Dungeons and Dragons just released its first Ravenloft novel in 17 years, luring Strahd superfans everywhere back to their favorite Domain of Dread. As a die-harder currently running a Curse of Strahd campaign, I was stoked to get my hands on an early copy. My high hopes pined for more material to enrich my portrayal of the vampire lord and his land.
Sadly, Ravenloft: Heir of Strahd left me disappointed. While I commend the D&D novel for trying new ideas with the decades-old domain, it seriously suffers from surface-level character writing. And no one suffers more than Strahd von Zarovich himself.
It’s difficult to discuss my praise and problems without spoiling certain parts of the novel. So, to anyone who wishes to read and form their own opinions, this is your spoiler warning.
The first 150 pages of the novel play out like any amateur Curse of Strahd campaign. Things at this stage are so paint-by-numbers that I almost put the book down. A group of adventurers mysteriously appear in Barova, fend off a few monstrosities, and are quickly invited to dine at Castle Ravenloft.
The characters we spend our time with are one-dimensional. A quippy Rogue, an arrogant Wizard, a timid Cleric, a hostile Paladin, and a naive Artificer are thrown together, and the combination mostly results in bickering and vague allusions to personal secrets, followed by an eventual scene where whoever is narrating at the time explains their growing respect for a particular member of the party. This is rinsed and repeated a few times throughout Heir of Strahd.
The secret each character harbors is the main mystery this book explores. Over time, it’s revealed that everyone in the party was about to commit an act of cruelty before suddenly being swept up by the mists of Barovia. It’s a great idea for the opening plot hook of a DnD campaign – one I would happily borrow if I were to start my Strahd campaign over again tomorrow.
If the characters were a smidge more interesting, it would be an incredibly sturdy backbone for the narrative. Sadly, stilted dialogue and overly simple motivations lessen the impact somewhat.
Barovia is a DnD setting with many mysteries of its own, but Heir of Strahd chooses to hand-wave them away. Strahd himself explains his personal history – and the entire plot of the 5e campaign – in direct dialogue that takes up less than two pages.
His relationship with Sergei, his descent into vampirism, and his reasons for pursuing Tatyana are not a priority here. Admittedly, we’d be re-treading old ground if the novel dedicated too much time to these topics. 1993’s I, Strahd: Memoirs of a Vampire did such a stellar job exploring Strahd’s past that any new Ravenloft novel now has a tough bar to clear in that department.
Still, Strahd von Zarovich is the primary antagonist of Barovia, and he is the seed from which the entire Ravenloft setting sprouted. The complexity of Strahd as a villain and the relationship he has with the players from day one are the main reasons the D&D module is so beloved.
The book eventually disregards Strahd entirely when the party are forced to sail out of Barovia and visit another Darklord entirely. This was a welcome addition to the book, as it felt like a novel idea that shook up the standard structure of a Ravenloft story.
Still, it did nothing to help the thin writing of Strahd himself. Strahd is involved in the story’s climax, but the final showdown is so rushed that it almost feels as if the vampire lord had been killed off-screen.
Heir of Strahd disregards the character in its title, but I will commend it for its portrayal of someone else: Tatyana. Here, we get to spend more time with Tatyana than we do in most Ravenloft material. She comes across as less of the stereotypical Gothic waif whose only purpose is to be killed tragically.
Her characterization would have also benefited from a richer, more nuanced exploration, but she fares better than most in this novel. The party she plays in Heir of Strahd makes it a more unique take on the D&D module.
For me, Heir of Strahd narrowly dodged the dreaded DNF (did-not-finish) – but only just. It tries to bring something new to Ravenloft, but it forgets what makes the setting interesting in the first place.
Have your own thoughts on Heir of Strahd? You can tell us all about them in the Wargamer Discord. For more on recent 5e books, here’s all you need to know about this year’s DnD release schedule. Or, if you’re looking to play, here’s all you need to know about DnD classes and DnD races.
Source: Wargamer
