How do you make body horror work in D&D? How do you make players feel horrified about what's happening to their characters' (imaginary) bodies? Does Viktra seek to recover the heart or Elise? And what ends will she go to regain what she believes is hers? That's just where the story starts. The only problem is that the device is bound within the body of her former companion, Elise.
She's a deliberate, efficient, and utterly amoral genius whose scientific masterpiece is an artificial heart that conveys non-magical immortality. Viktra Mordenheim is a precise, obsessive scientist who created not just life, but immortality. Is Viktra Mordenheim your classic Mad Scientist-type character, or did you " D&D-ize the archetype?" What's her deal?Ĭredit: Katerina Ladon/Wizards of the Coast Just as there's more to Frankenstein than a scientist who abandoned his child, there's more to Lamordia than stitches and semi-dead flesh. Mordenheim's land isn't just about resurrection gone awry, it's also the Domain for all different types of science gone wrong, bizarre experiments, body horror weirdness, and grim tales of society versus a frigid land. But while the Domain is inspired by that classic horror story, its elements are then shot through the lens of D&D adventures and explored to dozens of horrific extremes. Many of the Domains of Dread are inspired by some horror tale or piece of creepy folklore, and Lamordia definitely has its roots in Frankenstein. Does Ravenloft's Lamordia use Frankenstein as a launching point? How is it similar and/or different? When you hear "mad scientist making living corpses," you think of Frankenstein, obviously.
And, check out an early look at an exclusive piece of art from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft by artist Robin Olausson ahead of the book's release on May 18.Ĭredit: Robin Olausson/Wizards of the Coast
Read on (if you dare) for more of SYFY WIRE's interview with Schneider, where he talks about how Lamordia and its ruler Viktra Modernheim are more than just a Frankenstein pastiche, how to make body horror work in an imagination-based game, and more.
The new book takes the classic setting, expands on it, and dials up two sub-genres of horror, in particular: gothic horror and, of course, body horror. "Lamordia's one of the Domains of Dread that appeared in 1990's Ravenloft: Realm of Terror boxed set - the product that turned Ravenloft from a couple of adventures into a campaign setting," explains Wes Schneider, the lead designer of Van Richten's Guide. SYFY WIRE has an exclusive preview of one Domain, Lamordia, a snowy land in which a diabolical scientist stitches unwilling bodies together. The new book features several Domains, new and old, all of which highlight different aspects of horror - folk horror, cosmic horror, psychological horror, and much more. Ravenloft, which first appeared in D&D lore back in the '80s, is a mystical realm that's not a "real place" so much as it's a collection of various horrifying Domains of Dread. Dungeons & Dragons is taking the fantasy tabletop genre in a horrifying direction with Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, the upcoming sourcebook that more fully introduces the classic Ravenloft setting into the game's Fifth Edition.