The Horrified board games really live up to their name with Ravensburger’s newest product announcement. On January 28, the publisher shared a spectacularly spooky teaser image for a new Horrified D&D expansion. The community has already fallen in love with the teaser’s deeply upsetting jester figure, but few recognize what kind of monster we’re dealing with. As a long time Dungeons and Dragons player, I happen to know exactly what this thing is.
Meet the Carrionette. Fifth edition players can find it in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, a sourcebook entirely dedicated to scares. A Carrionette begins life as an object (most often a toy) who was crafted with such love that they gain a semblance of sentience. Unfortunately for their well-intentioned creator, Carrionettes don’t want to spend the rest of time as a toy.
Carrionettes play innocent, or they masquerade as an entirely inanimate object. When their human target least expects it, they pounce, using an enormous needle to wrench the person’s soul from their body. The victim becomes trapped in the toy, while the Carrionette takes over their mortal form.
Basically, it’s an evil Pinocchio, and the concept is as gross and unsettling as you’d expect. I wasn’t the biggest fan of this installment of the series when I wrote my Horrified: Dungeons and Dragons review, but maybe a fresh monster to face will change my mind.
We may have sussed out what monster is approaching, but we know much less about the board game itself. It’s unclear whether this will be an expandalone product or an expansion that adds to the first D&D game. All we know is that we can expect to see it release in Fall 2026. Some have speculated that this might be another limited edition Gen Con exclusive, but only time will tell.
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