Dungeons and Dragons Lore: Ravenloft 

Great video AJ! I've been following your channel for a long time, and I've always wanted to see your coverage of Ravenloft. I also started a channel a short time ago, focusing only on Ravenloft's lore and secrets, with more specific videos about Dark Lords and domains. Its a bilingual channel with vidos in english an portuguese. Check it out, and lets talk about Ravenloft! ru-vid.com/show-UC0AYfSpzDhpyxU1T3rVW-CQ

Wow, you decided to do it, awesome! perfect timing AJ :)

First the Derro and now ravenloft awesome 😀 thanks

The Grand Conjunction and Destruction of Il Aluk would make Acerack weep in shame

“Don’t blame the rule book if you’re acting like a dick.” - The Sage AJ Pickett, 9/19/19

My group is supposed to start CoS next week and my DM already told me that I knew way too much about D&D lore and I that I should not look to anything ravenloft related in order not to break the immersion/surprise. Guess I'll have to watch this one later...

Ravenloft is lovely this time of year.

In the history of "Heck Yes", this is the greatest moment! I hope we get a lot more of these Ravenloft videos soon. :D

Been on a vampire kick recently, so I'm fully ready for more of these

It even swallowed a place from Dark Sun in the expansion called City by the Silt Sea.

All I can say is. About. Damn. Time. Been waiting for this forever thank you!

I really like this video, I'd love to see some Dragonlance or Al Qadim sometime!

Love the I6 Ravenloft Module. It is my favorite D&D Module. Strahd is my favorite D&D Villain. On my Channel, I did a Review of it.

Loved the perspective on character death at the intro

First D&D experience I ever played was Ravenloft. Still my most memorable campaign.

RAVENLOFT!!! my whole family is rasied with ravenloft based story being read to us as kids..... We are a unique family lol

Keep these videos coming please!!!

One of the greatest Ravenloft movies I've ever seen that does not mention or is about Ravenloft is Cemetary Man. It's a hard to find 90s epic but it's a masterpiece. The rules and horrors of Ravenloft are very present if you know what you're looking at. I HIGHLY reccomend it.

Nice! I'm gonna link this next time someone asks me what the heck is Ravenloft, it's a better explanation then I could provide.

Your evil AJ,evil as hell! Lol i used to hate Ravenloft due to being stuck there. Then i couldnt wait to get back! My Necromancers are pleased!

I always associated Ravenloft with Gothic castles, Vampire Lords, Werewolves, ghosts/specters and plenty of pit traps(spikes if things get spicy). Always best to bring a 10ft pole and plenty of lanterns because you never know what's lurking in the shadows of Count whats-his-name's castle.

Yes! I've been waiting to hear your take on the domains of dread.

I'm more of an Eberron fan, but Ravenloft always tickled my love of gothic horror. I never really looked too hard into the setting because I couldn't find a copy of the original source book.

Hell yeah AJ you always come out with some awesome stuff that I’m tempted to post them to my campaign. Plus I like the laugh at the end

I've always had a fondness for Strahd. I remember reading the Ravenloft Novels as a kid. For years I had no idea that it had anything to do with Dungeons and Dragons.

Ravenloft, starring the Demi-Plane of Dread: Come for the diverse challenges and curiosities. Stay because you are trapped until you are killed. Great video AJ. I'm one of those dinosaurs who remember when Ravenloft was just a huge adventuring module that was AD&D's answer to Dracula/Castlevania.

It's like the Hotel California - you can check out any time, but you can't ever leave.....

We completed the Curse of Ravenloft campaign; and by completed I mean we all now hate this place. The GM did a fantastic job of setting up the subtle but ever present hopelessness and futility of the land but still leaving just enough rope for us to hang ourselves. I love the fact that is seems to be actively growing and can't wait to see what the dark powers endgame might be (like another blood war, but with the celestial heavens and the powers of darkness (LIGHT vs. DARKNESS).

Dark Sun and Ravenloft are the two settings I've always wanted to play. :3

I feel I may listen to this many times over. Thank you, AJ.

I like ravenloft.the board game is affordable with tons of usable minis that I love including a dracolich unpainted

Honestly, I have such a ridiculously large backstock of character concepts that death has started feeling like a relief. Additionally, it is my personal opinion that (under a competent GM) a player death is earned- sometimes through valor, others through idiocy. This tends to make it a bit silly to complain about.

My favourite setting that truly got me embedded into dnd.

This was the realm where i snagged a couple of fire arms Colt 45 and a 45 APC semi auto as well as a .22 cal. derringer. My necromancer was really happy when he brought them back

Best Ravenloft video I have ever seen. You actually Acknowledge the existence of other domains then The first one. Also way to lay out how difficult play can be fun is refreshing, so many people now days think you can’t have fun unless your PC is a super hero. If I can ever finish my last drawing I’ll release a Ravenloft adventure that takes place in Teapest.

Look forward to some of the other videos on Ravenloft. Seems like a good place to sometimes throw in everything form the cliche type horror monsters to maybe even throwing in some Lovecraft Old ones. Maybe even some of the old ones could be part of the dark powers for all we know. It leaves it Vague enough that you can make the dark powers who or what ever you want.

Oh yes, Ravenloft is a fascinating setting. Plus way back when the Von Rickton Guides were one of the earliest books diving deep into really unique variants on Vampires, Ghosts, Mummies and more. One favorite aspect of lore for the handful of fiends trapped in Ravenloft is that their basically so evil that they create a 'ripple of reality' around themselves that's basically a sub plane their the lord of.

I loved this game and its spinoff of Masque of the Red Death. We played it at the time of the Black Rose when the death knight Lord Soth became a domain lord.

Ok so now I need to hear the story of WHY you got stabbed in the heart for asking for ninja weapons

Thank You Sage AJ, for the dark lore we are about to consume

Great job..thank u for covering this topic..i still remember when I first dmed a campaign in the 1990s..the fog crept in and everone got freaked out..great times

I can’t wait to play a campaign with this setting. Thanks AJ!

Interesting, perhaps instead of trying to escape, they should seek to heal the broken dark lords. Perhaps a drider cleric of the life and light domains as the sun dispels the mist and webs catch on fire all too quickly. Who better to outsmart the web than the spider herself?

Poetic justice is well-deserved for the domain lords. It is the denizens of Ravenloft that have to bear the brunt of living in that demi-plane.

Best video of the year. Cannot wait for more!

i read some novels from ravenloft and i wish they would make a vampire movie like raven loft vampires

I just saw the titel of the video and in my head a mighty and booming voice calld out "HE CAVED IN" xD btw nice video :)

Can we get some love for Krynn and Lord Soth?

More great work as usual A.J.... I recently watched the Lore video you made about the history of Eberron and would love to see more because Wizards is set to release their 5e expansion on Eberron in November. Thank you for considering this topic!

I'm running my first session of Curse of Strahd tomorrow. Thank you!

Love this for the Halloween season!!

In a "How to D&D" video, I mention that the "Curse of Strahd" campaign book is called that not because of old Dracula movies (Curse of Dracula, Curse of the Vampire), where Dracula is a curse upon the mountain town he lives near, but because Strahd himself is cursed to always remain in Barovia. He can't escape. He and the land are One. As long as Barovia exists, Strahd is a prisoner. A super-strong, super-smart, magic-wielding prisoner, but a prisoner nonetheless. He is not a sympathetic character, though, he's an absolute asshole.

Hits Like in 54 seconds.

I want to run a dnd campaign ware the players are trapped in the Domains Of Dread and every time they die they appear in another domain (often revisiting previous domains) until they're able to escape, solve the core problem of the domain in question, or become numb and accept the nightmare like so many others trapped in there with them, content to merely find what little solace there is in the barely stable villages and towns inside the domains. Although I've only got plans for about 4-6 domains so far and I'm terrible with names so I just usually just use titles: The necropolis, a land ruled by a powerful curse that ware all who die rise again as an undead, and even the corpses of adjacent domains mysteriously vanish and appear here to join the massive legions and constructs of the dead. The endless blizzard, a frozen waist land ware the only thing more dangerous than the mysterious bests that tirelessly hunt the poor souls trapped within it, is the unforgiving weather itself. The shifting ruins, a subterranean domain of crumbled stone and ancient once grandiose architecture that is constantly being repaired and destroyed by two competing forces who both use tools crafted from petrified and broken victims. The city of whispers, a city of cramped buildings and narrow streets where mysterious voices constantly pester, tempt harass, and judge all who reside, enough to drive anyone insane. The hunting forest, a dense woodland full of blood thirsty predators, both man and beast. And a few other more vague ideas that the players shouldn't be in for more than a session or two. Like more obvious and dramatic perils where they spawn already inside the stomach of a great beast or an already sinking ship, or more depressing and quiet domains like a locked inescapable room built around a pit ware the only way out is to throw yourself into the pit and die.

YAY! The Demi-Plane of DREAD! Unleash the GOTHIC HORROR!!! I'm glad to see you are making this into a series going forward, as the Darklords are as detailed & varied as the Lords Of The Abyss, & Powers of the 9 Hells. I can also imagine some other denizens from other settings & non-D&D RPGs as being worthy of the mists, for example Peter Culliford CEO of Pentex Holdings in the Werewolf: The Apocalypse setting is already on the forced diet of human brains like a Mind Flayer without the tentacles, & clearly has mortgaged his soul to dark powers as he's well over 400 years old. Culliford uses his powers as the head of a major international corporation to poison the minds, bodies, & lands of all those around him, all the while wearing the face that looks like it could be anyone's kindly grandfather. I'm not sure what his torture would be or why he marched into being an avatar of evil in the world but in that setting he gladly burns the world for his infernal benefactors with the blessings of the system that make him very rich. One other character from another setting who betrayed their lover, & creator thus ended up warping herself into a dark reflection of her love has a backstory that could get her a personal Hell in Ravenloft is from In Nomine. I would nominate Princess Beleth for a personal Hell in Ravenloft, but as she's warped her own existence into a nightmare & become Princess of Nightmares herself in that setting, she'll just have to settle for the usual Hell, where she maintains a tower on the edge of the Dreamlands trying to drive all humanity into nightmares as she hates & blames mortals as much as herself. The Demon Princess of Nightmares is trapped forever in her own, & wants to force everyone into nightmares as well.

When the shadowfell has nightmares...It dreams of Ravenloft!

Honestly, this adventure is beyond good. It surprised me how much I like this. It has a small, claustrophobic feel. Gothic Dread. Ancient crypts, mausoleums, castles and graves. It's the setting where skeletons ride in from the haunted moor to clash with pitchforked peasants at the village edge. It's misty river embankments and haunted woods. It's the feeling of being lost on a wilderness trail. The beauty, and danger of a waterfall cascading down a mountain. Wolves howling in the far distance and that frison crawling up your neck as nightfall sweeps like a curtain over the valley and you realize you are alone in unfamiliar territory. It's vampires, werewolves, hags, and every other dark fairy tale your grandmother warned you about.

Is this a new series? "AJ Pickett's Domains of Dread"? You may suspect I sound hopeful. You would be correct

You are by far my favorite dnd lore content creator thank you so much for all the work you put in!

You can play Ravenloft anyway you want. It can be a meatgrinder or more story focused so that character death is more of a big deal when it happens or anywhere in between. All are valid options and equally fun.

Sometimes I come back to your old videos. ❤

Ravenloft 1.) Started playing Ravenloft as a teenager back in the early 1990's. In my early 20's from 1997 int the early 2000's my game shop and Ravenloft campaigns. Did a mini campaign of Count Strahd as a living warlord fighting invading barbariabs then his first 200 years as a vampire. We had All of the Ravenloft: Van Richten guides to the Vampire, werewolf, etc.. We modify the Bard Class with the DMG: " Create your own character class." So we could run vampires and werewolves like White Wolf World of Darkness: VtM. Also ran VtM: Dark Age setting in Ravenloft. Then D&D3.5e came out, so we redid the Story of," I, Strahd." with 3.5e multi-class rule system. We even thrown in " Nosgoth" Legacy of Kain" Soul Reaver as an enemy to Strahd. Thank you for posting.

John Milton, “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven..”

Thank you for this! :)

Absolutely into the horror setting! Great vid with great pics!

Ahhhhh thank you AJ! I'm currently running a Ravenloft Campaign. I had to make it clear to my players that this is a survival horror campaign. They're doing pretty well. Except that one person that walked off solo for awhile :D

YES YOU FINALLY DID IT, THE MADMAN! Happy to have helped you on the discord 😊

Soth is my fave!

Oh man I'd absolutely love to play a neutral evil necromancer in the ravenloft campaign who unlike the rest of his positively borish party is absolutely fascinated by it and furthermore feels right at home considering the entire region just radiates negative energy. I can just imagine to him it's like he's finally come home and as such no longer has to endure the uncomfortable presence of horrid things such as happiness and joy which everyone seems to always talk so highly of ugh.. Also I'm curious can a necromancer PC go through the process of Lichdom in ravenloft?

Ravenloft had some awesome ideas, but, 3/4ths of the lord were classic horror expy characters. Strahd/Dracula, Mordenheim/Frankenstein, Tristen Hiregaard & Malken/Jekyll & Hyde, D'polarno/Dorian Gray, all the way down to Maligno/Pinocchio.

Jumbles and sporadic is how I've learned about the d&d multiverse since I was 12. I can handle that. I would very much like to hear your thoughts on a few topics like home brew rules, high level characters, maybe even taking the levels past the books standard. I've heard of a module including a level 100 character in the booklet.

OH MY GOD! Have you people seen the Mexican Mole Lizard! Most adorable creature ever! True story check it out.

I love it! MORE PLEASE!!! I'd love to learn about the more obscure Lords of Dread. Also, it would be amazing to see you create your own demiplane of dread.

A horror nerd at heart, I have loved Ravenloft for loooong time. I used to play on the NWN1 Persistent World "Prisoners of the Mist" which is set in the Domain of Dread. It's a fantastic setting for fans of Gothic Horror and your coverage of it is well done and accurate. What I like the most about Ravenloft is how acts of heroism stand out all the more because of how doomed to failure they are; the Dark Powers will not allow their inmates the respite of defeat and annihilation but the PC's don't know this. It gives more meaning and pathos to the PC's actions than is generally allowed for in other campaign settings. That raging against the dying of the light, as it were.

AJ this is absolute TNT, can't wait for more!!

You magnificent fellow! I'm running an Acq Inc/Curse of Strahd game next week

Great video!! Looking forward to the follow ups! Also, I hope yoy will make a video on each domain/dark lord 😊

Fantasy Horror is the best sub-genre within Fantasy. Change my mind.

Ravenloft is my absolute favorite setting since I started playing tabletop RPGs back in '95, followed by Dark Sun and Al-Qadim (my first game ever took place in Al-Qadim). It's the only setting that I actually set out to own every possible sourcebook and boxed set for 2nd and 3rd Edition (not adventures, though); I even have each of the separate Van Richten guides as well as the anthologies. Looking forward to this series! :)

Love me some Ravenloft.

Thank you so much for this video! I'm really looking forward to more videos in this series especially with October right around the corner. THANK YOU from the bottom of my black heart.

Excited to learn more about Ravenloft! Curse of Strahd really goes into Barovia but the other lords and lands like Azalin sounds fascinating. Wonder what happened to the domains of Vecna and Kas when they got dumped there though.

Good video. As an old school Ravenloft guy, I was... concerned with the attention the setting has received recently, given the fate of other settings that have attracted the "new breed" as you called them. I have literally seen these individuals attempt to brigade those that disagree with the narrative that character death is literally a form of violence. Glad to see there are still sane people out here. Cheers. Also, way, way back in the day one of TSRs authors (can't recall which) did mention that the Tergs' real world analog were the late 15th through mid 16th century Ottoman Turks and their allies. Makes sense given the name and the parallels between Barovia and Wallachia.

Awesome,its like Castlevania D&D.

Aj... I was wondering if you could cover the tan'ari the klurichir???

Imagine being the ruler of a Dread Domain and not completely immoral and realizing that being a tyrant might be the only way to protect your people from an even worse fate.

Excellent Aj Pickett! You got actually better and it is lot more nicer to listen you, when you do not mumble! 5/5!

Watched all your video this one by far one of my favorites. Your videos have gotten me to DM again and ravenloft is my favorite setting. The scare factor is great but very hard too pull off. Hope too see more on this setting.

Loved the video and can't wait for more. I was actually thinking for the past few weeks to prepare a campaign to play with my daughter and nephew in Ravenloft (since Halloween is around the corner and all).

Geeking out on your awesome collection of Lore. Badass

Yep I played it thought it was cool. He had a living tower

I appreciate that you based it off of the 2e stuff including mentioning the year in the 800s instead of following WOTC's jumble of trying to redo the timeline.

Groooza Bakuda!

I've read the I Strahd series. Pretty much a demon gave him immortality and forced him to be locked in his country surrounded by mist. Every few centuries his lost love is reborn, and he woos her slowly, only to watch her die every single time. Around about the time she starts to love him. He's badass, but miserable. Azalyn the lich appeared in his realm, and now has his own country right next to Barovia. Then the death knight appeared, imagine how angry Strahd was when he awoke to discover soth had killed his red dragon that guarded him while he slept in the day time, by grabbing the dragon in a headlock, and punching it in its eye until it died. The dragon had breathed fire on death knight, yet he was immune to fire, having been created in the murder suicide burning of his own castle. After finding his elven wife eloping with another man, he was a paladin until that day.....interesting place for sure. Not boring at all. EDIT: Wouldn't it be interesting if Szasz Tam appeared also??? I probably misspelled it, but you know who I'm talking about.

When you get the time, I would love an in depth video on the Vistani. Thank you for all the amazing content!

It seems like the ravenloft backstory seems very much like the Dracula legend.

I loved this! Please keep it up!

Dungeons & Dragons Online has a Ravenloft setting you can enter, although you are not trapped there.

I had a tpk during this campaign, 2 out of 5 my players had to reroll their characters multiple times. Like , none of them were mad. In fact, they just love the story and trying to defeat strand. One of my players is going to run it this year for our Halloween theme sessions. cant wait to play it from a players perspective

hell yeah!