Barovia

Domains of Dread

• Barovia: the first Domain introduced and "foreboding" home of Strahd von Zarovich. This domain was "inspired by Bram Stoker's Dracula".
• Carnival: this domain "wanders the mists" itself, "populated by wild performers and a powerful, living sword".
• Darkon: this domain is "a broken land [...] whose central castle is frozen mid-explosion, its disparate rooms desperately trying to reassemble the whole in mid-air", and "Darkon is now a Domain in decline after the disappearance of the iconic lich Azalin".
• Falkovnia: in its original incarnation, this domain's "Darklord was a fairly basic analog for Vlad the Impaler [...] and it had few defining characteristics beyond being a land ruled by a brutal warlord with a penchant for ultraviolence". In Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, "Falkovnia has been reimagined as a nightmarish Groundhog's Day-style loop, where a struggling nation—which happens to be ruled by a brutal warlord—is endlessly besieged by massive hordes of the walking dead, who just so happen to look like everyone this warlord has ever killed". The Darklord Vladeska "Drakov's ruthless efficiency and relentless perfectionism has turned her into a tyrant. Rather than retreat and save the lives of citizens and soldiers alike, every day she rebuilds the barricades that keep death at bay. Those same walls keep her trapped within".
• Hazlan: this domain is a magocracy ruled by the Red Wizard Hazlik who treats the domain as a "vast magical laboratory". Wes Schneider, lead designer of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, highlighted that "Hazlan's a great example of a Ravenloft domain where the 'technology' behind its horror concept has improved since its origin. [...] Since the '90s, our collective imaginations have expanded on what an evil magic dystopia might look like. [...] Hazlan is a domain where anything wizards could do they've done to the extreme, and they're still doing it, all in the name of magical discovery and with the effects scarring the realm's people and land. This makes it the domain for all manner of weird monsters, amoral experiments, magical contagions, unnatural weather, collapsing reality, meteor showers, mutations, disasters, and so much more".
• Lamordia: this domain "paid homage" to Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. In its original incarnation, Lamordia was a coastal domain with two small settlements and was ruled by Adam, a flesh golem-like creature created by Doctor Victor Mordenheim. In Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, the region is now ruled by Viktra Mordenheim, a mad scientist tormented by her inability to replicate the Unbreakable Heart device that keeps her reborn lover Elise alive, even as Elise flees from her at every turn.