D&D 5E (2014) Condense Curse of Strahd

[plisnithus8]

I'm running a few months of weekly CoS this summer (maybe 8 sessions) and have run it before.
I'm changing it up, allowing PCs to create PCs at higher levels and built to deal with Barovian threats, sent on a quest into Barovia with a few boons.

Help me think through this.

1. What level should I start them at: I was thinking 3rd but maybe a little higher?
2. What suggestions would you give players to build PCs to tackle Barovia? should PCs be experts? monster hinters? certain builds?
3. Who might give them the quest: Rudolf van Richten, a Vistani, a survivor?
4. What could the specific quest be: rescue the survivor's party member, a fetch quest, defeat Strahd?
5. How can the party get there/return: Vistani help, magic item
6. What kind of boons can I give PCs going in (to fastback adventure): map of Barovia, advice (get Tarokka deck reading from Madame Eva) or find Esmerelda in Vallaki, magic items
7. What changes could I make to the adventure/Barovia: which parts to skip, move timeline ahead?, ideas from supplements or VGR or RHW

Thanks

 

[Remathilis]

I'm running a few months of weekly CoS this summer (maybe 8 sessions) and have run it before.
I'm changing it up, allowing PCs to create PCs at higher levels and built to deal with Barovian threats, sent on a quest into Barovia with a few boons.

Help me think through this.

1. What level should I start them at: I was thinking 3rd but maybe a little higher?
2. What suggestions would you give players to build PCs to tackle Barovia? should PCs be experts? monster hinters? certain builds?
3. Who might give them the quest: Rudolf van Richten, a Vistani, a survivor?
4. What could the specific quest be: rescue the survivor's party member, a fetch quest, defeat Strahd?
5. How can the party get there/return: Vistani help, magic item
6. What kind of boons can I give PCs going in (to fastback adventure): map of Barovia, advice (get Tarokka deck reading from Madame Eva) or find Esmerelda in Vallaki, magic items
7. What changes could I make to the adventure/Barovia: which parts to skip, move timeline ahead?, ideas from supplements or VGR or RHW

Thanks

The quickplay version of CoS is basically I6: Ravenloft. Focus on the Castle and Village with Ireena being the driver.

There is a 4e module called Fair Barovia, written by Claudio Pozas for Dungeon Magazine. Its a pseudo-prequel to the Classic Ravenloft tale and a LOT of the expansion in Curse of Strahd owes itself to it. Its a really cool adventure on its own, though it doesn't 1:1 with CoS. Its an absolute goldmine for ideas for expanding it in different ways. I would maybe swap Arabella for Ez d'Avnir as the quest giver and change up details to align with CoS, but if you didn't want to do classic I6, its a great place for alternative ideas.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

The quickplay version of CoS is basically I6: Ravenloft. Focus on the Castle and Village with Ireena being the driver.

That would be my thoughts as well. Depending on how long each one is, I6 easily fits within eight sessions.

There is a 4e module called Fair Barovia, written by Claudio Pozas for Dungeon Magazine. Its a pseudo-prequel to the Classic Ravenloft tale and a LOT of the expansion in Curse of Strahd owes itself to it. Its a really cool adventure on its own, though it doesn't 1:1 with CoS. Its an absolute goldmine for ideas for expanding it in different ways. I would maybe swap Arabella for Ez d'Avnir as the quest giver and change up details to align with CoS, but if you didn't want to do classic I6, its a great place for alternative ideas.

Even though I was actively running 4e at the time, I am continually amazed by how much content I had no idea existed back then. So much got buried in the firehose of a release schedule for 4e.

 

[Li Shenron]

I'm running a few months of weekly CoS this summer (maybe 8 sessions) and have run it before.
I'm changing it up, allowing PCs to create PCs at higher levels and built to deal with Barovian threats, sent on a quest into Barovia with a few boons.

Help me think through this.

1. What level should I start them at: I was thinking 3rd but maybe a little higher?
2. What suggestions would you give players to build PCs to tackle Barovia? should PCs be experts? monster hinters? certain builds?
3. Who might give them the quest: Rudolf van Richten, a Vistani, a survivor?
4. What could the specific quest be: rescue the survivor's party member, a fetch quest, defeat Strahd?
5. How can the party get there/return: Vistani help, magic item
6. What kind of boons can I give PCs going in (to fastback adventure): map of Barovia, advice (get Tarokka deck reading from Madame Eva) or find Esmerelda in Vallaki, magic items
7. What changes could I make to the adventure/Barovia: which parts to skip, move timeline ahead?, ideas from supplements or VGR or RHW

Thanks

I share the recommendation to look into the original Ravenloft adventure. I haven't run CoS but I am (still, slowly...) running the original Ravenloft with 5e rules, and I predict it would take about 5 sessions of 4-6 hours to play, and it is itself stripped of all random encounters (at least unless the players ventured into the woods, which shouldn't happen as they are being pressured into going to the castle as soon as possible).

1. As for the starting level, I think they should be around 10th level at the end, so starting at 3rd sounds too low to me, unless you like levelling up almost every session. If you do that, require your players to level up before the session to save time. With 8 sessions, I would probably look for levelling up only once or twice before the finale, so I would maybe start at 8th level: this would also mean that some early encounters will be dealt very quickly by the PCs and save up even more time.

7. To make my PCs move faster towards the castle, I changed the NPC Gertruda from a naive woman into an extraordinary child (a sort of heavenly "point of light" among the local grim population), have them personally encounter her early on, make sure they hook up positively with her, and then had her kidnapped while the PCs are in town. This accelerated their willingness to cut short everything else and proceed straight to the castle to save her.

For the rest, it is really up to you, there's lots of good options.

 

[DEFCON 1]

7. To make my PCs move faster towards the castle, I changed the NPC Gertruda from a naive woman into an extraordinary child (a sort of heavenly "point of light" among the local grim population), have them personally encounter her early on, make sure they hook up positively with her, and then had her kidnapped while the PCs are in town. This accelerated their willingness to cut short everything else and proceed straight to the castle to save her.

For the rest, it is really up to you, there's lots of good options.

That Gertruda change is a good one to help motivate the players. If I was in that similar situation I'd might also (depending on how the player reacted to her) have Ireena be the one who gets pulled up to the Castle (especially if the Strahd "gaining his Tatyana again" story gains traction with them). But either one could easily work.

 

[Retreater]

Have the burgomeister of Barovia send them to kill Strahd. Then just run the Castle. Put the items they need (the Sunsword, the Tome, the Icon, etc.) in different places within. The highlight of the campaign is the Castle and facing Strahd.
We've been running Ravenloft that way for over 30 years. It's satisfying, quick, and memorable.

 

[plisnithus8]

Here's what I'm thinking:

Ravenloft Rescue (CoS)

1. Esmerelda (bitten) recruits monster-hunters (5th-level PCs) to rescue Rudolph who is captured in Ravenloft.
2. She gives them:
   • a Tarokka reading (all located in castle),
   • Vistani mist talisman (comes with a cost),
   • her +1 rapier, +1 handle, silvered shortsword, & Blood Spear
   • & a map of the castle.

Is giving players a map too much (I photoshopped out some of the traps and secret doors)?

 

[DEFCON 1]

Is giving players a map too much (I photoshopped out some of the traps and secret doors)?

If you are trying to fill 8 sessions, I suspect giving them a map will speed things up too quickly (unless each session is only like an hour).

The players see the map, they will make a beeline for the tombs (even if they don't know Strahd is a vampire,) just because the tombs will have the "best loot" most likely. And thus that part of the mystery if/when they discover he is will be lessened. They will have already dealt with the stuff around his coffin when they go there to stake him. The whole endgame will seem too quick and potentially anti-climactic.

Just my opinion.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

Curse of Strahd in 3 words:

 

[Stormonu]

Here's what I'm thinking:

Ravenloft Rescue (CoS)

1. Esmerelda (bitten) recruits monster-hunters (5th-level PCs) to rescue Rudolph who is captured in Ravenloft.
2. She gives them:
   • a Tarokka reading (all located in castle),
   • Vistani mist talisman (comes with a cost),
   • her +1 rapier, +1 handle, silvered shortsword, & Blood Spear
   • & a map of the castle.

Is giving players a map too much (I photoshopped out some of the traps and secret doors)?

I'd also cut out anything below ground level, just cover the upper areas (The catacombs are blocked off at a brick wall in K18, unless the party gets hold of architectural plans, noone's seen them in centuries). Also, don't forget to remove the Heart of Darkness at K26.

It took me a few years (and building the castle in Minecraft) to realize that the castle is a 3-D maze, and figuring out how to get to the catacombs is a big part of exploring it.