Editing Ravenloft (section)

==The Inevitable 4e Controversy==
[[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]] was an... ''odd'' time for Ravenloft. On the one hand, the setting largely went untouched by [[Wizards of the Coast]], who never brought the setting back as a fully fledged playable setting the way they did the [[Forgotten Realms]], [[Eberron]], and [[Dark Sun]]. In fact, 4th edition is notably as literally the ''only edition'' in D&D's history thus far that lacks an adaptation of the original [[I6: Castle Ravenloft]] module.

But, on the other hand, many elements of Ravenloft were also mainstreamed in this edition by being folded into the new [[World Axis]] cosmology. The [[Demiplane of Dread]] didn't appear, but also wasn't overtly forbidden from appearing; [[demiplane]]s ''do'' exist in the Axis and [[Sigil]] made it, so nothing stopped fans from dropping the Misty Realms into the Axis if they wanted - it's not like the old lore about it being tucked away in the Deep [[Ethereal Plane]] ever had any meaningful impact on it. What ''did'' appear was the fundamental '''concept''' of the Demiplane of Dread, now applied to the new [[Shadowfell]] plane; in the Axis, beings who commit uniquely terrible sins may find their souls punished by being trapped in personalized Shadowfell-based hellholes called "Domains of Dread" as "[[Darklord]]s".

The two big differences are that a) if you can get out of a Shadowfell DoD, you can freely escape into the greater Shadowfell (though talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire!) and b) these Shadowfell DoDs focus on [[Dark Fantasy]] over [[Gothic Horror]], resulting in such realms as a twisting plane-spanning road haunted by a vengeful headless horseman, and a jungle valley full of traitors ruled over by a [[Silver Dragon]] [[dracolich]].

Also, [[Strahd von Zarovich]] got an official statblock in the [[undead]] [[Monster Manual]] "Open Grave".

Old-school Ravenloft fans reacted to this edition largely with a shrug and a "meh". They didn't generally ''like'' the Shadowfell domains of dread, which were perceived as too fantastical and too soft compared to traditional Ravenloft's focus on penalizing players and [[Low Fantasy]], but they didn't really ''hate'' them, either. Plus, as the Ravenloft setting lore had escaped anything akin to the [[Spellplague]] just from the existence of the World Axis, there was always the possibility that a more "proper" Ravenloft revival could come along and be more faithful to what was; to Ravenloft fans, what defines the setting is largely the existence of the Core and the notable characters in it, rather than just the broad-strokes existence of the Domains of Dread as a concept.