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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kalaron" data-source="post: 7028763" data-attributes="member: 6858221">Arrived too late to offer advice on this, I fear!I am running a modded version of curse using characters under 'Masque of the Red Death' setting, so there are guns, victorian manners and lack of AC all over, with brutal Long rests (3 days) and scarce magic for magic users. So - I've got a lot of glass cannons <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />First, the easier one: I read Strahd's protection as active only when the party goes back to his castle to meet with him. Any other movement within Barovia would not be covered under his benediction and therefore accrues encounters.Of course, your decision depends on what are you running Strahd as: Evil Monster, a civil, bestial Lord or a mixture of both. In my campaign, I am strong runner of the 'I want to break free' theory - Strahd wishes to be free and searches for love on Tatyana and a worthy heir to his place. He has no problem with the characters or their power - he knows that on his ground, he has everything to gain. Let them roam, but without the free pass. Also keep in mind that Vallaki should lead to the Wizard of Wines quest and the Druidic Ritual subquest: go violent and aggressive there, as to create emotional conversion and the feel that 'This Mofo is really tough'.My group freed Ireena with Sergei and now Strahd has them on his sights, so an increase on random violence and despair is to follow. I am also running a metaplot based on Westworld here - the characters are hosts in a game where only the 'Souled' Barovians are human and Strahd who is a guest based on the consciousness from a human, who lives trapped within Barovia. This supports why you can never defeat him truly - and I will end with a Westworld ending type of closing.Vallaki was absolutely awesome for us - the group figured the theft of the bones in the church, went to the coffin maker and wound up blowing up half the house with dynamite and getting close to a TPK. Then, during the Festival, they wound up causing a peasant revolt which saw both the Wachters and the Vargas bloodily murdered and the Martikov ensconced into leadership. I am using the Points of Light logic... but my party has been saving Barovia under a sea of blood.I ran Vargas Vallakovich as this guy:[ATTACH]81222[/ATTACH]Hysterical reactions, loud repetition of the 'All will be well' mantra and overzealous exaggeration in action conveys a beautiful protrayal of this sad, sad man.I stole it from someone's obsidian portal campaign - but the effect is delicious. You can also roleplay his wife as:[ATTACH]81223[/ATTACH]Under this logic, Vargas would never dare to defy the PC's - Izek is gone and he lacks the manpower to stop them. Have the Festival proceed as detailed and see whether they support Vargas or not when the guard laughs.I heartily support changing Arg's skull as Baba Lysaga's. Keep in mind that Baba can go downhill if they are lower than 8.</blockquote>

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