The Domains of Dread

Ravenband

The Mists take what they desire, and they never give it back.

A gothic horror roguelike. You are trapped in Barovia, and the only way out runs through Castle Ravenloft and the thing that rules it.

Built on the Angband engine, rebuilt around the 1983 module I6 Ravenloft — its castle, its crypts, its darklord. Death is permanent. That is the genre.

Download

Windows Unzip anywhere and run ravenband.exe. No installer. SmartScreen will warn that the publisher is unknown — More info, then Run anyway. Downloadzip · 23.1 MB macOS Universal, Intel and Apple Silicon. Drag to Applications. Unsigned, so the first launch needs right-click then Open. Downloaddmg · 24.2 MB Linux x86-64 Terminal build. Extract and run ./RUN.sh; needs ncurses and a UTF-8 locale. Downloadtar.gz · 22.7 MB Linux ARM64 Same build for aarch64 — Raspberry Pi, ARM servers, ARM laptops. Downloadtar.gz · 22.7 MB Source Full C source and game data, GPL v2. Autotools or CMake. The 17 MB Shockbolt tile sheet is omitted; the game plays in ASCII without it. Downloadtar.gz · 8.3 MB

The castle runs both ways

village
Village of Barovia
1 – 4
The Catacombs
5 – 9
The Dungeon of Ravenloft
10 – 14
The Larders of Ill Omen
15 – 24
Castle Ravenloft
25 – 34
The Court of the Count
35 – 46
The Rooms of Weeping
47 – 60
The Spires and the Parapet
61 – 99
The Northtower, then the Hightower
100
Strahd's Throne

Ravenloft is vertical in both directions — crypts beneath, spires above. You enter through the graves and climb out through the towers, so > always means further in, whether that is down or up.

Enough to start

↑↓←→Move. Walk into a monster to attack it.
gPick up what you are standing on.
iInventory. e for what you are wearing.
wWear or wield. t to take off.
RRest until healed. Costs game time, not yours.
vThrow. Flasks of oil are the best early weapon.
>Further into the castle. < back toward the village.
?Everything else.