The Savage World of Ravenloft

270 Pages·2015·21.64 MB·English

Rules, Editing, and Additional Text: Jeremy “Blackwingedheaven” Puckett

Special Thanks: Nathan Okerlund (Annaes, the Drowning Deep, Victor Mordenheim and Adam), Eleanor “Isabella”
Ferron (Valacán), Matthew L. Martin (Bluetspur and the Illithid God-Brain)

Cover Art: Bruno Balixa

Interior Art: Bruno Balixa, C. Robert Brown, Luigi Castellani, Storn Cook, Gary Dupuis, Eleanor “Isabella” Ferron,
Earl Geier, Jeshields, David Lewis Johnson, Ian MacLean, Matt Morrow, Carlos NCT, Eric Quigley, Shaman’s
Stockart, Justin “Ryunnosuke” Yap, Kim Su Yeong, E.I. Vidal
Some of the art in this document is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5
or 3.0 License

Acknowledgements

This work includes sections inspired by the work of Ryan Naylor, Matthew L. Martin, Chris Nichols, Joel Paquin,
Eleanor “Isabella” Ferron, David Gibson, Nathan Okerlund, and John W. Mangrum.

Many thanks to the Fraternity of Shadows for their work in keeping Ravenloft alive(ish).
Yours in Shadow, fratus tuus in umbra.

And thanks as always to my lovely wife, Chisa,
without whom none of this would be any fun.

Version 0.9
Release date: November 10, 2015

Ravenloft® is a registered trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. This book does not represent a challenge
to any Wizards of the Coast-held trademarks. Wizards of the Coast is not officially affiliated with this book in any way.

This game references the Savage Worlds game system, available from Pinnacle Entertainment Group at
www.peginc.com. Savage Worlds and all associated logos and trademarks are copyrights of Pinnacle Entertainment
Group. Used with permission. Pinnacle makes no representation or warranty as to the quality, viability, or suitability
for purpose of this product.

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Introduction 5
Chapter 1: Character Creation 13
Chapter 2: Rules of the Night 25
Chapter 3: Gear and Equipment 47
Chapter 4: Magic of the Drea(cid:71) Realms 53
Chapter 5: Secrets of the Dread Realms 61
Chapter 6: Ravenloft Gazetteer 81
Chapter 7: Cabals and Societies 183
Chapter 8: Denizens of Dread 197
Chapter 9: The Doomed and the Damned 241

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Dread ever leave to tell the tale. Yet perhaps
Welcome to the Land of Mists…
you will soon learn for yourself, for tonight,

the Mists have come for you.
Beyond mortal senses, beyond reality,
Welcome to the Land of Mists—to the
there lurks a boundless plane. It permeates
crucible of virtue and the spoils of
your world and fills the void between worlds.
damnation.
It is the border between the lands of the
Welcome to Ravenloft.
living and of the dead. There, mind and

matter become one; thought and passion,

fear and yearning can become more tangible
than iron. Ravenloft Reincarnated
Somewhere, lurking deep within those
ethereal mists, a dark and nameless Longtime fans of the Ravenloft campaign
dimension is ruled by dark and nameless setting may wonder about the point of this
powers. Some say it is a prison for the document. There are no less than four (and a
damned; some say it is a crucible to test the half!) editions of Dungeons and Dragons that
virtuous. Others simply call it home. It is a have Ravenloft-compatible rules (plus
land of mist and shadow, love and death, Pathfinder), thanks to the work of companies
sacrifice and seduction, beauty and horror. It like TSR and Wizards of the Coast as well as
is a land of whispered fears made manifest. passionate fans like the Fraternity of
It is the Realm of Dread. Shadows.
Perhaps you have sensed its touch. At the However, many fans of the setting have
bidding of the Dark Powers, tendrils of the long hoped for a version of the game that
ethereal Mists that bind this land reach out to used a different set of rules entirely, feeling
caress the Material Plane. They stroke the that the mechanical rigor of D&D or the d20
skin at the back of your neck when a creaking System does a disservice to the Gothic feel of
floorboard warns that you are not alone in the Land of Mists.
the dark. Their invisible fingers crawl down In that vein, this set of rules is intended to
your spine when inhuman shadows rustle at offer an alternative to that group of fans. The
the edges of your vision. Savage Worlds Deluxe Edition rules offer a
The Mists do more than merely caress. great many horror-oriented settings to sink
The Dark Powers are drawn to innocence one’s teeth into, so it seems like a natural
and villainy, to loathing and desire, to match for the dark horror/action feel of
obsession, and to despair. They seek out Ravenloft.
squandered dreams and inner demons. They At the same time, this document exists to
savor the decay of the spirit. Their Mists offer a slightly different version of the setting.
snatch up fiends at the moment of their ruin Where Ravenloft has always openly
and steal upon heroes in times of doubt. acknowledged its roots in the Gothic
To what end do the Dark Powers add these literature milieu, it has sometimes forgotten
souls to their tarnished collection? To about its other inspirations: the Hammer
torment them? To purify them? None can horror films of the 1970s, the Universal
say, for few souls drawn into the Realm of monster movies of the 1930s, the cosmic
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horror of H.P. Lovecraft and his of the period, ranging in ways from the subtle
contemporaries, and many others. This work to the overt.
has approached Ravenloft primarily as a Take for example the word “gypsy,” a
setting for Gothic horror, but also looks to common stock character type in Gothic
those other inspirations that have crept in literature and a major part of the original
over time. Ravenloft setting. Nowadays, it’s commonly
known that “gypsy” is a derogatory term for
people of ethnic Roma descent—a racial slur
What Has Come Before
as unacceptable as any other.
Originally envisioned as a setting for a
Where possible, Ravenloft Reincarnated
single adventure, the world around Castle
avoids such problematic usage. It is generally
Ravenloft has only grown larger and more
assumed that most lands of the Dread
complex over time, including a lengthy
Realms are places where sexual equality is
metaplot that ran through the original edition
the norm, or that where sexual inequality
of the setting and a somewhat more implied
exists, player characters are an exception to
metaplot that run through the Kargatane
usual attitudes. When sexual inequality exists
years.
in a significant fashion, it is generally different
This vast sprawl of history is one of the
from the sexual inequality existing in the
selling points to longtime fans of the setting,
modern real word.
but it can also prove an impediment to entry
Racial strife is occasionally more of an issue
for new fans. Ravenloft Reincarnated exists
in the Land of Mists, but it is a strife between
not just to serve as a new rules set for the
ethnic groups that have little-to-nothing in
game, but also to act as a jumping-off point
common with real-world groups. Even where
for new players and old fans alike. This
“genre appropriate,” racial slurs are avoided.
document posits a version of the setting in
Furthermore, while individual NPCs may
stasis, waiting for the moment that a group of
have their sexual preference or gender
heroes comes along to kick over the anthill
identity spoken of—and sex and gender are
and send changes rippling through the
very much at the heart of Gothic literature!—
setting.
there is no assumption made about those of
At the same time, nothing here invalidates
the player characters. A player character in
any previous version of the setting. While this
Ravenloft can be of any gender or sexual
book’s elves and dwarves are refugees from a
orientation, and a character’s sexual identity
race of shadowy fey, nothing prevents a GM
and preferences are considered to be neutral
looking to use the “classic” D&D versions of
as far as the universe goes, so long as they’re
the races from doing so.
consensual.
Here and there exist nods to different
Citing “historical accuracy” to punish a
adventures, different versions of the world’s
player’s choice of his or her character’s
history, and even occasionally intentional
gender or sexuality should be avoided. The
contradictions about the nature of that
point of role-playing is to have fun. Anything
history. Ravenloft is many things to many
that would drive players away from the hobby
people, and it is this author’s sincere hope
should be discouraged, especially if in pursuit
that this document can capture as many of
of something as ephemeral (and usually
them as possible.
poorly applied) as “historical accuracy.”

That being said, Ravenloft is a world of
Pride and Prejudice
terrible darkness. Players should be
Many of the conceits of classical Gothic
forewarned about the possibility of situations
horror are problematic by the standards of
that might make them uncomfortable.
the modern day. Racism, classism, sexism,
Whenever possible, players and GMs should
and more are baked into the cultural oeuvre
discuss such possibilities and determine what
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is appropriate at their table ahead of time. for the crimes of their fathers. They are tales
Play responsibly. of madness and obsession, evoking subtle
horrors and deriving terror from foreboding
rather than gore.
The ghosts and ghouls of this genre are,
The Gothic Milieu
above all else, allegorical doppelgangers—

reflections of human evil. When
Come now into a world of Gothic
Frankenstein rejected his monster, he
adventure: where innocence battles
rejected the terrible consequences of his own
corruption, where love destroys and
profane actions, which returned to haunt him
redeems, where magic cannot overcome
in the form of his forlorn creation.
morality, and where divine justice comes to

all.

At its most basic, Gothic horror is about
the contest between good and evil. In this Running a Gothic Horror Game
contest, though, the armies are not equally
matched: the forces of evil are vastly more Both players and GMs must put aside a lot
powerful and influential than the forces of of the preconceptions associated with
good, and often far greater in number. traditional fantasy roleplaying while playing
Although they may be physically weaker Ravenloft, particularly any sense of an
and seemingly friendless, the forces of good adversarial relationship between them.
have courage, purity, the redemptive power Instead, think of the game as collaborating to
of love, and the force of divine justice on jointly tell a Gothic horror tale. For that
their side. More than any other genre, Gothic reason, trust and participation are vital.
horror is about heroism, because the The players must trust the GM to be
protagonists must struggle to do good in a scrupulously fair (to the spirit of the story, if
world that doesn’t necessarily reward that not to the roll of the dice), especially if they
effort. are going to be set against enemies far more
Heroes in the Gothic milieu work alone or powerful than they are, and to respond to the
in small numbers, against almost themes they want to explore and the
insurmountable odds, without financial directions they want their characters to go in.
rewards, and often without recognition— Players should feel that the GM is likely to
without even a kind word to help them along. accept the player adding in extra details to a
It is not a battle that can truly be won with scene (traditionally the sole province of the
fists or swords, and it is a battle that may cost GM) in order to develop their characters and
them everything they have in order to fight improve the story. (Of course, the key word
it—but fight it they must. Sometimes, they fail there is improve the story, not derail it: the
or fall into evil, but when they win, the victory GM is still within their rights to say no, but
is so much sweeter, because the road is so the players should still feel they have a reason
much harder to travel. for saying no that will be made apparent later,
Gothic tales are infused with an not just a lack a flexibility).
atmosphere of supernatural dread. They play Conversely, the GM must trust the players
upon both the thrill and the fear of the to engage with the genre: they need to
unknown. They are often highly symbolic, understand and accept that it is a world that
even dreamlike. offers more kicks than kisses, and
Ancestral curses and mournful ghosts particularly, that sometimes in horror stories,
manipulate events and erode the characters’ the protagonist does stupid things.
sanity. Unnatural deformities such as scars, The reason this interaction is so important
strange birthmarks, or hunched backs turn is that Gothic horror thrives on detailed
men into monsters, apparent punishments characters. The player characters, the
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characters they frequently interact with, and supernatural beings or magic, although they
the villains should all be complex, three live on actively in superstition. Most have
dimensional characters with desires and learnt that if you don’t go into that house, or
failings that aren’t necessarily consistent or in that wood, or if you keep your head down
the best interest of either themselves or the when the moon is full and don’t answer the
PCs. It makes the game more engaging, and door to strangers, you can live a life not
it makes it easier for the GM to tailor drastically dissimilar to those in other,
adventures to the PCs’ backgrounds. happier worlds.
On a similar note, although the world may In contrast, the player characters actively
be largely indifferent to or against the PCs seek trouble. They are people singled out by
and their allies, not every attachment or fate for great or fell purposes. Their lives are
friendship should be an excuse for betrayal lives of struggle and adversity, enriched with
or kidnapping. There needs to be some light magic and experiences that the closed minds
in the world—Good is always an active force, of the common folk can’t even dream of.
even if it is subtle. Otherwise, what are the They are the heroes and antiheroes of our
PCs fighting for? Why would they keep going stories.
if failure was inevitable and everyone they
knew and loved would either die or betray
them?
The Lay of the Land
Nuanced characterization is part of the

reason why (in the internal logic of the
On the surface, the Land of the Mists
world), darklords and heroes both survive.
seems much like any other low-magic setting.
Some villains are cruel or tyrannical and hold
Spellcasters and nonhumans (or at least,
power through force of arms. Others,
creatures that are obviously nonhuman) are
however, are seen as champions of their
rare, and common folk seldom witness the
people. Many certainly don’t see themselves
supernatural, understanding it only through
as a villain, and have positive features, such as
folklore (although that folklore is frightening
honor, loyalty, patriotism, humor, or love. By
prevalent). Few know that the natural laws of
definition, darklords are truly evil, but they
their realm have been insidiously rewritten.
may not always appear so, especially to a

casual view.
The battle between good and evil occurs on Good and Evil
Although some people dismiss the concept
two fronts: at a divine, objective level, where
of absolute morality as an antiquated myth,
the sides are absolute, and at the level of the
Good and Evil are vital and fundamental
world the characters inhabit, where it is much
forces, locked in eternal struggle. The
more murky and not always clear where
darkness of the world allows the light to shine
people stand. A character may be evil, but
so much brighter.
may also be reliable, even trustworthy, or
Characters who preserve their innocence
more concerned with seeking pleasure than
are subtly protected from the forces of
oppressing innocents. If the PCs are
darkness, while those who commit evil acts
interested in fighting werebeasts, a darklord
find themselves physically or mentally
with similar interests may even act as patron
warped to reflect their corruption. People
for them—until near the end of the campaign,
who wholly embrace the lures of evil may
at least.
eventually find themselves trapped in prisons
Finally, remember that player characters
of their own making. Even then, even the
are not average inhabitants of Ravenloft.
blackest soul has the potential for
They are the wild cards in the deck—the
redemption, should they be willing to face
major arcana in the tarot. Most people go
the personal failings that led to their downfall.
their entire lives without seeing any
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While Good is undeniably more subtle in join seamlessly with other domains in a
its touch than Evil, it is no less powerful in Cluster to form a continuous landscape on
the long run. It demands much—patience, some sides and perhaps open to the Mists on
compassion, self-sacrifice—and its rewards are others. A domain may be as small as a single
often obscure, but it woven into the fabric of room or as large an empire. The borders
the world. It may cost everything a hero has between domains may be recognized as
to do the right thing, but Good is by no political boundaries, or may be indicated by
means pointless or unachievable. It may be purely physical landmarks. A traveler may
painful, difficult, and with the temptation to have no way to tell she has crossed into a new
compromise your principles at every turn, den of evil. However, each domain is,
but it is worth doing. Don’t surrender this mystically, a separate plane. Magic cannot
world to the night. cross domain borders unless it is powerful
enough to pierce planar boundaries.
Every aspect of a domain, from its climate
The Semblance of Reason
to the creatures that call it home, is a subtle
Although Ravenloft is an artificial realm,
reflection of its darklord, offering painful
full of supernatural horrors, it has the veneer
reminders of the transgressions that forged
of normalcy. Like a corpse that appears fresh
the darklord’s doom. Many darklords can
until some disturbance sends its hidden
control the weather, consciously or
corruption spilling into view, unnatural forces
unconsciously, in their domains, or have
in the Land of the Mists normally remain
mastery over their native animals. Wresting
hidden. Creatures like vampires or
control in these cases is sometimes possible,
werebeasts move disguised among normal
but much harder than when they are
humans; magic is contained within isolated
controlled by lesser masters. Almost all can
towers and the cloisters of universities, and
“close” the borders of their domains at will.
lacks the obvious flair it has in other realms.
Immensely powerful supernatural forces
Even nonhumans like elves and dwarves are
manifest to prevent passage. No mortal magic
rarer, and hide themselves away.
can overcome the effects of a closed domain
Scholars in the most advanced domains in
border.
the Land of the Mists often treat magic as a
How many domains lie within the Mists, or
natural study, using labels like “psychic
far the Mists extend (even whether that
science” or “fundamental energies.” Many
question is truly meaningful or not) is
maintain that the unnatural is simply the
unknown.
misunderstood, and with enough study,

magic will be shown to be some combination
of natural forces and psychosomatic The Mists
influence, tangled in superstition. Of course, Thick fog blankets the borders of every
those who can harness the most powerful Island and Cluster. People live out their lives
forces may think otherwise, but they keep in normal-seeming domains that bob like
their thoughts—and their power—to apples in a Misty sea. Pockets of mist drift
themselves. across melancholy moors. Films of vapour
seep between the headstones of a graveyard,
concealing hidden dangers. Mist is
The Domains
everywhere in the Realm of Dread, and some
The Land of the Mists is composed of
is guided by malign intellect.
scores of small pocket “nations” like the cells
Every child in Ravenloft knows about the
of a prison. Each of these artificially
Mists. They are completely indistinguishable
constructed countries, called domains, is the
from normal mists, even by magic, until you
prison of a singular evil entity: its darklord. A
are within them. Travellers who enter the
domain may stand alone as an Island,
Misty Border around some domains find
surrounded on all sides by Mist, or it may
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