I ran this campaign March-December last year. Here are my thoughts:
1) I was really, really hoping they'd take the opportunity to get rid of the stupid joke names on the crypts beneath Castle Ravenloft. Horror has room for humor--may even require it--but it has to be the right kind of humor. Humor to lighten the mood, not destroy it. Those joke names literally belong on tombstones outside Disney's haunted mansion.
Correct, although some are worse than others. Mostly though, I tweaked and/or said then with a "Barovian Accent", and it wasn't a big deal.
2) Did I miss something, or did the adventure never reveal who stole the champagne "seed" from the winery? The mad druids have one. Baba Lyssaga has one. But the third, the one for which the wereraven who owns the place blames his son? I never saw any talk of where it actually ended up, or who took it.
Correct - as written, the PC's can only find two of the three missing gems. If they really care, you can make something up for the third one. But chances are, you'll be lucky if the PC's make it a priority to find even two gems - in my game, they found two, but the second (in the Hut) was more through doing other stuff not actively chasing it down.
3) The Amber Temple. No. Just... No. There are some cool ideas there, but the implication that the vestiges trapped within are the mysterious Dark Powers, the beings who made the pact with Strahd and tore Barovia off into its own demiplane? No. Leaving aside the fact that the Dark Powers should never be defined--it ruins the mystique--there is nothing about the vestiges to suggest they're powerful enough to accomplish something like that. It doesn't work, on either an in-game or meta level. (Also, I really dislike the "disposable lich NPC around every corner" trope we see in so many D&D adventures, but that's a separate issue.)
Well, my players got a lot of fun out of the Amber Temple, including multiple PC's being temped by and taking on at least one vestige - one even (later) became an evil NPC in league with Strahd. So from a "did it add value" point of view, the Amber Temple was pretty good (and a welcome change of pace, in terms of venue and location). The exact nature of the back-story etc, is up to us as DM to decide, in terms of how much you reveal, and also how much the players really care to try and find out. We all just took it at face value, a creepy place with some tough fight(s), and it was good.
4) I haven't run the numbers, but I'm a bit concerned that Strahd--for all his cool powers, and all the great ways he can/should be run--may not do enough damage for his CR. That's just a nitpick, though.
I used someone's slight "power up" version of Strahd, but to be honest it wasn't a big deal either way. When they first met him it was pure talk, then a few times early on he didn't stick around long if it came to blows and after a while it was getting to be a bit of a joke how quickly they could "nova" him and force him to back off (with some minions stepping in, if not already there). Once they got the the castle, it was all on and his Lair actions as well as his knowledge of the castle mean it's up to you as DM to make sure that Strahd meets and fights on his own terms, where he is very tough. This includes having multiple allies on his side, because just him vs the PC's is never going to work out well.
So in my game, Strahd first ambushed them when they went to the Throne Room which was where the Sword was - Strahd had Rahadin with him, and also a PC turn-cloak; I killed two PC's (carried one off), and TPK was only saved through the other 3 PC's running away (my players all know how I operate - it's up to them to avoid an imminent TPK, not me). The PC's them took their time exploring the upper levels, destroyed the Heart, took out Rahadin, and so on. When they finally got their big shown-down, Strahd still had multiple allies arrive just as the PC's attacked - his Brides, rat swarms, and so on. And I was very sure to make good use of hit and run tactics, get out of sunlight effects, and so on. I killed just one PC, almost one or two others, but eventually the PC's prevailed in a fight that took a whole session. It all boiled down to me, as DM, being sure I understood how to keep Strahd alive, and make sure it never became multiple PC's vs just him.
Very much like a game of chess, really, where Strahd is the King.
1) I was really, really hoping they'd take the opportunity to get rid of the stupid joke names on the crypts beneath Castle Ravenloft. Horror has room for humor--may even require it--but it has to be the right kind of humor. Humor to lighten the mood, not destroy it. Those joke names literally belong on tombstones outside Disney's haunted mansion.
Correct, although some are worse than others. Mostly though, I tweaked and/or said then with a "Barovian Accent", and it wasn't a big deal.
2) Did I miss something, or did the adventure never reveal who stole the champagne "seed" from the winery? The mad druids have one. Baba Lyssaga has one. But the third, the one for which the wereraven who owns the place blames his son? I never saw any talk of where it actually ended up, or who took it.
Correct - as written, the PC's can only find two of the three missing gems. If they really care, you can make something up for the third one. But chances are, you'll be lucky if the PC's make it a priority to find even two gems - in my game, they found two, but the second (in the Hut) was more through doing other stuff not actively chasing it down.
3) The Amber Temple. No. Just... No. There are some cool ideas there, but the implication that the vestiges trapped within are the mysterious Dark Powers, the beings who made the pact with Strahd and tore Barovia off into its own demiplane? No. Leaving aside the fact that the Dark Powers should never be defined--it ruins the mystique--there is nothing about the vestiges to suggest they're powerful enough to accomplish something like that. It doesn't work, on either an in-game or meta level. (Also, I really dislike the "disposable lich NPC around every corner" trope we see in so many D&D adventures, but that's a separate issue.)
Well, my players got a lot of fun out of the Amber Temple, including multiple PC's being temped by and taking on at least one vestige - one even (later) became an evil NPC in league with Strahd. So from a "did it add value" point of view, the Amber Temple was pretty good (and a welcome change of pace, in terms of venue and location). The exact nature of the back-story etc, is up to us as DM to decide, in terms of how much you reveal, and also how much the players really care to try and find out. We all just took it at face value, a creepy place with some tough fight(s), and it was good.
4) I haven't run the numbers, but I'm a bit concerned that Strahd--for all his cool powers, and all the great ways he can/should be run--may not do enough damage for his CR. That's just a nitpick, though.
I used someone's slight "power up" version of Strahd, but to be honest it wasn't a big deal either way. When they first met him it was pure talk, then a few times early on he didn't stick around long if it came to blows and after a while it was getting to be a bit of a joke how quickly they could "nova" him and force him to back off (with some minions stepping in, if not already there). Once they got the the castle, it was all on and his Lair actions as well as his knowledge of the castle mean it's up to you as DM to make sure that Strahd meets and fights on his own terms, where he is very tough. This includes having multiple allies on his side, because just him vs the PC's is never going to work out well.
So in my game, Strahd first ambushed them when they went to the Throne Room which was where the Sword was - Strahd had Rahadin with him, and also a PC turn-cloak; I killed two PC's (carried one off), and TPK was only saved through the other 3 PC's running away (my players all know how I operate - it's up to them to avoid an imminent TPK, not me). The PC's them took their time exploring the upper levels, destroyed the Heart, took out Rahadin, and so on. When they finally got their big shown-down, Strahd still had multiple allies arrive just as the PC's attacked - his Brides, rat swarms, and so on. And I was very sure to make good use of hit and run tactics, get out of sunlight effects, and so on. I killed just one PC, almost one or two others, but eventually the PC's prevailed in a fight that took a whole session. It all boiled down to me, as DM, being sure I understood how to keep Strahd alive, and make sure it never became multiple PC's vs just him.
Very much like a game of chess, really, where Strahd is the King.
