A new dark domains of Ravenloft are all inspired by various horror tropes. Ravenloft consists of numerous "Demiplanes of Dreads," each of which is dedicated to keeping a particularly nasty soul imprisoned in a state of torment. Dungeons & Dragons most recently revisited Ravenloft in Von Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, released in 2021, but it might be time for it to reappear.

The new Unearthed Arcana playtest features eight horror-themed subclasses. Two of the subclasses —the Reanimator Artificer and the Hollow Warden Ranger — are brand new, while the rest are revamped versions of existing subclasses updated for the new version of Fifth Edition. The Unearthed Arcana contains no reference to what product or book the material will appear in, although Wizards of the Coast has previously announced that an unnamed product for D&D will arrive in October.

Ravenloft Fits Both the Unearthed Arcana & The Month of October

D&D's Spookiest Setting Could Return During Spooky Season

Based on the general horror themes of the Unearthed Arcana (available on most popular adventure, Curse of Strahd. Curse of Strahd's 10th anniversary is coming up in 2026, although we could get a Ravenloft celebration a bit sooner based on the Unearthed Arcana timing. Given that Ravenloft has characters and themes involving reanimation, spirit summoning, and more, it feels like a natural fit for these subclasses.

It wouldn't be surprising if D&D decided to release a Ravenloft book in October, given that the month is popularly known as Spooky Season. Selling the book would be easy, especially it leans into creating horror characters and a horror campaign. While the D&D design team has already confirmed that there will be no adventure release in 2025, a rulebook that offers tools for a Ravenloft-themed horror campaign might make more sense. Von Richten's Guide to Ravenloft already updated many Ravenloft domains, but we might see more domains get updated or further fleshed out beyond what we've already seen.

Is Three Campaign Setting Books Too Many In One Year?

Eberron And Forgotten Realms Books Are Already In The Works For 2025

The biggest flaw with a surprise Ravenloft release in 2025 is that Dungeons & Dragons is already releasing a glut of campaign setting books this year. Eberron: Forge of the Artificer is set for an August release, and a pair of Forgotten Realms campaign setting books are due in November.

Both releases will also feature player-facing options, with the Eberron book bringing back both Eberron-themed species and the Artificer class, and the Forgotten Realms setting books bringing in multiple new subclasses. Three releases in four months of player-facing material might flood the market with too much D&D material, especially as most players won't use all the new material all at once. Still, the common-sense theory is that this new Unearthed Arcana is for whatever is coming out in October.

Five months is plenty of time to incorporate before a final draft, and it just seems obvious that these subclasses are for a new Ravenloft book. You can remove all mention of Ravenloft from some of these subclasses, but the horror theme is too blatant to ignore. We'll just have to wait a little while longer to find out exactly what Dungeons & Dragons has planned for October 2025, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's tied to a return to its most horrifying setting.

Source: D&D Beyond