This will be the first year in a while that I haven't played a Ravenloft game of any sort for Halloween, so instead I'm just going to repost this old stuff I've shared in the past. Can't keep it down, it's the undead.

The original I6 module is best enjoyed as a paper-and-pencil, theater of the mind dungeon crawl. I say this as someone who regularly makes extravagant model terrains for his games. The I6 module is not a board game; let its mysteries, dangers, twists, and turns cook in the imagination. There's a dedicated Ravenloft board game that came out in 2010 if you want the board game experience. Or the HeroQuest adaptation, RavenQuest.

I have finally finished DMing a Dragnacarta style Curse of Strahd with my party of mostly 4, a fifth left halfway thru. Twas a party consisting of:

Ukabo the Shadarkai grave cleric.

Ding Ding the half dragon Kenku Creation bard.

Frug/Vulrin the insane two personality Dark Gnome arcane trickster.

Tordak the Duergar champion.

And River the escaped Santa sweat shop Elf alchemist.

I had them choose a relic at the beginning that they felt was appropriate and I worked with them to incorporate it into their background and their background into the story of Curse of Strahd. When they got to their part of the relics story they acquired some additional power appropriate to their them and their level. Before fighting strahd they had saved the Martikovs and were gifted the Wereraven abilities which I had activate in full once they had fallen once to strahd. Only Tordak didn't want that.

The fight with Strahd was truly epic with 3 phases of ass kicking and additional magic items for Strahd such as the Sword of Kas, Robes of the Archmagi, and a Ruby spell gem holding the 8th level maddening darkness spell. His final form I changed to that of a Huge bat creature stealing stats from the Sonari bat from DM stash. I also had ireena choose to become a vampire thru the Vampyr and properly accept the gift by slaying her father(who was brought back as an undead knight thru the Deck of many Things) and then slitting her own throat( this was to fulfil the original condition of needing to kill someone you love and be killed by someone you hate).

The final hit came from the rogue Vulrin, who overcame his insanity, and delt a Critical sneak attack of 70 damage with the last strike. In the final moments he rallied everyone to one last strike as the huge vampire lord fell from the sky, every one using their best signature attack, and driving Strahd to the ground of the towers balcony with the sword of sunlight in his chest.

The after party was quick and simple, with Ireena choosing to reuse the fallen castle Ravenloft, which was flying during the battle and had fallen after Strahds death in front of the amber temple. She uses the Amber temple to fix and power the flying castle once more and take these dark powers away from this land forever. Going with her is the Keepers of the Feather and Ezmeralda and a few others who will use the castle to enter other Domains of Dread and free them from their own Dark Powers.

And thus my players and their characters now go their separate ways in life and in game with me moving soon and two others having a baby like NEXT WEEK so I definitely felt the time crunch to finish this. Thank you for those that read all this and good luck with your own campaigns.

This won't show up for a while, but I think a great idea for a Ravenloft adventure would be a monster mash based on the Universal Horror movies. Since Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster, the Wolfman and Imhotep have DnD equivelents, they'll work quite well. It shouldn't be too difficult to make a DnD version of the Phantom of the Opera, Invisible Man, or the Bride of Frankenstein.

But the monster that looks like a challenge is the Creature From the Black Lagoon. Because even though Gill-Men has his place among this horror pantheon, he's not a gothic horror monster. Creature From the Black Lagoon was actually a B-movie. And in the B-movie era, people thought gothic horror was for the kiddies.

But if I make a DnD version of Gill-Man, by default, they are going to have to be a good fit for gothic horror. So, how do you think a humanoid fish monster from a domain based on South America could work in a gothic horror crossover that clearly draws from Europe?

Dementlieu is clearly based off of France and has an opera house. But would Saidra mind a crazed killer inhabiting the opera house of her domain? Or would you recommend a new Domain based around opera and classical music?

Hi all,

After already selling my Barovia Village and Van Richtens Tower paintings this month, I'm selling the last two out of the first set I have painted: Castle Ravenloft and Argynvostholt.

These paintings are based on my original animated scenes from Curse of Strahd, and as it's my goal to make a lot more paintings, the support is huge in helping me paint more day after day.

You can find the Argynvostholt auction here:
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/920076819787

And the Castle Ravenloft auction here:
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/920076860235

These are the last 2 paintings I have made this go around, but as I said I will be making more of these, most likely based on my original scenes. So, what other scenes would you like to see immortalized in oils on canvas?

Also, I would now be open to direct commissions for oil paintings, so if you would like a specific scene I have or have not already done, you can DM me.

And as a reminder, I’ve also put my Curse of Strahd and other spooky scene packs at 40% off in the Patreon Shop for the entire month.

You can find the sale here:
https://www.patreon.com/c/jamesrpgart/shop

I'm loving this new artistic journey so have and again I am very thankful for the support of this community over the years!

I've always felt that the introduction is one of the most important parts of a ravenloft campaign. It's a setting that all but begs for a moment of "crossing the threshold" to happen in the first session. Its also something that I've always struggled to write in a super satisfying way. Figuring out a thematic method of getting the party into a domain, establishing that they can't get back out, and giving them an early hook within the new location can be a bit hard to stick in the context of a session one without coming across as too hamfisted or railroady.

As for myself, my most used is probably the "mist talisman encounter" setup, where the party comes into contact with/is given mist talismans and are sucked directly into the domain. It can all happen in an intro reading, which can be a bit railroady, but also avoids a bait and switch situation with a setup adventure outside of ravenloft. It can also be paired with a light hook, like the classic "letter from strahd" if needed. I've tried running death house before, as well as using a beginner adventure as a lead in, but both felt a bit disconnected from the broader story. The unaltered death house was also a bit awkward regarding player death, as it can be weird to figure out a way to drop in a new character that early.

What are your guy's favorite introductions that you've run or played? especially when you are playing in a non-barovia domain where the classic vistani recruitment service might not be as thematic.

I've the manual but sadly i do not have the map anymore. It's the map with, among others, the island of Nidala and Saragoss. Do someone have a good scan of it? Thanks!

I’m putting together a holiday one-shot called Saidra d’Honaire Must Die!

The players are level 3 and for reasons of their own, have banded together on a secret mission to kill the Duchess in her island mansion during the Winter Solstice Gala.

Once the players arrive at the mansion, they will see just how powerful she is (using her RHW CR9 stats and thinking of making her Red Death form her second boss phase).

This would prompt our heroes to scour her mansion and the flooded caves underneath for magic items to help them defeat her.

My question for you all is: what magic items should be scattered throughout this massive area? I was thinking there should be 12, one tailored (though not restricted) to each class.

I won’t be using the map from RHW but a much larger one that has 6 levels, so there should be enough space for all of them.

I wanted to share this weapon because I think it could fit particularly well in a Ravenloft campaign, where the forces of darkness are so often anything but easy to defeat.

Heavensfall is a scaling warhammer that evolves from Uncommon to Legendary, gaining increasingly powerful radiant attacks, divine spells, and the ability to prevent slain undead and fiends from returning for seven days.

I love the contrast of a weapon representing divine judgment in a setting where hope and faith are constantly tested. I could see it becoming a central part of a character's story, especially for a cleric or paladin.

This entry comes from my compendium for D&D5E and 5.5E: The Vault of Ascending Items! This manual features:

• 50 Ascending Items, including a series of rules, guidelines, and balance considerations are included within the compendium to scale these items depending on the intended power level of your campaign;
• 12 Premade Ascension Quests, each meant to be used to ascend the items within the compendium or to be employed as additional quests and short adventures to include within your games;
• 30 New Creatures and Monsters, all used within the quests included in the manual or summoned by certain Ascending Items. All these creatures are multi-tiered, offering varied levels of challenge and complexity to shape your quests and encounters;
• A Table with 100 Additional Ascending Items Concepts, providing the name and a brief overview for each without providing mechanical rules. This is designed to provide GMs with ideas to create their own scaling items without having to come up with new concepts on their own.

The compendium just received a v2.0 update, featuring brand-new artwork and illustrations, expanded compatibility with both 5E and 5.5E, balance adjustments, several new spells, general layout improvements, and more! or the occasion, you can find it discounted either on DriveThruRPG or my Patreon, alongside a vast collection of previews for this and all my other titles! I'm currently working on updated version of all my older manuals, so there's a lot to uncover.

You can also find this manual (and many more) discounted on my 300+ Mythological Items for 5E and 5.5E Kickstarter! This project brings weapons, treasures, and relics from Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Asian, Mesoamerican, and many other mythologies to 5E and 5.5E, including scaling items that grow alongside your characters. If you’d like to bring a piece of these legends to your table, check out the campaign!

I know. I know it isn't formatted. I know it's stupid. I know it's probably an absolute shambles to read. I know! It's just... You ever hate-watch something? Well I hate-wrote this!

What do you think are the most important things to add, and what are your favorite things about Lamordia? Trying to make sure my players get the best feel for the place they can! This is my first campaign and I am excited and nervous to run it.

One of the treasures in my father's cellar

Some Horror and Dark themed maps for the scariest evening... Have you prepared your DnD sessions for Halloween evening? The important thing is to have fun while playing Vaesen!! Good Day everyone! 💀👹👻

Available on: https://ko-fi.com/s/331943c001

I always thought it would be ironic if the werewolf of a werewolf story was a zoologist who specializes in wolves. This is someone who knows them inside and outside, and works for their conservation. And like many werewolf stories, it's that heroism that damns them.

But I digress. Which DnD theme do you think comes the closest to being a zoologist? I should also point out that zoology isn't all done in the wild. A lot of it is done in laboratories. Looking at blood samples or helping vets. A lot of it also done in the library, researching and reading. Zooologists are also expected to write academic essays and reports of their research. Some have even written books for public or academic reading.

So we need a theme that gives good bonuses to animal handling and intelligence. Especially since the two nature based classes tend to favor wisdom rather then intelligence.

Made a domain of dread for sale for $5 in Dmsguild

New Domain of Dread inspired by the concept of Trick-or-Treating.

One dungeon outline (d20 table of suggested dungeons)

5 stat blocks (including the Darklord)

20+ magic items

https://www.dmsguild.com/product/590603/ravenloft-eve-s-hallow?affiliate_id=2883756

On their way to the city of Dementlieu the party encounter a horse carriage that has been crashed.

youtube

https://youtu.be/TKJ4JDcwCWY
Spotify

https://open.spotify.com/episode/03ukeKCxdVS7cSljReGkGa?si=HuCLj7vQQOqtaXkdLuo3BQ

I first played the original Ravenloft adventure back in the 1980s. In 2020, I returned to Barovia with Curse of Strahd and started working on my own expanded version of the campaign. I had put together a free Guide to Strahd von Zarovich, which has since been downloaded more than 5,000 times.

I recently revisited the guide, updating Strahd the guide and I have also been working with an artist, Hardi, who's creating original watercolor artwork for Legends of Barovia. These are his new portraits of Strahd in his noble and vampire forms.

The updated guide is completely free, and I also included the original 2014 version - just incase you are interested.

You can find the guide, artwork, and tokens here:

https://www.pyramking.com/strahd-von-zarovich/

Hope you find it useful.

Thank you and have fun storming the castle!

Introduced in White Wolf's 3rd edition revamp of Ravenloft in the 3.0 Ravenloft Campaign Setting and retained for the 3.5 Ravenloft Player's Guide, Calibans are the second of Ravenloft's two signature playable races, succeeding the Half-Vistani introduced in Domains of Dread. They were, mechanically, amongst D&D's worst official races, since they took the Half-Orc - already widely considered the worst race in the PHB - and gave it an Outsider Rating of 5, a new Ravenloft mechanic which meant that Calibans get a +5 to Intimidate checks but a -5 to every other Charisma skill. But they also had very intriguing lore, which described them as human (or, more rarely, demihuman) infants warped in utero by the underlying corrupting energies of the Demiplane of Dread.

This lore is actually very close to the lore surrounding the Planetouched family of races, of which Tieflings, Aasimar and Genasi are the most iconic and recognizable. So, it's always struck me as to whether or not it'd be fitting to reimagine calibans as Planetouched BY the Demiplane of Dread. I admit I don't know how this would translate mechanically, outside of maybe changing the "Brutes & Banshees" version of the caliban to have a racial type of Outsider (Native) like the other Planetouched, but I'm curious what other people think.

Does the concept of calibans being the planetouched of the Demiplane of Dread feel logical to any of you?