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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 7131060" data-attributes="member: 7006">Absolutely true... and it results in a slight disconnect between the "campaign setting" of the Baratok Valley and the actual I6 module within the book.  Because they kept most of I6 as-is within CoS, the main story stays as "find out Strahd is a vampire and that he is responsible for the PC's predicament and if you want to leave you have to kill him".  And all the explanations from I6 of why the PCs are there remain the same as the original module. But that also means that everything else in the valley isn't actually important to that story and really is kind of extraneous. It's only all there really just to allow a DM to bring PCs into Barovia at a much lower level than they otherwise would be and to give them other "non-main-story" things to do until they reach the level to jump back onto the "Strahd is responsible, go kill him!" plot.Had this been an "autumn release" book wherein a much more original storyline was created only just with elements to familiar products of the past... that main Strahd story thrust probably wouldn't be there so heavily and a more organic reason for being here and multiple methods for escape would be given .  But instead, because it was a spring release it very much has a feel of "easier and less time-consuming product to produce" that we've now gotten from both CoS and TofYP.  Which I suspect is why I6 was mainly incorporated as-is, and all the other stuff in the valley was added just as "filler" for lack of a better term (although that has much more a of a negative connotation as I really should give it, as I find all this extra stuff absolutely wonderful and a great addition to the book.)But it just means that each individual DM has to do more work to truly make CoS their own, in whatever manner or style they wish to run it.  But of course, based upon the long Enhancing Curse of Strahd thread, it seems like a lot of us not only don't mind doing that, but we find it much more enjoyable that we do put our own stamps on the book that way.</blockquote>

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