D&D 5E Ravenloft in 5e questions

[daddystabz]

I am looking at running D&D 5e Ravenloft and I have the nice conversion of the original RAvenloft adventure someone did for 5e. It seems this would be good for a short stay in Ravenloft for some characters from another setting.

However, I also own Expedition to Castle Ravenloft. Is it really good too and would you suggest using it if you wanted to do a longterm campaign in the setting?

 

[Astrosicebear]

I enjoyed Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, and dont think it would be too hard to convert. Best to wait for the DMG for treasure equivalents, but everything else should convert nicely.

 

[Anth]

I don't like that the energy drain disappeared in 4E/5E. But I understand why: people didn't like to lose levels permanently.
Problem with Castle Ravenloft is that much of the dread lies with all the undead and the risk of being energy drained. The characters really didn't want to go in to the castle in the original module.

As a compromise I would house rule and borrow the energy drain idea from PF:
If you are hit by a life drain attack that lower your max hp you must succeed with a CON save after a long rest, DC 8 + monsters CHA mod + monsters proficiency bonus (calculated from monsters CR) to regaine your max hp. You can retry the save after each long rest.
If you want to be really nasty and don't mind a little book keeping, keep track of each life drain hit and save for each of them separately.