Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft

I like to think I'm pretty selective about which 5e books I buy, but every once in a while I look at my collection and think, "Whoah, how much have you spent?"  Of course I have the core books (PHB, DMG, MM), and I've bought some of the books that have new races/subclasses (Volo, Tasha, Xanathar).  I only buy adventures if they're relatively open world (Strahd, Frostmaiden, Annihilation) or if they're collections of short adventures (Yawning Portal, Saltmarsh, Candlekeep).  I did buy both the Waterdeep books (Dragon Heist and Mad Mage), but mostly for their connection to the Yawning Portal.

I don't usually buy setting books.  The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide was informative, but it didn't do anything for me.  Eberron is a decent setting, but I don't need a book about it.  I'm sure Wildemount, Ravnica, and Theros are great settings, but I'm not interested in learning about them at the moment.  

The truth is, when I DM, I prefer to make up my own worlds.  I might set a campaign in the Forgotten Realms for ease of PC backgrounds, but rarely are my players going to be visiting official cities like Waterdeep or Baldur's Gate.  I just don't have that much need for other people's lore.  I'm not saying my ideas are better than WOTC's, I'm just saying that pre-established cities and kingdoms tend to get in the way of the story I want to tell.

That said, I wouldn't mind a "Campaign Setting Sampler" book, with overviews of the most popular settings.  Maybe 10 pages each devoted to Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Ravenloft, Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Dark Sun, Spelljammer, and so on.  It might be useful for deciding where to set my next campaign.

Well, "Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft" may not be that book, but if you're into horror settings, it does a great job of getting you started.  Nearly half the book is just descriptions of the various realms of Ravenloft.  For the uninitiated, Ravenloft is not a cohesive world like Toril or Oerth.  It's more like a collective of pocket dimensions, separated by the magical mists that keep its inhabitants prisoner.  Some of these domains are as large as a continent, while others are as small as a single city.

It devotes 4-6 pages each to to 17 of the more well-known domains, with maps, notable locations, and in-depth descriptions of each domain's primary antagonist.  Then it gives short summaries to another 22 domains.  So if you want to run a horror campaign and need a place to start, or even just enjoy reading about horror settings, this book is a great resource.

So what else is in this book?  

The introduction explains the concept of Ravenloft's Domains of Dread, and gives a few tips on running horror games.  Next up, we have three new Lineages - The Dhampir, Hexblood, and Reborn.  Unlike the standard races, these lineages can be switched to after 1st level, to represent things horrible things that have happened to your character.  Maybe you were bitten by a vampire, maybe you were cursed by hags, maybe you died and were brought back "wrong"... or if you are 1st level, maybe you were just brought into this world in an atypical way.

The Hexblood didn't do much for me - I didn't care for the lore or the features.  The Dhampir was kind of interesting, with a (somewhat underpowered) vampiric bite and the ability to climb walls.  The Reborn has some features that make it hard to kill, which is obviously pretty useful.

Next it has a section on Dark Gifts.  These options give a character both advantages and disadvantages.  The book suggests having players select one at character creation, but they also work as plot rewards.  These are not the same as the "Adventurer's League" Dark Gifts that characters might receive after being resurrected in Curse of Strahd.  These are more in-depth, and they don't seem to be as detrimental to the character.

The Dark Gifts don't seem very balanced with each other, and some are very specific to Ravenloft campaigns, so make sure you know what you're doing if you use these.  For example, the "Mist Walker" gift is designed for characters who want to travel through the mist between domains.  Another one that stood out to me was "Deadly Touch" which gives your unarmed attacks some extra necrotic damage, with no downside.  Well, no mechanical downside.  Roleplay-wise, it means you'll never get to touch another character's skin without hurting them.  But if I were playing a Monk with a vow of celibacy...

Next up we have two new spooky-themed subclasses.  For the Bard, we have the College of Spirits, and for the Warlock, we have The Undead patron.  I don't see myself using either one, but they do fit the book's flavor quite nicely.

The book also contains two backgrounds: Haunted One (which previously appeared in Curse of Strahd) and Investigator. It also has an expanded version of Curse of Strahd's Gothic Trinkets table.  

There's a chapter on the Genres of Horror.  It has an in-depth look at the following genres: Body Horror, Cosmic Horror, Dark Fantasy, Folk Horror, Ghost Stories, and Gothic Horror.  For those genres it includes tips and tables for selecting the right plots, settings, and villains for the story.  Then it has a more abbreviated look at four other genres: Disaster Horror, Occult Detective Stories, Psychological Horror, and Slasher Horror.  This chapter is useful both for idea mining, and making sure your campaign keeps a consistent tone.

There's a section called "Travelers in the Mists" which describes some of the more notable characters  and groups you might run into during your travels.  This includes some minor retcons to Ezmerelda d'Avenir and the Vistani, in response to changing cultural attitudes.  Of course, now the less enlightened players are blasting WOTC for being too "woke", so you can't please everyone.

Then we have a chapter on Horror Adventures - More tips for running horror, including pacing, atmosphere, and setting boundaries.  Then we have a look at Tarokka decks and Spirit Boards, followed by a Horror Tookit - detailing rules for curses, fear, stress, and haunted traps.  There's also a section on "Survivors", which are basically simple characters that the PCs can control during expository scenes.

Next there's a short horror-themed adventure, "The House of Lament".  The PCs explore a haunted house, perform seances, and learn of the house's troubled history.  This is one of those stories where the horrors start out small but build over time, as the evil entities slowly awaken and become aware of the PCs' explorations.  And it is most definitely an adventure that should be run on Halloween, by candlelight, while spooky ambience MP3s play in the background.

And finally, we have "The Monsters of Ravenloft" - a mini bestiary with about 30 horror-themed monsters.  This includes tips on describing horrific creatures, and coming up with disturbing tactics that will keep your players on their toes.  I could be wrong, but some of these monsters look familiar, and might be republished from other modules.  My favorite monster in the book is the "Unspeakable Horror", which is a very customizable, amorphous... thing that is sure to make the PCs jump when they glimpse it in the mists.

All-in-all, it's a pretty useful book if you like running horror campaigns.  Despite the new lineages and subclasses, there's a lot more here for DMs than for players.  There is some repeated content, especially if you own Curse of Strahd.  But there's more than enough new content here to justify the purchase, in my opinion.  

Candlekeep: Afterthoughts

I already posted my first impressions of Candlekeep Mysteries, but now I've finished it, and I thought I'd post my impressions of the individual stories. Overall, it's one of my favorite adventure books. A lot of the chapters could be expanded into their own campaigns, and I like how most of the quests favor mystery over combat.

Note, there will be spoilers. If you plan to run these as a DM, feel free to read on. But if there's any chance you might play in them, skip this blog.  

I'm listing them in the order that I liked them, and I've given each story a star rating of 1 to 5.

Shemshime’s Bedtime Rhyme (Level 4) *****
I covered this in an earlier blog, but it feels like one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes.

Sarah of Yellowcrest Manor (Level 7) ****
You find the diary of a servant girl, which gives clues to some unsolved murders. You befriend her ghost and try to track down the killer, who is about to perform an evil ritual.

A Deep and Creeping Darkness (Level 4) ****
You investigate a ghost town that was abandoned after a mining collapse. Following the disaster, the townsfolk experienced nightmares until they fled the town. This one has more combat potential than the earlier adventures, but the mystery is still pretty cool.

The Curious Tale of Wisteria Vale (Level 11) ****
The PCs are hired to rescue a bard from a demiplane. This tiny dimension was designed to emulate a peaceful village, populated by enchanted mannequins that look and act like townsfolk. It has shades of Pleasantville, WandaVision, and several episodes of the Twilight Zone. And that's not even the main plot, which involves a Beholder trying to make the dimension its own. I can't wait to run this one just to roleplay the NPCs. I might have given it five stars if not for a couple of unfair encounters toward the end, including a "save-or-die" item that only serves to punish the curious.

The Book of Inner Alchemy (Level 12) ****
Some pages are stolen from a book of martial arts and mysticism. Hired to recover the missing pages, the party must fight their way through a martial arts camp. It's a fun adventure, but I would only run this chapter if there was a monk in the party.

The Joy of Extradimensional Spaces (Level 1) ****
I think this is a great, low key introduction to the book. The PCs get trapped in a Magical Mansion spell, and have to solve a puzzle to get back. Short and simple, but fun.

The Price of Beauty (Level 5) ****
A book teleports you to a temple of Sune. It's a spa where people can have all their physical flaws corrected, but these treatments come with an unexpected cost. It's run by a trio of beautiful elves, who are secretly hags in disguise. It has elements that remind me of Dorian Gray, and the hags remind me of the newest Resident Evil game. I'm a sucker for Sune, so I really enjoyed this story.

Kandlekeep Dekonstruktion (Level 9) ****
This one is kind of crazy. A secret cult in Candlekeep attempts to launch one of the towers into space. It's also interesting because once the action starts, the PCs only have an hour to stop the countdown. So no resting between fights, or attuning to any treasures they find. The story has several possible outcomes, including the PCs getting trapped in outer space, so that could be interesting.

Lore of Lurue (Level 8) ***
The PCs enter a storybook and have to play their way through the tale. This one is kind of interesting because there's no real danger - if you die in the book, you are ejected back into the real world, where you can take a long rest before you jump back in. You're also unable to explore areas that are beyond the scope of the story, which reminds me of video games when you see messages like "You can't go that way." So it's kind of railroady, but somehow it works.

Alkazaar’s Appendix (Level 15) ***
A famous adventurer retired before he could complete his final quest. The PCs pick up where Alkazaar left off, on a mission to help a lost golem fulfill its destiny. Finding the golem is easy, but returning the golem to its master involves a trek through the desert, confronting a purple worm, helping a Dragon Turtle, and battling a Dracolich for possession of a powerful relic.

The Scrivener’s Tale (Level 14) ***
The PCs accidentally open a book that curses them. They have a limited amount of time to break the curse, or they are doomed. Also, the cursegiver speaks to PCs telepathically, attempting to mislead them. All in all, it's not a bad story, with a fairly epic boss battle at the end.

Mazfroth’s Mighty Digressions (Level 2) ***
You have to track down some counterfeit books, which leads you to some jackalweres, who have problems of their own. You can help them with their problems, or bully them into making amends. I like that there's more than one way to complete the adventure.

Zikran’s Zephyrean Tome (Level 10) ***
A book turns out to hold a trapped djinni, who offers to grant the characters a wish if they agree to kill his master. Along the way they might put a couple of ghosts to rest, parley with a dragon, and explore the ruins of a Cloud Giant fortress. My only problem is that the villain, while of evil alignment, isn't given much opportunity to show that he deserves to be killed. It seems like the PCs pretty much agree to kill him just so the djinni will grant them a wish.

Xanthoria (Level 16) ***
A terrible fungal plague is spreading through the land, affecting both plants and animals. Infected humans act like zombies, chant "Xanthoria" over and over, and eventually collapse into a puddle of goo. It turns out that Xanthoria is the name of a Druid who went insane and became a lichen lich. I hope your PCs have strong stomachs, because this adventure hits them will all kinds of molds, fungi, spores, and the like. It concludes with a heartbreaking choice, as the only way to permanently defeat the lich is to destroy her phylactery - which is in the form of a living sprite, who must be convinced to sacrifice herself.

Book of Cylinders (Level 6) **
You have to help a tribe of frog people who have had their village taken over by yuan-ti invaders. It's an okay story, but nothing to write home about.

Book of the Raven (Level 3) *
A treasure map leads you to an old house where you meet some wereravens, and... that's pretty much it. I do like the atmosphere - it's really cool having PCs hear creepy noises (like children laughing) from other areas of the house. But there's not much of an actual story here. I'm afraid it would leave the players wondering if the adventure was actually complete. It would be a good jumping off point for another adventure, though.

The Canopic Being (Level 13) *
There's a book that describes a dark ritual involving Mummy Lords and organ transplants, and the PCs' names are included on the list of future participants. I'm not much into Divination magic, and this adventure is full of it. Plus it's got some rooms that are hard to visualize, and some important items hidden in places PCs aren't likely to look. Overall, the adventure just didn't work for me.

Daggerford: We Didn't Start The Fire

Game Date: 5/15/2021

Location: Roll20
Campaign: Daggerford, Session 16

System: D&D 5e
DM: Mike

The Party:
Azul (Cliff) Dragonborn Fighter

Khemed (Rusty) Half-Elf Wizard
Navine/"Spider" (Steve) Elf Rogue
Vanya (Matt) Half-Elf Bard

The Session:

After last session's climactic ending resulting in two character deaths, we started this session with some downtime.  We sold some loot, bought some potions, made some contacts, and regaled the townsfolk with tales of our recent adventure.

There was a commotion from Daggerford's East wall.  The sky to the East was orange, from a distant wildfire.  The town prepared to receive refugees from Laughing Hollow.  

That night we attended a party hosted by Daggerford's royalty.  We were asked for a status update on our hunt for the Red Wizards, but we steered the conversation over to the situation in the East.  We were then tasked to look for an anvil-shaped altar under Mt. Illefarn.  We were given a guide, Navine.  

We were sent to see a clan of Dwarves, in order to have our weapons and armor repaired, and to get more details about Mt. Illefarn.  While speaking to the aged Dwarf leader, he died in front of us.  His compatriots scrambled to figure out who was next in line, and they finally cast "Speak With Dead" on the Dwarf king.  He made a much better impression dead, and gave us some cryptic hints about what we might expect to find under the mountain.

He told us that his brothers (Korin and Derwin) still live in the halls under the mountain.  He told us to contact someone named Alagarathas in Laughing Hollow (son of the great Elf King Melandrach), and he told us that "The owls are not what they seem."  

We got on our horses and left for Laughing Hollow.  The roads were crowded with evacuees headed for the safety of Daggerford.  We came across some Elves fleeing from an Orc war party, accompanied by an Owlbear.

Vanya started things off with a Shatter spell, hitting all the enemies and killing one.  Then Khemed hit the Owlbear with Tasha's Mind Whip.  A fleeing Elf finished off another Orc.  One bloodied Orc charged Azul, who finished the Orc off.  The Orc chief ran off, leaving us alone with the Owlbear.  Azul made quick work of the Owlbear with a riposte reaction, and we checked up on the Elves.

Having comforted the Elves, we continued East.  From a distance, we could see the Orc chief calling for reinforcements.  Vanya warmed up her guitar, which can cast Call Lightning.  A couple of trolls showed up, accompanied by three Orcs.  Khemed fired off a Chromatic Orb at one Troll, just missing.  As one Troll rushed toward the party, Navine hit it with a powerful Sneak Attack.

Vanya kept calling the lighting on each round, dropping the first Troll.  The second Troll closed the gap, and more Orc reinforcements showed up.  Vanya and Azul temporarily dropped the second Troll.  He got up a few times, but eventually Khemed finished him off with a Firebolt.  Navine intimidated the final bloodied Orc, who surrendered.

We interrogated the Orc, but he didn't know how the wildfires started.  His warband just took advantage of a bad situation, by attacking the fleeing refugees.  We went ahead and ended the session, and we'll continue our journey in a fortnight.

Daggerford: Mistcutter Isle (Part 4)

Game Date: 5/1/2021

Location: Roll20
Campaign: Daggerford, Session 15

System: D&D 5e
DM: Mike

The Party:
Azul (Cliff) Dragonborn Fighter

Khemed (Rusty) Half-Elf Wizard
Neven (Steve) Elf Monk
Sylvester (Steven) Drow Warlock/Doctor
Vanya (Matt) Half-Elf Bard

The Session:

When we left off last week, we had inadvertently helped the villain by activating the evil magic altar.  Go us!  Today we began session 4 of our increasingly inaccurately named "one shot".  The big boss - an evil Naga - approached the party.

Khemed engaged her in conversation, offering to be her apprentice, while the rest of us reunited at the bottom of the pit.  The Naga asked Khemed to prove his loyalty by killing one of his allies.  

Meanwhile, Sylvester attempted to contact The Great Old One using an incantation.  He offered to devote his life to vanquishing his patron's enemy, Lolth.  He ended up summoning "Jubilex, the Faceless Lord", who took over his body.  

The Naga engaged Jubilex, so they fought one-on-one for a while.  Khemed focused his attacks on our ally Germonme'.  Sylvester cast Tasha's Hideous Laughter on Khemed to keep him from casting more spells.

One of the treasures we picked up last session was a musical instrument that Vanya used to cast Call Lightning on the Naga.  Jubilex cast a Hold spell on the Naga.  Neven went down a couple of times in the battle, and Azul rushed to protect him.  Khemed summoned an Allosaurus, using an item from earlier in the campaign.

Jubilex dealt the killing blow on the Naga, but we weren't out of the woods yet.  Azul picked up Neven's unconscious body and fled towards the exit.  The summoned Allosaurus downed Germonme', then charged Jubilex.  It wasn't able to damage the demon, however.

While the rest of us were fleeing, Neven decided to stay behind to destroy the altar.  Jubilex finished off the Allosaurus, and headed toward the altar to claim it for himself.  Neven dove into the pit, smashing both himself and the altar upon landing.

There was a flash of light, and Jubilex was dispelled.  The dungeon started to collapse, and the survivors fled through the tunnels.  Azul, Khemed, and Vanya made it back to the ship and set sail.  

Sylvester and Neven will be remembered fondly.

2700 XP for the survivors.