In a post by Lysa Penrose, a DM's Guild creator who was sent an early copy of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, she included a photo of the table of contents for the upcoming campaign setting book.
As someone whose favorite holiday is Halloween, I've been very eager to get my hands on this spooky addition to 5th edition. So, let us all indulge in our obsessive nerdery and go through the chapters.
The first chapter, after an introduction, is character creation. This includes the three "Lineages" that take the place of race, mechanically, which include the Dhampir, Hexblood, and Reborn. Supposedly there are ways to reincorporate your character's original racial features a bit more, though I don't know the details. This chapter also includes the College of Spirits for Bards and the Undead Patron for Warlocks. This also includes the "Dark Gifts," which seem like they'll work a bit like Supernatural Gifts in Theros, but as more of a trade-off with a potential downside. One example we've been able to see is having a shadow that moves on its own, which is mostly beneficial but can sometimes cause problems for you.
The second chapter is about building a domain of dread. The chapter has a section on creating a darklord, then creating a domain, and then some parts about various genres of horror, including the six they've been posting about (Gothic, Cosmic, Body, Folk, Dark Fantasy, and Ghost Stories) as well as a catch-all for other subgenres.
The third chapter is the biggest, and concerns the various canonical Domains of Dread - each with a segment on its Darklord(s) and suggestions for adventures to set there (I wonder what Barovia will have other than "Curse of Strahd.") Here's the list of domains and their listed Darklord or lords:
Barovia - Strah Von Zarovich
Bluetspur - The God-Brain
Borca - Ivana Boritsi and Ivan Dilisnya
The Carnival - Isolde and Nepenthe
Darkon - Inheritors of Darkon (notably not Azalin, who might have escaped?)
Dementlieu - Saidra d'Honaire
Falkovnia - Vledeska Drakov
Har'akir - Ankhtepot
Hazlan - Hazlik
I'Cath - Tsien Chiang
Kalakeri - Ramya Vasavadan
Kartakass - Harkon Lukas
Lamordia - Viktra Mordenheim
Mordent - Lord Wilfred Godefroy
Richemoulot - Jacqueline Renier
Tepest - Mother Lorinda
Valachan - Chacuna
There's also a segment at the end for several other domains that each get their own brief write-up (several share page numbers, so I'd expect these to be just a couple paragraphs at most.) The one that drew my attention the most was "Cyre 1313, The Mourning Rail," which was clearly drawn in from Eberron and looks to be a train. Could it be a train that was crossing the kingdom of Cyre when it was destroyed by the Mourning? I actually wrote a leg of an adventure on a haunted train (inspired by the Ghost Train in Final Fantasy VI, so yes, you do have to fight the train at the end) and would love to see how this compares.
The "additional domains" are, again, likely not going to be deep descriptions, but the names included are: Cyre 1313 The Mourning Rail, Forlorn, Ghastria, G'henna, Invidia, Keening, Klorr, Markovia, The Nightmare Lands, Niranjan, Nova Vaasa, Odaire, The Rider's Bridge, Risibilos, Scaena, The Shadowlands, Sourange, Staunton Bluffs, Tovag, Vhage Agency, and Zherisia.
Furthermore, the chapter lists people you'll find in the Mists. These include the Keepers of the Feather (presumably Wereravens,) The Vistani (here's hoping they manage to do better to avoid racist tropes!) and a small section on other groups.
Next, still in the third chapter, is a list of NPCs that your party might encounter: Alanik Ray and Arthur Sedgewick, The Caller, Erasmus van Richten, Ez d'Avenir (I wonder if they shortened Ezmeralda just to fit her name in here?) Firan Zal'honan, Jander Sunstar, Larissa Snowmane, Rudolph van Richten (the "author" of this book,) and the Weathermay-Foxgrove Twins.
The fourth chapter is about running horror adventures, and I think likely includes guidance both for making the game spooky, but also to help make sure everyone's actually having a fun time using safety features. There are also mechanics for things like curses, "haunted traps," and such. This also includes what looks to be a 20-page adventure called The House of Lament.
Finally, chapter five is the Bestiary, which includes a segment on horror monsters in general, and then gives us the goods. Here's a list of the monsters in that chapter:
Bodytaker Plant - with another block for Podlings (clearly a take on Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
Boneless - I think this is what happens to the flesh of corpses whose skeletons have been raised by necromancers (you know, assuming it hasn't rotted already)
Brain in a Jar - this might actually be a reprint from Rime of the Frostmaiden
Carrion Stalker
Carionette - it's a spooky doll that can take over your body!
Death's Head
Dullahan - classic Headless Horseman, though it should be fey if they're sticking with Irish folklore
Gallows Speaker
Gremishka - with individual and swarm varieties. I think these are supposed to be Gremlins like in the movie Gremlins.
Jiangshi - Chinese "hopping vampires."
Loup Garou - I think this is just the French term for werewolf, but I assume this is a bit different.
Necrichor - maybe an ooze, like a portmanteau of "necrotic" and "ichor?"
Nosferatu - this is just another term for vampire, though tends in modern media to be more associated with the bald, gaunt, perpetually monstrous variety rather than the attractive, dashing type like Strahd.
Priests of Osybus
Relentless Killer - in Slasher and Juggernaut varieties. I wonder if this is meant to be your Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers kind of foe.
Star Spawn Emissary - in Lesser and Greater varieties. Cosmic horror monsters - wonder how they stack up with the ones from Mordenkainen's.
Strigoi - a sort of ghoul or vampire. I'm not sure if this is the same thing as the Striga (as seen in the Witcher series.)
Swarms - We've got your Maggots and Scarabs (the latter surely for Har'akir).
Ulmist Inquisitors - with three types: Inquisitors of the Mind Fire, the Sword, and the Tome. No idea whether these are humanoid, undead, fiends, aberrations, or maybe even murderous celestials?
Unspeakable Horrors - I mean, what's to say?
Vampiric Mind Flayer - Is it a vampire who underwent cereomorphosis or a mind flayer turned by a vampire? Either scenario is probably very bad.
Wereraven - Presumably reprinted from Candlekeep Mysteries, and one of the few creatures likely to be helpful to a party.
Zombies - We've got a Swarm of Zombie Limbs, a "Zombie Clot" (which seems to be like those World War Z big old piles of zombies) and Plaguespreader Zombies.
And finally, the book ends with a Spirit Board (with some great art that was used to tease the book's release.)
Phew!
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