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

[James Gasik]

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."

My third session of coc went like this, we were ordinary people gathered to read the will of our mentor. Police warned us about crazy cultists attacking people and beheading them and warned us not to leave the hotel. So we didn't. All weekend. The GM was annoyed, to say the least.

 

[James Gasik]

I like the concept behind Death House, but the execution is botched in so many ways.

 

[Quickleaf]

Yeah, Death House is notoriously a character grinder. It's not the main reason I wrote Beast of Graenseskov (the main reason was I loved the setting and wanted to write a great mystery adventure for D&D), but Death House was one of the things that made me want a different intro to Barovia.

You might try a completely different XP system, if you all are up for it. I've kind of become enamored by Judd Karlman's "Bingo Style XP" for the way it incorporates player group ideas & core campaign conceits:

Bingo Style Experience Points

My first post about the Bingo Style Experience Points variant for D&D. Please check out the follow-up linked at the bottom of the page.

githyankidiaspora.com

If you don't like the "players level at different" times, just require them to fill a number of rows/columns/diagonals = the # of PCs before the party can level up.

 

[James Gasik]

This is what I get for posting on my phone, I didn't even intend to make this post, lol.

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

My third session of coc went like this, we were ordinary people gathered to read the will of our mentor. Police warned us about crazy cultists attacking people and beheading them and warned us not to leave the hotel. So we didn't. All weekend. The GM was annoyed, to say the least.

To me, this can be the problem with CoC. In ways, some sessions/adventures require not just suspension of disbelief, but for characters to not act like 'normal people coming to the reading of the will'. I'd guess most of us, if we were in town for a funeral and reading of the will, and the police came to us and warned us there are lunatics on the prowl, or even criminals targetting strangers, to stay in and lock the door, we would.

That scenario should lead to something like the movie 1408, being trapped inside the hotel and being unable to leave

 

[Retreater]

Yeah, when I ran CoS, I immediately regretted using the Amber Temple section. It's tonally dissonant when compared to the rest of the campaign material, I think.

I had a pretty good time with the Amber Temple the first time I ran it. But I put a different spin on it. It was basically the home of the Dark Powers and a way to travel to different Domains of Dread (or become corrupted yourself).

 

[jdrakeh]

I had a pretty good time with the Amber Temple the first time I ran it. But I put a different spin on it. It was basically the home of the Dark Powers and a way to travel to different Domains of Dread (or become corrupted yourself).

And that's probably a valid way to run it. As written, it's really just a magic market for weird powers with high potential for bad mutations. Which, for me, was so tonally different than the rest of the campaign as to be goofy. If I ran it again, I'd pretty much re-write that entire chapter of the campaign. Or just drop it.

 

[overgeeked]

To me, this can be the problem with CoC. In ways, some sessions/adventures require not just suspension of disbelief, but for characters to not act like 'normal people coming to the reading of the will'. I'd guess most of us, if we were in town for a funeral and reading of the will, and the police came to us and warned us there are lunatics on the prowl, or even criminals targetting strangers, to stay in and lock the door, we would.

That scenario should lead to something like the movie 1408, being trapped inside the hotel and being unable to leave

That falls under the Call of Cthulhu equivalent of “make an adventurer”. PCs are not normal people. They’re the ones who poke and prod, sneak and scrape their way into trouble constantly. Hiding in your hotel is what NPCs do, not PCs. It’s the equivalent of playing a shopkeeper in D&D then pretending to be surprised when the DM is annoyed. “It’s what my character would do.” Okay. Make a better character. One that fits the game you agreed to play.

 

[MGibster]

That falls under the Call of Cthulhu equivalent of “make an adventurer”. PCs are not normal people. They’re the ones who poke and prod, sneak and scrape their way into trouble constantly. Hiding in your hotel is what NPCs do, not PCs. It’s the equivalent of playing a shopkeeper in D&D then pretending to be surprised when the DM is annoyed. “It’s what my character would do.” Okay. Make a better character. One that fits the game you agreed to play.

Yeah. Investigators are "normal" people in the sense that they don't have any cool powers or abilities. But for the game to work, the Investigators have to be the type of people who have some motivation to investigate.

 

[Stormdale]

I know it probaby isn’t a popular option but CoS is a very poorly executed adventure. The original Ravenloft was great and designed for levels 5-7. Padding it out and making it for levels 1-10 was a bad, bad decision which simpy makes a very frustrating experience for many players (including me). You are sucked into Ravenloft but sorry, you can’t do anythting about it till you grind your way up to approriate level to deal with the actual adventure, WTF!

I get very frustrated when adventures set up a situation then do not allow you to actually deal with it till you’ve been dragged though numerous sidequests.

Better IMO to use it as intended as a self contained module later in a campaign (after lost mones as has been suggested for instance) with characters of appropriate levels for the damn adventure who have been sucked into the mists....

Sorry, not a major solution, just a gripe about the design of this one.