Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft

I finally got my hands on a copy of this (with the special cover, too!) and have been very, very slowly making my way through it (I've been busy...) and it has a lot of advice on how to keep an actual horror themed RP going. And I mean, the advice is fine, but also like... given the nature of D&D games, it just seems sort of... impossible? Like games inevitably fall into gigglefits, that's just how they are. It may be the lowest common denominator of these games, or at least all of the ones I've played. It seems like you'd have to choose players even more carefully than the typical game if you wanted to keep a serious, scary vibe.

However, the new lineages? badass, love them. Free unlimited spider climb, the best ability in the game, may mean I never play anything but a damphir again.