Disclaimer II: The majority of this review is opinion; your actual enjoyment of this product should vary accordingly.

Ravenloft has been Dungeons & Dragons dark sibling since Tracy Hickman came out with the first Ravenloft adventure, I6: Ravenloft. With a minor sequel, The House on Gryphon Hill, Ravenloft was almost doomed to nostalgia until Bruce Heard and Andria Hayday expanded its Gothic roots into a well received setting. Its continued success helped pave the way for more supplements and accessories for the setting. Though with a hardback setting book, Domains of Dread, Ravenloft was doomed-until the licensing gurus at White Wolf decided to save it. Unfortunately, Domains of Dread was used as a template for continuing the line.

Domains of Dread undid a lot of the ground work from the first two Ravenloft boxed sets, adding too much normal fantasy and taking away from its more Gothic feel. While not bad, it didn't present the best face of Ravenloft. It was left to the 3e Ravenloft team to catch all the errors and fix them, or so it seemed. Ravenloft's campaign setting wasn't that great of a book, reveling to much to the player and not leaving much for the referee.

This book hopes to rectify that mistake by putting things back into the hands of the referee without kicking the Ravenloft player to the side (just check out the numerous references to the Ravenloft Player's Handbook littered throughout this text).

Ravenloft Dungeon Masters are the dark powers that control the interaction of the domain's various darklords, denizens and drones with the player. To get this across, the book first sets its sights on the makeup of each domain within the Realm of Terror. Each domain is given a lengthy paragraph (and notes that more detail is found in the Gazetteer series) that covers the darklord and its curse. This mark a starting point where the referee can see who/what the player characters may encounter in regards of a confrontation with the domain's darklord (or should they catch the darklords interest). A later portion of the book details how each domain may form the starting point of a new Ravenloft game, or which might frighten players more with some of the setting's more esoteric realms.

In its first boxed set edition, Ravenloft presented thirteen techniques of terror to add to your campaign, this book re-presents those techniques, though updated slightly from its original vision. Actually, the book has these techniques folded into a chapter about running a Ravenloft game (whether it be a weekend or lengthy campaign). The sets its self up to follow those from the classic box set, but adds details on how to craft a NPC's voice, or how using movie cross-cutting and flash scenes add to the setting. Following that are more details on the cultural levels within the Realm of Dread. Basically a brief rundown of what should be expected from the NPCs in a given level, and how technology (i.e.: equipment) should vary in the extreme ranges.

The book details a new NPC class, the Prophet, designed to add to the mystery of the setting by having walking soothsayers and wandering auguries. The class is a bit akin to the Adept, but is more focused on the role of seer and mystic. As it is basically there to point the players in the right direction, the Prophet ties in neatly to the whole of Ravenloft prophecy as it relates to game play. Ravenloft likes the idea of free will, and with player characters being the largest collection of willed individuals, prophecy in the Dread Domain is sketchy, at best, unnerving at the worst. The Ravenloft Dungeon Master's Guide has a chapter full of tarot card-like readings, the setting's Tarokka, which may or may not play the characters into Fate's hand (or DM fiat). Several pages are filled with the deck's images and details on each card, detail that seems easy enough to comeby by picking up a more focused Tarot book or two. As the card descriptions really don't add much to the rules of prophecy, just gives it interesting window dressing.

One of the neater aspects of the Ravenloft Dungeon Master's Guide are the rules for Sinkholes of Evil, places where hideous acts have affected the surrounding land. With five ranks that can change the way a place feels and penalize certain dice actions (like Turn Undead and some Will saves). Sinkholes are also tainted by dark passions that helped form them. The books also lists what types of creatures may inhabit one of the tainted places. Characters may go mad by spending too much time in the vicinity of a sinkhole as well; careful use of this setting piece is recommended, as overuse may send players running away from Ravenloft.

The book is rounded out with details on the twisting of magic within the setting, as certain things, like detect alignment, don't function as they would in a regular D&D setting. This of course points back to the Ravenloft Player's Handbook, but does offer new artifacts (and updates old olds) and new magic items.

Overall, the Ravenloft Dungeon Master's Guide is a nice book to add some gothic elements to your regular fantasy games (even some of the more pesky d20 system ones). As a fan of the original box set, I feel that this book gives back to the DM that has invested a decent amount of time in crafting their Ravenloft game. Less referencing to the Ravenloft Player's Handbook would have been a plus, as the bold face notes stand out and make me wish I had a copy nearby. Designed mostly for the Ravenloft core audience, this book adds nothing that the original fans wouldn't have encountered before, though it does update the setting to match the Revised Dungeons & Dragons (3.5) rules.