Ravenloft Player's Handbook

Rating:
Summary: Great gothic pnp rpg.
Review: I first started out playing D&D in the Forgotten Realms then moved onto the Vampire games by White Wolf.

Ive recently discovered Ravenloft, which seems to be a mix of both worlds, and i must say that it is extremely interesting and cool. Its a much darker world then your average D&D game and thats what makes it stand out for me. Horror, gloom, and evil atmosphere is what Ravenloft is all about.

So if you enjoy the Vampire rpgs, or crave a darker D&D setting, then pick up Ravenloft. You wont be sorry.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Introductory Product
Review: I've been a fan of Ravenloft since the early 90's when I read The first of the Black Rose novels about Lord Soth and his time in Sithicus. The Ravenloft PHB is basically a reprint and compilation of a bunch of pre-established matieral dating back several years. It also converts all the settings and characters into 3.5 core rule set for D&D. Obviously for those who have never played or read about Ravenloft before, and are looking to get into the setting, this is an essential text. It provides an excellent, clear and consice overview of what Ravenloft is all about and how to run campaigns there. It contains geographical, personal, and historical information most of which have been established in years past through gazetters, supplements, and campaign quests. For this reason people who have been playing RL for a while may be dissapointed that there's really nothing new thats been added to the PHB. I'd still recommend it even for these people because it brings together all the information from the past and puts it all in one, easy to comprehend source. It is worthy and easily recommendable to both the novice and veteran RL player.

Rating:
Summary: A Glorified Reprint, but not Without Merit
Review: It would be best to start out by saying that this book is, for all intents and purposes, a reprint of the Ravenloft Campaign Setting (henceforth known a the RCS), the Core Rulebook that originally updated the setting to the new Third Edition d20 rules. It brings all the mechanics presented in that publication in line with the 3.5 revision, but precious little (if any) new material has been added.

That being said, it is nevertheless just as excellent a product as its predecessor and does not deserve a low rating simply because a few excited DMs purchased it without first skimming the contents (This is not an insult - I myself was just such a DM!). I would recommend that any DM who already owns the RCS think carefully for him or herself about whether to purchase this book, knowing full well that not much outside of a few mechanics have changed.

Perhaps also worth mentioning is the change in the artwork. It's never been something I've been especially concerned with, but I've noticed an increasing number of people who have a great appreciation and/or interest in it. The artwork in this book as compared to the RCS is staggeringly different, leaning much more towards heavily detailed and realistic (if, in my opinion, at times cartoonish) illustrations, rather than the "line drawings" seen in previous publications.

I'm actually of two minds regarding my singular complaint. It has been said that too much specialized information appears in this text for it to be truly passable as a player's resource, and for most first-time Ravenloft players this is absolutely true. Here, in this volume, is the complete history of Ravenloft and Count Strahd, the exact effect Ravenloft has on the individual classes and their magic, descriptions of the domains of the entire core and most of the islands and clusters, and many other details that will go a long way towards dispelling a great deal of the setting's mystique. On the other hand, if you plan on running a native campaign, giving your players access to this book may be all but essential. It does no good to be a native of Ravenloft and have no idea of exactly how that is going to shape your character's history and past experiences, to say nothing of the problem with a studious character with a high intelligence score having no idea of the basic geography of the world in which he lives. And of course, at the DM's discretion, this book may also be acceptable reading for longtime Ravenloft players who are already aware of most of the world's ins and outs.

All in all, this is an excellent product that has unfortunately taken a lot of heat from people who feel they wasted their money on a useless reprint and DMs who feel (however justifiably) that it has been titled incorrectly.

Rating:
Summary: Ultimately Unsatisfying
Review: This is a rehash of the Ravenloft core campaign setting for Dungeons and Dragons 3.5. It turned out to be a great disappointment. The flaws are:
- It is lacking in new material. if you are going to pay this musch for a book, you don't really want to find that most of the material can be found virtually word-for-word in the previous release.
- It is not a Player's Handbook. I don't expect a Player's Handbook to include templates for key Ravenloft villains. Player's will see the title, and have access to all the key qualities of major villains.
If you have the original core campaign book I suggest you save your money.