Dungeons and Dragonsreleased its newest sourcebook recently.Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloftis a sort of follow-up to one ofDnD’smost popular adventures,Curse of Strahd. It’s more than 250 pages are packed with new horror-themed content for DMs and players alike. One of the elements that’s been reintroduced and expanded on are the Darklords. Powerful villains imprisoned within their own Domain of Dread, the Darklords serve as the main antagonist of new adventures built withVan Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft.
The newterror-filledVan Richten’s Guide to Ravenloftfocuses around adventures located in Domains of Dread that are created to imprison powerful villains called Darklords. The most famous example of a Darklord is Strahd himself, forever trapped in his realm of Barovia inCurse of Strahd. There are many different kinds of Darklords, and as such have been imprisoned for various reasons. However, as stated inRavenloft, they all have one feature in common and that is their irredeemable capacity for evil.
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What is a Darklord in Dungeons and Dragons?
The Darklords can take many shapes: Cursed humanoids like Strahd or Dr. Viktra Mordenheim are imprisoned in the Domains of Dread throughout the Shadowfell, right alongside monstrous aberrations like the God-Brain. InRavenlofteven one of its new monsterscan become so perversely evil to be trapped as a Darklord. This is because the ambiguous force that controls the Domains of Dread and selects new Darklords to imprison, the Dark Powers, do not discriminate in what creatures they decide deserve a place in the Shadowfell.
Darklords can simultaneously rule over, and be tormented by, the domain they inhabit. The mysterious Dark Powers craft each new Domain of Dread as a sort of twisted reflection of the Darklord. The purpose is to eternally torment the Darklords with goals out of reach, or things even more psychological. Its through this personalization that the Domains of Dread are able to be so individual in theme.Ravenloftemphasizes usage of different subgenres like cosmic or body horror. A villain pulled from a dark fantasy settingmore in line withDark Allianceis equally likely to be trapped by the Dark Powers as some kind of lower eldritch god akin to Oedon fromBloodborne.
The Darklords are also given limited powers over the Mists. The Mists serve to separate the domains from each other, capture new Darklords from the Material Plane, and produce the horrors that pervade each domain. Darklords have limited control over the Mists and can use them to harangue a party with various threats or limit the access to their Domain of Dread. A Darklord can choose to completely isolate their domain from the others, which can be auseful tool for DMs new toDnDto limit the scope of their adventure in a more subtle way.
Not every villainous character qualifies to be a Darklord. The mysterious whims of the Dark Powers target only some of the most vile creatures that exist. A Darklord’s evil acts were purposeful, continuously more depraved, and were given chances to be redeemed.Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloftwas created to inject horrordirectly intoDnDand the Darklords are a reflection of that aim. Regardless of which subgenre the adventure is created within, its Darklord serves an oppresively evil and unconventially powerful enemy sure to inspire dread at any tabletop.
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloftis available now in digital and physical formats.
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