This FAQ is meant to answer questions about the setting in general. Ravenloft is a different kind of campaign world with many more forces at work in the background than the typical.

What are the Dark Powers?

It's deliberately left vague. The Dark Powers are whatever the story needs them to be. At the most base level, they're DM fiat. Thematically, they're the wardens and jailkeepers of Ravenloft. Is the realm a crucible for virtue? A torture chamber? Scholars and sages in Ravenloft debate this endlessly. The Dark Powers are, by their nature, undefined. They're part of the mystery and cosmic horror of the setting.

Is Ravenloft a Low Magic World?

No, Ravenloft has a good amount of magic in it and some of it very powerful. It's better to say it's a rare magic setting. Most people in Ravenloft will live their entire lives without ever seeing an actual magical spell, or if they do, without seeing magic more advanced than a cantrip. The most powerful magic-users in Ravenloft are often darklords, who don't share their knowledge for free. Otherwise, magical knowledge must be gleaned by braving the dangers of the Realm of Terror.

Because of the relative rarity of magic, the common person holds superstitious views of it. Some realms, like Darkon and Hazlan, have actual magical academies and so it's more tolerated there. Other realms, like Barovia, have no such formal institutions. There, magic is done by witches in the woods and pagan druids in the hills. The average Barovian peasant will want nothing to do with such disturbing practices.

This also means divine magic is seldom witnessed. Most priests in Ravenloft cast no spells. Even those few clerics who can access magic don't feel the presence of any divinity as they do so. No gods intercede for mortals in Ravenloft; for better or ill, everyone is on their own to make their own decisions. Clerics brought into Ravenloft from other realms often succumb to depression or even insanity as they lose the 'sense' of their deity's presence.

How Much Technology is in Ravenloft?

It varies by domain and the local Culture Level. Ravenloft can range from domains with no humanoid civilizations at all, to bronze age realms, up to domains in a state akin to the Renaissance.

In those highest Culture Level domains, one might find advanced, mechanical clocks. Basic steam engines are also beginning to appear and at least one steam-powered paddlewheel boat, the River Dancer, plies the waterways.

Firearms exist in Ravenloft in the form of black powder weapons and bombs. Muskets, blunderbusses, pistols, and the like. Semi-automatic weapons, like repeating carbines or revolvers, could conceivably be developed. Autoloaders like a modern Glock are still centuries away and don't fit the theme of the setting.

What are Powers Checks?

As the widget on them states, Powers Checks function as a measure of whether or not the Dark Powers notice villainy. It's not meant to be an arbitrary morality system; Ravenloft is a horror genre, and apart from the dangers to the body, there's also the dangers to the soul. Evil holds a powerful sway in Ravenloft and some spells which require powers checks are empowered to make them more tempting. Falling to one's own vices or rising above them is a core theme to the game, as is how a character handles a friend who begins traveling down a dark path.

Good characters are at the most risk of being noticed when they begin to fall from grace. Perhaps the Dark Powers really do desire to test virtue and pay the most attention to those who claim or exhibit it. When an evil being betrays a confidence, it's part and parcel to their character, but when a good character does, it makes those who look for such things take notice.

Isn't Ravenloft Filled with Undead?

There are a large number of undead creatures in Ravenloft, yes, but they're only one portion of the things that haunt the night. Lycanthropes, hags, fiends, aberrations, and other more monstrous things lurk in the dark corners of the Realm of Dread.

Of note, many monsters in Ravenloft are empowered to a greater degree than in other settings. Don't presume because you've fought one vampire or werewolf that you've fought them all. Overconfidence can be fatal.

"High Fantasy" creatures, like dragons and giants, are comparatively rare in Ravenloft to the point of being mythological. Almost all of them are drawn from other worlds, becoming trapped like anyone else.

For a class, like a Ranger, where choices of Favored Enemy matter, please consult with the DM.

How Can One Escape Ravenloft?

Only with great effort and struggle, for most. It's entirely possible the Dark Powers pull outsiders in for a 'week of hell' style adventure then spit the heroes back out where they came from. Most commonly, the Mists reached out across the multiverse and snatched the person away. Why? No one knows.

There are portals that lead out of Ravenloft but none of them are continuously open. Most only open under certain circumstances, certain times, or if certain conditions come to pass. Even finding a portal can be the topic of an adventure, with a follow-up mission to learn the means of opening it.

On the micro level, every darklord is imprisoned within a domain, and most of them can force others to share in their banishment. When a darklord closes their borders, no mortal magic can pierce it to allow escape. Anyone inside that domain is trapped there until the darklord re-opens the borders.

Who or What are Darklords?

Darklords are the worst of the worst; people, beings, or monsters whose crimes were great enough to warrant the Mists snatching them up and granting them a personalized prison. Each domain functions like a plane unto itself rather than a traditional nation. Darklords aren't victims of anything, though not all will admit that. All of them are there because they damned themselves and almost all of them are doomed to remain there forever. Some seek to escape, and in one realm called Darkon, it's possible they even succeeded, but not all of them are even aware of the fundamental nature of the Realm of Dread.

Darklords aren't distant villains, brooding in their fortresses and waiting for heroes to come to them. Darklords are active in their domains and ruthlessly pursue their agendas. They can offer many boons and grant many favors but no darklord will do so for free. The price is always service of some kind and darklords have no concern for anyone but themselves.

Not every darklord rules openly. Sometimes the darklord rules from behind the scenes or in secret. Some realms have more than one darklord, even. The most obvious target may not be the true darklord; those who pay too much attention to the king might fail to see the shadowy advisor whispering magical commands into the monarch's ear.

Who Knows the "Truth" About Ravenloft?

Given the nature of the Realm of Dread, any learned mage from Faerun or Eberron would quickly learn something was amiss. No such easy body of knowledge exists in Ravenloft, where most people live and die within a mile of where they were born. People certainly sense, at times, that something is "wrong" with their home but then they get back to work. Everyone "knows" that werewolves lurk in the woods to gobble up lost children, but few will ever actually meet one and live to tell the tale. Everyone "knows" that vengeful spirits of dead warriors haunt the bog but few are brave enough to venture out at night to find one. In many domains, the darklord keeps the commoners ignorant and even illiterate, the better to consolidate their control.

Only adventurers and darklords tend to begin to learn the truths behind the planar nature of Ravenloft.

In Ravenloft, Knowledge (Planes) is replaced by Knowledge (Ravenloft). This is a specialized field of knowledge specifically related to the Realm of Terror.