Want To See The Castle Ravenloft Poster Map In CURSE OF STRAHD?

Those who are excited about the fold-out map in Curse of Strahd can take a peek at it courtesy of Jeremy Crawford. The map features Barovia on one side, and Castle Ravenloft on the other, depicted in a gorgeous isometric view just like the original Ravenloft module was back in 1983.

 

[TerraDave]

It looks almost exactly the same, but on a nice poster.

And of course it is usefull. We used it!

The castle feels more 3d in play then a typical dungeon, and can be real test of your players sense of where their characters are.

 

[wedgeski]

Isometric maps= pretty but useless.

Why do you say that?

 

[wedgeski]

Looks like a photoshop touch-up of the original, but no worse for it.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

This is by far the most impressive part of CoS we've seen. So innovative! This map is light-years more advanced than anything WotC has produced before!

[/actually not sarcasm; it's kinda sad]

It's actually exactly the same as the original map from the 80s.

 

[Charles Rampant]

My players totally hated this map. They were irredeemably lost by the third room, in thanks to refusing to do any mapping themselves, and so basically just wandered around and desperately peered out of windows in an attempt to find out where they were. I thought it was hilarious, naturally. This map is indeed a touch tough to use in play - you have to mentally re-orientate it while drawing - but much easier to use while reading to work out how the castle fits together.

This looks nice, and I'm really interested to see what the other side looks like.

 

[LostandDamned]

it's much more practical overall then it's original form, simpler due to it's scale, of course hiding it from players while playing will be some task.....

 

[Mercule]

Looks exactly right. Man, I used to have that map memorized. I'm not normally a killer GM (I have only a handful of non-Ravenloft PC deaths over 35 years), but I always ran Strahd as ruthless, crafty, and resourceful. Players repeated threw down the gauntlet to see if they could beat I6.

I remember with special fondness:
- The Thief-Acrobat who died by falling damage because he tried to grapple Strahd at the edge of the overlook.
- The Magic-User who died by his own lightning bolt because Strahd goaded him into using it between two stone walls (1E lightning bolt bounced and vampires were resistant or immune to lightning).
- The Paladin who had his Holy Avenger secretly stolen during a midnight camp encounter (i.e. diversion) and replaced with a duplicate with Nystul's magic aura (do not spend two weeks investigating Strahd before moving in). Strahd grabbed the sword and snapped it over his knee before the Paladin discovered the switch. I've never seen such abject, crestfallen horror on a player's face.
- The Wizard who slipped through the drawbridge and used his Wand of Wonder as a last ditch effort, turning himself to stone. They would have needed a dustpan to collect him.

 

[Jabborwacky]

I love poster maps.

 

[MrHotter]

it's much more practical overall then it's original form, simpler due to it's scale, of course hiding it from players while playing will be some task.....

I'm tempted to let the players find the blueprints of the castle so I don't have to deal with mapping. Unfortunately I would not want them to know about the secret doors, so I could not just toss this map on the table.

I'm wondering if Gale Force 9 will have a DM screen with this map on one side. That may be more useful.

 

[Radaceus]

is this the only map for it the castle or just a nice aid? Or are their actual top down views?

I believe Mike Schley is doing some of the cartography, and if so, he almost always offers both a DM and Player version on his website