History TabletopGame / Ravenloft

* AxCrazy: This is actually very rare among darklords. Insanity would suggest that they aren't responsible for their actions, something which, as emphasized frequently, they ''are''. The only one that truly fits the Trope is Esan the Mad of Vechor. A few of them do show some leanings towards the Trope, such as the Hive Queen, Tristessa, Malken, and Duke Gundar, as do quite a few non-darklord villains like the Midnight Slasher.

** The best example may be Sir Tristen Hiregaard of Nova Vaasa. He never really did ''anything'' wrong his entire life. The curse that turns him into the murderous madman Malken was inherited from his cruel father. (Of course, technically, Malken is the ''true'' darklord of Nova Vaasa, not Hiregaard, and he is [[SplitPersonality a different entity entirely]]. [[spoiler:And killing Hiregaard would not kill Malken; if that happened, the curse would be passed to Hiregaard’s eldest son. Short of killing every male member of the family, it is not known if there ''is'' a way to destroy him.]])

The first version of the setting, ''Ravenloft: Realm of Terror'', was released as a boxed set (the Black Box) for AD&D in 1990. 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 by 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 have been introduced to 4e's [[TabletopGame/PointsOfLight default setting]]. In this way, Ravenloft has been integrated into fourth edition's core.

For a long while, getting hold of any ''Ravenloft'' books was basically a matter of KeepCirculatingTheTapes, but with Wizards of the Coast's return to the PDF market, the AD&D ''Ravenloft'' books are being made available as official [=PDFs=]. Given the size of the D&D back catalog, it may be a while before everything's released.

* AxCrazy: This is actually very rare among darklords. Insanity would suggest that they aren't responsible for their actions, something which, as emphasized frequently, they ''are''. They only one that truly fits the Trope is Esan the Mad of Vechor. A few of them do show some leanings towards the Trope, such as the Hive Queen, Tristessa, Malken, and Duke Gundar, as do quite a few non-darklord villains like the Midnight Slasher.

** The best example may be Sir Tristen Hiregaard of Nova Vaasa. He never really did ''anything'' wrong his entire life. The curse that turns him into the murderous madman Malken was inherited from his cruel father. (Of course, technically, Malken is the ''true'' darklord of Nova Vaasa, not Hiregaard, and he is [[SplitPersonality a different entity entirely]]. And killing Hiregaard would not kill Malken; if that happened, the curse would be passed to Hiregaard’s eldest son. Short of killing every male member of the family, it is not known if there ''is'' a way to destroy him.)

* MundaneMadeAwesome: The process for electing a new mayor of Skald, capital of Kartakass. The whole thing basically consists of several minutes of the candidates all explaining their platforms and issues, followed by several ''hours'' of a battle royale singing competition that's eventually decided by voice vote''(read: applause)''. That fact that Harkon Lucas has won every "election" for the past few decades doesn't preclude, say, a PC from throwing their hat into the ring. Say what you will about it, it's still the closest thing to democracy in the Core by a long shot.

* MoralEventHorizon: The Ravenloft setting has an [[InUniverse official term]] for one of these: an [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "Act of Ultimate Darkness,"]] which is a requirement for becoming one of the setting's dreaded Darklords -- 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. For examples of these acts, see the [[{{YMMV/Ravenloft}} YMMV section]].

!! See the [[{{DarthWiki/Ravenloft}} Darth Wiki entry]] for more tropes:

The first version of the setting, ''Ravenloft: Realm of Terror'', was released as a boxed set (the Black Box) for AD&D in 1990. 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 by 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''.

* BestServedCold: Revenge was the original motive for Dr. Rudolph Van Richten's career as a vampire hunter, which he later expanded to monster hunter in general. After his son was turned into an undead slave by a cruel vampire named Baron Metus, he was forced to kill his son via MercyKilling, but the Baron retaliated by murdering Van Richten's whole family. The doctor swore revenge against vampires in general, and his first victim was Baron Metus. (Sadly, this had UnfortunateImplications that lasted his whole life; see DoomMagnet below.)

** Also, the novel ''The Enemy Within'', and the backstory of an NPC (Desmond [=LaRouche=]) were declared non-canon because they contradicted the origin story for Malken. Malken was given yet another origin story in Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium Appendix II: Children of the Night where he was even more of an expy of the scientist in ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde''.
* CaptainColorbeard: Bluebeard

* IShouldWriteABookAboutThis: The various ''Van Richten Monster Hunter Guides'' are supposedly authored by Van Richten himself. (He is the {{Narrator}} in each of them.) However, he never claims he wrote them for profit, but to aide those who would, like him, fight the evils of Ravenloft.

* BestServedCold: Revenge was the original motive for Dr. Rudolph Van Richten's career as a vampire hunter, which he later expanded to monster hunter in general. After his son was turned into an undead slave by a cruel vampire named Baron Metus, he was forced to kill his son via MercyKilling, but the Baron retaliated by murdering Van Richten's whole family. The doctor swore revenge against vampires in general, and his first victim was Baron Metus. (Sadly, this had UnfortunateImplications that lasted his whole life; see DoomMagnet below.)

* DoggedNiceGuy: Strahd in ''I, Strahd'' acts like this toward Tatyana, even though he knows she is already his brother Sergei's fiance.

* TheWallAroundTheWorld: The Misty Border that surrounds every domain, although they can also take the form of heatwaves or blizzards.

* HumanlikeHandAnatomy: In a non-cartoon example, the darklord Markov is cursed to always have the body of a beast and the head of a man, but can invoke this trope on himself at will (by picking primate forms).

* 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.

* BestServedCold: Revenge was the motive of Dr. Rudolph Van Richten's career as a vampire hunter, which he later expanded to monster hunter in general. After his son was turned into an undead slave by a cruel vampire named Baron Metus, he was forced to kill his son via MercyKilling, but the Baron Metus retaliated by murdering Van Richten's whole family. The doctor swore revenge against vampires in general, and his first victim was Baron Metus. (Sadly, this had UnfortunateImplications that lasted his whole life; see DoomMagnet below.)

** The best example may be Sir Tristen Hiregaard of Nova Vaasa. He never really did ''anything'' wrong his entire life. The curse that turns him into the murderous madman Malken was inherited from his cruel father. (Of course, technically, Malken is the ''true'' darklord of Nova Vaasa, not Hiregaard, and he is [[SplitPersonality a different entity entirely]]. And killing Hiregaard would not kill Malken; if that happened, the curse would be passed to Hiregaard’s eldest son. Short of killing every male member of the family, it is not known if there ''is'' a way to destroy him.

** Also a lot of Dark Power curses results in changes to your appearance and you get them only through evil acts.