What Are Some Good 5e Resources for Running a Ravenloft Campaign?
Bawylie
A very OK person
Just use your 2E stuff. IMO Ravenloft is way more about setting, tone, and lore than it is about getting the right mechanics for curses.
In a pinch, the DMG (of 258) has some rules for madness. You can do a very quick hack of that for RL.
I’d also put in a Sanity stat, like constitution. Except every 3 failed madness/horror saves result in a loss of 1 sanity. 0 sanity and your character is effectively too mad to play.
Apart from that, grab some candles and watch Brotherhood of the Wolf or something like that. That’ll set you off right.
In a pinch, the DMG (of 258) has some rules for madness. You can do a very quick hack of that for RL.
I’d also put in a Sanity stat, like constitution. Except every 3 failed madness/horror saves result in a loss of 1 sanity. 0 sanity and your character is effectively too mad to play.
Apart from that, grab some candles and watch Brotherhood of the Wolf or something like that. That’ll set you off right.
jgsugden
Legend
Dread.
Give each player a Jenga tower. Whever they fail a save, take damage, or otherwise have something go wrong, have them also pull from the tower. If a tower falls, advance a character specific 'dark plot' against the PC. Maybe it is a curse. Maybe lycanthropy. Maybe a cursed object. Maybe a haunting. Maybe a possession. Maybe insanity. Whatever dark plot you like... but something that should terrify the character... and player.
Give each player a Jenga tower. Whever they fail a save, take damage, or otherwise have something go wrong, have them also pull from the tower. If a tower falls, advance a character specific 'dark plot' against the PC. Maybe it is a curse. Maybe lycanthropy. Maybe a cursed object. Maybe a haunting. Maybe a possession. Maybe insanity. Whatever dark plot you like... but something that should terrify the character... and player.
GlassJaw
Hero
DMs Guild has some cool products. There are a lot that enhance the CoS campaign of course, which I highly recommend picking up, even if you don't run it. It's a great resource for Ravenloft, 5E or otherwise.
Tarokka Deck Unleashed is pretty cool. It needs some tweaking but has a lot of cool ideas.
The Beast of Graenseskov is an amazing adventure as well.
Tarokka Deck Unleashed is pretty cool. It needs some tweaking but has a lot of cool ideas.
The Beast of Graenseskov is an amazing adventure as well.
Greenstone.Walker
Adventurer
I spent some time preparing for Ravenloft by learning what exactly "gothic horror" is. During this, I learnt that D&D doesn't do gothic horror all that well, but that's a discussion for another thread.
A few sites I bookmarked:
Gothic Horror at TV Tropes (Warning! TV Tropes! Your productivity will suffer!)
Gothic Fiction wikipedia
A Definition and List of Gothic Fiction Elements
A few sites I bookmarked:
Gothic Horror at TV Tropes (Warning! TV Tropes! Your productivity will suffer!)
Gothic Fiction wikipedia
A Definition and List of Gothic Fiction Elements
thorgrit
Explorer
When I prepared a Curse of Strahd adventure, I took a look at the original Ravenloft module, as well as the 3e Expedition to Castle Ravenloft expanded module. I had no interest in the supplemental material that expanded it into a full on campaign setting; nothing against it, just I wanted to stick to a simplified module. My goal was to find the simplest story I could come up with as a core, and decide what to expand upon after that. If you're going for a full on setting to write your own material, my resources aren't very helpful.
My main reason for liking 3e conversions of older modules was a better attempt at appropriate CR and party balance, tactical encounters if using map and minis, plus expanded story. The 3.5 Expedition book has a lot that I could use for inspiration, using all three sources to see what I really liked core to the base story, what I felt was lacking in the original, and what I felt was expanding way too much in updates. It definitely goes in a different direction for side story than Curse of Strahd, and I think the inclusion of so many monsters from cross-promoted-at-the-time Libris Mortis supplement makes it a bit harder to convert over to 5e.
If you're going in to Castle Ravenloft itself, I'm quite disappointed with the isometric view of the castle provided in the books, especially if I intend to use a gridded mat and minis. These fan-made simple maps were a great help to me, and I believe the associated numbers line up with the original module as well as Curse of Strahd. I have no experience with this, but the DM's Guild has a product to print and run the full castle.
The artist for all the maps printed in Curse of Strahd (overview of the whole land of Barovia, villages, locations) also has high-res digital versions available to purchase from his website.
My main reason for liking 3e conversions of older modules was a better attempt at appropriate CR and party balance, tactical encounters if using map and minis, plus expanded story. The 3.5 Expedition book has a lot that I could use for inspiration, using all three sources to see what I really liked core to the base story, what I felt was lacking in the original, and what I felt was expanding way too much in updates. It definitely goes in a different direction for side story than Curse of Strahd, and I think the inclusion of so many monsters from cross-promoted-at-the-time Libris Mortis supplement makes it a bit harder to convert over to 5e.
If you're going in to Castle Ravenloft itself, I'm quite disappointed with the isometric view of the castle provided in the books, especially if I intend to use a gridded mat and minis. These fan-made simple maps were a great help to me, and I believe the associated numbers line up with the original module as well as Curse of Strahd. I have no experience with this, but the DM's Guild has a product to print and run the full castle.
The artist for all the maps printed in Curse of Strahd (overview of the whole land of Barovia, villages, locations) also has high-res digital versions available to purchase from his website.
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Azzy
ᚳᚣᚾᛖᚹᚢᛚᚠ
Running the setting, like in 2e.
LuisCarlos17f
Legend
Let's imagine the demiplane of dread is like a mixture of failed state and dictatorship ruled by supernatural tyrants, and the dark powers are the big brother watching you. And don't forget to save innocents isn't only to kill evil monsters but to defend the respect of the human dignity, because as Nietzsche said “Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you”.
My own demiplane of dread is a crazy mixture or mash-up of Ravenloft, World of Darkness by White Wolf and Kult: lost divinity. It is hope-punk within a grimm dark style, with a bittersweet flavor because you save innocents, but with a painful sacrifice.
Have you seen the world of Obsidian Apocalypse by Louis Porter Jr?
I suggest to add Prometheans, living constructs, but created by "accidental" causes.
My own demiplane of dread is a crazy mixture or mash-up of Ravenloft, World of Darkness by White Wolf and Kult: lost divinity. It is hope-punk within a grimm dark style, with a bittersweet flavor because you save innocents, but with a painful sacrifice.
Have you seen the world of Obsidian Apocalypse by Louis Porter Jr?
I suggest to add Prometheans, living constructs, but created by "accidental" causes.
Jacob Lewis
Ye Olde GM
You may want to consider what happens after the party defeats Strahd and his seat of power is vacated. What happens then? Here's one possibility...
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