Ravenloft

If you watched the last D&D Direct all the way to the very end, you would have seen a tantalizing hint in amongst the upcoming books for 2023 and 2024 -- Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins couldn't help but mention the return of Vecna, one of the D&D franchise's most iconic villains.

TSR, Inc introduced the world to Count Strahd von Zarovich in 1983 in the module Ravenloft, a Dungeons and Dragons spin on the famous Dracula legend, and he has remained a villainous favorite of players and Dungeon Masters ever since.

The latest sourcebook for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition has arrived, and if you're looking for a ruleset to finally populate your campaign with rainbow elementals and playable unicorns, then Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft is most definitely not it.

Set in a land of gothic horror best known as the land of Count Strahd von Zarovich, Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft (VRG) is the latest D&D campaign sourcebook — and we'll all have the opportunity to build our own horror-filled campaigns when the book is released in May. VRG provides dungeon masters and their players numerous opportunities to get their scare on as each of the 30 Domains of Dread in the setting have their own theme, villains, and allies.

The typical RPG campaign is an action adventure fantasy story, but the main difference between action adventure fantasy and horror is in the relationship of the player characters to the threats they face.