D&D 5E Add some Dread to your Curse of Strahd Campaign with Depths of Dread!

Add some Dread to your Domain!

http://www.dmsguild.com/product/178636/Depths-of-Dread?src=slider_view

My first DM's Guild offering! This supplement contains an optional ruleset for the Curse of Strahd campaign. Inside you will find:

Specific Terrors and Weaknesses and rules for how to trigger them that can be used against the Player Characters by the Vampire Lord or other foes.

Rules for the accumulation of Dread, a way to track the corrupting influence the land of Barovia has on the Player Characters.

Hints for DMs for ways to incorporate the Player Characters' Terrors and Weaknesses into the Curse of Strahd Campaign.

I would really appreciate any reviews or spreading the word as this is my first product!

Thanks!

downloaded...look forward to reading it later tonight.

Haven't downloaded {not wanting to set up yet another account}, but wanted to ask how your mechanic for 'Dread' differs from the 2e implementation of power checks and the terror track?

Primitive Screwhead said:

Haven't downloaded {not wanting to set up yet another account}, but wanted to ask how your mechanic for 'Dread' differs from the 2e implementation of power checks and the terror track?

Click to expand...

So, from what I remember, the old rules had fear and horror as a separate thing from a powers check, and each powers check was a percentage chance to be noticed by the dark powers based on what evil act you performed. The terror track was the path you went down on once you were noticed by the dark powers that described your transformation into a horror creature.

My mechanics are a little more unified. It uses the fear and horror checks from the 5E DMG, and has ways for players to select specific terrors and weaknesses that are harder for the PCs to resist.

When characters are overcome with fear, give in to their weaknesses, or perform evil acts they gain corruption, and at the end of the session (or long rest, or whatever interval the DM selects) they make a check to see if they accumulate Dread.

As they accumulate Dread, that is when the bad things happen, similar to the terror track. The idea is that it is a lot more tempting to give in to some of these things if you don't have an immediate percentage chance to get away with it ("It's just ONE corruption, I'm sure it will be fine.. "), and the more bad you do, the easier it is to fall.

Interesting. I grabbed a copy, and ended up getting a couple other Ravenloft related pdfs, including 'Heroes of the Mist' which includes a lot of good material, including a variant Dread mechanic that is a bit more fleshed out... but even that I felt was a bit,,, um, off.

The challenge I have with both mechanics is that there isn't a real incentive for the player/character to *want* to go the route of corruption. In Star Wars D6, the Dark Side mechanic provides quick access to power and active use of that power is what causes corruption.

With the Dread mechanic, you can gain corruption as a penalty but there is no offsetting bonus to being corrupted.. which makes it feel more like a death spiral mechanic as opposed to a seduction mechanic. Its not more tempting to give in to corruption, its just another way for your character to die.

JMHO

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Accidental double post

I would agree with you that there is not a lot of incentive to accumulating Dread. To me, that is part of the Ravenloft setting- the Dark Powers never tempt anyone into doing something, they always let that person make their own decisions and then reward/punish them for it. The dark gifts do have some benefit, but it probably does not outweigh the costs.

The seduction in Ravenloft doesn't come from the power you get from the Dark Powers, it comes from how much easier it is to take the morally wrong action than the right one. It isn't always easy to do what is right in that setting.

The goals I was trying to accomplish in making these mechanics were to provide a concrete way for the PCs to have normal fears and weaknesses that could make for a compelling story in play, to impress upon the players that their decisions, especially to take the easy way out, have consequences, and to have a way to put a time pressure on the players. I feel the time pressure is important since Curse of Strahd is really a sandbox adventure, and without that pressure, you might lose the tension that is the point of a horror game.

Thanks for taking a look!