D&D 5E Curse of Strahd (and limitations on 1st level play)

[Retreater]

@Retreater I think you’re missing a key piece of information in your OP… are the players enjoying it? If they are, it really doesnt matter if they’re running away.

They are getting very frustrated.

I would award XP for surviving encounters. Sometimes that’s a success all in itself.

They have only survived because of 1) deus ex machina (someone comes to save them) or 2) the enemies are just playing with them and there's no actual threat.

Where are the players running too? Nowhere in Barovia is safe. If they retreat to the forest - the forest is full of dangers. Do they flee down the road - they reach Valaki. Do they flee into the moors - well they reach the Windmill.

Yeah. They're hoping to make it to the Abbey, where they think the Abbot will protect them.
Constantly they're complaining about how they got "duped" into coming to Barovia and are seeking a way to escape. Which is good - kinda the point, right? But then I'm also wondering how much of that is actually the players (and not just the characters).
Two of the players are legitimately searching for side quests so they can "level up" enough to go on the adventure. Only there's not actually an opportunity for that - since they've run away from the Death House.

 

[Charlaquin]

They are getting very frustrated.


They have only survived because of 1) deus ex machina (someone comes to save them) or 2) the enemies are just playing with them and there's no actual threat.


Yeah. They're hoping to make it to the Abbey, where they think the Abbot will protect them.
Constantly they're complaining about how they got "duped" into coming to Barovia and are seeking a way to escape. Which is good - kinda the point, right? But then I'm also wondering how much of that is actually the players (and not just the characters).
Two of the players are legitimately searching for side quests so they can "level up" enough to go on the adventure. Only there's not actually an opportunity for that - since they've run away from the Death House.

Ah, ok, that does cast things in a different light. In that case, I’d give them what they’re looking for. Toss them a nice easy 1st level sidequest (who cares if it’s part of the module) and get them some levels.

 

[pukunui]

I would skip the Death House personally. It's only going to make things worse, as your players will become too afraid of even walking through a door.

I would suggest having them run into some friendly Vistani who steer them back to the camp where Madam Eva is. Maybe she can give them some relatively "safe" tasks to do to prove themselves (i.e. make it to 3rd level) before she decides they're the ones and gives them the tarokka reading.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I would skip the Death House personally. It's only going to make things worse, as your players will become too afraid of even walking through a door.

I would suggest having them run into some friendly Vistani who steer them back to the camp where Madam Eva is. Maybe she can give them some relatively "safe" tasks to do to prove themselves (i.e. make it to 3rd level) before she decides they're the ones and gives them the tarokka reading.

This is a great idea. Making the Vistani camp a source for a few little side quests can give them a safe harbor against the darkness and a connection to the world.

 

[MGibster]

The group is running away from every challenge, accomplishing no story progress, defeating no threats, etc. I was going to keep up with XP behind the screen to have an idea of when to advance their levels (along with milestone). In three sessions, they've earned 80 XP.

This can happen sometimes in horror games. I once started a Call of Chtulhu campaign and the Investigators went out of their way not to read any spooky tomes, call the police at the first sign of trouble, and to burn down the haunted house rather than investigate. While I realize all of these actions might be reasonable depending on the specifics, it was stifling the game, and rather than come up with an ingame solution I just spoke with the players: "This is a horror game, bad things are going to happen to your charactesr and to NPCs, and once you accept this I think you'll find the game is a lot more fun to play."

 

[Vaalingrade]

The core quetion, especially seeing as how acting as horror protagonists is frustrating them is... do that want to be playing a horror campaign?

 

[Swarmkeeper]

Is this the same group that was twinning fireballs and using a wand of reverse gravity in a previous campaign of yours?

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

This can happen sometimes in horror games. I once started a Call of Chtulhu campaign and the Investigators went out of their way not to read any spooky tomes, call the police at the first sign of trouble, and to burn down the haunted house rather than investigate. While I realize all of these actions might be reasonable depending on the specifics, it was stifling the game, and rather than come up with an ingame solution I just spoke with the players: "This is a horror game, bad things are going to happen to your charactesr and to NPCs, and once you accept this I think you'll find the game is a lot more fun to play."

I feel like with games like Call of Cthulhu, the reputation precedes it. The tropes are so well-established, you have people actively avoiding activities that help the story go forward, especially if they're familiar with the sources.

I do think this is one time where metagaming can have a positive benefit. You asked your players to just put everything they know away, and almost let the challenge be how they survive after poking the bear.

In a similar way, I've been working on ways in games to break the 'don't split the party' BS. It makes sense in some settings - say you're at Camp Crystal Lake and there's a stalker - but in other settings? For example, D&D - Waterdeep or Neverwinter are perfectly safe cities generally speaking to run your own errands. In modern games, same thing - especially in eras of cellphones, you can cover so much more investigative ground in character. When's the last time you've spent 24 hours with four close friends, running around your own town doing errands - odds are good, it's pretty negligible.

 

[MGibster]

In a similar way, I've been working on ways in games to break the 'don't split the party' BS. It makes sense in some settings - say you're at Camp Crystal Lake and there's a stalker - but in other settings? For example, D&D - Waterdeep or Neverwinter are perfectly safe cities generally speaking to run your own errands.

Ha! The other night, in our Night's Black Agents game, one of the players was fretting over splitting the party as one group headed to point A and the other to point B. After a few minutes of discussion, another player piped up with, "This isn't D&D. It's okay to split the party."

 

[toucanbuzz]

I love the way my friend used Death House to get us into a non-Ravenloft horror game. We were all kids who grew up in an orphanage together, including a brother and sister NPC. Some bullies said we wouldn't go spend the night in this infamous haunted house, the Wycker House. Since we weren't allowed out after curfew, we (as ten year olds) went to the House anyway to prove those bullies wrong....

I love this one!