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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8806106" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/82Ks8Df.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />The Town of Vallaki is a long entry, and given the settlement’s prominence in Barovian politics this is hardly surprising. Instead of having 25% of the houses containing swarms of rats, the Gazetteer decided to make the town virtually at full capacity due to rural refugees fleeing the more dangerous wilds. This allows for a different sense of desperation as their resources are stretched to their limits. We get more detail on Vallaki being separated into geographic wards which cover local culture and industries along with some new notable NPC residents who can supply the characters with specific goods. Various places get expanded on, such as St. Andral’s Church getting a proper map, or how the Martikov children at the Blue Water Inn have a knack for finding secrets around town and can tip the PCs off to odd news of the day. When it comes to the Vallakoviches, Victor gets greatly expanded on, particularly if he’s a fated ally. The book provides for different interpretations of the character, from being merely a sullen and bitter teenager to outright evil. One such suggestion involves him not being guilty of Stella Wachter going insane; that was Lady Wachter who wiped her daughter’s own memory but blamed Victor to further drive a wedge between the two families. Additionally Strahd’s teleportation brazier is moved out of the coffin maker’s shop to the Wachterhaus instead, due to making more tactical sense given their family’s alliance with the Count.Just as importantly, we get a series of Special Events for Vallaki, including new ones and altered ones. They include the cannibal Ghazlak hiding out in the town, the Black Banners being the vampire spawn in the coffin maker's shop after Strahd killed them when they went directly to Castle Ravenloft. The fight against the Black Banners is a chase scene where the PCs must use the bones to reconsecrate the church while the vampire spawn attack the complex.* We also get alternative ways of resolving the tensions with the Baron during the Festival of the Blazing Sun, expanded clue-finding details for the quests involving tracking down the bones of St. Andral and the missing Vistani girl Arabelle, and how Vallaki’s politics change if the Wachters take over. In the case of the PCs causing political upheaval, the section also explains how Victor Vallakovich may go into hiding, and how Vallaki’s new government may develop if the Wachters are dethroned with a variety of options. One of which includes Ireena becoming the burgomaster!*A good excuse to have Rudolph Van Richten appear to aid the party.We have one last section, Vallaki in Flames, that serves as a late-game event where Strahd escalates things by having a monstrous horde assault the town in an event that will go down in Barovian History as the Night of Flames. All in all, a lot of additional details to bulk up Vallaki in making it a happening place PCs can find new stuff with on regular revists.The Wizard of Wines acknowledges that hordes of blights aren’t going to be a real threat to a 5th level party, so several suggestions are made to up the ante. For instance, heavy rain can grant the blights resistance to fire when outside, the Martikovs beg the PCs not to set fire inside the winery as that will destroy their livelihood, swapping out the druid spells with more combat and terrain control ones, having a few dozen needle blights engage in long-range attacks at the party as they cross the vineyards on the way to the winery, and one druid in the wine cellar using thunderwave to create an explosion of glass shards as an AoE attack. Alterations on special events include the druids poisoning the wine (delivering the wine without dealing with the poison will cause Barovians to blame the Martikovs for the inevitable deaths) and making the suggestion that the journey to Yester Hill is provided before the wine delivery so the PCs don’t miss the option to defend the winery from Wintersplinter.Yester Hill doesn’t have as much detail besides suggesting to scale down the map to 30 feet per square as the sheer size of the map ordinarily makes tactical movement a slog. Suggestions are made to fill the woods around with more overtly supernatural and corrupted animals reflecting the druid’s influence, such as perytons and manticores. The Gazetteer also suggests changing around the encounter order so that the Gulthias tree is encountered and fought before the druid circle, and makes Wintersplinter’s appearance a satisfying climactic finale. An alternate system for the Blood Spear of Kavan is provided, referencing <a href="https://www.dmsguild.com/product/230784/Corruption-Rules" target="_blank">Matt Mercer’s Corruption rules.</a> Basically, the spear’s enhancement bonus and save DC improves with the wielder’s Corruption, which increases every time they kill a creature with the weapon and fail a Wisdom save.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/jMTVP9z.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />The Village of Krezk heavily focuses on expanding and reworking the Abbot and the inhabitants. The insane mongrelfolk have problematic implications, both with the monsters being deformed from race-mixing and treating mental illness as akin to a freak show spectacle. Instead, the Abbot has miraculous healing powers, but his magic causes permanent deformations in the subjects. As they will be rejected by wider society, they more or less end up permanent residents of the Abbey, which gives the Abbot more power over them.By far the biggest change is the addition of a False Hydra, an aberration located beneath the Abbey in a cave (and a new map to boot) where its songs can cause people to forget the existence of itself as well as others. Krezk has a disturbing amount of inconsistent memories the PCs can pick up on which is the result of residents being killed by the Abbot or Hydra. The module suggests for an unconventional change of pace that Ireena ends up kidnapped by the Abbot, and the PCs have reduced resources as a result of a fight they no longer remember. Going through the Abbey, they can put clues together that will lead them to the truth.Note: I should note that the hydra idea was borrowed from the Goblin Punch blog, but when I clicked the link Malwarebytes threw up a Trojan warning and blocked the page. I did mention this on the product page on DM’s Guild, but also figured to repeat it in this review as a public service.The Werewolf Den is a rather out of the way location many gaming groups will miss. The Gazetteer notes that most PCs will be reluctant to aid either werewolf that is gunning for leadership. So in an alternate event, Zuleika Toranescu will feign surrender, asking the PCs to kill Kiril when he returns. She hopes that the PCs can do their dirty work for her, but as transporting a bunch of children is easier said than done this creates a weakness for the party: if they stay and plot in the caves, the werewolves can wait them out as provisions run low. If the party escapes into the woods with the captured children, Kiril and his pack will take advantage of guerilla tactics. The book suggests making this a skill challenge where degrees of failure can impose additional complications when combat starts. Lucky PCs may make it to the walls of Krezk where there’s no forest cover for the werewolves, and archer guards can attack the regular wolves. While failure may place the werewolves in advantageous ambush positions in the middle of the forest.We also get additional explanations on werewolves in Barovia and ways of running lycanthropy. As something for PCs, damage immunity is considered overpowered and instead suggests regeneration that doesn’t protect against silver weapons and spells, along with infected characters not gaining long rests during certain nights (full moon or every night depending on how merciful the DM feels). As for curing lycanthropy, a more complicated procedure is provided for those who feel that magical healing is too easy: a medically-applied dose of wolfsbane to cleanse the body, followed by a remove curse spell to cleanse the soul, along with lists of NPCs who are capable of doing this in the module.Van Richten’s Tower goes into detail not just about the location, but also about ways to handle Van Richten’s backstory and his anti-Vistani sentiments. This section discusses ways to tip the PCs off to visiting the tower, such as an invitation by Van Richten himself or a mention by an ally such as the Martikovs if the characters wish to seek out a monster hunter. As for Ezmerelda’s exploding wagon, the book highly suggests finding ways to explode it, but should use the average damage rather than random as it may very easily instantly kill a character or three. As for the tower puzzle, it mentions that the book’s description is ambiguous and how in online games this may cause additional complications such as mirrored video feeds. The book also suggests ways to spice up the fights in the Special Events involving vampires or werewolves laying siege to the building. For example, the werewolves may take advantage of the tower’s antimagic field by moving inside the structure to fight, the PCs can use the animated armor or clay golems to attack the enemies, Ezmerelda can arrive to the party’s aid if they’re in dire straits, and how the door trap can be triggered to collapse enemies inside the tower.The second half of this section goes over Rudolph Van Richten and his portrayal, namely how his plans to use a tiger to slaughter the Vistani in Vallaki which makes his role in the story rather villainous:<img src="https://i.imgur.com/kdRkHer.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />While acknowledging that many DMs may not want to have a supposedly Lawful Good character and the mascot of Ravenloft go on a one-man, one-tiger hate crime, the book explains ways to narratively handle things if they do go that route. Namely, Van Richten will attempt to attack and kill the camp’s leadership, as well as the child Arabelle for her precognitive powers that will make her the next raunie (Vistani matriarchal leader) due to the clan’s alliance with Strahd. While Van Richten is privately disgusted with himself, he views it as a necessary evil, and if need be he’ll try to trick the party into going along with the plan either directly or by leaking information to the Martikovs. In such a case, he intends to convince them he only wishes to target the individual Vistani who are directly serving Strahd. Van Richten will use himself as bait bait to lure out Arrigal, using alchemist’s fire in a circus tent rigged to explode. Along with that and setting the tiger loose, this will occupy much of the Vistani and the dusk elves as he goes to kill Arabelle. But beyond the PCs, Ezmerelda can be a wild card due to her conflicted loyalties and knowledge of what Van Richten plans to do if rescued during the rampage. It’s also possible she may die in the alchemist’s fire trap, thus causing the famed monster hunter’s curse to inadvertently claim one of his few remaining allies.There are many ways this can go down, but a possible arc of Van Richten’s redemption may be that he hesitates upon seeing Arabelle, confronted with the enormity of what he set out to do. Additionally, his curse can be permanently lifted with the help of Arabelle: as Ezmerelda is the last survivor of the clan that laid the curse, only she can perform the Blood Rite. She never told Van Richten this because he never told her about the curse, for he’d have to explain how he got it in the first place. The Rite is a complicated magical procedure that transports Van Richten, Ezmerelda, and the PCs into an illusory psychic dreamscape operating on the nightmare logic of Van Richten’s past. Taking place in the camp of the Radanavich clan on the night Van Richten slaughtered them, the party, the Vistani, and the monster hunters must wade off waves of undead. The win conditions are if the party can save a child Ezmerelda from being killed.Yes, the book breaks convention with the 2020 retcon, in making the people who kidnapped Van Richten’s son Vistani. The Gazetteer notes that the retcon resulted in contradictory versions between Ezmerelda’s backstory and Van Richten’s journal. While the stereotype of kidnapping children is one that’s been use to justify violence against Romani people in the real world, it has unforeseen complications in making Ezmerelda (the most notable and heroic Vistani in the module) no longer Vistani by birth. It also has the complications of cutting out why Van Richten is willing to go to such dire lengths against the Vistani, which still exist in the 2020 version. The Gazetteer suggests that the Radanavich clan were expelled from Vistani society for their crimes as one possibility. The new version of the journal changes some things around, like the monster hunter not making a deal with Azalin, and that Ezmerelda didn’t lose her leg to a werewolf but instead inadvertently to Van Richten’s own recklessness.Argynvostholt mentions that its remote location means that most parties may not visit barring inherent wanderlust or a strong motivation. Sir Godfrey is warned against as an unbalanced ally who can take the spotlight from the PCs, and the Sunsword or Holy Symbol of Ravenkind are ideal treasures for this area. The book suggests that another hook may be an expanded version of the Arrigal’s Hunt special event, where Ezmerelda is being chased by the notorious assassin and several dusk elves. This turns the dungeon crawl into a more fast-paced multi-room fight, and it’s also suggested that Arrigal may be pursuing her for more than a stolen horse. Such as her refusal to recognize his leadership of the clan or being caught up in the feud between her mentor and the Vistani. Modifications are made to existing rooms and encounters in Argynvostholt in line with these events.As for lighting the beacon, the book mentions that the means of finding out how to light it rests on a single counter-intuitive clue of repairing a torn painting, so it suggests making multiple clues to lead them to the study along with a link to <a href="https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/1118/roleplaying-games/three-clue-rule" target="_blank">Justin Alexander’s Three Clue Rule blog post.</a>The Ruins of Berez notes that this is a highly lethal area. As merely retrieving one of the Wizards of Wines gems may not be enough incentive on its own, the book suggests making it so that the Martikovs urgently ask the PCs for help in rescuing their children who were taken captive by Baba Lysaga. Additionally, placing the skull of Argynvost here in place of the hill giant’s skull is also recommended if a Tarokka treasure is in Argynvostholt. That way, this ties two out of the way locations together. Like Yester Hill, the grid-based map should be scaled down to 30 feet per square rather than 100; the book notes that the burgomaster’s mansion is bigger than Castle Ravenloft by RAW. Additionally, there’s advice on what kinds of hostile wildlife can be encountered on the way to Berez in line with its swampy nature, along with an expanded backstory and role for Muriel the wereraven. In noting she doesn’t share the same last name as the other Keepers while having a rather non-Barovian name, the Gazetteer gave her a proper backstory. Additionally, while the book applauds Curse of Strahd for introducing the first openly gay characters in a 5th Edition product, the authors saw an opportunity to add more LGBT diversity.The Gazetteer makes Muriel a transgender woman from the Forgotten Realms. She saw many of her adventuring companions die on an ill-fated expedition into Barovia in fighting the druids of Yester Hill. The Mariktovs found her dying, and gave her lycanthropy to save her life. As Muriel had not come out of the closet yet, her new life in Barovia allowed her to adopt her current name as part of becoming who she truly is. In fact, one of her old adventuring partners has settled down in Vallaki as a blacksmith, but she is too afraid how he’ll react if they meet again; if they do, he’ll be delighted to know that she’s safe and well.Muriel can tell the PCs how to reconsecrate the circle of standing stones to turn into a safe haven by putting the spirit of Marina Lurich to rest, who persists as an undead known as a drowned maiden. Reconsecrating the standing stone will break Baba Lysaga’s connection to the land and depower her of her magical protections.We also have info on handling the fight with Baba Lysaga, such as allowing Treebane (magic axe obtained in Yester Hill) to do its additional damage to her Creeping Hut due to that object being made out of wood, along with captured wereravens calling out warnings from their cages to the PCs. Merciful DMs wishing to avoid a TPK may make it so that Baba Lysaga polymorphs the PCs into goats to be penned for a future sacrifice.Thoughts So Far: The expansion of Vallaki is particularly welcome, especially regarding the revamping of the vampire spawn attack as well as going into detail on its political changes if the PCs end up causing the exile and/or deaths of the prominent families. Changing the Abbot’s patients to avoid unfortunate racist and ableist implications is similarly welcome, and it also further villainizes the Abbot and his twisted savior complex. The False Hydra and the “fight they don’t remember” is a cool idea, although as it takes away PC autonomy (“my character has a journal they record everything in!”) it requires a skilled DM to pull off well.I don’t feel that making lycanthropy harder to cure is such a great idea given the brevity of specialized healers in the campaign. PCs who have a character that can cast Remove Curse are making the conscious decision to be more self-reliant without having to find a helpful NPC. While I can understand wanting to make sense of a contradictory backstory for Esmerelda and Van Richten, going back to the “actually the people who kidnapped his son were Vistani” runs up a bit against the earlier advice about avoiding stereotypes. A better solution would’ve been to make up a new backstory for Van Richten’s curse, such as from a creature that features in the module like Baba Lysaga. He can still decide to attack the Vistani in linking them with Strahd, which can be reflected as a man hardened by decades of violence deciding that the unthinkable must be done to defeat the overwhelming evil of Strahd.Join us next time as we cover the rest of this product, from the two big dungeons to alternate endings for Curse of Strahd!</blockquote>

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