D&D 5E Curse of Strahd (and limitations on 1st level play)

[Retreater]

That said, as I've mentioned before, if I ever get to run this adventure again, I'm going to make it hella hard for the PCs to take a long rest anywhere in Barovia. The howling of the wolves, the skittering in the underbrush, the flapping of wings, the scratching of the skeletal trees against the windows ... all of that will make for a restless night!

That makes sense. For a group of mostly typical D&D players who might be like those of us who come to these boards.
My group (and I don't know if I've emphatically stated it) are mostly teenagers, relatively new to the hobby. I think they picked out CoS from all the campaigns I offered because they wanted a chance to kill a powerful vampire - just like they might look at Rise of Tiamat and say "yay, we get to kill Tiamat!"
So the idea of horror I'm working with is Blade or Van Helsing - not John Carpenter's The Thing or something slow and atmospheric like Alien.
As an old school Ravenloft DM, working against type like this is very frustrating. They are wanting the trappings of horror, but not the feelings of dread or powerlessness that come in my understanding of the genre.
So the best thing I can figure out to do is to play into that type of heroic action. And a lot of my frustration is because I don't think that 5e gives me good tools to run a game like that, and I have to come on sites like this, and in the process look like 1) I don't care enough about my game to modify it; or 2) I don't think about my game until I sit down to run it.
But folks, it's hard to keep running a game for 5-6 teenagers every week. I haven't had a break from running 5e weekly (or more frequently) for about 5 years. But teenagers are a special kind of exhausting.
Every available bit of free time is D&D - running, studying, reading, training, etc. I haven't watched a TV series, read a novel, played a video game, since the start of COVID.
The closest thing I have to a "helper" is the hope that a published adventure works for me.

 

[Parmandur]

That makes sense. For a group of mostly typical D&D players who might be like those of us who come to these boards.
My group (and I don't know if I've emphatically stated it) are mostly teenagers, relatively new to the hobby. I think they picked out CoS from all the campaigns I offered because they wanted a chance to kill a powerful vampire - just like they might look at Rise of Tiamat and say "yay, we get to kill Tiamat!"
So the idea of horror I'm working with is Blade or Van Helsing - not John Carpenter's The Thing or something slow and atmospheric like Alien.
As an old school Ravenloft DM, working against type like this is very frustrating. They are wanting the trappings of horror, but not the feelings of dread or powerlessness that come in my understanding of the genre.
So the best thing I can figure out to do is to play into that type of heroic action. And a lot of my frustration is because I don't think that 5e gives me good tools to run a game like that, and I have to come on sites like this, and in the process look like 1) I don't care enough about my game to modify it; or 2) I don't think about my game until I sit down to run it.
But folks, it's hard to keep running a game for 5-6 teenagers every week. I haven't had a break from running 5e weekly (or more frequently) for about 5 years. But teenagers are a special kind of exhausting.
Every available bit of free time is D&D - running, studying, reading, training, etc. I haven't watched a TV series, read a novel, played a video game, since the start of COVID.
The closest thing I have to a "helper" is the hope that a published adventure works for me.

For what it is worth, I have never, ever felt that you come across as anything less than caring 110% about your game, and I have never, ever felt that you don't think about what you are doing before sitting down.

 

[pukunui]

My group (and I don't know if I've emphatically stated it) are mostly teenagers, relatively new to the hobby. I think they picked out CoS from all the campaigns I offered because they wanted a chance to kill a powerful vampire - just like they might look at Rise of Tiamat and say "yay, we get to kill Tiamat!"
So the idea of horror I'm working with is Blade or Van Helsing - not John Carpenter's The Thing or something slow and atmospheric like Alien.
As an old school Ravenloft DM, working against type like this is very frustrating. They are wanting the trappings of horror, but not the feelings of dread or powerlessness that come in my understanding of the genre.
So the best thing I can figure out to do is to play into that type of heroic action. And a lot of my frustration is because I don't think that 5e gives me good tools to run a game like that, and I have to come on sites like this, and in the process look like 1) I don't care enough about my game to modify it; or 2) I don't think about my game until I sit down to run it.
But folks, it's hard to keep running a game for 5-6 teenagers every week. I haven't had a break from running 5e weekly (or more frequently) for about 5 years. But teenagers are a special kind of exhausting.
Every available bit of free time is D&D - running, studying, reading, training, etc. I haven't watched a TV series, read a novel, played a video game, since the start of COVID.
The closest thing I have to a "helper" is the hope that a published adventure works for me.

Yeah, that's rough. I get that you care, and I get that you want to make it fun for your group. It also sounds like you're terribly, horribly burned out. I think, though, that some of what you've said above has gotten lost in this thread as people focus on the generalities of whether the adventure is challenging according to the math. Perhaps we need to refocus on how to rejig this adventure so it fits what your group wants.

OR maybe it's time for you to sit down with your group and tell them that you're feeling burned out and you don't think you can give them what they want/need with this specific adventure (or any adventure). Perhaps they'll let you run something else. Or perhaps someone else will offer to run a game so you can take a break. Is that a possibility? I think you mentioned there's at least one other old timer in your group.

Bottom line: don't force yourself to keep DMing. That's not going to do anyone any good in the long run. (Since the teens are relatively new to the hobby, think about what you are teaching them by running yourself ragged as DM. You might very well be sending the message that DMing is "too hard" and none of them will want to step up and try it for themselves -- when actually they're at an age when they've got the free time to put in the effort to learn the craft and dig into the details, unlike those of us with kids and jobs and mortgage payments and such.)

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I think it's worth pointing out that when Curse of Strahd first came out, there weren't a lot of plant monster options besides blights and shambling mounds, so definitely going back through and adding in some of the more interesting ones that have been introduced to the game since is a worthwhile endeavor.

The needle lord would be a good fit.

The druid goes down with an arrow through is eye. The next round, the corpse twitches, it's skin ripples. Suddenly, razor sharp thorns explode through it's skin. The needle lord lurches to its feet...

 

[Paul Farquhar]

So the idea of horror I'm working with is Blade or Van Helsing

Yeah, and the thing is, CoS is nothing like those movies. Indeed, the core of the adventure was first published before those movies were made. It's inspired by old Hammer Horror movies, not modern action movies. All spooky atmosphere, hapless heroes and repressed sexuality. If you want to do Blade it would be less work to start from scratch than adapt CoS. Or you could ask if anyone knows any Blade-like published adventures.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

That matches my experience, and that isn't an accident in my book but rather a specific design intent.

Twice I've added McGuffins to enable the PCs to defeat the big bad, and one they ignored it for their own plan, and two they didn't figure out and ended up simply defeating an avatar rather than permanently banishing an Elder God.

 

[Larnievc]

But folks, it's hard to keep running a game for 5-6 teenagers every week.

That’s a tough gig and no mistake.

 

[dave2008]

My group (and I don't know if I've emphatically stated it) are mostly teenagers, relatively new to the hobby. I think they picked out CoS from all the campaigns I offered because they wanted a chance to kill a powerful vampire - just like they might look at Rise of Tiamat and say "yay, we get to kill Tiamat!"
So the idea of horror I'm working with is Blade or Van Helsing - not John Carpenter's The Thing or something slow and atmospheric like Alien.

OK, that is different from a typical CoS game, but it is pretty standard D&D 5e style. So harass them less than perhaps I or others have suggested and just throw in the right type and number of genre monsters and you should be good. Really all you need to do is find the right balance for your encounters.

So the best thing I can figure out to do is to play into that type of heroic action. And a lot of my frustration is because I don't think that 5e gives me good tools to run a game like that,

Interesting. I think 5e is default heroic action and you actively have to work to make it something else.

and I have to come on sites like this, and in the process look like 1) I don't care enough about my game to modify it; or 2) I don't think about my game until I sit down to run it.

It is clear you care about your game. If I have given the impression otherwise I apologize.

However, the impression you give in your posts is that you are unwilling to check or change a published adventure. You routinely say things like you would "expect" things to be more difficult (implying you didn't check). Or you paid "$40" for the adventure and it should work as is (I implying you didn't change anything and will not). You even talk about it being "heavy handed" to modify an encounter.

Now, we are not at your table or in your home to see what and how you are preparing. We can only take your word, and your words imply that you don't want to change a published adventure. Across multiple threads and multiple adventures and different systems, that is the impression you give. That doesn't mean it is true, but that is the story you're telling us.

Again, I am not saying this is true, only that the preponderance of evidence that you give us suggests this is the case. So we can only react to what you are telling us.

But folks, it's hard to keep running a game for 5-6 teenagers every week. I haven't had a break from running 5e weekly (or more frequently) for about 5 years. But teenagers are a special kind of exhausting.
Every available bit of free time is D&D - running, studying, reading, training, etc. I haven't watched a TV series, read a novel, played a video game, since the start of COVID.
The closest thing I have to a "helper" is the hope that a published adventure works for me.

It sounds like you should take a break. The world, and RPG games will not stop if you take a break. You need to recharge. If you can't take a a complete break, try playing instead of DMing for a while. I know, I know, easier said than done.

Also, I really started to enjoy DMing more when I started to prepare less. I know this isn't your typical style (and it wasn't mine), but I suggest you try to embrace improvisation more. It can be hard, it was for me, if you are not used to it. But it is incredibly liberating when you embrace it. I don't really need to prepare monsters and encounters anymore - I can run them on the fly with my DM cheat sheet / screen, which, with the exception of our house rules, is RAW from the DMG.

If you are less stressed in the preparation and more flexible at the table you might be less frustrated and enjoy it more.

Good luck!

 

[Larnievc]

Also, I really started to enjoy DMing more when I started to prepare less.

I agree with this so much. Sometimes I don’t prepare anything and just make it up as I go (within the context of the situation).

 

[DEFCON 1]

However, the impression you give in your posts is that you are unwilling to check or change a published adventure. You routinely say things like you would "expect" things to be more difficult (implying you didn't check). Or you paid "$40" for the adventure and it should work as is (I implying you didn't change anything and will not). You even talk about it being "heavy handed" to modify an encounter.

Now, we are not at your table or in your home to see what and how you are preparing. We can only take your word, and your words imply that you don't want to change a published adventure. Across multiple threads and multiple adventures and different systems, that is the impression you give. That doesn't mean it is true, but that is the story you're telling us.

Again, I am not saying this is true, only that the preponderance of evidence that you give us suggests this is the case. So we can only react to what you are telling us.

DING DING DING DING!

This is exactly it right here.

It is entirely possible to ask for suggestions/help or just wish to vent about (general) your situation without simultaneously trying to shift the blame for your problems onto the game itself or the designers. If the game doesn't work for (general) you... that's not the game's fault. You just don't prefer playing RPGs in the manner for which 5E is set up.

Now if (general) you have an issue, people tend to happily lend a sympathetic ear here on the boards... right up until the point (general) you are insulting to the people involved with the game-- at which point all bets are off. So you better be prepared to accept the blowback for (general) your insulting comments.

If you're good with that-- if you consider it an even exchange that (general) you get to complain that the game sucks and the designers are lazy and stupid, and that other posters also get to come here to say you're full of crap-- then that's great! You can take your blows while dishing them out. That's one of the fun aspects of the boards!

But don't EVER think (general) you can rail against this game here free of charge. Or get offended that other people might possibly disagree with you. That's not gonna happen.