History TabletopGame / Ravenloft

* AdaptationalHeroism: Darklord Tsien Chiang's daughters, which in older editions where all evil save for the youngest, are all benevolent in 5th edition, if [[CreepyGood extremely creepy]].

* JerkassGenie: The MO of the Dark Powers is to grant a person's wish in the most horrible manner possible, landing them in an IronicHell. They will corrupt any ''Wish'' spell cast in Ravenloft, unless the caster is evil, and wishes for something horrible, in which case they may decide the wish is already corrupt enough.
* JerkassVictim: A number of people in this setting have bad things happen to them, but are such bad people it's hard to feel sorry for them. For example, the Vistani being eaten alive by zombies after selling an innocent man's son to become a vampire.

[[folder: Modules]]

* MoralEventHorizon: The InUniverse term for this is an "Act of Ultimate Darkness", and it's required to become a Darklord -- an act of such great and horrible evil that it is all but guaranteed to draw the attention of the Dark Powers, a near-perfect blend of {{hypocrisy}}, [[ThisIsUnforgivable depravity]], [[KickTheDog cruelty]], and [[ItsAllAboutMe selfishness]]. The clincher, though, [[ObliviouslyEvil is absolute refusal to acknowledge that what they did was wrong]]. Indeed, that's part of ThePunishment for Darklords -- that if they worked up the moral strength to admit that what they have done is inexcusable and that they reaped what they sowed, [[CurseEscapeClause their curse would be moot]]. Then again, the books say that if they were the sorts of people who'd be able to do that, they would never have become Darklords in the first place.

* ''Black Crusade'' ([[http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/BlackCrusade.pdf free pdf]])

** In the adventure "Neither Man Nor Beast", the beach where the player characters become marooned on Markovia is covered with [[EenieMeenieMinyMoai giant stone figures]] buried waist-deep in the sand or just offshore.

* Myth/TheScholomance: The supplement 'Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft' introduces this place from Romanian folklore into the setting and stays mostly true to the original myths, including noting that each class can only be of ten students, that the classes are taught by demons, that the school is deep in the mountains, and that students are not allowed to set foot into sunlight until they finish their studies.

* ArmedWithCanon: James Lowder wrote ''Knight of the Black Rose'', the novel that brought Lord Soth from TabletopGame/{{Dragonlance}} to Ravenloft. Tracy Hickman complained incessantly until Creator/{{TSR}} had ''When Black Roses Bloom'' made, removing Soth from Ravenloft. Despite that, Hickman still insists that Soth never went to Ravenloft, even plugging a non-action, non-dialogue cameo into ''Dragons of Summer Flame'' for the sole purpose of conflicting with the Ravenloft timeline, necessitating a fair amount of FanWank to reconcile the two.
** The most common theory was that Soth really did get sucked into Ravenloft, where he spent several decades having one of the worst [[HeroicBSOD Villanous BSOD]]s on record. After about a decade continually locked in his "happy place" caused his realm to literally begin falling apart around him, the White Rose appeared in Sithicus to snap Soth out of his reverie. Once he recovered, the Dark Powers let the White Rose take Soth back with her to Krynn, realizing that there was nothing they could do to Lord Soth that his own memories and haunting spirits couldn't do worse. When he came back, he returned to Krynn only an hour/a day/five minutes after he left, leaving him available for any Dragonlance events that came along in the meantime.

''Ravenloft'' began as the sixth adventure in the "I" series of ''TabletopGame/AdvancedDungeonsAndDragons1stEdition'' 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 ''TabletopGame/AdvancedDungeonsAndDragonsSecondEdition'' 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 [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition 3e]] 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 [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFourthEdition 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 [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFifthEdition 5e]] 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, was released on May 18, 2021, [[SoftReboot seeing a reimagining of the setting with established domains getting revamped and new ones introduced.]]

''Ravenloft'' began as the sixth adventure in the "I" series of ''TabletopGame/AdvancedDungeonsAndDragonsFirstEdition'' 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 ''TabletopGame/AdvancedDungeonsAndDragonsSecondEdition'' 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 [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition 3e]] 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 [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFourthEdition 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 [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFifthEdition 5e]] 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, was released on May 18, 2021, [[SoftReboot seeing a reimagining of the setting with established domains getting revamped and new ones introduced.]]

* PyschoSupporter:

* FantasyKitchenSink: Ravenloft could be considered a "Horror Kitchen Sink". It was originally meant to be a GothicHorror setting, and for the most part mostly is, but it also incorporates elements of CosmicHorror and other horror genres as well.

** The Carnival of Isolde in 5th edition is a Domain in the form of a traveling carnival, and its Darklord is a sapient evil sword being unwittingly wielded by the carnival's leader. In older editions, the Carnival is not a domain at all; it's a once-ordinary circus made up of deformed escapees from a lost Domain called L'Morai, led by Isolde, who is [[AngelUnaware an eladrin feigning humanity]] so she can hunt down her archenemy; an [[HornyDevils incubus]] known only as the Gentleman Caller.[[note]]Prior to 4th and 5th edition, which applies the name to an elf subrace native to the LandOfFaerie, Eladrin were the elf-like Angels who served as the in-universe embodiment of ChaoticGood.[[/note]] However, her supernatural nature clashes with the ambient dark energies of the Demiplane, producing an aura called "The Twisting", which grants her and those around her immunity from some of the prison-like aspects of Ravenloft, but also causes those who spend too long in her time to develop metaphysical mutations, usually of a KarmicTransformation and/or PersonalityPowers variety.

** Vampyres are "living vampires", who exist both on the Demiplane of Dread and on at least one other normal world. Described as resembling beautiful humans or half-elves with a feline cast to their features and vampire-like retractile fangs and claws, they are a species of Monstrous Humanoid, and far weaker than true vampires; aside from their exceptional beauty and natural weapons, their only power is a minor mind controlling toxin in their saliva. On the other hand, as living haemovores, vampyres are completely impervious to sunlight or any of the various mystical powers that can be wielded against true vampires. Whilst a fully fledged species in their own right, it's implied they can somehow be born as a result of either mating between humans and vampires, or if a pregnant woman is bitten by a vampire, as was the case with the only vampyre Darklord, Tristan [=ApBlanc=].

* PoisonousFriend:
** Wizards can summon a familiar and paladins can summon a war horse, like in other settings. However, these companions are AlwaysChaoticEvil (or lawful evil or neutral evil, depending on the law/chaos alignment of the summoner) in Ravenloft. They are loyal to their master, but lack a conscience, and aren't averse to carrying out evil deeds to "help" their master behind his back. This is bad enough for wizards, but potentially devastating for a paladin, who now has to deal with a pet that constantly puts him in danger of losing his paladinhood.
** Druid and Ranger animal companions aren't intrinsically evil, but if a domain's darklord commands animals, this includes their pets. They can resist a command to directly harm their master, though.

* HornyDevils: The setting has relatively few demons (well, for D&D anyway) but one of the more prominent, the Gentleman Caller, is an incubus who has fathered one pseudo darklord and a couple of younger villains of the setting...

* MainliningTheMonster: Vampires from the Kargat secret police dole out their blood to human minions, the Kargatane, as a means of increasing their strength and delaying their rate of aging.

* BloodForMortar: The House of Lament became cursed when a former owner had a young woman buried alive in its foundation, ostensibly because it was required (but in truth because he was a sadistic creep).

* MoralEventHorizon: The InUniverse term for this is an "Act of Ultimate Darkness", and it's required to become a Darklord -- an act of such great and horrible evil that it is all but guaranteed to draw the attention of the Dark Powers, a near-perfect blend of {{hypocrisy}}, [[ThisIsUnforgivable depravity]], [[KickTheDog cruelty]], and [[ItsAllAboutMe selfishness]]. The clincher, though, [[ObliviouslyEvil is absolute refusal to acknowledge that what they did was wrong]]. Indeed, that's part of ThePunishment for Darklords -- that if they worked up the moral strength to admit that what they have done is inexcusable and that they reaped what they sowed, their curse would be [[CursedWithAwesome moot]]. Then again, the books say that if they were the sorts of people who'd be able to do that, they would never have become Darklords in the first place.

* AbominableAuditorium: Lemot Sediam Juste is the playwright darklord of Scaena. Whilst famous as a comedian, he desperately wanted to break into tragedies... unfortunately, he had no skill in this field, and his actors could only salvage his works by playing them up as comedies. This ultimately drove him mad; he staged his "greatest tragedy" and secretly swapped the props with real weapons, killing his actors without the audience realizing it was all real. Then he locked the audience into the theatre and burned it to the ground, earning his darklordship. His realm of Scaena is a travelling pocket domain consisting of a single theatre. Juste has complete control over the intricate illusions he creates on his stage, can meld into any wooden surface in his theater and emerge elsewhere in the realm. He can also will the theatre to burn down (and then reform), and is immune to the flames.

* AchillesHeel: Every Darklord (and most villains in general) has one, usually associated with the curse that made him or her a Darklord (For example, in Strahd's case, it's Tatyana; the mere sight of her - or someone who looks just like her - is enough to make him take risks he would never otherwise take). The rulebooks emphasize that in order to have ''any'' success challenging - let alone defeating - one of these villains, a hero would have to learn this weakness and exploit it. Not that it makes it easy, but in order to make the chance remotely possible, one has to learn it.

*** {{[Chinese Vampire}}s were originally a weird blend of standard vampires with elements of BakenekoAndNekomata. 3rd edition made them a little more like folkloric jiangshi, but it wasn't until 5th edition that they accurately reflected them.

* InNameOnly: All of the domains that were mentioned in the 5th edition SoftReboot which had a presence in earlier editions are changed from their older lore to varying degrees. Some get off quite mildly; Lamordia, new Darklord aside, is just a slightly exaggerated version of its previous self, and both Borca and Mordent are much te same. But many are so extensively changed they could be given a brand new name and nobody familiar with the setting's lore would tell they were supposed to be connected. TropesAreTools, however, as some of the "nu-Ravenloft" domains can be called legitimate upgrades, particularly Har'Akir and I'Cath.