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Enhancing "Curse of Strahd" (and DDAL adventures)
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<blockquote data-quote="5Shilling" data-source="post: 6882292" data-attributes="member: 6849897"><p>Hello, new member here joining to discuss CoS. I've been enjoying this and other threads a great deal, and they helped me clarify the tweaks I'm going to make for running the campaign. Probably not as much as some people here:</p><p></p><p>1. I expect to use a hook based on ‘Plea for Help’ just so the party get both versions of the letter. I will probably ask all players to roll up two characters each, and make it very clear to them that this is because of the deadly nature of the campaign. I might even assume that all the PCs are in fact present at the start, with players able to swap between their two. ‘Inactive’ PCs are assumed to be waiting in the nearest inn, or if travelling then they are an hour behind on the road following with mules or a wagon, guarding NPCs etc.</p><p></p><p>2. I'm going to move Death House so that it sits just outside of Barovia Town to the East (which I might rename Barov Town because my players are easily confused) on the Old Svalich Road. This should mean that the party come to the house just before they enter Barov Town proper. With the appeal from the two children I very much doubt the party will just pass on by. I am concerned about lethality but not certain yet whether I will replace the shambling mound (maybe with a shadow demon or black pudding) or just introduce some hazard, weapon or scroll etc that the PCs can use to gain an advantage over it. If I do stick with the shambling mound (eww) then I will probably re-skin it as a mound of decomposing bodies. I also like the idea of giving more clues to the identity of the ghasts. Also I underlined the point in the adventure notes that the PCs can sacrifice any creature, not just another PC. They could kill a rat and it would still satisfy the ritual.</p><p></p><p>3. I will most likely replace the Night hags with green hags. Not only are the night hags ridiculous for supposedly level 4 area but I think green hags better fit the gothic theme better. Having said that I do think this area is designed to force the players into finding a non-combat solution (maybe trying to offer a trade for the children), so the hags will not go down easily. What they will do is try to forcefully eject and humiliate the PCs using hold person etc rather than kill them (at least until the PCs are higher level). The party try to kill them and don’t retreat they will most likely find themselves regaining movement in a ditch beside the Old Svalich road, the cruel laughter of the hags fading into the night… </p><p></p><p>4. I will probably downplay the Amber Temple, but keep it there if the party wants an “encore”. Personally I interpret the vestiges as being “middle men” for communicating with the Dark Powers, rather than being the Dark Powers themselves.</p><p>(Oh point here – to me the Amber temple seems to be heavily inspired by The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula Le’Guin – an incredibly atmospheric fantasy novel that I cannot recommend highly enough, and could be very useful for running the temple).</p><p></p><p>5. Encounters with Strahd will most likely be RP-based unless players are foolish enough to attack him. Eg Strahd turns out to be standing beside them at a shop, in the street, or sitting next to them at an inn. He proceeds to have a friendly chat with them with casual threats thrown in as non-sequiturs. As he leaves he says “oh and my friends want a chat with you too” – cue wolf attack. </p><p></p><p>6. Barovian souls are 1 in 4. The existence of the soulless is not a creation of Strahd but due to the spiritual amputation of Barovia – dead souls can’t get out, but neither can new souls get in. The existence of the soulless should be a major horrific revelation. I will be making the husks quite creepy, along the lines of the ‘Innsmouth Look’.</p><p></p><p>7. I like Baba Lysanga and will probably give her a lot more to do. Maybe correspondence with the hags and witches.</p><p></p><p>8. Mongrelfolk will be merely be deformed so that body parts resemble the animal parts, rather than actually having animal limbs (eg rather than having the foot of a duck, the foot is deformed so it is three toed and webbed). I find the “animal parts” to be a bit goofy and think the deformations are more horrific and believable. </p><p>As for the Abbott – Strahd is so damned that he is completely invisible to the Abbott. The Abbott knows that Strahd exists from talking to the Barovians but cannot perceive him in person (might be a great opportunity for Strahd to turn up while the party are talking to The Abbott.). This really scares the Abbott.</p><p></p><p>9. The werewolves will be stealing teenagers (youths of about 13 years old) rather than children. Two reasons for this:</p><p>a) too many dead and kidnapped children gets repetitive (I have no problem with the horror aspect, just pacing) and </p><p>b) the werewolf transformation is a really great metaphor for adolescence (see the excellent film The Company of Wolves, also Ginger Snaps and early versions of Red Riding Hood). Opportunity here for one of the youths wanting to stay a werewolf as part of discovering adulthood. </p><p></p><p>10. I don’t think any party is likely to ever discover Madam Eva’s backstory, but in any case I am making her a non-immortal, but very old and wise Vistani who is unhappy with the gradual corruption of her people and who genuinely wants to help the party destroy Strahd (but won’t take direct action for fear of his wrath). I am happy with the random nature of the card reading as written (I think it’s a pretty integral part of the feel of the module). I’ll probably use playing cards, although I’m tempted to get some blanks and design my own Tarokka in the style of the Aquarian Tarot.</p><p></p><p>11. Argynvostholdt – I will try to work I opportunities to avoid or at least delay battle with the revenants, continuing to support Ravenloft as an “R-P first, combat second” campaign.</p><p></p><p>12. The Heart of Sorrow seems like the best candidate for the champaign wine stone. Oh, and I will be changing the stupid names of the wines to something closer to real Romanian wines (there are wines that translate as “grandmother’s black” and “maiden’s black” for pete’s sake!)</p><p></p><p>13. I think Rahadin is far too similar to Strahd himself in lots of ways, so I think I will make him horribly scarred (actually even as I write this I’ve had the thought of making him bald and scarred by fire – the party may well mistake him for a Count Orlock style vampire!)</p><p>I will not be using any of the optional re-uniting of Sergei and Tatyana. Whilst I am happy with Ireena being a reincarnation, Sergei is lost forever – no cheesy happy endings here!</p><p></p><p>I will no doubt make other tweaks, as it will still take a few weeks before I can get the campaign started.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="5Shilling, post: 6882292, member: 6849897"] Hello, new member here joining to discuss CoS. I've been enjoying this and other threads a great deal, and they helped me clarify the tweaks I'm going to make for running the campaign. Probably not as much as some people here: 1. I expect to use a hook based on ‘Plea for Help’ just so the party get both versions of the letter. I will probably ask all players to roll up two characters each, and make it very clear to them that this is because of the deadly nature of the campaign. I might even assume that all the PCs are in fact present at the start, with players able to swap between their two. ‘Inactive’ PCs are assumed to be waiting in the nearest inn, or if travelling then they are an hour behind on the road following with mules or a wagon, guarding NPCs etc. 2. I'm going to move Death House so that it sits just outside of Barovia Town to the East (which I might rename Barov Town because my players are easily confused) on the Old Svalich Road. This should mean that the party come to the house just before they enter Barov Town proper. With the appeal from the two children I very much doubt the party will just pass on by. I am concerned about lethality but not certain yet whether I will replace the shambling mound (maybe with a shadow demon or black pudding) or just introduce some hazard, weapon or scroll etc that the PCs can use to gain an advantage over it. If I do stick with the shambling mound (eww) then I will probably re-skin it as a mound of decomposing bodies. I also like the idea of giving more clues to the identity of the ghasts. Also I underlined the point in the adventure notes that the PCs can sacrifice any creature, not just another PC. They could kill a rat and it would still satisfy the ritual. 3. I will most likely replace the Night hags with green hags. Not only are the night hags ridiculous for supposedly level 4 area but I think green hags better fit the gothic theme better. Having said that I do think this area is designed to force the players into finding a non-combat solution (maybe trying to offer a trade for the children), so the hags will not go down easily. What they will do is try to forcefully eject and humiliate the PCs using hold person etc rather than kill them (at least until the PCs are higher level). The party try to kill them and don’t retreat they will most likely find themselves regaining movement in a ditch beside the Old Svalich road, the cruel laughter of the hags fading into the night… 4. I will probably downplay the Amber Temple, but keep it there if the party wants an “encore”. Personally I interpret the vestiges as being “middle men” for communicating with the Dark Powers, rather than being the Dark Powers themselves. (Oh point here – to me the Amber temple seems to be heavily inspired by The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula Le’Guin – an incredibly atmospheric fantasy novel that I cannot recommend highly enough, and could be very useful for running the temple). 5. Encounters with Strahd will most likely be RP-based unless players are foolish enough to attack him. Eg Strahd turns out to be standing beside them at a shop, in the street, or sitting next to them at an inn. He proceeds to have a friendly chat with them with casual threats thrown in as non-sequiturs. As he leaves he says “oh and my friends want a chat with you too” – cue wolf attack. 6. Barovian souls are 1 in 4. The existence of the soulless is not a creation of Strahd but due to the spiritual amputation of Barovia – dead souls can’t get out, but neither can new souls get in. The existence of the soulless should be a major horrific revelation. I will be making the husks quite creepy, along the lines of the ‘Innsmouth Look’. 7. I like Baba Lysanga and will probably give her a lot more to do. Maybe correspondence with the hags and witches. 8. Mongrelfolk will be merely be deformed so that body parts resemble the animal parts, rather than actually having animal limbs (eg rather than having the foot of a duck, the foot is deformed so it is three toed and webbed). I find the “animal parts” to be a bit goofy and think the deformations are more horrific and believable. As for the Abbott – Strahd is so damned that he is completely invisible to the Abbott. The Abbott knows that Strahd exists from talking to the Barovians but cannot perceive him in person (might be a great opportunity for Strahd to turn up while the party are talking to The Abbott.). This really scares the Abbott. 9. The werewolves will be stealing teenagers (youths of about 13 years old) rather than children. Two reasons for this: a) too many dead and kidnapped children gets repetitive (I have no problem with the horror aspect, just pacing) and b) the werewolf transformation is a really great metaphor for adolescence (see the excellent film The Company of Wolves, also Ginger Snaps and early versions of Red Riding Hood). Opportunity here for one of the youths wanting to stay a werewolf as part of discovering adulthood. 10. I don’t think any party is likely to ever discover Madam Eva’s backstory, but in any case I am making her a non-immortal, but very old and wise Vistani who is unhappy with the gradual corruption of her people and who genuinely wants to help the party destroy Strahd (but won’t take direct action for fear of his wrath). I am happy with the random nature of the card reading as written (I think it’s a pretty integral part of the feel of the module). I’ll probably use playing cards, although I’m tempted to get some blanks and design my own Tarokka in the style of the Aquarian Tarot. 11. Argynvostholdt – I will try to work I opportunities to avoid or at least delay battle with the revenants, continuing to support Ravenloft as an “R-P first, combat second” campaign. 12. The Heart of Sorrow seems like the best candidate for the champaign wine stone. Oh, and I will be changing the stupid names of the wines to something closer to real Romanian wines (there are wines that translate as “grandmother’s black” and “maiden’s black” for pete’s sake!) 13. I think Rahadin is far too similar to Strahd himself in lots of ways, so I think I will make him horribly scarred (actually even as I write this I’ve had the thought of making him bald and scarred by fire – the party may well mistake him for a Count Orlock style vampire!) I will not be using any of the optional re-uniting of Sergei and Tatyana. Whilst I am happy with Ireena being a reincarnation, Sergei is lost forever – no cheesy happy endings here! I will no doubt make other tweaks, as it will still take a few weeks before I can get the campaign started. [/QUOTE]
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