> Ravenloft is a fundamentally magical realm, one that takes its name from its most infamous haunted location, the dreaded Castle Ravenloft in Barovia—home of the notorious Strahd von Zarovich. In this mysterious setting, the land, the passage of time, the tides, and every other reliable truth can shift unpredictably. Rather than being bound by proximity or politics, the lands of Ravenloft—also known as the Domains of Dread—are mist-bound islands drifting through the boundless gloom of the Shadowfell. Innumerable domains lie hidden within these supernatural mists, and of these secret realms, the most terrifying are those born of your nightmares and given grim life through your adventures. > Seven Secrets of Ravenloft > > Countless mysteries pervade the Domains of Dread, but these strange truths underpin the setting: > 1. Ravenloft Is Not a World. The lands and characters of Ravenloft don’t share a planet. Rather, the Domains of Dread consist of innumerable demiplanes hidden amid the Plane of Shadow. Mysterious Mists surround each of these island-realms. The bravest souls might creep from one domain to another, but doing so involves considerable danger, and many who enter the Mists are never seen again. > > 2. The Dark Powers Control All. Sinister entities known as the Dark Powers manipulate the Domains of Dread and all who dwell within. Immortal, unknowable, and omnipotent, the Dark Powers revel in sowing terror and subtly manipulating their captives over the course of generations. > > 3. Domains Imprison Darklords. Ravenloft’s demiplanes range in size from solitary structures to vast regions. These domains serve as the prisons of Darklords, villainous beings trapped and tormented by the Dark Powers. The specifics of each domain exist to ironically twist its Darklord’s desires, capturing them and their lands’ residents in cycles of dread and despair. > > 4. The Mists Encompass All. Supernatural haze suffuses the Domains of Dread. These are the Mists of Ravenloft, ominous fogs that gird each domain, rising and falling as the Dark Powers desire. Tales attribute ominous powers to the Mists, from cloaking monsters to causing entire villages to vanish. The Mists are not bound to Ravenloft and slip across the planes, potentially dragging anyone into the Domains of Dread. > > 5. Nowhere Is Safe. The Mists of Ravenloft are notorious for kidnapping innocent souls and trapping them within the Domains of Dread, but they also collect characters to participate in specific terrifying adventures. Ravenloft can claim a soul for one night of terror or for an inescapable nightmare, whichever suits the needs of your adventures. > > 6. Heroes Confront Horrors. Ravenloft is not a land of heroes. Few seek out danger in the Mists or challenge Darklords. Fear and forces within characters themselves—potentially in the form of rare lineages or Dark Gifts—threaten personal dooms. Yet those who face these terrors shine as lights amid the Mists, beacons to attract other heroes but also greater threats. > > 7. Only Fear Is Certain. The Domains of Dread provide malleable settings for any kind of horror adventure. As domains are unmoored from conventional reality, anything can happen within their borders. Normal people undergo terrifying transformations, whole villages disappear unnoticed, and the Mists bar every method of escaping a threat. Any surreal development you desire is also the will of the Dark Powers, assuring that the most terrifying possibilities come to pass. As a result, even the most familiar races, magic items, and monsters in the Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual have places in Ravenloft, but with twists that make them creepy or mysterious. > Ravenloft is a setting designed to bring nightmares to life—for characters, not for players > The Dark Powers don’t move in the shadows of Ravenloft; they are the shadows. They’re the Mists and the darkness. They’re the reason water manifests as rivers and stars appear in skies divorced from universes. They are the wardens that hold the Darklords prisoner. Ever-present and inscrutable, the Dark Powers are akin to gods in Ravenloft, but they are unknown to mortals and desire no worship. > Known throughout Ravenloft, the Mists are manifestations of the Dark Powers’ will. They divide, surround, and isolate every domain, creating fog-shrouded borders that imprison Darklords within their territories. The Mists slip through the Domains of Dread, rising to claim unwitting travelers or releasing terrors upon unsuspecting villagers. Most infamously, the Mists slither into other worlds to claim innocents, villains, or whole lands, dragging them back to become the newest prisoners of Ravenloft. > Darklords Are Evil. Each Darklord is the ultimate villain of a domain and the root of the suffering and terror that unfold there. > > Darklords Are Prisoners. Darklords cannot leave their domains. If a Darklord enters the Mists or uses another method to attempt an escape, the Dark Powers return them to their domain. Even death rarely allows a Darklord to escape their prison for long. > > Darklords Are Tormented. Every domain torments its Darklord in a poignant way tied ironically to their past crimes, failures, or unattainable ambitions. > > Darklords Influence Domains. Although Darklords hate their domains, they exert considerable control over them. This might be the influence of a governmental leader, the magic of a supernatural overlord, or a more fundamental connection. Most possess the ability to prevent others from leaving their domains (further explored in “The Nature of Ravenloft” in chapter 3). > > Darklords Vary in Threat. Darklords range from monstrous tyrants to depraved individuals who otherwise appear as ordinary people. A Darklord’s position and powers stem from their deeds, not their game statistics. While some Darklords are deadly or possess foul gifts from the Dark Powers, many pose little threat in battle. Their menace is the result of capabilities beyond physical prowess. > > Darklords Are Active. Darklords might brood over their failures, but nevertheless they relentlessly strive to achieve their ambitions. Their desperate struggles fuel their conflicts with characters. Liberally use Darklords in your adventures rather than saving them for distant climactic plots. > > Darklords Don’t Realize They’re Darklords. With a few exceptions, Darklords don’t realize they occupy a special place in the world. Their agendas, obsessions, and egotism distract them from focusing on the strangeness of the world and petty concerns such as eerie fog. > > Darklords Are Immortal. Darklords are casually immortal, many having no concept of how long they’ve lived, how many times they’ve died, or why they returned to life. Should a Darklord fall, the temporary defeat lasts until they’re restored by the Dark Powers. In their absence, those who sought to escape or supplant them seize their chance. > Dhampir > > Poised between the worlds of the living and the dead, dhampirs retain their grip on life yet are endlessly tested by vicious hungers. Their ties to the undead grant dhampirs a taste of a vampire’s deathless prowess in the form of increased speed, darkvision, and a life-draining bite. > Hexbloods are individuals infused with eldritch magic, fey energy, or mysterious witchcraft. Some who enter into bargains with hags gain their deepest wishes but eventually find themselves transformed. These changes evidence a hag’s influence: ears that split in forked points, skin in lurid shades, long hair that regrows if cut, and an irremovable living crown. Along with these marks, hexbloods manifest hag-like traits, such as darkvision and a variety of magical methods to beguile the senses and avoid the same. > One way hags create more of their kind is through the creation of hexbloods. Every hexblood exhibits features suggestive of the hag whose magic inspires their powers. This includes an unusual crown, often called an eldercross or a witch’s turn. This living, garland-like part of a hexblood’s body extends from their temples and wraps behind the head, serving as a visible mark of the bargain between hag and hexblood, a debt owed, or a change to come. > Death isn’t always the end. The reborn exemplify this, being individuals who have died yet, somehow, still live. Some reborn exhibit the scars of fatal ends, their ashen flesh or bloodless veins making it clear that they’ve been touched by death. Other reborn are marvels of magic or science, being stitched together from disparate beings or bearing mysterious minds in manufactured bodies. Whatever their origins, reborn know a new life and seek experiences and answers all their own > A character can select a Dark Gift from the “Dark Gifts Descriptions” section. This supernatural gift expresses both a mysterious power and insidious influence. > The offer of a Dark Gift might manifest in a dream, in a moment of frozen time, or when the character is alone. Typically, only one character is aware of a bargain, its terms, and whether or not it was accepted. > > The DM might have a mysterious force intervene and offer a Dark Gift whenever a desperate or thematic instance presents itself, such as in any of the following cases: > > A Darklord will negotiate with a party only if a character seals the deal by accepting their Dark Gift. > > Time stops while a character is on the brink of death. A mysterious voice offers to save the character’s life, but only if they accept its Dark Gift. > > An experiment or magical accident goes wrong. The DM allows a character to accept a Dark Gift or some other peril as a result. > > A character breaks a vow or suffers a curse (see chapter 4), gaining a Dark Gift as a result. > > A character touches a mysterious amber sarcophagus, and a force within entreats them to accept its influence in the form of a Dark Gift. > Bards of the College of Spirits seek tales with inherent power—be they legends, histories, or fictions—and bring their subjects to life. Using occult trappings, these bards conjure spiritual embodiments of powerful forces to change the world once more. Such spirits are capricious, though, and what a bard summons isn’t always entirely under their control. > Warlock: The Undead. You’ve made a pact with a deathless being, a creature that defies the cycle and life and death, forsaking its mortal shell so it might eternally pursue its unfathomable ambitions. For such beings, time and morality are fleeting things, the concerns of those for whom grains of sand still rush through life’s hourglass. Having once been mortal themselves, these ancient undead know firsthand the paths of ambition and the routes past the doors of death. They eagerly share this profane knowledge, along with other secrets, with those who work their will among the living. > Domains are mocking reflections of the evils they confine. Each has a purpose, being a prison designed to torture a deliberately chosen villain. To devise a Domain of Dread, you must first conceive its central antagonist and prisoner: its Darklord > Just as a Darklord is the inspiration for a domain, players’ characters can be a source of inspiration for a Darklord. Consider a Darklord a sinister reflections of those characters. If you explore this connection, have your players create characters then involve them in the process of creating a Darklord in the following ways: > > What to Reflect. Ask your players which of their characters’ personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws are their favorites. Request at least two favorites from each player. Write them down. If players have been playing characters for a while, ask them to rewrite these personal characteristics to reflect who their characters are now. > > Exaggerated Reflections. For each favored personal characteristic, imagine and write down a version twisted to its extreme. For example, transform “I idolize a particular hero of my faith, and constantly refer to that person’s deeds and example” into “I’m obsessed with a hero of my faith, and I must become exactly like them so I can take their place.” The more unreasonable, the better. > > Opposite Reflections. For each favored personal characteristic, imagine and write down its opposite—specifically, a version that compels characters into conflict. For example, transform “I idolize a particular hero of my faith, and constantly refer to that person’s deeds and example” into “I loathe a particular hero and their followers, and I will prove the hypocrisy of that person’s deeds and example.” The harsher, the better. > > Use these exaggerated and opposite reflections as inspirations for creating your Darklord. By basing your Darklord on intimate details drawn from the players’ characters, you create a feeling that the characters are trapped inside a collective nightmare. Through their interactions with a Darklord who mirrors them, characters discover how easily they could become the villains they face. > Where was the Darklord before the Mists took them? > Who was the Darklord’s family? > How was the Darklord’s family oppressed, oppressive, or both? > What was the Darklord’s childhood like? > Whom did the Darklord care about? > Who cared about the Darklord? > Who hurt the Darklord? > Whose respect or love did the Darklord crave? > What did the Darklord value? > Ideal. In one sentence, describe an ideal that the Darklord holds dear and that governs their greater actions. > Bond. In one sentence, describe a person, place, or object that the Darklord desires. Avoid a bond that is simply about power; power isn’t an end in itself—power is a means to obtain a bond. > Flaws. In one sentence, describe how the Darklord’s personality causes them to act against their own best interests, especially in their quest to win their bonds and desires. > Evil Acts. The Dark Powers consider an act to be evil if it is intentional, unnecessary, and successful, and most importantly, if it causes significant harm. Accidents, self-defense, deeds necessary for survival, and forced or coerced actions do not qualify. Early in the character’s creation, consider what evils your Darklord performed, and revisit these crimes as you develop the villain’s other details. > Those Harmed. The people the Darklord harmed need to feel real. Give them names. Imbue them with agency, and don’t define them as victims or props. The people who survived the Darklord’s evil might be part of a Darklord’s history or allies who join the players’ characters, or might hold the key to righting the Darklord’s wrongs. For each character, consider whether they were important to the Darklord and how that relationship changed. > Irredeemable. Once the Dark Powers take an evil person, that individual’s fate is sealed. Before the final corruption, a person can atone—but only if they take genuine responsibility, heal the harm caused, and reform to prevent future harm. Once an evildoer becomes a Darklord, it is far too late. Consider whether your Darklord had a chance to redeem themself and the decision that led to their current fate. > Consider these questions when creating your Darklord’s backstory: > > What was the first depraved act the Darklord chose to commit, and how did their ideal encourage them down this path? > Was the Darklord rewarded or celebrated for their evil? Did that reaction encourage greater crimes? Were these rewards earned or justified? > Did the Darklord repeat or escalate their wickedness to obtain something they selfishly desired? > Did the future Darklord realize that they were losing any hope of redemption, yet choose to commit other heinous acts in keeping with their flaw? > What evil act was so atrocious that the future Darklord’s friends and family rejected them? Did the Darklord think this was warranted or an unreasonable judgment? How did they react? > When and how did these acts attract the attention of the Dark Powers? > How did the Dark Powers use these acts to craft the perfect prison domain for the Darklord? > Consider the following reasons why a Darklord’s torment remains unignorable and central to a domain’s story: > Deathless Returns. Those who die in a domain return reincarnated, fated to repeat a version of their former lives. > Endless Cycles. The Darklord shepherds another individual down a path of corruption in hopes of crafting a successor or recreating someone they lost. Despite the Darklord’s perceived care and tutelage, the object of their attention never satisfies their expectations. > Last Gasp. An impending threat is on the cusp of overwhelming the Darklord and their domain. They can never look away as they are endlessly assaulted by cascading catastrophes, ever stemming from past choices. > Obstinate Ignorance. The Darklord is cursed to be unable to learn from past mistakes or perceive their own failings, though they’re convinced that this time will be different. > Shocking Reminders. The domain is drowning in symbolic reminders of the Darklord’s inadequacies. When symbolism is too subtle, the literal specters from the Darklord’s past return to haunt them. > Unpleasant Hope. The Darklord’s desire—commonly their bond—is present and obvious, but still unattainable. This instills hope in the Darklord that they are unable to deny, resist, or ignore. Furthermore, they are overcome by their desire’s presence, spurring them to act irrationally. > As you develop your domain, consider the culture and how it emerges from this tragic setting. > Adventures > Captive Audience. Determine some aspect of the domain or Darklord that captures the characters’ attention. How is this matter urgent and time-sensitive? What can the heroes learn that points them to larger threats or the Darklord’s past? How does this threat connect to the Darklord seeking their desires? Consider who might need the characters’ aid and might guide them to deeper mysteries. > Detail Key Locations. Briefly describe distinct locations suitable for adventure, where the heroes confront the Darklord’s threats. For inspiration, refer to the Setting and Adventure Sites tables in the “Genres of Horror” section later in this chapter or the “Supernatural Regions” section of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. > Supporting Cast. Consider what types of characters support the Darklord, exacerbate their threat, or oppose them. How do characters take the Darklord’s situation from bad to worse, whether as fanatical supporters or tragic victims? Write down three types of characters who are aligned with the Darklord and three who aren’t. Sketch out these characters broadly, perhaps noting only their professions or roles in adventures. You can expand on their details as your adventures take shape. > Entangling the Heroes. The Darklord might instantly sense visitors entering their domain, while the heroes have no reliable means of identifying the Darklord. Describe why the Darklord is interested in the characters. The Darklord Connections table provides examples of such connections. > Interactions with the Darklord. Imagine situations that allow the players’ characters and the Darklord to socialize without the encounter immediately spiraling into violence. For inspiration, consider the circumstances on the Darklord Interactions table. > Body horror as a genre examines a universal fear: our own failing anatomies. We rarely think about what goes on beneath our skin. We understand that the organs operate in harmony: the heart beats, the lungs pump air, and the gastrointestinal system labors to supply us with nutrients. But we don’t ponder the minutiae. Like whether embryonic parasites encyst in our brains, or what stage of cirrhosis we might be facing, or if tumors bloom deep in parts of ourselves we hope never to see. > > When creating adventures involving body horror, use this lack of awareness. Focus on the unpredictability of flesh. Pull from the knowledge that even seeming robust health might be an illusion, that we’re not sacred beasts, that we might be incubating fecund, hungry, or malicious parasites right now. > > In addition, consider the following genre tropes when creating your body horror domain: > > Physical transformations are common and might affect more than bodies. Objects, architecture, and the natural world might be anthropomorphized in terrifying ways. > Characters suffer aberrant or excessive growth, whether of organs, discordant appendages, or unnatural materials. > Though gore often takes center stage in body horror stories, it’s often a side effect of stories about fear of change, difference, mortality, physical harm, disease, or other fears. > Body horror doesn’t need to be messy. Swapping bodies, turning to stone, or even gaining one’s ideal form might all feature in this genre. > The genre has a history of portraying disability as monstrous. Be aware of those tropes and avoid them. > Cosmic horror revolves around the fear of personal insignificance. The genre is predicated on the idea of entities so vast and so genuinely beyond our comprehension that we cannot fathom their simplest motivations. To see them is to become lost in their magnitude and the evidence that we have never, will never, and could never matter to the cosmos at large. > > The genre deals with how alien forces might alter us, perverting our expectations and understanding of autonomy, debasing our minds, and separating us from what makes us human. Sometimes it is the result of a process we invite. Other times it simply happens, an accident of circumstance we can only hope to survive. > > However you spin it, this genre involves a loss of control, an absence of autonomy, and the sense of insignificance within an indifferent universe. > > In addition, consider the following genre tropes when creating your cosmic horror domain: > > There is no good or evil, no law or chaos. > Be vague. Cosmic horror emerges through imagination and the indescribable, not details. > At its best, cosmic horror makes characters feel gradually unmoored from their familiar reality. > Cosmic horror is about ineffable forces driven by motivations humans can’t understand. > Cults, forbidden books, and strange symbols form the cornerstones of cosmic horror. > The genre has a history of framing marginalized demographics as monstrous and stigmatizing mental illness. Be aware and avoid those tropes. > Dark fantasy is as much a genre of fantasy as it is a genre of horror. Generally, any tale featuring both supernatural elements and horror themes might be considered dark fantasy, whether it’s a fantasy story steeped in horror elements or an otherwise realistic world that features a supernatural terror. Dark fantasy refers to fantasy worlds where grim themes, nihilistic plots, or horrifying elements inform a fantasy tale. Evil dominates a dark fantasy setting, with depravity being commonplace and life holding little value. > > How dark you want to make your fantasy is up to you, but keep in mind the role of heroes and ensure places for light in your dark fantasy domain. If a domain holds no place for hope, there’s also little call for resistance and meaningful plots. > > In addition, consider the following genre tropes when creating your dark fantasy domain: > > Good does not always win. Evil individuals with great power and unopposed schemes might be the norm. > The lines between good and evil are blurred. Choices involve deciding which outcome is least bad. > Corruption and suspicion flourish among organizations and individuals. > Magic and magic items might be rarer or require a bargain or sacrifice to use. > Antiheroes are common—characters tainted by the world’s evil or those who refuse to be considered heroes. > Folk horror adventures involve traditions, beliefs, and perceptions that are passed down through generations and take terrifying twists. For those who ascribe to hidden traditions, sacrifices to strange gods or placations to lurking monsters are everyday events. For outsiders, though, these practices reveal the subjectivity of normalcy, societal truth, and taboos. > > Folk horror explores fears of isolation, superstition, paranoia, and lost truths. Seemingly idyllic communities, rural reclusiveness, forgotten traditions, and naturalistic cults all frequently feature in folk horror adventures, particularly as they contrast with what majorities consider the status quo. > > In folk horror tales, characters often discover that their beliefs aren’t as universally held as they assumed, and those beliefs provide no defense against those who reject them. In such stories, characters discover their perception of the way the world works is in the minority as those around them practice traditions beyond their understanding. Alternatively, characters might realize their own beliefs are lies as others reveal unsettling truths. > > Communities that ascribe to the traditions of folk horror stories are rarely tolerant of nonbelievers. Outsiders might be given a chance to adopt the community’s ways, but otherwise are considered heretics or corrupting elements. Assuredly, their ancient traditions have ways of excising blasphemers. > > Consider the following genre tropes when creating your folk horror domain: > > Strange and potentially dangerous traditions flourish in isolated or otherwise private communities. This might mean a rural village, a lost civilization, or cabal within a larger community. > A community’s surroundings often influence its beliefs. Their traditions might be naturalistic or relate to some sort of ancient lore. > Art, symbols, tools, celebrations, and other trappings of belief help make a community’s traditions more specific and eerie. > Community members typically hide their beliefs, whether physically obscuring them or by manipulating others in power. > Communities in folk horror stories often serve as a grim mirror of some aspect of accepted society. > Beliefs highlighted in folk horror stories might or might not be true. > Folk horror communities often have dramatic ways of using outsiders or purging nonbelievers. > Ghost stories number among the more psychologically elaborate genres of horror. Only through revealing tales of tragedy and past wrongs can heroes truly bring peace to forces that share their suffering with the living. > > Ghost stories touch on fundamental issues of human existence: the nature of the soul, the weighty fact of mortality, and the burden of ancestry and history. Spirits represent heavy-handed instruments of supernatural justice, plunging those responsible for their deaths into a living hell where they suffer for their sins. They also represent grief and the need for closure, lingering in a place until they bring about the completion of the work they hoped to accomplish in life. > > In addition, consider the following genre tropes when creating your haunted domain: > > All hauntings have a deep story, and the smallest details tell it. A simple locket or portrait might contain clues that explain a haunting. > Personal ties give ghost stories weight. Consider tying the heroes to spirits in ways they won’t predict, such as revealing that a phantasmal villain was a hero’s ancestor. > Heroes are pure-hearted or unsuspecting individuals whose resolve is shaken by the story’s events. Look for ways to test heroes’ psychology with your hauntings. > Heroes need agency—a way to put spirits to rest. Once the story is revealed, ensure the way to combat the haunting is clear. > Spirits are often evil, but they need not be. A spirit might appear to warn heroes of impending doom. > Gothic horror is about the terror within, not without. It shatters the illusion of humanity in a poignant way by holding a mirror up to us and saying: look at what we truly are, and look at what we pretend to be. Under that mask of civility, there is depravity. Under that thin veneer of society, there is wickedness. Under all the trappings of sophistication, are we not all predators or prey? Gothic horror shatters the lies we trick ourselves into believing and shows that we, not some distant entity, are and ever shall be the architects of our doom. The quest for perfection leads us to discover our own imperfection. Our quest for the divine leads us to believe we, ourselves, are gods. These are the themes that haunt stories of Gothic horror. > > Consider the following genre tropes when creating your gothic horror domain: > > Gothic stories include intense, even exaggerated, emotions. Romances, rivalries, and life-changing events are common in these adventures. > Atmosphere and a sense of dread are key to achieving a gothic feel. Set your story in an decrepit mansion, ruined cathedral, or other foreboding location. > Gothic heroes are often virtuous, deeply passionate, or courageous. Find ways for adventures to test characters’ beliefs and morality. > Gothic villains are unrepentantly evil, but this shouldn’t be immediately obvious. Drop hints about your villain’s awful secrets before revealing them fully. > Sacrifices feature prominently in gothic stories. Give characters heart-wrenching choices to make. > In disaster horror adventures, the world has fallen to ruin—or it’s getting there fast. The unthinkable has happened and, as a result, society is collapsing. In these tales, a monster or villain might be replaced by cascading catastrophes like those brought about by a meteor strike or volcanic eruption. Regardless of a hero’s power, the best-timed critical hit or the most powerful spell might not fix a city ruined by an earthquake or a world ravaged by plagues. > Adventures rooted in the occult detective genre straddle the line between fantasy, mystery, and horror. For the occult detective, solving paranormal mysteries is all part of the job. In these adventures, villains employ supernatural powers toward nefarious ends while characters act as detectives, interpreting events, learning patterns, deducing goals, and ultimately putting an end to the threat. investigation and cleverness take center stage in these adventures, though as in the noir stories that inspire the genre, there’s plenty of room for action. > Psychological horror stories create suspense by heightening or calling into question characters’ states of mind, emotions, and perceptions. They often highlight the difference between what characters think and how they behave. > > When creating adventures rooted in psychological horror, consider common fears and anxieties. These readily become metaphors for villains and monsters. Fear of being judged by one’s peers might manifest as a jury of nothics, while fear of change could be represented by a medusa that petrifies those who threaten her community’s status quo. > > Uncertainty, paranoia, and blurred lines between reality and fiction also shape psychological horror stories. In your adventures, this might take the form of unreliable information. Characters might experience a deadly encounter only to wake up at the end, not having previously realized they were asleep. Before undermining characters’ senses, though, make sure you know what’s driving these skewed perceptions and how characters might overcome them. The “Fear and Stress” section of chapter 4 provides options for dealing with the stress of adventuring. If some force is actively trying to cause stress for characters, this might lead to its own psychological horror adventure. > > Be aware that some classic psychological horror tales stigmatize mental illness. Work to avoid such tropes in your adventures as you consider the following questions: > > What are characters afraid of? Is a wizard afraid of losing their memory? Is a fighter afraid of growing old? Does a cleric fear their god is a lie? > If every monster is a stand-in for something people fear, what do your favorite monsters embody? Can your adventures accentuate that? > Why might a character think everyone around them is lying to them? Might this be paranoia, an actual conspiracy, or both? Who or what could pull the strings of such a plot? > How can the environment change to undermine characters’ sense of reality? The Mists already play into this, as could structures with no doors or stairs with no end, but what else might? Slasher horror > This brand of horror contends with relentless killers, which might be people or monsters. These adventures revel in grisly details, the suspense of an impending showdown with a powerful foe, and the fear that death waits right around the corner. > Who is the monster or slasher? How do they kill? What has made them infamous? > Why is a community defenseless against the killer? > In what shocking ways does the killer use its powers? > How does the killer avoid capture? Where does it hide from its pursuers? > Does the killer think it’s justified? Has the community wronged it in some way? > What characters in your story exist only to be victims? > What climactic event is sure to tempt the killer into the open? The Mists > The Dark Powers also grant Darklords limited ability to manipulate the Mists surrounding their domains, allowing most to open or close their domains’ borders to others on a whim. If a domain’s borders are closed, supernatural agitation is obvious to any who approach the Mists. This takes the form of roiling disturbances within the haze, menacing silhouettes, threatening sounds, or other activity themed to the Darklord or domain. Creatures that enter the Mists at this time, including flying creatures, are subject to the following effects: > > A creature that starts its turn in the Mists must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw or gain 1 level of exhaustion. This exhaustion can’t be removed while the creature is in the Mists. > No matter how far a creature travels in the Mists, or which direction it goes, it gets turned around so that it eventually ends up back in the domain it left. > The area within the Mists is heavily obscured (see the Player’s Handbook for details). ![[complications in traveling in mist.jpeg]] Mist talismans exist (sometimes sold by creepy carnival folk) that let players move more safely or directly through the mists. Everyone in a Domain of Dread is trapped (including the dark lord). Even spirits of dead people cannot leave; they must stay there until they are reincarnated, several decades later. A Domain of Dread is its own plane for the purpose of spells that distinguish between planes. ## The Domains ### Barovia - From the Curse of Strahd - Strahd is a vampire who fell in love with a woman named Tatyana, but Tatyana, instead of loving him back, loved his brother back instead. Strahd killed his brother, alienating Tatyana forever. - Strahd's main goal is to find Tatyana, but this time, win her love. ### Bluetspur - Mind flayers (illithids), with a god-brain as the dark lord. - There is a hive mind among the illithids ### Borca - There are two dark lords: Ivana Boritsi and Ivan Dilisnya - Ivana and Ivan are opposites: - Ivana worked hard for everything she has, but now hates it. Ivan was given everything and feels he was given nothing. - Ivana is eternally young, and constantly underestimated. Ivan is eternally old, but wants to be young-- he talks in a childlike voice. - Ivan relies on clockwork toys and a pram to help him get around ### The Carnival - Led by a woman named Isolde, but she's not the dark lord; her sword, Nepenthe, is. - The Carnival is a travelling Domain of Dread that can go to other domains as well. - Isolde is fey (eladrin), and there are many other fey creatures that travel alongside the carnival without being associated with it. - Isolde made an enemy of an archfey called Zybilna, who was impressed by Isolde enough to kill everyone Isolde loved and then seduce her. She jealously used Wish to keep Isolde with her, but Isolde inadvertently found her way out anyway. As punishment, Zybilna sends creatures to haunt Isolde and her carnival. - Isolde's motivation is to find The Caller, whom she knows killed her family and friends. She doesn't know it's Zybilna who caused the monster called The Caller to murder them. - The blade Nepenthe awakens an all-consuming anger in Isolde to find The Caller. Isolde is a prisoner. - Random thought: What if [[Sabine]] is, herself, enslaved by her own blade? ### Darkon -