I have loved Ravenloft since I first purchased I6 from that little bookstore in Kennett, MO, all the way back in 1989.  When the original Black Box was released, I ordered it from Wargames West and devoured it.  The setting took on a life of its own amongst my players and we had epic campaigns in the Domains of Dread, our characters doing their best to fight back the darkness of some of the greatest villains in the history of the game.

Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons was, in my humble opinion, the pinnacle of the game.  And Ravenloft, as released for that edition, surpassed what came before.

Why?

Because Wizards of the Coast sublicensed the setting to Arthaus, who hired a number of fans (the self-titled “Kargatane”) to do the actual writing.  They loved the setting, and it showed.  So much so, in fact, that the return of the license to WotC was kind of a dark time for me.  The 3E book for Ravenloft that they released after taking the license back from Arthaus—Expedition to Castle Ravenloft—was a step backwards in quality . . . again, in my opinion.

I was one of many people who jumped ship during the 4th Edition era, as I felt the game was too much like a MMO played with paper.  I spent this time playing Pathfinder 1E.

And then 5th Edition was released, and I enthusiastically returned to Dungeons & Dragons.  I own all of the game mechanics books that have been released, to date.  The only adventure module that I own is Curse of Strahd (the original print).  Because . . . Ravenloft.

I have been dismayed by the woke direction that my beloved game has taken.  People who don’t even play the game have taken to social medial and done all that they could to change D&D into a liberal social experiment where the things that would have existed in a medieval fantasy setting are set aside to make the game more “modern”.  Alignments are losing their appeal and the concept of “Good vs. Evil” will soon follow suit.  In this sea of madness, Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft was released.

And it was a travesty.

The older editions instructed the DM on how to create fear in the game.  This new book actually cautions us to not make the game too scary.

Ugh.

On top of all of that, they made pointless changes.   Several darklords were gender-swapped.  Dr. Mordenheim is now a woman and the darklord of Lamordia and the “Adam” of the domain is Elise, who the doctor saved with an artificial heart.  Falkovnia is now ruled by Vladeska Drakov, and the theme of the realm has gone from a fascist ruler to a zombie apocalypse.

So, it was with great hope that I awaited the release of Van Richten’s Encyclopedia of Darklords and Domains, through the DM’s Guild by Mistfactor Press.  And boy, it was definitely worth the wait!

The massive undertaking is printed in two HUGE tomes and contains every domain that has ever been mentioned in any edition, including a couple that were only in novels and were never fleshed out in gaming material.  The result is around ONE HUNDRED fully-fleshed out realms.   Volume One is the Core, the primary continent of the setting, and some floating domains.  Volume Two is the Islands of Terror, Clusters, and the domains of the Masque of the Red Death Setting.

The first thing that I will note is that they have noted the wary of dark content in the entries.  Considering the material, this is understandable.  Torture, betrayal, murder,  and rape are all represented and the authors warn you of it ahead of time.  This isn’t the watered-down version that Wizards gave us. 

Each section gives a breakdown of the history of the realm, the political layout, and then the flora, fauna, and monsters.  Finally, we get the stats and bio of the darklord.  In some cases (Sithicus and Richemulot come to mind) we get stats for the current darklord and the previous one.

In most of the domains, we get an “analog” for the domain, which gives us a real-world inspiration or a literary inspiration for the realm.  This is missing from Valachan.  In most domains, we also get a paragraph or two giving examples of the themes of the adventures that should be played in that realm.  This is notably missing from Nidala in Volume Two.

Throughout the book, we get quotes from everything from the Holy Bible, to Alfred from Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight.  We also get quotes—in the darklord’s bio—from either the darklord, Rudolph Van Richten, or a generic npc who has encountered the darklord.

***A NOTE ABOUT THE QUOTES MENTIONED ABOVE***They go to a variety of sources for their quotes. As a Christian, I would be remiss to not mention that two of those quotes come from Anton LaVey and The Satanic Verses, respectively. Neither quote was intended to push a religious viewpoint (nor was the Holy Bible verse that they quoted). They were merely trying to fit the theme of the section.***

The maps are detailed, which is saying a great deal for a POD book.  There is very little pixelization.

The artwork is a mixed bag.  They have some original artwork, most of which is very good.  They also used some public domain stuff that fit the genre.  There were even some manipulated photographs that were used for some darklords.  My daughter—a self-taught Tudor historian—got a kick out of the fact that they used Hans Holbein’s painting of Henry VIII for Bluebeard.

The only really noticeable issue that I had was with typos.  There were some run-on sentences and some run-on words.  But they really didn’t detract from the overall experience.

Mistfactor Press, like the Kargatane of 3E, is a group of true fans of the setting.  And their love of the setting shines in these books.  This is what 5th Edition Ravenloft SHOULD have been.

Five Stars.