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General Tabletop Discussion
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Enhancing "Curse of Strahd" (and DDAL adventures)
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<blockquote data-quote="hastur_nz" data-source="post: 7127834" data-attributes="member: 40592"><p>Well, I was a player in the 3rd ed "Expedition to Castle Ravenloft", and none of us got terribly invested in the Reading, beyond the usual "clues to get the McGuffins, then we can go kill Strahd". YMMV, it depends on your players, but as DM and Player, I've never really found many people, if any, that get super-excited over overly complicated clues, mainly because what seems obvious to the DM just isn't to the players, so they tune out easily. When I was DM for Curse of Strahd (5e), I also don't remember any of the players getting overly excited about Madam Eva's cards, beyond the obvious "clues to get the McGuffins".</p><p></p><p>As for Izek, I really like your thinking, in my game I found there were too many potential plot threads in Vallaki, and only some struck a chord with the players; certainly the "Festival of the Blazing Sun" fell pretty flat; your idea is a good addition. I'd just say, make sure you add on the "so what" for the PC's, i.e. when you say "cue the battle-climax", what exactly does that mean? Is the Devil going to make sure the Burgomaster dies, along with Izek, so Lady Wachter can take over as the new ruler? (meaning, the PC's have the opportunity to get involved, assuming they care?) By all means, keep that idea up your sleeve for later, it's a decent one, however from my experience the most important thing about running this adventure, is to be flexible, and 'pre-plan' every single session as you go along, as you really have no idea what directions your players will end up running in, so to speak... They will, most likely, go through Vallaki a few times during the campaign, so there's plenty of opportunity to meet NPC's, have encounters, and so on, and you never know up front how your players will perceive the NPC's etc. until you get there. So when I say 'pre-plan' every single session, I mean before every session, go through what's likely to come up in that session, and think of some likely scenarios, so you have pre-thought some of the ad-lib that will be required.</p><p></p><p>p.s. mainly I'm saying "don't over-plan" - Curse of Strahd is definitely more "sandbox" than "railroad", on a session-by-session basis, so by all means add some notes in the margins for the future, but most likely by the time you get there, you'll need different notes...</p><p></p><p>For example, in my game, Izek actually became an Ally, of sorts, to the PC's. I really wanted to try and play out the hidden-brother-sister thing, but I couldn't see how without forcing it upon the players. Lady Wachter didn't feature until the last time the PC's were in Vallaki, where she tempted them and they politely refused. All up, most NPC's in Curse of Strahd followed my preferred approach to NPC's in my games - they are somewhat Grey, not obviously Good nor Evil, and not obviously breaking any laws, so the PC's don't just kill them. I don't think my players thought much of the Baron, or Lady Wachter, but eventually they moved on to the main objective - Strahd's Castle, and left everyone in Vallaki to their own devices.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="hastur_nz, post: 7127834, member: 40592"] Well, I was a player in the 3rd ed "Expedition to Castle Ravenloft", and none of us got terribly invested in the Reading, beyond the usual "clues to get the McGuffins, then we can go kill Strahd". YMMV, it depends on your players, but as DM and Player, I've never really found many people, if any, that get super-excited over overly complicated clues, mainly because what seems obvious to the DM just isn't to the players, so they tune out easily. When I was DM for Curse of Strahd (5e), I also don't remember any of the players getting overly excited about Madam Eva's cards, beyond the obvious "clues to get the McGuffins". As for Izek, I really like your thinking, in my game I found there were too many potential plot threads in Vallaki, and only some struck a chord with the players; certainly the "Festival of the Blazing Sun" fell pretty flat; your idea is a good addition. I'd just say, make sure you add on the "so what" for the PC's, i.e. when you say "cue the battle-climax", what exactly does that mean? Is the Devil going to make sure the Burgomaster dies, along with Izek, so Lady Wachter can take over as the new ruler? (meaning, the PC's have the opportunity to get involved, assuming they care?) By all means, keep that idea up your sleeve for later, it's a decent one, however from my experience the most important thing about running this adventure, is to be flexible, and 'pre-plan' every single session as you go along, as you really have no idea what directions your players will end up running in, so to speak... They will, most likely, go through Vallaki a few times during the campaign, so there's plenty of opportunity to meet NPC's, have encounters, and so on, and you never know up front how your players will perceive the NPC's etc. until you get there. So when I say 'pre-plan' every single session, I mean before every session, go through what's likely to come up in that session, and think of some likely scenarios, so you have pre-thought some of the ad-lib that will be required. p.s. mainly I'm saying "don't over-plan" - Curse of Strahd is definitely more "sandbox" than "railroad", on a session-by-session basis, so by all means add some notes in the margins for the future, but most likely by the time you get there, you'll need different notes... For example, in my game, Izek actually became an Ally, of sorts, to the PC's. I really wanted to try and play out the hidden-brother-sister thing, but I couldn't see how without forcing it upon the players. Lady Wachter didn't feature until the last time the PC's were in Vallaki, where she tempted them and they politely refused. All up, most NPC's in Curse of Strahd followed my preferred approach to NPC's in my games - they are somewhat Grey, not obviously Good nor Evil, and not obviously breaking any laws, so the PC's don't just kill them. I don't think my players thought much of the Baron, or Lady Wachter, but eventually they moved on to the main objective - Strahd's Castle, and left everyone in Vallaki to their own devices. [/QUOTE]
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