Chronological Order of the Novels - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Chronological Order of the Novels

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
zombiegleemax
Feb 22, 2005 0:42:54 Same question as the title. I'd like to know how I should read the ravenloft novels.
#2
zombiegleemax
Feb 22, 2005 6:31:38 Hi -thats quite a tough question as the novels were never produced in any real chronological order and thks to the nature of the demiplane -some of the books have no real references to any dates/events or places with which to define them them. Also the different authors themselves had different viewpoints on the domains and characters which presented a diverse range of ideas or a mismash depending on your point of view.

A few of the books form a loose subset of adventurers about a character (typically a darklord), but again they tend to jump around the place.

It's certainly possible to approximate some of the books dates -but it sounds like quite a challenge for all of them (inc the short stories).

As a personal recommendation. I would start with the formation of the demiplane with I Strahd and then get into his early vampiric years so definetly vampire of the mists and knight of the black rose. (although he is not the main character in either of them.
(The war against azalin -should probably follow these three -although chronologically thats not correct. It just reads better that way in MHO).
#3
gotten
Feb 22, 2005 8:19:32 Here's something seen on the RL mailing list a while ago:

I would be interested in any comments:

Here's the dates.

Strahd Novels
Vampire of the Mists (453 BC)
The Crucible of Dr. Van Ritchen (706 BC)
Knight of the Black Rose (720 BC)
I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire (735 BC)
I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin (736 BC)

The Enemy Within (721 BC)

Soth Novels
Knight of the Black Rose (720 BC)
Spectre of the Black Rose (749 BC)

Harkon Lukas Novels
Heart of Midnight (719 BC)

Scholar of Decay (734 BC)

The Weaver's Pride (694 BC)
Tapestry of Dark Souls (717 BC)

Mordenheim (708 BC)

Shadowborn (626 BC)

Azalin Novels
King of the Dead (397 BC)
Tower of Doom (693 BC)
The Crucible of Dr. Van Ritchen (706 BC)
I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin (736 BC)

I gleaned all of these from the unofficial timeline, done by John
Mangrum.

Mark, Ravenloft Mailing List Dark Moderator.

#4
zombiegleemax
Feb 22, 2005 8:29:34 I thank you both.
#5
zombiegleemax
Feb 22, 2005 19:37:25
Same question as the title. I'd like to know how I should read the ravenloft novels.

Actually if you look at the very backs of most of the books they list their order. For instance, Vampire of the Mists states on the back "Vampire of the Mists is the firt in an open-ended series of Gothic horror tales dealing with the masters and mosters of the RAVENLOFT dark fantasy setting" Unfortunitly since the books are out of print it is harder and harder to come by all the books so unless you already have them it might be dificult to read them in order without having to wait months between books as it might take you time to find each of them (unless your willing to pay the $20 each some of them are going for on ebay and amazon). I consider myself luck to have 13 of the 20 books.
#6
zombiegleemax
Feb 22, 2005 23:26:00 I do believe you are refering to the order of print, though I could be mistaken.

Anyway, my locals shop has three of the novels, so I'll need to snatch those.
#7
zombiegleemax
Feb 23, 2005 6:35:02
Anyway, my locals shop has three of the novels, so I'll need to snatch those.

Look on Amazon.com as well. I was able to get many of the early books in the series for less then their original cover prices including what I paid for shipping.

Problem is there are a couple books that are VERY hard to get and unless your lucky will cost you an arm and a leg. King of the Dead being a perfect example. I've yet to see it sell for less then $20 even on ebay.
#8
zombiegleemax
Feb 24, 2005 6:44:52 Yes -the number on the back is the order of print rather than a chronological order.

Obviously when you originally collect them you have to read them in the order they came out. These days if you are lucky to have them all you can try a chrological dating read scheme suggested by 'Gotten' above. However I notice there is one missing 'Death of a darklord'.

Also -some of these books span quite a lot of RL history

I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire (735 BC).
This actually starts before Ravenloft is created and spans the creation of the demiplane. Hence my suggestion - start with this one.

as a side note but I wonder if any more books ever will be released?
#9
gonzoron
Feb 24, 2005 13:48:11
Here's something seen on the RL mailing list a while ago:

Mark's list seems both true and misleading. As chenerp said, I Strahd I & II cover long periods of history. I think the dates listed are for the framing story involving Van Richten reading Strahd's journals. The journals themselves, which make up most of the books, cover centuries. This is probably because the dates came from Mangrum's timeline, which probably says something like 735: Van Richten comes across one of Strahd's diaries and reads it (I, Strahd).

Also, either Mark or Mangrum missed Death of a Darklord, as chenerp said, (which goes somewhere in the Lukas section), Dance of the Dead, Carnival of Fear, Baroness of Blood, To Sleep with Evil (all standalones) and also Lord of the Necropolis, which should be the last in the Azalin section. This last was perhaps not listed because it's non-canon (although The Enemy Within is on the list), the others perhaps don't have easily discenable dates.

It should also be noted that the Crucible of Van Richten, and the Weaver's Pride are a stories in Tales of Ravenloft, not standalone books. Other stories in that book connect to some of the other sections such as Caretaker in the Strahd section, The Rigor of the Game in the Soth section, and the Vanished Ones connects to Mordenheim.

You can't go wrong reading them in the order they were released, but since most of them are unrelated, you can read them in almost any order, aside from the direct sequels (King of the Dead->Lord of the Necropolis, I Strahd I & II, Knight->Spectre of the Black Rose).
#10
zombiegleemax
Feb 25, 2005 19:12:58 I picked up Scholar of Decay and The Enemy Within this evening. There were two copies of Baroness of Blood at the store, so I decided to not purchase it and seek your opinions here. So, is Baroness of Blood a good novel to pick up?
#11
zombiegleemax
Feb 25, 2005 20:08:12
There were two copies of Baroness of Blood at the store, so I decided to not purchase it and seek your opinions here. So, is Baroness of Blood a good novel to pick up?

Two copies just sitting in a store????? :OMG! :OMG!

That's one of the books I've been having trouble tracking down and I refuse to pay $10 which is what it's been going for on Amazon and Ebay!! If you don't mind my asking, how much is it selling for?

I just got a copy of Death of a Darklord that I won on Ebay in the mail today!! And I just won another auction which had Lord of Necropolis and Shadowborn. That leaves me with just 5 books in the series I'm still searching for (Baroness of Blood being one of them).

And for those searching for some of the books in the series the auction I just won included along with the 2 books I wanted 6 other books I already had. I will be listing them on ebay as soon as I get them in the mail. I forget what they all were but I know two of them were Tales of Ravenloft and Mordenheim
#12
gotten
Feb 26, 2005 7:48:12 Baroness of Blood is very good. She is so nice

Joël
#13
zombiegleemax
Feb 26, 2005 8:44:46
If you don't mind my asking, how much is it selling for?

Eight dollars american, I'll try to pick up both copies next time I'm there, we can work out a deal then.
#14
maraudar
Feb 26, 2005 12:27:24 Used to have all the series at one time. Sadly I sold them to a used bookstore last year . Then lo and behold I get intrested in RL again . Sold all my modules then too . Ive managed to get all the modules and game books again but I havent yet bought all the books again. Now my point to this rambling post is to state my opinion on the books. Scholar of Decay has to be the best of the whole series hands down. The others are good but scholar is a great read.

Maraudar
#15
zombiegleemax
Mar 01, 2005 18:29:36 You have got to be extremly luckly to find any RL just sitting in a shop.

Last time I had to order from hitpointe, otherwise there is only one store left in all of denmark that has RL material left and it's used.

btw I don't remember the title Shadowborn, any specifics?
#16
gonzoron
Mar 02, 2005 15:19:15 It's the story of Alexi Shadowborn, son of Kateri, and inspiration of The Circle (the Knights of the Shadows). It's the story of him tracking down the demon-trapped-in-a-sword Ebonbane and being pulled into Ravenloft. Once he reaches Shadowborn Manor, it plays out nearly identically to the Dungeon Magazine adventure "Bane of the Shadowborn". (Which makes sense, since William W. Connors wrote both, and nearly every other product that mentions the Shadowborn storyline.)
#17
zombiegleemax
Mar 03, 2005 3:06:51 Thanks.
A hole in my collection I guess.
#18
zombiegleemax
Mar 16, 2005 9:23:35
btw I don't remember the title Shadowborn, any specifics?

You can find information about Shadowborn here, also the other Ravenloft books are listed on the site.

Cheers,
Torbjorn

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Feb 22, 2005 0:42:54	Same question as the title. I'd like to know how I should read the ravenloft novels.
#2 zombiegleemax Feb 22, 2005 6:31:38	Hi -thats quite a tough question as the novels were never produced in any real chronological order and thks to the nature of the demiplane -some of the books have no real references to any dates/events or places with which to define them them. Also the different authors themselves had different viewpoints on the domains and characters which presented a diverse range of ideas or a mismash depending on your point of view. A few of the books form a loose subset of adventurers about a character (typically a darklord), but again they tend to jump around the place. It's certainly possible to approximate some of the books dates -but it sounds like quite a challenge for all of them (inc the short stories). As a personal recommendation. I would start with the formation of the demiplane with I Strahd and then get into his early vampiric years so definetly vampire of the mists and knight of the black rose. (although he is not the main character in either of them. (The war against azalin -should probably follow these three -although chronologically thats not correct. It just reads better that way in MHO).
#3 gotten Feb 22, 2005 8:19:32	Here's something seen on the RL mailing list a while ago: I would be interested in any comments: Here's the dates. Strahd Novels Vampire of the Mists (453 BC) The Crucible of Dr. Van Ritchen (706 BC) Knight of the Black Rose (720 BC) I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire (735 BC) I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin (736 BC) The Enemy Within (721 BC) Soth Novels Knight of the Black Rose (720 BC) Spectre of the Black Rose (749 BC) Harkon Lukas Novels Heart of Midnight (719 BC) Scholar of Decay (734 BC) The Weaver's Pride (694 BC) Tapestry of Dark Souls (717 BC) Mordenheim (708 BC) Shadowborn (626 BC) Azalin Novels King of the Dead (397 BC) Tower of Doom (693 BC) The Crucible of Dr. Van Ritchen (706 BC) I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin (736 BC) I gleaned all of these from the unofficial timeline, done by John Mangrum. Mark, Ravenloft Mailing List Dark Moderator.
#4 zombiegleemax Feb 22, 2005 8:29:34	I thank you both.
#5 zombiegleemax Feb 22, 2005 19:37:25	Same question as the title. I'd like to know how I should read the ravenloft novels. Actually if you look at the very backs of most of the books they list their order. For instance, Vampire of the Mists states on the back "Vampire of the Mists is the firt in an open-ended series of Gothic horror tales dealing with the masters and mosters of the RAVENLOFT dark fantasy setting" Unfortunitly since the books are out of print it is harder and harder to come by all the books so unless you already have them it might be dificult to read them in order without having to wait months between books as it might take you time to find each of them (unless your willing to pay the $20 each some of them are going for on ebay and amazon). I consider myself luck to have 13 of the 20 books.
#6 zombiegleemax Feb 22, 2005 23:26:00	I do believe you are refering to the order of print, though I could be mistaken. Anyway, my locals shop has three of the novels, so I'll need to snatch those.
#7 zombiegleemax Feb 23, 2005 6:35:02	Anyway, my locals shop has three of the novels, so I'll need to snatch those. Look on Amazon.com as well. I was able to get many of the early books in the series for less then their original cover prices including what I paid for shipping. Problem is there are a couple books that are VERY hard to get and unless your lucky will cost you an arm and a leg. King of the Dead being a perfect example. I've yet to see it sell for less then $20 even on ebay.
#8 zombiegleemax Feb 24, 2005 6:44:52	Yes -the number on the back is the order of print rather than a chronological order. Obviously when you originally collect them you have to read them in the order they came out. These days if you are lucky to have them all you can try a chrological dating read scheme suggested by 'Gotten' above. However I notice there is one missing 'Death of a darklord'. Also -some of these books span quite a lot of RL history I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire (735 BC). This actually starts before Ravenloft is created and spans the creation of the demiplane. Hence my suggestion - start with this one. as a side note but I wonder if any more books ever will be released?
#9 gonzoron Feb 24, 2005 13:48:11	Here's something seen on the RL mailing list a while ago: Mark's list seems both true and misleading. As chenerp said, I Strahd I & II cover long periods of history. I think the dates listed are for the framing story involving Van Richten reading Strahd's journals. The journals themselves, which make up most of the books, cover centuries. This is probably because the dates came from Mangrum's timeline, which probably says something like 735: Van Richten comes across one of Strahd's diaries and reads it (I, Strahd). Also, either Mark or Mangrum missed Death of a Darklord, as chenerp said, (which goes somewhere in the Lukas section), Dance of the Dead, Carnival of Fear, Baroness of Blood, To Sleep with Evil (all standalones) and also Lord of the Necropolis, which should be the last in the Azalin section. This last was perhaps not listed because it's non-canon (although The Enemy Within is on the list), the others perhaps don't have easily discenable dates. It should also be noted that the Crucible of Van Richten, and the Weaver's Pride are a stories in Tales of Ravenloft, not standalone books. Other stories in that book connect to some of the other sections such as Caretaker in the Strahd section, The Rigor of the Game in the Soth section, and the Vanished Ones connects to Mordenheim. You can't go wrong reading them in the order they were released, but since most of them are unrelated, you can read them in almost any order, aside from the direct sequels (King of the Dead->Lord of the Necropolis, I Strahd I & II, Knight->Spectre of the Black Rose).
#10 zombiegleemax Feb 25, 2005 19:12:58	I picked up Scholar of Decay and The Enemy Within this evening. There were two copies of Baroness of Blood at the store, so I decided to not purchase it and seek your opinions here. So, is Baroness of Blood a good novel to pick up?
#11 zombiegleemax Feb 25, 2005 20:08:12	There were two copies of Baroness of Blood at the store, so I decided to not purchase it and seek your opinions here. So, is Baroness of Blood a good novel to pick up? Two copies just sitting in a store????? :OMG! :OMG! That's one of the books I've been having trouble tracking down and I refuse to pay $10 which is what it's been going for on Amazon and Ebay!! If you don't mind my asking, how much is it selling for? I just got a copy of Death of a Darklord that I won on Ebay in the mail today!! And I just won another auction which had Lord of Necropolis and Shadowborn. That leaves me with just 5 books in the series I'm still searching for (Baroness of Blood being one of them). And for those searching for some of the books in the series the auction I just won included along with the 2 books I wanted 6 other books I already had. I will be listing them on ebay as soon as I get them in the mail. I forget what they all were but I know two of them were Tales of Ravenloft and Mordenheim
#12 gotten Feb 26, 2005 7:48:12	Baroness of Blood is very good. She is so nice Joël
#13 zombiegleemax Feb 26, 2005 8:44:46	If you don't mind my asking, how much is it selling for? Eight dollars american, I'll try to pick up both copies next time I'm there, we can work out a deal then.
#14 maraudar Feb 26, 2005 12:27:24	Used to have all the series at one time. Sadly I sold them to a used bookstore last year . Then lo and behold I get intrested in RL again . Sold all my modules then too . Ive managed to get all the modules and game books again but I havent yet bought all the books again. Now my point to this rambling post is to state my opinion on the books. Scholar of Decay has to be the best of the whole series hands down. The others are good but scholar is a great read. Maraudar
#15 zombiegleemax Mar 01, 2005 18:29:36	You have got to be extremly luckly to find any RL just sitting in a shop. Last time I had to order from hitpointe, otherwise there is only one store left in all of denmark that has RL material left and it's used. btw I don't remember the title Shadowborn, any specifics?
#16 gonzoron Mar 02, 2005 15:19:15	It's the story of Alexi Shadowborn, son of Kateri, and inspiration of The Circle (the Knights of the Shadows). It's the story of him tracking down the demon-trapped-in-a-sword Ebonbane and being pulled into Ravenloft. Once he reaches Shadowborn Manor, it plays out nearly identically to the Dungeon Magazine adventure "Bane of the Shadowborn". (Which makes sense, since William W. Connors wrote both, and nearly every other product that mentions the Shadowborn storyline.)
#17 zombiegleemax Mar 03, 2005 3:06:51	Thanks. A hole in my collection I guess.
#18 zombiegleemax Mar 16, 2005 9:23:35	btw I don't remember the title Shadowborn, any specifics? You can find information about Shadowborn here, also the other Ravenloft books are listed on the site. Cheers, Torbjorn