Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft: Har'Akir, Hazlan, I'Cath

There have been many people covering the rules content in Van Richten's Guide, such as the new lineages, new subclasses, dark gifts, and other widgets, but I want to talk about the domains as a long-time fan of Ravenloft. How do they stack up, what alterations have been made, and how gameable does this iteration of the Domains of Dread feel? I've covered Barovia, Bluetspur, and Borca here, the Carnival and Darkon here, and Dementlieu and Falkovnia here. Today we're talking talking about Har'Akir, Hazlan, and I'Cath.

Har'Akir

Har'Akir was conceived of as Ravenloft's Egyptian analog, and so it remains. It's got mummies, pyramids, vast dangerous deserts, etc. There are a couple of nice twists, such as animal-headed mummy-priests in service to the domain's Darklord and the fact that all of its labyrinthian dungeons are connected beneath the waves of sand. Har'Akir has never really sparked my imagination in its past versions, and the new version doesn't really light my world on fire either.  It's fine! It's perfectly functional! It just doesn't call to me. You could do your The Mummy adventures here, or do something a little Dark Sun-esque but with a more Egyptian flavor.

Hazlan

Hazlan is "wizard hell," a domain ruled by selfish arcanists whose experiments have created an unstable land of wild magic. Hazlan also has a bit of a "Big Brother is watching" feel; Hazlik, the domain's wizardly Darklord, can see through magical sigils that are inscribed everywhere throughout the realm. Of course, as "wizard hell," you can basically use that as an excuse to use any monster you want and call it an escaped magical experiment. 

Hazlan functions as an amplification of anxieties about environmental degradation due to industrialization, only here the environmental impacts are given a magical gloss, such as toxic marshes polluted by alchemy, an area where the land is simply disintegrating, and Dune-esque sites where purple worms gather. I do wonder if there is a bit too much conceptual overlap with Darkon, but the environmental disaster aspect does at least help it stand out. If you really pushed that angle, you might even up in Jeff VanderMeer territory.

I'Cath

In the 2e-era, I'Cath was a domain suitable for exactly one minor adventure. (And it wasn't even a good adventure.) Once that adventure was complete, there was really nothing else there to interact with. The 5e version of I'Cath is...quite high concept. On the surface, it's "Gothic China'; the real premise is that by day I'Cath is a delipidated realm of misery, but most of its residents have fallen prey to an enchanted sleep. While they slumber, they exist in a different version of the setting in which they labor to create the perfect city in their dreams. It's all a bit Dark City, but I've read this section several times and to be honest it's still a little unclear to me how this works and what kind of adventures this domain is meant to inspire. 

One thing that struck me about I'Cath is that it feels even more referential to ethnic stereotypes than the past version, which is strange for product coming out of WotC's zeitgeist of sensitivity and the rehabilitation of old tropes. Perhaps I'm reading too much into this, but Tsien Chiang, the Darklord of I'Cath, is presented as a mother who wants her daughters to love her, wants everyone around her to be perfect, and is also doomed never to be satisfied--which feels like a magnification of the "tiger mom" stereotype. The "escape the horrific real world by venturing into the phantasmagoria of dreams" angle in I'Cath feels like it leans on the "Chinese opium den" trope, although it sidesteps any drug references and replaces opium with the ringing of an enchanted bell. However, since that bell was created from the body of a dragon, it's still a version of "chasing the dragon" in an almost literalized sense.

Berserk Monster Manual, Ravenloft Travel Agent, Claymore

Three Youtube videos for your entertainment and edification:

 

Berserk Monster Manual

Ever wonder about the monsters and foes found in the Berserk manga? Well, wonder no more. Youtuber RealLifeRyan has a series called Berserk Monster Manual that delves into all things gruesome and foul. RIP Kentaro Miura, you were a real one. Playlist here. 

Ravenloft Travel Agent

Do you desire a guided tour through the old versions of Ravenloft's Domains of Dread? RavenloftTravelAgent has you covered. Playlists here.

Claymore: The Imperfect Trailblazer

Bonsai Pop has done a very nice video on the history and themes of the Claymore manga and anime.

Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft: Dementlieu and Falkovnia

There have been many people covering the rules content in Van Richten's Guide, such as the new lineages, new subclasses, dark gifts, and other widgets, but I want to talk about the domains as a long-time fan of Ravenloft. How do they stack up, what alterations have been made, and how gameable does this iteration of the Domains of Dread feel? I've covered Barovia, Bluetspur, and Borca here, and the Carnival and Darkon here. Today we're talking about Dementlieu and Falkovnia, two domains that received massive facelifts yet couldn't be more different.

Dementlieu

The original conception of Dementlieu is "Gothic France with a mesmerist villain." Unfortunately, it just wasn't ever very interesting and Borca already covered the "upper-class intrigues" angle. The version of Dementlieu in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft scraps almost all of that; I'd say it's one of the domains that has been altered the most from its origins.

The new Dementlieu is a "dark fairytale" realm. Where Dementlieu was once an entire nation, the new Dementlieu is now just a single city, Port-a-Lucine. Although characters in the domain sometimes talk of their estates in Chateaufaux, these tales are always a lie. And therein lies the crux of Dementlieu: it is the domain of impostor syndrome and "fake it til you make it," no one is what they seem, and everyone is constantly engaging in self-promotion and self-aggrandizement. 

The central conceit of Dementlieu is that Saidra d'Honaire, the Darklord of the domain, throws a lavish masked ball every week. Everyone jockeys for status and position at the masquerade, but everyone is hiding something and fears being unmasked by the hostess. In this case, being unmasked carries a dire penalty: Saidra is a combination of a Poe-esque "Red Death" figure and a dark Cinderella who has the power to disintegrate anyone attending the masquerade.

When I first heard about the changes to Dementlieu, I thought this concept sounded fairly narrow and difficult to implement. But now that I've read the section on Dementlieu I have an abundance of ideas for adventures set here. I definitely have some glamor-hound, skulduggery-favoring players who will love this domain.

Falkovnia

Like Dementlieu, the Falkovnia of Van Richten's Guide differs greatly from its original version. When Ravenloft first appeared as a setting, the designers essentially deployed two versions of Dracula. Strahd is obviously the Dracula of Bram Stoker's novel, but Vlad Drakov, Darklord of Falkovnia, was based on the historical Vlad the Impaler. As such, he was a tyrannical, bloodthirsty military leader destined to always have his bellicose ambitions come to nothing. His story is interesting, but it didn't really make for an exciting adventure location. (There was also a heavy emphasis on "fantasy racism" in the old Falkovnia that just plain made it difficult to navigate as a setting.)

The new Falkovnia is a land besieged; on the night of the full moon, legions of zombies emerge from the mists and attack the fortifications of the living. Adding a "zombie horde" domain was a really smart move for Ravenloft; it's got obvious appeal with the popularity of The Walking Dead. The new Darklord, Vladeska Drakov, is more than just a gender-swapped version of the old Darklord. Although she's a terrible, doomed person, there's some pathos in the fact that her tyrannical rule is the only thing standing between the people of the domain and being devoured by the undead.

This version of Falkovnia also incorporates an idea I used in my Ravenloft games: Falkovnia as a place where innovations in war machines is well underway. Overall, this feels like a Falkovnia you could actually use, especially if you want your characters to take part in defending the capital city from waves of zombies.

Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft: The Carnival and Darkon

There have been many people covering the rules content in Van Richten's Guide, such as the new lineages, new subclasses, dark gifts, and other widgets, but I want to talk about the domains as a long-time fan of Ravenloft. How do they stack up, what alterations have been made, and how gameable does this iteration of the Domains of Dread feel? I've covered Barovia, Bluetspur, and Borca here. Today we're looking at the Carnival and Darkon.

The Carnival

The Carnival differs from most Domains of Dread in that it is not a stationary place; it is a sinister circus that can arrive anywhere in Ravenloft. The performers who travel as part of the Carnival are not generally ill-intentioned, but malignancy is always nearby in the form of fey merchants who arrive to sell their strange wares (and get up to god knows what else) alongside the Carnival. These fey merchants remind me a bit of Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market. Since the Carnival can travel throughout the domains, it's a nifty way for your characters to get from place to place: just hitch a ride by running away with the circus.

Overall, I love the presentation of the Carnival. It reminds me of the best parts of Carnivale and my own experiences on many a midway. However, I do find the Carnival's backstory, particularly regarding its proprietor Isolde, a bit convoluted and overly long. I also think that the Carnival write-up is confused about how the rest of the book says Darklords in Ravenloft work. You see, Darklords are trapped in their domains where they are tormented by their prior sins. Isolde is tormented by her role in the Carnival because it causes her to feel torn between conflicting loyalties and a desire for vengeance. This would work fine, except Isolde isn't the Darklord of the Carnival! 

Isolde's sentient sword Nepenthe is the actual Darklord, but the sword has no real backstory and doesn't seem to be tormented by the domain at all. Additionally, the sword can at least temporarily leave the domain, which is generally not how the domain/Darklord set-up is supposed to work. It feels like whoever wrote the Carnival section didn't quite get the memo. It's certainly not a deal-breaker, though. I'd certainly use the Carnival in my games, though I would likely avoid going too much into the backstory.

Speaking of backstory, fans of the Carnival's previous incarnation may be pleased that it retains a connection to the mysterious villain known as the Gentleman Caller. (Although now it's just known as The Caller.) Gone, however, is "the Twisting," Isolde's power to forcibly remake anyone into a circus freak. That bit is likely too attached to ableist tropes for 2021 Wizards of the Coast, although it would fit with the "body horror" tag that the Carnival supposedly exemplifies. Note, though, that Silessa's entry does still suggest that she was a snake who was transformed into an elf, so some remnants of the Twisting remain.

One thing I like about the Carnival write-up, and Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft overall, is how willing the design team is to use reskinning liberally. Although Isolde is an eladrin, it's suggested that we use the cambion statblock for her. Similarly, one performer is a werehare, but since those aren't yet statted out (and likely don't need to be) using the stats of a wererat will get you close enough. I am less convinced that the werehare needs to be a "rapper," but that's just me. I guess hip-hop is now canonical to the D&Dverse, but as ever the WotC's sense of humor errs on the side of lame: a hippity-hop does the hip-hop, you see.

Darkon

In its original conception, Darkon was the most "fantasy"-oriented domain in Ravenloft. It was a magical land ruled by Azalin Rex, an evil lich-king, which is a premise not really far afield from any vanilla high fantasy setting. As a remedy to the relative blandness of that idea, and as a way to advance the setting's metaplot, Darkon was revised in the 2e-era as a land that had undergone a necromantic catastrophe that resulted in arcane strangeness, the rise of a figure called Death, and a boatload of undead roaming the land.

The 5e version of Darkon riffs on the idea of a magical apocalypse to some extent. Darkon is a domain that is literally dying. Now that Azalin has escaped his imprisonment in the domain (apparently through splitting his soul horcrux-style, though this is never fully explained and there are several random tables to determine Azalin's ultimate fate), the domain is slowly disintegrating and being consumed by the mists. 

The bits that remain are pretty interesting. You've got a bustling port city that is visited by "eerie vessels from mysterious lands" (I want to know more about those!) and the ruins of Azalin's castle now suspended in mid-air, constantly reforming in new ways, due to a magical mishap. Some old favorites remain as well. The Kargat, Darkon's fascistic and vampiric secret police, are still active, as are the Eternal Order. There's also a bit of revisionism present. The Mad Slasher, a serial murderer who formerly haunted the domain of Invidia, now appears to be a fixture in Darkon. 

My favorite alteration here is that this version of the domain does away with the idea that anyone who stays within Darkon forgets their past life and assumes they have lived in the domain all their lives. That always struck me as a dopey element of the original. Perhaps a vestige of it survives in the description of the strange properties possessed by the spas of Nevuchar Springs, but it's slight enough that it doesn't annoy me.

The coolest thing about the Darkon section is that it posits three possible replacements for Azalin. If any one of these personages were be become the new Darklord, the domain would be saved from destruction. Of course, installing a Darklord also means empowering a villain and thrusting an irredeemable damnation upon them, so this is an extremely gray moral quandary to delve into for players--which makes it perfect fodder for a game. I can definitely imagine a campaign that forces the characters into the role of evil kingmakers in Darkon.

A Deep and Creeping Darkness (part 1)

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I've been running the adventures in Candlekeep Mysteries lightly reskinned for my Krevborna setting. The characters are all employed as members of Creedhall University Library's "Special Collections" department, aka adventurers. This is a recap of what happened in "A Deep and Creeping Darkness." Fair warning: spoilers lurk below.

The Characters

Elsabeth, human paladin, played by Anne

Rising Leaf and Raging Storm, human monk, played by Michael

Rufus Clarke, human barbarian played by Steve

Doctor Tobias Wolfe, human sorcerer, played by Dennis

Events

One of the scholars at Creedhall University is currently researching the demise of a mining town called Vermillion, as detailed in a book called A Deep and Creeping Darkness. The characters were given a map to the abandoned site in hopes that they might discover additional books about the town that the scholar could use for their project. From browsing A Deep and Creeping Darkness, the group knew that the town suffered a deadly mine collapse and that following the tragedy townspeople began to disappear one by one in the night. Eventually, those left behind vacated the town, even though the platinum mine was still a going concern.

The group decided to first stop at Maerin, another mining town located a three days' ride from the ruins of Vermillion at the foot of a mountain. Maerin was a bustling, prosperous place. Asking around, the party discovered that two former residents of Vermillion were currently living in Maerin. They found Astra Vorn, a half-elf florist, at their flower stall in the market. Astra's family fled Vermillion when they were a child due to the horrible nightmares that assailed their mother when townsfolk began to go missing. The group bought a memorial wreath from Astra that they promised to leave in Vermillion. 

They found Lukas Grosvenor, an elderly tavernkeeper, at The Bored Weasel--his inn and pub. Lukas had been a miner at Vermillion; he had survived the collapse, but his wife had not. He asked the group to retrieve a locket he had left inside a knothole in the large tree in front of the burgomaster's residence--it was a keepsake he couldn't bear to have near him after his wife's death, but now that he's nearing the end of his life he wanted to hold it one more time.

Having gleaned what information they could from the residents of Maerin, the adventurers set off for Vermillion. The town was mostly in ruins, having falling prey to time and neglect. A few buildings still remained, such as the smithy, the stonemason's shop, and the burgomaster's residence, and they could also see the graveyard and the entrance to the mines. They decided to take a look at the graveyard first.

On the way to the burial grounds, they discovered a merchant's wagon that did not appear to be as weathered as they would expect if it had been left behind when the town was abandoned. Indeed, searching the wagon revealed that although its contents had been riffled through by a bear, some of the casks and crates still held potable wine and edible dried food within. Ominously, they also found the skeletal remains of the horse hitched to the wagon in the tall grass nearby.

Within the burial grounds, it was confirmed that the town had suffered a great loss of life during the mine collapse due to many of the markers sharing a common date of death. The group laid their funereal wreath at the grave of Lorna Grosvenor, and an audible sigh of content seemed to waft on the wind.

The group then approached the burgomaster's residence. Lukas's platinum locket was easily recovered from the tree outside. However, the first of several strange occurrences was detected when one of the group saw their collective shadows begin to move in a frantic way that did not map to their current movements. Once inside the burgomaster's home, the odd phenomena continued. One member of the party heard a voice speaking indistinctly in their ear, they all heard a spectral piercing scream, and they could not shake the feeling of being watched.

Inside the house, the group discovered many books (which were, of course, loaded on their cart to be added to the library's collection). One book seemed to be of particular note; it was a volume on the Feywild and a section on malicious fey creatures called meenlocks was annotated with "Could this be the answer?" Skimming the book revealed that meenlocks are spontaneously created during times of pronounced fear in areas where the boundary between the mortal realm and the Feywild are thin. The book also claimed that meenlocks "reproduce" by transforming humanoids into meenlocks through psychic torment, which may explain the unnatural phenomena the group had experienced. 

The group also found several letters from the burgomaster requesting aid from nearby settlements, but sadly those letters were never sent. The group also spotted something small and furry and man-shaped underneath a bed. No one wanted to touch it. Eventually it was swatted from under the bed with a staff, but still no one wanted to go near it. They wanted to know what it was, but feared to get too close to it. After much consternation, nerves were steeled and the thing was approached. It was...a teddy bear.

As night was coming on, the group decided to look for a place to spend the night that was emphatically not the mine. The blacksmith's shop was explored as a possibility first. It seemed mostly intact and in order. Underneath a secret panel in the floor, they discovered a shield chased in platinum, a pair of short sword with platinum filigree, and ten bars of quality iron. As the session came to a close, the group was heading to the stonemason's shop to weigh its benefits as a place to hole up against those of the smithy's shop.

Previous Adventures

The Joy of Extradimensional Spaces (part 1)

The Joy of Extradimensional Spaces (part 2)

Mazworth's Mighty Digressions

Book of the Raven

Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft: Barovia, Bluetspur, Borca

Looking at the list of modifications I tend to make to Ravenloft that I posted here last week, it's interesting to see how many of these have been incorporated into the version of the setting presenting in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft:

More larger cities and populations? Some domains do feel more populated. It's also very interesting that the idea of "Ludendorf University" is now canon, when I'm pretty sure it wasn't when I started inserting it into my games! In any event, I like that they don't really spell out population numbers for any of the locations; I find that stuff unnecessary and limiting.

More interconnection, particularly by sea Nope. Breaking the "Core" into islands in the Mists was always going to curtail that, but I don't think it would be hard to add in if you wanted to. Here's how I would do it: some seafarers and merchant caravans possess mist talismans that allow them to forge lucrative trade routes throughout the domains. Of course, these talismans are jealously guarded and work as objects around which you could craft some interesting adventures.

Down with fantasy racism YES. It is explicitly called out that the people of Ravenloft are used to strange visitors being pulled into their lands, so they don't raise a mob to murder every non-human they encounter.

The people know their land is horrible and haunted Mostly, yeah. This one was already implemented in Curse of Strahd, so it seems natural to extend it throughout most of the other domains.

Twists There are certainly a lot of twists, substitutions, and retcons in this version of Ravenloft. Urik von Kharkov is dead, long live Chakuna the huntress! I don't love all of the new takes on once-familiar domains, but they're mostly good. Some seem very cool, in fact.

Which brings me to what I want to write about. There have been many people covering the rules content in Van Richten's Guide, such as the new lineages, new subclasses, dark gifts, and other widgets, but I want to talk about the domains as a long-time fan of Ravenloft. How do they stack up, what alterations have been made, and how gameable does this iteration of the Domains of Dread feel?

Barovia

Barovia is already a known quantity as its presentation in Van Richten's Guide is not substantially different from the domain as it is detailed in Curse of Strahd. Barovia is still Dracula's Transylvania with a D&D gloss. There are a few more bits of interconnection with elements that are new to this book (such as the priests of Osybus), as well as callbacks to aspects of the 2e and 3e versions of Barovia (such as Duke Gundar and Lyssa von Zarovich). The best bit in this section is a series of tables that can be used to determine Tatyana's latest incarnation and how he or she is connected to Strahd, either by trying to avoid his grasp or by hunting him. There's also a table for placing Tatyana in another domain if you want even more interconnection; Barovia doesn't feel quite so isolated anymore.

Bluetspur

2e's version of Bluetspur seemed like a domain suitable for exactly one adventure--destined to never really see the light of day once the module Thoughts of Darkness had been completed. The domain is still described as utterly alien and inhospitable, but at least it doesn't have rules for how you're going to be zapped by lightning every few feet until you find shelter as you're herded onto the narrative railroad. 

Bluetspur is the prime example of "cosmic horror" in the book, substituting mind flayers for Lovecraft's otherworldly gribblies. This time, however, Bluetspur comes ready made with a reason why adventurers might find themselves in the domain: it now plays up the idea of "alien abduction," with the mind flayers stealing humanoids for use in their experiments to prolong the life of the dying God-Brain. 

The surface of Bluetspur is still devoid of life; personally, I would have stolen a page from Lovecraft and placed a few remote, eldritch fishing villages here and there, full of the demented results of the mind flayers' experiments. Beneath the surface of the domain are the mind flayers' laboratory dungeons; the domain definitely amps up the sci-fi horror angle. There's also rival factions of mind flayers you could potentially pit against each other, with the adventurers caught in the middle. There's some rather nice writing in this section. In particular, I like this description of Mount Makab:

Calling Makab a mountain is a wild misnomer; it is a malignant deformation on a planetary scale, a spire with no apparent summit. Its contorted slopes stretch into the toxic heavens, and its form occupies the periphery of viewers’ attention no matter which direction they look.

Borca

Borca remains a domain enfolded in schemes and intrigue ala the historical Borgias. I like that Borca retains both rural villages and cities as part of its description; it feels like you can play through a variety of scenarios here, although the focus is definitely on the abuses of wealthy aristocrats. 

Borca also preserves its two most infamous prisoners as its dual Darklords: the poisoner Ivana Boritsi and Ivan Dilisnya. The pair have been given a fresh coat of paint. Ivana's role as a seductive "black widow" has been diminished. I do miss her coterie of poisonous women, but I understand why the change was made--the sexual threat she formerly represented was not really in line with modern squeamishness. Ivan is very different; this version of him is a decrepit old man living in an extended childhood of murderous mechanical "toys." 

Each of the sites detailed in Borca's write-up have strong hooks, even if their entries are short. Which is my preference, to be honest. They're terse, but they say something that gets me thinking about adventure possibilities. One interesting thing I noticed: the Scholomance, the mythical school of black magic mentioned in Bram Stoker's Dracula, is placed on the map of Borca! Was the Scholomance always a part of Ravenloft and I never noticed?

Just Use...Wardukes???

I don't claim to have any sort of meaningful answer to the issues to representation, colonialism, and racial essentialism in Dungeons & Dragons. If you want a nuanced take on those topics, you should read Allandaros's Productive Scab-Picking: On Oppressive Themes in Gaming. Seriously, go read it right now; there's not going to be a better blog post than that this year.

If you stuck around, all you're going to get for your troubles is a really stupid idea. If you're concerned that orcs, goblins, and the like might map to real-world ethnic and racial subjectivities...just replace those creatures with wardukes. 

As far as I'm aware, no one has ever claimed that Warduke is poor representation, so it's probably okay for your fictional characters to kill droves of them in a game. If you're worried about the indulgence of violence against individuals possessing free will, I suppose you could always go the Star Wars route and have wardukes all be clones of the original Warduke. 

Stat-wise, short wardukes equal goblins and kobolds, hairy wardukes equal bugbears, etc.