Introduction: To begin with, I must say that Ravenloft has always been an interesting subject to me, although I have never had the opprotunity to immerse myself into the Demiplane of Dread. Nevertheless, the Gothic horror setting has always appealed to me in some shape or form, and I have found myself every once and awhile slipping into thoughts concerning Vampire: The Dark Ages campaigns which I would like to run. It came as no surprise when I discovered that White Wolf was licensing Ravenloft from WotC; in fact, it pleased me a great deal, because I knew that all of the changes that White Wolf might make would most likely be for the better.
Cover: Some might not like the cover. It is black. It has a black leathery look it it, as well as the appearance of being bound together by cast-iron bars. The gem in the center has the reflection of a vampire in it. All-in-all, it is very White Wolf, as well as very D&D.
Presentation: Or, perhaps I should say, prestation? Nevertheless, White Wolf knows how to write. They are clear, concise, and you can tell that they love literature. The first chapter gives you a brief history of Gothic literature, its basic format, and the last chapter gives you advice on how to run a game in the style of Gothic literature. (I always said that White Wolf publishes games for English and Literature majors). The book reads like a very strange mix of a D&D campaign setting book and a White Wolf core book. It has those wonderful vocabulary words that White Wolf fans have come to know and love, the flavor text at the start of every chapter, little quotes at the beginning of each new section, and even those DM only sections about running a game, its themes, and its messages (especially the idea of flawed heroes and villains). This may be the sort of setting that could ease White Wolf (or just Vampire) fans into the D&D system.
World Detail and Setting Background: The book isn't skimpy on detail, but it isn't incredible with it either. There are so many domains, they don't cover them in incredible levels of detail (not even the Core). They give each domain pretty much the same general treatment as every other one (except for a few island domains in the Nocturnal Sea and the Sea of Sorrows, which get lumped together for some odd reason). The detail on each domain is sparse, relating more to cultural and political information rather than geographic (the people wear this sort of garment and use that sort of money, but we don't know much about what the capital city is like). The book hints that a future supplement will detail the domains and their rulers much more. The races themselves are well-detailed, the gods are covered quite adequately, and you get a very good idea of what sorts of people live where and what sorts of equipment you can find in what country. It would also be very interesting to see such home-grown races like the Vistani, giogoto, and calibans used outside of Ravenloft in more medieval-style games (Dark Ages tech, Church dominated, illiteracy and plague rampant, Monty Python's Holy Grail sorta stuff).
Classes: Nothing new. Everything is the same. No new prestige classes. This actually disappointed me somewhat.
Feats: The feats in the book were actually very good. I thought they fit the context of the book very well. In fact. I would suggest them to be used outside of Ravenloft to liven (or darken) things up a bit, but that is up to individual DMs.
Mechanics: Each adaptation or change in the rules structure was a good one. It even made me consider whether to secretly have Power Checks in all of my games every once in a while to see what sort of attention the PCs acquire. Maybe they can get drawn into Ravenloft in a way that I had not even planned. Who knows. The rules for magic spells make a great deal of sense. The added rules and details for many of the monsters in the game are also well-thought-out and fit the setting very, very nicely.
Overall: This
book was an excellent buy for a darn good price. $30 isn't that bad
considering you get a campaign setting, rules changes, race details, feats,
DMing advice, and recommended reading for inspiration. If you are
even remotely interested in it, definitely give it a try.
