Books of S

The Books of S_, so called because every book in the series was titled with something starting with an S, were the first of three series of fan-produced netbooks containing fanmade content to expand the Dungeons & Dragons setting of Ravenloft. Written by a group of devoted fans who called themselves "The Kargatane", after the in-universe secret police of Darkon, they produced five books in total, striving to keep the fandom alive after TSR lost the rights to Ravenloft. Eventually, the Books of S gave way to the Undead Sea Scrolls, before the Kargatane were recruited by White Wolf and went on to become writers for the new Ravenloft D20 setting of Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition. This led to the Undead Sea Scrolls being replaced, in their turn, by the new fan net-zine "Quoth the Raven", by a new batch of fans.

The Books of S were originally written for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, with content for both Ravenloft and Masque of the Red Death. However, as the years rolled by and 3rd edition was released, more articles based on that ruleset were released. Since we're going to be nice enough to list all the articles for you by book, we'll also be extra nice and fill in what ruleset they use.

The Books of S can still be downloaded from the Kargatane's otherwise defunct website, alongside their other work like The Forgotten Children, Crossroads of the Gothic Earth, Children of the Night: Demons and Shadow of the Knife.

Book #1: The Book of Souls

Ravenloft Content

Art in the Land: Flavored as a dissertation by a Mordentish professor at the domain’s School of Arts, this article discusses some of the Demiplane’s most notable artists and pieces in the fields of painting, sculpture, music, architecture, drama, prose and poetry.

The Realms Beyond: Proceeded by fluff in the form of journal entries from Dr. Sean McClintock, a Mordentish alienist, about a telepathic cardsharp named Marcu Vasilis, whose friends were with him as he was sucked into the embrace of the Illithid God-Brain. This article revamps the AD&D psionics rules for Ravenloft games by adapting the Transubstitution rules from Van Richten’s Guide to Fiends, giving psychic characters the risk of being increasingly pulled out of their own minds and into Bluetspar.

Saga of the Mists: Appendix: An expansion to “Saga in the Mists” (Dragon Magazine #240), which provided rules for playing games of Ravenloft using the Saga rules, but which was printed before the release of “Domains of Dread”. This article adds Saga rules for the missing domains, specifically native heroes and darklords, as well as rules for “Pure” Heroes and for the Half-Vistani race, and new Roles in the form of the Avenger, Anchorite, Arcanist and Gypsy.

Tarokka Games: Discusses the mechanics needed to play actual card games with the tarokka deck, specifically outlining the games of Darkling, Barovian Mists, Endari-Vitir, Giorgios, Giorgios at the Prastonata, Sciocco, Concime, and Cinque Elementi.

Burke & Hare: Two villainous NPCs, inspired by their namesake; evil resurrections turned murderers for profit, who were caught and hanged for their crimes, only to revive as ghouls and escape.

Keepers of the Coil: Details on a secret society, protectors of a unique shadow-infused iron cobra (assassin golem in the shape of a mechanical cobra) who seek to destroy Lord Soth.

Professor Abelhous Nicholsi: A Professor of Biology from the University of now-lost Il Aluk, specializing in botany as it relates to the bizarre and unusual flora of the demiplane.

Katarina: A female half-elven vampire who strives to retain her innate goodness in the face of the temptations posed by the demiplane.

The Unathorized Biography of the Marquis Stezen D’Polarno: An extensive fluff-piece consisting of an in-verse depiction of the backstory of the Darklord of Ghastria, framed as a story conveyed by his right-hand lacky, the malignant cannibal Baron Camar D’Marosso. it ends with rules for Camar, and for Umbral Gray, a highly toxic paint pigment native to that domain which doubles expertly as a poison.

Donovan Kaiser: An odem created from the restless soul of a thieves guild boss murdered by Dominic d’Honaire for refusing to bow to the Darklord’s whims. He now seeks to rebuild his criminal empire and to slay the Mist-touched psychic, a position he is uniquely suited for.

La Société de Legerdemain: Details on a Lawful Neutral secret society; although publically they are a group dedicated to the “less artistic” fields of entertainment, predominantly stage magicians, hypnotists and escape artists, in secret they study the occult for personal reasons.

Celia Whitmoor: A female adventurer who seeks a cure to the lycanthropic infection that has poisoned her body.

The Patchwork Bride: A female Dread Flesh Golem created by the mad scientist Gerhard Beckmann, who sought to repay the kindness of Dr. Mordenheim had shown him by creating a “new bride” for the doctor. It failed, but the Patchwork Bride is determined to make her “husband” accept her. By any means necessary.

Carcharodon Isle: A domain in the sea near Darkon, controlled by two cursed souls; a man who becomes a were-shark of immense size, and his beloved, a former mermaid who becomes a greater seawolf.

Kislova: A quiet land controlled by its Darklord, Baroness Illsabet Obour, a twisted alchemist who murdered her siblings as part of her plan to avenge the domain’s former baron, her father, a brutal and callous tyrant.

Vin’Ejal: A wintry, snow-covered domain ruled in secret by a female weresnake.

Mask Doppelganger: A new breed of doppelganger, a twisted reptilian humanoid that wears the stolen skin of humanoids as disguises.

The Ecology of the Poltergeist: A fluff piece, framed as a report by Van Richten, discussing the nature of poltergeists in the Demiplane of Dread.

Foul Rat: A species of gargantuan, disease-carrying rats.

Doom Locusts: Twisted magical beings that manifest to plague an area due to be visited by some terrible imminent catastrophe.

Van Richten’s Notes on the Ravenkin: A fluff piece, framed as a report by Van Richten, discussing the Ravenkin, shapeshifting ravens who are the only species of benevolent therianthropes native to the Land of Mists.

War Wraiths: A breed of deadly incorporeal undead birthed from battlefields.

Voodan Zombie: Humans mind-controlled into a zombie-like state of mindless slavery by angry or malevolent voodan shamans.

Weapons of Sacrifice: A set of magical weapons that will drain life from the wielder in order to empower themselves to hurt creatures that would normally require potent magical weapons to harm.

Tarokka Deck of Many Things: A Ravenloftian take on the classic Deck of Many Things.

Into the Mists: Assorted new class kits themed for use in Ravenloft campaigns; the Graverobber (thief kit), the Somniomancer (psionicist kit), the Storyteller (bard), the Vampire Slayer (warrior), the Were-Mage (mage), the Witch Hunter (priest), and the Jinx’d.

Beasts at Heart: Rules for playing were-beast PCs in Ravenloft.

The Making of Men: Rules for playing Broken One PCs in Ravenloft.

Out of the Mists: Assorted kits for villainous NPCs in Ravenloft campaigns; the Beyond (psionicist), the Dark Clown (bard), the False One (priest), the Genius (wizard), the Seductor (bard), and the Witch of the Mists (wizard).

Masque of the Red Death Content

Harry Kirkland: A highly obnoxious NPC, a reporter for the disreputable occult magazine “The Ghastly Ghoulee” who will make the party’s life a misery by attempting to involve himself in their adventures in order to “get the big scoop”, all the while destroying their reputation without even trying.

Mysterious Stranger: A brief blurb on an enigmatic assistant NPC that a DM can use to help a party out if they are in dire need.

William Kemmler: An axe-wielding serial killer, resurrected as a revenant by the Red Death upon his execution by electric chair and set free to terrorize the world.

The Sentinel Order: A secret society of benevolent occultists striving to protect the world from the depredations of the Red Death and its agents.

Gothic New York: Details on New York City in the Gothic Earth.

The Spear of Destiny: Gothic Earth stats for the most legendary of Christian relics.

Archeologist: A new kit for the Tradesman class in Gothic Earth. Representing a serious scientific scholar of the past, this kit grants an increased affinity for Ancient Languages at the cost of it being more expensive to take other forms of Arcane non-weapon proficiency.

Antiquarian: A new kit for the Adept class in Gothic Earth. Representing archaeologists who stumbled upon ancient secrets relating to magic, they have an easier time translating ancient spells and learning from them, but are more vulnerable to spellcasting corruption.

Alienist: A new kit for the Tradesman class in Gothic Earth. Representing the budding development of professional psychiatrists, with some skills in hypnotism.

Jewel Thief: A new kit for the Tradesman class in Gothic Earth. A particularly glamorous and elite form of thief.

Fiction: Two stories are presented as part of the Introduction, Interlude and Conclusion, the first giving way to the second halfway through the interlude. The first story is Ravenloft themed and the second is set on Gothic Earth.

The first story revolves around a band of Kargatane agents attempting to penetrate the libraries of Castle Avitus whilst Azalin lies dormant in the wake of the Requiem. Only one agent survives, only to learn that he is not who he thought he was, but a victim of Darkon’s memory-altering powers. After he learns this, the ghostly librarian kills him.

The second story features an incredulous Bram Stoker trying to turn down a novel submission that refers to the “Demiplane of Dread”. Unbeknownst to him, the woman who approaches him is a servitor of Madrigore, a fiend who was imprisoned in the Mists for a time but who has now escaped and seeks to make a home for himself, having subsumed the body of Aleister Crowley.

Book #2: The Book of Sorrows

Ravenloft Content

More Fun and Games: A fluff piece covering assorted recreational games (drotche and assorted card & dice games) native to the demiplane, as well as two sidebars on using regular cards and dice to stand in for the long-discontinued Tarokka and Dikesha items.

The Brotherhood of Mortis: An attempt to adapt the plot, creatures and characters of the Playstation horror game Nightmare Creatures into the Paridon domain.

Voices of the People: A fluff piece, flavored as a journal entry by a Kartakan bard, talking about the singing traditions of the Vistani.

Lost Tomes of the Arcane: Necessary rules tweaks to make use of new spells from The Complete Wizard’s Handbook, The Complete Book of Necromancers and Player’s Option: Spells & Magic in Ravenloft and Masque of the Red Death.

Spirit Points: An alternative ruleset to replace the mechanics for level draining.

A Kargatane Bookshelf: A fluff piece covering ten fan-suggested obscure, occultic or just plain eerie tomes that might be found in the Vallaki bookstore run by the publisher’s in-universe selves.

Simon LaFleur: A unique juju zombie created by Chicken Bone from a murderous, arrogant Souragne noble.

Faces of Deception: Profiles of both fluff and game mechanics covering the four individuals who make up the Dementlieu Council of Advisors.

The Gargoyle of the Great Cathedral: A unique dread golem that haunts the Great Cathedral of Ezra.

The Tale of the Ragman: A mysterious spirit, a cursed doctor, who appears once a year and makes a long, solemn trek, trying to alleviate his curse. In his trek, he offers rags from his body to those suffering from all manner of maladies, taking up their ills and leaving them cured.

Will o’ The Woods: A unique baobhan sith with the ability to assume a will-o-wisp-like form, currently plaguing Tepest.

The Haunts of Lockwood Manor: Mechanics and profiles for the haunted Lockwood Manor, and the fourteen ghosts who are bound to its cursed walls.

Blackblade: A mist-stolen cambion who roams the demiplane in search of a way of escaping the mists.

Mynilar Sannom: Kargatane: A spiritual successor to the Kargatane entry in Forgotten Children, this article adds a new member to the cast of misfits crewing the Vallaki Bookstore. Mynilar is essentially a poseur goth with a fondness for tattoos, body piercing, and writing abysmally bad morbid poetry.

Sir Bartholomew Nylreave: A Kargatane spymaster, this degenerate half-ghoul ably serves Lady Kazandra, but is somewhat distracted by his determination to destroy the Vallaki cell of Kargatane, who he (not unfairly) views as disgraces to the organization.

Theokos: A gelugon who secretly goads Elena Faithhold down her spiral into damnation, hiding behind the mask of her personal priest.

The Return of Urdogen: A minor demilord in the form of a cursed pirate’s specter and the ghost-ship he roams the seas with.

Romagna: A romantic domain haunted by its darklord, the ghost of a selfish and murderously narcissistic woman.

Whäl: A frigid island domain whose whale- and seal-rich waters support the cursed darklord, a whale-hating sailor turned maledictive wereorca.

Vampire, Pischa: A new vampire variant from Sri Raja, psychic vampires whose bodies remain pristine but immobile in their graves, even as their spirits roam and drain the life from those within five miles of their grave.

Lesser Breeds of the Arak: Details on two new strains of Shadow Fae; the Vilay (ghostly lover-collecting shadow dryad) and the Huldrow (shadow fae drow imitations).

Children of the Bayou: Details on a plethora of new Souragne swamp monsters; the Werepossum, the Nightcrawler (undead children stuffed with swamp vermin), the Uncle Skeleton (mischievous spirit-being that resembles a skeleton), and the Weeping Willow (dryad-like female ghost haunting a tree).

Human, Lunatic: A new form of human enemy, humans who have had their minds utterly shattered to the point they have become incapable of feigning any humanity at all.

Dead or Alive?: Details on three creatures that look undead whilst actually not being so (the Rotting Man, Spook and Wightlord), as well as on the virus that creates the Rotting Men.

The Scroll of the Hunter: Details on an enchanted scroll that carries a rite to transform people into loup de noirs.

Coda al Fine: Sheet music bearing a cursed melody that, when played on a musical instrument, charms and drains the life from those who hear it.

The Ba’al Verzi Knife: An enchanted magical dagger bearing a fragment of Sergei von Zarovich’s soul, which it uses to compel the bearer to try and slay Strahd.

Boccoru: A speciality priest kit to represent the not!Voodoo priests of Souragne.

The Acolytes of Zebulon: A cult that considers time to be a person’s enemy and strives to conquer it, however possible.

Classes of the Damned: New class variants for the Paladin (Paragon), Druid (Caretaker), and Bard (Artiste) that are more suitable for the Demiplane of Dread.

Children of the Night: A crunch article focusing on how to use the Player’s Option rules-sets to create Native PCs.

Masque of the Red Death Content

The Waking Nightmare: A predominantly fluff piece focusing on the addition of a powerful Alhoon (illithid lich) to the Gothic Earth.

The Gothic Earth Guide to Voudou: An extensive article on using voudou in Gothic Earth, and how the religion of voudou has taken form underneath the Masque of the Red Death.

Mars Attacks Gothic Earth: Rules for adding martians, ala H.G. Welles’ War of the Worlds, to the Gothic Earth setting.

Tome of Magic Rules: An extensive crunch article on using rules from the Tome of Magic in a Gothic Earth campaign.

High Strangeness in the Gothic Earth: A listing of the many strange, unearthly phenomena reported by Charles Hoy Fort during the time period in which Gothic Earth is set, in order to provide DMs with a source of inspirational ideas.

British Society for Paranormal Research: Details on one of the benevolent qabals seeking to protect humanity from the machinations of the Red Death.

Alfonso Tyves: A fallen hero of humanity from the 14th century, corrupted by the Red Death into a vampire as part of a desperate gamble to save his beloved.

Madame Sejourné A vengeful banshee created by the Haitian Slave Revolts of the 1700s.

Sherlock Holmes and the Red Death: Rules and fluff on incorporating the famous Great Detective of Baker Street as a real character into the Gothic Earth.

“X”: A mysterious, murderous NPC meant to be used by a DM for whatever purpose they wish.

Arthur Morded Nesmith: A malevolent mystic who wishes to unleash the forces of Hell upon the Gothic Earth.

Ton Ton Macoute: A legendary Haitian ghoul turned infamous boogeyman.

Piasa Bird: A legendary monster from North America.

Circus Performer: A Tradesman kit.

The Magic of Nature: Details the Fetishist, an Adept kit from primeval societies that makes use of fetishes constructed from animals and plants to cast spells without risking the corruption of the Red Death.

The Sensitive: A Supernatural kit that bestows a Gothic Earth character with an instinctive mystical sense for the supernatural

Fiction:

Two stories are presented as part of the Introduction, Interlude and Conclusion, the first giving way to the second halfway through the interlude. The first story is Ravenloft themed and the second is set on Gothic Earth.

In the first, George Weathermay learns to his horror that his worst fears are true; his niece Gennifer has become an infected werewolf. Determined to save her, to keep her from a foreseen future in which the Weathermay-Foxgrove Twins' stint as hunters of horrors ends with the lycanthropic sister being compelled to transform and slaughter her sister, he flees into the night, unaware that he has only compelled his nieces to begin taking the first steps towards the path of the monster hunter.

In the second, a nameless member of a benevolent qabal, in the wake of the Titanic’s sinking - and the deaths of many representatives of benevolent qabals - attempts to dissuade Charles Hoy Fort from continuing his research into the supernatural. Their differing views on the fundamental natures of the supernatural leads to an argument, causing each to turn their back on the other forever.

Book #3: The Book of Secrets

Ravenloft Content

Fortune Telling for the Faint of Heart: A DM’s Tips article on how DMs can better handle fortune telling in their games.

Anchors of Faith: A great expansion on the details of the faith of Ezra, covering the history, tenets, beliefs, church structure and how to better construct player characters allied to the church.

A Year in Ravenloft: A fluff article covering various special dates, from holidays to ill-omened days, that occur throughout the course of a year amongst the demiplane’s various domains.

On the Road: Assorted random encounters that a party might meet whilst traveling the domains of Ravenloft.

Gundar: Details on Gundar, former darklord of Gundarak, after he is revived by accident from the traveling curiosities show of Professor Arcanus.

Nature’s Sorrow: A cursed former druid, who embraced lichdom in order to have the power to slay the Three Hags of Tepest, only to find himself trapped forever in Darkon.

Carnival: The Ballyhoo: Details on four fan-made additions to the cast of Isolde’s Carnival; the Two-Is-One, the Half-And-Half, Ronin Thunder and the Nameless One.

Zardorus: Details on a traveling Undead Slayer, a necromancer who seeks to use his powers to fight the undead, even as he risks his very soul through the use of such powers in this Demiplane.

Ardonk Szerieza: A rabble-rousing Gundarkite whose devotion to his demagoguery outweighs his concern for the lives of his people.

Mocellus: A powerful and evil raaig drawn into the Demiplane of Dread when the domain of Kalidnay was formed.

Merilee Markuza: A fluff with crunchy bits piece on the legendary child vampiress who appeared in the Darklords sourcebook.

Carnagan Wolfe: A good-hearted werewolf who seeks to protect humanity from the depredations of monsters.

The Effigy of Ivan Szimin: A unique fiery Dread Wood Golem consumed by the spirit of a corrupt Barovian Boyar.

Inesko Krolov: A malevolent psionicist who has preserved his life through the generations by becoming a disembodied psyche and continually stealing new bodies for himself to inhabit.

Beauty’s Garden: A cursed garden, haunted by two spirits; the innocent girl who loved it in life, and the malevolent magic-spawned shade born from its destruction.

Cyran Devichi: An Ezran priest newly transformed into a vampire.

Eleni of Toyalis: Hazlik’s primary apprentice.

The Knox Family: Two evil nobles from Nosos; the man who became a wererat by unwittingly eating one in its rodent form, and his malignant sister, who fed it to him.

Lights in the Fog: An array of heroic individuals who can be found throughout the Realm of Mists, some alone, some in small groups, all dedicated to fighting the evil that consumes their world.

Comte Tomas d’Aloure: A Dementlieu nobleman who has earned the paranoid enmity of that domain's Darklord due to his steadfast patronage of the poor and his apparent immunity to d'Honaire's hypnotic powers - unbeknowst to the darklord, the comte's protection comes from his beloved family signet ring, and the comte has no idea as to d'Honaire's malicious intentions.

Constable Sturm Androv: Constable of the City Guard of Kantora in Nova Vasa, this steadfast champion of the innocent is determined to put an end to the murderous depredations of Malken.

Father Lukas Duremke: A worshipper of the Lawgiver (or Bane, as he was outright refered to in AD&D) who grew up in a small village of puritanical but ironically benevolent Lawgiver worshippers. He joined the priesthood in Egertus, only to be shocked to find how different the "orthodox" faith of the Lawgiver was. Since then, he has become a crusader, championing the reformation of the Lawgiver's faith to something more in line with his familial teachings of the god's creed.

Hobert Mannon: A highly benevolent, humble and gentle guide who offers his help to people throughout the Southern Core, aided by a mysterious Gift of Innocence.

The Honorable James Martigan: A Mordentish nobleman who, having lost his daughter to the dread spirit known as the Phantom Lover, has since dedicated his life and his fortune to aiding those who would fight the creatures of evil.

Madeline Galbraith: A Mordentish woman who has turned her ability to see & speak with the dead into a profitable occupation as a historical scholar.

Marek Crawford: A former witch hunter who has renounced his violent crusade against magic users when he realised he was simply seeking brutal vengeance rather than trying to fight evil for its own sake.

Orinda Nahle: A long-retired and once famous adventuress who now reigns as Meistersinger over the small Kartakassan village of Chorn.

Tallwich: The Giant of Nartok is a benevolent voadkyn shaman who was spirited from his own world by the Mists, and now resides in the forest southwest of the Darkonian village of Nartok. Although alone and frightened of the smaller people around him, his benevolence compells him to use his magical powers to help those who are suffering.

The Knights of the Ashen Bough: A secret society (Neutral Good) that operates in Falkovnia, seeking to rebel against the murderous darklord Vlad Drakov. It is lead in secret by Marshal Oswald Vorbel, one of the original soldiers who fought alongside the mad butcher when he was first swallowed by the Mists and who has become sickened at the vile appetites of his "leader".

Wayward on the Bone Sands: A desert settlement domain inhabited by quevari, once-good human men and women damned to an existence of unwitting murders when they fell under the sway of their darklord, the maliciously charismatic cannibal child Caleb Wicks.

Seradan: A domain of near-mindless bleakness and dullness, ruled by the body-stealing spirit Geren, who finds their shallow indifference to everything makes a mockery of his attempts to enjoy their lives.

Haemogoblin: A unique strain of blood-drinking undead goblinoids created by vampires to serve as their minions.

Bleeding Willow: A cursed willow tree with blood-like sap that can drive those around it berserk, in addition to attempting to crush them to death in its branches.

A Darkling By Any Other Name: Optional rules for producing Darklings belonging to specific Vistani tribes.

Topiary Golem: Topiary statues animated to serve as protectors for the dwellings of magic users.

Lesser Breeds of the Arak II: Three new species of Shadow Fae; the Fanggan (hag-like tree-spirits), the Fand (invisible, water-dwelling nymph-kin) and the Sadhuin (debased shadow-satyrs).

Weresnake, Anaconda and King Cobra: Two new variants of weresnake; were-anacondas are immensely strong constrictors but have only human and giant snake forms, whilst were-king cobras have immensely potent venom, three forms (human, giant snake, hybrid), and a hypnotic dance.

Vampiric Virus: A foul magical virus that turns a victim into a crazed blood-drinking monster, and eventually into a nosferatu vampire.

Echo: Dirge-singing ghosts created from elves who died whilst only children.

Figurines of Obsession: An expansion of the rules from the Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium Volume III, adding new kinds of figurine and expanding on details for those present in the official splatbook.

The Sword of the Clan ApBlanc: The sword wielded by the darklord Tristen ApBlanc to inadvertently murder his own son, Morholt. If reunited with the shard of its blade that broke off in Morholt’s body, it becomes a powerful, but cursed, magical weapon, yearning to slay its former wielder.

Van Richten’s Guide to the Mists: A cursed set of volumes of Van Richten’s guides; they travel the planes, and though they present themselves as useful to adventurers, those who get too curious about them are soon after swallowed by the Mists, drawn to Ravenloft and typically into the lair of a darklord.

Ring of the Wolf: A cursed ring that seems to offer magical benefits, but slowly transforms the wearer into a maledictive mountain loup-garou.

Azalin’s Crown: The cursed crown of Azalin, the lich darklord of Darkon.

The Chirurgeon: A new base class, a “mercenary physician” who combines primitive surgical-based medicinal treatments with some rudimentary rogue skills.

Abber Nomads: Two kits that can be used to represent PCs belonging to the Abber Nomads of the Dreamlands; the Warrior (Fighter/Ranger) and the Shaman (Specialty Priest).

The Inquisitor: A specialty priest kit that focuses on ferreting out enemies of the priest’s faith that seek to undermine the faith from within.

Freak Kit: Something of a precursor to the Caliban race of Ravenloft D20, this kit allows any character to play a distorted, deformed or mutated figure.

Wretched Creations: Rules for playing as flesh golem PCs, in the spirit of The Making of Men and Beasts at Heart articles, and the rules for undead PCs in the original Requiem: The Grim Harvest sourcebook.

Masque of the Red Death Content

The Haunted Cairn: A complete adventure, in which the PCs must help place to rest the ghost of a Celtic maiden.

Sherlock Holmes and the Red Death II: A sequel to the original Sherlock Holmes & The Red Death article. This covers what happened to Sherlock during the in-universe time of “The Great Hiatus”, as well as providing Masque stats for several notable villains and magical items taken/extrapolated from the novels.

Wolfgang Armand Faust: The infamous diabolist himself restored for use in a Gothic Earth campaign.

Pirata Salinas, El Diablo del Mar: A villainous NPC, the wereshark who terrorizes the South American island of Cozumel.

Romeo Giacomo Galli: A demented vampire who has confused himself with his Shakespearian namesake.

Isaac Bennington: A big game hunter who has succumbed to the werebeast disease; now a weretiger, he has abandoned hunting animals to instead hunt his former human friends.

Professor Dora Meltzer: A genuinely skilled psychic who operates out of New York City.

The Sons of Liberty: A malevolent qabal of wealthy Americans who seek to exploit the supernatural to advance themselves and empower America as a country.

Big Game Hunter: A Soldier kit available only to upper-class members, specializing in hunting in wilderness environments.

Chimney Sweep: A lower-class Tradesman kit, with some roguish talents and exceptional luck.

Fiction:

Two stories are presented as part of the Introduction, Interlude and Conclusion, the first giving way to the second halfway through the interlude. The first story is Ravenloft themed and the second is set on Gothic Earth.

In the first, the Vallaki cell find their usual brand of incompetence flaring up when they accidentally kill the town Burgomeister, and need to think up a plan to cover up the murder before Strahd comes for their blood.

In the second, Harry Houdini is secretly visited on his deathbed by none other than Imhotep, the undead champion of the Red Death itself. The Interlude half takes place from his brother’s viewpoint, whilst the conclusion takes place from Harry’s.

Book #4: The Book of Shadows

Ravenloft Content

Even More Fun & Games: A follow-up to the article from Book of Sorrows, adding details on yet more common games in the lands amongst the mists; Swords (card game), Wolf Cubs, Caltrops (dice game), dart games in general, Head to Heel (darts), Crosses and Rings (Darts) and Ter Quat Ter (darts).

Terrible Transformations: Twenty fully complete Terror Tracks submitted by Ravenloft fans for easy use on NPCs or PCs.

Fear and Loathing in Third Edition: Unofficial rules for using Fear, Horror and Madness checks under 3e rules - this article was written when the 3e core rules were released, but before Ravenloft D20

The Tale of the Lady of the Lake: Biography on a demilord in Darkon, a fallen and malicious fae lake spirit who is bound to Castle Island.

Father Guran: A Krynnish heucuva once devoted to Morgion, god of disease and decay, who forsake his former patron after he was uncovered and turned to worship of Chemosh, god of undeath, for salvation from Morgion's wrath.

Eduard Duvoir: A Falkovnian tailor who offered would-be refugees a way out of Falkovnia, only to rob and murder them, cursed by one of his victims into a maledictive wererat.

Dr. Henry Wollcote: A somewhat mad doctor who is determined to master medicine to the point of literally conquering death. This article is written under third edition rules and includes a mystical disease called "The Rot".

Umbran, the Shadow Lich: A former wine merchant turned dark wizard, Marcus Shadowmehr became a unique undead when he sought to save himself from the oblivion of the Shadow Virus by completing the ritual of lichdom.

Sir William Canifax: A former adventuring wizard who retired when he accidentally failed a powers check, caused by his desperately animating the corpses of his slain companions to help fight off a werewolf that had killed them. This article is written under third edition rules.

The Interpretation of Dreams: A fluff-heavy article discussing four individuals who have all been victimized by a member of the dread Nightmare Courts, each followed by a sidebar that gives game stats and suggestions on how to include them in your campaign.

The Red Wolf: Irvyne Wolfe once sought to become a paladin in service to Elena Faith-hold, ruler of his homeland of Nidala. After learning firsthand that the stories of her blind cruelty and malice were true, he dedicated himself to leading "the Pack", a rebellion against the fallen paladin.

The Society of Huntsmen: Details on a secret society of bounty hunters, trackers and avengers who roam the core, seeking the destruction of the creatures of darkness.

The Order of Twilight: Details on a secret order founded by the Nightmare Man, Darklord of the Nightmare Lands, to gather information on dreams and nightmares, and to seek a possible way that the Nightmare Man might escape his imprisonment.

The New Guys in Vallaki: Profiles under the third edition ruleset for two more new members of the failed Kargatane of the Vallaki cell; Wyan Twitchell, a foul-tempered, disdainful pathological liar of a human conjurer, and Marcel Vendark, a Tepesti-born wizard of incredibly violent temperament who typically wears an iron mask to make himself look more frightful.

Tsuu-Y-Teke: A Central American themed domain, a parched wasteland that suffers under a month-long day that protects it from the wrath of the giant vulture mummy who serves as its darklord.

Vultharesk: A domain of fearful puritans seeking to avoid the disapproval of the ever-watching, impossible to satisfy moral guardian known as the Mirror Man, who dwells in the lifeless reflection of the domain.

Mictlan: A South American themed domain, where a waning army of cursed immortal conquistadors struggles in vain against the blood-soaked brutality of the theocratic natives.

New Monsters for Nosos: Details on the Garbage Golem and Garbage Elemental of Nosos.

Owlmay: A Ravenloftian analogue to the Swanmay, warrior-women who dedicate themselves to protecting nature and use magical tokens to assume the form of owls.

Children of the Nightless Land: An assortment of monsters native to the domain of Tsuu-Y-Teke. These creatures are in third edition ruleset, despite the residents of the domain being statted under 2nd edition ruleset. This article covers the Achunga (malevolent humanoids who dwell underground), Anhanga (incorporeal shapeshifters), Caypór (fiery goblin-like fae), Curupira (malevolent shapeshifting tortoises), Jaracacas (vicious snakes with a flesh-withering gaze), Lobishomen (blood-drinking, incorporeal fiery undead), Macachera (fae spirits of disease and misfortune), Marét (fallen familial guardian spirits), Saci (tiny goblin-like fae), Tupan (thunderstorm spirits), Werejaguarundi and Azemen (a strain of vampires immune to sunlight).

Skeleton, Hive: A unique form of undead that hosts a hive of symbiotically-linked vermin inside itself.

Under the Hands of Hags: Three unique monsters created by the hags of Tepest to bedevil their lands; the unnaturally hungry Ravenous Wolves, the animated flying hands called Pretty Pinchers, and the unnatural incorporeal undead Cauldronspawn, born from the victims of the hags’ stewpot. This article is written under Ravenloft D20 rules.

Wereglutton: A wolverine-based lycanthrope strain.

Patchwork Folk: A new species of intelligent golems roaming the demiplane, in the guise of man-sized animated patchwork dolls. This article is written under Ravenloft D20 rules.

Elemental Corruption: Details on what happens when the elemental corruption aspect of the land of mists, the same force that turns ordinary elementals into Grave, Mist, Blood and Pyre elementals, is applied to elemental-kin. Contains the Mist Sylph (Sylph), Mist Servant (Aerial Servant), Crypt Gnome (Pech), Graveling (Sandling), Heat Stalker (Salamander), Pyre Wyrm (Fire Snake), Bloody Mary (Nereid) and Scarlet Stream (Water Weird).

Spitting Cobra: A variant of the were-king cobra that has the ability to spit venom.

Infestation: Details on two deadly swarming invertebrates; the parasitic devouring spiders and the disease-spreading plague moths.

Witch Ritual Tools: Mechanical details on the assorted paraphernalia used by the witches of Hala in their magical rituals.

The Mask of Sorrowful Beauty: A cursed mask that grants great beauty, but slowly drives the wearer into paranoid insanity. Also an excellent weapon for detecting/killing wererats.

The Vocalist: A quasi-bardic prestige class for Kartakans, focusing on honing one’s voice until one can create mystical effects through song alone. Written for Ravenloft D20.

Masque of the Red Death Content

Shadows of Blue and Gray: A complete adventure set in Gothic Georgia.

Danylo Denizovich Známia: An Arayashka (snow wraith) who haunts the Valdai Hills of Gothic Russia.

Sir Andrew Sinclair: An English nobleman whose sudden change in disposition, from snarling foul-tempered cur to gentle, generous and polite has a truly dark origin: he has sundered himself into two halves, his inner evil now manifest as a terrible beast, in hopes of finding a way to re-merge them with his good side in control. Also includes rules for the Gothic Earth equivalent of an Alchemist’s Apparatus, the famous Ravenloftian soul-merging/splitting device.

Dame Alice Kyteler: A malevolent Irish sea hag, currently developing a secret society of women in hopes of changing Gothic Great Britain into a land where it is men who are oppressed and controlled, rather than women.

The Katipunan: A revolution-seeking Philippine secessionist qabal operating out of Gothic Manila.

The Locolico: Foul, disease-spreading fae gypsie-like creatures who bear a great vendetta against the Vistani, perhaps the only race that the Vistani fear in the multiverse.

Caracas: Details on one region of the Gothic Caribbean.

Minnesota: A brief description of the mystical horrors that lurk in Gothic Minnesota.

Bogotá: Details on one wartorn region of Gothic South America.

Manila: Details on a colony in the Gothic Philippines.

Rapa Nui: Details on Easter Island’s true history and secrets in the Gothic Earth.

H.M.S. Erebus: Details on a powerful ghost ship haunting the oceans of the Gothic Earth.

Wang-Chi: The Doppelganger Hound, a unique species of monster originating in Gothic China that has since begun to spread to Chinatowns throughout the world.

Mortician: A dark Tradesman kit covering a worker whose task entails examining, preparing and interring the bodies of the dead.

Fiction

Unlike the other books in this series, only one piece of fiction is presented, set for the Introduction and Interlude; the Masque fiction was never written before the Kargatane disbanded.

In the Ravenloft fiction, Elena Faith-hold interrogates a captured ghoul and learns of the existence of a new order of the Knights of the Circle to which she once belonged, who secretly strive to keep Ebonbane sealed away in the Phantasmal Forest. She sends an agent to infiltrate the ritual of sealing, but when he returns, having become a ghoul, she murders him.

Book #5: The Book of Sacrifices

Ravenloft Content

Prikaza: Instructions on how to use “reverse readings” when using a tarokka deck, describing how the meaning of each card changes if it is revealed in an upside down form.

The Head Hunter: Using D20 rules to adapt an ancient aberration, the neh-thalggu, to Ravenloft, in the form of a Head Hunter who has decided to hunt in Ravenloft, not realising that those who enter can’t leave. Comes with an adventure in which the players are involved in trying to stop its hunt soon after it arrives in the Land of Mists.

Myths of the Mists: A flavor article in the form of assorted myths from across the various dread domains, divided into categories relating to Animals & Beasts, Birds, Children & Childbirth, Death, Food & Drink, Fortune Telling, Houses & Buildings, Marriage, Ships & The Sea, and War & Weapons.

The Illithid God-Brain: Updating the stats (and tweaking the fluff?) of the Illithid God-Brain for use in Ravenloft D20.

Dr. Henry Masham: A doctor whose experiments in transplanting flesh for grafts have turned him into a unique kind of Flesh Golem (he’d be a half-golem in D20).

The Love-Torn Ghost: The ghost of a poor woman who sacrificed her youth caring for her ill mother, only to find upon her death that nobody remembered her and she was all alone, causing her to commit suicide in grief.

Addar: A unique form of darklord, in the form of a fallen unicorn, the patriarch of the evil shadow unicorns that haunt Ravenloft. Rules for Ravenloft D20.

The Jacob Garvin Scarecrow: A mad farmer’s desire to protect “his land” resulted in the birth of this, a homicidal straw golem.

Larks Kerskman: A Falkovnian thief who was captured by Vjorn Horstmann and mutated into a spider-based Broken One, a state he has used to become a murderous rebel against Falkovnian officials. Uses Ravenloft D20 rules.

d'Monte: The ghost of a mad conductor who unwittingly rekindled a deadly plague on the night of what was supposed to be his masterpiece.

Jacques du Almoy: An unwitting pawn in the ongoing psychic-fuelled shadow war between d’Honaire, his unknown true father, and the Living Brain, who is stoking his paranoia and secretly wielding him as a murderous weapon.

Tanya: The ghost of a woman who was betrayed by the Vistani, made an instrument of murder against a merchant who had once deceived a Vistani tasque and poisoned their horses, before they abandoned her to die as the criminal responsible.

Avatar of the Wolf God: Ravenloft D20 rules for an ancient dead (mummy) wolf accidentally created by the fervent beliefs of a small Verbrekian village that has mistaken it as an avatar of their lupine deity.

Marcos Vedarrak: Ravenloft D20 rules for a Falkovnian Talon who has become fascinated by magic and pursues it as a viable alternative to martial strength alone.

Valeri Antonin: An odem created from the spirit of a once-devout Ezrite who came to resent the church that manipulated him into becoming its castrato choir singer, and the children he has carefully created and groomed to be the tools of its ultimate destruction.

Morts-qui-dancent: A cursed band of benevolent undead performers.

The Zanago Society: A budding group of mad voodans who worship the darklord of Souragne.

Jorhlan Raynor, Kargatane: The absolute worst possible choice for a member of the Kargatane, a fundamentally good-hearted (if dimwitted) soul who got himself killed on his first mission, only to come back as an odem. Rules are presented for Ravenloft D20.

The Jackal Who Would Not Be A Coward: A small Island of Terror, ruled by Jack Kerne, a jackal from the Wildlands who was expelled from the Wildlands for his viciousness and who betrayed the human tinker who healed his wounds and tried to redeem him. Written for Ravenloft D20.

Saarkaath: A domain of orcs, humans and half-orcs, ruled by a damned half-orc who turned against the bigoted humans who kept him from the knighthood he sought so honestly and valiantly to win a place amongst and took control over their orcish enemies. Written for Ravenloft D20.

Igid Rabi-i: A tropical domain with a colonial theme. One of several domains with reference to a “holy empire”, possibly stemming from the same world.

Cumbre de Oro: An Incan conquistador themed domain. One of several domains with reference to a “holy empire”, possibly stemming from the same world.

San Bartolomé: A third edition domain ruled by a theocracy, its darklord a woman who loved a would-be monk, and found herself transformed into a harpy when she attempted to take on the guise of an angel to entice him to love her back.

Isle of Ravens: A third edition domain in the form of an island in the Sea of Sorrows, inhabited only by a nameless mad sorceress who transforms people into ravens.

Locknar Cove: A cold island domain haunted by the ghost of the avaricious pirate who once used it to hide his treasure, and now struggles desperately to guard it, even though it cost him his life and the life of his crew when it mutinied to steal it from him.

Upir Lichy: A variant strain of vampire native to frozen regions, more ghoul-like in nature and feeding on the warmth of the living.

Noises in the Night: A Ravenloft D20 article adding the Boogeymen to Ravenloft; malevolent fae spirits that prey on children, and which would later become official with the Dark Tales & Disturbing Legends sourcebook. This article contains the Boogeymen known as the Scissorman, Fanton Griswold, Monsieur and Madame Croquemitaine, The Bad Thing, Alligator Lenny, and the Gentlemen.

Aswang: A Ravenloft D20 article adding the Philippines “vampire”, the aswang, to Ravenloft.

Creeping Dooms: An assortment of swarming vermin (Skull Beetles, Ilsabet’s Kiss, Cave Ants, Fumewood Termites) written under Ravenloft D20 rules, fleshing out noxious creepy-crawlies mentioned in Ravenloft novels.

Phantom Carcass: A unique kind of undead, created when a Raise Dead spell goes very wrong and causes the body and soul to be dragged out of the grave as synchronized undead.

Utburd: An incorporeal undead created from the malevolent soul of an infant deliberately abandoned to die in the wilderness.

Markovian Broken One: A template for creating the unique Broken Ones of Markovia under Ravenloft D20 rules.

Executioners: A Ravenloft D20 pair of monsters; the cursed plant spawned when a tree is repeatedly use to host executions, and the undead spawned from its efforts to continue killing.

Forgotten Horrors: Three monsters for Ravenloft D20, all taken from Russian folklore; the Puldnica (murderous fae nymphs), the Nocnitsa (blood-sucking shadow hag) and the Srat (malevolent fiery falcons).

Felauragoth: A magical weapon for Ravenloft D20; a cursed soul-eating greatsword originally from the Isle of Ravens.

Blackers Automatic Head: A cursed magical item for Ravenloft D20; a hideous magical mask that enslaves whoever tries to wear it, seeking to build an army of dominated victims.

Knife of the Ghoul: A cursed magical weapon for Ravenloft D20; a dagger-length kitchen knife that can be used to prepare unearthly delicious food, but which drives the wielder to embrace cannibalism.

Treasures of the Deep: Three cursed items belonging to a sea elf murdered by superstitious villagers.

Anatomist: A Ravenloft D20 prestige class, thematically converting the Anatomist Necromancer kit of AD&D.

Masque of the Red Death Content

Archangel & Yaba: A follow-up to the earlier Guide to Gothic Earth Voudou article, examining how the traditions differ in Gothic Brazil.

Leopold of Austria: A villainous NPC in the form of the mummy of Duke Leopold.

Dionysys and Cyzannea: A pair of half-fiend twins, one benevolent sister and one malevolent brother. Written under 3rd edition rules.

The Count of Monte Cristo: How to use the titular Count of Monte Cristo in your Gothic Earth games, be it as hero, villain, or something else.

Sweet Bay Village: An adventuring scenario involving a murderously possessive mother and the children whose lives she ruined. Written for 3e rules.

The Old Brewery: A guide to how New York’s most infamous tenement building of the 1890s fits into the world of Gothic Earth.

A Guide to Gothic Boma: Examining the region of Boma in Gothic Earth’s North Africa.

Sicily: An examination of Gothic Sicily.

A Guide to Gothic Vladivostok: How the famous Russian capital looks in the time/world of Gothic Earth.

Fiction

There is no fiction in this netbook, courtesy of the fact it was released in the year 2001, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and because a very popular fan on the site’s forum succumbed to cancer. Thus, in a show of mourning, the Kargatane wrote no fiction for this netbook.

Links

Note: These archived links immediately prompt the zip file's download. Don't get spooked, your computer isn't getting violated.

• Book of Souls
• Book of Sorrows
• Book of Secrets
• Book of Shadows
• Book of Sacrifices