provides all the tools you need to explore the living nightmares of Ravenloft’s Domains of Dread —demiplanes hidden in the Shadowfell and controlled by sinister forces known as the Dark Powers. These twisting realms are full of horror, but there are a heroic few who provide faint flickers of hope.
Maybe these individuals have been caught up in the Mists by the Dark Powers to foil nefarious plans brewing in a Domain, or perhaps they discovered a spark that drives them to overcome their despondent situation.
Whatever the case, this scroll of knowledge has been written to provide these fateful few ways to contend with the Terrors of Ravenloft.
◇ What are the Domains of Dread?
◇ What Are Darklords?
◇ Getting into (and out of) the Domains of Dread
◇ Can You Escape the Mists?
What are the Domains of Dread?
The Domains of Dread are countless, isolated demiplanes concealed within the Shadowfell. Some were crafted entirely by the Dark Powers, while others were claimed from elsewhere in the multiverse and twisted into extraplanar domains.
While each domain is its own horrific island of reality, they share a handful of defining traits:
Malleable. Domains can change shape, merge, fade, reappear, or even repeat events as the Dark Powers find new ways to torment those trapped inside.
Surrounded by the Mists. Domains are finite in size, bordered by the Mists, and generally cut off from one another.
A Prison for a Greater Evil. These domains have been created to contain a Darklord—a villain of such great magnitude that they attracted the attention of the Dark Powers.
Realms of Horror
Just as the Feywild — the Shadowfell's counterpoint on the Great Wheel — doesn’t operate on fair rules or neat causality, the same remains true for the Domains of Dread.
These twisted demiplanes run on “nightmare logic” , which might include anything from the lack of coherent records, the normalization of impossible things, and actual twists in reality that bring the most horrifying possibilities to life.
The Dark Powers
The Dark Powers are faceless entities who exist outside of the limits of conception for many mortals.
What they are or what they want is unknown. What is known is that they manipulate reality within the Domains of Dread.
Those who have studied the multiversal workings of the Domains of Dread theorize that these mysterious forces handpick Darklords to torment in their domains, trapping them and populating their eternal prisons. The Dark Powers are even said to have ultimate control over how magic works, who comes and goes, and the shape of reality within these domains.
When mortals stumble into their clutches, the Dark Powers have been known to tempt both the innocent and the ambitious with sinister bargains and the possibility of escape.
The Mists
The supernatural Mists of Ravenloft appear without warning, moving with eerie intention to steal individuals or entire locations from other worlds and trapping them in the Domains of Dread. They also act as a border between domains, isolating each prison from the others. Travel between domains is possible, but it’s incredibly dangerous.
Relics called Mist Talismans — nonmagical objects resonant with specific domains —allow travelers who possess them to reach the domain they are associated with through the Mists more reliably.
What Are Darklords?
Every Domain of Dread exists to torment a Darklord—a villain whose depravity drew the attention of the Dark Powers and led to their imprisonment within the Mists.
You may have even heard tell of such villains:
◇ Count Strahd von Zarovich
◇ Lord Soth
◇ Cthulhu
A Darklord might be an obvious tyrant ruling a nation or locked in perpetual slumber, but each is the ultimate source of their domain’s horrors.
While every Darklord is unique, they are usually:
Evil to the Core. Each Darklord is the central villain of a domain and the root of its terrors.
◇ Prisoners of Their Domain. Darklords can’t leave their domains and sometimes don’t even know they are imprisoned. If they enter the Mists or try to escape by any other means, the Dark Powers return them to their domain. Even death rarely grants more than a brief reprieve.
◇ Ironically Tormented. Every domain twists itself into a punishment tailored to its Darklord’s crimes, failures, or ambitions.
◇ Supernaturally Influential. Darklords wield unnatural control over their domains, including the power to close their borders and shape other eerie effects.
Darklords Don’t Know They’re Darklords
Most Darklords don’t realize they occupy a special place in the cosmos. Their obsessions blind them to the truth of their circumstances, leaving them unaware of the Dark Powers, the true nature of the Domains of Dread, or the fact that their world is itself a prison.
Getting into (and out of) the Domains of Dread
Most souls ensnared by the Mists of Ravenloft are captured and held against their will. The Mists can rise anywhere, snatch individuals from across the multiverse, and drag them into a domain.
Leaving is harder than arriving. Even if Darklords don't fully grasp the concept of their prison, they can consciously or unconsciously close the Mists around their domain, preventing escape. Those seeking supernatural methods of escape swiftly learn that extraplanar travel via magic isn't reliable in the Shadowfell.
So, if you find yourself trapped in a Domain of Dread? What are your options?
Defeat the Darklord
For many domains, the surest path out is to confront the evil at the heart of the prison. That means defeating or overcoming the Darklord. Sometimes this will manifest as a climactic final battle.
More often, though, heroic adventurers must uncover the Darklord’s buried crimes, release a long-imprisoned archenemy, gather objects bound to the Darklord’s power, break the cycle of torment that sustains the domain, or otherwise unravel the Darklord's control over it.
Tarokka Fortune - Telling Cards
Among the tools travelers and seers rely upon, few are as iconic — or enigmatic — as the Tarokka. These fortune-telling cards originated among the Mist-wanderers known as Vistani, who created them to guide their travels.
Since the Vistani entered the Mists, their cards have spread and gained renown as tools for divining the future and charting paths between—or even out of—the Domains of Dread.
Ravenloft: The Horrors Within comes with a guide to using the Tarokka in your Domains of Dread adventures, something that can be indispensable when combined with the
Ravenloft: The Horrors Within
Tarokka Deck
With them, you can create adventures, tell characters' fortunes, foreshadow Darklords, and populate the Mists with secrets and horrors to be discovered.
Can You Escape the Mists?
Ravenloft's Domains of Dread can contain any nightmare you need to terrify your players, and
Ravenloft: The Horrors Within
provides you with the ultimate toolkit to explore adventures in this setting. Inside, you'll find challenging stat blocks for Darklords, new character options that draw power from the Shadowfell, and everything else you need to tell unforgettable horror stories surrounded by the swirling Mists.
