D&D 5E [Let's Read] DM's Guild Ravenloft Sourcebooks

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You know what time it is: another October, another batch of fanmade Ravenloft books to review! For our first one, we’ll cover DMing advice on running Curse of Strahd for 8 to 12 year old players.

Many people got their start playing Dungeons & Dragons as kids. With tabletop games being more popular and mainstream than ever, 5th Edition has seen its share of child players and DMs. But that Edition’s most popular adventure is far from age-appropriate. The author, whose wife is a children’s book author, plays Dungeons & Dragons games with family, and it wasn’t long before their son asked to play Curse of Strahd with his friends.

Strahd Gives Me Goosebumps is thus an aid to those Dungeon Masters running games for “Middle Grade Readers,” a literary publishing term for 8-12 year olds. Its advice is derived from existing rules for these kinds of stories, and posits three existing popular pieces of media for general “horror levels:” Scooby Doo, where the spooky stuff is purely atmospheric and there’s no real fear of danger or bad endings; Goosebumps, with a bit more moments of danger and a sense that things can end badly; and Coraline, where there’s a persistent sense of peril and horror elements, and is the only level of horror where monsters would specifically target children.

The book is split between general advice that is used for horror adventures in general, and specific modifications to Curse of Strahd divided up by chapter. For broad strokes, the general advice includes substituting penalties for loss besides death such as getting trapped/cursed/possessed/etc by villains, giving PCs a chance to fix problems and injustices in Barovia rather than having them be insurmountable, not introduce too many dangling plot hooks and side quests at once (two at maximum), and give players a way to privately signal discomfort if elements in the adventure are getting too much for them, such as nonverbal cues like tapping their nose twice. This last part is because many children are embarrassed of losing face among their peers if they say that they’re scared of something.

For specific Chapter modifications, the book doesn’t cover each one, only the ones with themost mature content. For instance, it suggests skipping Death House save for players who want “Coraline” levels of horror, and even then to make it less lethal like removing the “one must die” threat and the shambling mound at the end.

For the Village of Barovia and Strahd’s obsession with Ireena, the book says that protecting Ireena from Strahd works fine as is, but instead of having him seduce her or try to win her and the characters over, he’s more of an obviously monstrous threat who wants to kidnap Ireena and turn her into a vampire because she looks like his lost love. The book suggests that it can “actually be a nice teachable moment about healthy relationships and respecting people’s boundaries.”

Other expected changes include altering the night hags to be hypnotizing people with magic pies and harvesting the dreams of kidnapped people rather than killing and baking them; changing Strahd’s consorts into his generals or servants; dispensing with much of Vallaki’s political conflict and have it made clear by trusted NPCs that both the Baron and Lady Wachter are wrong in a “both sides” way; to make it so that players who want to find a worthy leader for Vallaki as replacement don’t get robbed of their efforts by having them end up a pawn of Strahd or otherwise keep town in an oppressive status quo; changing the Abbot in Krezk to be a wizard/alchemist who once had good intentions, but also with the caveat that players who learn that he was a “good guy” may thus want to redeem him; changing the Belviews to be animals with “Ninja Turtle” anthro aesthetics rather than insane deformed humans; and having it so that the werewolves kidnap people in general rather than children specifically, and the losers in their forced duels become workers rather than being killed.

Wrapping things up, the book notes that Curse of Strahd is a very long module, and that for players who may want a shorter experience it suggests an idea called Two Nights at Strahdy’s. It’s similar to Slyflourish’s Strahd Must Die Tonight one-shot, where PCs start at level 9 or 10 and the adventure focuses entirely on venturing through Castle Ravenloft to defeat Strahd. Thus, all of the treasures would be in the Castle, and Fated Allies can meet up with the PCs in the Village of Barovia and join them on their way up there.

Overall Thoughts: While I don’t run games for children nor am I a parent, the advice looks pretty good and common-sense by my estimation. It covers a lot of the more “R-rated” material of the module, and its general advice can be good for horror adventures besides Curse of Strahd. Its cheap price makes it well worth the cost, and I would definitely recommend it for those running games for young players.

Join us next time as we vacation down at Camp Silver Lake, a slasher-themed oneshot!

 

[Libertad]

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This one-shot adventure takes place in a homebrewed Domain of Dread strongly inspired by Friday the 13th and Sleepaway Camp, along with some video games such as Dead by Daylight. The author did this due to a lack of “slasher horror” style domains in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft.

Designed for a party of level 1 PCs,* the adventure begins with the characters unceremoniously dropped out of the Mists and into a forest clearing and lake, with eight log cabins surrounding a fire pit. As soon as they arrive, everyone gets the sense that they’re being hunted and initiative is rolled, and the entire adventure stays in turn order. Yanek, the domain’s Darklord, is a masked machete-wielding fiend who seeks to find and kill the characters. He is intentionally designed to be too lethal for the party to kill barring extremely lucky rolls, so they must find a means to escape while hiding from and distracting him.

*The adventure recommends letting each player have multiple PCs due to the lethality.

The adventure is basically an investigation/mystery in that there are various items the PCs can get to help their odds of survival. In addition to the eight cabins, there’s also a nearby Barn, Yanek’s Lair nearby in the woods, and a Rookery at the edge of Silver Lake. The contents of all the locations save the Rookery are randomized, with d6 tables for the cabins to determine interior lighting, the contents of drawers and cabinets, and hiding spots that allow PCs to make Stealth rolls vs Yanek’s opposed Perception (he has a +7 bonus). The Lair and magically-locked Barn have less items, but their d4 table gives them notable named unique magic items and a skull of Yanek’s kin automatically.

The cabin items are various useful mundane stuff, such as Alchemist’s Fire (Yanek is vulnerable to fire damage), Bone Daggers that can be used as a reaction to automatically deal damage and break Yanek’s grapple, ink, parchment, and quill (all found together) to write a message for help to send from the Rookery, candles that can improve light level in a cabin, hempen rope that can be used to fashion an improvised tripwire trap for Yanek, Bandages that can automatically staunch a bleeding wound left by Yanek, a Spell Slot Potion to restore a 1st level slot, and so on.

For more significant items, three of them belonged to Yanek’s Father: his Axe grants the wielder a massive attack and damage bonus when fighting the Darklord, his boots increase walking speed by 5 feet and let the wearer cast Hold Monster 3 times (first time causes Yanek to auto-fail), and his Cloak sets a PC’s AC to 22 vs Yanek’s attacks (doesn’t stack with armor but does stack with other modifications). The Rookery is guarded by a hostile raven, but if befriended via the Raven Nip random item or other means it can be used to take a written note. If this is done, a group of 5th level PCs (one for each player) arrive as backup in 1d4 rounds. The Skulls of Yanek’s Kin can be found as a random item in a cabin, or automatically along with whatever results are rolled for in the Lair and Barn. Once three of them are obtained, if they’re placed in the Barn they will animate into friendly Flameskulls as an extraplanar portal opens up that lets the PCs escape the Domain. This is one of the adventure’s “win” conditions, the other being killing Yanek. The book says that the DM should tell the players exactly what the items do when found, even for the supernatural ones, so you won’t get angry players asking how exactly they were supposed to know to take the skulls to the Barn for instance.

As for Yanek, statwise he’s a fiend with 89 hit points, 17 AC, a climb and swim speed of 30 feet but a slower walking speed of 25 feet. He has Legendary Resistance that he can use once per day, is immune to the charmed and frightened conditions, also immune to any effect that can sense his presence or read his thoughts along with spells that can alter his form, and can cast a variety of non-offensive spells 3 times per day each such as Misty Step and Silence. He has Devil’s Sight of 120 feet, meaning that he can see even in magical darkness, and his primary form of offense is a Multiattack grab that grapples the target and a machete which he can only use on a grappled target. His machete easily deals enough damage to kill a 1st level PC (4d6, half of which is necrotic) and survivors suffer a wound that deals 1 necrotic damage each turn until magically healed or a Medicine check or Bandage is applied. If Yanek is disarmed of his machete he can use an action to summon it, fully repaired, back to his hand. Once he drops to 23 or fewer hit points his mask is knocked off, revealing a monstrous visage (the book has several suggestions), and he can Dash as a bonus action for the rest of the adventure, which he will initially use along with an action to retrieve and put the mask back on.

While undoubtedly deadly, Yanek does give PCs some breathing room once he kills one of them; he will spend the next turn reveling in the kill, and he loses sight of PCs who flee unless they remain within his line of sight. His vulnerability to fire damage means that he’s pretty much toast once the Flameskulls are summoned, and his lack of ranged attacks combined with slow movement means that PCs who focus on moving can stay just enough ahead of him (but not enough to really ever be in the clear).

Overall Thoughts: The idea for the adventure is quite nifty, and I like how the random placement of items allows for some replay value. 5th Edition doesn’t really do slasher horror well, although the fragility of 1st level PCs is perfect in being close to but not entirely helpless. Even so, certain abilities may not be completely suitable for this adventure; PCs with flight pretty much have nothing to fear from Yanek, and his vulnerability to fire means that the Fire Bolt cantrip can deal quite a bit of damage (2d10) even if he has good Armor Class and hit points. The potential for swift spellcasters kiting him once they find out his weakness can tip the balance in the party’s favor, at least until he gets his bonus action Dash.

While the module gives dimensions in feet for the cabins and how far the Barn is from the campsite, the lack of a map for this module is a hindrance given that the entire adventure takes place in initiative. Additionally, it’s not beyond expectations for PCs to start with paper and writing supplies, so such groups may be able to make a beeline for the Rookery and get backup faster than normal, although the initially irate raven prevents this from being a foregone victory.

But that being said, it is a novel idea for an adventure, and one that looks like it’d be fun to run for a Halloween one-shot.

Join us next time as we get versions of Curse of Strahd’s Fated Allies that level up with the party in Adventure Sidekicks: Curse of Strahd!

 

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First introduced as an Unearthed Arcana playtest and later officialized in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, the concept of Sidekick classes have been a popular addition to many campaigns. Oftentimes serving to represent low-powered PCs and DMPC followers, it was only natural that many would apply the rules to some of Curse of Strahd’s less-powerful Fated Allies. The Adventure Sidekicks series is designed for groups that want to play one of the official 5e mega-adventures, but have 3 or less players and/or want an easy way to “level up” NPCs and friendly animals who join the party.

Adventure Sidekicks was made before Tasha’s release, so while the kernels of mechanics are there the entries are more or less classless, using their own progression and unique abilities going up to 10th level. The book presents 8 NPCs from the module who can join the party as a Sidekick; 4 are specific named NPCs that can be drawn as Fated Allies from Madam Eva’s Tarokka result, or in Ireena’s case will join the party under most circumstances; 2 are general types but map up to one of the Fated Allies (Mongrelfolk and Wereraven); and 2 are for NPCs who aren’t Fated Allies at all. Each entry has a full stat block for a 1st and 7th level version, and smaller table entries for their Hit Points and New Features at all other levels.

Broom of Animated Attack starts things off weird, being a weak creature that’s only ever fought as a combat encounter in the default module. Its 1st level base stats are as the monster of the same name. As it levels up it gets new and improved uses of its sweeping attacks such as critting on a 19-20, a charge attack to deal additional damage and knock enemies prone, can dust an area revealing traps that can be detected on a DC 15 or less but automatically triggering any DCs higher than this, a blinding AoE Dust Cloud attack, advantage on initiative checks, and increased carrying capacity while flying. Its 10th level capstone is rather underwhelming, being able to knock prone an adjacent creature as an action if it fails a Dexterity save, something its Charge attack could do but damage as well.

Thoughts: Many people have said that the Broom of Animated Attack feels too comical as an enemy in Curse of Strahd, so having it as a DMPC ally will magnify that result that much more. I could see it working as a minion for a PC that’s modeled after a folkloric witch, but otherwise would feel too silly. As a Sidekick, it’s kind of one-note, making it a rather underwhelming option.

Ezmerelda d’Avenir is a friendly all-levels variant of the Vistani monster hunter widely regarded as Best Girl by the Curse of Strahd fandom. Her 1st level version is a rather fragile gish, only being able to attack once with one of her three weapons and her spells are more for utility than combat use (save for Shield). Her studded leather and rapier are nonmagical, and she doesn’t begin play with holy water, potions, and stakes. At higher levels Ezmerelda gets more spells and cantrips, can use Arcane Recovery as a Wizard, gains advantage on escaping and initiating grapples, can Multiattack, add spellcasting modifier to damage of cantrips, and the evil eye/curse abilities of the Vistani are granted at 9th and 10th level.

Thoughts: Even at maximum level, this is a nerfed version of the adventure’s default Ezmerelda. On the plus side, it lets her join the party earlier than normal without making her feel more powerful than the PCs. On the minus side, her lack of a magical weapon means that she’ll have more trouble against enemies with damage resistances to nonmagical attacks, such as vampire spawn. It really comes down to whether or not the DM wants Ez to be more of a peer for lower-level parties, at the expense of removing the mystique of her being a veteran monster hunter.

Ireena Kolyana needs no introduction to anyone familiar with Ravenloft. Her 1st level stat block is pretty much the default one from Curse of Strahd but with studded leather instead of a breastplate, a 14 Dexterity, and proficiency in Dexterity saves. This makes her a bit of a better fighter. She levels up akin to the Expert role, gaining features such as Cunning Action, expertise on Deception and Persuasion, giving the party advantage on Charisma checks against Barovian natives while she’s in their presence, Extra Attack, advantage on initiative rolls, can Help as a bonus action, and can three times per long rest add radiant damage to an attack equal to her level. Her 10th level capstone lets her add d6 on top of d20 rolls she Helps with or adds to the damage roll instead, and crits on a 19 to 20 with her own attacks.

Thoughts: Most gaming groups who turn Ireena into a Sidekick tend to make her an Expert: her meager physical ability scores don’t work well with the Warrior, and she’s never been portrayed as a Spellcaster. This interpretation straddles the line between a pure combatant with features like Extra Attack, but still keeps her firmly in being more of a skill-user/traditional noble. Her expertise can make her a decent party face, but her real strength lies in granting advantage on Charisma checks, as the criteria for that feature applies to virtually every non-Vistani NPC in the module. This version will be a welcome addition to most gaming groups.

Ismark Kolyanovich is Ireena’s brother, and unlike other Fated Allies has a chance of joining the party short-term on the way to Vallaki. Much like the Veteran stat block of the original module, this Ismark is very much a pure martial with a focus on melee combat. He can learn Battlemaster and Champion Fighter abilities when leveling up, such as Action Surge, Improved Critical, advantage on saves vs the frightened condition, the Maneuvering Attack, Riposte, and Sweeping Attack maneuvers (the last of which is his 10th level capstone), and both regular and Improved Parry (as the NPC ability but Improved adds +4 AC instead of +2).

Thoughts: In the default module, Ismark starts out as a strong Fated Ally but quickly peters out by middle and high levels. He doesn’t have any useful out of combat features besides the social perks that come with being a Barovian nobleman. This version of Ismark doesn’t go far from that role, but by letting him “level up” it makes him akin to a relatively weaker PC Fighter. Overall I’d say that the Sidekick Ismark’s an improvement.

Mongrelfolk can represent Clovin Belview from the Abbey of Saint Markovia or possibly other Belviews who take a shine to the party. This Sidekick is pretty solely focused on fighting and possibly scouting purposes, but begins play with a Disguise Kit tool so as to help them blend into Barovian society. At 1st level they’re a better version of the monster of the same name, such as having 25 instead of 20 as a walking speed, and can choose from one of the existing Extraordinary Features of the Mongrefolk monster. They can gain more Extraordinary Features as they level up, including some unique to this book such as Long-Limbed that grants increased speed and reach, Second Wind as per the Fighter class feature, and some high-level prerequisites such as Alert (like the feat but +3 instead of +5 to initiative) or a frog-like Tongue Whip that pulls in and bites a nearby target. Otherwise, the abilities automatically gained during level up hew strongly to combat roles such as increased Armor Class, Multiattack, can grapple as a bonus action after attacking with a melee weapon, and Brutal Critical as per the Barbarian ability.

Thoughts: Colvin Belview is one of the least popular Fated Allies: he’s very weak, the prerequisites to recruit him are difficult, and he cannot easily disguise his monstrous nature. The Sidekick variant partially mitigates the first and last part, and some of the learnable Extraordinary Features may allow for some clever uses. But even so, this doesn’t do enough to redeem the character in my opinion.

Rictavio is another fan-favorite, and like Ezmerelda this is a depowered version. Still primarily a defensive Cleric, but ironically his Wisdom is his lowest mental ability score at 14. Even at 1st level he’s still a knowledgeable type, with proficiency in 6 skills, and he still has his trademark signature equipment such as a Hat of Disguise, Ring of Mind Shielding, and Scroll of Raise Dead. His higher-level features include his Undead Slayer ability, but otherwise his features center around giving him more spells from the default adventure’s stat block. Unlike the other Sidekicks in this book, Rictavio has a maximum level of 11th rather than 10th.

Thoughts: My opinions are more or less the same as Ezmerelda’s, but with the addendum: in terms of reputation and canon it feels odd to have a low-level Van Richten running around. Unlike Ezmerelda, the default Van Richten is less problematic for a low-level adventuring party on account that he lacks major offensive options and the bulk of his abilities revolve around buffs and protection. Therefore, a Sidekick version of him feels rather unnecessary.

Wachter Brother can be used for either Karl or Nikolai Wachter. A certainly odd idea for a DMPC ally, but not entirely out of the picture if the PCs can prove to them that their mother’s evil. As a Sidekick they are similar to Ireena in being a “social martial,” but they lean more towards a fearsome reputation rather than Ireena’s good-will and inspiring example. Their 1st level stats are that of the Noble NPC, but higher level features include such things as advantage on Dexterity checks vs effects they can see, imposing disadvantage on a target’s next attack roll if they hit said target with a rapier, granting allies advantage on Intimidation and Persuasion checks vs Vallaki’s inhabitants, can mark a target within 60 feet as a bonus action to grant their allies advantage on attacks against the target, Extra Attack, advantage on initiative, and granting themself and one adjacent ally +2 AC provided they and the ally remain adjacent to each other. Their 10th level capstone grants +1 AC and Riposte, which works similar to the Battlemaster maneuver but can only be used with a rapier.

Furthermore, it is possible that a Wachter brother will gain a random buff or debuff from a d8 table “when swayed by Barovia’s gloom.” Examples include disadvantage on Charisma checks until they consume alcohol (weary), granting themselves and the party immunity to surprise for 10 minutes (vigilant), and moving to within 30 feet of an ally before being able to perform any action for the next 10 minutes (lonely).

Thoughts: I can tell that given the base Noble stats, the authors really wanted to differentiate the Wachter Brothers from Ireena. While they definitely succeed in this regard, they’re ironically worse at melee combat than her on account for lower starting hit points and Dexterity despite gaining quite the number of martial features. Their more general helpful features like +2 to AC for adjacent allies or granting advantage on attacks vs a marked target only come in at middle to higher levels, so Ireena still beats them in the “expert helper” style role.

Wereraven represents Davian Martikov and other members of the Keepers of the Feather who decide to aid the party in a more direct fashion. Their 1st level stat block takes cues from the Wereraven, with less hit points but oddly a better AC of 14 and trades in Insight for Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth proficiency. They also come equipped with thieves’ tools in addition to shortswords and hand crossbows. Their higher level features include progressive immunity (first bludgeoning, then piercing, and then slashing) to nonmagical nonsilvered weapons, expertise on Sleight of Hand and Stealth, advantage on initiative, can communicate with small winged creatures, Multiattack, and can ascertain the purpose, age, and value of structures and art objects. Their 10th level capstone lets the wereraven teleport up to 120 feet between shadows once per long rest.

Thoughts: Although not that powerful in combat, wereravens make excellent scouts even at low levels, and they get their damage immunities relatively quickly which can help make them physically resilient to most enemies in the module. Their ability to communicate with other birds comes in a bit late at 6th level, and by the time the party is 10th the shadow teleportation feels more of a nifty trick than an amazing ability. But they rate as one of the more cooler and useful sidekicks in this book.

Overall Thoughts: Overall I’m not feeling this supplement. Only three of the Sidekicks spring out to me as really good options: Ireena, Ismark, and Wereraven. As for the Wachter Brothers, they are a flavorful yet weak addition. The rest either don’t do enough in redeeming an unpopular option (Mongrelfolk) or felt weird lorewise (Animated Broom, Ezmerelda and Rictavio). Personally speaking, I feel that the default Fated Allies in Curse of Strahd do a good enough job at providing helpful NPCs in the module, so even with a smaller than usual group of 2-3 players it shouldn’t break the game to do something like add both Ez and Rictavio to their roster. I’d only recommend this book if you really like Davian Martikov or Ismark as Fated Allies and want to do versions that can progress with the party, rather than being locked into a static stat block for the rest of the campaign. But at that point you’re better off homebrewing your own DMPC sidekick progression for Davian or just making Ismark a CR 1/8th NPC but with the Warrior Sidekick class.

Join us next time as we venture to Ravenloft’s most advanced domain to solve a psionic mystery in Lamordia: the God Engine!

 

[Libertad]

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While most Ravenloft material on the DM’s Guild tends to be domain-neutral, Barovia-specific, or homebrewed, every so often we get a product seeking to flesh out the setting’s other iconic realms. In this case, the God Engine is a 1st level mystery set in the 5th Edition setting’s interpretation of Lamordia, inspired by Franklin’s Lost Expedition and the invention of the difference engine. Before the adventure’s beginning, a scientist known as Dr. Yonas Savitch joined a scientific expedition into the frozen northern waters to research undersea ruins. A fossilized illithid elder brain was discovered, and tragedy struck on the way back that resulted in the deaths of everyone onboard save for Savitch, the captain and first mate, and a skeleton crew just enough to sail back into port. Savitch became a psionic thrall of the brain, spurred on to build a “God Engine” to house the monster in order to restore its psionic powers. Although still far below its true potential, the God Engine hopes to make improvements and expand its network of psionic thralls in order to regain its former power.

Savitch is a recluse, but his role in academia at Ludendorf University means that there are people there who took note of his disappearance. So it wasn’t long before a professor peer of his hires the PCs to find out what happened to him. The adventure begins at 1st level, but the PCs level up to 2nd after visiting the Blue Orchid Cabaret and 3rd level after completing the module. It is non-linear, with three locations to explore with clues to point them to the Stainedwell Mortuary that holds the elder brain and Dr. Savitch. It takes place entirely within the city of Ludendorf, and grid maps are supplied for every area of significance, including as their own separate files for VTT play.

The God Engine is a small product, being only 19 pages in total. The adventure notably uses no boxed text, instead encouraging the DM to come up with their own through the use of bolded tags and physical descriptions, sample quotes, and personality traits of NPCs provided in sidebars. The brevity of information provided still manages to paint a clear picture for the DM to work off of. But with that being said, I do feel that this has potential downsides for a mystery-focused adventure. The lack of sample boxed text to go off of means that the subjective descriptions of DMs can make it so that certain features of an area will have more or less obvious clues than intended.

Ludendorf University is where our adventure starts, where Professor van der Werf hires the PCs to investigate Dr. Savitch’s residence. They get a brief timeline of his maritime research expedition (minus the illithid details), are pointed to a nearby general store for supplies (particularly for cold-weather clothing) if necessary, and get directions to Savitch’s residence as well as the Kraken, the icebreaker ship used for the expedition. The DM rolls for the possibility of random encounters whenever the PCs visit new locations, and those without cold-weather gear risk taking cold damage on a failed Constitution save. The random encounters have a 1 in 6 chance of triggering, and 4 of them are rather mundane: starving wolves, graverobbers who don’t want to leave any witnesses, thugs shaking down outsiders, and Dr. Savitch’s rival (has no stats) who offers to pay them for giving him the scientist’s research. The two other encounters are more blatantly supernatural, one being a pair of undead attacking the PCs after exiting a sewer entrance, and the other being a psycog sent by the elder brain.

Speaking of which, the psycog is a new monster in this module, clockwork constructs remote-controlled by the elder brain’s telekinesis that look like humanoid corpses. The elder brain sent them out into Ludendorf to track down and kill anyone looking around for Dr. Savitch. Statwise they are CR ½ constructs with a decent amount of hit points (22) but an easy to hit Armor Class of 12. They are quite deadly offense-wise, having a Multiattack Armblade that deals slashing damage and releases an AoE echo upon death, dealing psychic damage to adjacent targets that fail an Intelligence save.

The Savitch Residence is a two-story house with a buildup of snow causing the roof to sag. The snow provides ample hiding room for two psycogs in the backyard keeping watch for intruders. The front door is locked, and tampering with it risks summoning guards, but the cellar door in back is unlocked and can be entered once shoveled out of the way and once the psycogs are dealt with. Once inside, the PCs can find various clues such as a partially burnt note in a stove repeating “my mind is not my own” and a book discussing the creation of clockwork zombies and the address of Stainedwell Mortuary. Which is the final area in this module, so this clue may cause the PCs to complete the adventure a tad early if the house is the first place they visit. The only real danger within the house is a poisoned-laced nail, and there’s some good treasure in the form of a healing potion and 2 potions of psychic resistance, the latter which is particularly useful against the God Engine boss battle at the end of this module.

The Icebreaker Kraken is a moored ship in Ludendorf’s docks. The surviving crew has left, with only an alcoholic and depressed Captain Olig Vageir left to drown away his sorrows. He is more than willing to tell the PCs what he knows. Dr. Savitch hired the ship to go on a research expedition in the northern seas, and a huge stone brain was salvaged from the ocean floor. On the way back, tragedy struck.

Content Warning: Suicide

Spoiler

The ship’s crew began attacking and killing each other without apparent rhyme or reason, with the survivors committing suicide by jumping into the sea. Only the captain, Dr. Savitch, his first mate, and a skeleton crew survived.

Captain Valgier mentions that his first mate Lisanne Eerbek-Boughrunner frequents the Blue Orchid Cabaret. But he has one request for the PCs; to retrieve a treasured spyglass he threw overboard, which involves braving the freezing waters with a risky DC 20 Athletics check and ongoing cold damage if they don’t retrieve it in a timely manner. In exchange, he will give them a Ring of Swimming, +1 dagger, and valuable red garnet. The module suggests having two psycogs attack the PCs as an optional encounter at any time during their stay on the ship.

The Blue Orchid Cabaret is the only time in the module that the PCs can reach 2nd level, meaning that if they make a beeline for the Stained Mortuary as a result of visiting Dr. Savitch’s home first, they can be woefully underprepared for the final encounter. The Cabaret is a multi-purpose theater, saloon, inn, and brothel. And to remind you that this is the 5th Edition interpretation of Lamordia, it has a magical blue flame in a lantern outside the door and non-human staff members such as a tiefling bartender. Lisanne can be found via a DC 10 Investigation check, and unlike Captain Valgeir she is much more tight-lipped about what happened. The module provides 4 ways to loosen her lips, two being appropriate skill checks, one bribing her with gold, and the fourth buying her enough drinks to get her drunk and talking. She will mention that Dr. Savitch continued paying her for jobs after the disastrous expedition, the first job being to transport the stone brain to his private residence, the second delivering various kinds of machinery to Stainedwell Mortuary for purposes she doesn't know. She hasn’t seen Dr. Savitch since then.

The Stainedwell Mortuary is the final main area of the adventure. It is an abandoned funeral parlor next to Ludendorf’s sewage refinery. The entry is locked, and as to be expected choosing to break the lock/door rather than subtle lockpicking will alert a pair of psycogs within. While inside, the PCs can possibly ambush the psycogs by learning of their presence via a hidden hole looking into a room which they stand guard, and find a magical mummified hand that grips whatever is placed within its palm. Said hand is one of several means of bypassing a trapped door handle in the basement level, triggered to inflict psychic damage to anyone who grips it in order to open. There’s also a scroll of Dispel Magic in the crematory that can be used to bypass the trap, and the module suggests Mage Hand and other creative solutions by the players to also bypass. While descending into the basement, PCs who fail an Intelligence save get an eerie sensation of a foreign entity making contact with their mind. This has no negative consequences besides alerting PCs that they’re getting close to something dangerous.

The Secret Laboratory is the “boss arena” for the adventure, an open chamber in the intersection of four sewer tunnels with a central grating platform held up by four chains. On the platform is the difference engine housing the elder brain, and Dr. Savitch and two psycogs are present. The brain doesn’t initially join combat, only doing so once it determines that the PCs are a serious personal threat to it.

In terms of stats, Dr. Savitch is the weakest of the lot, a CR ⅛ human who has a scalpel that functions as a dagger but will only fight as a last resort. Most of the time he will be spending his actions to make repairs to the engine if damaged, capable of healing it for 1d4+5 hit points per action. As long as the God Engine survives, Savitch will remain a thrall. As for the God Engine, it is an immobile construct with 52 hit points and 14 Armor Class, making it a veritable boss for a 2nd-level party. It has immunity to poison and psychic damage, but vulnerability to bludgeoning damage. Its main action is a single-target ranged psionic blast that deals 3d6 damage (presumed psychic, damage type isn’t specified) to one who fails a DC 15 Intelligence save and deals half as much on a success. It can revive a psycog to 9 hit points as a rechargeable action, and as a reaction it can deal 2d6 damage to a creature that damages it, again allowing for half damage on a successful Intelligence save.

There are indirect means of damaging/defeating the God Engine. Opening a nearby valve as an action to flood sewer water onto the platform will deal 1d4 acid damage per round to the machine, while breaking the steel chains holding up the platform will instakill the engine as it plunges into the sewer water below. The remaining psycogs die once the God Engine dies, and Dr. Savitch has treasure in a nearby chest in the form of money and precious gems along with Eyes of Minute Seeing and blueprints for creating another God Engine. Destroying the platform will destroy the chest and its contents.

Overall Thoughts: Lamordia is one of the more promising Domains of Dread, and I’m always happy to see more material for it. Mystery-centric adventures are ideal both for low-level and horror campaigns, and I do like how the book focuses just as much on indirect and environmental dangers like traps as well as combat. While the adventure’s fights can be quite deadly, enterprising PCs have means of evening the odds, such as the Potions of Psychic Resistance or using subtle means of entering restricted areas like at the Mortuary or Dr. Savitch’s residence.

While I do appreciate the nonlinearity that is pretty much necessary for mystery adventures, my main criticism as mentioned above is the predefined level-up and the potential for PCs finishing the module early by finding the mortuary address early on. Personally speaking, I would’ve divvied up the final location piecemeal in each of the three areas: the mention of handling/experimenting on dead bodies to point to evidence of a mortuary (but not which one), some hint about a sewer to narrow things down to a sewage refinery, and then some kind of third clue tying the two together for the true location.

In short, the God Engine is an adventure with promise and a solid core, but needs some smoothing around the edges to make it at its best.

Join us next time as we check out the CR 27 Strahd author’s take on Greyhawk’s most famous archmage in Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Statblock!

 

[Libertad]

Product Link

Product Type: DMing Tools/Bestiary
CoS-Required? No

You might remember earlier in this thread that I reviewed an overpowered CR 27 stat block for Strahd Von Zarovich. Suffice to say, this version of Strahd is strong enough to wipe the floor with a CR 12 Archmage. Shortly after that book’s release, the author saw fit to give Mordenkainen himself a powerup. This product is rather minimal, being a one-page statblock for Greyhawk’s most famous wizard, along with equipment he possesses and new spells consisting of the rest of the content. In the default Curse of Strahd module, this reflects Mordenkainen coming back into his true self after being cured from his cure of madness as the “Mad Mage of Mount Baratok.” Which is a good thing, as the default Archmage is deadly enough as is for PCs to encounter.

This version of Mordenkainen is a CR 23 character who casts spells as a 27th level Wizard. He is proficient in every saving throw, and absolutely none of them match up with his existing ability modifiers, Proficiency Bonus of +7, or what he gets from his Epic Ring of Protection. For example, his Strength save is +3 despite having a 12 Strength, and his Intelligence save is +18 although his Intelligence is 26. There’s some other errors in the stat block, such as Mislead being misspelled as “midslead,” or the Elemental Adept feat not being bolded and part of the same paragraph as another feature which makes it easy to miss.

Mordenkainen has 324 hit points, and whenever he casts a spell he gains twice the spell’s level in hit points, and this magical barrier is cumulative and can hold a maximum of 60 bonus hit points. His Armor Class is 23 due to his magical gear, so combined with the former he’s not going to go down anytime soon and can weather even the most harrowing blows in the module.

When it comes to skills, Mordenkainen has expertise in Arcana and History, and is proficient in Intimidation and Religion, meaning that he’s a great “sage” archetype but isn’t as smooth in other non-knowledge skills besides frightening people. Any spell with the name “Mordenkainen” in it doubles its numerical parameters, are always prepared, can be cast as 1 action if it takes longer to cast, and he has a variety of buffs to them such as being able to enter any Magnificient Mansion without effort, or Private Sanctums’ wards don’t work against him. He also has access to two such spells that haven’t been officially converted to 5th Edition: Mordenkainen’s Lucubration he can cast at a recharge rate of 6 on a d6, where he regains a 5th level or lower spell slot meaning that he’s never going to run out of low and mid level spells. Mordenkainen’s Disjunction is the other one, where once per day he can permanently end the effects of 9th level and lower spells and magical items in a 40 foot radius (doesn’t affect his own magic items) and the effects can be reversed voluntarily as part of a short rest.

For various other special abilities, Mordenkainen has the benefits of the Elemental Adept (fire) and Warcaster feats, the Third Eye and Greater Portent features of the Divination wizard subclass, can cast Fireball as a bonus action at 3rd level if he has a spell slot available, and he is a 27th level wizard with all sorts of spells. For Vancian magic, he has a healthy mixture of offense, defense, and utility spells, and a lot of them are universally-useful vs niche applications: Shield and Misty Step help shore up his defenses; Scrying and Sending are excellent for communication and surveillance, Banishment, Cone of Cold, Disintegrate, and Flesh to Stone gives him some rather potent offensive options; Counterspell, Banishment, and Wall of Force can shut down enemies in a variety of ways; Mind Blank and Sunburst give a big middle finger to Strahd; and his 9th level spells include Meteor Swarm, Time Stop, and Wish to remind the PCs that they’re now mere sidekicks to their Fated Ally.

And that’s not all: he can cast Disguise Self, Invisibility, and Mordenkainen’s Sword at will!

As though he wasn’t powerful enough, his spell save DC is 25 and his spell attack roll is +17, which blows bounded accuracy out of the water. Mordy comes equipped with a bunch of magic items, such as Robes of the Archmagi, Carpet of Flying, a Crystal Ball of True Seeing, and some new items such as an Epic Wand of Fireballs (as a normal Wand of Fireballs but even more powerful), Epic Bracers of Defense and Epic Ring of Protection (grant bonuses to AC and saving throws; the bonuses), and Mordenkainen’s Staff of Fire (deals fire damage as a weapon, has 30 charges that can be spent to deal additional fire damage or cast various fire-related spells…including Meteor Swarm again with 20 charges).

We end the book with three new spells, all designed to be used against various monsters in the module. Mordenkainen’s Defense Against Beasts grants resistance to the melee attacks of creatures of the Beast type to a touched ally, and Mordy’s Defense Against Slime does the same thing for fungal plants and oozes. Mordenkainen’s Defense Against Lycanthropes also grants resistance, plus advantage on Constitution saves to avoid contracting lycanthropy. They are 3rd, 3rd, and 5th level respectively, so are learnable by PCs by the time they recruit the Mad Mage.

Overall Thoughts: The Real Devil Strahd: A CR27 Version of the Devil is a product that has its own host of problems if used in CoS. Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Statblock presents an equal number of problems from the other side: the addition of an overpowered DMPC who will steal the spotlight from the PCs and make defeating default Strahd a trivial affair. This Mordenkainen has options tailor-made to deal with most of Strahd’s tactics and resistances, and he will wipe the floor with just about every other enemy in the module. Unlike Mordy’s default Archmage statblock, he also has a passive Perception of 18 (and the product doesn’t say how he got this score given that he’s not proficient in Perception), so he’s much harder to sneak up on unaware. But even if an enemy managed to get the drop on him, his saves and hit points are so high that it won’t make much of a difference. Baba Lysaga’s Finger of Death is but a flesh wound, and he can weather a full assault from her Creeping Hut before Misty Stepping to safety or using a DC 25 Banishment to make it go away. Even with just 2 slots, his 9th level spells are encounter-enders, and with Wish he becomes an effective plot device rather than a peer on par with the PCs.

This product is better than the Real Devil Strahd in that it’s not as cluttered and easier to keep track of things, but that’s still damning with faint praise. I would not recommend this to be used in Curse of Strahd. Perhaps as a stat block where he’s a patron or even antagonist in a high-level adventure, but for Barovian castle dwellers, keep away!.

Join us next time as we explore a folkloric adventure, the Swanmay and the Woodsman!

 

[Libertad]

Product Link

Product Type: Adventure
CoS-Required? No

Optimized for 4 4th-level PCs, this short adventure borrows strongly from the folkloric horror side of things, although I hesitate to even apply the horror label to it. The involved characters in the module don’t even have proper names, instead they have titles for their role in the story such as the Woodsman, the Daughter, etc, and are presumed to be given proper names based on what fits for the DM’s campaign and party backstories.

The adventure’s background involves a Swanmay, a woman part of a secret order of druids, ending up trapped in the Land of Mists after a fierce battle with an evil spirit. She married a friendly Woodsman, settling down and giving birth to a Daughter. Eventually others of her order managed to find her and she departed, leaving the Woodsman and her infant Daughter. But not before giving them a white magical robe and ocarina for the Daughter to use when she came of age, should she wish to become a Swanmay herself. The Woodsman grew depressed with the departure of his wife, and sent his Daughter to live with her Grannie. Grannie worried that she too would leave, so looking for advice she inadvertently got tricked by that very same evil spirit that fought the Swanmays. She commanded Grannie to lock away the robe and ocarina and possessed the old woman, biding her time while pretending to be an unassuming old woman.

The adventure begins in a local tavern, with at least one of the PCs waiting for their old friend, the Woodsman, who the adventure suggests being part of a character’s backstory. While waiting they meet the Illusionist, a traveling member of the Carnival domain, who mentions that the lunar conjunction empowers illusion magic. For the rest of this adventure, various illusion spells that portray objects (not creatures) become real and will persist until the Carnival departs. This is a really great benefit that opens up a lot of interesting tactics, something the rest of the adventure doesn’t really seize upon sadly. The Warlock’s Misty Visions invocation in particular is open to some potent abuse this way.

Fun Fact: The author of this adventure also worked on the Dark Carnival, which I reviewed earlier in this thread. The Illusionist in this case may be either Tindal or Tindafulus, depending on who was saved at the end of that adventure.

The Illusionist will join the party if wanted, claiming that his services can be very entertaining at parties. The Woodsman eventually shows up late, drunk and trying and failing to sell the white robe, and townsfolk keep telling him to go home since it’s his Daughter’s birthday. The PCs can learn a bit about the Woodsman’s backstory, with some false rumors to go along with some of the truth. The Woodsman will ask the party to come back with him to his cabin home in the woods. Along the way a 1d8 random encounter result is either rolled or chosen to determine whether they get back in time for his Daughter’s birthday party or arrive late. Most of the encounters involve obstacles against mundane animals, natural hazards, or in two cases undead in the form of spectral wolves and a scared ghost who may attempt to flee. Every noncombat encounter that has a “distraction” or nonviolent means of resolution has a punishment of risking additional time or the party getting lost, meaning that the ideal solution is to just ignore it and keep on going. For example, a tiger is entangled in a trapped net; if the tiger is released, it will attack the party, and if they can’t trap it again with a Deception check it will chase them through the woods and make them get lost. Another encounter has them hear a wailing woman, and if they go to check it out there’s no traces of anyone and they must make a Survival check to avoid getting lost. Regardless of how the encounter’s resolved, the party will stumble across a random magic item on the way home.

I’m not a fan of encounters whose resolution is to just…avoid them. I can understand encounters that may be a moral dilemma, like choosing not to help someone in need in order to get to your destination faster, or one that has some kind of risk/reward element. Making it so that the ideal solution is to not engage with an event or encounter at all will encourage players to avoid adventure hooks and encounters in the future. The module also provides no stats for either the Illusionist or the Woodsman, which is a pretty big oversight.

The Woodsman’s cabin is a humble two-story abode, with a basement accessible by a locked cellar door. Outside, an enchanted hatchet is animated to cut wood by itself. Grannie has cooked a meal for the party’s arrival. The Woodsman remains sullen and threatens to darken an otherwise bright day; PCs will need to perform at least 2 skill checks to keep everyone’s spirits up, but if they arrive late the DC will be raised by 2. Succeeding on checks provides benefits, such as causing the Daughter to play on her ocarina and the chance to realize that it’s a magical item.

Even if the PCs didn’t get on their good side, with evening approaching it’s only good and proper to invite guests to stay the night rather than sending them off into the dangerous forest. During this time the PCs have the opportunity to sense that something’s off with Granny. Anyone adjacent realizes that she smells bad, and while she passes it off as flatulence an Insight check shows that she’s lying. Detect Good and Evil, a paladin’s divine sense, and similar powers reveal that the odor is overpowering and deals psychic damage on a failed save. Additionally, she wears a key on a necklace. This is the key to a chest in the cellar that contains the white robe. The cellar’s contents also contain weaver’s tools and a broken magical loom which if repaired grants the ability to create magical garments. These were formerly owned by the Swanmay, which she used to craft the white robe and other items.

The end of the adventure involves the Daughter making the private decision to leave home and look for her mother now that she’s old enough, and sneaks into the cellar to steal the robe. She will bypass the lock via a hairpin, and if the PCs already have the robe she will find them and ask for it. The PCs have no choice, for if they refuse she will play on her ocarina: a successful Wisdom save causes them to be awake but incapacitated for 1 minute, while a failed one causes them to be unconscious for 1 minute. This gives the PCs just enough time to follow the Daughter to the nearby lake.

But the evil spirit possessing Grannie is here (if the PCs previously killed Grannie then she is of the undead type), with an Enchanted Hatchet and Shadow (which is the spirit) by her side. The PCs must defend the Daughter from her, and if she’s killed or knocked out the spirit will depart for good. The shadow only appears when Grannie attacks, taking its turn then disappearing; PCs can attack the shadow by readying an action to do so. But that doesn’t really matter, for after combat resolves she will die and be resistant to any attempts to bring her back to life as she feels that her time has come to depart for the afterlife. The Daughter and Woodsman grieve for her death and bury Grannie. The Woodsman wants the Daughter to stay, unwilling to end up alone. It will be up to the PCs whether or not they encourage the Daughter to depart, and they can choose whether or not they depart with her or stay with the Woodsman to keep him company. If the PCs end up staying with the Woodsman (with or without his Daughter) they will be trapped in the domain as its borders close for the next 2d6 years. During that time the Woodsman will pass away, the Mists receding, and if she’s still there the Daughter will take her robe and ocarina and depart on a quest to find her mother. The PC’s choice also determines what magic item they gain as a reward at the end of this module, be it an Animated Handaxe (remain with the Woodsman, bonus action activates and moves it to fly and attack on its own up to 4 times) or a Robe of the Swanmay (accompany the Daughter, can cast a personal Polymorph once per day to become a zephyr swan which is a flying CR ¼ monstrosity with short-range teleport and magic resistance, can cast Charm Person and Speak With Animals once per day each).

There’s an optional Epilogue, where the Daughter and her family were actually soulless, and as soon as she leaves the Domain she fades into nonexistence. The next time the PCs come to the Carnival, the Illusionist will reveal this fate and why she faded away if the party was with her.

There are several Appendices in this adventure, only two of which are worth covering for this review. One outlines the new magic items obtainable in this adventure, detailing seven in total. Beyond the two covered above, we have the Enchanted Loom (can create one of 4 magic items from this book via expenditure of time, gold, and permanent sacrifice of a spell slot), Fabric Boat (command word causes sheet of fabric to unfold into a swan-shaped boat), Guardian’s Cloak (+1 AC, gain personal benefits of Feather Fall when falling), Mantle of the Wind (gain flying speed for up to 1 hour per day, can cast Gust of Wind once per day or additional times beyond that at risk of destroying the item), and Returning Handaxe (returns to wielder’s hand after thrown). The other appendix suggests ways to personalize the adventure for Ravenloft’s various domains. Most of them are bare-bones, mostly focusing on large bodies of water and notable population centers nearby for the adventure’s starting and ending locations.

Overall Thoughts: This is not a good adventure. Several NPCs of note have no stats at all, the random encounters actively punish the PCs for interacting with them, and the adventure’s resolution is incredibly railroady and goes out of its way to punish out-of-the-box thinking: did the PCs kill Grannie ahead of time? She comes back anyway! What if they try to exorcise her with Protection From Good and Evil beforehand? It doesn’t say! What if they make sure to attack only the Shadow and not her in the final combat? She dies anyway! What if they refuse to hand the robe over to the Daughter? She stuns them all with enough time to get to the lake, no save!

The only real time that the adventure gives the PCs a choice is at the end, and that’s in regards to the Daughter’s decision whether or not to leave. But the Epilogue can end up a downer, for she is soulless and bound to fade away. Now imagine the years-long timeskip at adventure’s end, which is also wholly unnecessary and can be a gut-punch if the PCs learn from the Epilogue that it was all for naught anyway. As for the lunar conjunction’s empowerment of illusion magic? The only time the module calls it out as being useful is to swap Grannie’s key with a replica, but otherwise it more or less has no impact or ties into the module at hand.

I cannot recommend this adventure, as not even the new magical items make up for its content, especially not at the offered price point.

Join us next time as we cover a dark comedy adventure focusing on the horrors of the inability to find a restroom in a timely manner in You Have to Go!

 

[Libertad]

Product Link

Product Type: Adventure
CoS-Required? No

You Have to Go is a 1 on 1 oneshot designed for a single 3rd-level PC. The adventure starts out with the PC minding their own business somewhere as they excuse themselves to the loo, which would be the absolute worst moment for the Mists of Ravenloft to whisk them into danger! They’re transported into Casterburg Manor, a Domain stuck in a perpetual nightly timeloop of a nobleman’s ball doomed to violently end with the mansion being flooded.

For some backstory, the Casterburgs were a noble family who strived to exemplify the romantic ideals of feudal aristocracy: lords and ladies dedicated to the safety and welfare of those they ruled over. They invested the huge profits from their mines back into the community, resulting in a higher standard of living for the miners and farmers. Every year they held an annual Ball commemorating the day gold was first discovered in the region, a Ball which welcomed all regardless of social class.

Claudius Casterburg was the black sheep of the family; not only did he demonstrate a lack of administrative skills vital for rulership and business management, he viewed the rest of his family as idiotic in their supposedly misplaced respect for “wasting money on the common rabble.” Despite being the eldest child, his parents entrusted his twin sister (who was born minutes later) as heir to the family fortune. What drove Claudius over the edge was his father telling him in no uncertain terms “You couldn’t even manage the Ball, much less the mines.”

Thus, Claudius plotted to kill his family, obtaining paralytic carrion crawler mucus to poison a bottle of wine. The dark deed was done when he and the other Casterburgs stopped at a bridge to toast his sister before coming back home to the Ball. When they fell over, helpless, Claudius threw all of their bodies over into the waters below. When he came back to the Manor as sole heir and now manager of the Casterburg Ball, the Mists of Ravenloft took the building away from the Material Plane, turning it into a Domain.

Casterburg Manor is stuck in a Groundhog Day style time loop for the past 50 years, where Claudius tries and fails to manage the Ball as various monstrous creatures invisible to all of the domain’s natives (but not to the PC) sabotage things from behind the scenes. Nobody, not even Claudius, are aware of the time loop, and more disastrous and violent acts of sabotage are mentally rationalized away. For example, a corpse will be taken as someone too drunk to stand up, a sinkhole filled with assassin vines is viewed as “just a small crack with weeds,” and so on and so forth. Indesctructable magical sabatons are attached to everyone’s feet, which cannot be removed via ordinary means and hold the wearer in place when the Manor floods, causing those unfortunate enough to still have them on to drown to death. The only means for the PC to escape this Domain is to fix the various problems plaguing the party, freeing not only the Darklord’s soul but everyone else’s…all the while fighting the urge to go to the bathroom!

You Have to Go is separated into three major Acts: the first Act where the PC appears at the Ball and is treated by the attendees as a guest of honor, the second Act where they start to realize that something’s amiss and go about fixing the problems plaguing the event, and the third Act where the Manor floods. The third Act’s triggering is by DM Fiat, based on the needs of when the oneshot needs to be wrapped up. The storm outside the Manor prevents one from simply leaving safely, and should a character end up outside they will be unceremoniously dumped back in, usually crashing through a window in a completely different room to show them that their imprisonment is explicitly supernatural in nature.

Two major subsystems are in play: the Sabaton Chart and Emergency Chart. The PC will quickly realize that they and everyone else at the ball are wearing pairs of silver sabatons, with Claudius wearing a gold set. Nobody but the PC is aware of their presence, and if asked about them an NPC will mention that they’re fancy shoes in a new style rather than actual armor. Points are scored on the Sabaton Chart when the PC solves the various problems, causing more Sabatons to become translucent and thus lose their powers during Act 3. 8 Points are necessary to free everyone, and Points can also be lost if the PC ends up making things worse. The player isn’t told about the system, instead the overall atmosphere of the Manor and demeanor of guests changes, becoming more upbeat and lively in various ways. Like the bardic band will stop playing offkey and perform better, the magical globe-lights will stop dimming and malfunctioning, etc. When one or more points are lost, some event happens within the PC’s perception that immediately dims the mood, such as a waiter tripping and causing food and dishes to spill onto a guest.

The Emergency subsystem involves the PC’s increasing urge to relieve themselves interfering with their ability to perform tasks. This is a magically-amplified effect by the Dark Powers, so even if a PC does their business (intentionally or as an “accident”) the urge will swiftly return. Generally speaking, every time the PC resolves a task for the Sabaton Chart they will roll a DC 13 Constitution saving throw. If they fail, they will suffer a debuff that functions (but is not the same) as a level of exhaustion. By the 4th level of exhaustion, they can’t hold it in any longer and mess themselves and lose all levels. If done in a way that other attendees notice, this causes a loss of 1 Sabaton Point.

Act One is the shortest and simplest, being more of an introduction. The PC appears in the Manor as they fall out from a huge painting hanging above the ground, where a grung butler by the name of Hops (who was formerly Claudius’ childhood pet as a mundane frog) introduces the PC. A piece of parchment in the character’s hand placed by the Dark Powers warns them that the Ball must go well, or “All Will Die.” Hops is unaware of his poisonous skin, which causes anyone to touch him (no save) to either remain motionless or have an irresistible urge to run towards the fountain on the first floor and immerse themselves in it. This will happen several times during the adventure with other NPCs, unless the PC comes up with a way for Hops to avoid bodily contact like telling him about personal space or lying that there’s a nasty cold going around. Additionally, after the PC’s dramatic introduction by Hops, people will begin dancing as a vine emerges from a sinkhole, tripping partygoers as it tries and fails time and time again to get a drink from the fountain.

Act Two is the bulk of the adventure, and is an open-ended scenario where the PC goes around the manor to learn more about the nature of the Domain and right its problems. There’s many means of scoring Sabaton Points, as well as a mixture of combat and non-combat encounters. The four monsters that are causing problems (assassin vine tripping dancing guests, a boggle causing waiters in a hallway to spill food, a mimic in the bathroom, water weird either violently banging on the front door or attacking and yanking out people close to open windows) are invisible to everyone else, so if a PC is seen engaging in violent action against them everyone else will think that the character is drunk, hallucinating, or doing a very convincing fight scene like in a play or a weird interpretive dance. With the exception of the mimic who will eat the PC, a PC who is reduced to 0 hit points will be left alone by the monsters, and will be awoken by a staff member should they make 3 successful death saves. Additionally, while there’s not enough time to perform a long rest, the PC has one free window to take a short rest if they have no levels on the Emergency Chart. But at the end of said rest, a mishap will happen to lower the Sabaton Chart by one point.

The various scenarios have a variety of innovative and interesting ways to be solved. For instance, waiters are serving food not on plates, but by galleon-shaped bowls for the party’s nautical theme. But the gnome in charge of crafting and fixing the bowls accidentally switched his glasses with his chef brother, causing him to apply frosting instead of glue to the bowls, and the chef to be accidentally poisoning the guests with glue in their food. Getting them to switch glasses is one such solution, but also switching the galleon bowls for more stable plates can also work in dealing with their unstable nature. For the assassin vine, blocking the sinkhole is one option, but dumping a barrel of alcohol on it or rerouting water from a nearby pipe to feed it pacifies the monster nonviolently. I won’t go over every single problem, but there’s a lot of things for a PC to do (and to mess things up!).

Besides immediately fixing the party, there are two scenarios that don’t necessarily add Sabaton Points but paint a fuller picture of the Casterburg family. For instance, a puzzle involving rotating the head of a Casterburg bust so that the cowlick of their hair matches the side as portrayed in a painting above the bust unlocks a secret compartment. This is where Claudius stored a vial of carrion crawler poison. Additionally, the study area has Claudius’ journal that lists the current year as being 50 years ago and details an endless list of grievances by him. Disturbingly, their entries repeat again and again like a loop, and give better insight into his psyche…and thus advantage on relevant social checks with him!

And what of the bathroom? Well, it has 3 stalls, one of which is technically working. However, the room has a broken pipe spilling water everywhere, there’s a dead body on the floor, and one of the toilets is a disguised mimic that will attack the PC if they enter the stall. The bathroom has a goblin attendant offering towels, who is sick from the putrid smell but doesn’t actually smell or see anything wrong. A PC grappled by the mimic will have the attendant misinterpret the character as having trouble getting off the toilet and attempt to help them stand up, granting advantage on rolls to escape the grapple.

Act Three begins when Claudius gets the attention of everyone at the Ball, about to announce that his family granted him the rights to the mine. Every day, for the past 50 years, this is when his father’s voice echoed throughout the Manor, saying “you could not even manage the Ball…” as the Dark Powers mock him, also lifting the collective delusion preventing people from seeing the Sabatons and other problems of the Manor. This shows everyone that the Darklord’s greatest fear is a reality, just as it’s revealed that the world outside the Manor is underwater, causing the water to break through the glass and begin flooding the building. Giant rats taking refuge in the walls will spill out as attendants scream, those not pinned by sabatons rushing for higher ground. The painting that the PC emerged from at the start of the adventure is the only safe way out, and acts as a drain as the rising water creates a current near it. Even in this disaster scenario the PC still has opportunities to save people: one way is giving someone trapped by a pair of sabatons a Ring of Water Walking (possibly obtained from the assassin vine), while another way by confronting Claudius, either in combat or by convincing him that he’s still a worthy heir to the Casterburg fortune.

If the PC survives, they emerge from the painting with other survivors, who will all age drastically to make up for the half-century timeloop. Hops turns into a normal frog, and the parchment from the Dark Powers turns into a deed to the mine naming the PC as the owner. If the PC dies, boxed text will show that they’re now among the oblivious attendees of the ball, just as another “guest of honor” shows up, looking distraught. The product then ends with four pre-generated characters and a pair of maps detailing Casterburg Manor.

Overall Thoughts: You Have to Go is a strong, nonlinear adventure with multiple means of resolution and player freedom, and in spite of its brevity it felt like it covered events and rooms in enough detail that important things weren’t left out or to DM Fiat. It has more levity than the average Ravenloft module, but is still distinctly en vogue with the setting in focusing on a central villain’s greedy betrayal trapping himself in a hell of his own making. The survivability and balance downsides of a 1-on-1 DnD adventure are mitigated by being primarily noncombat yet still having an element of loss and risk.

From reading this adventure, I spotted specific means for a PC to earn up to 13 points on the Sabaton Chart. The adventure, of course, isn’t wedded to these results, encouraging the DM to reward points for clever actions to improve the mood and safety beyond what’s provided by default. Combined with various open-ended means of losing said points, there is a generous window of errors to be made without making the adventure unwinnable. And given that the only way to end the Darklord’s curse is to save everyone, it’s not a binary win-lose situation.

In short, I highly recommend You Have to Go as a fun-looking, creative adventure that definitely deserves to have more eyes upon it.

Join us next time as we add some spooky new goods to Curse of Strahd’s shops in Barovian Things!

 

[Libertad]

Product Link

Product Type: Character Options
CoS-Required? Technically no, but flavor text and item functions tie heavily into that adventure

The lack of significant gear to spend money on has been a common criticism of 5th Edition, and when it comes to Curse of Strahd this is only magnified when its most prominent shops have only overpriced basic equipment. Barovian Things serves as a replacement for the generic PHB items found in places like Bildrath’s Mercantile, giving us 60 mundane and magical* items that feel like the kind of things you’d find in a rural gothic setting. Their prices vary, with some more powerful items being underpriced to reflect a shop owner’s inexperience with the supernatural, and some are overpriced, be it due to fancy designs, name recognition, or lack of competitive prices. A few items have plot tie-ins to other places and characters in the module, serving as either a hook or a callback, while all items have italicized text that serve as an in-character description of the item. Each item has color artwork to go with it, and they all are presented in a card format which make for neat little handouts at the gaming table.

*Yet most are not particularly powerful.

Like Mimsy’s, I won’t review every item here, instead highlighting the more interesting and notable ones.

Argynian Plate is a suit of half plate that glows silver in moonlight. At 93.88 gold pieces, it’s a steal for medium armor-using PCs.

Bloodriver Quiver is crafted from a monster’s skin, and those who wear it can communicate with the beast’s spirit, although only via emotion that invariably gets some form of anger as a response.

Cracked Stone is a super-cheap arcane focus priced at 8 copper pieces, but whenever you use it to cast a spell there’s a 1 in 20 chance it violently breaks, causing a wild magic surge and dealing 1d4 force damage to the user.

Ember is a semi-functional sword that was once broken and tied back together with string. It’s 0.13 gold pieces, but explodes as per the Fireball spell on a critical hit.

Exploding Pine Cone costs 62.2 gold pieces, and is a thrown weapon that explodes in a 20 foot radius dealing 5d6 piercing damage.

Jar of Eyes is a pretty macabre purchase at 5.92 gold, but they frantically move and flit about whenever an invisible or ethereal creature is within 100 feet of the jar.

Magpie is just a regular dagger at 2.7 gold, but it's italicized text has a lore entry on how Barovia appears to lack birds other than ravens, and the belief that other species turned their feathers black to mourn the death of Queen Ravenovia.

Mandrake is technically a creature embedded in a pot. At 9.33 gold it’s an incredibly potent yet dangerous item, for when plucked its scream has the effect of Power Word Kill against the nearest living humanoid creature within 10 feet. The mandrake dies upon screaming, making it a one-use item. As it only targets living humanoids, this allows for some creative applications, like a wildshaped druid pulling it out with their animal teeth safely.

Ritual of Life is a spell scroll of Raise Dead whose text is a prayer to the Mroninglord. At 2.7 gold it’s a super-cheap way of gaining access to a powerful spell in the module.

Scratched Shield is slightly more expensive than a regular shield at 11.02 gold, but it’s tried and tested against the various beasts of Barovia. Its +2 AC becomes +3 against bite and claw attacks.

Skullface Shield has the skull of a monster on it, granting the wearer advantage on Intimidation checks. The skull breaks if a creature scores a critical hit against the wearer, causing it to become a normal shield. It’s expensive at 75.6 gold, but good for a PC that uses the aforementioned skill.

Suspicious Meat is meat of an unknown kind on a bone, costing 0.28 gold. It has a strong aroma for ghouls and other creatures that feed on dead bodies, and if thrown such beings will run after it, making it a good distraction.

Svalich Mask looks like a frowning tragedy mask, but carved out of wood. It costs 3 gold and makes the wearer invisible to plant creatures. A great benefit to have for PCs visiting the Wizard of Wines or Yester Hill.

Ugly Boots are waterproof, although the text notes that Barovians are prone to stealing such shoes off corpses because a sturdy pair can last their entire life. Which is shorter than usual on account of the land’s many dangers.

Witch’s Spellbook is a steal at 8 gold, containing 5 thematic spells, 3 of which are 1st level (Ray of Sickness, Sleep, Tasha’s Hideous Laughter), and 2 of which are 2nd (Alter Self, Invisibility). I particularly like the flavor text, saying that it “smells of musty cats, waking up at 3 AM, and the faint suspicion that your goals have escaped.”

Yrrgarian Shard is a handaxe with an eye-like amber embedded in it. Touching the haft gives the wielder the sensation of something calling them to a secret hidden deep in the mountains.

Overall Thoughts: Barovian Things help make trips to shops a tad more interesting with new items. While in conventional campaigns quite a bit of the more powerful items would be wildly underpriced, the lack of significant money and valuable treasure in Curse of Strahd helps mitigate this while also reflecting the domain’s impoverished nature. Even for items with no special abilities, the flavor text and graphics can still make them stand out enough to be appealing, and I like how several of them drop subtle hints about other elements in the adventure. The only item I’d be seriously reluctant to include is the Ritual of Life, for it makes resurrection feel a bit too easy to come by, even if it’s the only one besides Van Richten’s scroll in the module. The Mandrake Root was the other one, but upon further reflection the Humanoid foes in Curse of Strahd tend to not be all that dangerous: the most deadly foes are other creature types, so its most ideal use in a campaign would be something like using it to one-shot one of Vallaki’s nobles or the druid/werewolf leaders.

Join us next time as we check out a variant side quest for curing Mordenkainen’s Madness in Behind Tser Falls!

 

[Libertad]

Product Link

Product Type: Adventure
CoS-Required? Yes

Of the various sidequests in Curse of Strahd, the one involving Mordenkainen the Mad Mage feels quite…lacking. It’s triggered in a roundabout way, of walking around in the wilderness until the party runs into him. And then they need to survive a potentially-hostile CR 12 archmage and also administer a 5th level spell…which his Mind Blank buff makes him immune to. And even should they manage to save him, their reward is either a one-use Charm of Heroism for each PC or a Fated Ally who only shows up for the final encounter. While Behind Tser Falls doesn’t fix his role as a Fated Ally, it does provide a more substantial alternate quest and reward involving the Mad Mage.

This adventure alters the Mad Mage’s fall from grace slightly, in that after his defeat at the hands of Strahd he lost his spellbook and Staff of Power somewhere near Tser Falls. An oni by the name of Lughanis found the items, and added them to his treasure hoard in a cavernous lair behind the waterfall. The adventure provides a variety of initial hooks: via Madam Eva’s Tarokka result if he’s a Fated Ally,* or via an NPC telling the party about the Mage and his general location as part of an unrelated quest. Such as Victor Vallakovich craving his magical knowledge.

*Or an alternative to just give them the Staff if the DM doesn’t like the idea of an archmage DMPC.

The adventure begins once the PCs are in the vicinity of Mount Baratok in northern Barovia. The encounter with the Mage can be run similar to the one in the module, but with one noticeable alteration: he will immediately accuse the party of being agents of Strahd’s forces, tipping them off that he is suffering a case of mistaken identity. They can make him nonhostile via Persuasion or mentioning that their goal is to defeat Strahd. If pacified, he will talk about how he lost his staff and spellbook, albeit with a lot of hesitation in his sentences reflecting his madness. In exchange, the Mad Mage can offer to help the PCs in a variety of ways, such as lending them his staff or researching his spellbook for the possibility of a way out of Barovia.

When the PCs arrive at Tser Falls, the oni Lughanis will take note of their presence. Disguising himself as a Barovian villager looking for his lost son, he hopes to ascertain the party’s strength and capabilities in order to later kill them, looting them of any precious valuables and turning their corpses into undead. He will offer them rope and pitons for them to scale the cliff, and unless they have an assured safe means of descent there is a risk of falling for 10d6 damage. If chased off, told to stay back, or otherwise not made to come with, Lughanis will turn invisible and use his magic to float above the ground to mask his tracks. If he accompanies the PCs he will pretend to be helpful in combat, having a crossbow which will intentionally miss enemies in the cave.

Lughanis’ cave is a 4 room dungeon, otherwise natural save for the ceiling level being artificially carved and elevated to fit its Large size occupant. The cave is also home to five boneless (undead that can squeeze through tight cracks and attacks with an enveloping grapple that also blinds the target), a pair of will-o-wisps, and an NPC in the torture chamber who Lughanis captured earlier. The book suggests making the NPC someone the PCs know and would be interesting to have, with two suggestions being either Ezmerelda d’Avenir or Mad Mary. In either case, a captured character’s equipment won’t be with them but part of Lughanis’ treasure trove. There’s also a tripwire trap between the torture chamber and the oni’s personal quarters, which drops a cage on whoever activates it. Lughanis will take his true form and attack the party at an opportune time; he has the base stats of an oni, but also wields the Staff of Power and has unique lair actions such as AoE tremors, vision-obscuring misty clouds, and can summon Death’s Head minions (flying undead with debuffing bite attacks) from beheaded trophies scattered around the room.

Lughanis’ treasure hoard is accessible only via a crack in the wall of his quarters and contains several chests’ worth of coins, gems and pearls, and some magical items like Goggles of the Night, crossbow Bolts of Undead Slaying, and the Mad Mage’s spellbook. Said spellbook has all of the archmage NPC’s spells, plus Plane Shift and any others the DM deems appropriate. PCs who attempt to widen the crack to access the room risk destabilizing the cavern’s structural integrity. There’s a percentage chance of flooding from the nearby waterfall surging in, which basically gives them a limited amount of time to escape the dungeon before it’s waterlogged.

The adventure can resolve in a variety of ways. Returning Mordenkainen’s spellbook causes him to prepare Plane Shift the following day, but he’s unsuccessful in its casting. And depending on what the DM deems best for the campaign and the Tarokka results, the PCs may gain his Staff of Power and/or even his aid against Strahd in the final battle to come!

The adventure ends with an appendix of magic items and NPC/monster stat blocks used in this adventure for easy reference. It also highlights some Troubleshooting for unexpected actions that can derail the adventure, such as having the Mad Mage keeping private notes on his person hinting at the Tser Falls cave should the PCs kill him rather than negotiating. Or the balance ramifications of letting the party have two Staves of Power given that one can also be found in the crypts of Castle Ravenloft. The book suggests replacing it with another less powerful magical staff.

Overall Thoughts: Behind Tser Falls is short but sweet, a miniature quest and dungeon crawl useful for DMs who find the default Mad Mage encounter to be lacking. The major villain is a good touch, too, relying on traps and trickery to weaken the party rather than being an obvious boss waiting for them at the end of the dungeon.

Join us next time as we see how the authors change around Tsolenka Pass in Atop Mount Ghakis!

 

[Libertad]

Product Link

Product Type: Adventure
CoS-Required? Yes

Continuing on a theme established by the previous post’s product, Atop Mount Ghakis sets out to remedy the perceived weak spots of Tsolenka Pass. In the default adventure it’s little more than a waypoint to the Amber Temple, the goat Sangzor is a nuisance rather than a threat at the average expected level, and the roc is a one-note encounter at best.

Atop Mount Ghakis makes these two animals have a more involved story and sidequest. The Roc of Mount Ghakis was magically enslaved by Strahd in order to destroy the Order of the Silver Dragon in war. As for Sangzor, he’s not a goat but an immortal polymorphed druid who was once part of the Valley’s original inhabitants before Strahd conquered it. Sangzor cooperated with Strahd when he threatened the lives of the druids, giving the vampire a magical collar to enslave the roc. But Strahd feared that the archdruid would turn on him one day, so he had Sangzor’s tongue cut out so he could not pose a threat with his great spells. Now, the roc guards the way to the Amber Temple so that nobody else could claim its secrets. Sangzor regrets his role in Barovia’s subjugation, and lives out his days in goat form, hating his old human self.

There are options for tying Madam Eva’s Tarokka results to Sangzor and the Roc: the former as a potential Fated Ally, possibly replacing the default Beast or Broken One, and the latter having one of the three treasures in its nest for the 3 of Swords result. That placement would ordinarily be in the Tsolenka Pass Guard Tower.

The adventure begins as the party crosses the stone bridge to the north of Tsolenka Pass. The roc attacks the party as in the default module, but instead it grabs an NPC, precious item, or something the PCs would not want to go without before flying off. The PCs can follow the roc up the peaks via overland travel on Barovia’s hex map, needing to overcome a series of skill checks to avoid injuries, additional time taken, and disadvantage on future checks. While climbing they can find poetic stone carvings written in a mixture of Common and Druidic, hinting at the history of the druids, the roc, and Barovia’s prior inhabitants.

The first combat encounter before the roc’s nest is a mountain switchback patrolled by Sangzor. The druid has a Snare spell set up (which requires verbal components and is thus at odds with his stat block) and will cast Thunderclap once a PC triggers it in order to cause a rockslide. He will then attempt to use his Charge attack to knock any half-buried PCs down the slopes. However, Sangzor will surrender if Kavan’s Blood Spear is wielded against him* or he’s forced back into his human form twice. As he cannot speak verbally, he uses the Mold Earth cantrip to create pictures in the ground to communicate with the party, and he’ll try to tell them about Strahd’s magical domination of the roc and the means to free it. For a show of goodwill, he will share potions and a magic scroll with the party, the latter of which he can create but not cast as part of a short rest.

*Kavan was his brother, you see.

I imagine that the pictographs are fanciful, but I don’t get why he cannot make letters in Common (or Druidic) to communicate. He certainly can read and write, and he does write in Common briefly during his description of the roc but not at any other time. We also get a sidebar for tips on roleplaying Sangzor: imagine a depressed druid distrustful of others, and everyone he knows (besides the roc) is now dead.

So how does Sangzor stack up as an NPC? Well, he’s an 18th-level Druid for starters, but with no tongue he is unable to cast any spells with verbal components. While he does have up to 9th level spell slots, he’s more or less restricted to low-level spells, and besides Thunderclap and Primal Savagery his only directly offensive spell is Ice Knife. Absorb Elements, Beast Sense, and Snare are his only other leveled spells. Twice per day he can take the shape of a Monstrous Goat, which has a unique stat block with a decent 45 hit points, is Large, and has a ram and charge attack that can push targets back on top of additional damage. Skillwise Sangzor is proficient in Medicine, Nature, and Perception, and with a 20 Wisdom and +4 Proficiency Bonus he makes for a great scout or nightwatch sentry.

As a Fated Ally, I’d rate Sangzor as lower-middle: he is decently more powerful than several of the weaker options in Curse of Strahd, but given that he’s on the way to the Amber Temple and requires a difficult sidequest to unlock, that brings him down several pegs. His cut tongue severely limits his utility as a caster, and as there’s no easy means in the module of regrowing lost body parts, his only real offensive options in battle are cantrips and ramming charges.

The next combat encounter takes place at a mass grave of destroyed caravans and corpses of the roc’s former victims. A gallows speaker and specter will rise from the gravesite, and as they attack the party the PCs will experience visions of the past where Strahd used the crown alongside a younger Sangzor to enslave the roc and his later victory over the knights after using it as a mount. After defeating the undead, the roc will appear on the horizon after letting out a loud screech, giving the party one minute to prepare for battle.

The roc’s collar cannot be physically removed. It requires five successful Arcana or Nature checks, as grabbing it causes the thorns to dig in deeper. Using Dispel Magic counts as two successes. Additionally, appearing calm and/or assertive via Animal Handling can cause the roc to either ignore the skill-user or draw its attention as a target. Sangzor can explain all of this earlier in the adventure if he was parlayed with after his initial appearance.

The roc also has lair actions it can use to either blow strong winds or create necromantic vortices with its wings to raise more undead, making it a proper boss battle. The roc’s nest, in addition to whoever or whatever it initially stole, has some other treasure ranging from coins and art objects, a driftglobe, silver longsword, a Lantern of Tracking (designed for undead, flame glows bright green when within 300 feet of an undead creature), and potions in a now-broken crate designated for delivery to one Dr. Mordenheim in Lamordia.

If the PCs manage to free the roc, Sangzor will be grateful, and the roc can fly them anywhere within Barovia one time. If the roc is slain and Sangzor’s still alive, he will accept that this outcome was inevitable but still resent the party, and continues to wander the lands in goat form.

The book ends with a list of magic items and monster/NPC stat blocks, and Troubleshooting tips covering common dilemmas such as having Sangzor keeping a private journal if the party killed the druid. Or if a PC gets captured by the roc, then they control Sangzor as a temporary replacement. Or if the party is at risk of a TPK, Sangzor signals for them to retreat while getting the roc’s attention.

Overall Thoughts: I like how this supplement fleshes out Tsolenka Pass’ otherwise lackluster animal encounters, but ironically it takes them away from the Pass proper, still making the location itself a rather uneventful waypoint. Giving more of a backstory to Barovia’s original inhabitants and turning the roc into a proper quest with lore and rewards helps elevate its status beyond a random encounter.

However, I am not really sold on Sangzor as a Fated Ally, and the module leaves some things contradictory or open. For instance, he cannot cast Snare as it has a verbal component. And while it’s supposedly a one-time thing, his ability to create a scroll for a spell he cannot cast is going to have players ask how often he can do this and for what spells. Ironically that may make him a more effective Fated Ally, but it’s not something the adventure takes into consideration.

Join us next time as we wrap up this trio of adventure-encounters with Beneath Old Bonegrinder!