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Cos-Required? Yes
When reviewing the Barovia Gazetteer Collected Edition and more recently She Is the Ancient, I mentioned what I now dub “overhaul guides” for Curse of Strahd. While most are free plus or minus a few Patreon-exclusive perks, the Curse of Strahd Companion is closer to the Gazetteer in being a paid-for product on the Dungeon Master’s Guild. Its author, Wyatt Trull, has not only been working on the Companion for about two years,
he has an accredited record of making many popular products for Curse of Strahd on the Guild specializing in products designed to ease the burden of DMs. Castle Ravenloft Room Flowchart shows how all the rooms in that dungeon connect to each other, while Death House Script provides boxed text for that 1st-level dungeon, along with clear delineations between what is meant to be read out loud to the players and what is to be read only by the Dungeon Master.
But Trull’s most popular product by far is Curse of Strahd: the Wedding at Ravenloft. A mini-adventure designed to take place at the campaign’s climax, it posits a scenario where Ireena has fallen into Strahd Von Zarovich clutches. Assured of his inevitable victory, the vampire count gives out invitations to friends and foes alike (the PCs included) for a grand wedding where he’ll not only marry Ireena, but transform her into a vampire spawn after its conclusion. It turns Castle Ravenloft into both a social scene and high combat dungeon crawl, placing a good chunk of the surviving major NPCs as guests, conveniently allowing PCs to tie up loose ends with such figures by gaining their aid or fighting them as enemies. Rushing through the halls in search of Ireena and/or Strahd as fang, sword, and spell fall upon each other, it adds a nice sense of dramatic tension and background chaos. When first released five years ago, the Wedding at Ravenloft proved to be one of the most popular products on the DM’s Guild, now sitting as an Adamantine Best-Seller.
The Curse of Strahd Companion is a product of several goals: not only is it intended as a DM-friendly guide to make running the adventure easier with handy references and streamlining, it also incorporates several of Trull’s other CoS products into it. The Wedding at Ravenloft is designed to be its climax, and working backwards from that Trull intends for the Companion’s narrative to lead the campaign towards that epic conclusion.
In order to make easy reference for the DM, the Companion’s chapters have the same name and order as that of the chapters in the default Curse of Strahd adventure. The only exceptions are that after the Werewolf Den, we have Death House and the Wedding at Ravenloft as the new 16th and 17th chapters. The appendices are different, too: Appendix A covers magic items, B the bestiary, C unique effects and non-magic items, and D presents an alphabetical list of NPCs and where they can be found in terms of chapters.
The first chapter covers revisions to the overall setting and adventure. Remember that Wedding I mentioned above? This last part is particularly vital: the Curse of Strahd Companion puts on some pretty big railroad tracks for the default adventure, which otherwise is pretty open-ended in how the PCs can go about the campaign. Said railroadiness extends beyond the “Ireena must be captured by Strahd” territory and affects other scenarios, such as mandating Vallaki be taken over by Lady Wachter, that Ireena is killed by Strahd’s lightning bolt in the pond at the Abbey of Saint Markovia and thus revived by the Abbot, or having the PCs visit Castle Ravenloft at least once on an unrelated mission before the endgame Wedding. I’ll say it ahead of time, but I’m not a fan of these changes. While I’d ordinarily reserve these thoughts for encountering them in their proper chapters, as the Companion spells them out on the first page of the first chapter I wanted to highlight this front and center.
Beyond that, the Companion presents a Campaign Structure, which more or less separates Curse of Strahd into four Acts: Act I involves the PCs arriving in Barovia and concludes with Strahd’s first appearance after the vampire spawn massacre at Saint Andral’s Feast; Act II involves the PCs gathering allies mostly around Western Barovia and taking Ireena to Krezk that ends with Strahd killing, reviving, and then kidnapping her; Act III covers the PCs tying up loose ends in the two weeks before the Wedding; and Act IV covers the assault on Castle Ravenloft as the PCs come up with a plan to halt the Wedding and Ireena’s impending undeath.
Chapter 1 also provides some other changes to the default adventure: Argynvost’s 250 pound skull has been replaced with a much smaller heart in Castle Ravenloft, where the PCs must defeat an undead skeleton of the dragon to claim; Strahd and his vampire spawn cannot walk in sunlight without injury, but Strahd can summon storms to block out sunlight to get around this weakness but doing this makes him suffer a level of exhaustion; Barovia is 16 times bigger as the one-quarter mile hexes are ballooned up to 4 mile hexes, and a few wayside inns are placed along the road from Barovia to Vallaki in order to ease the travel burden; the Martikov’s third wine gem is powering the Heart of Sorrow; and saying Strahd’s true name is taboo even outside of Vallaki, as those who say his name three times summon his attention in some way.
There are two rather controversial changes, one of which is even acknowledged by the author: the first and the one acknowledged is that PCs with darkvision cannot rely on that trait until they acclimate to the Domains of Dread or the Shadowfell, which either won’t happen at all during the campaign or 1d3+1 weeks as a compromise. The other is that Sir Godfrey Gwilym, the undead Knight of the Silver Dragon in Argyonvostholt, is changed into being a recurring villain as a minion of Strahd who fights the party several times during the campaign and can keep coming back due to his revenant nature.
As for the Fortunes of Ravenoft, the Companion alters the Tome of Strahd to reveal its information piecemeal during hours of study rather than all at once. Additionally, it is one of Strahd’s spare spellbooks, and the spells can be individually deciphered and thus unlocked and learnable by Wizards with an Arcana check. The spells are a range of levels drawn from Strahd’s stat block, ranging from Fog Cloud and Sleep to the more powerful Polymorph and Animate Objects. A PC who openly carries the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind will cause Strahd to attempt to take it by force through using a hostage or a minion. If he should be successful, the PCs can visit Madam Eva for a Tarokka reading to determine its new location under guard by one of Strahd’s minions, such as in Wachterhaus or the Werewolf Den. While not a necessity for the railroad, the Companion is pretty adamant that this happens during the campaign, most likely involving Strahd holding hostage an NPC the party likes.
This book also adds a fourth unique item for the Tarokka reading: the Ba’al Verzi Dagger, a weapon wielded by Leo Dilisnya used by the traitorous soldier in a failed assassination attempt against Strahd. Leo Dilisnya is thus given a larger backstory role beyond his brief mention in the default adventure, being closer to that of the novel
I, Strahd: Memoirs of a Vampire. In terms of stats the dagger is a legendary weapon which only an evil-aligned creature can attune. It deals +3d6 necrotic damage on a hit that ignores resistance to that damage type, and the wielder crits with it on a 19-20. Like the Sunsword it is a sentient item that communicates via emotion, but it has a lawful evil alignment. Its primary goal is to murder Strahd for good, whereupon it will lose its sentience and be freed from existence. Otherwise, the Companion has no major changes to the rest of the Fortunes besides recommending some Destined Allies over others, with a preference for fan-favorites such as the monster hunters Ezmerelda and Van Richten as well the wizards Kasimir Velikov and Victor Vallakovich.
The rest of this chapter has Narrator’s Toolbox options, such as limiting the amount of times Strahd appears in the campaign to prevent him from becoming “too familiar” to the players; incorporating the Lingering Injuries house rule from the Dungeon Masters Guide complete with the table in the book itself for easy reference; a sample list of recurring minions to spy on and inconvenience the party on Strahd’s behalf; keeping Strahd’s appearances rare and impactful with a suggested list of meeting points; picking out one PC in particular as the Doomed One* who will see recurring visions of their supposed death throughout the campaign; adding wolfsbane as a new unique item that deals bonus poison damage to a werewolf who ingests it and can be burned as an incense that nullifies their senses; using werewolves as an “invisible wall” to limit where the PCs go and to keep them from dawdling too long during overland travel; and some other smaller changes such as adding more magic items as loot during the adventure, and each chapter details said loot and where they can be found.
*This has no narrative effect beyond just being spooky.
I have to say that these changes are a mixed bag for me. On the positive side, I agree with limiting Strahd’s presence to a few narratively momentous encounters to preserve his mysterious and threatening nature, I think that turning the Tome of Strahd into a spellbook is a cool idea, and the recommended Destined Allies are pretty strong narrative choices save perhaps for Victor Vallakovich whose personality can be off putting to many gaming groups. Making Argyonvost’s body part more transportable to better light the beacon is a good change, and as a sojourn into the Castle is a mandatory quest before campaign’s end it is something that can be plausibly done before Curse of Strahd’s finale.
On the negative side, while I do agree that Barovia by default is positively tiny in the adventure, ballooning it up to such a huge size is overcompensating. With 4 mile hexes, the kingdom is roughly 320 miles east to west. Or roughly two-thirds the size of modern-day Germany which is around 450 miles east to west. While the Companion increases the population of Barovia’s towns a bit, the setting still feels downright barren given that even Vallaki is still a few thousand people. The inclusion of the Ba’al Verzi Dagger feels a bit much and being relegated only to evil PCs really limits its usability. While I can see how taking away Darkvision is intended to preserve the spooky atmosphere for a horror setting, as darkvision still applies penalties to ranged attacks and perception checks in dim light it is still a significant penalty for DMs who remember to use it.
Like the default adventure, this chapter covers Barovia as a whole. The Companion suggests ways of enlivening overland travel, like sample scenery text such as the personification of the Old Svalich Road as a reliable and welcome partner waiting for the PCs whenever they hit the trail, Ireena talking about how the gallows at the River Ivlis Crossroads executed people so far away from town in order to remove the presence of death in the lives of villagers, or the Vistani camp at Tser Pool serving as a safe haven from an “invisible wall” of werewolves should the PCs take the other path. In this last case, the Vistani have burning wolfsbane set around the camp to keep the wolves at bay. There’s an optional encounter at Tser Inn, a rest point near Tser Falls for the PCs to shelter in the night, only to be attacked and burned down by werewolves, forcing the party to either fight or flee. Bluto’s attempted murder of Arabelle is given a twist as he’s sacrificing her to his dead wife, who is a rusalka water spirit using the statistics of a banshee. She will attempt to drown both Bluto and Arabelle, and they become specters hostile to the party should at least one of them die. The areas which would ordinarily trigger random encounters such as the Luna River Crossroads are given their own unique encounters: such as Arrigal and some Vistani bandits ambushing the party, or the Raven’s Roost Inn on the Raven River Crossroads which gets attacked by blights. In this last case the Companion mentions this could be a good first place for the party to cross paths with Ezmerelda.
But perhaps the biggest change of all involves the Mad Mage of Mount Baratok. In this case, Mordenkainen will not be violently hostile should the PCs run across him, and even when insane will invite them into his home but only if they’re at least 7th level. He’ll arrogantly remark on their lack of power otherwise. In this change, the PCs can cure his madness by defeating the sorrowsworn demons infesting his mansion. We get a full two-story map and dungeon crawl, complete with monsters and treasure both monetary and magical. Every Sorrowsworn type is represented here, with the most powerful type (the Angry) appearing once all the others have been taken care of, rampaging through the mansion from the fireplace. At this point, Mordenkainen participates in the battle as before he was too insane to be directly helpful to the party.
This Chapter ends with a Revised set of Random Encounters to replace the ones in the default adventure. They are designed to tie into the various characters and plots and are triggered only at certain times during the campaign, such as the party stumbling upon Muriel Vinshaw’s clothes in a package in the wilderness. She wraps them up while in wereraven form to be retrieved later, and they have a distinct perfume canny PCs can link to her should they meet her in human form later. One such encounter has the PCs come upon Vistani searching for Arabelle, which has some rather problematic text:
Content Warning: Child Abuse
While in the default Luvash was portrayed as a drunken lout who the PCs first meet whipping Alexei, he was not portrayed as having an abusive relationship towards his daughter Arabelle. The text in the spoiler block throws a wrench to this encounter and may cause the PCs to have strong reservations against returning her home.
The Village of Barovia gets a pretty big narrative overhaul in the Companion. In fact, I can sum it up as a dungeon crawl but with more Commoners!
In short, the chapter has the same overall feel and setup as the default adventure: PCs enter a gloomy village that was recently attacked by Strahd’s minions, Ismark and Ireena ask the party for help in burying their father at the cemetery, Father Donavich’s son is a vampire spawn beneath the church, and possibly ends with Ireena joining the party on the way to Vallaki. Where it changes in a major way is casting Ismark and the former burgomaster in a less positive light while also setting up the common folk of the Village as a threat. During Kolyan and Ismark’s reign, the town held lotteries where a single villager was sent to “dine with Strahd” at Castle Ravenloft in order to fulfill the Barovian blood tax. Kolyan Indirovich never put the names of his children into the lottery, ensuring their survival, and this was an open secret. Although the lottery was seen as a necessary evil, many Barovians lost friends and family to this lottery, and combined with Strahd’s obsession with Ireena many have started to blame the late burgomaster and his family as responsible for the village’s woes. A conspiracy is hatched among the townsfolk to kill Ismark, and kidnap Ireena to dump at the town’s edge to be taken by Strahd after saying his name three times.
These chaotic turns of events start innocuously enough; instead of being in a coffin, Ismark and Ireena have their father’s corpse…lying on their dinner table. They commissioned a carpenter to build them a coffin, but he went insane after losing a loved one to the lottery and he now lives in a cabin in the Svalich Woods. Should the PCs head out, they will find the cabin, a fully-functional coffin, his corpse, and an infestation of overgrowth in which vine and needle blights are hiding. Should the PCs be unable to return with the coffin, Ireena and Ismark will have to make a clearly inferior quality one that visibly disheartens them. The second major combat encounter involves the PCs serving as Ismark, the PCs, and three of his pallbearers* transport the coffin to the church. En route, an angry mob of people who have lost loved ones to the lottery gather, demanding violent street justice. The mob are mostly Commoners who use rules for mobs from the Dungeon Master’s Guide summarized in the Companion, plus three Guards, two mastiff dogs, and Ivan Garvinski who has Thug stats and is the leader of them.
*Who use guard statistics and have unique names.
The third encounter can occur whenever Ireena leaves the safety of her manor. Bildrath, Mad Mary, and some unimportant Barovian Commoners have arranged a kidnapping, using a lookout at a window and a signal to shake a nearby laundry line when Ireena leaves the manor. Two villagers using Thug statistics will attempt to manacle and kidnap Ireena; Parriwimple is also part of this, having been manipulated by his uncle. This saddens Ireena due to his betrayal, having known him since he was a boy. Parrimple only fights with unarmed strikes that deal 2d4+4 damage, and will flee once reduced to 90 or less hit points. PCs can interrogate/follow villagers and learn that Bildrath is the mastermind of the plot. Should Ireena be kidnapped (which happens automatically if she’s not with one or more PCs), she will be brought to the northeastern edge of the Village. There, her kidnappers beseech Strahd by saying his name multiple times, summoning a black fog which will reach Ireena in 3 turns. This gives the party one last chance to rescue her. If the fog claims her, she will be found later soon enough, such as running from the undead horde on the way to Old Bonegrinder or at the Tser Pool Encampment. The Dark Powers won’t let Strahd have her that easily, and she won’t recall what happened. In such a dire scenario, Ismark will say that he can feel that his sister is alive (“I know it in my bones”) and accompany the PCs in leaving town to find her once his father is buried.
The fourth and final combat encounter occurs at the funeral of Kolyan Indirovich. Strahd has sent either Rahadin or Sir Godfrey Gwilym (DM’s choice) to interfere. If Ireena was abducted, the minion plans on taking Kolyan’s corpse to turn into a wight back at Castle Ravenloft. If Ireena wasn’t abducted, she will be at the funeral, and the minions seek to kidnap her. Both Rahadin and Gwiliym have their own unique boxed text, villainous speeches, and mid-combat quips to trade with the party. Ismark’s pallbearers will be present as cannon fodder to demonstrate the power of Strahd’s agent. Both of the minions have BS rule-breaking features: if Rahadin manages to grapple Ireena, he teleports away with her as an action. There’s no updated statblock or unique item to reflect this new ability. Should Godfrey be used instead, he automatically kills two town guards during the initiative with no roll required. Godfrey will fight the PCs to the “death,” and should he best everyone present he will drag Ireena to the Svalich Woods, and Father Donavich will save PCs from dying with healing spells.
For those Resident Evil 4 fans reading, remember that early-game scene where Leon stumbles into the town square and sees the parasite-infected villagers burning a policeman at the funeral pyre?
And this quickly devolves into Leon knifing and gunning his way through Spaniards cosplaying as medieval peasants, plus a strong dude with a chainsaw who just shows up mid-fight? This is the feel that I’m getting from this Chapter.
Now, you may be thinking? What’s up with this? In comparison to other overhaul guides, I haven’t seen any changes to the Village of Barovia quite like this. Well, Wyatt Trull has a sidebar talking about his design decisions in the Chapter Overview section:
This bolded part highlights what I see as a reason Trull took this route. While attacking Morgantha is understandable as in the default adventure she is witnessed trying to kidnap a child, PCs who make the decision to kill Bildrath are strongly on the murderhobo side of things. Sure he’s a miser, but that doesn’t necessarily merit a death sentence! Trull removed the Morgantha encounter in the village, and for good reason. He isn’t the only overhaul guide writer who’s done this. But I feel that his decision in turning the Village into a multi-encounter extended fight scene is appealing to his gaming groups that thirst for peasant blood. Which isn’t wrong, in and of itself, for changing campaign elements to better fit your player base is a good thing. But this particular playstyle isn’t something that really works for Curse of Strahd, and I feel that Trull is overcorrecting for a rather niche audience.
Beyond these combat-heavy encounters, this Chapter has smaller revisions to the Village of Barovia. For example, the three Vistani owners of the Blood of the Vine tavern aren’t minions of Strahd, but helpfully point the PCs to Madam Eva at the Tser Pool Encampment. Bildrath unknowingly sells some magic items among his otherwise unremarkable stock, such as a Hat of Wizardry, Cloak of Protection, and six pieces of Walloping ammunition. Gertruda and Victor Vallakovich were secret lovers, and the latter used a flawed teleportation circle to visit her in the Village of Barovia. This is how Gertruda ended up in Castle Ravenloft, where flaws in its design sent her there instead of the attic in Vallaki. PCs can find clues of this while investigating Mad Mary’s House. Ismark and Ireena have an elderly butler named Mister Falkon at their home, who only speaks when spoken to and is described in the Companion as “effectively, living furniture.” Which to be honest doesn’t paint a very good picture of Ireena and her family. It gives them the impression that they’re removed from the feelings of the common folk.
Thoughts So Far: Oh man, where do I begin? I am not getting good vibes from Curse of Strahd Companion in reading the first few initial chapters. While I like several of the suggestions and changes such as making curing Mordenkainen a more involved sidequest, trying to add a more confined railroad onto Curse of Strahd just feels…wrong. While I can understand the need for having some sense of direction, particularly at the beginning, I believe that the module does more or less a good enough job of this on its own: PCs who opt to leave the Village of Barovia are heavily encouraged to venture to Vallaki, and once they’re there the campaign widens up by a lot. A party who opts to skip the Village entirely can still encounter Ireena later, likely being kidnapped by Strahd’s minions. And given the first settlement’s meager nature, PCs aren’t missing things too important to the campaign.
But it is perhaps the Village of Barovia chapter that leaves me the coldest. For its changes make not just the people of Barovia, but Ireena's brother and father, take on a more morally sinister tone. One could argue that Kolyan Indirovich is a hard man having to make hard decisions, but in contrast to the original adventure he and Ismark go from someone resisting Strahd to those who have condemned many people to their deaths. There's definitely normal non-supernatural humans in the module that can be quite villainous, which is best expressed in Vallaki with Baron Vallakovich. But between this and the Village of Barovia, it makes it seem like the common people of the kingdom are as just as much a threat as the monsters for the mission of safely escorting Ireena.
Join us next time as we take a multi-stage visit of Castle Ravenloft, get railroaded into putting Lady Wachter in charge of Vallaki, and have a zombie army railroad us into Old Bonegrinder!
