D&D Lore Ravenloft: Part 2 - What 5e Never Told You!

Today we will be uncovering lore that you won't find in the fifth edition 5e books.

All the origin lore surrounding Barovia and the von Zarovich bloodline in the era before and leading up to Strahd's transformation into undeath, becoming the Vampire of legend.

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Twitter: @ RichesandLiches

Timecodes
03:04 Chapter 1 - Origins of Barovia
08:38 Chapter 2 - Realm Shaping History
14:20 Chapter 3 - Divine Invasion
17:40 Chapter 4 - The Other Dark Pact
21:08 Chapter 5 - Then She Arrived
25:36 Chapter 6 - Dark Plots and Pacts
28:31 Chapter 7 - The Crimson Wedding
33:23 Chapter 8 - Fate of the Realm

Additional Video Links:

The Shadow Series

[AnonymousAlcoholic]

Its 330am. I just finished repainting my bathroom and it turned out fantastic. Im drowsy and giddy and now this drops. NO SLEEP TILL BROOKLYN.

[KS-PNW]

Big props for covering the classic setting!

I really feel like 5e sold ravenloft short and it's awesome that newer players will get exposed to it!

Thanks for doing this!

[admiralblackbeard]

I've been prepping Curse of Strahd for over a year now. This is excellent work. And I may use this to help build a prequel to Curse of Strahd in the future.

[duanebradway]

The art for this volume is fantastic. Congrats. Another masterful video. Your ability to transition between edition lore and conflicting stories has improved as you have continued to produce. Well done. I look forward to the next.

[reclaimatorerebus]

Who knew randomly being up at 1:33 in the morning would pay off like this! Guess I'm not going to bed until 2AM now. I'm sure I won't regret this in the morning ;D

[colinleat]

I was really excited when you cover the tragedy of Tatania and Sergei. What REALLY started the nightmare. What makes it all the more Horrific is - there's NO redemption for Strahd. He's not Anican Skywalker, ... he's too far gone to the Darkside. Absolutely loving this series and can't wait for part 3... and 4, and...🤣. 🤘😁🖖🇨🇦🍻

[vordenstein]

I’m so grateful for these videos for as someone who’s just gotten into D&D through BG3 but has been a long-time fan of Gothic horror, Ravenloft has been such a point of focus for me; however, upon deep diving, I found myself disappointed by a lot of the retcons of Curse of Strahd and how some really rich inclusions like Lyssa von Zarovich have been reduced to yet another Tatyana reincarnation. I also love the story format of your videos as it’s so much more coherent and and digestible than the confusion of various sources.

[Walmsal]

F&*$ing good! Nice and juicy lore. Must of been fun pouring through all the material that was released from 1st, 2nd and 3rd edition. So much material! I have all of it on harddrive but never really gone through it. Might be time...
Awesome work, as always!

[smoore]

Great work sir! I am really looking forward to what you have to come for us!! I love Barovia, the other realms will be awesome to learn about too!

[mammonclarke]

I Strahd is an excellent peek into the mind of Strahd. While its "facts" ha e to be taken with a grain if salt being it is written by Strahd himself, it is still the best remaining historical text regarding that time period and the best look into the mind and thoughts of Strahd himself.

[porreefuzius]

I‘ll never forget my first encounter with Strahd. He surprised us in a flooded room within Castle Ravenloft. We were full of confidence and holy anger. We already had a lot of experience and were well equiped. He appeared out of nowhere, froze the water in the flooded room so no one of us could move an humiliated the s**t out of us. He also took my beloved magical sword from me and bended it like spaghetti. This blade was part of my characters identity since his early youth. I can’t express how angry I still am. 😂

[samuelnewton]

I cannot wait to feast on these two. Just waiting for the right time!

[dannyakins]

Another Amazing video & details I have never imagined!
Please cover "Falkovnia" in video 4!! I've got endless questions about that Domain, it's everything I've been working towards the last 25 years!!😅

[Oleschooldm-kbdj]

Between these videos and Hour of the Raven, I have remade Curse of Strahd with much more lore, activity, and plausibility. Thank you for the resurrection of the 2e lore. Keep up the good works.

[MidKnightOTC]

playing dungeons and dragons online and just got to ravenloft. Yeah, this is the best lore D&D ever put forth and it shows everywhere ravenloft is referenced.

[trebet]

I can't wait for the Grand Conjunction overview. I've DM'd the full series of modules twice now, and did my best to recreate the first one (Night of the Walking Dead) in the first Neverwinter Nights game.

[Nopetothat]

Very much enjoying this. Any chance you will cover Klorr?

[stevenbroome]

Love your content, hopefully one day you can get around to doing a video on the tarrasque :).

[That_guy_]

Ive started running COS for the first time as a side campaign whenever my epic campaign doesn't have enough players. Its well written for 5e and from reading it has alot of replay ability. This whole ravenloft series was just the nail in the coffin

[Makavelius]

Well done sir another excellent project!