Goober4473
Explorer
I've just begun my latest campaign: Curse of Strahd! And for this one, I'm keeping a journal, including a bunch of notes on my plans, intentions, and alterations. So far, I have my long introduction, where I discuss the themes of the campaign, what I want to get out of it, my major story changes, and my various new uses for the Tarokka deck, and then sessions 0 and 1. I'll be adding more to this post as I go, but the most up-to-date version will always be the Google Doc.
Manifesto
[SBLOCK=Manifesto]These are the general guidelines and story notes I’ve created for myself for running Curse of Strahd.
The Tarokka. I’ve come up with a number of ways to use the Tarokka in addition to the simple reading. This document includes all of my tables and references: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1t4xBiApKq0Yw-CqbmzlB1cYajdb1GYrG
I plan to split the Sunsword into hilt and blade, rather than give the hilt an energy blade, so it will get two drawings in Madam Eva’s reading. This is mostly just because I ran Out of the Abyss recently, which also has an intelligent sun blade, and I don’t want to repeat myself like that, but having a fourth location will also be nice to ensure some more exploration.
The Tome of Strahd will also, in addition to giving some important insight and history, provide the players with the locations and nature of three special “fanes” that Strahd draws power from, and that can be destroyed. This is a concept from the 3.5 Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, where a card also determined what kind of guardians defend these locations, which I won’t be using. Argynvostholt will probably be one of the fanes, requiring the skull to be returned, but I haven’t planned that far ahead just yet, nor exactly what powers Strahd gains from them. Perhaps simply that he will return even after true death should they not be destroyed first.
I will also likely include another high deck reading as with Strahd’s Enemy, but for a character that needs help, and that the players must protect.
The reading will also be framed as “the only future I foresee where you are victorious,” rather than just some items/people that might help. This gives the reading a bit more significance, and instead of Strahd’s location being where they can find him, it is where they must find him when it is time for the final battle, or else they are (almost definitely) doomed.
Trauma. Ultimately, I want this adventure to be about trauma. Barovia represents, metaphorically, the cycle of trauma, and literal escape should coincide with figurative escape from the cycle. Which isn’t to say escape fixes the trauma altogether, but rather it allows the beginning of the healing process.
It’s important that my players are aware of this theme before we begin, and that their characters will be starting with a trauma, though I didn’t explain how Barovia fits as a metaphor. Together we made a list of subjects we don’t want involved in the story, such as sexual violence, which any of us can add to at any time, and I will make sure that it is not ever an element of the story. I sent the following links to my players before character creation so we’re all on the same page as far as the cycles of trauma and abuse go:
https://peaceaftertrauma.com/resources/unaddressed-trauma (you don't need to watch the video)
http://www.bernsteininstitute.com/traumatic-reenactment/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycle_of_abuse
Using the above knowledge as guidance, the narrative will be constantly putting the characters in positions where they experience a repeat of their trauma, either through triggering reminders or the actual repeating of similar events. And the players will make sure their characters pursue traumatic reenactment where possible. As they go, they’ll almost certainly experience new trauma as well, which Barovia will then take advantage of just like their starting traumas.
There will be little in terms of game mechanics attached to trauma, except that a traumatic experience gains a character inspiration, which is otherwise unavailable. Depending on the situation, conditions like Frightened might be necessary, but usually the trauma is a result of mechanics, not the cause of them. i.e. if a character becomes frightened, it likely counts as a trauma, but watching someone they care about die wouldn’t cause a specific mechanical condition; just a roleplaying opportunity in deciding how the character reacts.
The Dark Powers. In Curse of Strahd, the vestiges in the Amber Temple are equated to the Dark Powers of older editions, which have great influence over the Domains of Dread. But in the book, they don’t do very much, and can only be interacted with by touching their sarcophagus. Instead, I want to make the Dark Powers a large part of the campaign, constantly tempting the players.
But I also don’t want their corrupting influence to require saves versus becoming evil, and the normal gifts they offer should not come with a price, but rather it is inherently dangerous. My Tarokka Resources document above has a list of reworked gifts, as well as some new vestiges, and explain the following:
The players will receive Tarokka cards to represent having inspiration. These cards don’t do anything extra for them, but instead give me a way to randomize which Dark Power is currently influencing them. That Power influences them until they gain inspiration again, or a new session begins, since the cards will be put back between sessions, and players that ended the last session with inspiration will get new cards.
This gives me a guideline to work with in offering power to the players. The Power that influences a specific player will prioritize offering their gift to that player, but might also offer it to others in the party if a really good opportunity presents itself. For instance, Zrin-Hala, the Howling Storm offers the ability to breathe underwater. If a character she is not influencing is in a position where they might drown, she’ll want to offer her gift to that character.
Dark Powers can offer other gifts as well if I feel they would be appropriate for the situation, and they might also offer “boons” besides their gifts. This is sort of a catch-all for offering anything the players might need, such as resurrection. These boons may come from specific Powers, or all of them collectively, and they are not offered freely.
As the characters experience trauma, accept gifts or boons, or cause trauma, they become ever more connected to the Dark Powers. They may start to find they are given gifts without permission. And ultimately, should they defeat Strahd, they will still have to face the Powers in order to escape becoming his replacement(s), which will be more difficult the more they are connected.
As of now I do not have any mechanics in place for how strong the connection is, but I will be keeping track of traumas and dark gifts to be used against the player later.
New Vestiges. I added a few vestiges, to bring the total to 27; enough so that each one can be assigned to two tarokka cards. Their gifts, the the cards associated with all of the Powers, and where they can be found in the Amber Temple, are in my tarokka resources document. Descriptions of where they come from are here:
I also removed the Vampyr as a vestige, instead adding three of the new vestiges to the Amber Vault, because I want Strahd to have made a deal with the Dark Powers as a whole, not just accepted a gift from one of them one time.
Strahd. In the book, Strahd wants very few things (get Ireena and kill Van Richten; maybe an heir or consort?), and cares about the players only as distractions, unless they particularly impress him. He is also presented as almost entirely a frightening monster that shows up to kick their asses sometimes. This gets at some good fear, but I want more from him.
My Strahd will be charming, alluring, and initially quite friendly to the PCs if they don’t disrespect him. He will invite them to dinner much earlier, upon their first meeting after the introductory adventure, wherein they will have done him a favor by ridding his lands of a Beast he was not in control of. He will, himself, ask the party to watch over Ireena, who he will claim has gotten the wrong idea about him. He will claim that he would never want to force her into anything, and that her brother’s fear of him keeps Strahd from keeping a close eye on her himself.
He will be an abuser, not just an enemy. He will escalate his relationship with one or more of the PCs, he will seem nice, tension will build, and he will abuse them, perhaps physically in combat, or perhaps by destroying or taking away something or someone they care about. Then he will be apologetic, try to make it up to them, give them gifts, help them in a fight, etc. Through Traumatic Bonding they will likely come to care about him and what he thinks of them. This is up to the players of course, but that’s why I’ve made sure we’re on the same page as far as how abuse works.
My Strahd will also have an additional goal: find a replacement that he can offer to the Dark Powers in exchange for his own freedom. He will believe he has found the perfect people for this in the PCs, who already have an extra powerful connection to the Powers. However, if he finds himself in a bind, and he thinks they may have a chance of succeeding, he may instead offer to ally with the players against the Dark Powers, in order to free himself along with the players.
Tenebrous. One of the vestiges in the Amber Temple is Tenebrous, who is undead Orcus, an important part of my last campaign, the 2e adventure Dead Gods updated to 5e. Due to a short additional adventure I ran in between these games and some complicated time travel and reincarnation, which is far out of the scope of this document, the characters’ souls in Curse of Strahd are specially connected to Tenebrous, and thus also the rest of the Dark Powers.
Tenebrous is special among the Powers, though, in that he wants to escape the Domains of Dread. The others are content with pulling victims into their realm and feeding on their misery and darkness, but Tenebrous has ambitions, and “existing” as a vestige, a being essentially outside of reality, is still a more inviting idea than bare subsistence here. As such, Tenebrous is the one that has subtly orchestrated the PCs being brought to Barovia, and has convinced the other Powers that he does not know why they are so especially connected.
In order to be free, he will need to be freed from his sarcophagus, and freed from the fog. He hopes he can convince the players to break his sarcophagus in exchange for his help in killing Strahd, which will remove the fog. The other Powers of course won’t be happy with this, and so he will offer to help the PCs face them in the end as well.
Tenebrous is also an abuser, though likely more subtle about it. He doesn’t care about the players in the least, except that they can help him. If they refuse him, he will certainly join the other Powers in trying to keep them here forever.
Failing Forward. In this game, the players are expected to fail pretty often. It’s not something I plan to force, but it’s very likely they’ll get in over their heads, encounter enemies too powerful for them, or generally not solve a problem. With that in mind, I want to heavily emphasize “failing forward,” where failure simply provides new interesting story elements. The players may be captured and lose their equipment, they might lose beloved NPCs, they might fail to prevent atrocities, and they might even die, but the game marches ever on.
In the case of death, I plan to make coming back to life fairly easy, but generally at a steep cost. The Dark Powers will offer a number of ways to come back, for instance. The horror in this game will not come from fear of death, but rather fear of being stuck in a cycle of trauma and pain for eternity. You may come back after dying, but you still experienced the agonizing pain of your injuries, the terrifying feeling of being dead, and the realization that your spirit cannot move on. It’s ultimately just more trauma to throw on the pile every time.
Flashbacks. I’ve found that, rather than detailed backstories, using flashbacks to fill in character background details works extremely well. In the past, these have been very specific, and related directly to the plot at hand, but I’ll probably be expanding into more general character development for this game.
These flashbacks come in the form of a question about the past for a player, often a leading question. For instance, “how did your parents die when you were young?” when we haven’t established the status of the character’s parents. But it could also be as simple as, “when did you first cast a spell?” or “tell me about a significant battle you fought.” The player then describes what happened.
I recommend giving this a try. It’s surprisingly easy, gives the players a lot of cool choices to make, and lets you connect their characters’ stories to the current situation in some narratively interesting ways.[/SBLOCK]
Session 0: Character Creation
[SBLOCK=session 0]I think it is extremely important to have a session 0, where I make sure the players understood and agreed to the game themes and objectives, I can go over any special rules or restrictions, and then the characters can all be made together. This allows players to figure out a good party social dynamic ahead of time, so we don’t end up with conflicting characters that aren’t planned to be conflicting, and it lets us all give some input into all of the characters, bounce ideas around, etc.
For this game, I made sure to discuss the theme of trauma and explain that I wanted to have a bit more serious of a game, but not without humor, just that the characters should react to things like real people. I made sure they knew each of their characters would have a past trauma.
I also let them know that while my usual rule is “I’m not here to screw you over, I’m here to say ‘yes, and’ and make sure the story stays interesting,” the new rules is, “I’m still not here to screw you over, but I am here to screw your characters over, and you should be too.” Basically, normally I make sure that unless it’d make no sense, whatever plans the players come up with or goals they set, I’ll put interesting and level-appropriate challenges in their way. But in Barovia, they could easily walk into something way beyond them. It’s just that that’s a good thing, from a horror story perspective.
Other Notes. I also explained the following:
Special Rules. I have a couple of special rules for this game, in addition to my normal set of alternate rules, which I explained.
Traits. For Traits, Ideal, Bond, and Flaw, I always make sure to customize what each of them will represent for each game I run. This helps characters fit better into the story, setting, and/or genre. I highly recommend DMs do this.
The ideal and bond here make sure these character want things. They can be tempted. Even if they ultimately reject temptation, I feel it will be important for them to have incentive to interact with the Dark Powers, and these give an easy in. The flaw hammers home their trauma and how they respond to it and other stressful situations.
The Dream. At the end of character creation, I concluded by telling them, “you have the dream again.” I told them that they used to have this dream as a child, and had all but forgotten it until now. In the dream, which all of them experienced (but each alone), I explained that they are running from beasts of some kind in the dark woods along a dirt road. The beasts are closing in, and eventually surround the character, still just eyes and growls in the dark. But then the Shadow Man appears. They know exactly who he is, in the way one does in a dream, even though they know no details about him. He is a dark void against the night, and he offers his hand to them. They know that if they take it, the Shadow Man will take them away from this danger, but they are also afraid of what might happen if they go with him.
I then asked them if, in their version of the dream, they took his hand, and how they felt about it. This was not a choice the character made, but just what always happened in their dream. They might take his hand while wishing they didn’t, or want to take it but be paralyzed with fear, take it gratefully, etc.
Who is the Shadow Man? Not a specific NPC communicating through their dreams as much as a metaphorical premonition. He may represent Strahd, or Tenebrous, or something else entirely, and is likely to be different for each character.
The results of character creation were:
Simetra, the aasimar hexblade, who after a childhood full of physical abuse from an older brother, killed him with a magic scythe that offered her power. In her dream, Simetra took the Shadow Man's hand in her dream, feeling that she needed to deal with immediate problems, and she'll deal with the future later. An attitude apparent in her accepting a deal from a dangerous object. She uses sex to avoid thinking about her problems.
Helgret, the dwarven forge cleric. Early in life, she was turned into a werewolf, and later cured, but not before she hurt a lot of people. She retreated into her work as a forger of magical items rather than deal with it, until she heard of werewolves attacking people in an area she was making shipments to, and decided out of guilt that she had to help. Helgret did not take the Shadow Man's hand, fearing an unknown danger more than a concrete one. She turns to obsessive work to escape thinking about her trauma.
Mina, the half-elf rogue. A woman whose story is based on the story of Blue Beard, which is wonderful because that's an abuser that Strahd is heavily influenced by. She married an abusive man whose previous wives had disappeared, then found out he had murdered all of them. When he found out she knew, he tried to kill her, but she struck first. However, he was beloved in the town, so she had to flee to avoid being hung for killing her husband. She took the Shadow Man's hand in her dream, but immediately regretted it, in the same way she married a wealthy man because it seemed like such a wonderful thing to happen to a nobody like her, but regretted it later.
Karl, the human fighter. He was part of a city watch group that investigated crimes, but he and his group were kidnapped by a horrible blood cult that performed all sorts of awful tortures and ritual blood-letting. He now fears losing blood, and keeps vials of blood from various sources to perform neurotic rituals that he hopes will keep his own blood safe when he's feeling anxious. He took the Shadow Man's hand, because he wanted to learn to be powerful like him.[/SBLOCK]
Session 1: The Borderwood part 1
[SBLOCK=Session 1]The game began with the characters each making their way to the small hamlet of Klovice, answering the call for heroes to help them with werewolf attacks. Mina and Simetra had previously fought bandits together and travelled together, and Karl and Helgret met when they found they were both headed to Klovice to help the town. Unknown to them, there are no werewolves, but instead the wolves of the area have been driven to extreme malice by a great Beast just beyond the mist, in Barovia.
Karl had a bit more information, having gotten a letter from the man who saved him from cultists, Radke Iliev. The two had hunted monsters together for a while, but parted ways a few months ago. The letter read:
Alternate Starting Adventure. I am beginning the campaign with The Beast of Graenseskov, an introductory adventure that replaces Death House. I definitely recommend it, as it introduces the players to the people of the land of Barovia and the sorts of problems they face, and it primarily involves investigation rather than direct conflict, which leads to a bit more foreboding and building tension. But for those who don’t have it, or who haven’t read it through, here is a brief summary of the adventure:
On the border of Barovia, just inside the mist, is Graenseskov, which means the borderwood. The area is run by boyar Borje Volchycrov. A little over a year ago, the boyar hunted down a coven of hags in the area, one of whom had prophesied that the boyar would be beheaded. He took that hag back to his manor and had her head cut off in a poetic move. Her sister, Pretty Kolchya, put a curse of the manor.
Since then, a terrible Beast has plagued the area, and the hunter Radke Iliev came to investigate the attacks near Klovice, and found himself beyond the mists, where he promised to hunt this Beast. When he sent for Karl with a messenger raven, which Strahd was happy to let pass through the mist to lure more adventurers in.
The curse is upon those that were directly responsible for the death of Kolchya’s sister: the mystic that lead the boyar’s forces to the hag’s secret tower, the smith that forged a cold iron executioner’s axe, a sage that blessed the axe, and the boyar’s son that personally beheaded the hag. One of them, at random or chosen by the DM, is as Loup du Noir, with a magical wolfskin that they can use to turn into a huge wolf, and that also turns them malicious and bloodthirsty. Should they die without the curse being broken, it moves to another one of them, and ultimately to the boyar himself should they all die.
I chose the smith to be the Beast. She’s the Boyar’s illegitimate daughter with a Vistani woman, raised by a blacksmith couple. I think my players will like her since she’s very positive and energetic, looking for adventure, so all the better when she turns out to be the enemy. If all goes well, though, they’ll be able to break the curse without killing her, and she’ll go back to being a good person.
There are four critical clues to figuring out who the beast is: motive to murder a specific knight, lack of alibi for a feast during which an ox herder was attacked, an injury after the Beast falls from a great height (as written, this is instead a molar left in a sleigh, but I like this better), and the knowledge necessary to slay a vampire spawn, Strahd’s informant in the area, who is getting too close to the truth. Each NPC will seem guilty based on three of these clues, but one of them clears them of suspicion, unless they’re the beast, in which case all four apply.
In this case, since I have chosen the smith, the mystic has no motive to kill the knight, the boyar’s son was at the feast the whole night, and the sage had no knowledge or means to slay a vampire spawn. If the smith were innocent, she would be uninjured after the beast falls, but since she is the Beast, she will have a wounded leg that she cannot explain.
Through the Mist. The two groups of two PCs arrived at Klovice, a tiny a meager place. They spoke to the innkeeper and captain of the watch, and learned of some deaths in and near the woods, killed by wolf bite, but the bodies were left and not eaten, suggesting malice. The now party spent a while at the inn, talked to the innkeeper’s son Johan, who was an excellent chef, and had some roleplaying with each other. I tried to get them moving after that, but they collected a lot of details before Karl explained his letter, and that the problem is likely coming from Volchycrov manor.
Some of the players mused that being turned into a werewolf would be better than death, but Helgret, having been one, said death would be better, earning inspiration for trauma flashbacks, where we learned that she and one other person survived a werewolf attack, and the other was captured and executed once determined to be a werewolf.
Once they got their act together, the party spent 6 hours trekking through spooky mist-filled woods, and emerged close to a gate leading into the manor house area, which has a collection of supporting buildings. They were brought to the boyar, who gave them Radke Iliev’s journal, which he had left in his room when he was last seen three days prior. They learned Radke suspected the Beast was one of four monsters: a dread wolf, which is a wolf corpse animated by an evil shadow and controlled by a witch, a greater wolfwere, which is an evil wolf monster that can take the form of a charismatic human, a loup du noir, which is correct, or a loup garou, which is the child of two werewolves, and can shift into dire wolf form.
No charismatic strangers came to town around when the Beast appeared, so they decided it likely wasn’t a greater wolfwere.
They also met the boyar’s servant, a mongrelfolk, who Radke hadn’t trusted and suggested the boyar put a chain on him. The mongrelfolk, unknown to even him, had one of his eyes replaced by a hag eye, so Pretty Kolchya can see what he sees.
Investigating. Speaking with the boyar, they learned of the recently murdered knight, the injured ox herder, and that Radke had been heading to speak to a retired knight out in the woods. The boyar’s bodyguard told them her sword shattered against the Beast when she encountered it, which is a power lu du noir have according to Radke’s journal.
Inquiring about the recently murdered knight, they learned he was a known coward, and that the boyar’s son didn’t like him. They also learned they were in the country of Barovia, but not really what that means.
The group then spoke to the injured ox herder and the healer tending to him, who is secretly the boyar’s daughter, raised by Pretty Kolchya who replaced her with a hagspawn child she bore after a polymorphed encounter with the boyar.
They learned the herder was attacked during a feast for the boyar’s birthday, that the injured man had rabies, which fits the description of a disease supposedly caused by dread wolves (a misdirection), but he probably didn’t have “werewolfism”, suggesting the Beast is not a loup garou. The healer also told them that the boyar’s son hated the recent murder victim, because the knight had abandoned him on the battlefield.
Next time, the group plans to spend then night at the manor and do some snooping, then follow Radke’s trail to the knight living as a hermit, who they don’t know is a penitent werewolf that keeps his beastly nature secret and contained.[/SBLOCK]
Manifesto
[SBLOCK=Manifesto]These are the general guidelines and story notes I’ve created for myself for running Curse of Strahd.
The Tarokka. I’ve come up with a number of ways to use the Tarokka in addition to the simple reading. This document includes all of my tables and references: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1t4xBiApKq0Yw-CqbmzlB1cYajdb1GYrG
I plan to split the Sunsword into hilt and blade, rather than give the hilt an energy blade, so it will get two drawings in Madam Eva’s reading. This is mostly just because I ran Out of the Abyss recently, which also has an intelligent sun blade, and I don’t want to repeat myself like that, but having a fourth location will also be nice to ensure some more exploration.
The Tome of Strahd will also, in addition to giving some important insight and history, provide the players with the locations and nature of three special “fanes” that Strahd draws power from, and that can be destroyed. This is a concept from the 3.5 Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, where a card also determined what kind of guardians defend these locations, which I won’t be using. Argynvostholt will probably be one of the fanes, requiring the skull to be returned, but I haven’t planned that far ahead just yet, nor exactly what powers Strahd gains from them. Perhaps simply that he will return even after true death should they not be destroyed first.
I will also likely include another high deck reading as with Strahd’s Enemy, but for a character that needs help, and that the players must protect.
The reading will also be framed as “the only future I foresee where you are victorious,” rather than just some items/people that might help. This gives the reading a bit more significance, and instead of Strahd’s location being where they can find him, it is where they must find him when it is time for the final battle, or else they are (almost definitely) doomed.
Trauma. Ultimately, I want this adventure to be about trauma. Barovia represents, metaphorically, the cycle of trauma, and literal escape should coincide with figurative escape from the cycle. Which isn’t to say escape fixes the trauma altogether, but rather it allows the beginning of the healing process.
It’s important that my players are aware of this theme before we begin, and that their characters will be starting with a trauma, though I didn’t explain how Barovia fits as a metaphor. Together we made a list of subjects we don’t want involved in the story, such as sexual violence, which any of us can add to at any time, and I will make sure that it is not ever an element of the story. I sent the following links to my players before character creation so we’re all on the same page as far as the cycles of trauma and abuse go:
https://peaceaftertrauma.com/resources/unaddressed-trauma (you don't need to watch the video)
http://www.bernsteininstitute.com/traumatic-reenactment/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycle_of_abuse
Using the above knowledge as guidance, the narrative will be constantly putting the characters in positions where they experience a repeat of their trauma, either through triggering reminders or the actual repeating of similar events. And the players will make sure their characters pursue traumatic reenactment where possible. As they go, they’ll almost certainly experience new trauma as well, which Barovia will then take advantage of just like their starting traumas.
There will be little in terms of game mechanics attached to trauma, except that a traumatic experience gains a character inspiration, which is otherwise unavailable. Depending on the situation, conditions like Frightened might be necessary, but usually the trauma is a result of mechanics, not the cause of them. i.e. if a character becomes frightened, it likely counts as a trauma, but watching someone they care about die wouldn’t cause a specific mechanical condition; just a roleplaying opportunity in deciding how the character reacts.
The Dark Powers. In Curse of Strahd, the vestiges in the Amber Temple are equated to the Dark Powers of older editions, which have great influence over the Domains of Dread. But in the book, they don’t do very much, and can only be interacted with by touching their sarcophagus. Instead, I want to make the Dark Powers a large part of the campaign, constantly tempting the players.
But I also don’t want their corrupting influence to require saves versus becoming evil, and the normal gifts they offer should not come with a price, but rather it is inherently dangerous. My Tarokka Resources document above has a list of reworked gifts, as well as some new vestiges, and explain the following:
“Dark gifts can be offered by a Dark Power whose card a player was given for inspiration, and to other party members if the Power believes they would be much more likely to accept. Any Dark Power might also offer aid in extremely dire situations where it’s gift may help, but those represented by the inspiration cards have precedence.
“Dark Gifts have no ‘price’, but all are dangerous or have drawbacks. Accepting a gift does not require a save to avoid turning evil, but it does taint the character’s soul, connecting them more to the Dark Powers. The Powers might offer boons, besides their gifts as well, as decided by the DM, but these will always have a price.”
“Dark Gifts have no ‘price’, but all are dangerous or have drawbacks. Accepting a gift does not require a save to avoid turning evil, but it does taint the character’s soul, connecting them more to the Dark Powers. The Powers might offer boons, besides their gifts as well, as decided by the DM, but these will always have a price.”
The players will receive Tarokka cards to represent having inspiration. These cards don’t do anything extra for them, but instead give me a way to randomize which Dark Power is currently influencing them. That Power influences them until they gain inspiration again, or a new session begins, since the cards will be put back between sessions, and players that ended the last session with inspiration will get new cards.
This gives me a guideline to work with in offering power to the players. The Power that influences a specific player will prioritize offering their gift to that player, but might also offer it to others in the party if a really good opportunity presents itself. For instance, Zrin-Hala, the Howling Storm offers the ability to breathe underwater. If a character she is not influencing is in a position where they might drown, she’ll want to offer her gift to that character.
Dark Powers can offer other gifts as well if I feel they would be appropriate for the situation, and they might also offer “boons” besides their gifts. This is sort of a catch-all for offering anything the players might need, such as resurrection. These boons may come from specific Powers, or all of them collectively, and they are not offered freely.
As the characters experience trauma, accept gifts or boons, or cause trauma, they become ever more connected to the Dark Powers. They may start to find they are given gifts without permission. And ultimately, should they defeat Strahd, they will still have to face the Powers in order to escape becoming his replacement(s), which will be more difficult the more they are connected.
As of now I do not have any mechanics in place for how strong the connection is, but I will be keeping track of traumas and dark gifts to be used against the player later.
New Vestiges. I added a few vestiges, to bring the total to 27; enough so that each one can be assigned to two tarokka cards. Their gifts, the the cards associated with all of the Powers, and where they can be found in the Amber Temple, are in my tarokka resources document. Descriptions of where they come from are here:
- Amon, the Void Before the Altar is from the original list of vestiges in the 3.5 Tome of Magic. He’s sort of an angry fire goat guy.
- Ankhu Anputelept, the Last Plague is from a crossover event me and my roommate did between my last campaign, and his still ongoing one. He’s a deposed pharaoh that rained plagues down upon his people, then showed up in a pyramid conjured by planting a magic bean, as a mummy lord. His whereabouts became unknown after he was brought to Sigil.
- Ashardalon, Pyre of the Unborn is from the 3.0 adventure The Bastion of Broken Souls, wherein he was feeding on unborn souls in the Bastion of Unborn Souls, which gods were not allowed to even talk about. He was killed at the end of that adventure, which I ran a few campaigns ago, but due to the immense soul power, continued on as a vestige. He also appeared as a vestige in the 3.5 Dragon Magic.
- Chupoclops, Harbinger of Forever is another from the original list of vestiges in the 3.5 Tome of Magic. He’s a giant spider monster that was supposed to end the world before he was banished from existence.
- Desayeus, the God Who Was Banned is also from The Bastion of Broken Souls. He was a god that tried to take unborn souls as his portfolio, and was struck down and imprisoned by the other gods. He lost the last of his power when the players fought him in his prison and took his key to the Bastion of Unborn Souls.
- Otiax, the Key to the Gate is another from the 3.5 Tome of Magic. It’s a Lovecraftian entity that references Yog-Sothoth, called “the Gate, the Key, and the Guardian.”
- Utia, Nature’s Vengeance is an ancient nature spirit, banished from the world long ago by the druid Dydd, who also ripped out Ashardalon’s original heart. She is my own creation, and was defeated by one of the PCs in that campaign that had made a pact with her, but wanted to be free. She already barely existed, so became a vestige upon her defeat.
- Y'gathok, the All-Consuming Hunger is from this video, where it is called the Ceaseless Hunger, but that name was already taken by the Eldrazi Ulamog in Magic: the Gathering, and it is referred to as the All-Consuming Hunger in the audio of this video. UAAAA IS BIG!!
I also removed the Vampyr as a vestige, instead adding three of the new vestiges to the Amber Vault, because I want Strahd to have made a deal with the Dark Powers as a whole, not just accepted a gift from one of them one time.
Strahd. In the book, Strahd wants very few things (get Ireena and kill Van Richten; maybe an heir or consort?), and cares about the players only as distractions, unless they particularly impress him. He is also presented as almost entirely a frightening monster that shows up to kick their asses sometimes. This gets at some good fear, but I want more from him.
My Strahd will be charming, alluring, and initially quite friendly to the PCs if they don’t disrespect him. He will invite them to dinner much earlier, upon their first meeting after the introductory adventure, wherein they will have done him a favor by ridding his lands of a Beast he was not in control of. He will, himself, ask the party to watch over Ireena, who he will claim has gotten the wrong idea about him. He will claim that he would never want to force her into anything, and that her brother’s fear of him keeps Strahd from keeping a close eye on her himself.
He will be an abuser, not just an enemy. He will escalate his relationship with one or more of the PCs, he will seem nice, tension will build, and he will abuse them, perhaps physically in combat, or perhaps by destroying or taking away something or someone they care about. Then he will be apologetic, try to make it up to them, give them gifts, help them in a fight, etc. Through Traumatic Bonding they will likely come to care about him and what he thinks of them. This is up to the players of course, but that’s why I’ve made sure we’re on the same page as far as how abuse works.
My Strahd will also have an additional goal: find a replacement that he can offer to the Dark Powers in exchange for his own freedom. He will believe he has found the perfect people for this in the PCs, who already have an extra powerful connection to the Powers. However, if he finds himself in a bind, and he thinks they may have a chance of succeeding, he may instead offer to ally with the players against the Dark Powers, in order to free himself along with the players.
Tenebrous. One of the vestiges in the Amber Temple is Tenebrous, who is undead Orcus, an important part of my last campaign, the 2e adventure Dead Gods updated to 5e. Due to a short additional adventure I ran in between these games and some complicated time travel and reincarnation, which is far out of the scope of this document, the characters’ souls in Curse of Strahd are specially connected to Tenebrous, and thus also the rest of the Dark Powers.
Tenebrous is special among the Powers, though, in that he wants to escape the Domains of Dread. The others are content with pulling victims into their realm and feeding on their misery and darkness, but Tenebrous has ambitions, and “existing” as a vestige, a being essentially outside of reality, is still a more inviting idea than bare subsistence here. As such, Tenebrous is the one that has subtly orchestrated the PCs being brought to Barovia, and has convinced the other Powers that he does not know why they are so especially connected.
In order to be free, he will need to be freed from his sarcophagus, and freed from the fog. He hopes he can convince the players to break his sarcophagus in exchange for his help in killing Strahd, which will remove the fog. The other Powers of course won’t be happy with this, and so he will offer to help the PCs face them in the end as well.
Tenebrous is also an abuser, though likely more subtle about it. He doesn’t care about the players in the least, except that they can help him. If they refuse him, he will certainly join the other Powers in trying to keep them here forever.
Failing Forward. In this game, the players are expected to fail pretty often. It’s not something I plan to force, but it’s very likely they’ll get in over their heads, encounter enemies too powerful for them, or generally not solve a problem. With that in mind, I want to heavily emphasize “failing forward,” where failure simply provides new interesting story elements. The players may be captured and lose their equipment, they might lose beloved NPCs, they might fail to prevent atrocities, and they might even die, but the game marches ever on.
In the case of death, I plan to make coming back to life fairly easy, but generally at a steep cost. The Dark Powers will offer a number of ways to come back, for instance. The horror in this game will not come from fear of death, but rather fear of being stuck in a cycle of trauma and pain for eternity. You may come back after dying, but you still experienced the agonizing pain of your injuries, the terrifying feeling of being dead, and the realization that your spirit cannot move on. It’s ultimately just more trauma to throw on the pile every time.
Flashbacks. I’ve found that, rather than detailed backstories, using flashbacks to fill in character background details works extremely well. In the past, these have been very specific, and related directly to the plot at hand, but I’ll probably be expanding into more general character development for this game.
These flashbacks come in the form of a question about the past for a player, often a leading question. For instance, “how did your parents die when you were young?” when we haven’t established the status of the character’s parents. But it could also be as simple as, “when did you first cast a spell?” or “tell me about a significant battle you fought.” The player then describes what happened.
I recommend giving this a try. It’s surprisingly easy, gives the players a lot of cool choices to make, and lets you connect their characters’ stories to the current situation in some narratively interesting ways.[/SBLOCK]
Session 0: Character Creation
[SBLOCK=session 0]I think it is extremely important to have a session 0, where I make sure the players understood and agreed to the game themes and objectives, I can go over any special rules or restrictions, and then the characters can all be made together. This allows players to figure out a good party social dynamic ahead of time, so we don’t end up with conflicting characters that aren’t planned to be conflicting, and it lets us all give some input into all of the characters, bounce ideas around, etc.
For this game, I made sure to discuss the theme of trauma and explain that I wanted to have a bit more serious of a game, but not without humor, just that the characters should react to things like real people. I made sure they knew each of their characters would have a past trauma.
I also let them know that while my usual rule is “I’m not here to screw you over, I’m here to say ‘yes, and’ and make sure the story stays interesting,” the new rules is, “I’m still not here to screw you over, but I am here to screw your characters over, and you should be too.” Basically, normally I make sure that unless it’d make no sense, whatever plans the players come up with or goals they set, I’ll put interesting and level-appropriate challenges in their way. But in Barovia, they could easily walk into something way beyond them. It’s just that that’s a good thing, from a horror story perspective.
Other Notes. I also explained the following:
- While playing an exotic race is perfectly fine, the people of Barovia will see them as a monster, so they should only choose such a race if they want that to be part of their struggle.
- The party, as a unit, needs to be motivated to help people without promise of reward. So not all of them need to be good people, but they need to lean that way as a group. At least to start.
- Backgrounds should be left a little vague, to leave room for flashbacks.
- Everyone starts with a random trinket, as determined by a tarokka card drawing.
Special Rules. I have a couple of special rules for this game, in addition to my normal set of alternate rules, which I explained.
- Tarokka cards as inspiration, as explained above.
- In order to long rest, the rest must take place somewhere both safe and comfortable. An inn might be comfortable, but if riots are going on outside, it is not safe, and a hidden cave might be safe, but it is not comfortable.
- Lesser restoration cannot cure disease. You need greater restoration for that.
Traits. For Traits, Ideal, Bond, and Flaw, I always make sure to customize what each of them will represent for each game I run. This helps characters fit better into the story, setting, and/or genre. I highly recommend DMs do this.
- Trait #1: For this trait, I almost always tell players to pick one thing about their character, where if that was the only thing we knew about them, would make an awesome and fun, if one-dimensional, character. Since roleplaying characters don’t have a lot of time to express who they are deep down early on in a game, I find that if you create a character that works well as a one-dimensional character, who we like after just one scene with them, it makes it so that when we get into their deeper personality, we care a lot more, and feel like we know this character. A brooding loner with a really cool backstory is a much worse starting point than an undeveloped character with one obvious trait like “drunk,” “emo kid,” or “snobby French guy.”
- Trait #2: This trait I usually leave open to whatever else they feel is important to the character.
- Ideal: “What would you do anything to gain?”
- Bond: “What are you most afraid to lose?”
- Flaw: “An unhealthy coping mechanism”
The ideal and bond here make sure these character want things. They can be tempted. Even if they ultimately reject temptation, I feel it will be important for them to have incentive to interact with the Dark Powers, and these give an easy in. The flaw hammers home their trauma and how they respond to it and other stressful situations.
The Dream. At the end of character creation, I concluded by telling them, “you have the dream again.” I told them that they used to have this dream as a child, and had all but forgotten it until now. In the dream, which all of them experienced (but each alone), I explained that they are running from beasts of some kind in the dark woods along a dirt road. The beasts are closing in, and eventually surround the character, still just eyes and growls in the dark. But then the Shadow Man appears. They know exactly who he is, in the way one does in a dream, even though they know no details about him. He is a dark void against the night, and he offers his hand to them. They know that if they take it, the Shadow Man will take them away from this danger, but they are also afraid of what might happen if they go with him.
I then asked them if, in their version of the dream, they took his hand, and how they felt about it. This was not a choice the character made, but just what always happened in their dream. They might take his hand while wishing they didn’t, or want to take it but be paralyzed with fear, take it gratefully, etc.
Who is the Shadow Man? Not a specific NPC communicating through their dreams as much as a metaphorical premonition. He may represent Strahd, or Tenebrous, or something else entirely, and is likely to be different for each character.
The results of character creation were:
Simetra, the aasimar hexblade, who after a childhood full of physical abuse from an older brother, killed him with a magic scythe that offered her power. In her dream, Simetra took the Shadow Man's hand in her dream, feeling that she needed to deal with immediate problems, and she'll deal with the future later. An attitude apparent in her accepting a deal from a dangerous object. She uses sex to avoid thinking about her problems.
Helgret, the dwarven forge cleric. Early in life, she was turned into a werewolf, and later cured, but not before she hurt a lot of people. She retreated into her work as a forger of magical items rather than deal with it, until she heard of werewolves attacking people in an area she was making shipments to, and decided out of guilt that she had to help. Helgret did not take the Shadow Man's hand, fearing an unknown danger more than a concrete one. She turns to obsessive work to escape thinking about her trauma.
Mina, the half-elf rogue. A woman whose story is based on the story of Blue Beard, which is wonderful because that's an abuser that Strahd is heavily influenced by. She married an abusive man whose previous wives had disappeared, then found out he had murdered all of them. When he found out she knew, he tried to kill her, but she struck first. However, he was beloved in the town, so she had to flee to avoid being hung for killing her husband. She took the Shadow Man's hand in her dream, but immediately regretted it, in the same way she married a wealthy man because it seemed like such a wonderful thing to happen to a nobody like her, but regretted it later.
Karl, the human fighter. He was part of a city watch group that investigated crimes, but he and his group were kidnapped by a horrible blood cult that performed all sorts of awful tortures and ritual blood-letting. He now fears losing blood, and keeps vials of blood from various sources to perform neurotic rituals that he hopes will keep his own blood safe when he's feeling anxious. He took the Shadow Man's hand, because he wanted to learn to be powerful like him.[/SBLOCK]
Session 1: The Borderwood part 1
[SBLOCK=Session 1]The game began with the characters each making their way to the small hamlet of Klovice, answering the call for heroes to help them with werewolf attacks. Mina and Simetra had previously fought bandits together and travelled together, and Karl and Helgret met when they found they were both headed to Klovice to help the town. Unknown to them, there are no werewolves, but instead the wolves of the area have been driven to extreme malice by a great Beast just beyond the mist, in Barovia.
Karl had a bit more information, having gotten a letter from the man who saved him from cultists, Radke Iliev. The two had hunted monsters together for a while, but parted ways a few months ago. The letter read:
Karl,
I find myself in need of your aid once more, my friend. I am hunting a Beaste most foul that vexes me at every turn with its cunning and evil like none I’ve encountered before. The contract came from boyar Borje Volchykrov, an old drunkard who governs unfamiliar lands known as the Graenseskov; a land I have come to in my inquiries at the troubled hamlet of Klovice, and from where I now believe all of their troubles originate.
Already, I’ve seen the savageries of the Beaste first-hand: slaughtered herds and eviscerated guards, far beyond the few slain woodsmen of my original investigations. I am told a fifth of the people of the Graenseskov have fallen to the Beaste’s predations.
From Klovice, follow the directions to the foot trail I have enclosed, and continue through the misty Borderwood. Do not give any mind to the wisps in the woods, but continue until you reach Volchykrov Manor. I pray you come swiftly, for there are dark forces arrayed against me and I am uncertain how much longer I may keep them at bay.
— Radke Iliev, Esq.
I find myself in need of your aid once more, my friend. I am hunting a Beaste most foul that vexes me at every turn with its cunning and evil like none I’ve encountered before. The contract came from boyar Borje Volchykrov, an old drunkard who governs unfamiliar lands known as the Graenseskov; a land I have come to in my inquiries at the troubled hamlet of Klovice, and from where I now believe all of their troubles originate.
Already, I’ve seen the savageries of the Beaste first-hand: slaughtered herds and eviscerated guards, far beyond the few slain woodsmen of my original investigations. I am told a fifth of the people of the Graenseskov have fallen to the Beaste’s predations.
From Klovice, follow the directions to the foot trail I have enclosed, and continue through the misty Borderwood. Do not give any mind to the wisps in the woods, but continue until you reach Volchykrov Manor. I pray you come swiftly, for there are dark forces arrayed against me and I am uncertain how much longer I may keep them at bay.
— Radke Iliev, Esq.
Alternate Starting Adventure. I am beginning the campaign with The Beast of Graenseskov, an introductory adventure that replaces Death House. I definitely recommend it, as it introduces the players to the people of the land of Barovia and the sorts of problems they face, and it primarily involves investigation rather than direct conflict, which leads to a bit more foreboding and building tension. But for those who don’t have it, or who haven’t read it through, here is a brief summary of the adventure:
On the border of Barovia, just inside the mist, is Graenseskov, which means the borderwood. The area is run by boyar Borje Volchycrov. A little over a year ago, the boyar hunted down a coven of hags in the area, one of whom had prophesied that the boyar would be beheaded. He took that hag back to his manor and had her head cut off in a poetic move. Her sister, Pretty Kolchya, put a curse of the manor.
Since then, a terrible Beast has plagued the area, and the hunter Radke Iliev came to investigate the attacks near Klovice, and found himself beyond the mists, where he promised to hunt this Beast. When he sent for Karl with a messenger raven, which Strahd was happy to let pass through the mist to lure more adventurers in.
The curse is upon those that were directly responsible for the death of Kolchya’s sister: the mystic that lead the boyar’s forces to the hag’s secret tower, the smith that forged a cold iron executioner’s axe, a sage that blessed the axe, and the boyar’s son that personally beheaded the hag. One of them, at random or chosen by the DM, is as Loup du Noir, with a magical wolfskin that they can use to turn into a huge wolf, and that also turns them malicious and bloodthirsty. Should they die without the curse being broken, it moves to another one of them, and ultimately to the boyar himself should they all die.
I chose the smith to be the Beast. She’s the Boyar’s illegitimate daughter with a Vistani woman, raised by a blacksmith couple. I think my players will like her since she’s very positive and energetic, looking for adventure, so all the better when she turns out to be the enemy. If all goes well, though, they’ll be able to break the curse without killing her, and she’ll go back to being a good person.
There are four critical clues to figuring out who the beast is: motive to murder a specific knight, lack of alibi for a feast during which an ox herder was attacked, an injury after the Beast falls from a great height (as written, this is instead a molar left in a sleigh, but I like this better), and the knowledge necessary to slay a vampire spawn, Strahd’s informant in the area, who is getting too close to the truth. Each NPC will seem guilty based on three of these clues, but one of them clears them of suspicion, unless they’re the beast, in which case all four apply.
In this case, since I have chosen the smith, the mystic has no motive to kill the knight, the boyar’s son was at the feast the whole night, and the sage had no knowledge or means to slay a vampire spawn. If the smith were innocent, she would be uninjured after the beast falls, but since she is the Beast, she will have a wounded leg that she cannot explain.
Through the Mist. The two groups of two PCs arrived at Klovice, a tiny a meager place. They spoke to the innkeeper and captain of the watch, and learned of some deaths in and near the woods, killed by wolf bite, but the bodies were left and not eaten, suggesting malice. The now party spent a while at the inn, talked to the innkeeper’s son Johan, who was an excellent chef, and had some roleplaying with each other. I tried to get them moving after that, but they collected a lot of details before Karl explained his letter, and that the problem is likely coming from Volchycrov manor.
Some of the players mused that being turned into a werewolf would be better than death, but Helgret, having been one, said death would be better, earning inspiration for trauma flashbacks, where we learned that she and one other person survived a werewolf attack, and the other was captured and executed once determined to be a werewolf.
Once they got their act together, the party spent 6 hours trekking through spooky mist-filled woods, and emerged close to a gate leading into the manor house area, which has a collection of supporting buildings. They were brought to the boyar, who gave them Radke Iliev’s journal, which he had left in his room when he was last seen three days prior. They learned Radke suspected the Beast was one of four monsters: a dread wolf, which is a wolf corpse animated by an evil shadow and controlled by a witch, a greater wolfwere, which is an evil wolf monster that can take the form of a charismatic human, a loup du noir, which is correct, or a loup garou, which is the child of two werewolves, and can shift into dire wolf form.
No charismatic strangers came to town around when the Beast appeared, so they decided it likely wasn’t a greater wolfwere.
They also met the boyar’s servant, a mongrelfolk, who Radke hadn’t trusted and suggested the boyar put a chain on him. The mongrelfolk, unknown to even him, had one of his eyes replaced by a hag eye, so Pretty Kolchya can see what he sees.
Investigating. Speaking with the boyar, they learned of the recently murdered knight, the injured ox herder, and that Radke had been heading to speak to a retired knight out in the woods. The boyar’s bodyguard told them her sword shattered against the Beast when she encountered it, which is a power lu du noir have according to Radke’s journal.
Inquiring about the recently murdered knight, they learned he was a known coward, and that the boyar’s son didn’t like him. They also learned they were in the country of Barovia, but not really what that means.
The group then spoke to the injured ox herder and the healer tending to him, who is secretly the boyar’s daughter, raised by Pretty Kolchya who replaced her with a hagspawn child she bore after a polymorphed encounter with the boyar.
They learned the herder was attacked during a feast for the boyar’s birthday, that the injured man had rabies, which fits the description of a disease supposedly caused by dread wolves (a misdirection), but he probably didn’t have “werewolfism”, suggesting the Beast is not a loup garou. The healer also told them that the boyar’s son hated the recent murder victim, because the knight had abandoned him on the battlefield.
Next time, the group plans to spend then night at the manor and do some snooping, then follow Radke’s trail to the knight living as a hermit, who they don’t know is a penitent werewolf that keeps his beastly nature secret and contained.[/SBLOCK]
