The upcoming Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft is just around the corner, with a release coming later in May! Wizards of the Coast have already sent out some advance copies, and many of these recipients have graciously shared some snippets. For example, we can now see the table of contents for the book!

In this post, I’ll talk through what we can expect to see once Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft hits the shelves later this month.

Character Options

The first chapter focuses on player-facing options for character creation. We see here that the College of Spirits bard subclass and the Undead patron warlock subclass make their appearances. Additionally, the dhampir, hexblood, and reborn character lineages are detailed here.

Additionally, players can read about “dark gifts” and horror characteristics they can add to their backgrounds. It seems like these can help connect your character to the Domains of Dread or otherwise add a horror flair to your backstory. The investigator and the haunted one backgrounds are also printed here. I’m also curious to see if the Horror Trinkets table is the same as the one that appeared in Curse of Strahd?

Domains of Dread

Over 15 different Domains of Dread are featured in the book, not counting the additional domains that are called out in a short section afterwards. There’s also an entire chapter dedicated to genres of horror and creating a custom Domain. Also featured are NPCs and NPC groups that may be able to appear in multiple Domains, including the Vistani, the Keepers of the Feather, Rudolph van Richten, the Weathermay-Foxgrove twins, and others.

Running Adventures

Aside from the content describing the Domains of Dread, there’s also guidance for running horror, including ways to run a spooky game without breaching any participants’ boundaries. Notably, there’s sections for preparing the game, running the game, and after the game. There’s also a new adventure included called the “House of Lament.”

Monsters

Near the back is a section of monsters. Some of these we’ve seen before in other books—like the wereraven and the star spawn—but many of these look new, like a swarm of scarabs, the bodytaker plant, and vampiric mind flayer.

I’m excited to dig into all this once the book comes out!