Upon hearing the name "Ravenloft," most Dungeons & Dragons fans immediately think of Count Strahd Von Zarovich. However, there's so much more to Ravenloft than Strahd's iron-fisted rule over Barovia. Ravenloft was born from the minds of Tracy and Laura Hickman in the late 1970s when, during a D&D session, a pathetic excuse for a vampire was encountered in a dungeon.

Tracy Hickman thought that vampire was lacking in extravagance -- that it needed a grand castle and minions to carry out its every whim and motivations, the likes of which would terrify even the hardiest adventurers. Strahd was born from the Hickmans' conjoined imaginations, and from there this epic, Gothic Horror-style campaign setting evolved into something as grand as it is horrifying.

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The Demiplane of Dread

Also known as the Dread Domains or the Domains of Dread, the Demiplane of Dread is a pocket dimension located in a remote corner of the Shadowfell. This makes perfect sense considering the Shadowfell's dark and gloomy nature. It is impossible to tell just how large the Dread Domains are because no one has ever been able to successfully map them in their entirety. It is believed that a number of the domains were once parts of the Prime Material Plane that were ensnared by the mists and dragged into the Shadowfell.

Each Dread Domain is overseen by a Darklord, the most well-known example being Strahd's rule over Barovia. However, the Darklords are not the overarching power; they answer to higher, much darker forces, which are believed to have been responsible for the overall creation of the Dread Domains.

The Dark Powers

Not much is known about the Dark Powers, save that they rule over the Dread Domains from a mysterious vantage point that allows them to manipulate even the most powerful Darklords. Many of the Darklords are beholden to the Dark Powers, manipulated in ways even they can't see so that they continue to carry out their will and provide them with entertainment. For example, Strahd's obsessive love for Tatyana is inevitably doomed to eternal failure, but the Dark Powers continually provide him with enough incentive to continue pursuing it.

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Some Darklords ignore the Dark Powers entirely, though that hardly means they are immune to their influences. For example, Darklord Vlad Drakov of Falkovia is completely oblivious to the outside interference in the constant defeat of his numerous military campaigns, believing his failures to be little more than fate, while constantly encouraging him to keep fighting.

The Darklords

Each Dread Domain is overseen by a Darklord, a powerful figure of great evil whose deeds are so terrible they are generally beyond redemption. These Darklords garnered the attention of the Dark Powers with their actions, earning themselves an eternity's imprisonment within the Dread Domains. While that makes them sound like victims, nothing could be further from the truth. These villains revel in the power they are granted over their domain, often ruling with cruelty and malice the likes of which none who've served under them will ever forget.

The most well-known Darklord is Strahd, who made a pact with "Death," then murdered his brother, Sergei, the day he was to marry the beautiful Tatyana. Other Darklords include Vecna (who escaped when he became a god), Lord Soth, Vlad Drakov, Madame Radanavich, Baroness Ilsabet Obour and Tristen Apblanc.

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The Dreaded Mists

One of the most mysterious aspects of the Demiplanes of Dread are the strange mists that surround the entire plane. Ethereal in nature, there is nothing magical about them. They appear to be little more than normal fog -- but they are anything but normal. Few can navigate them successfully, and those who can should be regarded with suspicion.

The mists have been known to envelope unwary travelers and whisk them away to the Dread Domains. In some cases, they have even surrounded buildings, armies or entire towns that then mysteriously vanished from their location on the Prime Material Plane only to reappear in of the many Dread Domains. Many who become trapped there spend the rest of their days fighting the evil forces there while searching for a way to get back home.

Magic Works Differently There

There are many places in the Multiverse where magic is adversely affected by unexplained forces; the Demiplane of Dread is one of them. The Dark Powers watch over those they've drawn into their demiplane, and it is generally through their will alone that creatures are allowed to leave. That means spells like Plane Shift are more or less out of the question. Even if a magic-user could manage to fire one off, chances are it would simply drop them into an even more dangerous and horrifying region of the Dread Domains.

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Divination magic, like Scry, summoning spells or necromantic magic may not work at all. However, other types of magic, like the Vampiric Touch spell, could be greatly enhanced because it feeds right into the nature of the Domains to suck the life out of something to replenish one's own.

Superstition Is a Staple

Life in the Dread Domains is incredibly unpredictable, which has led to plenty of superstition and fear among their inhabitants. Many of them have witnessed an entire town simple disappear or know someone who knows a midwife who birthed a monster instead of a baby. Maybe they didn't see the monster baby firsthand, but they heard about it from a reliable source -- and there are enough of these mysterious and horrifying rumors going around to cause people to ward themselves against it happening to them and the ones they love.

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Trust No One

D&D Tavern

Hand in hand with superstition goes an unhealthy distrust for strangers. When a misplaced adventuring party stumbles into town, no one should expect the locals to welcome them with open arms. There might be a few old timers who might be willing to talk or lead the party to someone else who can, but they are likely considered wandering crazies to the other townspeople. One of the saddest parts about this distrust is that it doesn't just extend to strangers, but to pretty much everyone. There is likely no one in town who wouldn't sell out their best friend if it meant saving their son or daughter (or themselves) from the Darklord's wrath and torment.

Religion Is All but Forbidden

Death Domain Cleric raising the dead in Call to the Grave.

Divine magic is a rarity in the Dread Domains, and there are few Clerics who can actually summon the power they require to administer healing to the masses. Despite the abundant need for healing, most would regard such magic with suspicion and distrust. It isn't something they see often because religious practices are forbidden in many of the domains. Whether the Darklords forbid these practices out of fear, or the Dark Powers have somehow managed to block the light of divinity from penetrating the mist and shadows, one would be hard-pressed to find a temple where they could actually commune with their god.

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Humans Are the Predominant Race

A Fey Wanderer ranger in the Feywild DnD

Humans tend to be the predominant race in the Dread Domains, though that is not to say there are no elves, dwarves, halflings or others to be found at all. They just tend to be rarer, and no one knows why. Non-humans are so rare in some domains that a human inhabitant could go their entire life without ever having met one. Of course, this amps up their suspicion and superstition even more when non-human travelers happen upon their towns. Many of them have never even heard of, much less seen, a Dragonborn or Tiefling, so the random appearance of one would definitely provoke reticence from the wary locals.

There Are Ravenloft Novels

count strahd von zarovich looming on his balcony in dnd

Back in the 1990s, TSR released a multitude of fiction novels, starting with Vampire of the Mists, exploring the Demiplane of Dread. Over 20 novels explored the many planes and the dreaded Darklords who oversaw them. There were three novels about Strahd Von Zarovich among them, detailing his backstory and his memoirs. There were also tales about Lord Soth, a riverboat dancer whose magical dance could potentially stop a zombie apocalypse and dreaded baroness' rise to power as a vampire of souls.

There were short story collections that explored the very darkness that is the Demiplane of Dread, drawing players and fans even more deeply into the Gothic-horror setting. One can only hope Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft will launch a whole new series of fiction books for fans to indulge in as they explore the Dread Domains in their campaigns.

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