Ravenloft - History

History

First published in 1983 as a stand alone Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventure module, I6:Ravenloft, was popular enough to spawn an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Gamebook and a 1986 sequel (I10: The House on Gryphon Hill). Ravenloft was launched as a full-fledged campaign setting in 1990, with the Realm of Terror boxed set, popularly known as the "Black Box". The campaign setting was revised twice during Second Edition — first as the Ravenloft Campaign Setting "Red Box", then as the Domains of Dread hardback. In 1994 Ravenloft spun off into sub-setting called Masque of the Red Death, set on Gothic Earth, an 1890s version of Earth where fantasy creatures exist only in the shadows of civilization. The Ravenloft line was cancelled by Wizards of the Coast after acquiring TSR. The "Black Box" won the Origins Award in 1991 for Best Graphic Presentation of a Roleplaying Game, Adventure, or Supplement of 1990.

TSR also published a series of novels set in Ravenloft. Each was typically focused on one of the darklords that inhabited the Ravenloft world, with several focusing on the figure of Count Strahd von Zarovich. Many of these early novels were by authors who would later receive wider fame as horror/dark fantasy authors. These authors have included Elaine Bergstrom, P. N. Elrod, Christie Golden and Laurel K. Hamilton.

Ravenloft was licensed to Arthaus Games for Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition and Dungeons and Dragons v.3.5 and published by White Wolf Game Studio through the Sword & Sorcery Studios imprint. Arthaus' license to the Ravenloft setting was allowed to revert to Wizards of the Coast on August 15, 2005, but Sword & Sorcery retained the right to continue to sell its back stock until June 2006. The timing of this reversion meant that the Ravenloft supplement Van Richten's Guide to the Mists did not see print; instead, it was released as a free download in late September 2005.

The campaign setting published by White Wolf introduced a number of alterations, many based on conflicts with existing Wizards of the Coast intellectual property. Lord Soth, a character created for the Dragonlance setting, was removed, and the island featuring the demi-god Vecna and his rival, Kas, was likewise excised due to the characters' origins in the Greyhawk setting, and any references to D&D pantheon gods have been replaced with Ravenloft-specific names (for example, Bane is referred to as "The Lawgiver").

In October 2006, Wizards of the Coast released Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, a hardcover version of the original 1st edition adventure updated for the Dungeons & Dragons version 3.5 rule set. The 2006 version includes maps from the original Ravenloft adventure, and new character generation options. Expedition to Castle Ravenloft is a stand-alone supplement set for any D&D worlds, and only requires the three core books for usage. This book is completely distinct from the Ravenloft of the Arthaus Games product line (and doesn't acknowledge it whatsoever).

In September 2008, it was announced on Wizard of the Coast's 'Digital Insider #6' that Ravenloft would be reintroduced to 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons in the October issue of the 'Dragon' online magazine. It was noted that it would be 'folded into the core ', implying that it would not be a campaign setting of its own, and instead become part of the canonical Dungeons & Dragons universe. In 2007, Wizards of the Coast announced the printing of two new Ravenloft novels for 2008, Black Crusade and The Sleep of Reason, fueling more speculations. A short story by Ari Marmell, "Before I Wake," based on the realms of Darkon, Lamordia and Bluetspur was released on October 31, 2007 on the Wizards of the Coast website as a special for Halloween and featured characters inspired by H.P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith .

The Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition supplement Manual of the Planes establishes that in the 4th Edition cosmology the Domains of Dread (and by extension the Ravenloft setting) are now located within the Shadowfell, a mirror-world of death and gloom lying adjacent to the mortal realm.