Star Spawn Emissary is Bigger on the Inside | Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft | D&D

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Dungeons & Dragons Expands Beyond the Gothic Horror in Curse of Strahdwith Van Richten’s Guide to RavenloftD&D Brings Multiple Horror Genres to (Un)Life Including Slasher Horror, Macabre Fairy Tale, and Zombie Apocalypse.

One of the most popular adventures published by D&D in the last few yearswas Curse of Strahd which begins when characters are pulled by creeping mists in to a land called Barovia. But Strahd’s domain is just one of the many Domains of Dread that make up the horror-themed setting of Ravenloft. Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenlof trefreshes the setting by giving Dungeon Masters descriptions of more than 30 Domains of Dread beyond Barovia as well as the tools to create their own horrific stories, including details on each domain’s Darklord, a ready-to-play adventure, new monsters, lineages and sub-classes. Be afraid for Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft to pull D&D fans into the Mists on May 18. “I’m a huge fan of all things horror, so it was an absolute thrill to frame this book around bringing frightening elements like mummy lords, cosmic terrors, and urban legends to more D&D tables,” said Wes Schneider, senior game designer and lead designer of Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. “Working with exciting new voices in horror and visual artists like D&D concept artist Shawn Wood was essential to make sure we’re updating the aesthetic for today’s fans while staying true to the roots of Ravenloft.”The correspondence of Rudolph Van Richten and other heroes of Ravenloft, like Ezmerelda d’Avenir and the Weathermay-Foxgrove Twins, introduce a new generation of monster hunters to the Lands of the Mists. Some of the Domains of Dread might feel eerily familiar to fans such as Lamordia, which explores the horror of experimentation on creating undead beings from deceased body parts by Dr. Viktra Mordenheim. Other horrors include the surreal, fairytale masquerades of Dementlieu; treachery in the war-torn rain forests of Kalakeri; and the endless zombie hordes of Falkovnia. Van Richten’s Guide includes rules and advice for DMs to create custom domains and Darklordsby portraying established horror tropes or whatever special new blend of terror they can imagine. Players can create more terrifying characters with Dark Gifts that provide roleplaying ties tothe Domains of Dread by bestowing benefits that may have a deadly cost. With Van Richten’s Guide, players can also roll upa dhampir who’s been created by a vampire, a hexblood descended from a hag, or a reborn who’s been brought back from the dead.Two new subclasses further flesh out the options with the College of Spirits for bards and the Undead pact for warlocks, as well as new backgrounds to explore and trinkets to collect. Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft features a cover by Anna Podedworna available everywhere and an alternate cover by Scott M. Fischer only available through game stores.The mists beckon on May 18, 2021!

[OC]

Thanks for letting me know about this. I'm about to have a session. Now I need my Level 5 party to find a bunny in a mine so that a year from now (when they're level 15+) they can find out their pet bunny was the end boss all along.

[bunkersnail]

Todd looks like how I imagine Mordenkainen.

[paulhermann]

A Zombie T-Rex who throws up ANOTHER Zombie T-Rex who den throws up a group of zombies is the best possilbe improvement of that monster I could ask for! <3

[minisgallery]

We just learned that a Star Spawn Emissary pre-painted mini will be included December's release of, D&D Icons of the Realms, Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. At the end of your video you stated that you wanted to know if WizKids will make this a mini -- well they are.

[OhThatRobin]

This would be an amazing secret boss for my family game after Rime of the Frostmaiden. The Thing is one of our favorite movies we watch it every winter.

[DarkAutumnScribe]

Isn't there a Starspawn of Cthulhu? Don't think it's the same thing but hey, it's all in good, gory, gross fun!

[soulcrow]

Already was using spawn of kyuss and larval mages to spice up Chult... thank WOTC for giving me EVEN more to mess woth my players

[kyleward]

End of the campaign, it turns out one of the PCs was this thing all along.

[FallenRingbearer]

Straight out of Lovecraft. And no one mentions that 👁️

[TheLastSane]

Looking at the entry I was actually wondering something about the dice of its Lashing Maw. When its medium sized it does 2d10 but it is a melee weapon attack. When its HUGE it still only does 2d10? I know they did away with weapon sizes, but in the DMG they mention doubling the dice when you go up a dice. So a Large creature swinging a Longsword would be 2d8 rather than the 1d8. So shouldn't this creature be at least 4d10 if not 6d10 for being this massive monster? I understand the acid damage 3d8 adds a lot of boost but I was curious.

[paulwarren]

i'm glad you're on the dnd channel now, but she should come on sometimes too

[TheodoreMinick]

I cannot wait to inflict this on my players.

[ethanrajczak]

Time to get this book immediately and run The Thing.

[paulwarren]

been trying to decide a boss monster for a dungeon of beast cultists in chult and decided to go with one of these guys.

[skullman-uswn]

In otherwords. “How your attempt at ingame “cosmic horror” became IRL slasher horror.

Because your players have every right to kill you for sport for playing this

[pb-bxll]

Great video. I so enjoy them thank you

[namekman]

"its basically the thing"

how is it like a giant orange rock guy... (minute passes) oh, like john carpenter... my brain is like the thing sometimes (made of orange rock)

[tsmith]

I am currently in the works making a campaign in the dread realms. I asked questions like why are the dread realms there? What is the purpose? The gods send creatures too evil or too powerful here. I am using the star spawn emissary as the big bad who has been feeding off of the pain and suffering of the domains of dread's inhabitants. When the party starts either freeing or killing this things food. It gets angry

[GreenLanternCorps]

The Thing? I guess it's clobberin' time!

[theeye]

Is this basically CR 40 because of the 2 forms?