The Apparatus of the Alchemist

Wed, 06 May 2026 08:00:00 +0000

Cover art from I10 Ravenloft II: The House on Gryphon Hill. Art by Clyde Caldwell, TSR Inc., 1986.

A Source Analysis of I10 Ravenloft II: The House on Gryphon Hill

The Apparatus of Gryphon Hill is treated in almost every discussion of I10 as a plot device: the thing the players must locate and activate to defeat the Creature and end the adventure. This article examines it as a subject in its own right.

The Holy Symbol of Ravenkind

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 17:11:13 +0000

The Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, reconstructed after Christie Golden's description in Vampire of the Mists and the appendix of I6 Ravenloft.

Much of what has been published about the origin of the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind since 1991 contradicts the primary sources.

Later editions have replaced the original account with invented backstories. The true origin of the Holy Symbol is laid out in the prologue of Christie Golden's Vampire of the Mists, the first Ravenloft novel, which works directly from I6 and the Realm of Terror boxset. What she produced was one of the finest pieces of Ravenloft fiction ever written. Its prologue is an extraordinary piece of source material: vivid, detailed, and entirely untouched by Strahd's influence.

Artefacts on Vaults of the ODD

The Apparatus of the Alchemist

The Holy Symbol of Ravenkind