Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft - Full Set Review - WizKids D&D Prepainted Minis

[@TheGallantGoblin]

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[@commanderbbshockwave8698]

15:12 - The Whistling Fiend is a Babau, they are a Demon type - the stat block was in Volo's Guide. He is also from 2E Ravenloft, and is one of the main examples on how fiends can change in the Domains of Dread. See, the Dark Powers like to invite evil to their domains but never let them go... that means creatures summoned to these places cannot leave. That tends to leave even Angels miffed. Most fiends try to escape, but some like the Whistling Fiend who had no big urge to go back to the Blood War, instead embraced the land and performed dark rituals binding himself to it. Nowadays he has several powes a regular Babau does not has. I liked how in Ravenloft, extraplanar creatures and the planes themselves are strange unexplained things, since nobody can leave to explore them.

[@lukescreepedout]

The end when he was talking about what a vampire is was kinda scary and scared me, and he he said "have you ever walked into a room and forgotten why you where there", that was really creepy. You did a great job describing the vampire!!!

[@TheGallantGoblin]

Haha! Thank you! That’s a great little story! All credit to the author. -Theo

[@stephenthomas8312]

And here it is, just in time for me to watch when I get off work. Thanks again guys for the great content!

[@TheGallantGoblin]

Aww, hope you enjoy it, Stephen! Thanks! -Theo

[@tomyoung9834]

Necromantic Slurries was the name of my college band! Thanks for the shoutout!!!

[@TheGallantGoblin]

Excellent! 🎶 -Theo

[@commanderbbshockwave8698]

Nice music you chose for this review, btw! Sets the mood. Also, agreed, I read that Starfinder adventure, it has a really good opening spooky stuff at a resort where everyone starts going crazy.

[@crevendevoss9673]

yay i've been waiting for this video i absolute love the ravenloft setting and have since it was first introduced in 2e advanced d&d

[@TheGallantGoblin]

Nice! I hope you enjoy it! -Theo

[@josephskiles]

No setting will ever be better than back in the TSR days ! I miss Lord Soth for one example, even though his time there was always debated by Hickman and Weiss

[@ThornWolf0609]

Man Killer vid and a haunting end to the review! Thanks again Theo! I have a few of this set and totally love them

[@mawson372]

So I just one box, and opened it, it came with 3 commons but also all 4 ghosts. The video says the ghosts are rare, but do they all come together if you get the right box?

[@Zen17h]

Was Ivan Dilisnya inpired by Pokey/Porky from the Mother series?

[@elliotromero4411]

Awesome review and thanks. Wizkids got the size for the Loup Garou wrong as it is supposed to be large, not medium. "Change Shape. The loup garou polymorphs into a Large wolf-humanoid hybrid or into a Large dire wolf"

[@TheGallantGoblin]

Ah good catch! Thank you, Elliot! -Theo

[@commanderbbshockwave8698]

Yeah, Wizkids sadly always gets the size wrong with Lycanthropes. Same issue happened with both D&D and Pathfinder Battles Werebears and PFB Weretiger. One good thing is, at least this Loup-Garou mini is quite big even if he is on a Medium base. Still, the Unhallowed Werewolf Lord is still the best Loup-Garou mini around.

[@elliotromero4411]

@@commanderbbshockwave8698 "Still, the Unhallowed Werewolf Lord is still the best Loup-Garou mini around." Agreed and glad I have it!

[@commanderbbshockwave8698]

Cool to finally see the set review from you, great quality as always! I am just waiting for my package from Thiemtwork that has both this case and Fizban's, will be quite the big box. :P I have dabbled only in Ravenloft before, but after 5E brought back the setting, I went through all the core books, Van Richten's guides and adventures. As luck would have it, I am just finishing the last adventure, Bleak House! (In time to start reading Spelljammer in preparation for the setting book). I always knew the backstories of some of the more famous Darklords, so it was great to finally get minis for so many of them! This set is perfect for getting us representations for these classic villains. Ironic that even Azalin gets a mini despite him being "Sir Not-Appearing -In-This-Setting", since he has escaped Ravenloft already in 2E, in the Grim Harvest adventure, turning Darkon into Necropolis. Btw, I recommend that book, as it has rules for playing undead characters - Vampires, Mummies, Liches, Ghosts, Skeletons, etc. This is Ravenloft of course, so turning undead might give you power but starts your inevitable descent into corruption and evil (and becoming an NPC). Some changes to Darklords were odd... I don't mind that Adam and Victor Mordenheim were gender-swapped, but their dynamic was changed significantly, as in the 2E books Mordenheim tries to revive his wife and Adam, angry at being a failed experiment, always ruins his work, while here, Victra does not hate her creation but wants to find Elise to be with her. Ivan and Ivana were a good choice for Uncommons, and paired ones at that - both can be used as generic noblewomen or in Ivan's case, creepy old men. :P Chakuna was another weird addition/replacement. Baron von Kharkov, whom she killed for his domain, was such an unique Darklord - a Panther turned into a human by Red Wizards as an elaborate revenge plot (he fell in love with a rival wizard, then was turned back to a Panther and killed her)... and then later he escaped and was also turned into a Vampire! I am glad though that she comes with a Displacer Beast, we needed another of those! The choice of Commons is also nice here, you do need a lot of Gremishkas and Carrion Stalkers. And that Skeleton Archer is a great undead troop builder. I was surprised the Doppleganger Plant (Bodytaker now) and Zombie Clot were Uncommons, they are such detailed and complex sculpts.

[@jeremialindsay1771]

The great thing about horror in d&d is it dosent have to be something graphic or a horrifying creature but the expectation that someone might happen.

[@TheGallantGoblin]

That's the kind of horror I like! -Theo

[@commanderbbshockwave8698]

Cool tidbits you added to explain Nosferatu! Curiously, in 2E Nosferatu did not look so feral like Orlok. Instead, they were Vampires who drained blood, not levels.

[@johnhammertron]

You reviewed most of these before. I remember the croc-mummy and many of the others. Was this set re-released or are the minis being re-used over the years?

[@Korgek]

Awesome video as usual! As I've already said many times now, these videos are the reason why I buy Wizkids minis. you really get an idea of what are you going to buy. Thank you so much! One thing has happened tho! I don't know how, but i've just received the Adult Silver Dragon! Where is your review of it, guys? Can't wait to know what you think about it! Keep it up!

[@TheGallantGoblin]

Thank you and sweet, congrats on getting the silver dragon! We actually haven’t received ours yet!

[@nerdfatha]

All the big ones look great! About half of the human size ones are pretty cool too. That is the downside to blind boxes. Still, great video! Your narrative descriptions on all of these were great!

[@TheGallantGoblin]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much! -Theo

[@rect7840]

Fun bit about the Star Spawn Emissary the lesser one can change into any small or medium creature form and is described as doing so with something 'unassuming'. So you can use a regular villager or such and then change into the huge aberration once they are slain. Sort of like an Evangelion Kaworu situation.

[@josephskiles]

I miss Lord Soth, he was such an awesome character. James Lowder wrote 2 great novels about his trip to the lands of the mist Actually I miss all the old characters, but I promised myself I wasn't going to rant, lol poor Grady has already listened to way more rants about this than anyone should

[@raccoonman5451]

God I love that were raven my players would love to meet an unhinged bird man. Ooh maybe he is the gravedigger in the bird folk society

[@commanderbbshockwave8698]

Wereravens are actually one of the few good aligned creatures in Ravenloft. They have secret societies and seek to help people when they can.

[@scorpiovenator_4736]

I wish we knew the alignments of these creatures, this is one of the only books that does not have alignments

[@TheGallantGoblin]

Yeah, 5e seems to be moving away from providing alignments for everyone. -Theo

[@commanderbbshockwave8698]

@@TheGallantGoblin Well, the current trend is that most humanoids are "any alignment", other creatures are "usually XY alignment", while members of organizations that are of set alignments, and individual characters do have set alignments. That's how Fizban's and the new Monsters of the Multiverse did it. Ravenloft though, was released before these changes and remains a weirdly alignment-free book - yet in the same book the DM gets instructions that Darklords are totally evil and not redeemable. :D I suspect like Mordenkainen's, this book will see a corrected release too.

[@commanderbbshockwave8698]

LOOOL I wonder if you saying "Collector's Addiction" instead of "Edition" at the end was a freudian slip or deliberate. ;) Soooo true. I have so far resisted in buying these, though.

[@danpeterson9317]

17-18 minutes in. Looks like the finger was missing from the Vampiric Mind Flayer.

[@TheGallantGoblin]

Oh possibly. I'd have to compare it to another one to be sure. Good eye! -Theo

[@shutbag328]

So...I just bought one of these, and I got something not in the this video... Its a tree like thing with a amber core.

[@shutbag328]

Wtf is it?

[@TheGallantGoblin]

This thing? 20:46 Amber Monolith #28

[@shutbag328]

@@TheGallantGoblin dude. I'm dumb ASF...I went back and watched it again earlier. Saw it.. forgot I commented, so here we are...thanks tho! Can't believe YOU responded tbh.

[@TheGallantGoblin]

No worries! Glad you sorted it out!

[@kenfrmcape2355]

Wax Replica looks like He got stuck in pizza.

[@TheGallantGoblin]

Yum! -Theo

[@InventiveHarvest]

Wait. Who giggled into the phone?

[@TheGallantGoblin]

I wish I knew! -Theo

[@elliotromero4411]

@@TheGallantGoblin Come on, Theo. It was one of your familiars/felines. :)

[@jameswarren7527]

Are you sure that wasn't the sexy vampire? 🤔

[@TheGallantGoblin]

To each their own! -Theo

[@GreenLanternCorps2814]

Arthur has terrible proportions. Why is his torso so long?!?

[@Sgt40K]

God, I wish I could paint these for you. The models are mostly great, but the paint job is horrible.

[@TheGallantGoblin]

If you repaint some, come post your pictures on our Discord server. Would love to see! -Theo