History TabletopGame / Ravenloft

* MistakenforUndead: Bone Golems, a sub-type of golem native to Ravenloft, are constructed (as you might expect) from the bones of previously animated undead. Anyone who tries to fight it like they would an ''actual'' undead creature is in for a nasty surprise, however, as it lacks their vulnerabilities. Ditto for Zombie Golems, similar to flesh golems, but made from rotten parts.

* ActuallyNotAVampire: Vamp'''y'''res are physically powerful, unnaturally beautiful, pale-skinned and sharp-fanged humanoid creatures who feed on blood...but are living beings, pack-hunting predators who feel the same ecological niche as lions or wolves--only with human prey.

* UnwantedAssistance: In 3.0 and above, a paladin summoning their magic warhorse or a spell-caster calling for a familiar gets a dread companion, which is exactly the same except its alignment is always evil. Rather than being opposed to its master, it is loyal to a fault and aware of its master's secret thoughts and desires, and will try to "help" him by, for instance, stealing an item he covets, or secretly murdering someone who annoyed him a bit.

There is also a {{Spinoff}} setting, ''TabletopGame/MasqueOfTheRedDeath'', released in 1994, which takes place on an alternate version of Earth that has been under the influence of an entity called [[Literature/TheMasqueOfTheRedDeath the Red Death]]. It features many of the above mentioned classic characters that ''Ravenloft'' drew inspiration from as villains.

* DoesNotLikeMagic
** Lamordians even [[FlatEarthAtheist deny that magic exists at all]], despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. And their land follows suit, draining power from magical items and causing spells to be more likely to fail just for starters.

''Ravenloft'' began as the sixth adventure in the "I" series of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventure modules, published in 1983, where a party of adventurers end up in and around the eponymous castle. It received a sequel, ''Ravenloft II: The House on Gryphon Hill'' (I10), in 1986. It was turned into a full-fledged campaign setting for AD&D 2e in 1990 with the publication of ''Ravenloft: Realm of Terror'' (nicknamed the Black Box). The ''Ravenloft Campaign Setting'' boxed set (the Red Box), released in 1994, revised and updated the setting to include developments in the metaplot. In 1997, the hardcover ''Domains of Dread'' updated both setting and rules, and was the first version to include rules for the demiplane's natives. The setting was licensed for Third Edition D&D to Creator/WhiteWolf, who released supplements through their Arthaus imprint, starting with 2001's ''Ravenloft'' hardcover. They updated it for 3.5 with 2003's ''Ravenloft Player's Handbook''. Plans to publish a fourth edition version of the setting were cancelled, but a number of Domains of Dread were introduced to 4e's [[TabletopGame/NentirVale default setting]], thus integrating Ravenloft into fourth edition's core. The setting and some of the characters are also mentioned in the 5th Edition manuals, and an expanded UpdatedRerelease of the original I6 campaign titled ''TabletopGame/CurseOfStrahd'' was released on March 15, 2016. ''Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft'', the proper return to Ravenloft as a campaign setting for 5th Edition, is set to be released on May 18, 2021, its previews indicating the setting has been [[ContinuityReboot rebooted]] this time round, with established domains reimagined and new ones introduced.

For a long while, getting hold of any ''Ravenloft'' books was basically a matter of KeepCirculatingTheTapes, but with Creator/{{Wizards of the Coast}}'s return to the PDF market, the AD&D ''Ravenloft'' books were made available as official [=PDFs=]. An official sourcebook for 5th edition, ''Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft'', is set for release on May 14th 2021.

For a long while, getting hold of any ''Ravenloft'' books was basically a matter of KeepCirculatingTheTapes, but with Creator/{{Wizards of the Coast}}'s return to the PDF market, the AD&D ''Ravenloft'' books were made available as official [=PDFs=].

''Ravenloft'' began as the sixth adventure in the "I" series of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventure modules, published in 1983, where a party of adventurers end up in and around the eponymous castle. It received a sequel, ''Ravenloft II: The House on Gryphon Hill'' (I10), in 1986. It was turned into a full-fledged campaign setting for AD&D 2e in 1990 with the publication of ''Ravenloft: Realm of Terror'' (nicknamed the Black Box). The ''Ravenloft Campaign Setting'' boxed set (the Red Box), released in 1994, revised and updated the setting to include developments in the metaplot. In 1997, the hardcover ''Domains of Dread'' updated both setting and rules, and was the first version to include rules for the demiplane's natives. The setting was licensed for Third Edition D&D to Creator/WhiteWolf, who released supplements through their Arthaus imprint, starting with 2001's ''Ravenloft'' hardcover. They updated it for 3.5 with 2003's ''Ravenloft Player's Handbook''. Plans to publish a fourth edition version of the setting were cancelled, but a number of Domains of Dread were introduced to 4e's [[TabletopGame/NentirVale default setting]], thus integrating Ravenloft into fourth edition's core. The setting and some of the characters are also mentioned in the 5th Edition manuals, and an expanded UpdatedRerelease of the original I6 campaign titled ''TabletopGame/CurseOfStrahd'' was released on March 15, 2016. ''Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft'', the proper return to Ravenloft as a campaign setting for 5th Edition, is set to be released on May 18, 2021.

''Ravenloft'' began as the sixth adventure in the "I" series of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventure modules, published in 1983, where a party of adventurers end up in and around the eponymous castle. It received a sequel, ''Ravenloft II: The House on Gryphon Hill'' (I10), in 1986. It was turned into a full-fledged campaign setting for AD&D 2e in 1990 with the publication of ''Ravenloft: Realm of Terror'' (nicknamed the Black Box). The ''Ravenloft Campaign Setting'' boxed set (the Red Box), released in 1994, revised and updated the setting to include developments in the metaplot. In 1997, the hardcover ''Domains of Dread'' updated both setting and rules, and was the first version to include rules for the demiplane's natives. The setting was licensed for Third Edition D&D to Creator/WhiteWolf, who released supplements through their Arthaus imprint, starting with 2001's ''Ravenloft'' hardcover. They updated it for 3.5 with 2003's ''Ravenloft Player's Handbook''. Plans to publish a fourth edition version of the setting were cancelled, but a number of Domains of Dread were introduced to 4e's [[TabletopGame/NentirVale default setting]], thus integrating Ravenloft into fourth edition's core. The setting and some of the characters are also mentioned in the 5th Edition manuals, and an expanded UpdatedRerelease of the original I6 campaign titled ''TabletopGame/CurseOfStrahd'' was released on March 15, 2016.

* VampireRefugee: Quite a few in various modules and stories. Vamiprism in Ravenloft is explicitly completely incurable, so theirs is always a hopeless cause.

* ''Vecna Reborn''

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: Van Richten's monster guides are presented as documents written by Rudolph Van Richten (and later his heirs, the Weathermay-Foxgrove twins). The Gazetteer series, spotlighting the demiplane's domains, is presented as a research project by the scholar 'S' for a mysterious patron. Both of them have OutOfCharacter side bars explaining the (admittedly very few) factual errors.

* DiseaseByAnyOtherName: The population of Valachan is regularly plagued by a mild "disease" they call White Fever. In reality, it's anemia caused by the vampire dark lord taking controlled sips from his subjects [[note]]not so much out of mercy as because he doesn't want rivals for the food supply[[note]] -- the population is too ignorant to realize the truth.

** DM can use the Mists to keep players from straying from a certain area (ie, players go into the Mists and emerge in the same place), but doing so is a cheap trick.
** For the Dark Lords, it's an endless circle of perdition. The only way for them to leave is to admit their evil and accept their punishment as just, which their very natures make it almost impossible for them to do.
* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Dr. Rudolph Van Richten looks exactly like Van Helsing as portrayed by Creator/PeterCushing.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: In general, once a character has reach advanced corruption levels from powers checks, only a HeroicSacrifice is enough to redeem them.

* SlowTransformation: Foul acts that progressively turn a character into a Dark Lord often also cause [[TheCorruption physical changes]].
** The residents of the [[CircusOfFear Carnival]] are also subject to Isolde's unvoluntary RealityWarper powers: the Twisting causes people who stay overlong in the Carnival to mutate, their form changing to reflect their hearts and souls.

* TreacheryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Count Strahd von Zarovich's infamous Act of Ultimate Darkness was the betrayal and murder of his brother Sergei on his wedding day so that he coThe Red Widow may have been inspired by the jorogumo; it's a female GiantSpider (appearing like a color-inverted black widow) that can assume the form of a human woman, which seduces men to drink their blood and use them to fertilize and then incubate her eggs — a trait that the Pathfinder jorogumo would go on to use decades later.uld have Tatyana, the woman both men loved, for himself.
* TsuchigumoAndJorogumo:

* TreacheryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Count Strahd von Zarovich's infamous Act of Ultimate Darkness was the betrayal and murder of his brother Sergei on his wedding day so that he could have Tatyana, the woman both men loved, for himself.

!!This tabletop game provides examples of:

* WickedToymaker: Toymaker Guiseppe is not actually evil, but went insane after his Disney/{{Pinocchio}} {{Expy}} turned into a serial killer. He still makes toys, but they should most definitely be kept out of reach of children (and anyone else you don't want to die or be horribly cursed.)

[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ba94da554e7b1aeee0d5b209140d91a0.png]]

* EvilAlbino: The bakhna rakhna are a breed of deformed, albinistic goblins. Not all that tough as villains, but they're nasty, thieving little creeps.

* AndIMustScream: Victor Mordenheim's wife is kept alive hooked up to his machines. She wants to just die but he won't allow it. Or to be more exact, the ''Dark Powers'' won't allow it. In one module, the party can try freeing her and letting her die, but the Powers will resuscitate her and hook her back up shortly afterwards.

* CanonImmigrant: In its early days, Ravenloft was designed as a catch-all holding cell for villains across the multiverse. This even included the player characters, when early adventures were designed to have the Mists take them to Ravenloft, let them complete the plot, and then whisk them back home. It wasn't until the ''Domains of Dread'' revision that more emphasis was made on making Ravenloft an actual "home base" campaign setting, with rules and ideas for creating native player characters.

** The Church of the Lawgiver has an extremely strict and stratified worldview in which social mobility is impossible and not only has no restrictions on the power of those in authority, but actively encourages leaders to do whatever they want.

* CreepyCrows: Zigzagged. On the one hand, Barovia is home to both Wereravens[[note]]the only Good aligned species of werebeast in Ravenloft[[/note]] and to Ravenkin[[note]]giant, spellcasting, talking ravens who are Good aligned, have some mysterious connection to the lost Barovian sun god Andral, and are dedicated enemies of vampires in general and Strahd in particular[[/note]], which thoroughly subvert this trope, although the Ravenkin's ability to spy through the eyes of normal crows can be used to play this trope straight. Played thoroughly straight with the Corvus Regis ("King's Ravens"), who are intelligent, talking ravens bred as as spies by the lich-king of Darkon, Azalin.

* {{Crossover}}: Many of the darklords originated in published campaign settings, plus there were a few novels and adventures that bridged the gap with other settings.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The sourcebook "Van Richten's Guide to the Created", the {{golem}} sourcebook, takes a firm attitude that the Created are [[AlwaysChaoticEvil inherently evil due to the circumstances of their creation]], depicting them as soulless abominations against the natural order that should only be destroyed (though see also StagesOfMonsterGrief below). Whilst this is in keeping with a number of Frankenstein movies (which present the secular version of this, with the Monster as inherently evil due to Dr. Frankenstein using a criminal's brain to create him), it's at odds with Mary Shelley's original novel, where it's the Monster's continued rejection by humanity that makes him a villain, and with modern audiences, who nowadays regard the Monster as a TragicVillain at worst and believe that Victor Frankenstein is the true "monster" of the story. ''The Created'', a supplement which introduces several golems, also conflicts with this, introducing some golems that aren't evil (yet.)

* DiseaseByAnyOtherName: The population of Valachan is regularly plagued by a mild "disease" they call White Fever. In reality, it's anemia caused by the vampire dark lord taking controlled sips from his subjects. (Not so much out of mercy as because he doesn't want rivals for the food supply.)

%%* GreatDetective: [[{{Expy}} Alanik Ray]].

* IronicHell: Each domain is tailored to its darklord. All are given great power but at the cost of what they truly desire. Strahd is an immortal warrior-wizard and unquestioned ruler but can never possess the woman he loves. The domain always reincarnates her, so he can never resign to her being out of his reach either. Azalin rules the largest domain in Ravenloft and is probably the most powerful Darklord there is, but cannot learn new magic. Others include a werewolf who hates his human side but will become human if he acts like an animal, a sadistic killer whose presence removes pain and whose touch cures all ills (including death), and a wolfwere who wants to rule his domain but whose people acknowledge no ruler. A particularly "fun" example is ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'''s description of the way Sithicus changes after Lord Soth returns to Krynn: the domain was originally all about lack of consistancy and twisting memory, because Soth's thing was clinging to who he used to be. Once Inza, whose flaw was self-deception, became the darklord, it changed into a realm where nobody can forget their past.

* IronicHell: Each domain is tailored to its darklord. All are given great power but at the cost of what they truly desire. Strahd is an immortal warrior-wizard and unquestioned ruler but can never possess the woman he loves. Azalin rules the largest domain in Ravenloft and is probably the most powerful Darklord there is, but cannot learn new magic. Others include a werewolf who hates his human side but will become human if he acts like an animal, a sadistic killer whose presence removes pain and whose touch cures all ills (including death), and a wolfwere who wants to rule his domain but whose people acknowledge no ruler. A particularly "fun" example is ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'''s description of the way Sithicus changes after Lord Soth returns to Krynn: the domain was originally all about lack of consistancy and twisting memory, because Soth's thing was clinging to who he used to be. Once Inza, whose flaw was self-deception, became the darklord, it changed into a realm where nobody can forget their past.