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Webcomics

2021-04-16T15:59:57Z

2600:1010:B14E:4FF8:7C2E:D54A:A8B5:9F5F: /* Directly Related */

'''Webcomics''' are comics on the Internet.

Well, that was easy. Why does /tg/ care, then?

Because a whole host of webcomics are inspired by, written for, or are loved by the vast majority of /tg/. Below is a list of /tg/-related and -approved webcomics.

==Directly Related==
*'''[http://mr-culexus.deviantart.com/gallery/ Bok the Neutral]:''' A webcomic about a True Neutral half-orc bard adventuring with a man who thinks that he is a fallen paladin and a dryad in a fantasy world created by one of our own drawfags, Mr.Culexus.

*'''[http://mozai.com/BooneQuest/ Boone Quest]:''' an illustrated quest thread that plays like a [[Dark Heresy]] solo adventure starring [[Boone|Alice Boone]]. Mr.Culexus again.

*'''[http://www.btbcomic.com/ By The Book]:''' D&D starter monsters decide to become Adventurers. The premise is similar to [http://www.goblinscomic.com Goblins] but BTB has a much lighter tone. The latest updates also include stats to use the characters in your campaign.

*'''[http://cardboard-crack.com Cardboard Crack]:''' A [[Magic: The Gathering]] webcomic.

*'''[http://mr-culexus.deviantart.com/gallery/ Cases of the Hives]:''', [[drawfag|fukken Coolexus]]. A noir-like webcomic where an Arbites and a Magos investigate murders in a hive city.

*'''[http://chrysalis.thecomicseries.com/ Chrysalis]:''' A short-lived [[Changeling: The Dreaming]] webcomic. Dead.

*'''[http://darealwurld40k.deviantart.com/gallery/ Da Real Wurld 40k]:''' Da Real Wurld 40k was a webcomic that mixed a variety of sitcoms and reality TV shows with Warhammer 40,000. Hasn't updated in a long time.

*'''[http://www.darthsanddroids.net/ Darths And Droids]:''' In this webcomic, Star Wars doesn't exist as a movie franchise but is an RPG. Each comic is a series of screen caps from the DVDs, starting first with the prequels then moving on to the original trilogy, with a variety of tips and tricks for beginning GMs . Beware, legions of /tg/: hilarity will ensue.

*'''[http://thisis.delvecomic.com/NewWP/comic/in-too-deep/ Delve]''' One Elf, One Dungeon, Even Odds. NSFW but nice plot twists and likeable characters.

*'''[http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=612 DM of the Rings]:''' The inspiration for Darths and Droids, this webcomic depicts the Fellowship of the Ring as a D&D party, using stills from the movie adaptations of the three films as a backdrop for the story. The ending was resolved some years ago, though it is very much worth the read regardless.

* '''[https://dndoggos.com/ Dungeons and Doggos]:''' An adorable little comic about a group of hyperactive dogs playing D&D.

*'''[[Eagle Ordinary]]:''' A webcomic about a ragtag squad of guardsmen and their squeamish (junior) commissar as they battle Tau, heretical tech-priests, and the nefarious plans of a Rogue Trader. Uses an [[Only War]] campaign the creators once played as the script.

*'''[http://eatatau.smackjeeves.com/ EATATAU!]:''' Popular on the [[Advanced Tau Tactica]] forums, EATATAU is a finished webcomic about the [[Tau Empire]], although the dialogue is frequently incomprehensible, due to a poor translation from Spanish to English. Depending on your thoughts on the Tau, it's either awesome or terrible, but in either case, it's very [[weeaboo]].

*'''[http://erfworld.com/ Erfworld]:''' A story about a [[Neckbeard]] who [[Isekai|gets transported into a another world]] that runs like a giant turn-based tabletop [[Wargame]] with a ton of terrible puns. He becomes a dreaded, world changing warlord by [[Powergamer|finding ways to exploit the world's game mechanics]]. The world has a very unique and creative magic system that is worth checking out. Tragically, the comic was canceled due to the author suffering several disasters in his personal life including his wife getting cancer.

*'''[http://exterminatusnow.co.uk/2003-09-29/comic/meet-the-crew/dirty-harry/ Exterminatus Now]:''' Combines Warhammer 40K with [[Furries]] in the art style of Sonic the Hedgehog. Way better than it sounds. Concluded.

*'''[http://www.goblinscomic.com Goblins]:''' A D&D setting but where the main party is a bunch of genre-savvy goblins instead of the typical humans-and-similar. Has a lotta people being dramatically sad. Though the comic has some enjoyable parts it also has some serious problems. It is still worth giving a try but be warned that it is major [[Skub]].

*'''[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/ Irregular Webcomic]''': Whether this is worth recommending is an open question; but there's no question but that the "Fantasy" and "Science Fiction" storylines are both joke tabletop RPG campaigns, making this fairly "directly related". On the more positive side, this aspect led into the author, with his friends, starting up "Darths and Droids".

*'''[[Love Can Bloom]]:''' Not a full webcomic but rather the one-off product of a [[drawfag]], the single strip Love Can Bloom spawned one of the most well-known pieces of writefaggotry on /tg/.

*'''[https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/monsters-can-be-heroes-too/list?title_no=281278 Monsters Can Be Heroes Too!]:''' The misadventures of a party of adorable monsters, lead by Coal, the world's cutest [[Kobold]]. Currently on hiatus due to the artist having financial difficulty.

*'''[http://morphe.thewebcomic.com/ morphE]:''' An interactive [[Mage: The Awakening]] webcomic. Concluded.

*'''[[Order of the Stick]]:''' started as a gag-a-day D&D satire, its turned into something epic. The artwork is deceptively simple vectored stick-figures. It's also one of the most popular webcomics of any genre, so mentioning it on /tg/ might [[skub|get a reaction]].

*'''[http://planescapecomic.com/index.html Planescape Survival Guide]:''' [[Planescape Survival Guide|See its page here to know everything needed]].

*'''[http://www.princeofsartar.com/ Prince of Sartar]:''' A graphic adaption of [[Glorantha|King of Sartar]].

*'''[http://www.flashgitz.net/?latestcomic Regular Marine]:''' - Brought to you by the guys who gave you [[Kaldor Draigo]]'s warp dust addiction and the [[Space Hulk]] trainwrecks. Focuses on the last two marines from one of the missing [[Primarchs]]' chapters as they try to stay alive in a messed-up universe. They also manage to drag an under-appreciated [[Night Lords|Night Lord]] with a Tyranid fetish along for the ride as well. Currently on hold.

*'''[https://www.warhammer-community.com/roll-models/ Roll Models]:''' An [[Age of Sigmar]] webcomic on Warhammer Community site about two hopelessly inept [[Stormcast Eternals|Sigmarines]], their random humie friend...and the things that happen behind the scenes (read: on the tabletop). Pretty much like Turn Signals on a Land Raider (see below) but without the blatantly meta nature to the parodic elements.

*'''[[Servants of the Imperium]]:''' A relative newcomer, SotI is basically Order of the Stick in the Warhammer 40,000 universe (specifically [[Dark Heresy]]). It is finished.

*'''[[Slut Patrol]]:''' A short-lived but nonetheless well-loved webcomic, Slut Patrol was (yet another) Warhammer 40k comic (albeit with a notably more realistic art style).

*'''[http://tyrantwache.deviantart.com/gallery/673428 A Space Marine Life]:''' A webcomic about a Warhammer 40,000 [[Mary Sue|fan-girl]] suddenly finding herself in the Warhammer 40k universe.

*'''[http://starcrossed.webcomic.ws/comics/ Starcrossed]:''' A webcomic set in [[Ravenloft]]. Follows the adventures of a souragnien cleric of Ezra who is forced escape to Dementlieu. Dead.

*'''[http://tabletitans.com/ Table Titans]:''' Webcomic by the creator of PVP (that also originated as a spinoff of it) about the titular party of gamers and their game. It's [[Wizards of the Coast|Wizards]]-endorsed, though, so be forewarned.

*'''[http://tsoalr.com/ Turn Signals on a Land Raider] [https://www.warhammer-community.com/tsoalr/ (the new version)]:''' Considered by many to be the definitive [[Warhammer 40,000]] webcomic, TSoaLR is a series of vignettes related to the game. Fortunately, after a long hiatus, the comic appears to be back on track...and then it ended. And now it's coming back ''again''! This time with the support of GW itself and a place on the Warhammer Community website.

*'''[http://mr-culexus.deviantart.com/gallery/ Verloren Hoop]:''' chronicling a Dark Hersey game where survivors from a Valkyrie crash go on to investigate a mysterious drug in a hive for the inquisition. Coolexus again.

*'''[[Witch Girls Adventures]]:''' an [[RPG]] system and accompanying webcomic that's basically a ripoff of Harry Potter.

*'''[http://www.wobblymodelsyndrome.com/ Wobbly Model Syndrome]:''' cheap ways to poke fun at the universe of 40K, from the [[Tyranids]]' lack of allies to how much irony the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]] set himself up with. Concluded.

*'''[https://web.archive.org/web/20160225013911/http://space-wolves-grey.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/wolf-sister.html?m=1/ Wolf And Sister]:''' Space Corgi and SoB adventures. Concluded. Webarch is a but finicky, if something doesn't work, run from index. Everything IS there and operational.

*'''[http://yafgc.net/ Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic]:''' b/w uninked, where most of the main characters are the monsters in a dungeon-romp dungeon. It updates quite regularly and has been around for years, so its pretty long. It is clearly based off dungeons and dragons. Contains some nudity.

*'''[https://www.warhammer-community.com/vhane-glorious/ Vhane Glorious: Heroism Gone Rogue]''': A webcomic by the people of the Warhammer Community website, written by the authors of the Regimental Standard and illustrated by the same artist behind Eagle Ordinary. Follows the adventures of Buck Vhane, the dashing yet useless brother/cousin/nephew (nobody's entirely certain) of [[Rogue Trader]] Elucia Vhane.

*'''[https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/1hp-club/list?title_no=220318/ 1HP CLUB]''': Daily life of dungeon boys. A webcomic based on a real dnd campaign. Beware the anime.

==Approved==
*'''[http://drmcninja.com/ The Adventure of Doctor McNinja]''': A ninja that is also a doctor who fights various bizarre threats. (Concluded)

*'''[[Axe-Cop]]''': A webcomic written by a kid, drawn by a pro. Exceptionally awesome!

*'''[http://doublek.thewebcomic.com/ Double K]:''' What [[Anime|Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]] would be like if it were a buddy cop show. Hell yes. Only here because /tg/ loves TTGL more than they let on.

*'''[http://www.egscomics.com/ El Goonish Shive]:''' You want to run an [[Urban Fantasy]] campaign using high-schoolers? Here's a pretty good model, if you can ignore the low quality of the art for the first few years and the tendency to meander in such a way that a party happening over a single night can take a year worth of strips to get through. On the plus side, a later arc is about a I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Magic-The-Gathering Tournament, making it more directly relevant.

*'''[http://www.mspaintadventures.com MS Paint Adventures]:''' Specifically [[Homestuck]]. Reads like an illustrated quest thread but raises the bar to the stratosphere. It has been a runaway popular success, so expect [[skub|strong opinions about it]].

*'''[[Oglaf]]''': A comical NSFW fantasy comic. High-larious. Updates Sundays. Unlike other successful webcomics, this one won't start a fight because sometimes it has hardcore fucking and nobody doesn't like fucking.

*'''[http://pbfcomics.com/ Perry Bible Fellowship]:''' A surrealist webcomic of one-off strips, PBF is mostly famous on /tg/ for inventing the words [[weeaboo]] and [[skub]].

*'''[[Poppy O'Possum]]:''' Originally started as a plot to a beat-em-up game, before eventually becoming a webcomic. Follows the life of an [[Furry|anthropomorphic possum]] starting a new life in a new land.

*'''[http://www.prequeladventure.com Prequel Adventure]:''' Mainly known as ''Making a Cat Cry: The Webcomic'', Prequel focuses on a Khajiit girl in the [[The Elder Scrolls|Elder Scrolls universe]]. It is a forum-driven adventure in the MSPA style, but incorporates a lot from Oblivion, and genre-savvy roleplayers keep the comic more /tg/-related than [[/v/|Obli/v/ion]] related.

*'''[http://www.sssscomic.com/ Stand Still. Stay Silent.]:''' [[Stand Still Stay Silent: The RPG|We tried to make an RPG based on it.]]

*'''[http://www.casualvillain.com/Unsounded/ Unsounded]:''' 19th century-like fantasy setting, top-tier art, grim, but not grimderp story and sticks to a regular update schedule.

*'''[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-11-29 Schlock Mercenary]:''' Schlock Mercenary can be be called "Xeelee Sequence but [[noblebright]]". Notable Schlock had a VERY rough art style at first, hence the link to the middle of the comic's run the creator him self recommends.

==Mentioned==
*'''[http://flyingdevastator.deviantart.com/ Rogue Trader - Rites of Flight]:'''(currently being edited).

*'''[http://olivil.imgur.com/ Tails Gets Trolled]:''' so [[Fail|horrible]] it wraps around back to amusing. Source of [[meme]]s.

==Shunned (if not outright hated)==
*'''[[Drowtales]]:''' Skub. Read the page for more info.

*'''[[Goblin#Goblins (The Webcomic)|Goblins]]:''' Same as above.

*'''[[Chris-Chan|Sonichu]]''' (''did you expect less???'')

[[Category:Not related]][[Category:Approved Media]][[Category:Webcomics]]

Demiplane of Dread

2021-04-16T00:48:20Z

2600:1010:B14E:4FF8:7C2E:D54A:A8B5:9F5F: /* 5th Edition: The Alternate Continuity */

'''The Demiplane of Dread''' is a unique [[Demiplane]] - or, perhaps more accurately, a series of interlinked demiplanes - within the [[Great Wheel]] cosmology of [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. This is the actual "world" in which the campaign setting of [[Ravenloft]] is based, and so the name is often used when trying to describe the "Ravenloft world".

The precise origins of the Demiplane of Dread are lost to history. Its creators are enigmatic beings known only as "The Dark Powers", who maintain and defend their creation with mighty magic and jealous zeal. It's believed they have some kind of mutual non-aggression pact with the various gods of the Great Wheel, but nothing canon is ever defined. It is believed to lie where the [[Ethereal Plane]] meets the [[Plane of Shadow]], but is able to manifest portals absolutely ''everywhere'', even in places normally restricted to planar portals, such as [[Dark Sun|Athas]] or the [[Phlogiston]]. Such portals usually appear as banks of fog or mist, but will adapt themselves to other sight-obscuring phenomena - and are usually one-way. Getting ''in'' is easy, but getting '''out'''? Canonically you won't be able to leave unless the Dark Powers will it, short of using artifact-level items like the dreaded Rift Spanner which just so happens to be the kind of item that could turn you into a [[Darklord]] just from getting it to work properly.

Aaand then came 3.5 which opened a doorway into the [[World Serpent Inn]], breaking the whole point of this prison plane. Here it's a failsafe for DMs when their parties reach their 16th birthday and are sick of Goth. Its doorway on the Demiplane's side of things changes every night.

==Planar Traits==
The Demiplane of Dread's creators have molded the reality of this world into a new fashion, forcibly imposing the rules of [[Gothic Horror]] on the setting. There are many ways that this molding manifests, but some of the more overt include the following:
* [[Necromancer|Necromancy]] spells are empowered and rendered more dangerous; spells like Animate Dead will call up more creatures than the caster may be able to control, whilst spells that instantly kill their victims usually cause such victims to arise spontaneously as the [[undead]] - and often as ones quite pissed off at their killer. Certain non-necromancy, non-instant-kill spells even have a chance of doing this, such as Disintegrate turning a completely disintegrated victim into an incorporeal undead! Using any necromancy spell provokes a powers check unless it's purely defensive, doesn't affect undead, and doesn't manipulate life force; that list of "safe" spells is quite narrow.
* [[Diviner|Divination]] spells are pretty much worthless; spells that detect moral alignment invariably fail, spells aimed at detecting monstrous species either are unreliable (Detect Undead) or flatly won't work (using True Seeing to look for natural shapechangers), spells that revolve around mental contact risk driving you mad if you accidentally use them on certain inhuman creatures, and in general you can't trust the result of divination spells because the normal awareness of when such a spell has failed doesn't occur in the Demiplane of Dread. Oh, and Scrying type spells create a visible sensory apparatus that can alert your target that you're scrying on them, which can even serve as a conduit for things like gaze attacks. There's a practical reason for this; horrific things aren't quite as scary if you know their true nature too early, and so this element was put in to keep from having the DM tip their hands too soon and ruin the scare.
* [[Conjurer|Conjuration]] allows entities from other planes to be summoned, but they won't be able to return home when the spell expires. Obviously, quite a few of them will be ''very'' upset with their summoner because of this. Even before they figure this out, the binding aspects of conjuration spells are weaker in the Demiplane of Dread, giving summoned creatures a chance to escape its bonds the moment it arrives.
* [[Abjurer|Abjuration]] spells that banish creatures to another plane do not work. Rather, they ''appear'' to work but just toss the target somewhere else within the demiplane.
* [[Illusionist|Illusion]] spells that manipulate shadows are 20% more powerful, but the caster risks losing control of it when the spell ends, releasing a free-willed [[shadow]].
* Spells that directly interfere with the fabric of a Domain, such as manipulating weather, can often attract the attention of the resident [[Darklord]], and who might be able to subvert or negate these same spells if they have related powers.
* Teleportation spells are restricted; each domain is treated like its own separate plane of existence. High-level teleportation spells can overcome this if the border is not closed. Nothing can teleport out of a closed domain or the Demiplane entirely.
* Curses are empowered, and even non-spellcasters can potentially lay deadly or deforming curses on people if their rage or grief is intense enough to catch the notice of the [[Dark Powers]].
* The [[Dark Powers]] are watching everybody and seem to enjoy turning people into monsters that reflect their own evil deeds. When a creature performs some evil act, which range from casting necromantic spells to premeditated murder, the Dark Powers [[Powers Check|might notice]] and start the process. The changes are subtle or even helpful at first, allowing the victim to more easily perform his evil acts, which lures the victim into more evil, gaining more attention and transformation, until he is completely transformed into a monster or even a [[darklord]] of his own domain.
* Intelligent undead, like vampires, can tell if their minds are being read and can choose which thoughts they will project. Depending on the circumstances, this may be a false image passing them off as human or an up-close look at the most evil parts of their minds meant to drive the would-be mind reader insane.

==Mapping the Demiplane==
Geo-physically, the Demiplane of Dread consists of various bubbles of reality, ranging in size from a single room to full-fledged countries, all floating in a sea of ephemeral mist; each of these reality bubbles (called "Domains") is typically centered around a [[Darklord]], a villain whose evil caught the eyes of the Dark Powers and so they responded by imprisoning them within the Demiplane. 3rd edition's unpublished [[splatbook]] "[[Van Richten's Guide]] to the Mists" introduced the concept of ''Oubliettes'', which are basically prototype or abandoned Domains that don't contain a Darklord. A Domain may exist on its own (an "Island of Terror") or be physically coterminous with one or more more other domains, forming what is called a "Cluster". The largest and oldest Cluster in the Demiplane is called "The Core", and this is basically Ground Zero for the setting.

Traveling between Domains is a little tricky to describe. If two Domains are coterminous, you can simply walk between them, as if they were normal lands. If you want to get to a Domain that ''isn't'' coterminous, then you have to just walk into the Mists and hope you'll end up where you want to go. Certain spots are known to have what are essentially portals that can link different Domains together, in that traveling from these spots (which may require unique triggers before they kick in) will usually end you up in a specific Domain; known as "Mistways", these portals can be either one way or two way, and vary in reliability (aka, how likely you are to end up at the intended destination instead of fuck-knows-where) from "guaranteed" to "you rolls the dice, you takes your chances".

Traveling between Domains is made more complicated by the fact that most [[Darklord]]s have a power called "Closing the Borders," which causes the borders of their Domain to become enveloped in a barrier of some sort unique to that Darklord that prevents escape in some fashion - some are non-lethal, most will kill you if you try. A rare few can be circumvented by the right esoteric circumstances (for example, [[undead]] or [[construct]]s can safely walk through poisonous borders like that of Barovia, because they're fundamentally immune to poison), but in general this is the ultimate [[Railroading]] tool the DM has to keep you from just saying "fuck this" and leaving the domain.

Precisely why the Dark Powers collect these [[Darklord]]s is unknown, and theories abound; the Demiplane of Dread has been described as a prison, a gathering place for evil, a grand study into the nature of evil, a unique kind of Hell, or even a Purgatory by various fans.

Another great mystery is the nature of its native population. Some Domains were physically taken from their homeworlds, but most are described as "copies" rather than direct abductions of land. This then leaves players wondering: are the locals actually "real", or are they merely soulless simulacra - props in the grand theater of Gothic Horror tales that the Dark Powers are conducting? Nothing concrete has ever been given. This isn't entirely consistent however, with other originals becoming ruins (Like Kalidnay) or vanishing entirely (like Har’Akir).

===The Core===
As mentioned above, this is the "core" of Ravenloft, the sole normal-style continent where the bulk of the game focuses on. Think of it as something akin to the Sword Coast of the [[Forgotten Realms]], or Ansalon in [[Dragonlance]]. The Core is made up of the following Domains.

'''Barovia'''
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills & Mountains
::Motif: Blatant Dracula Knockoff
::[[Darklord]]: [[Strahd von Zarovich]]

This is the oldest domain in Ravenloft, the literal heart of the Demiplane of Dread. It's ruled by Strahd, and is basically Dracula in D&D. It is also home to the titular [[Castle Ravenloft]], Strahd's humble abode. This domain has been visited in literally ''every single edition'' of D&D after BECMI; even 4th edition, the only edition without an adaptation of I6 to its titles, has the adventure "Fair Barovia" in [[Dungeon Magazine]] #207, which has the party exploring Barovia and completing assorted side-quests.

'''Borca'''
::Cultural Level: Chivalric
::Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills & Mountains
::Motif: Poisoners, Italy under the Borgia Family
::[[Darklord]]: Ivana Boritsi

Originally, Borca was ruled by the Darklord Camille Boritsi, and was half its present size, sharing borders with the near-identical domain of Dorvini. Ivana poisoned her mother because her mom seduced her boyfriend, and during the Grand Conjunction, her domain and that of her cousin Ivan Dilisnya merged together due to their great similarities.

'''Darkon'''
::Cultural Level: Dark Age to Chivalric
::Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills, Plains, Mountains & Swamps
::Motif: Generic [[Dark Fantasy]]
::[[Darklord]]: Azalin

Darkon is notable as the most overtly fantastical realm in the Demiplane of Dread, with a relatively huge population of [[demihuman]]s that sees humans going from the usual 90+% population merit to only 75% as well as the greatest amount of local toleration for arcane magic.

If one spends a month in the realm they lose their memories until they leave the domain, thinking they've always been from Darkon. Unfortunately, the new state from having lost memories convinces one to never leave unless forced to.

'''Dementlieu'''
::Cultural Level: Renaissance
::Landscape: Temperate Forests & Plains
::Motif: Renaissance France/Victorian England
::[[Darklord]]: Dominic D'Honaire

Though not as overtly modeled on London as the domain of Paridon, Dementlieu definitely taps into the Gothic Urban Horror motif, as is made clear by the way it is home to myriad mystical mind-manipulators and the character Alanik Ray, who is basically Sherlock Holmes if he was an [[elf]]. It's considered the "cultural heart" of the Core.

'''Falkovnia'''
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Temperate Forests & Plains
::Motif: Military Horror, Fascism, Urban Squalor
::[[Darklord]]: Vlad Drakov

Slap together Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia, paint it up in the most shit-awful and miserable stereotypes of Dark Ages Europe, and have the place be run by a man who melds Hitler with Vlad the Impaler and is so bloodthirsty they'd both be disgusted by him. Falkovnia is outright called the biggest shithole in the Demiplane of Dread.

'''Forlorn'''
::Cultural Level: Iron Age
::Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills & Plains
::Motif: Dreary Scotland with a dash of Brak Man Morn
::[[Darklord]]: Tristen ApBlanc

A vaguely Scottish Celtic themed domain that nobody gives a shit about because there's nothing in it but killer plants, giant bugs, and [[goblyn]]s. 3e tried to fix this by adding a small population of native humans, but the overall domain is still a monster-infested backwoods, so nobody fucking cares. As for its resident asshole, ApBlanc is a [[vampyre]] by day, and a ghost by night, proving once and for all that the Dark Powers do, indeed, have a sense of humor.

'''Hazlan'''
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Temperate Hills, Mountains & Plains
::Motif: Dark Fantasy meets Yellow Peril
::[[Darklord]]: Hazlik

Essentially a tiny sliver of [[Thay]] transplanted into the Demiplane of Dread, where a tiny minutia (the Mulan ethnicity) rules over and brutally represses a far vaster majority (the Rashemani). One of only two places so absolutely shit that [[The Lawgiver]] is actually worshipped here.

'''Invidia'''
::Cultural Level: Chivalric
::Landscape: Temperate Forests & Hills
::Motif: Lethally Impulsive Stupidity
::[[Darklord]]: Gabrielle Aderre

A land of passionate, hot-blooded and constantly feuding individuals, including mercenary armies, ogres, giants, and wolfweres. The [[Vistani]] are executed on sight here, and as such, its hunter-mercenaries are on the collective shit-list of both Strahd von Zerovich and Ivan Dilisnya.

'''Kartakass'''
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Temperate Forests & Hills
::Motif: Wolves in Sheep's Clothing
::[[Darklord]]: Meistersinger Harkon Lukas

A rural backwoods inhabited by proud, cocky, music-loving foresters who are quite happy with the way things are, thank you. They are totally oblivious to the population of [[wolfwere]]s hiding amongst them.

'''Keening'''
::Cultural Level: None (formerly Chivalric)
::Landscape: Temperate Mountains (Bleached of Life)
::Motif: Endless Grief
::[[Darklord]]: Tristessa the Banshee

A cursed and forsaken realm, with a population consisting solely of its mad, grief-stricken [[banshee]] [[darklord]], her court of half-insane [[undead]] [[fey]], and a village of [[skeleton]]s that constantly mime out the actions of their last day.

'''Lamordia'''
::Cultural Level: Renaissance
::Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills & Plains
::Motif: Mad Science ala Frankenstein
::[[Darklord]]: Dr. Mordenheim & Adam

A stuffy, tempest-lashed domain that prides itself on its scientific acumen and its staunch rationalistic beliefs, totally denying the fantastical nature of the world around them.

'''Markovia'''
::Cultural Level: Stone Age
::Landscape: Warm Forests, Hills & Mountains
::Motif: The Island of Dr. Moreau
::[[Darklord]]: Dr. Markov

It's literally just the Island of Dr Moreau in D&D. That's it. They even moved it from being part of the core to out in the ocean, but it's still a lazy shitshow of a domain.

'''Mordent'''
::Cultural Level: Renaissance
::Landscape: Temperate Forests, Plains & Swamps
::Motif: Ghost-Haunted Rural Britain/Scotland
::[[Darklord]]: Lord Wilfred Godefroy

It's basically the setting for every ghost-related Gothic Horror novel ever written. High concentration of both incorporeal undead and mist creatures in a land dotted by small villages sheltering the living. Is also full of ancient ruined manors, decaying coats of arms and dying or dead noble families, furthering that neo-Britain impression by casting it as the decaying remnants of a once-mighty civilization. The false history implies they share a mutual background with Borca, perhaps having originated from the same nameless fantasy world.

'''Necropolis'''
::Cultural Level: Iron Age
::Landscape: Temperate Settled Area
::Motif: City of the Dead
::[[Darklord]]: Death

Once a bustling metropolis in Darkon called Il Aluk, the place was destroyed and turned into a city of sapient undead creatures protected behind a mystical veil that kills and reanimates any living humanoids that enter. This was caused by Azalin achieving an epic-level fuck up with his magic. Generally considered the worst domain in the Core because you can't go in there without being transformed into an [[undead]], which in AD&D came with associated rules that, in the grand tradition of [[Ravenloft]], utterly fucked you over pretty much from the get-go. Its Darklord, "Death", is an uber-powerful ghost with hyper-lethal abilities that was created from a clone of Azalin and which has gone absolutely insane, believing itself to be the literal spirit of death.

'''The Nocturnal Sea'''
::Cultural Level: Varies between islands
::Landscape: Temperate Aquatic (sea); Temperate Forests, Hills, Plains & Swamps (islands)
::Motif: Savagery of the Sea
::[[Darklord]]: See Below

The Western Sea of the Core is technically a cluster onto itself, with different islands being the lairs of different darklords. The closest thing to an overall [[Darklord]] here is Meredoth, an epic-level [[Necromancer]] from Glantri in [[Mystara]]. Lesser darklords who only rule over a single island consist of the Lady of Ravens (an insane sorceress from a [[Gormenghast]]ian family), Captain Alain Monette ([[werebat]] who haunts one of the only lighthouses in the Nocturnal Sea), Baron Evensong (arrogant, elitist [[bard]], eventually downgraded to one of several demilords in the Nocturnal Sea Gazetteer project), and the fanmade Captain Anton Dusard ([[ghost]] [[pirate]]) and Xanthos Kastigir ([[Dragonlance|Krynnish]] [[Half-Elf]] ([[Aquatic Elf]]) turned [[Sea Wolf]].

'''Nova Vaasa'''
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills & Plains
::Motif: Russia under Peter the Great
::[[Darklord]]: Sir Tristen Hiregaard/Malken

A horse-filled steppeland dominated by sweeping grassy plains and crushing urban poverty and squalor, presided over by a mixture of corrupt aristocrats and Lawful Good types who view "law" as more important than "good". This is the ''other'' domain shitty enough to have [[The Lawgiver]] as the state religion, and is such a hellhole that ''Barovians'' look down on its people as backward hicks.

'''Richemulot'''
::Cultural Level: Chivalric
::Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills & Plains
::Motif: Wererat Land
::[[Darklord]]: Jacqueline Renier

A pseudo-French domain distinguished mostly by being the largest breeding ground of wererats in the entire demiplane. The name is literally French for "Rich Mouse", which pretty much gives the game away from the start if you know the language..

'''The Sea of Sorrows'''
::Cultural Level: Varies between islands
::Landscape: Temperate Aquatic (sea); Temperate Forests, Hills, & Plains (islands)
::Motif: Savagery of the Sea
::[[Darklord]]: See Below

This is the Eastern Sea of the Core, and thusly it's the same deal as its western counterpart; more of a cluster scattered across an ocean than one singular domain. The most powerful Darklord and the unofficial Darklord of the Sea (meaning he can travel wherever he likes in it) is Captain Pieter van Riese, a [[ghost]] [[pirate]] based on the Flying Dutchman. Other Darklords of singular islands include Bluebeard (literally the character from the story of the same name), Dr. Daclaud Heinfroth (mad psychiatrist turned cerebro-spinal fluid-drinking [[vampire]]), Marquis Stezen d'Polarno (an expy of Dorian Gray), Althea (tormented [[medusa]] who wants a baby), the Barons of Gustavan (the [[ghost]] of the old baron and his equally cruel but still living son), Dr. Blake Ramsay (insane physician who murdered his wife and sons to use their organs to revive his daughter as a [[Flesh Golem]]), Elizabeth Michelle Cole III ([[vampire]]ss) and Lord Willem Ducas (deranged cannibal). Most of these darklords were added (or at least expanded upon) in [[netbook]] material. This is also where Markovia was moved after 2nd edition.

'''The Shadow Rift'''
::Cultural Level: Unknowable
::Landscape: Eternally Dark Mysical
::Motif: Dark Faerie Tales
::[[Darklord]]: Gwydion the Shadow Fiend

This is the homeland of the [[Shadow Fey]], and as such no mortals know anything about the place. The court is found at the bottom of a chasm filled with mist, protecting it from the sun, as well as erasing anything stupid enough to try penetrating so deeply into said-mist. In classic Faerie fashion, time works differently here, with a fortnight outside equaling a year ''inside.''

'''Sithicus'''
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Temperate Forests & Hills
::Motif: Declining [[Elf]] Kingdom
::[[Darklord]]: Inza Kulchevitch

The only domain in the Core that has a [[demihuman]] majority population, this was formerly the domain of [[Lord Soth]], and is thus loosely based on the [[Dragonlance]] setting. May or may not contain vampire [[kender]].

'''Tepest'''
::Cultural Level: Early Medieval
::Landscape: Temperate Forests & Hills
::Motif: Grim Faerie Tales Europe meets Salem Witch Trials
::[[Darklord]]: The Sisters Mindefisk

Hands down one of the most primitive and worthless backwaters in the Core, Tepest's trio of [[hag]] [[darklord]]s are practically non-entities in their own land, with the focus instead being on how the ignorant superstitious peasantry are falling increasingly under the sway of a self-righteous inquisition of self-proclaimed [[fey]]-hunters and [[witch]]-burners. The sisters ''do'' fan the flames of said-group so they can harvest the bodies of anyone condemned, but mostly stick to hiding in their cottage.

'''Valachan'''
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Temperate Forests & Hills
::Motif: African Savages
::[[Darklord]]: Baron Urik von Kharkov

A rugged wilderness inhabited by dusky-skinned foresters who take pride in their absolute ignorance when it comes to book-learning or anything not related to the practicalities of forest-work, to the point they even look down upon their own priests. Befittingly, this leaves them too ignorant to realize they are being eaten alive by a hidden population of [[nosferatu]] and [[werepanther]]s.

'''Vechor'''
::Cultural Level: Classical
::Landscape: Warm Forests, Hills & Swamps
::Motif: Insanity Made Real
::[[Darklord]]: Easan the Mad

A vaguely India-esque domain ruled over by an insane [[elf]] [[wizard]] who has the power to reshape the surroundings based on his current mad whim.

'''Verbrek'''
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills & Swamps
::Motif: Werewolf Country
::[[Darklord]]: Alfred Timothy

The obligatory [[werewolf]] domain, to contrast the Dracula and Frankenstein ones. Everybody here knows the wilderness (as embodied by the werewolves) is at their door, and live accordingly.

===The Clusters===
'''The Amber Wastes'''
::Motif: Dark Fantasy [[Egypt]]

It's Gothic Horror Egypt in D&D. What more is there to say? Its constituent domains are ''Har'Akir'', ''Sebua'', and ''Pharazia''.

'''The Frozen Reaches'''
::Motif: Dark Fantasy Russia

It's basically the frozen wintery hell that everybody imagines that Russia is transplanted into D&D. Its constituent domains are ''Sanguinia'' and ''Vorostokov'',

'''The Shadowlands'''
::Motif: Medieval Dark Fantasy

Intimately tied to a single world, the Shadowlands are made up of three domains that all tie to one long story of corruption; ''Avonleigh'', ''Nidala'', and ''Shadowborn Manor''.

'''The Verduous Lands'''
::Motif: Tropical Dark Fantasy

The hot and humid hellholes, full of deadly predators and equally deadly plants. For some reason the moon is never seen here. Composed of the domains of ''Saragoss'', ''Sri Raji'', and ''The Wildlands''.

'''Zherisia'''
::Motif: Urban Dark Fantasy

Differentiating itself from other clusters, Zherisia is composed of the city domain of ''Paridon'' and ''Timor'', the sewers underneath.

===The Islands of Terror===
'''Bluetspur'''
::Cultural Level: Dark Age
::Landscape: Temperate hills, plains, and mountains
::Motif: [[Yog-Sothothery]]
::[[Darklord]]: The [[Illithid]] God-Brain

Meaning "Blood Trail" in German, it's a desolate wasteland with nightly, violent electrical storms on the surface. Beneath the surface lie the maddening and sprawling cities of illithids and their tortured and experimented slaves.

'''G'Henna'''
::Cultural Level: Classical
::Landscape: Cold and temperate hills, plains, mountains, and deserts
::Motif: Corrupt [[Theocracy]]
::[[Darklord]]: Yagno Petrovna

Here a starving population works the fields to produce food to be sacrificed for the god [[Zhakata]]. Unfortunately the god doesn't exist and priests of the god eat the offerings, while the farmers starve themselves waiting for a god that will never come.

'''Kalidnay'''
::Cultural Level: Classical
::Landscape: Desert
::Motif: [[Dark Sun|Athas]]
::[[Darklord]]: Thakok-An

The city and lands surrounding Kalidnay in Athas, which are nothing but ruins within [[Dark Sun]]'s setting proper. Its inhabitants actually prefer the Demiplane of Dread to actually living in Athas. Just let that sink in.

'''Odiare'''
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Temperate settled area
::Motif: Twisted Pinocchio
::[[Darklord]]: Maligno

Island from [[Masque of the Red Death|Gothic Earth's]] Italy, populated by children and the [[carrionette]]s who killed the adults that used to live here. Naturally, all the kiddos are quite concerned about what'll happen when they're old enough to be labeled an adult.

'''Rokushima Táiyoo'''
::Cultural Level: Dark Ages
::Landscape: Archipelago with forests, hills, and mountains
::Motif: Dark Fantasy Japan
::[[Darklord]]: Haki Shinpi

Four islands surrounded by a poisonous salt water ocean. Each island's ruler hates the others, whilst the Darklord (their father) is forced to watch as they tear apart his dreams of unity and peace. It's also the home of the [[Akikage]] (ghost ninjas), [[Hebi-no-Onna]]s (snake women), and [[Kizoku]] (vampiric womanizers). Despite a Dark Ages cultural level, it's interested in the gunpowder weapons of Dementlieu and Darkon. Fun fact: the ''Anesthesia'' spell is popular here, as its use allows the dying to face death with a clear mind, and thus die with honor.

Strangely, the capitals of the four warring brothers have the Japanese names of various real world countries: Beikoku (米国, United States of America), Eikoku (英国, England), Chuugoka (corruption of 中国, China), and Roshiya (Literally just Russia said funny). As long as it sounds Japanese! Sadly, that's more than can be said for the Dark Lord's name...

'''Sri Raji'''
::Cultural Level: Classical
::Landscape: Rain forests, hills, and mountains
::Motif: Dark Fantasy India / Sri Lanka
::[[Darklord]]: Maharaja Arijani

''Formerly'' an Island of Terror, Sri Raji is a domain in the Verduous Lands cluster ruled by the [[Rakshasa]] Maharaja Arijani. The Verduous Lands cluster does not have a moon with potentially interesting consequences for lycanthropes having some part of the lunar cycle as their trigger condition. Equally, there should be no tides. Most of the human inhabitants of Sri Raji congregate in three cities, each located surprisingly close to the domain border. A fourth city, Mahakala, is less populated and commonly referred to as "accursed". It's basically Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, but with more [[rakshasa]]s, [[beastfolk]] and giant insects.

'''The Winding Road'''
::Cultural Level: Nonexistent
::Landscape: Random road
::Motif: Random Encounter
::[[Darklord]]: The Headless Horseman

Hands down one of the worst Domains in classical Ravenloft, the Winding Road is a glorified random encounter in which the party is suddenly attacked by the Headless Horseman, a powerful [[undead]] warrior mounted on horseback. Who is he? Well, there's three stories about where he came from. The first one is that he was an innocent man executed by Drakov's men. The second one is that he was a man who chopped off his own head rather than be killed by one of Strahd's men. And the third is that he was a bard who failed to entertain Ivana Boritsi as she bathed, so she chopped off his head and mixed his blood into her bathwater. If you think that none of those sound like a Darklord's backstory, you're not wrong. Oh, and you also have to fight the undead severed heads that precede and then follow the Horseman's run-by attack, which includes several [[medusa]] heads.

==Cyre?==
In [[Eberron]], the nation of Cyre was destroyed in the Day of Mourning, leaving only the [[Mournland]] behind. That Cyre became a Demiplane of Dread is perhaps the most common theory on the origin of the Mournland within the fandom, as it checks all the boxes for explanations.
*The Mournland stops at Cyre’s artificial, political, borders and thus had to be caused by some intelligent actor. The Dark Powers certainly count. It also explains why it stops so exactly at the water that the docks were left behind.
*The Mournland’s border is a wall of “dead-gray mist”. The link is obvious. In 4th Edition, this dead-gray mist supernaturally drains people of hope.
*The Forge of War states that Dannel ir'Wynarn insistence that the crown of Galifar belonged to her was the only thing keeping the Last War going, making her prime Darklord material.
*Dark Sun material describes Kalidnay as having been destroyed by "unknown disaster" that left it only "a jumble of ruins". The ruins in the Mournland are described being "moved", "rearranged", "turned 90 degrees", or "found miles from where war-era maps say they should be", which certainly can be described as a "jumble". The one adventure that travels to the ruined city (DSM2) mentions several structures remain intact, and many appear to be ruins purely because they're centuries old, which fits the multiple Mournland adventures with surviving structures, and several people seem to have died suddenly in a way that their body was intact. (While some of the Mournland's signature features are absent, all outside descriptions of Kalidnay are centuries after the fact while all descriptions of the Mournland are 0-4 years after its creation.)

None of this will ever be confirmed, and it’s unlikely to be anti-confirmed, as the truth of the Mourning is one of Eberron’s mysteries that exist to have no answer but what the [[Dungeon Master]] gives them. The setting's creator has however concurred it's a good option if one wanted some bit of Eberron in Ravenloft.

==4th Edition: Islands of Terror==
In the [[World Axis]], the idea of the Demiplane of Dread being its own independent universe was basically dropped. The idea, however, remained in the form of the ''Domains of Dread''; regions in the [[Shadowfell]] created in response to great evils in the Material World, essentially mimicking the Islands of Terror format of the Demiplane, but with one major difference: these Domains are still part of the Shadowfell as a whole. As a result, if you can find the rite or secret or whatever it is that grants you passage, then you can flee the Domain through its misty veil and into the wider Shadowfell... which isn't necessarily that much of an improvement, but hey.

The idea of the Core is complete absent in 4th edition. Perhaps, if [[Ravenloft]] had been revived in this setting, the Core would have instead become more of a cursed but otherwise normal world, similar to and yet separate from the Domains of Dread seen in the Shadowfell. We'll never know.

The 4e Domains of Dread consist of the following:

'''Sunderheart'''
::Cultural Level: Classical
::Landscape: Half-ruined city on a cliff's edge at the edge of a swampy river dela
::Motif: Diabolist Grand Guignol
::[[Darklord]]: Ivania Dreygu and Vorno "The Ghoul" Kahnebor

Originally the [[Bael Turath]] city of Harrack Unarth, Sunderheart's doom came when it came under the control of the lovers Ivania Dreygu and Vorno Kahnebor, the [[Nentir Vale]] version of Romeo and Juliet... if Romeo and Juliet were debauched hedonistic [[tiefling]]s who engaged in rape, murder and cannibalism and who massacred their entire families so they could be together. Eventually, Vorno became so vile that even Ivania grew sick of him, so she murdered him by feeding him a servant girl whom she had fed with a deadly poison. Then she woke up in Sunderheart with her [[ghoul]]ified [[undead]] lover fused to her back like a monstrous parasitic twin. Now she rules by day over the half of the city still inhabited by the living, and Vorno the Ghoul rules over the undead-haunted ruins at night.

'''Graefmotte'''
::Cultural Level: Classical
::Landscape: Dense Pine Forest, Mountains
::Motif: Starvation
::[[Darklord]]: Lord Durven Graef

When the [[Yeenoghu]]-worshipping hordes of the White Ruin threatened the empire of Nerath in the [[Nentir Vale]], Lord Graef was the ruler of a minor frontier province who had already lost two of his three children. Desperate to preserve his family legacy, he was determined that his final son, Geoffery Graef, would not answer King Elidyr's call to take up arms against the horde. When his son disagreed, they fought, and Lord Graef accidentally killed his son by causing him to fall and fatally strike his head. Which was when the [[gnoll]] warbands fell upon Graefmotte. Lord Graef led the fighting over the night, and was near-mortally wounded; disemboweled and with an arm bitten off, nobody expected him to cling to life for a day and a night... never mind for his wounds to fully heal. Ever since then, Graefmotte has been a land cursed, where its people face a slow, withering death by starvation, or a quick, bloody one at the jaws of the maddened gnolls and starvation-spawned [[ghoul]]s that haunt the ever-shifting forest.

'''Monadhan'''
::Cultural Level: Classical
::Landscape: Tropical Rainforest
::Motif: Treachery
::[[Darklord]]: Arantor

During the war between [[Bael Turath]] and [[Arkhosia]], the [[Metallic Dragon#Silver Dragon|Silver Dragon]] Arantor and his daughter mrissa were called upon to destroy a remote Turathi military outpost, almost hidden within thick tropical rainforest, whose isolation and surroundings made it virtually unreachable by ground-based forces. But after they hit their target, they realized that their intel had been faulty; this was no military camp, it was a refugee center for Turathi civilians! Father and daughter quarreled over what to do, with Imrissa wanting to return to Arkhosia and take responsibility for their crimes, whilst the glory-hound Arantor insisted they conceal it and protect their reputations. The argument grew so heated that Arantor slew his daughter, and then, stricken by guilt, he massacred the survivors of his first attack before becoming a plague upon the Turathi until his death. Which was when he awoke as a [[dracolich]] in a cavern deep below a twisted reflection of Monadhan, which has now become a gathering point for traitors. The greater the betrayal, and the more pathetic the reason, the more likely the perpetrator is to find a place within Monadhan - whether by being swallowed by the Mists, or by awakening there alive and whole after dying for their misdeeds. As a result, Monadhan is now an oubliette for treacherous scum from across time and space.

'''The Endless Road'''
::Cultural Level: Classical
::Landscape: An endless road winding through forests, hills and plains
::Motif: You can't escape your sins
::[[Darklord]]: Eli van Hassen

The tiny little roadside town of Tranquility was a peaceful place, until the day a four-headed [[hydra]] lurched from the fens and began plaguing the people. When a wandering [[adventurer]] known only as "The Horseman" arrived and slew the beast, the people celebrated. But the town's ruler, Eli van Hassen, a man forever plagued by resentment and inferiority over his provincial abode, resented the hero's fame. He forced his daughter to slander the man, accusing him of rape, and whipped the people of Tranquility into a frenzied mob who executed their savior despite his former protests. Now Eli and his daughter inhabit a fortified mansion that sits on the side of a great road, which stretches on to infinity; unless the Road decides to let you go, which it can do to anywhere in the [[Multiverse]], you can walk forever and never leave. Of course, that risks attack by the undead remains of the Headless Horseman, who wants revenge on the van Hassens, but will happily settle for anyone else he can get his hands on.

'''Timbergorge'''
::Cultural Level: Iron Age
::Landscape: Dense confider forest
::Motif: Nature's Savagery
::[[Darklord]]: Silvermaw

When a naive [[treant]] allowed [[human]]s to settle in the planeshifting forest that was an [[archfey]]'s garden under his care, he was horrified when they began to create a fire to keep them warm as they slept. But when he attacked in an effort to quench the flames, he burned himself and then set the forest ablaze, leaving it to burn as he focused on slaying the human interlopers. For this, his master cut the garden away and banished it to the [[Shadowfell]]. Here, the tribal humans have become a pack of werewolves, endlessly hunting and being hunted by the mad, wounded treant, who has coated his mouth with molten silver so that he may better rend and bite his foes; hence his name "Silvermaw".

==5th Edition: The Alternate Continuity==
{{dnd-stub}}

In February 2021, it was announced across the internet that the Demiplane of Dread would at last make an official return as a D&D setting for [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]] in the form of [[Van Richten's Guide]] to [[Ravenloft]]. But it also openly announced that the 30 domains of dread that would be debuting in the book would include a mixture of brand new domains, classic domains, and revamped/reimagined takes on old domains - something that immediately began raising hackles amongst the Ravenloft fandom, who tend towards the [[grognard]]ier side of the fence. Why did they do this? Was it because the last version of Ravenloft-as-setting was done by [[White Wolf]] and there were legal entanglements preventing [[Wizards of the Coast]] from reusing their inventions? Was it because a lot of Ravenloft classic lore was actually kind of stupid and in desperate need of revamping? Was it because of [[SJW]]s? (probably a little, but it doesn't mean they're wrong) Some combination thereof? The world may never know.

Either way, the 5e version of the Demiplane of Dread thusly has its own unique take on the different Domains, which this section will try to break down for comparison's sake.

'''Falkovnia:''' Drops the "Military Horror (Plus: Fascism Sucks!)" motif of its classical counterpart and goes with a Zombie Apocalypse motif instead. Also, Vlad Drakov has been replaced with a female [[Darklord]] called Vladeska Drakov instead.

'''Dementlieu:''' Aside from replacing the original [[Darklord]], Dominic D'Honaire, with a woman named Saidra D'Honaire, the feel of the domain has changed from the Gothic Paris/London setting with its subtle mind-controlling horrors to a "Dark Fairy Tale" themed domain, with an emphasis on surreal magic and deadly masquerades. Y'know, because we didn't already have Tepest and the Shadow Rift.

'''Lamordia:''' Both the Baron Frankenstein and his Monster have gotten a gender-swap; now it's the realm of Dr. Viktra Mordenheim and her "Daughter" Elise. But Viktra is finally the official [[Darklord]], so at least they finally got that right.

'''Valachan:''' The [[werepanther]]/[[nosferatu]] Blackula-expy Baron Urik von Kharkov has been replaced by Akuna, a cannibal huntress who stalks the now-rainforest environment with a pack of trained [[Displacer Beast]]s hunting intruders.

'''Kalakeri''' (or possibly '''Kalakiri'''): A wartorn India-based rainforest domain divided between three competing [[Darklord]]s; Ramya, Arijani, and Reeva. Replaces Sri Raji. Was actually written by an ethnic Indian who lived in India before coming to America, something WotC has been quick to boast about.

{{Planescape-Cosmology}}
[[Category:Ravenloft]]

Ravenloft

2021-04-16T00:40:33Z

2600:1010:B14E:4FF8:7C2E:D54A:A8B5:9F5F: /* 5th Edition Revival */

[[Image:RLlogo.gif|center]]
[[Image:Ravenloft.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Count [[Strahd von Zarovich]], contemplating [[Castlevania|the miserable little pile of secrets that is a man]].]]
{{topquote|What is hell? Hell is oneself, / Hell is alone, the other figures in it / Merely projections.|T.S. Elliot}}

''Trapped in another world, each area of the world is its own little [[plane]] of existence, ruled by the baron! [[Vampire]]s, [[ghoul]]s, [[zombie]]s, [[wight]]s, [[undead]]s, [[witch]]es, horrible [[gypsy]] curses, and no way out - DUN DUN DUUUUUN''

'''Ravenloft''' is a campaign setting made of lofts and ravens... well, ok, it's a [[Dungeons & Dragons]] campaign setting that replaces the shiny high fantasy heroism cliches with 19th century Gothic literature cliches. Ravenloft itself is a [[demiplane]], divided into several domains, each ruled by a different "Darklord" and inspired by traditional horror tales. While "Castle Ravenloft" is the home of [[Strahd von Zarovich]], this article will refer to the entire plane/setting as Ravenloft for convenience, though the [[Demiplane of Dread]] Ravenloft setting is pretty much the best, with the instanced versions usually revolving around Strahd.

==History==
Ravenloft began as a 1e D&D module officially titled [[I6: Ravenloft]], created by [[Tracy_Hickman|the Hickmans]] fresh off the [[I3-4-5: Desert of Desolation]] series. Their reason for Ravenloft was that they believed that [[vampire]]s had become trite, overused and mundane, so they sought to go back to classic Gothic Horror novels and Universal Horror films to make a "truly scary" vampire (it ''was'' 1983 when they published it). Module I6 was later followed by the [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] module [[I10: Ravenloft II: The House on Gryphon Hill]], which was based on outlines that the Hickmans had written before leaving [[TSR]] and was officially credited to them; this introduced the rudiments of the later domain of Mordent and the future darklord Azalin the [[Lich]].

Both modules were huge successes, which inspired [[TSR]] to build upon lore from the two modules and craft the entire Ravenloft campaign setting. In AD&D, the setting's nature as a patchwork of prisons was played up; the default assumption was that it would be for "Weekend in Hell" games (a term the setting coined), where players would be outlanders swept up in the mists and jerked around by the DM before managing to escape. Ravenloft was loaned out to [[White Wolf]]'s [[Sword & Sorcery]] sub-company as part of 3rd edition, and Arthaus Publications drastically expanded the Ravenloft setting, making it into a more cohesive setting that functioned on its own, rather than being so cross-over defined; Ravenloft D20's assumption was that PCs should aim to be natives, and they toned down the [[grimdark]] to further facilitate that. Unfortunately, probably because of the fact it wasn't [[Wizards of the Coast]] who did the expanding, the D20 version of Ravenloft has been ignored by WoTC. It's not like they followed on from 2e-3.5 anyway in the 4e and 5e Ravenlofts. To note, the expedition to castle ravenloft module for 3.5 by WoTC is not canon (citation needed), and is simply a remake of the original adventure, the 2e demiplane of dread being the active plane of interest still rings true.

Ravenloft was reduced to just a few token mentions in the 4th edition, where Strahd appeared in the [[Open Grave]] [[splatbook]] and Domains of Dread were boiled back down to their "Weekend in Hell" idea as cursed realms within the [[Shadowfell]], but received a royal treatment in 5e with the release of [[Curse of Strahd]], an updated, rewritten release of the original I6 module. Or, this was the case until a new book was announced. Slotted for later 2021, "Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft" is set to update the campaign setting to 5th Edition. However, its many changes such as lazy gender swaps and thematic rewrites drew [[rage]] from countless longtime fans. The subject that drew the most ire from the announcement is how Wizards planned to "break the heart of the Core", turning every domain into an Island of Terror instead. Due to being a reboot that's more in line with the Shadowfell approach, many fans have already distanced themselves from the upcoming book and consider it "non-canon".

Ironically, the Hickmans are notorious for hating the setting they ultimately created, in one part because of their notorious disdain for "crossovers" between D&D settings and for another because a different author for TSR wrote a very well-written novel - ''Knight of the Black Rose'' - in which [[Lord Soth]] of [[Dragonlance]] was made into a Darklord. Fans loved the idea, but in the end, he became the only Darklord ever to escape the Land of Mists when they first drew him back to Krynn, then killed him off so no one could have him.

The most important parts of Ravenloft are probably the contents on [[lich]] and [[vampire]] lore provided by professor [[Rudolph Van Richten]], the now deceased monster hunter of the demiplane, Ricky dick is known for getting back-stabbed by [[Vistani]] and being maybe too generous with the information he supplied in his works, on account of nearly getting his heart carved out by one of his best friends because he thought it was a good idea to detail almost all of the lich ritual requirements. In 3.5, you will find some of the salient abilities he wrote for Liches in Monsters of Faerun updated. He also literally wrote the book on several other Gothic monsters, namely [[therianthrope|werebeasts]], [[mummy|mummies]], [[golem]]s, [[fiend]]s and [[witch]]es - see [[Van Richten's Guide]].

When horror themes started becoming popular again in the years around 2010, people remembered again that Ravenloft existed. Wizards of the Coast reintroduced the world to the mainstream D&D cosmology by saying that its domains lie within a mirror-plane of the Prime Material, making the aforementioned connection device canon. There were also a bunch of [[Innistrad|imitators in settings and games where you really wouldn't expect it]].

So, yeah. If you like ''Wuthering Heights'', ''Ethan Frome'', or ''[[Castlevania]]'', you'll love Ravenloft. Fun fact; the Japanese version of the original NES Castlevania's cover art was basically ripped straight from the first Ravenloft cover art.

== What's Ravenloft like? ==
The setting has been described as "Hell, but not for you."
[[Image:Count_Von_Count.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Contrary to popular opinion, ''detect evil'' does actually work in Ravenloft, but [[3.6_Roentgen|the world returns an integer]] and the spell expects a boolean.]]

The first rule of Ravenloft is not to touch anything, ever. Almost everything is cursed unless you saw someone pick it up and put it down without becoming a zombie, and even then that's no guarantee. Second, ''detect good'' and ''detect evil'' don't work and any other alignment detecting spell can only say if something is lawful or chaotic, so you can't use those spells to check if anything is safe. Third, beware of curses, as they're especially powerful things here, and anyone can place them if they're angry enough and get the Dark Powers' notice when they speak the curse. Anything that could be considered an "evil deed" or using certain spells (especially necromancy) pings the Dark Powers' attention and calls for a "Powers check," a percentile roll against a number depending on the act committed and the victim. Roll above the number and you're safe for now; roll below and the Dark Powers like what they see, "gifting" you with something that at first seems beneficial, but pushes you to commit more nefarious deeds while changing you into something monstrous, in turn provoking more Powers checks and pushing you farther down the path to becoming a Darklord in your own right. Basically, every evil deed is punished by karma. This means that it's entirely possible to lie, cheat, and steal your way into power, only to find yourself ironically cursed in a way that you can never have what you wanted that power for in the first place. Standard operating procedure is for you to be cursed to be alone or separated from one specific loved one - a wife, a son, etc. This is something detrimental in d&d where the likes of good, evil laws and chaos are cosmic forces that already have influence, case in point, the like of outsiders from the lower planes who have evil as a subtype cause actual ripples in reality when present in this plane, known as reality wrinkles, which can fuck a manner of things up in a local vicinity, and only adds to the sheer power evil has over anyone still decent and not dead-eyed demoralized within the Demi-plane of Dread.

Also, you can't leave unless the Dark Powers let you. There are rumors of other ways out, but they are always unclear and extremely dangerous to attempt. Attempting to use ''plane shift'' or other dimensional magic never get you out of Ravenloft; each domain is treated like its own plane, so you'll likely end up in a different domain instead. 3.5 allows to get in and out ''via'' OP1's [[World Serpent Inn]], which shows up in the Demiplane of Dread at certain set intervals. The WSI fistula pisses the Dark Powers off to no end to the point they immediately threaten and scare anyone away from the door that leads to the inn as and when it appears in their domains. This whole 'you can't get out unless we let you' schtick gave birth to so called [[Weekend in Hell]] adventures, where the players act like the unwitting pawns of the Dark Powers to torment a Darklord and are magnanimously granted a ticket out if they succeed without being corrupted themselves.

At the hands of a bad DM, 3.5's security-breach allows spells and powers unique to the plane to seep elsewhere, like into the ''Forgotten Realms''. One of the prime reasons that make the Demiplane of Dread so dangerous is that it's home to spells so broken and dangerous, that if they became planes-wide knowledge everything could get screwed in a mere matter of days. A good example of this would be Strahd's unkillable zombies in the hands of a Dread Necromancer with the right feats, resulting in Zombies that never die, endlessly heal if limbs are severed, only to turn into more undead that also explode and heal other undead in an endless cycle. But the seepage problem wasn't a new one; it's long been known to ''any'' worldbuilder, since Pizarro first stepped into Peru. DMs with three neurons to rub together can rule that the spell or ability in question simply ceases to function anywhere outside its domain of origin - so restraining Strahd's super-groovy zombies, in our example, to Strahd's prison.

Incidentally, as a result of the "no one can leave" thing, using conjuration magic is an ''extremely bad idea'', as most summoned entities will be quite upset when they realize they can't go back home when the spell expires - and they will usually take their anger out on the conjurer with lethal results.

Fun fact: Only three prisoners have ever managed to escape from Ravenloft permanently. One is Vecna, of interest because the PCs can track his career in a series of adventure modules, culminating in that more-''Planescape''-than-actual-''Ravenloft'' module ''[[Die, Vecna, Die!]]''. Another was [[Lord Soth]], formerly of [[Dragonlance]]. One more was [[Jander Sunstar]], but he eventually killed himself out of guilt. Soth's case is the most interesting: he escapes by '''not giving a crap'''. To explain: Soth eventually accepts that he deserves to be tormented by the Dark Powers and admits his failures. He refuses to rise to anything they present him with, be it despair or hope; eventually, realizing that it's pointless to keep him around since he won't respond to anything they do and that he's reached a state resembling repentance the Dark Powers release him from Ravenloft after manipulating events so his downfall would be re-enacting in a way that he could no longer numb himself to the evil of his actions by living in the past. One final thing worth mentioning on the subject of things leaving Ravenloft is the Red Death of [[Masque of the Red Death]]. An early preview and [https://web.archive.org/web/20120222014403/http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?int_dnd30_WWC a developer] state it was a Dark Power banished by the others for some violation of their code of conduct.

== The Darklords' Dark Secret ==

Those Dark Lords we keep mentioning above? They're the rulers of each land (most of them in fact as well as in spirit), but also prisoners of them as well. The entire plane is composed entirely of innumerable prisons, each one for something that really deserves it, and is caught in some kind of ironic hell as a result. The DM could connect this plane into your regular adventure just by saying, "thick mists rise up around you," and this meant you were royally fucked. The Dark Powers that control Ravenloft can steal people, places, and objects from other planes and trap them within the [[Demiplane of Dread]]. If somebody somewhere in the planes commits a particularly heinous crime (for example, [[Strahd von Zarovich]], the first [[Darklord]], became a vampire and murdered his brother to take his fiancee Tatyana for himself, who committed suicide rather than submit to him), they will reach out with the Mists to claim that person, create a little pocket realm for them, using a copy of their current surroundings, brand new scenery, or even just abduct the surroundings as well. In any case, the person is bound to that new realm as its Darklord.

[[Darklord]]s have power, yes, but it's all ash in their mouths. The Dark Powers torment them by continuously dangling what their heart wishes for the most and they ''could'' have had just out of their reach. For instance: every generation, Strahd discovers a young woman who he believes is the reincarnation of Tatyana, but he always ends up responsible for her death. Azalin Rex, a powerful lich, is rendered incapable of learning new spells, utterly defeating the purpose of his undead transformation. One of Victor Mordenheim's [[Flesh Golem|creations]] nearly killed his wife, whom he cannot save from the brink of death, instead using [[God-Emperor of Mankind|an array of complicated machinery to keep her just barely alive, yet in constant agony]] while he continually fails to resuscitate her; his creation Adam on the other hand seeks acceptance from the world but the very land rejects him. Vlad Drakov, once a feared mercenary leader on [[Dragonlance|Krynn]], is surrounded by lands ruled by women and fops rather than the great military leaders he seeks the respect of, while the only real enemy he can see continually defeats him on the field of battle and he doesn't know that he can't even set foot on that soil if he should conquer it. Etc, etc...

The Darklords can also close the borders of their realms through some thematic means, preventing anyone from entering or leaving their domain; for example, Strahd can raise a choking fog along his borders, the same one that surrounds the village of Barovia, through which only creatures that do not breathe or have a special antidote can pass safely. If used right, this ability can increase the tension and raise the stakes for the game; used poorly, it smacks of [[railroading]].

==Races==
[[File:Ravenloft 3e PC Lineup.jpeg|thumb|right|300px|The complete cast of races, as depicted in the 3e Ravenloft Campaign Setting.]]

As a [[Dungeons & Dragons]] setting, most of the classic neo-[[Tolkien]] races are playable options in a Ravenloft campaign. [[Human]], [[Elf]], [[Dwarf]], [[Gnome]], [[Halfling]] and [[Half-Elf]] are all present and accounted for. But, its "Gothic Horror" slant does lead to a few tweaks, particularly in 3rd edition.

Firstly, this is the setting that introduced the concept of [[Outsider Rating]], which is literally a stat to govern how much you spook the ignorant peasant-folk; this idea began in 2nd edition, but it was codified in 3rd edition.

Secondly, the setting gave us the [[Half-Vistani]], one of the most pointless races ever.

Finally, in 3rd edition, the [[half-orc]] was removed under the explanation that the [[orc]] itself did not fit a Gothic setting. Instead, its place was taken by the [[Caliban (Ravenloft)|Caliban]]; cursed, deformed, wretched [[mutant]]s. Okay, they were literally just cosmetic reskins over the half-orc's statblock (which was widely considered the shittiest in 3rd edition) and it took a fan to actually explore their full potential in [[Quoth the Raven]], but hey, at least you gotta give [[White Wolf]] credit for trying!

Despite the fact that the setting was literally made by a horny vampire lusting for a human woman, [[dhampir]]s have '''never''' appeared as a PC race in Ravenloft. This may not be as big of a mistake as some of the ones made in [[Planescape]], and certainly doesn't compare to the existence of [[Kender]] and [[Tinker Gnome]]s (but then, what ''can''?), but it shows how badly [[TSR]] could fuck up when it came to making an interesting setting.

==Religions==
Religion in the Demiplane of Dread is a strange thing indeed. While there are many religions present, the Demi-Plane of Dread seems to have been specifically isolated from any kind of divine intervention beyond the absolute minimum needed for faith to exist. Nobody's entirely sure how clerics get their spells in light of this, but some believe they are granted by the Dark Powers themselves, who choose to impersonate the gods for reasons nobody can fathom.

Established faiths of the Demiplane include:

'''Benevolent Faiths:'''
* [[The Ancestral Choir]]
* [[Belenus]]
* [[Divinity of Mankind]]
* [[Ezra]]
* [[Hala]]
* [[The Morninglord]]
* [[The Overseer]]

'''Malign Faiths:'''
* [[Erlin]]
* [[The Eternal Order]]
* [[The Lawgiver]]
* [[The Spider Queen]]
* [[The Wolf God]]
* [[Yutow]]
* [[Zhakata]]

'''Pantheons:'''
* Akari Pantheon (Egyptian)
* Forlorn Pantheon (Celtic)
* Rajian Pantheon (Hindu)

==Spin-Offs==
Do you think that Ravenloft doesn't double down on its [[Historical Fantasy]] roots hard enough? Do you think spellcasters need even ''more'' nerfing? Are you just so masochistic that you think Ravenloft is too soft? Then [[TSR]] has you covered with [[Masque of the Red Death]], a full-fledged [[Gothic Horror]] [[Historical Fantasy]] setting using the D&D crunch that manages to twist and contort its rules into something almost as punishing and depowering as [[Call of Cthulhu]].

==5th Edition Revival==
Ravenloft was the first setting other than the [[Forgotten Realms]] to get some official attention paid to it with the adventure module [[Curse of Strahd]], a reimagining of the original [[I6: Castle Ravenloft]] module that we get every single edition.

In late February 2021, it was announced that an official 5e campaign book for the [[Demiplane of Dread]] would be launching in May 2021, title [[Van Richten's Guide]] to Ravenloft.

The setting is receiving a major overhaul to remove or revise elements that were unpopular with fans or are now considered problematic due to changing values.

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[[Category:Ravenloft]]