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hi

everybody i’m chris perkins a principal

game designer for dungeons and dragons

and we are here today to talk about

raven

what is ravenloft it is scary d d it’s

the best d storytelling coupled with

some of the most memorable villains that

dnd has to offer

and it has done this through all of d’s

editions including fifth with cursive

strawd and now

with van rickton’s guide to ravenloft

which traces its origin

back to 1983 when two game designers

named tracy and laura hickman created

an adventure module called ravenloft

which was a groundbreaking adventure in

a lot of ways

namely because it featured a central

villain

named straud von zarovic

van ritchen’s guide to ravenloft is just

the latest

visit to the domains of dread

a book that brings forward some of the

classic ravenloft

treats of old and combines it with a few

new 5th edition tricks

as well and to talk more about the book

i now hand the ball over to wes

schneider

the lead designer for van richten’s

guide to ravenloft

hey there my name’s wesley schneider and

i’m a senior designer here at wizards of

the coast and i am the lead designer

on van rickton’s guide to ravenloft

van richton’s guide to ravenloft is

dungeons and dragons returned to the

nightmare realms of ravenloft

the demi planes of dread are a campaign

setting that explores

a vast variety of horror in the dungeon

dragons game

this can be terrifying settings like the

gothic horror realm of berovia

or bizarre mad science like in the lands

of limordia

dozens of demiplanes of dread allow you

to create the horror experience that’s

right for you and your group

beyond just providing a setting for

dungeon masters

the book also provides players with a

vast variety of options to create

haunted characters of their own design

this can be explored through lineages

like the dam here the reborn or the hex

blood

which allow you to have your own measure

of

monstrousness or a haunted experience of

your own design

these stories explore the dark lord’s

past and

the effects that they have on the entire

domains

this means that each domain has a unique

flavor of horror

to it ravenloft has always been known as

dungeons and dragons home

for gothic horror but with van rickton’s

guide to ravenloft we explore a full

spectrum of different types of terror

tales

this could mean dark fantasy or body

horror bizarreness

or this could mean cosmic horror and

folk horror tales

here to talk about gothic horror in

particular

is dungeons and dragons senior designer

amanda hammond

hello my name is amanda hammond i’m a

senior designer on the dungeons and

dragons team at wizards of the coast and

i was a writer on van rickton’s guide to

ravenloft

i wrote the domain sections about

borovia and limordia and i wrote the

genre sections about ghost stories and

gothic horror

in the gothic horror section in van

rickton’s guide to ravenloft

we go deep into what gothic horror is we

talk about how to evoke a sense of

gothic horror

with your stories when you’re the dm and

how to build

fear and terror into a setting that has

a very gothic horror feel to it much in

the way that

classics of literature that are

considered gothic horror that defined Introducing Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft!@ChrisPerkinsDnD, @FWesSchneider, @amandahamon & Kate Irwin from the D&D design studio summon the thrills, chills, and horrors that await players and Dungeon Masters in Van Richten’s Guide to #Ravenlofthttps://t.co/rhyCB9qyfS

— Dungeons & Dragons (@Wizards_DnD) April 27, 2021

BRING ON THE SPOOPS! I absolutely loved working on Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, and I adored talking in-depth about the ways we evoke gothic horror and ghost stories in this book specifically. Appearing alongside these #TTRPG masters? B-B-B-BONUS!

— 🏳️‍🌈Amanda Hamon🏳️‍🌈 (@amandahamon) April 27, 2021

So much wisdom in this video from @ChrisPerkinsDnD, @FWesSchneider, and Kate Irwin about the horror genre in #TTRPGs.

Drink it in, like a fine wine. But not like a vampire drinking an unfortunate's blood, because that would just be weird.

— 🏳️‍🌈Amanda Hamon🏳️‍🌈 (@amandahamon) April 27, 2021