D&D 5E CoS: frequency of going to the Castle (minor spoilers)

CapnZapp · Mar 25, 2017

This is definitely a weakness in the module. Players will quite naturally assume the castle is dangerous, and/or that they need to prepare for a showdown with Strahd.

In order to combat this, the module needed to be a bit heavier handed.

An invitation is essential - a wedding or perhaps a grand ball; something that other villagers can clearly tell the party will be a fairly unthreatening social event.

(Sneaking away to explore is of course another matter)

Problem is most reasons to visit are randomly generated through Eva's reading. This makes the module weaker. I would have wanted a fixed scenario at the castle, with example events that can happen at the festivities and around it.

Have NPCs be invited. Have NPCs survive unscathed, to rationalize their lack of fear. On the other hand, have NPCs tell the players Strahd will react badly to a "no", perhaps talking about people that didn't go and were attacked by wolves that night...

Yes, this instance is definitely a case where a bit of railroad isn't wrong; much of the module's atmosphere hinges on interacting socially with Strahd & Co, and nervous/cynical players will need a bit of prodding to overcome their entirely reasonable misgivings into entering a Vampire's Castle of their own free will.

Savage Wombat · Mar 25, 2017

CapnZapp said:
An invitation is essential - a wedding or perhaps a grand ball; something that other villagers can clearly tell the party will be a fairly unthreatening social event.

An invitation with a specific date, in fact. So it's not a "drop by when you're ready" but a "Your presence is expected at".

UngeheuerLich · Mar 25, 2017

Remember that until level 10 or so PCs may only live in strahd's domain because he allows them to live. If he wants to kill them there is noone powerful enough to save them. So let them go in as often as it is appropriate. Depending on treasure placement and behaviour vs strahd. He may send them more than one invitation. He may never send them one.

GlassJaw · Mar 26, 2017

Lots of good stuff in this thread. Thanks all - very helpful. Exactly some of the things I've been trying to figure out.

The main reason I started thinking about this issue was if the treasures are located in his castle. The castle as written is pretty brutal at level, never mind for a less experienced group. I'm concerned that a group would feel they needed to go to his castle to retrieve one of the treasures before they were ready and it would be a TPK.

I do like the invitation idea, as it gives the players the opportunity to see Strahd's personality, and perhaps introduce Strahd in a way the player didn't expect.

For that have give the players an invitation, how did you handle roaming the castle? Or did you just have the players led by Rahadin? What did you do if they wanted to sneak off to find the treasure? Scale back difficultly? That seems like a tough task, and not in the spirit of the module.

Honestly, my real issue is with the treasures being the castle. Seems that either the players will go after them before they are ready or have to wait until the end of the module to find them and use them? To me, the strength of CoS is exploring the land of Barovia, finding the treasure and then taking the fight to Strahd. I also want the players to actually be able to find and use the treasures through a portion of the module.

ad_hoc · Mar 26, 2017

GlassJaw said:
Honestly, my real issue is with the treasures being the castle. Seems that either the players will go after them before they are ready or have to wait until the end of the module to find them and use them? To me, the strength of CoS is exploring the land of Barovia, finding the treasure and then taking the fight to Strahd. I also want the players to actually be able to find and use the treasures through a portion of the module.

My solution is to redraw if more than 1 treasure/ally is in the same location.

That goes not just for the castle but anywhere else. There are a lot of locations where 2 or 3 treasures/ally could be if the draw worked out that way. That's not a lot of fun.

Odds are that 1 thing will be in the castle. I think that's fine.

SwivSnapshot · Mar 26, 2017

GlassJaw said:
For that have give the players an invitation, how did you handle roaming the castle? Or did you just have the players led by Rahadin? What did you do if they wanted to sneak off to find the treasure? Scale back difficultly? That seems like a tough task, and not in the spirit of the module.

Rahadin gave them a short tour of the public areas of the castle- the chapel and the throne room- after they dined with Strahd, but denied them access to the catacombs or Strahd's private quarters. What better way to convince players into thinking something is being hidden from them?

My Rahadin as played is very overprotective of Strahd and very uptight- someone who would murder all of women and children dusk elves without question or regret- so everytime a PC tried to stray he became very threatening.

CapnZapp · Mar 26, 2017

GlassJaw said:
To me, the strength of CoS is exploring the land of Barovia, finding the treasure and then taking the fight to Strahd. I also want the players to actually be able to find and use the treasures through a portion of the module.

This is why random placements is a bad idea for any group intending to run the adventure only once.

The module really needed a "default reading" at Madame Eva's, where the module writer lays down a "good enough" distribution of where stuff is.

You will find such threads here at ENWorld, where posters give their recommendations. But I wanted this to be right in the hardback.

Savage Wombat · Mar 26, 2017

Did we ever do a thread suggesting what the "best placements" would be for the items?

Mercule · Mar 26, 2017

Savage Wombat said:
Did we ever do a thread suggesting what the "best placements" would be for the items?

It's be interested in this. The hints from the original I6 reading were pretty vague -- like to the point of being useless. I'd love to hear others' experience in CoS and items.

Sent from my iPhone using EN World mobile app

SwivSnapshot · Mar 26, 2017

Mercule said:
It's be interested in this. The hints from the original I6 reading were pretty vague -- like to the point of being useless. I'd love to hear others' experience in CoS and items.

Sent from my iPhone using EN World mobile app

It came up in at least 1 of the Tarokka Deck threads that I followed-

CoS-Ideal-Tarokka-Reading-Storywise

D&D 5E CoS: frequency of going to the Castle (minor spoilers)

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