CURSE OF STRAHD: Here's The Official Announcement & Cover Image!

WotC just officially announced Curse of Strahd, and unveiled the cover art. In this post, I'll cover whatever coverage appears around the web (such as the art items sent to some sites) so you have it all in one place. Curse of Strahd is "... a new Dungeons & Dragons adventure set in Castle Ravenloft and the surrounding land of Barovia. Written in collaboration with Tracy and Laura Hickman, the authors of the original Ravenloft adventure published in 1983, Curse of Strahd pits players against the vampire Strahd von Zarovich. Curse of Strahd will be available to everyone on March 15, 2016." The adventure is for character levels 1-10 (including a "starter adventure" from 1-3) and was written by Chris Perkins, and original Ravenloft authors Tracy Hickman and Laura Hickman. WotC's Jeremy Crawford says "Curse of Strahd focuses on the lands of Barovia, a D&D mini-setting filled with gothic towns, NPCs, and tales."

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Continued coverage - check back to this page for links to coverage around the web. I'll keep updating this as Strahd Coverage Central.

• Art previews sent to Geek & Sundry and The Escapist.
• Title and other details scooped.
• The official announcement from WotC.
• Geek & Sundry's interview. "What we’ve done in Curse of Strahd is given you a bigger sandbox. The land of Barovia is more detailed than it has been previously, and there are more cool places to go and more cool people to meet, and a mechanism to guide you." - Chris Perkins.
• Polygon interview. "This new version of the story will be more than 250 pages long, and include everything Dungeon Masters will need to get their players situated in the kingdom of Barovia. The centerpiece will be Strahd's castle, Ravenloft, but Perkins says the entire play area is roughly the size of half of Rhode Island and contains many new locations and characters."
• Collecting the Tarokka cards. As they're revealed, they'll be posted in this thread.
• iO9's coverage. Includes a new art piece.
• Chris Perkins mentions that "Curse of Strahd is 256 pages. Same size as OOTA and POTA."
• You can already pre-order it on Amazon.
• Pre-order Tarokka card deck (54 cards) from Gale Force 9 soon.
• Mike Schley has worked on the maps, like he did for previous adventures.
• Here's what Curse of Strahd means for s4 of the D&D Adventurer's League. "As befits a gothic storyline, for season 4 we are releasing fourteen adventures (in addition to new DDAO and DDEP adventures and some other surprises), but unlike previous D&D Adventurers League seasons, where adventures were somewhat more episodic while adding to an overall meta-plot, this season is a tight, continuous story. For maximum enjoyment of this season the intent is that you start 4-1 Suits of the Mist with a 1st-level character, then play 4-2, the 4-3, and so on following in order until your character is 8th-level at the end of the fourteen part series."

Click on the image to see the full set of 54 Tarokka cards, which will be available from GF9


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A classic Dungeons & Dragons villain rises from the grave in the new storyline, Curse of Strahd.

Today, Wizards of the Coast announced Curse of Strahd, a new Dungeons & Dragons adventure set in Castle Ravenloft and the surrounding land of Barovia. Written in collaboration with Tracy and Laura Hickman, the authors of the original Ravenloft adventure published in 1983, Curse of Strahd pits players against the vampire Strahd von Zarovich. Curse of Strahd will be available to everyone on March 15, 2016.

“Revisiting the land of Barovia with the creators of the original Ravenloft adventure has been a highlight of my professional career,” said Chris Perkins, principal story designer at Wizards of the Coast. “Tracy and Laura Hickman created a timeless villain whose faults reflect the darkest traits of humanity. I can't begin to describe what it's like to walk through the halls of Castle Ravenloft with its creators as your guides.”

Heroes from the Forgotten Realms and other D&D worlds can easily be drawn into Strahd’s cursed land. Once there, they must contend with the horrors of Barovia. Its people are melancholy, misshapen and grotesque, living in fear of the wolves and other creatures that serve Strahd’s evil will. The only hope for the trapped adventurers is to heed the warnings of a mysterious fortune-teller named Madam Eva. Drawing random cards from her tarroka deck, she directs adventurers to search Strahd’s domain for artifacts and allies to help the master of Castle Ravenloft. That is, before he orchestrates your demise for his amusement and feasts on your terror.

Unravel the mysteries of Ravenloft® in this dread adventure for the world’s greatest roleplaying game

Under raging storm clouds, the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich stands silhouetted against the ancient walls of Castle Ravenloft. Rumbling thunder pounds the castle spires. The wind’s howling increases as he turns his gaze down toward the village of Barovia. Far below, yet not beyond his keen eyesight, a party of adventurers has just entered his domain. Strahd’s face forms the barest hint of a smile as his dark plan unfolds. He knew they were coming, and he knows why they came — all according to his plan. A lightning flash rips through the darkness, but Strahd is gone. Only the howling of the wind fills the midnight air. The master of Castle Ravenloft is having guests for dinner. And you are invited.

• A fantasy-horror adventure for characters levels 1 – 10, Curse of Strahd™ provides everything a Dungeon Master needs to create an exciting and memorable play experience.
• Fans of the Dungeons & Dragons® Roleplaying Game can have additional adventures in Ravenloft by participating in the D&D Adventurers League™ organized play program.

Curse of Strahd is produced by Wizards of the Coast. It was written by Chris Perkins, Tracy Hickman, and Laura Hickman, edited by Kim Mohan and Jeremy Crawford, and art directed by Kate Irwin. The adventure incorporates material from the original Ravenloft adventure as well as new story content created by Tracy and Laura Hickman, Chris Perkins, Adam Lee, Richard Whitters, and Jeremy Crawford.

[h=3]ITEM DETAILS[/h]Price: $49.95
Release Date: 15 March, 2016
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9780786965984
Pagecount: 256 pages
Pre-order on Amazon

Heroes from the Forgotten Realms and other D&D worlds can easily be drawn into Strahd’s cursed land. Once there, they must contend with the horrors of Barovia. Its people are melancholy, misshapen and grotesque, living in fear of the wolves and other creatures that serve Strahd’s evil will. The only hope for the trapped adventurers is to heed the warnings of a mysterious fortune-teller named Madam Eva. Drawing random cards from her tarroka deck, she directs adventurers to search Strahd’s domain for artifacts and allies to help the master of Castle Ravenloft.

While waiting for the adventure, experience the power of Madam Eva for yourself each day. Head to Twitter and retweet the official @Wizards_DnD Twitter account using the hashtag #DNDFortune. Madam Eva’s fortunes are based on which random card she draws from her tarokka deck and displays for each reading. Check back each day with Madam Eva to see what your #DNDFortune will foretell.

Players will also love to get their hands on a physical tarroka deck of cards produced by Gale Force 9 and available with the release of the adventure. The tarokka deck is a powerful tool for both Madam Eva and for Dungeon Masters running Curse of Strahd. By using the tarokka deck to randomize locations within the adventure, Dungeon Masters can customize each party’s exploration of Barovia, allowing Curse of Strahd to be replayed for years to come.

Strahd is waiting for you … What are you afraid of?

 

[pukunui]

I thought Barovia was a duchy. When did it become a full-blown kingdom?

Also, it looks like this time the storyline and main adventure have the same title. That could potentially get a little confusing.

 

[Grognak]

Is this the first 5e supplement besides the core books that is written by actual WOTC employees in-house?

 

[Doctor Futurity]

I'm a little worried about the plot.
I have Castle Ravenloft. And the campaign setting retelling House of Strahd. And the 3e mini-campaign Expedition to Castle Ravenloft. (There's also the board game, Silver Anniversary reprint, and video game.) Do we need it again? A re-re-retelling. Does it need a bunch of filler at the start designed to get people from level 1 to level 5 where they can actually begin the true adventure?

Well, while I have had all prior incarnations of Ravenloft and Strahd's appearances in the past, I don't have any of them now, and know that pretty much none of my players (even the old vets) played Ravenloft in the past, so a new book on the subject...even if it's a retelling...has a lot to offer the contemporary crowd. Ironically I have only ever used Strahd and Barovia in my own games, and never run any of the modules "as-is." So even for me this will be "new."

But… the Ravenloft campaign setting already did that over multiple products with the licensed 3rd Party Gazetteer I being an excellent compilation with 30 pages on the nation of Barovia. I'll be really upset if they just dump that content, jettison the entire established campaign setting.
I can't imagine the reaction from fans if they did that to the Realms or Eberron. If they didn't just nuke the Realms but erased everything following the Grey Box from canon...

But we'll see. Maybe they'll expand on the Barovia of the campaign setting and give us a twist on the Strahd story. I could be concerned for nothing...

I think the White Wolf content for Ravenloft was incredibly elaborate and also not half as useable as I would have liked it. This is likely just my own preferences, but most of what WW did for Ravenloft when they had it was taking 300 pages of content and seeing how they could expand on it into 3,000 pages of additional content that was soundly milked for cash at the expense of useful product. So my hope is that the new book is very efficient at presenting Barovia as a useful domain, one which is easy to use in play, and to stay away from dozens of pages of elaborate background detail that is incredibly difficult to expose in actual play. (Yes, I am a fan of Domains of Dread and other editions of Ravenloft which provided very concise, easy gazetteers with lots of room for DM interpretation and expansion).

 

[Remathilis]

Nothing outside of Barovia, but if I were going to re-launch an RL campaign setting, I'd absolutely focus on Barovia, for much of the same reason that 5e's FR releases have focused on the Sword Coast. The adventure is in the land of Barovia, not somewhere else, so it is in the RL setting, as much as any of the adventure paths have been in any setting. And it is gothic in tone, which indicates it has an RL setting vibe to it - it's likely not going to be "A party of tieflings, dragonborn, and half-orcs smash up Castle Ravenloft, kill Strahd, and take his stuff."

I think for me a big questionable factor is if it allows for/encourages/offers options for Barovia-native characters. Playing heroes born under Strahd's reign who know of the often deadly fortunes of the Vistani will offer a very different vibe from heroes whisked away from the road near Neverwinter whose main interest is in getting back. If there's some rules help for doing the former (It doesn't need much...perhaps some Barovia-specific factions or subclasses?), we'd have all I really need in an RL reboot.

http://dndadventurersleague.org/moonsea-mists/

 

[Doctor Futurity]

I thought Barovia was a duchy. When did it become a full-blown kingdom?

Also, it looks like this time the storyline and main adventure have the same title. That could potentially get a little confusing.

Strahd was a count so Barovia was a county/barony of its original material realm; however, in Ravenloft it is a region in the Balinok Mountains. My guess is that a current version of Barovia will parallel the timeline advancement for the Forgotten Realms, so enough time has passed for the domain to grow, expand and become more elaborate....and for Strahd's relationship with the dark powers of the mists to have changed. If Barovia is still properly part of the greater demiplane of dread then he could have conquered and expanded his territory into neighboring domains, something which happened often in the 2E version of Ravenloft.

 

[Remathilis]

I thought Barovia was a duchy. When did it become a full-blown kingdom?

Also, it looks like this time the storyline and main adventure have the same title. That could potentially get a little confusing.

Right around the time Strahd stopped having a king to report to.

 

[Faenor]

Is that Julia Roberts's brother?

 

[dave2008]

I don't think he ever was that tough. Given how 5e is stating deities, demigods and archfiends, anything beyond 15 would be too high for him in this edition

Yes, but as he is "the" vampire in D&D he should be more than the run-of-the-mill vampire to me. I think bumping him up 1 or 2 CR is not enough IMO.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Yes, but as he is "the" vampire in D&D he should be more than the run-of-the-mill vampire to me. I think bumping him up 1 or 1 CR is not enough IMO.

I think making him basically just a vampire spellcaster as presented in the Monster Manual is about the right place to put him considering his original write-up... but then, I'm all for the practice of considering the "run of the mill vampire" as being vampire spawn and the vampire stats (with or without the warrior or spellcaster add-ons) being reserved for special vampires.

 

[Ath-kethin]

http://dndadventurersleague.org/moonsea-mists/

The most interesting bit on this page as far as I'm concerned is the confirmation that Ravenloft exists as a demiplane and traps characters inside itself:

"since your characters will be visiting the pleasant confines of Barovia, once you start playing a character in this series, you cannot play a non-season 4 adventure until you find a way out of the demiplane."

Edit: Of course, the above is consistent with the mention of Ravenloft in the Dungeon Master's Guide, on page 51.