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General Tabletop Discussion
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Enhancing "Curse of Strahd" (and DDAL adventures)
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<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 7103071" data-attributes="member: 7006"><p>You have a lot of great ideas on how to make the story of your campaign your own, so continue working in that direction.</p><p></p><p>I can't necessarily critique your specific plans, because as is the case with every campaign... plans are great until the players get involved, at which time most plans go up in smoke. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> So it's great to have plans and ideas in mind, but it's also good to be ready to let some of them fall by the wayside once you find out both who your PCs are (and what ends up being important to them) and what interests them once they start playing. I'm currently running two different groups through CoS right now, and I've changed up the story (in some cases by whole cloth) based upon who the PCs are and what they've decided to focus on. One group has a blood hunter who made a pact with Mother Night (who is actually the archfey Queen of Air and Darkness rather than a goddess in my campaign) and a paladin of the Morninglord... so the hag guardians and cleansing of the three fanes have become an exceedingly important plot for them. The other group is very family oriented (all members of the party are siblings, spouses, best friends of each other) so Madam Eva was revealed to be the missing mother of the brother and sister (from their backstory). And neither of these individual decisions is true in the other game (Mother Night has had no impact on the family group, and Madam Eva was just Madam Eva in the fanes group.)</p><p></p><p>So being able to adapt and change the story based upon the needs and interests and backstories of the character can really help tie things together. Don't force your own ideas and changes on them, let their actions dictate which changes and stories become prominent. Other than that... I can give you some of my own perspective on what could result from what you have planned, because some are similar to what I've done (and have now already been played through):</p><p></p><p>The placement of the three artifacts-- stacking the deck is fine. I did a modified deck (removing most of the castle and Amber Temple locations), and still ended up with two artifacts in the castle and one in the wilds for both groups. Looking back I do think stacking the deck so that the Tome of Strahd especially was more easily accessible would have worked better. Because as it turned out... I ended up passing on much of the information and history about Barovia via NPCs they met, because they had no intention of going after the Tome (down in the mother's crypt of the castle) where they ordinarily could have learned it. My opinion is that if you intend on re-writing a lot of the Tome so that many of your changes to the history are in it (which is indeed what I did, not that it mattered by the time both groups finally got it)... that should be the one artifact that is most likely to be the first one found. So stack the deck so that it's in a location easier and earlier to get to-- the Wizards of Wines, Lady Wachter's house, Rictavio's wagon. That way they can learn a lot of the basic story of the land and give them their plot moving forward. After that... either the Sunsword or the Holy Symbol can be found next, and which one is placed as next to likely be found you might want to determine based upon who your PCs are. If you have no cleric or paladin, then the Holy Symbol has much less value to the group so making that third and hidden in the Castle is fine. By the same token, if you do have a cleric or paladin (especially one who worships a sun deity and will then transfer over to the Morninglord) having the Holy Symbol be #2 found would make sense. No matter which one you have second, putting it in one of the three standing stone locations (Yester Hill, Berez, or Old Bonegrinder) makes sense. Of the three I'd probably go with Morgantha and Old Bonegrinder because Yester Hill will likely be an early location the PCs go to (coming directly out of the Wizard of Wines plot, an early-game story pick-up) and Baba Lysaga is a much more powerful entity so the Ruins of Berez could be a location of difficulty even by the mid-game.</p><p></p><p>But then again... there's nothing saying you can't call an audible during your campaign. If your PCs DO go to the winery first, and DO grab the first gem from Yester Hill, and DO learn from the Martikovs that an old crone by the name of Baga Lysaga came to the winery with her scarecrows and took the second gem, and the PCs DO decide to go to the Ruins of Berez and confront her early to get it back (<em>especially</em> if you've placed the second artifact in her possession)... there's no reason why you can't just swap the statblocks of Lysaga and Morgantha. Make Lysaga a night hag, and give Morgantha Lysaga's statblock. Indeed, you might very well end up not even bothering to cover the whole "Lysaga raised baby Strahd" hook, so it doesn't really matter just how powerful Lysaga should or shouldn't be. And thus, the PCs going to the Ruins of Berez doesn't end up being as much of a potential slaughter as it could be were you to keep Lysaga's statblock on her. This is the kind of thing you can decide mid-game once you see what your PCs' focuses are on.</p><p></p><p>For other plots... I personally found that the "souless" people walking around Barovia to be a "Really? Oh, okay, whatever." point for both groups-- a slightly interesting notion, but nothing either group really cared about (since it has no real impact on the story.) Same thing with the third winery gem-- once they re-acquired the first one from Yester Hill and gave it back to the winery, there was nothing really inspiring either group to go looking for the other two. They both figured that having at least one would allow the winery to stay open, and they each took the barrels that were available and went off to deliver them, leaving the story of the Winery behind. If you however really focus on the gems (and the PCs do go to Lysaga to acquire the second one earlier in the campaign)... then the third gem be inside the golem at the Abbey might come into play and could be a cool idea.</p><p></p><p>With how you have things set up-- the four fanes at Yester Hill, Berez, Bonegrinder, and the Castle overlook... the focus on the werewolf hook to get the PCs into the campaign... the three gems possibly having an important part to play and being found at Yester Hill, Berez, and the Abbey... I might have your game start by coming in along the western road outside of Kresk and just avoid the eastern part of the valley and the Village of Barovia entirely. That way you can go straight into the Winery plot once the party can't get into Kresk, and they are on their way. Then either Ezmerelda can give them a reading when they find her (perhaps at Van Richten's wizard tower), or you can move Madam Eva and the Tser Pool Encampment site away from the Tser Pools itself to perhaps the lake that the werewolf caves and the tower is on. Then you have the Tome of Strahd at the Abbey or the Winery or the Tower, the second artifact in Lysaga's possession, Argynvostholt, or somewhere in Vallaki... and then the third in the Castle itself. So that the party slowly makes their way east accomplishing all that you want them to.</p><p></p><p>Best of luck with your campaign!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 7103071, member: 7006"] You have a lot of great ideas on how to make the story of your campaign your own, so continue working in that direction. I can't necessarily critique your specific plans, because as is the case with every campaign... plans are great until the players get involved, at which time most plans go up in smoke. ;) So it's great to have plans and ideas in mind, but it's also good to be ready to let some of them fall by the wayside once you find out both who your PCs are (and what ends up being important to them) and what interests them once they start playing. I'm currently running two different groups through CoS right now, and I've changed up the story (in some cases by whole cloth) based upon who the PCs are and what they've decided to focus on. One group has a blood hunter who made a pact with Mother Night (who is actually the archfey Queen of Air and Darkness rather than a goddess in my campaign) and a paladin of the Morninglord... so the hag guardians and cleansing of the three fanes have become an exceedingly important plot for them. The other group is very family oriented (all members of the party are siblings, spouses, best friends of each other) so Madam Eva was revealed to be the missing mother of the brother and sister (from their backstory). And neither of these individual decisions is true in the other game (Mother Night has had no impact on the family group, and Madam Eva was just Madam Eva in the fanes group.) So being able to adapt and change the story based upon the needs and interests and backstories of the character can really help tie things together. Don't force your own ideas and changes on them, let their actions dictate which changes and stories become prominent. Other than that... I can give you some of my own perspective on what could result from what you have planned, because some are similar to what I've done (and have now already been played through): The placement of the three artifacts-- stacking the deck is fine. I did a modified deck (removing most of the castle and Amber Temple locations), and still ended up with two artifacts in the castle and one in the wilds for both groups. Looking back I do think stacking the deck so that the Tome of Strahd especially was more easily accessible would have worked better. Because as it turned out... I ended up passing on much of the information and history about Barovia via NPCs they met, because they had no intention of going after the Tome (down in the mother's crypt of the castle) where they ordinarily could have learned it. My opinion is that if you intend on re-writing a lot of the Tome so that many of your changes to the history are in it (which is indeed what I did, not that it mattered by the time both groups finally got it)... that should be the one artifact that is most likely to be the first one found. So stack the deck so that it's in a location easier and earlier to get to-- the Wizards of Wines, Lady Wachter's house, Rictavio's wagon. That way they can learn a lot of the basic story of the land and give them their plot moving forward. After that... either the Sunsword or the Holy Symbol can be found next, and which one is placed as next to likely be found you might want to determine based upon who your PCs are. If you have no cleric or paladin, then the Holy Symbol has much less value to the group so making that third and hidden in the Castle is fine. By the same token, if you do have a cleric or paladin (especially one who worships a sun deity and will then transfer over to the Morninglord) having the Holy Symbol be #2 found would make sense. No matter which one you have second, putting it in one of the three standing stone locations (Yester Hill, Berez, or Old Bonegrinder) makes sense. Of the three I'd probably go with Morgantha and Old Bonegrinder because Yester Hill will likely be an early location the PCs go to (coming directly out of the Wizard of Wines plot, an early-game story pick-up) and Baba Lysaga is a much more powerful entity so the Ruins of Berez could be a location of difficulty even by the mid-game. But then again... there's nothing saying you can't call an audible during your campaign. If your PCs DO go to the winery first, and DO grab the first gem from Yester Hill, and DO learn from the Martikovs that an old crone by the name of Baga Lysaga came to the winery with her scarecrows and took the second gem, and the PCs DO decide to go to the Ruins of Berez and confront her early to get it back ([I]especially[/I] if you've placed the second artifact in her possession)... there's no reason why you can't just swap the statblocks of Lysaga and Morgantha. Make Lysaga a night hag, and give Morgantha Lysaga's statblock. Indeed, you might very well end up not even bothering to cover the whole "Lysaga raised baby Strahd" hook, so it doesn't really matter just how powerful Lysaga should or shouldn't be. And thus, the PCs going to the Ruins of Berez doesn't end up being as much of a potential slaughter as it could be were you to keep Lysaga's statblock on her. This is the kind of thing you can decide mid-game once you see what your PCs' focuses are on. For other plots... I personally found that the "souless" people walking around Barovia to be a "Really? Oh, okay, whatever." point for both groups-- a slightly interesting notion, but nothing either group really cared about (since it has no real impact on the story.) Same thing with the third winery gem-- once they re-acquired the first one from Yester Hill and gave it back to the winery, there was nothing really inspiring either group to go looking for the other two. They both figured that having at least one would allow the winery to stay open, and they each took the barrels that were available and went off to deliver them, leaving the story of the Winery behind. If you however really focus on the gems (and the PCs do go to Lysaga to acquire the second one earlier in the campaign)... then the third gem be inside the golem at the Abbey might come into play and could be a cool idea. With how you have things set up-- the four fanes at Yester Hill, Berez, Bonegrinder, and the Castle overlook... the focus on the werewolf hook to get the PCs into the campaign... the three gems possibly having an important part to play and being found at Yester Hill, Berez, and the Abbey... I might have your game start by coming in along the western road outside of Kresk and just avoid the eastern part of the valley and the Village of Barovia entirely. That way you can go straight into the Winery plot once the party can't get into Kresk, and they are on their way. Then either Ezmerelda can give them a reading when they find her (perhaps at Van Richten's wizard tower), or you can move Madam Eva and the Tser Pool Encampment site away from the Tser Pools itself to perhaps the lake that the werewolf caves and the tower is on. Then you have the Tome of Strahd at the Abbey or the Winery or the Tower, the second artifact in Lysaga's possession, Argynvostholt, or somewhere in Vallaki... and then the third in the Castle itself. So that the party slowly makes their way east accomplishing all that you want them to. Best of luck with your campaign! [/QUOTE]
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