As a player, I'm going to be playing the Curse of Strahd with my play group. Because the DM is busy, and I enjoy doing this sort of thing, I offered to provide the other players with a primer on the setting of Ravenloft (to set the aesthetic help with character building, etc) but I'm having trouble finding good resources to answer my questions.
When I was playing in various 4e settings (Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, etc) I'd pick up the relevant "Campaign setting" book, and get a great feel for the world letting me play characters that fit the world better, understand how my character is affected by the world around them, and so on. I can't seem to find a similar resource for Ravenloft. I began to flip through the Curse of Strahd 5e book but quickly realized it had very little non-spoilerific campaign details, so I avoided looking closer. Any advice? I realize our PCs will be dragged into the world from wherever they come from, but worldbuilding questions like:
- What races are present?
- How are clerics or paladins affected by being removed from the world where their god dwells and has dominion?
- How do the locals dress? How do they talk? What's the level of technology?
keep springing up to me and I'm not sure where to look for answers.