Honest RPG Review: Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft (Ep. 191)

Dungeoncraft gives an honest, objective review of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. Does Strahd still have any bite? Professor Dungeonmaster opines.

"Fury of the Dragon's Breath" by Peter Crowley

[BBoyRiffRaff]

"Never half-ass two things. Whole ass one thing." -Ron Swanson

[gutembergjunior]

This, my friends, is a supreme honest review. The professor really goes right on the jugular on this one. Down to the wrongs in the core mechanics of horror. It’s not a book to play horror, it’s just a book to add some subclasses and more ideas to superheroes general tone of 5e.

[gardenrabbit]

Glad to hear PDM pop off a bit on 5E darkvision. It’s such a mood killer

[Sebbaasdungeon]

I actually liked the Van Helsing movie. And The Mummy from 1999. I have a weak spot for pulpy action adventure. And if you are going for that kind of game, this Ravenloft supplement sounds to be fitting.
If you are looking for a real horror game, you have to look elsewhere.

[negative]

I'm not usually one to nitpick DnD art but I think the image at 9:00 is fucking hilarious. You've got a bunch of animatronic dolls attacking what looks to be a rogue and an artificer in a fucking wheelchair in broad daylight. If you showed me that and asked what genre I think the setting is, steampunk would be my first guess, and Gothic horror would be near the bottom right next to vikings and space opera.

[Vesuya]

"I get it. This is Hasbro, the company that makes 'My Little Pony.' "

n'uff said.

[rpgquestboard]

"All darkness in this specific domain of dread is magical darkness and standard darkvision cannot penetrate it" - Me, when I eventually get around to running something in Ravenloft.

[dannywoodz]

I was quite put off by the peppering of trigger warnings throughout the book. You're playing in a horror setting, you should expect to feel uncomfortable in the same way as when watching a horror movie, and that does involve powerlessness that just isn't in the revised setting. What if I (a DM) end up with a player who isn't comfortable with simple horror mechanics? "You wake up back in Faerun..." I can't help but think that anyone interested in reading further into the roots of these genres is going to be in for a no-trigger-warning shock when they pick up Lovecraft or Shelley.

Nothing here couldn't be fixed with some creative house rules, though. The first thing I'd do is have innate darkvision not work for anyone, something that would probably be something of a shock as the first night falls.

As a life-long fan of the Dragonlance setting, I was also kind of disappointed not to see Lord Soth's domain, Sithicus, included in the list.

[davidkrems]

The blank pages at the front and back of the book are referred to as end sheets, which are placed in books to help protect the content. They appear to be a waste, but they have purpose. The more you know.

[BobWorldBuilder]

Nice and concise. Loved the message of superheroism clashing with horror, and I couldn’t agree more about dark vision. I’ve also noticed a trend of telepathy becoming increasingly common, so I fear that soon all dnd characters will be silently walking through dark dungeons and become the true monsters!

[thetowndrunk]

They’ve really softened a lot of the tone from the original AD&D. Back in the good ole days, adventuring through Ravenloft brought a deep sense of dread when you fully immersed your imagination into the game. Now, it’s about like playing make believe with the kids.

[aurvay]

Yeah, this is basically the Disney Ravenloft, with rides that say “you must be this level”.

[RSBurgener]

I think you hit the nail on the head when you talked about heroic fantasy and horror. "Dark Fantasy" should be a hybrid of both, knowing when and when not to threaten characters is the trick to the whole thing.

[zacksporen]

I think even Count Chocula is more of a threat than Ravenloft: Defanged. Diabetes is a real and serious issue.

[ZYR]

Setting about human fear and

WotC: LETS ADD PLAYABLE VERSIONS OF ALL THE NASTIES!

[malcolmcampbell]

My reaction has largely boiled down to: "Hasbro noticed Call of Cthulhu creeping up on D&D's heels in VTT representation and is trying, unsuccessfully, to steal some of that thunder."

[williambennett]

Frankenstein’s creature was a villain - not misunderstood - and murdered two people if I remember correctly in order to get revenge on Dr Frankenstein.

[davezenz]

I think we meed the professor to create his own plane of Ravenloft complete with its Dark Lord? Maybe a place where you only have limited first-level hit points?

[JonathanQiao]

I like the point about dropping the hit points to first level. The first thing I did at the beginning of "The Curse of Strahd" to evoke sheer terror was to have him show up at the beginning of the game, an npc attacks him causing the players to join in and on Strahd's turn he grabs the end of one player's glaive driving it straight through his heart pulling until he is face to face with the player to say "Does this amuse you?" then thrusting the glaive out of his body and the player got to roll crit damage against Strahd. On Strahd's next turn the hole in his chest fills in like the t-1000 from Terminator 2. This brought a sense of terror to my players since they realized that Strahd was not even trying to fight them but he wasn't afraid of them either and they started to get the feeling of vulnerability since they knew that if Strahd really wanted to he could have killed them all.

[rhettburgess]

Love the new Deathbringer miniature!!! Also the carnage of slain enemies surrounding him is sweet too!!!