Fear and Horror Emanate from Haunted Traps in 5E D&D with Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
Salutations, nerds! Today I’m going to be taking a closer look at the Haunted Traps section of Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Long story short, normal traps were put in place on purpose by a person for a reason. Haunted traps by contrast aren’t set with purpose and instead manifest like a stain. This is a recurrent theme in a lot of horror works, it turns out, and now it’s represented in 5E D&D too.
Experience the Horror Firsthand with Survivors in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft offers a menagerie of tools to help Dungeon Masters and players of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons sink their teeth into genres of horror. We’ve already written about preparing horror games, running horror games with atmosphere and pacing to enhance the experience of your 5E D&D group. However, if you really want to sell the horror flavor and show players how grim and unforgiving the world can be then Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft suggests the use of survivors.
Top 10 5E D&D Homebrew Transmutation Spells by a Factor of Three
You thought this week would be conjuration spells didn’t you? Those who follow along each week might notice my penchant for following alphabetical order so I’m mixing it up this week to check out what rose to the top when it comes to homebrew transmutation spells for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted snuck a look at homebrew Roguish Archetypes for 5E D&D from D&D Beyond. We get a kick out of checking out the 5E D&D content folks come up with and sharing their homebrew creations. (There’s lots of these posts whether for homebrew subclasses, magic items, spells, feats and more floating around for the curious.) Incidentally our upcoming July rewards include a bunch of new spells we created ourselves and several of them are transmutation spells so changing the properties of creatures, objects or environments is already on my mind. There’s currently over 10,180 of them at DDB, which I believe may be the highest number of anything I’ve looked at here before. So let’s get into it.
Dark Gifts Await 5E D&D’s Haunted Heroes with Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
The Mists of Ravenloft swallow adventurers from across the multiverse to pit them against whatever horrors the Dark Powers conjure. Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft describes these Domains of Dread and the Darklords who both rule them and remain imprisoned by their own nightmare realms. The fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Haunted Heroes facing such horrors can gain an edge though. Whether their origins lie in the same tales of terror or the Dark Powers of Ravenloft grant a Dark Gift these 5E D&D characters forge ties to the grim and haunted domains and gain a double-edged connection to these genres of horror. Let’s get into it.
Transform your 5E D&D Characters Through Lineages from Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
Salutations, nerds! Today I’m looking at the Lineages for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons found in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. I’ve got a player in a weekly game I’m in who went with one of these lineages for their character. They didn’t tell any of us up front so we played several sessions assuming the character was human until he opened his entire head and bit a minion’s face off. I can already tell this is going to be a fun one.
Manage Fear and Stress in 5E D&D with Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft brings the trappings of horror to your fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons games. To aid Dungeon Masters with running horror with their own groups the book offers a step-by-step walkthrough of how to run a 5E D&D horror game. Thus far, we’ve talked about preparing for a horror game and running a horror game with atmosphere and skillful pacing using the steps in Van Ricthen’s Guide to Ravenloft as a framework. But what about after the horror is over? Fear and stress are staples of the horror genre. They’re the proverbial nuts and bolts of how it works. Experiencing fear and stress can leave players… well, stressed and fearful. Thankfully, Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft offers some advice for this as well.
Top 10 5E D&D Homebrew Abjuration Spells by a Factor of Three
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted sneak a look at homebrew Roguish Archetypes for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons from D&D Beyond. We get a kick out of checking out the 5E D&D content folks come up with and sharing their homebrew creations. (There’s lots of these posts whether for homebrew subclasses, magic items, spells, feats and more floating around for the curious.) This time around discrete magical effects — single shapings of the magical energies suffusing the multiverse into specific, limited expressions — get the spotlight when I check out out the Top 10 homebrew abjuration spells for 5E D&D. There’s currently over 5,560 homebrew of them so let’s get into it.
Creating a Darklord to Terrorize 5E D&D with Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
Salutations, nerds! We’re elbows deep in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft and today I’m going to create a Dark Lord for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, by which I mean going over this section of the book and also following the instructions to do so because it sounds like a lot of fun to me.
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft Reveals Other Domains of Dread from The Land of Mists
I enjoy the way each fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons book leans into the modular nature of the game in different ways. Aside from satisfying fans of the classic D&D horror fantasy setting Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft terrifically illustrates how a core chunk of material can fuel innumerable content for games. The other Domains of Dread presented in the book focus a dark lens on the core of 5E D&D for all the tools a Dungeon Master needs to unleash the horrors of Ravenloft. Let’s get into it.
Become the Monster as The Undead Warlock from Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted venture into the Domains of Dread and play with dead things like The Undead from Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. This Otherworldly Patron for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons slowly transforms a warlock into a form best suited to carry out the will of their ancient undead benefactor. Let’s get into it.
Top 10 5E D&D Homebrew Arcane Traditions by a Factor of Three
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted explore homebrew feats for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons from D&D Beyond. We have a lot of fun checking out the 5E D&D content folks come up with and sharing their homebrew creations. (There’s lots of these posts whether for homebrew subclasses, magic items, spells, feats and more floating around for the curious.) This time around I’m peering into the subtle weave of magic that permeates the cosmos to check out the most scholarly class in 5E D&D — the wizard — and checking out the Top 10 homebrew Arcane Traditions. There’s currently over 1,500 homebrew of them so let’s get into it.
Discover Your 5E D&D Character’s Horror Background with Van Richten’s Guide Backgrounds
Salutations, nerds! Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft sets up backgrounds a little bit differently from other fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons books. There are two in particular with suggested characteristics but as far as background features go there’s a list of those you can use for pretty much any other set. I like this. As someone who generally uses custom backgrounds anyway simply having the background feature to choose from is cutting out the middle man so to speak. Let’s take a look at what Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft reveals about backgrounds in this 5E D&D horror campaign setting.
Channel Tales from Beyond as a College of Spirits Bard from Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted enter the Domains of Dread and explore the College of Spirits from Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. This Bard College for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons uses occult trappings to conjure spirits straight from the legends and spooky stories they collect during their adventures. Let’s get into it.
Running Horror with Atmosphere and Accessibility in 5E D&D with Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft is Wizards of the Coast’s newest setting book for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons and it’s arguably the best release we’ve had so far. Much how Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything officially sanctioned many flavor customizations Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft contains several sections empowering Dungeon Masters and players to make 5E D&D their own. Among these options chapter 4’s Running Horror Games section provides guidance for preparation, during the session and afterward. This horror guide was phenomenal and easily makes the book worth picking up. I loved this section so much I made a whole video about how Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft completely changed how I run D&D forever.
Newest 5E D&D Unearthed Arcana Teases Curriculum of Chaos with Mages of Strixhaven
You won’t have to wait until Nov. 16, 2021 to study Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. The latest Unearthed Arcana 2021 — Mages of Strixhaven gives a peek at the syllabus of the wondrous magic university Strixhaven. The just announced book is a new 5E D&D crossover with Magic: The Gathering via the very popular expansion set from earlier this year. The opening to the Mages of Strixhaven Unearthed Arcana makes no illusions this playtest material is something special and they ain’t kidding. Let’s get into it.
