Ravenloft (D&D module)

Ravenloft is a Dungeons & Dragons module, coded I6, written for use with the First Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ruleset, by TSR. Written by husband-wife duo Tracy and Laura Hickman, Ravenloft is considered by many fans of the genre to be the finest D&D module ever published.

The plot owes a great debt to the old Universal horror films of the 1930s and the Dan Curtis series Dark Shadows. A party of adventurers suddenly find themselves trapped by a mysterious swirling mist in Barovia, a country composed of a small town and surrounding forest, overlooked by a massive cliffside castle named Ravenloft. The master of the castle, Strahd von Zarovich, rules the terrified townspeople with an iron fist, but he holds the key to the adventures party's escape from Barovia. Along the way, the party encounters Roma, zombies, wolves, and the far deadlier occupants of Ravenloft itself.

Ravenloft was exceedingly popular among players and Dungeon Masters for a number of reasons -- the brooding Gothic setting, a very memorable villain, and a taut, engaging plot. The large isometric projection map of Castle Ravenloft impressed many players at a time when most module maps were just two dimensional. However, the truly fascinating innovation Ravenloft introduced was replayability, in the form of an in-game gypsy fortunetelling session which randomly determined certain plot elements. For instance, the locations or existence of artifacts, as well as Strahd's very motivations, would be determined by a turn of the cards.

The module's very cleverness translated into a runaway success for TSR. Ravenloft eventually spawned a follow-up module, Ravenloft II: House on Gryphon Hill (coded I10), and a series of shared-world novels featuring the enigmatic Strahd as the central character. In the early '90's, TSR based an entire horror-themed AD&D campaign setting on the module, also called Ravenloft, which, in turn, produced a number of modules, supplements and novels based on the setting.

Although every collector, DM and player of the old PnP D&D game has their own favorite module, Ravenloft is consistently among the most highly-regarded by those who remember the First Edition ruleset. The presentation was slick, professional, and played very smoothly, making it extremely accessible, and a fine example of how good a PnP adventure could get. However, some players have complained that the murky world setting based upon these modules allows for moral ambiguity and less emphasis on heroic role-play.

Ravenloft was ranked the 2nd greatest Dungeons & Dragons adventure of all time by Dungeon magazine in 2004, on the 30th anniversary of the Dungeons & Dragons game.

In 2006, Wizards of the Coast announced plans to update the original module for the 3.5 ruleset in a 226 page hardcover, entitled "Expedition to Castle Ravenloft." It is scheduled for release in October 2006.