#guide to ravenloft

[fhtagn-and-tentacles]

CARRION STALKER

by Christopher Burdett

#tentacles #fhtagn #christopher burdett #dungeons and dragons #dnd #lovecraft #unspeakable horror #creature #monster #horror #eldritch #van richten #guide to ravenloft #monstrosity #fhtagnnn

[adam-sadmon]

So can we get a thread going of characters who are canoncially aromantic and/or asexual? Here I'll start us off, honestly I need more media to consume so this'll double as a reccomendations dump.

Jughead Jones from Archie Comics - Aromantic Asexual

Parvati Holcomb from Outer Worlds- Asexual Biromantic

Erasmus Van Richten from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft- Aromantic

#Aro #Aromantic #Ace #Asexual #Lgbt #Biromantic #Outer worlds #Parvati #Parvati Holcomb #Dnd #van richten's guide to ravenloft #Erasmus Van Richten #Curse of Strahd #Archie #Archie comics #Jughead #Jughead jones

[honourablejester]

5e Character Concept: Ravenloft Lovecraftian Dhampir

So a while back I had an idea for how to put a more lovecraftian spin on the dhampir, because Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft does give you some hunger and backstory options for dhampirs that aren’t your usual ‘bitten by a vampire’ or ‘half-breed child of a vampire’. Things like hungers for cerebral spine fluid and psychic energy, and origins like ‘a parasite lives inside you; you indulge its hunger’, ‘you are a diminished form of an otherworldly being; slaking your hunger hastens your renewal’, and ‘a radical experiment changed your body, making you reliant on others for vital fluids’. So. There’s carte blanche already to go lovecraftian here, and all I want to do is slightly reflavour the vampiric bite to be silvery feeding tendrils that lie along her jaw like scars and unfurl to dive into some poor saps ear canal to feed. You know. For fun.

But. VRGR also has several cosmic horror Domains of Dread, and one of them is Bluetspur. The mind flayer domain, whose Darklord is the God-Brain, an insane and mortal elder brain whose horrific experiments towards apotheosis resulted in its physical form rebelling against itself, giving it a slow, horrific wasting disease that it is desperately trying to fight. Which, fun. Bluetspur is completely inhospitable to human life, you won’t find characters from there. What you will find is characters who were abducted to there, experimented on, and thrown back without their memories if the experiments were unsatisfactory. Amnesiac characters with fragmented dreams of vast mountains under red suns, things moving inside their skin, and pallid tentacles wielding surgical instruments. You know, your standard alien abduction repressed memories.

And. Bluetspur is also the origin of vampiric mind flayers. Feral mind flayers infected with vampirism by the God-Brain, so that they can drain cerebral fluid from victims and return to be dissolved by the God-Brain along with their cargo to stave off its own degeneration and dementia. Hence the additional dhampir origins above. So. With that in mind …

Just while we’re here, I want to kit out a full Ravenloft lovecraftian dhampir, a survivor of the twisted experiments of Bluetspur. And, just because we’re going full Lovecraft here, I do think we’re going to go for Aberrant Sorcerer? Just to go full tentacle. But, also. Dhampir. Experiments that changed your body. Psychic infections from a mad, diseased God-Brain and its desperate servants. Aberrant fits pretty well? Our sorcery was not inborn, it absolutely came from massive physical and psychic trauma.

Do I want to go full partial ceremorphosis? Dhampir has the parasite option, and Aberrant Sorcerer also has ‘infected with mindflayer tadpole but transformation couldn’t complete’ as an origin option. And since I’m going full Ravenloft and giving her a Dark Gift as well, ‘Symbiotic Being’ is an option. But. I think I’d prefer ‘Gathered Whispers’ for the Dark Gift. Granted, that still has ‘an alien intelligence intrudes upon my thoughts’ or ‘a sibling I don’t have shares my body’ as spirit options, so it could still work. But I think …

I think she was an extremely flawed experiment. Instead of infecting a mind flayer with vampirism, or infecting a vampire with ceremorphosis, they were trying to do both at once, short-cut the process by infecting a human with both, and they sort of … cancelled each other out? Fully messed her up, rewrote her body, fucked up her mind to the point that Modify Memory was barely necessary, but she’s neither a mind flayer nor a vampire. There is no surviving tadpole. Instead, she’s a halfway thing, and the spirits of Gathered Whispers are the fragments, or ghosts, of so many unsuccessful experiments of Bluetspur. Some of them are mind flayers. (Maybe one of them is the ghost of the tadpole). Some of them were human. It’s all a mess, and so is she.

And then she was dumped back out into another Domain of Dread, or maybe just tossed into the Mists until she stumbled into whatever one was closest.

If I was playing her, obviously this would be whatever Domain the campaign is in. For this thought experiment, though, I think it would be really fun if she was spat back out into Lamordia? You know, the gothic, industrial, mad science, Frankenstein Domain? With all her fragmented memories of experimentation and bodily transformation, to land in a domain dominated by mutation, radiation, and bodily experimentation. Just to fully traumatise her, and also maybe to confuse her memories? Given that they’re so fragmentary, maybe she thinks her memories are of Lamordian experimentation, and it takes a good long while for her to realise that they’re from somewhere much further and more alien.

So. To pull all that pile of trauma together. Picture a tall, rangy, slightly wild-eyed woman, with a rather dark, healthy-looking complexion. Not vampiric pale. Tangled brown hair streaked with gray. Long, bony hands that shake slightly. Two thin, silvery scars, one on each side of her face, running along her jawbone. And if an enemy ever gets too close, well. Those scars unfurl. Twin tendrils, thin, silvery feeding tendrils, that dive into that enemy’s ears.

Is she Lamordian? Originally, I mean. Was she stolen from there? Do we want to give her a Germanic sort of name? Irma might be fun. It means whole, which is nicely cruel. Irma Hafner. Hafner means potter, from hafan, or vessel. Whole vessel. Or whole/great maker of vessels. Maybe the mind flayer who stole her way back when had a dark sense of humour. Heh.

I’m not sure on the background. Well, no. I do kind of want to take the Ruined background from The Book of Many Things again, mostly because it lets her take Tough at first level, which will be very handy since she’s built around Cha/Con for spells and her bite, and she’s a sorcerer and therefore has no hit points. It also gives her stealth and survival, which seem quite fitting for a wild amnesiac who wandered out of the mists with nothing but broken memories of being tortured. So, yes, her mechanical background is Ruined. As, well, she was. But I meant more … what’s her profession? What does she do? How is she trying to make her living right now. Is she just a wild beggar woman wandering around? (Has she met Elise?) Actually, that might not be a bad idea. Sorcerers don’t need much in the way of equipment. She’ll be using her bite and cantrips instead of weapons, and after that we can say she scrounged the makings of a component pouch and an explorer’s pack.

Sidenote: Bluetspur and Lamordia really do have a lot in common. Darklord Viktra’s desperation to defeat death and cure Elise’s wasting disease, the God-Brain’s desperation to defeat death and its own wasting disease. I bet Viktra would find the God-Brain fascinating. And it might, maybe, think her … useful. Heh.

But, yes. Mechanically. Irma is a Dhampir, and Aberrant Sorcerer, and Ruined. She has a dark gift, Gathered Whispers, which means she’s haunted by spirits, whispering voices, which will give her the Message cantrip, a reaction to add her proficiency to her AC for 1 attack if the opponent isn’t deaf, and some fun consequences whenever she rolls a 1. She’ll have 16 each in Charisma and Constitution, with probably Dexterity and Wisdom as her next highest, and Intelligence and Strength taking up the rear. Her vampiric bite has been reflavoured to feeding tendrils along her jaw, and she feeds on cerebral fluid. She’ll start out with a respectable 11 hit points, which is not bad on a sorcerer. Starting cantrips are Mind Sliver, Message, Mage Hand, Chill Touch, Prestidigitation and Minor Illusion. Starting spells are Arms of Hadar, Dissonant Whispers, Mage Armour and Sleep. She’s a beggar and a wild woman, and she has dark dreams and fractured memories of a strange red sun, and things pulling her apart to put her back together. And not much in the way of other memories, or at least not whole ones.

She is trying very hard to pretend to be sane and sort-of-normal. She is not succeeding very well. But, you know. She’d like some food, and some money, and she has this nagging impression that the worst has already happened to her, so she’s willing to brave a few terrors in pursuit of them. Just. Labs, laboratories, might be tricky for her. Medical procedures. Tentacles. Things like that. Heh.

Irma Hafner. A survivor of Bluetspur, a Ravenloft lovecraftian dhampir.

#character concepts #d&d #5e #sorcerers #dhampirs #ravenloft #bluetspur #lamordia #i do enjoy several of the domains of dread #van richten's guide to ravenloft

[lichromantic]

#van richten's guide to ravenloft #reborn lineage #tiefling #skeleton #gothic lolita

[oldschoolfrp]

Spectral undead have varied appearances and motivations, but all can be dangerous to mortals (Robin Wood, Ravenloft supplement Van Richten’s Guide to Ghosts, TSR, 1992)

#D&D #Dungeons & Dragons #Robin Wood #Ravenloft #ghost #undead #Van Richten's Guide to Ghosts #full moon #dnd #AD&D 2e #D&D 2e #fantasy castle #fantasy forest #Dungeons and Dragons #TSR

[y-rhywbeth2]

Because of all your interest in vampire lore I recommend you read Dracula as vampires in dnd/bg3 are really heavily inspired by it. For example, Dracula starts off the book by looking old and crusty with white/gray hair. Later on a character sees him after some time and is surprised he looks so much younger/healthy and specifically mentions Dracula having dark hair (since he's been feasting on people at this point). I think it's neat that the spawns in bg3 have white/gray hair and Cazador is the only one with dark hair since he's the only one eating people.

Thank you for the suggestion, but I already own the book. And obviously if you find that cool, headcanon it in.

That said, D&D vampirism doesn't change the appearance it freezes it in time (past red eyes and fangs, even then the eyes don't always go red), much like in another ttrpg; Vampire the Masquerade- it cannot change. Astarion, Dalyria, Violet and Yousen having silver/white hair is completely normal because that's a natural and common hair colour for elves and gnomes (not a sign of aging).

That's not the case for humans and most tieflings, and Leon, Aurelia and Petras (who has pale blond hair, not white) have normal hair colour.

#bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #astarion ancunin #astarion #astarion's siblings #If this post is formatted weirdly blame my phone #I don't know who wrote for WoD and Ravenloft #But I see you VtM influence in Van Richten's Guide to Vampires! #I see you!!

[afinickyguide]

episode 127: honey milk 🍯🥛🐝

#dnd #heroes feast #flavors of the multiverse #dnd cookbook #a finicky guide #a finicky guide to flavors of the multiverse #dnd cooking #dnd recipes #dungeons and dragons #recipe comic #dnd drinks #ttrpg #ttrpg drinks #ttrpg recipes #heroes feast cookbook #heroes feast 2 #heroes feast flavors of the multiverse #ravenloft #elixirs and ales #honey milk #three dice

[oneshotsfunshots]

Homebrew DnD One-Shot #5

#dnd #dnd homebrew #dnd one shot #dnd oneshot #5e #dnd murder mystery #dnd mystery #cw murder #cw death #dnd vampires #van richten's guide to ravenloft #curse of strahd

[thecatslug]

So your players really like Strahd: A Guide to Evil Aligned Ravenloft 😈

Whether you’re going into a Ravenloft or a homebrew CoS game, or are one of the many CoS DMs that’s found their players successfully romancing Strahd and now wanting to work with him? This little post is here to help. So without further ado, let’s look at my tips for running Strahd for the more morally ambiguous party.

The most divisive part of running any evil aligned game in DnD, regardless of setting is running the “villain” NPC as an ally. This is largely because even in 2022, DnD is still in a very “good versus evil” mindset. Sure, we kind of have a more nuanced version with the greater acceptance of antiheroes, but rarely do you see DMs chatting about how their party has sold their souls and work for a canon big bad they’re supposed to kill. As someone with experience running “evil aligned” TTRPGS like Vampire: The Masquerade, I’d like to shatter that mindset. The only differences with an evil aligned game are 1.) Insuring your party fully OOC understands that this is fucked up, and 2.) Running the “villain” protagonist.

Running Strahd as an ally/boss/lover/etc. can be daunting because DMs are usually scared of whitewashing how horrible he is, or somehow inadvertently “praising” his actions. If you are running Strahd only with the as-written 5e instructions for playing this villain, you will not get far- because 5e has only prepped you for running him as an antagonist! 5e is as guilty as its DMs when it comes to only jotting down the notes you NEED to run things as written. 5e is the equivalent of me jotting down how Sam Snorkel the goblin likes shanking people without taking the time to write up his tragic backstory, because the PCs will kill him in one shot any ways. When running Strahd as an ally/boss/lover, players are going to be getting to know him- meaning you’ve got to flesh out more nuance in your game. None of his past is clear cut good and evil- and the players will eventually grow to see that. The trick is maintaining the balance of players understanding his past actions without condoning them.

A perfect example of how to maintain this balance as a writer is to look at Billy Butcher from the Amazon prime series The Boys. Butcher is a sadistic, mildly psychopathic, man with anger issues and severe childhood trauma. In any other story he would likely be the villain, but our titular audience POV character, Hugh, is allied with him and never befriends this monster throughout the course of the show. The show walks the line of making Butcher sympathetic, yet not excusable, by drip feeding information about his past to the audience to explain his horrible actions. You don’t get the trauma dump in episode one, something that might make the audience ignore his faults. Instead you watch him take two steps forward and one step back. For every small glimpse into his tragic past you see the horrendously unhealthy repercussions of that past in the form of yet another sadistic or downright evil act. This, my friends, is the gold standard for running Strahd; Drip feeding his past as the party gets to know him, subtly showing how truly horrible his life was (something even he represses to an extent) through nuanced trauma responses or offhand stories about childhood abuse (you know, the ones every depressed person tells and suddenly the room goes quiet because apparently knowing someone’s mood by their footsteps isn’t normal). For every sorrowful revelation, there should be a horrifying realization, a sadistic action, a show of how corrupted he’s become. But more than just blandly info dumping or having some evil exposition, the trick is to make players UNDERSTAND how fucked up an action is/was. As I tell my party, it’s one thing to know Strahd killed Sergei, but it’s another to UNDERSTAND how horrible that is.

As an example from my game, my parties honestly were kinda on Strahd’s side when they found out he killed his little brother. All the PCs are older siblings or have had to deal with snotty little clerics and were sympathetic towards the desire to shank said snotty siblings or clerics. However, this callous mindset changed as they began to UNDERSTAND Strahd’s actions, as their simple knowledge of the event connected to the emotional gravity. I did this through several encounters with Sergei’s ghost and with several small encounters with Strahd himself. Knowing Strahd killed sergei was one thing, physically watching the light in Sergei’s ghost’s eyes die as his trust in his brother shattered- or seeing Strahd callously lash out at the disoriented and sobbing apparition- made them UNDERSTAND the emotional nuance and gravity to his actions. When is was said and done, the evil PCs are still in Strahd’s corner- but they recognize how horrible the situation is, and their relationship with Strahd has an added layer of tense nuance.

Billy Butcher from The Boys is a great guide for keeping your Strahd sympathetically inexcusable, but let’s look at how to actually PLAY Strahd as an ally. Because knowing and understanding his past is something even a traditional “good” party can do. It’s another thing entirely to play Strahd in the context of an ally. This, my dears, is where the mafia comes in. Shows like Peaky Blinders or Boardwalk Empire are great templates for playing Strahd as an allied villain. These shows teach us how to play villains that will torture, murder, and torment anyone who crosses them- while still making dinner for the family after a long day of crime. Players who go above and beyond to show their loyalty to Barovia and their competence as underlings will quickly find themselves in Strahd’s good graces. Keep this up, and they will find themselves gaining one of the most terrifying gifts in Ravenloft: Strahd’s loyalty. Like any outsider to gain standing with any crime family in the history of crime dramas, sometimes the adoration and loyalty of one’s benefactor is more of a curse than a blessing. Because once Strahd likes you, suddenly the person who stole your wallet has been exploded in front of you (out of love, of course). Strahd’s show of loyalty and care is twisted, sadistic, horrifying, and utterly untameable by the party. But scarier still is the prospect of shattering that loyalty. Because Strahd does not give his affection or loyalty easily, and sees it (rightly so) as one of the biggest boons in Ravenloft. Squandering that, double crossing him, or letting him down are great ways to make Strahd your party’s worst nightmare.

…But not their worst nightmare in the respects or a traditional game. No no no, Strahd is a very practical lawful evil villain who isn’t going to wholly throw away or kill a useful PC unless he absolutely has to. No, there’s fates worse than death when you’re Strahd’s friend or underling. Letting Strahd down, failing him on a mission, will result in a “we all make mistakes, don’t repeat them” and then a “this isn’t personal, just business” punishment. I’d like to think even Rahadin isn’t wholly exempt from Strahd’s military esque mindset when it comes to “business”. He loves his family and his friends, but it’s unfair to exempt them from repercussions when they fuck up on the job. While the severity may be toned down for people he cares about more, you’ll still see him strip privileges, remove “distractions”, or temporarily handicap or maim those who let him down. People who repeat a mistake, who “take advantage” of leniency, will quickly find themselves on his shit list- a position they’ll have to work hard to recover from. Of course, if someone’s usefulness begins to be outweighed by their mistakes… aha- then they’re fucked, though at least he might still give the mercy of a swift disposal.

Now that we’ve seen how he deals with the business side of a relationship- let’s take a look at how he deals with genuine betrayal. TL;dr: not well. Going behind his back or disobeying orders for a perceived “greater good” will result in a breaking of trust and pretty severe repercussions, but it’s something you can recover from- depending on the severity. The ONLY thing that’ll likely give an immediate ejection from “the family” is to backstab him. Now this can be anything from actually trying to fuck him over, to defecting to an enemy domain, to trying to use him to escape Barovia. Anything in this vein will result in the most drawn out and personal of torments, such as being buried alive or slowly peeled apart! Fun times.

Alright my dears, for the last bit of this rambling post, I want to give some tips for how to use these tools to make play exciting and tense. In a “normal” game, the tension is generally just in fighting the villain. In an evil aligned game, however, players are under far more pressure- and this is especially true when it comes to Strahd. Because not only do they have to worry about fighting off the game’s antagonistic forces (I.e. Strahd’s enemies), they have to worry about maintaining their relationship with Strahd. Because being Strahd’s friend is like being a warlock or even a cleric, in some respects. When it’s good? It’s amazing. When it’s bad? It’s really REALLY bad. Players are making the exchange of moral stability and relying on “good” for fanatical devotion, protection, power, and volatility when Strahd becomes a benefactor or ally. This duality and tension is the bread and butter of any Vampire: The Masquerade game, especially games focusing on the more brutal factions like the cultish found family of The Sabbat, or the mafia esque Giovanni. I HIGHLY recommend looking at the VtM 20th edition or Revised Edition (not V5, V5 is trash) rulebooks* or guides to either faction for some excellent ideas on running Strahd in the context of an evil game and/or as an ally.

(As always, thank you for reading this far! Feel free to comment, steal, disagree, etc. I’d like to note once again that EVERY rendition of CoS/Ravenloft and Strahd is valid! This is just my take on things, and a guide for more evil aligned games- so I’d ask for the same respect to be extended if you’re a more traditional black-and-white morality DM.)

*Note: If you’d like help “finding” these books, PM me. I’ll “point you” in the right direction.

#Catslug’s Guides #It’s ok to be evil (in DnD) #strahd #strahd von zarovich #ravenloft #curse of strahd #dungeons and dungeons #dungeon master #dnd guide

[smbhax]

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition - Ravenloft - Van Richten's Guide to Fiends

Cover painting by Scott Burdick

#adnd #2nd edition #advanced dungeons and dragons #dnd #ravenloft #van richten's guide to fiends #scott burdick #cover art #rpg #role playing game #game art #illustration #painting #tsr #dungeons and dragons #marilith #tabletop game #fantasy

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Ezmerelda's Guide to Ravenloft Cover Art by Bad Moon Art Studio

#Dungeons & Dragons #D&D #Ezmerelda's Guide to Ravenloft #Covers #Cover Art #Bad Moon Art Studio

[salmonandsoup]

other artists: draw viktor as a prettyboy angsty lad or an uppity little teenager

me: but what if we made him exhausted with sideburns and an elf

#curse of strahd #cos #d&d #dungeons and dragons #d&d 5e #victor vallakovich #viktor vallakovich #ravenloft #salmonandsoup #aka i use the tokens on roll20 as the guide for my veektor #i love everyone's interpretations tho i will say #i just laugh because mine is just. skrunkle for days #the mun draws #the mun digitally draws

[birdstooth]

Ok is it Strahd von ZA-ro-vich or Strahd von za-RO-vich

#strahd von zarovich #the curse of strahd #dnd #ravenloft #I was re-reading the official book/guide for the module or whatever and there is actually so much lore #ok also I Strahd is hilarious bc Tatyana isn’t really even it out that much and only comes in about half way from what I remember #I liked reading about the army stuff #And by reading I mean listening to the audiobook lol #I wish I could still play ddo bc I loved this expansion sm 😭

[sinister-surname]

So anyone else think about Victor Mordenheim becoming Viktra Mordenheim between 2nd and 5th edition and wanna canonise it by making Viktra trans?

#Viktra Mordenheim #Victor Mordenheim #Lamordia #Ravenloft #Domains of dread #Domain of dread #Dnd #D&D #Dungeons and dragons #Horror #Fantasy horror #Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft

[oldschoolfrp]

“Through windows set in the coach’s doors, I could see the grim passengers of this nightmarish wagon.  These were the damned.”  (Stephen Fabian, Ravenloft supplement Van Richten’s Guide to Ghosts, TSR, 1992)

#D&D #Dungeons & Dragons #Stephen Fabian #Ravenloft #skeleton #undead #Van Richten's Guide to Ghosts #skeletal horse #carriage #AD&D 2e #dnd #D&D 2e #Dungeons and Dragons #TSR

[artsyarcane]

Ravenloft headcanons:

Both Rudolph and Erasmus van Richten are really good at trick shots. (It’s a skill that comes in handy surprisingly often.)

Alanik had a habit of pacing the room while in deep thought. This habit resulted in wearing pathways in the floor. Being wheelchair bound did not stop this habit.

Ez has terrible taste in romantic partners.

The only things Strahd is still capable of feeling genuine affection for are his nightmare and the bats that hang out in his castle.

Azalin Rex is a giant troll and was allowed by the dark powers to escape Darkon because he only ever wants to fuck with people and doesn’t actually do anything truely “evil”… anymore.

Alanik gets super excited when people try to kill him. It’s his favorite part of working a case because it’s an indicator that he’s close to the truth. He’s always deeply disappointed when it doesn’t happen. Arthur is usually terrified by his excitement but has slowly become accustomed to it.

Erasmus (as a ghost) enjoys making his loved ones laugh and it always confuses the hell out of his father.

Erasmus has a suspiciously fey-like affinity with animals. When he was alive, he’d befriended a flock of ravens. He even kept one as a pet. A one-eyed “hell bird” named Hades who had a habit of biting Rudolph for no particular reason. After Erasmus died, Hades stayed with Rudolph for almost 20 years before dying of natural causes.

Rudolph makes dad jokes. He actually has a rather dry sense of humor and is surprisingly funny if you can get him to open up.

If Erasmus is resurrected, Gennifer and Laurie smother him with an almost embarrassing amount of affection though he isn’t shy about reminding them that their “little cousin” is roughly 20 years older than they are. They do not care.

When the detective duo first started their relationship, it was Alanik who made the first move (spurred by Erasmus), causing Ez to lose a bet with Rudolph. Later Arthur proposed using a puzzle box.

Ez and Erasmus both have a massive sweet tooth.

Arthur has in-depth conversations with the corpses he autopsies and sometimes even tries to involve Alanik in said conversations. Alanik finds this practice entirely bizarre but deeply insightful.

(Part 2)

#van richten's guide to ravenloft #erasmus van richten #rudolph van richten #ezmerelda d'avenir #azalin rex #strahd von zarovich #alanik ray #arthur sedgwick #dnd npcs #headcanon #d&d shenanigans #i’m just having fun