Here's another question I'm having trouble with: The story says the children starved to death "after their parents locked them in the attic and forgot about them". I just got finished putting my two little boys to bed, and lets be honest - there is not possible way on earth you "forget" about your kids. Especially by the time they are 10 and 7 years old like Rose and Thorn - by then, as parents, you will have noticed that you have two other little people living in your house. And heck, even if you did manage to forget you'd locked them in the attic, their bedroom is immediately over the parent's bedroom - and hungry kids = very noisy kids. You're going to notice when they start hollering and stomping on the floor and banging on the door after a day of not eating.
So what gives? The story hook doesn't make any sense at all. As I'm prepping the encounter with the children's ghosts for next game, I'm really having trouble wrapping my head around that. And considering all of the other guys in my group have kids as well, I know it's simply not going to fly.
Anyone else have thoughts on this? How do you explain the kids being forgotten about and left to starve? I'm considering changing the backstory to better explain - maybe the father locked them there the day Strahd showed up, "stay here and don't make a noise, you'll embarress the family" - and then since Strahd kills all the cultists, the kids are subsequently trapped and die. Something like that maybe.
So what gives? The story hook doesn't make any sense at all. As I'm prepping the encounter with the children's ghosts for next game, I'm really having trouble wrapping my head around that. And considering all of the other guys in my group have kids as well, I know it's simply not going to fly.
Anyone else have thoughts on this? How do you explain the kids being forgotten about and left to starve? I'm considering changing the backstory to better explain - maybe the father locked them there the day Strahd showed up, "stay here and don't make a noise, you'll embarress the family" - and then since Strahd kills all the cultists, the kids are subsequently trapped and die. Something like that maybe.