Calling all past, present and future Dungeons and Dragons players there is even more excitement in the newest release in the incredible campaign books. Wizards of the Coast have released as of today the Curse of Strahd.

If you know anything about classic D&D you will then have heard of Ravenloft and all of the wonderful terrifying adventures that countless heroes have taken on and many have never returned.

The original Ravenloft was published in 1982 by Tracy and Laura Hickman and they consulted on this campaign as well. I love this series of adventures and truly brings me back to my teenage years when on Sunday afternoons we would sit around one of my friends tables and adventure for hours.

This was one of our favourites and I am really glad to see it reincarnated (no pun intended or was it?).

What's Inside?

In this new hardback campaign book there are fifteen chapters and all are an adventure in of themselves. The original Ravenloft is in here along with several other expansions to help expand the world of Ravenloft.

There is even tarokka cards used to determine what happens to the adventurers next. WotC will be offering a tarokka deck through Gale Force 9. The cards are all laid out in the back of the book, so players and DMs would know what each card is and how to convert them to using standard playing cards. There is a tonne of fluff in the book along with a pull out map to help adventurers along their way.

There is also some beautifully printed journal pages in the back of the book to help add to the atmosphere of the adventure. This book like all those before this one are beautifully illustrated and in full colour.

I do not know how many of you remember the original campaign module, but it had these beautiful three dimensional maps of Castle Ravenloft that I loved to look through for hours (I was the DM) and just took it to the next level (another intended pun) over the flat two dimensional maps usually found in the modules.

What I have found so beautiful about this book is that the team at WotC has honoured the history of this story and even brought in the Hickmans as consultants. You can see the love and respect that has been poured into each and every page.

I have to say I think WotC has done D&D justice with the new 5th edition and has in some ways gone back to what made this game so amazing, letting the players use their imaginations and let the scenarios unfold in their minds more than constraining them into some unnecessary miniatures based game.

Now, before you all call for my head, let me say I love miniatures and the games around them, why else would I be with BoW.

A Nostalgic Hit

But, this is one game I fell out of love with as it wandered from its roots. Now, I see how they have corrected this and have taken great strides to bring back their audience and also help to create new members. These campaign books are another testament to this, The quality and and the layout are top notch and all so nicely wrapped up into one volume.

The hardback was the way to go, while they maybe a little more costly than some of the softback modules were comparatively speaking in today's money. I truly believe you are getting a better value and having a volume of work that will display nicely on anyone’s shelf and will stand up to years of skimming through the pages reliving some incredible times.

Don't forget that Wizards of the Coast are going to be starting their new show - Dice, Camera, Action! today following the Curse of Strahd Campaign featuring all manner of internet celebrities...

I cannot recommend the Curse of Strahd enough, let alone all of the other volumes that have been released prior to this one. WotC have really aced this in my humble opinion.

My only hope now is that we can convince Warren to DM this adventure, you all have been witness to his love of dungeon crawling and how he can create the scene in our minds, imagine what he could do with the Curse of Strahd.

Will you dare enter Castle Ravenloft?