Ravenloft

Ravenloft is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop RPG. It is an alternate time-space existence known as a pocket dimension or demiplane, called the Demiplane of Dread, which consists of a collection of land pieces called "domains", brought together by a mysterious force known only as the Dark Powers.
==Canon==
Each domain is tailored to and mystically ruled by a being called a Darklord who is forever trapped and surrounded by magical mists surrounding the domain. Strahd von Zarovich, a vampire in the original AD&D Ravenloft I6 module 1983, became the first Darklord, both ruler and prisoner of his own personal domain of Barovia. How Count von Zarovich became the darklord of Barovia was detailed in the novel, I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire. As originally established in the Ravenloft: Realm of Terror boxed set known as "the Black Box" released in 1990, The Ravenloft campaign setting was located in the Ethereal Plane. 
As a physical manifestation of that plane, lands, monsters and even people were created out of the mysterious mists, and the realm acted as a prison where one could enter or be transported, but means of escape were few. 
Other Ravenloft Domains and Darklords were eventually added in various AD&D 2nd edition (and then later in 3rd edition) products establishing a core continent attached around Barovia which could be traveled to by others if their respective lords allowed entering or leaving their borders; while some Domains remained isolated in the mists and were referred to as Islands.
=== Creative origins ===
In 1978, Tracy and Laura Hickman wrote adventures that would eventually be published as the Dungeons & Dragons modules Pharaoh and Ravenloft. Strahd von Zarovich was created by the Hickmans "after Tracy returned home from a disappointing session of D&D. Back in First Edition, the game was less of a storytelling game. [...] It didn't make sense to [Tracy] why a creature like a vampire was just sitting around in a random dungeon with oozes, goblins, and zombies. So he and his wife set out to create a vampire villain with fleshed-out motivations and history". When the Hickmans began work on Ravenloft, they felt the vampire archetype had become overused, trite, and mundane, and decided to create a frightening version of the creature for the module. They play-tested it with a group of players every Halloween for five yearsVarney, Allen (August 1998). "Profiles: Tracy Hickman". Dragon. Wizards of the Coast (250): 120. on their own game system with the adventure titled Vampyr. However, the Hickmans kept being asked about their "Ravenloft game", and so the Ravenloft "name stuck. The duo eventually caught the attention of D&D's original publishers. They were hired to adapt it into the First Edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and it was released as Module I6: Ravenloft" in 1983 by TSR.
===Fictional setting===
Ravenloft is primarily a Gothic horror setting. Dungeon Masters are encouraged to use scenes that build apprehension and fear, culminating in the eventual face-to-face meeting with the nameless evil. Characters have a much greater significance attached to their acts, especially if they are morally impure, as they risk coming under the influence of the Dark Powers (through the game process called "dark powers checks") and gradually transforming themselves into figures of evil.
====The Dark Powers====
The Dark Powers are a malevolent force who control the Demiplane of Dread. Their exact nature and number are deliberately kept vague, allowing for plot development in accordance with the Gothic tradition of storytelling – where the heroes are frequently outclassed and outnumbered by unknowable evil forces beyond their control.
The Dark Powers most frequently serve as a plot device for Ravenloft, especially concerning the Darklords, the de facto visible rulers of the Ravenloft Demiplane. Where the player characters are often tormented and opposed by the Darklords, the Darklords are themselves tormented and opposed by the Dark Powers. Of course, the difference lies in order of power—while many D&D adventures focus on allowing a band of heroes to prevail over a Darklord (much as in the spirit of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula), no such victory over the Dark Powers seems possible, or even conceivable, for the Darklords. Vecna and Lord Soth "escaped" Ravenloft, but are the only two Darklords known to have done so; Vecna by attaining the status of Greater God (and thus becoming too powerful for the Dark Powers to contain) and Lord Soth by ignoring his domain and punishment, causing the Dark Powers to lose interest in imprisoning him, and agents of his former curse on the world of Krynn coming to collect him.
Most frequently, the Dark Powers make their wishes and intentions known through subtle manipulations of fate. Thus, Barovia's vampire lord Strahd von Zarovich's many attempts to win back his love, Tatyana, are doomed to failure, but the Dark Powers arrange such that he never truly loses hope. Each time, for example, Strahd's own actions may be partially culpable for his failure, and as such he may go through crippling self-recrimination, rather than cursing the gods solely and giving up. Most other Darklords have similar tales of frustration, kept all the more unbearable because the flicker of the possibility of success is never truly extinguished.
Not all Darklords acknowledge the Dark Powers directly, however. Strahd, for example, in his own memoirs, speaks only of a force known as Death, who mocks him with the voices of his family and former colleagues throughout his life. Vlad Drakov, the Darklord of Falkovnia whose military expeditions are doomed to constant failure, seems even to be totally oblivious to any non-mortal factors in his repeated defeats.
The Dark Powers also seem capable of non-evil manipulations. Although their machinations are often directly responsible for the misery of many of Ravenloft's inhabitants, they also appear to play a role as dispensers of justice. Some tales of innocents who have escaped Ravenloft for happier environs are attributed to the Dark Powers, who have judged a being worthy of reward and release from their misty domain.
The precise nature of the Dark Powers of Ravenloft is never explicitly described in the game material, with the exception of a few of the novels based on the setting, and even those are considered non-canon. In a sense, the Dark Powers are intended to be eternal unknowns, an array of mercurial, unforeseeable, and inscrutable wills whose motives and actions the player characters cannot hope to understand.
==Novels and comics==
A number of tie-in novels and comics were released, set in the Demiplane of Dread:
* Vampire of the Mists (September 1991), by Christie Golden
* Knight of the Black Rose (December 1991), by James Lowder
* Dance of the Dead (June 1992), by Christie Golden 
* Heart of Midnight (December 1992), by J. Robert KingKenson, Stephen (March 1999). "Profiles: J. Robert King". Dragon. Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast (257): 120.}
* Tapestry of Dark Souls (March 1993), by Elaine Bergstrom
* Carnival of Fear (July 1993), by J. Robert King
* I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire (September 1993), by P. N. Elrod
* The Enemy Within (February 1994), by Christie Golden
* Mordenheim (May 1994), by Chet Williamson
* Tales of Ravenloft (September 1994), Edited by Brian Thomsen
* Tower of Doom (November 1994), by Mark Anthony
* Baroness of Blood (March 1995), by Elaine Bergstrom
* Death of a Darklord (June 1995), by Laurell K. Hamilton
* Scholar of Decay (December 1995), by Tanya Huff
* King of the Dead (March 1996), by Gene DeWeese
* To Sleep with Evil (September 1996), by Andria Cardarelle
* Lord of the Necropolis (November 1997), by Gene DeWeese
* Shadowborn (March 1998), by Carrie Bebris and William Connors
* I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin (June 1998), by P. N. Elrod
* Spectre of the Black Rose (March 1999), by James Lowder and Voronica Whitney-Robinson
* Before I Wake, by Ari Marmell (October 2007) A short story released for free on the Wotc website with the announcement of new novels in publication.
* Heaven's Bones (Dominion) (September 2008), by Samantha Henderson
* Mithras Court: A Novel of the Mists (Dominion) (November 2008), by David A. Page
* Black Crusade, by Ari Marmell released for free on the Wizards of the Coast website
*Dungeons and Dragons: Shadows of the Vampire]' (November 2016), written by Jim Zub, and illustrated by Max Dunbar and Nelson Daniel
*Dungeons & Dragons: Days of Endless Adventure (March 2020), written by Jim Zub, and illustrated by Max Dunbar, Sarah Stone, Nelson Daniel, and Netho Diaz
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Category:Dungeons & Dragons