D&D 5E Curse of Strahd 'Revamped' Boxed Collector's Edition

If you're in the market for a revamped (geddit?) edition of Curse of Strahd (which is my favourite of all the D&D adventures so far) in a coffin-shaped box with additional material, you're in luck!

This boxed set is coming out in October and costs $99.99.

There's a whole bunch of stuff included:

• Updated softcover of the adventure itself, including errata and presumably some of the other adjustments to Vistani talked about recently.
• A short 20-book of monsters called Creatures of Horror.
• Double sided poster map of Barovia and Castle Ravenloft.
• A Tarokka deck and 8-page booklet.
• Handouts for players.
• A dozen 'postcards' from Barovia.
• A DMs Screen.

Updates to the original adventure include errata, minor tweaks, and sections of text which have been identified as problematic regarding the Vistani.

IGN has a video looking inside the box.

 

[stadi]

I have a lot of issues with this:

• I don't want a coffin shaped box. Why did they do that? I would have probably thought that it was cool when I was 16, but that was a long time ago. It's not even useful. It will look strange on a shelf and you can't put as much stuff in it as in a normal box.
• Softcover? Really? For this price?
• They make the effort to do a monster booklet, and then include only the module specific monsters? Why not all the monsters / NPCs that you can encounter? If you need the MM, then what was the point in doing a separate booklet?
• They do a huge map where one side is for GM only and the other is for the players, the map of the adventure. If the GM wants to use it, they need to take it away from the players. It's porbably too huge for the GM to use it behind the screen anyway. And why does the player map include the details of every location? They should be separate maps, this way it will spoil everything.
• I don't dislike the art on the screen (it's funny), but for this screen I would have liked something more creepy.
• They revisit the adventure after so many years, and they probably did not change it in any meaningful way. Not talking about the Vistani stuff, but making it more playable, better structured, whatever. Like the Tyranny of Dragons re-release. That was a huge disappointment. They just fixed some small bugs but nothing esle. I'm expecting the same here.
  
  

 

[TheBanjoNerd]

Having the adventure, bestiary, and the guide to the tarokka cards broken into separate booklets really hearkens back to the design of the 4e adventure modules, which had the separate booklets and poster maps. It's definitely something that I like as a DM. The early print runs of the hardcovers tend to have issues with the binding, so I'm always concerned when I need to constantly flip between sections of the book.

I'll probably pick this up because I'm a collector. I've grabbed every main-line release thus far, and this is a pretty cool set, IMO. Would've been neat to see Hydro74 take a crack at the cover art though. They do amazing work.

 

[Reynard]

It's always a surprise to me how aggressively dismissive some folks are when a release doesn't appear to cater to their precise preferences. It shouldn't because it happens EVERY TIME. But there it is.

 

[Superchunk77]

A culturally sanitized softcover in a fancy box with a deck of cards and a map for $100? No thanks.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Dire Bare]

It's always a surprise to me how aggressively dismissive some folks are when a release doesn't appear to cater to their precise preferences. It shouldn't because it happens EVERY TIME. But there it is.

Oh by the Dark Powers yes.

I mean, if a coffin-shaped box doesn't rise you out of your grave, that's okay of course. But to cry to the heavens, "WHY! WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS?" is . . . my goodness, it's beyond silly and histrionic.

The box is what just might sell me on this! I don't need a softcover reprint, I already have three different sets of Tarokka cards . . . but I might be picking this up in October . . .

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

My opinion is to be bought by speculators for future collectors.

Ravenloft is perfect for the young adult players, and the fandom of supernatural romance (are vryloka, the PC race from 4th Ed Heroes of Shadow, possible in Ravenloft?) and an option for the fans of Call Chulhu and World of Darkness.

* We could bet some place is going to become a D&D zombie post-apocalypse zone, and I don't mean "Gamma World".

* Have you seen the ammount of titles published by 3rd parties in the DM Guild for Ravenloft?

 

[Burnside]

I was hoping they would do something like this for Curse of Strahd, which very much deserves a collector's edition.

I agree that the bestiary should include every creature referenced in the adventure, not just the adventure-exclusive ones. I've paid you $99, don't make me look up Strahd zombie in one book and werewolf in another book.

Also wish it included a non-isometric battle maps of the castle.

 

[Giltonio_Santos]

I wish I could see the brainstorm session with the genius that suggested the coffin shape. I bet that person has zero boxed sets on their shelves. And I bet it was a designer. Either a designer or everybody else's boss... xD

 

[This Effin’ GM]

.
.
.
Maybe when they do Dragon Heist they will revise it and actually put a heist in the adventure...

Have you seen the Alexandrian Remix of Waterdeep: DH? It’s very good and leads with this issue

 

[Ghost2020]

I actually like the screen, the rest...no thanks. I haven't even run the one i have.