Curse of Strahd

5 out of 5 rating for Curse of Strahd

Excellent adventure that strikes a nostalgic cord with me from my 2e Ravenloft days. The pull out map was a nice addition and Strahd again feels like a menacing figure that's it's like a cat toying with a mouse.

4 out of 5 rating for Curse of Strahd

The book looks great and is full of lots of information. I like the card reading and how it determines the location of important elements in the story. The tips for running a horror-themed adventure are nice too. If you are unsure if you or your group would enjoy a fantasy-horror adventure you can give Death House a try. It is a great way to introduce you and your players to the setting and genre of this module. This may not be for newer DMs as it is very much a sandbox. You need to be comfortable with that and the possibilities it will introduce and open up to your players.

5 out of 5 rating for Curse of Strahd

If you've played the original Ravenloft adventure, you probably thought to yourself, "Gee this is really great, but it's so short. There could be a lot more here." The Curse of Strahd is the long-awaited (as far as I'm concerned, anyway) solution to that. It is the full original adventure, with a lot more content fleshed out. Instead getting to the climatic end right away, you will have a lot more to do in a much bigger Barovia. And the original content is much more cohesive and descriptive while not losing any of the original substance. It's a great adventure, and one of the best parts of it is the ambiance and Gothic setting. The writers did a fantastic job placing the adventurers into the setting and giving everything that classic Barovia creepy feeling.

5 out of 5 rating for Curse of Strahd

I've just finished my first session of this and it's hands down all the players favourite 5e adventure from WOTC so far. Everything in the campaign drives the story forward - the random encounters are all interesting and have direct ties to the story and aren't all combat based, the setting is very evocative, NPCs are interesting, etc. Highly recommended for people who have found other campaigns too combat heavy.

5 out of 5 rating for Curse of Strahd

This adventure is a 5e update and expansion of the classic I6, and it is very well done. It is a sandbox format with great maps and art. I especially like the removable map in the back. I like the direction of the last three offerings from Wizards; the adventures are basically mini-settings and are not run on rails, giving the players a great degree of freedom while simultaneously providing good flavor and a robust story-line. The encounters, monsters, NPCs and locales in Curse of Strahd are interesting and lend themselves to intense combat and immersive roleplaying. This is a good buy and makes for an excellent campaign.

5 out of 5 rating for Curse of Strahd

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the entirety of this book from cover to cover. The production quality of the book is top notch, consistent with all of the 5th edition core books thus far, and nearly all the artwork is outstanding.This campaign setting has the entirety of the original I6 Ravenloft and it stays true to those roots with all of the other "sand-boxy" areas to explore. I believe that anyone reading this will agree with the statements of Tracy Hickman and Chris Perkins that this book gives you full setting that stays true to it's Ravenloft roots. You do see a world where everyone and everything suffers under the 'curse of Strahd'. Strahd is first and foremost in all that exists in Barovia, as it should be.By FAR, the BEST written and well thought out campaign book yet for 5th Edition.BTW, I would highly recommend the $10 set of Tarroka cards released by Gale Force Nine. They are a perfect companion; all cards can be viewed within this book.

5 out of 5 rating for Curse of Strahd

Pro: The Valley of Barovia perfect small area for players to muck about and establish familiar relationships with many characters, places and friends and foes. I've never had a group so bought in to the setting and back story.
Con: The Castle Ravenloft still has maps of stairways that are exceedingly difficult for a DM to parse in the heat of the moment.

4 out of 5 rating for Curse of Strahd

Curse of Strahd is at once the strongest of the official Dungeons & Dragons adventures, and a slightly worrying business move; hopefully this doesn’t signal a shift towards retelling classic modules in order to bump up the sales numbers. Assuming that isn’t the case, there literally isn’t a better module for Wizards of the Coast to retell, since I6 Ravenloft ranked among the best modules of all time, and Curse truly takes the necessary steps to improve on it, rather than simply repackaging old material. What you’re getting is the iconic Ravenloft adventure featuring Strahd von Zarovich’s Castle Ravenloft and the haunted village of Barovia, but with the tragic backstory spread over a bigger playing field that presents hundreds of new mysteries, encounters, and possibilities. It sheds new light on the classic story and challenges players with new, engaging material. Best of all, the concept of “replayability” present in the original module through the Fortunes of Ravenloft Tarokka card drawing is back, and that means you never know who’s your greatest ally, where the secrets to defeating Strahd might lay, and ultimately, where Strahd will reveal himself for the inevitable epic battle at the adventure’s climax.

Rating: Content 4/5 and Form 4/5.

Read the full review on neuronphaser.com!

5 out of 5 rating for Curse of Strahd

I've been running this adventure for a few months now (one session per 2 weeks). It's not easy to prepare and run well, but it's well worth it for DM and players alike. Every session, I have lots of potential plot-twists and so on to think about, based on what's gone before, and what may lie ahead (including "what's Strahd up to now?") Three of us have been payers in the 3.5 version of this, while one played the 1e original three times; we all love this version for its new content and overall tone, as well as the classic Castle part which really is a big sandbox in and of itself.

While the potential for TPK abounds, my players navigated the "pre-amble" pretty easily (just a few minor NPC deaths). Once at the castle, one PC betrayed the rest (too many Vestiges taken on at the Amber Temple), and we had 2 PC deaths and the rest escaped on about 1 hp each - a vintage moment, leading to one returning as a Revenant, the other being Raised, and the turn-coat replaced by a player taking over van Richten.

My advice is simply to embrace the complexity and scope of the adventure as written, focus on the bits you and your players will enjoy the most (we skipped at least 3 locations), and be prepared to alter and/or enhance pieces based on your players and their PCs and their actions... there are so many good bits as written, but also so many more possibilities for putting the PC's into situations where it's not clear what to do, where the odds are stacked, and so on... basically, take the opportunity to make the players uncomfortable where you can (not all the time), and it can be very fun for all. Play on all the weird and dodgy NPC's, enjoy the role-play moments even against 'monsters' which the PC's may or may not kill (e.g. Baba Lysaga fought the PC's, but surrendered and made a bargain to save her life). In particular, be sure to make sure Strahd plays "cat and mouse" a bit once they hit the castle - the PC's are his new toys, be sure to make the most of it, before they finally get a chance to finish him.

It's an excellent expansion to the original, just be sure to read it well, then re-read the relevant sections at least once before each session. It's potential for excellence is really only limited by the DM and Players' willingness to embrace its style of play and make the most of it (i.e. not 'kick in the door and kill the bad guys').

5 out of 5 rating for Curse of Strahd

Having played the original back in the early 90s, where the party not only split, split by melee classes in one group, casters in another - TPK soon after, I was looking forward to an updated tale for 5e. The adventure does an admirable job in doing so! I've enjoyed going through the book as I prepped to run it and have the tarokka deck from GF9 as well.