D&D 5E Curse of Strahd: alternative exits?

[CapnZapp]

I'm considering running Curse of Strahd as an introduction to 5E for those of my friends that have little to no D&D experience. (Not my regular group of combat monsters, that is)

But my main concern is the singular focus on "winning" the module, and the only way of doing that. (Defeating Strahd, that is)

I'm wondering what you would say are good alternative ways of escaping the realm?

(I realize this goes against the core idea of the Dark Powers, but these players wouldn't know that. Sticking to canon Ravenloft lore is not vital here)

What I'm fishing for is to turn the "stake the vampire" into a choice for the players. If the characters choose to risk their lives and their souls, that's even more more heroic, than if they have no other way out.

For it to be a real choice, there must be other ways to leave the fogs. So what would you suggest?

Ideally I want to give each player his or her personal quest. If and when all five PCs accomplish their quests, they gain the limited time offer of getting back home. Sticking around to get rid of Strahd would then be the truly sacrifical hero option.

Also, anything that motivates these people to actually explore the land is good. I will want to go to some lengths to avoid the notion "we need to explore because we need the xp in order to take on Strahd" - that's one D&Dism I'm keen to not pass on to these players.

I'm mainly interested in gothic romance options, since that's what I'm not so good at myself. Simple stuff like "kill the Werewolf pack" or "steal Baba Yaga's stuff" (that most probably is equal to fighting her) I can come up with myself.

Any ideas most welcome

 

[DEFCON 1]

The standard option for escaping Barovia is (as you point out) killing Strahd permanently, thus releasing him (and the rest of Barovia) from his curse. The Baratok Valley then "reappears" in whichever realm the land used to be a part of. As you say... that's the good person's method of escaping, because you are helping not only yourself, but also 1/10th of the valley's population that are Souled individuals who are also trapped.

But how else might you escape? Well, it's been established that the Vistani can come and go from Barovia as they please, so there's your first potential option-- get the Vistani to take you out. Couple ideas on that score include things like establishing enough of a relationship with one or more of them so that they voluntarily bring you out (romance is certainly a possibility for that)... or gaining Vistani blood so that you can walk the mists yourself (for the evil types, a blood ritual to steal someone's blood might do it.)

In the Forgotten Realms entry for how to bring in CoS it uses the "follow the werewolves" plot hook, so perhaps in your game werewolves are also able to survive the mists, which is why they were able to leave the first time so that the PCs could then follow them back in. So a possibility is that the PCs could damn themselves by allowing themselves to be bitten and gain the lycanthropic curse. Thus they could then escape, they just have that whole lycanthropy problem to deal with after they get home.

There's also a time and space distortion to the valley that comes up in a couple places-- you can witness a ghostly ancient battle in the treeline that takes place outside the ruins of Berez, and you also can see a reflection of the land the valley used to be connected to when you are at Yester Hill. So there might be ways for PCs to somehow get themselves into those reflections (which perhaps warps them elsewhere or elsewhen). If they can get themselves into the ghostly battle (via an object, ritual, or whatever you might want to supply) perhaps they can influence the battle such that a different result occurs. If we want to assume for the sake of your story this battle is a reflection of one Strahd won that allowed him to take control of the Baratok Valley in the first place... if the PCs can help the defenders win, then Strahd doesn't take the Valley, he never becomes Lord, and thus he and the land never get cursed. And therefore any of the PCs who joined in this battle are "released" from the domain.

Likewise for Yester Hill, it talks about the Whispering Wall that legend has said was the last breath of an ancient god that the Dark Powers took a bit from to create this phantasm to tantalize Strahd with. But perhaps this city within the fog isn't really as much of a phantasm as we think, and it's possible to for an enterprising spellcaster to figure out a way to get there (assuming they can survive the travel through the fog.) A Fly spell is 60' per round, 120' when you Dash. A mile is 5280 feet, divided by 120 feet per round, is 44 rounds-- just under 4 1/2 minutes. A quest for that PC could be finding a way to fly through the mist while not breathing in the fog for those 4 1/2 minutes. If they could find a way to do it... then it just comes down to deciding where/when this city is located (Strahd's ancestral homeland), and then how the PCs can get out of that city to their home.

I'll think about some other ideas and probably post more that I come up with later.

 

[CapnZapp]

Wow. Just wow [emoji4]

Sent from my C6603 using EN World mobile app

 

[Daern]

My players flew out of Barovia on the back of a roc. So, tame a roc.

 

[iserith]

There's always the ever present escape of death, I suppose.

Or you could deal with the apparent lack of choice on the front end by giving them the choice to enter the mists or not, knowing that escape is very difficult or likely impossible. Then it's on them.

 

[ccs]

Crawl inside a bag of holding & rupture it.

Cast banishment on self/target.

 

[CapnZapp]

There's always the ever present escape of death, I suppose.

True.

That's not a great motivator to go forth and adventure, though. Do you have any ideas that encourage characters to be more proactive?

Or you could deal with the apparent lack of choice on the front end by giving them the choice to enter the mists or not, knowing that escape is very difficult or likely impossible. Then it's on them.

Nah. It's not a choice to play the adventure or not.

 

[CapnZapp]

My players flew out of Barovia on the back of a roc. So, tame a roc.

Crawl inside a bag of holding & rupture it.

Cast banishment on self/target.

Funny, but let me clarify I'm not looking for cheesy or cheaty solutions, and definitely not D&D specific ones.

 

[CapnZapp]

DEFCON is on the right track. More stuff like "if you can win the true love of X, her innocent goodness can pierce the veils of the Dark Powers and bring you one step closer to home"... once all five heroes have succeeded on their personal quest, they can leave... or they can stay.

 

[iserith]

True.

That's not a great motivator to go forth and adventure, though. Do you have any ideas that encourage characters to be more proactive?

I leave it to the players to find motivations to go forth and adventure. If it's not a choice to engage with the adventure or not, then I would, after getting their buy-in on that premise, ask the players to create motivations for their characters to engage with the content.