D&D 5E tweaking narrative structure in CoS (spoilers; also really long)

[robus]

I really wish that the giant poster map of Barovia that came with the book didn't have all locations marked on it....it just seems so suited for laying it out for players, that to have areas marked seems like an obvious mistake. I wish that it had just had the towns and any known locations marked, but left anything secret like the werewolf den unmarked.

We've finally gotten to a point in our game where the PCs have been just about everywhere, so I've started using the map to help illustrate the locations and distances for travel. My players were like "why didn't you use this right from the start?"

It's odd choices like that, that make you wonder what they're thinking over at WotC...

 

[evilbob]

For my part I think that I'll let the players get to either buy, steal or find an old map of Barovia. That will give them some possibility to keep track of where they have been.

What I did was once they met Ismark, he "drew a map on the back of a napkin" and then I handed them a map. I figured he was a decent source.

I really wish that the giant poster map of Barovia that came with the book didn't have all locations marked on it....

There's a copy of the map without markers floating around... but it may not be legal. You can buy it from the original artist as well, which is definitely legit. You could also try photoshopping them out, but that will look a little crappy. Then again, if you just print it out in b/w on a standard 8x11 it's hard to notice since the whole thing looks crappy.

Ah - I was worried this had gotten lost - great post [MENTION=9789]evilbob[/MENTION]! Glad it survived!

Eh? Was there something that needed surviving? Anyway thanks, hope it helps!

 

[robus]

Eh? Was there something that needed surviving? Anyway thanks, hope it helps!

You missed the massive data loss we just had? At least 3 or so months of threads and downloads gone poof!

 

[ad_hoc]

I think it is wonderful that there are places and hooks the party might never explore/encounter.

It's part of why I like buying adventures rather than creating things on my own. It allows the players to have agency over what happens in the story. Things are different because they made different choices.

Even more surprising: why would the party ever go to Krezk?

My party is currently travelling to Krezk because they want to protect Ireena and they heard that the Abbey there might be a good safe place for her. This is a major hook that occurs even before the Tarokka reading in the adventure.

Krezk is also one of the only fortified towns and is far from Castle Ravenloft. That alone is incentive to go there for safety.

 

[azathosk]

I really wish that the giant poster map of Barovia that came with the book didn't have all locations marked on it....it just seems so suited for laying it out for players, that to have areas marked seems like an obvious mistake. I wish that it had just had the towns and any known locations marked, but left anything secret like the werewolf den unmarked.

We've finally gotten to a point in our game where the PCs have been just about everywhere, so I've started using the map to help illustrate the locations and distances for travel. My players were like "why didn't you use this right from the start?"

This. I would really, really like to either print a map or even better: Have a map that I can use as handout. I've ended up buying the map-pack so I can print out all of the places I the players want to visit, but it would be so much better if I didn't have to do that.

 

[Ganymede81]

In other words: there's basically no reason for them to look for werewolves other than maybe they run into a very unlikely event and are internally motivated to go out of their way to investigate it.

I changed it so when Krezkov's son was resurrected by the Abbot, he had brief flashbacks of being attacked by wolves but being killed by his childhood friend from Krezk. That way, it hints at werewolves (with a potential way to find it in the young boy) and alludes to the child pitfighting going on in the lair.

 

[Ganymede81]

This. I would really, really like to either print a map or even better: Have a map that I can use as handout. I've ended up buying the map-pack so I can print out all of the places I the players want to visit, but it would be so much better if I didn't have to do that.

This map, along with maps of Barovia, Vallaki, Krezk, and the Death House are all available online for free, and they are available in both keyed and unkeyed versions.

 

[Charles Rampant]

For the maps, I bought Mike Schley's pdf versions of Krezk, Barovia Village, Vallaki, and the whole valley of Barovia. Then I stuck them on a pendrive which is plugged into my smart TV. That means that when I want to show the players where they are (useful in a town like Vallaki, with no 'districts' but lots of separate locations) I just turn the TV on and let them look at the unkeyed map. They quickly noticed that all the red roofs in Vallaki are important

 

[evilbob]

You missed the massive data loss we just had? At least 3 or so months of threads and downloads gone poof!

Gah! I totally did. Perhaps a coincidence that I haven't been paying much attention for the last three months or so...

 

[texastoast]

So I know this is thread necromancy, but 1) this thread is fantastic; and 2) I know I'm not the only one on here currently running CoS, so I wanted to follow up. I love the points of light idea, and I was wondering if anyone has run with it and found any particular successes/failures?