's Not Like Old Ravenloft

Note: Part 1 of this series is here.

One thing I hear from many sides on this new Ravenloft book is that it is not like the old Ravenloft books.

This might come as a shock, but it is not supposed to be like the old books.

Ravenloft books
All of these books were purchased as new in the last two weeks

Right now Wizard of the Coast is reporting that sales of D&D are the best they have ever been with 2020 sales outpacing the previous "best year ever" of 2019.  

Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft is for all fans of horror-inspired gaming in D&D. But by and large, the target audience is the 5e players and DMs.  Not the fans of 2nd Ed. Ravenloft.

And that is OK.

Really. It is.  

If I want to play Ravenloft like I did back in 1990 (I don't mind you, I want to play like I do now) well, I am not at a loss for options. 

DriveThru RPG has their big D&D Settings sale on now, so I got all three of those books cheap.  I can now tuck my originals away. This is good because my Realms of Terror box looks like it lived through the Grand Conjunction AND the Requiem; which it did.  And because I played those I don't need to go back.

Right now you can get PDF and/or Print on Demand versions of the Classic Ravenloft books.

Realms of Terror

Realms of Terror books

Realms of Terror books

Realms of Terror books

The entire boxed set in one huge volume.

Expedition to Castle Ravenloft

For 3e.

Ravenloft 5e, 2e and 3e

Ravenloft 3e

Ravenloft 3e

Though not part of the sale D&D sales on DriveThru, these are on sale for the Domains of Dread sales on DMsGuild!  Use the DriveThru or DMSGuild sites for the sales, the prices are the same.

Forbidden Lore

Ravenloft 2e

Ravenloft 2e

Ravenloft 2e

Domains of Dread

Ravenloft 2e books

Ravenloft 2e books

Ravenloft 2e books

There is still Ravenloft to be had regardless of how or even when you want to play it.

If you want to play Ravenloft 5e and you want some of these older options, well go on over to the DMsGuild and their Domains of Dread Sales.  Certainly, there is something there for you. 

Even the original Ravenloft I6 and Ravenloft II: I10 are on sale.  I honestly don't need another copy of I6, I have my original, but it is tempting.

5 comments:

Ruprecht said...

Is this the first 5E supplement that wasn't Forgotten Realms?
Even folks that don't like Ravenloft, or what they've changed to Ravenloft, or whatever, should applaud the opening up of other Campaigns Worlds.

Cross Planes said...

While I've gotten tied up in outrage in the past, DnD Classics.com is the perfect solution and is the better answer than arguing about how you should play D&D.

In fact, I went ahead and ordered several of the POD Ravenloft products for my shelves in the store both as an option if you want to broaden your experience of the Domains of Dread and as an alternative, if you want something a bit retro.

Timeshadows said...

I only got into the anything Ravenlofty via the Masque of the Red Death (Gothic Earth) boxed set, which was essentially D&D 3, and later was reprised in a mag of theirs (Dungeon, perhaps).

Do you have any experience with that product, adn would you be willing to cover it on your blog?

Thanks,
-K

Timothy S. Brannan said...

@Rupecht, There have been many other books that are not specifically tied to the Realms, though most have notes on how to use them in the Realms.

@Cross Planes, the PODs are really, really nice.

@Timeshadows, YES! I LOVE Masque of the Red Death! I reviewed it here a while back.

https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2014/05/review-masque-of-red-death-and-other.html

Kevin S. said...

@Ruprecht: This is the first update of a non-FR pre-3e setting to come out. They've done setting books for Eberron and for the M:TG planes of Ravnica and Theros.