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?

 

[dave2008]

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.

How about a spellcaster and warrior add_ons? Then i could get on board with that

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

How about a spellcaster and warrior add_ons? Then i could get on board with that

Eh... I guess that wouldn't be completely terrible, but I think it is unnecessary and falls into the same (in my opinion flawed) logic that a character being important, like the main protagonist of a novel, inherently translates to the character being higher level (as if only the paradoxically unnamed examples of a creature or class could be represented by the standard stats presented).

 

[Agamon]

Fear need not make sense!

It is the other way around. I assume the goal is to fight Strahd (it was in the original and each 5e AP so far that was an option at the end), so I fear it is a less powerful or nerfed Strahd that will be fought. I don't think increasing the level changes the outcome, I think it would be WotC goal regardless, it just changes the CR of the end game threat.

To be clear, I think this is what WotC is doing, not what has to be done. I would like a 1-10 AP with a CR 19/20 threat that can't be fought without a 99% chance of a TPK. The goal is something different because you can't kill Strahd. Of course you could have a different goal and still possess the ability to kill Strahd, I guess I prefer the more blunt and punishing choice.

In the original, you searched for a couple mcguffins (Holy Symbol and Sunsword) in order to have a chance to defeat Strahd. My guess is this may be replicated, while he'll be a tough fight normally, there will be items to be found that make the encounter easier.

 

[dave2008]

In the original, you searched for a couple mcguffins (Holy Symbol and Sunsword) in order to have a chance to defeat Strahd. My guess is this may be replicated, while he'll be a tough fight normally, there will be items to be found that make the encounter easier.

Yep, that is what I am afraid of.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Called.

No "Barovia in the Sword Coast" no "Manshoon", no "Inspired by", nothing. Real. Damn. Ravenloft. Demiplane. In the Mists. Proper Strahd. Proper Eva. Proper Barovia.

Why was this so hard for people to grasp?

That's cool.

It's not hard to grasp, but it is a change in direction from the last year. They have said more than once that everything was going to be about Forgotten Realms for a while. Now, it's possibl that they were tricky with it and said, "linked" to the Forgotten Realms. I can't recall the precise wording of every statement they made.

They've also had the designers saying they'd like to get to other settings, but that can easily be attributed to simply what they want to get to, not that they will get to anything soon.

The hints that something non-Forgotten Realms was coming up were the most tenuous and weakest bits of info we have received, compared to the more concrete "all Forgotten Realms, all the time, through at least 2017 to 2018" types of statements and the obviously personally biased "we really want to get to these other worlds at some point!" types of statements.

The issue is that they've been sending clearly mixed messages.

And I'm very glad they've chosen to go with real Ravenloft, but it was most definitely not the way to bet if you were a betting man/woman. (There was a good chance of it after the leak last week, but there was still a good chance it wouldn't deliver full-on Ravenloft setting material.)

 

[dave2008]

Eh... I guess that wouldn't be completely terrible, but I think it is unnecessary and falls into the same (in my opinion flawed) logic that a character being important, like the main protagonist of a novel, inherently translates to the character being higher level (as if only the paradoxically unnamed examples of a creature or class could be represented by the standard stats presented).

That's a good point, and I almost fell into the same trap when I updated Cyan Bloodbane. However, Strahd just feels different to me. I think he should by a cut above. Not to mention the HP in stat blocks is the average for a reason It also doesn't help that the MM vampire is fairly weak for its CR. Sly Flourish did a good redesign of the MM vampire that was actually CR 13 and it was pretty good. If they do something like that it might work.

 

[Celebrim]

Hmmm.... maybe I'll be buying some 5e material afterall. Out of the Abyss was good enough I nearly picked it up just in case I wanted to run an underdark campaign. If Curse of Strahd is of similar quality and a lot less like prior Return to Castle Ravenloft crap, I'll probably get it.

 

[DEFCON 1]

If the lands of Barovia are being expanded, I wonder if they did a complete reboot or if they are using a lot of the landmarks that have been introduced to the valley previously? Things like Lysaga Hill from Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, or the town of Vallaki and the Monastery of the White Sun that Claudio Pozas introduced in the Fair Barovia module for 4E?

Ironically, for the past six months or so I'd actually been gathering various horror and gothic modules together from various sources to place within the Balinok Mountain valley in order to create a larger Barovian campaign (with Castle Ravenloft being the capstone.) So the fact that this book is basically going to duplicate that might make things even easier for me. But I probably will still look through a lot of my 4E modules I own that could be inserted into the larger Curse of Strahd setting. Some of them include:

The Haunting of Kincep Mansion [Dungeon 156]
The Crossroads [Dungeon 176]
Lord of the White Field [Dungeon 184]
Bark At The Moon [Dungeon 185]
Mistwatch [Dungeon 186]
Leader of the Pack [Dungeon 194]
A Knight In Shadowghast Manor [Dungeon 197]
Fair Barovia [Dungeon 207]
Fall of the Grey Veil [Dungeon 211]
A Rhyme Gone Wrong [Dungeon 217]

There's also several monsters that had been created for the Monster-A-Day blog posted over on Reddit that had the same sort of horror feel that could be incorporated into the landscape. There was a Evil Doll, a Masked Killer, a Headless Horseman, and several other types of new undead.

Needless to say, having this new book to use as the spine of the campaign rather than me trying to jerry-rig one together from all of these disparate parts will hopefully make things work and feel much more organic.

 

[JeffB]

I did not own "Return", but it seems to get a lot of flak...what was the issue with it?

 

[Ath-kethin]

Yep, that is what I am afraid of.

Me too. It would be like interrupting the ritual at the end of Rise of Tiamat and facing her when she wasn't even at full strength.

Intelligently planning out a way to gain advantages over an enemy or exploiting an enemy's weaknesses instead of charging in like a superhero is just playing the game wrong.