Ravenloft: The Horrors Within review

With this latest release from Wizards of the Coast, we journey back to the lands of Ravenloft and bring tales of Horror, Gothic Dread and Terror. This book is not just a Gothic Horror adventure against an Immortal Enemy; it allows the Games Master to explore dread and corruption to deliver tales that are deeply unsettling. It also allows the players to confront the darkest corners of the minds and souls……

The Horrors Within is not just an exploration of Ravenloft; it opens up the whole Demiplane of Dread. This book creates the mists and planes as a sentient environment that reacts to the actions of the Games Master and Players; it actively reshapes itself to mirror the guilt, trauma, and the failings of the party.

The theme of the book focuses on the game master to work on three distinctly themed pillars:

● The Illusion of Agency: Players are presented with choices where their outcomes can be compromised, changing the usual heroic power fantasy.
● The Erosion of Memory: The mists do not just hide the realms and landscapes, but actively change the character’s backstory, replacing heroic and cherished memories with dark, deep horrors.
● The Ever-Growing Corruption: The heroics of the characters will not shield them from tragedy but accelerate them towards it.

Playing in the realm of Ravenloft and the other demiplanes, tension will remain high, even when characters think they are safe. There are standard dungeon crawls and complex stories where the environment will react to the characters' choices. The Dark Lords that inhabit the world no longer sit brooding and plotting in their castle, but stalk the worlds in the shadows, whispers and broken promises.

What's in the book?

The contents of the book are covered in 5 Chapters and an Introduction to the horrors of Ravenloft.

● Chapter One: Character Options:- Rules for Haunted Characters, Seven newly updated Sub-classes, Four new backgrounds, Four new species, and new origin Feats and Dark Gifts
● Chapter Two: Domains of Ravenloft:- This chapter contains detailed descriptions and background on seventeen domains. Each Domain section covers background, locations with a map, detailed background on the Dark Lord that resides there, and the factions. Along with some adventure hooks for the Games Master.
● Chapter Three: Ravenloft Adventures:- Advice and rules for the Games Master to plan and run adventures in Ravenloft. This section gives a lot of help with setting the scene, creating campaigns for long-term adventuring, and rules for Haunted Bastions.
● Chapter Four: Creating Domains of Dread:- This chapter gives you rules and structure on how to create your own Darklords, Domains
● Chapter Five: Denizens of the Mist:- Not just a list of monsters and stats, but some great background, and advice on how to play them and use them to increase the terror and horror in your games.

What I like about the book

I love the writing style within the book, which feels like a project of love for the genre. From the introduction to the tarokka deck in the appendix, the gothic horror and dread are the common themes throughout. The writers make it very clear that this is not a realm of Heroic High Fantasy. There is fear, dread, and horror in every corner of the realms; it doesn’t matter if the party is awake or asleep, those dark moments will haunt the players.

The artwork direction is solid and not just a collection of vampires, ghouls and ghosts. But each realm is given its own flair and style, which gives a nice break but a familiar feel to the realms.

It is not an adventure or a campaign, which would have been easy to just upgrade the Ravenloft campaign to the new edition. But an in-depth look at the Dread Realms. There is a series of adventures throughout the book, starting at level two and running through each level to level sixteen. With some adaption the Games Master can run the adventures at different levels by either scaling down the threat or ramping it up.

What I don’t like

Running an adventure or a campaign will be a heavy workload for the Games = Master; there is a lot to keep track of during large encounters, from Hit Points to Shock Points, mutations, and monster compulsive behaviours.

Due to the focus on the slow fall of the heroes and the horrors and terrors that affect them, and this being so strong, it really does not lend itself to casual play or standard heroic adventures. Groups need to buy into the horrors and terrors that the Games Master and work with them to take the emotional and psychological journey.