As a DM currently running CoS my best advice is to remain flexible in the storytelling. I love that this campaign was written with very loose descriptions of the characters met along the way, giving the DM agency over personalities and motives. Couple this with a taste for homebrew creative flair and Strahd can be almost anything you like! I found that watching other DMs run it before hand on youtube gave me plenty of ideas on how to streamline things and stay on track. CoS is a pretty massive and in depth campaign with a ton of lore and storytelling opportunities along the way. Keeping track of where to insert these opportunities can be one of the most challenging things i have encountered. I never want my players to miss something wonderful on account of my personal mistakes. There is lots of space in this campaign for personal flair, so i advise you utilize this to its highest degree. Keeping the players on their toes has been very fun! anything can, and will, happen! so prepare your mental game for challenging encounters and opportunities to think outside the box! I've had a blast so far and if you have more specific questions reach out anytime!
Having run the campaign last year and played in it the year before best advice I can offer is to check out the Lunch Break Heroes YouTube channel. Excellent videos on each area of the map with suggestions on how to play them and changes you can consider to make them even better. I didn't take all of his advice but I definitely learnt a lot and it sparked ideas of my own. There's also a fantastic Reddit thread with loads of ideas.
The other thing I will say is that the campaign book is written with the assumption that the players will spend a big chunk of the middle in Castle Ravenloft after accepting an invitation from Strahd but in both the campaigns I was involved in the parties took one look at the invitation, the big spooky carriage and the even bigger even spookier castle and went "nope." There's no real reason they should accept that invitation and without it Strahd becomes a much more distant villain that they never really meet so if this happens to you make sure to add some random encounters with him along the road so they know who they're facing. I also made more use of the Brides than the book does to again give the party recognisable threats. The book barely gives any details on them but there's loads of details on their names and personalities online that have sort of developed into accepted fan canon.
Also the new Heir of Strahd novel is well worth a look as it has some fantastic scenes within the castle to spark creativity and overall represents the same basic story as Curse but in a totally different way
Definitely read the Strahd novels as they provide insight into Strahd and give you ideas on how to play them. Definitely read the older versions of Ravenloft for ideas. Join the subreddit for Curse of Strahd, r/CurseofStrahd, where you can find all kinds of ideas and inspirations for your campaign. Then, change whatever you feel like to make it your own. We are nearly finished with this campaign and our DM threw in a demonic incursion which really changed the base adventure. This was great as I had played both Ravenloft and Ravenloft II and had read through Curse of Strahd and it the demonic incursion really stopped any metagaming (intentional or not).
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#OpenD&D #ORC
"...or you can find the secret tunnel that leads to the Vault of Dickish DM which is filled with 10,000,000 copper coins and a 5,000 pound solid gold statue of a middle finger that is too big to fit through the door."
Pretty much what the title says. What would y'all recommend for any things I should consider changing and stuff like that?
As a DM currently running CoS my best advice is to remain flexible in the storytelling. I love that this campaign was written with very loose descriptions of the characters met along the way, giving the DM agency over personalities and motives. Couple this with a taste for homebrew creative flair and Strahd can be almost anything you like! I found that watching other DMs run it before hand on youtube gave me plenty of ideas on how to streamline things and stay on track. CoS is a pretty massive and in depth campaign with a ton of lore and storytelling opportunities along the way. Keeping track of where to insert these opportunities can be one of the most challenging things i have encountered. I never want my players to miss something wonderful on account of my personal mistakes. There is lots of space in this campaign for personal flair, so i advise you utilize this to its highest degree. Keeping the players on their toes has been very fun! anything can, and will, happen! so prepare your mental game for challenging encounters and opportunities to think outside the box! I've had a blast so far and if you have more specific questions reach out anytime!
Having run the campaign last year and played in it the year before best advice I can offer is to check out the Lunch Break Heroes YouTube channel. Excellent videos on each area of the map with suggestions on how to play them and changes you can consider to make them even better. I didn't take all of his advice but I definitely learnt a lot and it sparked ideas of my own. There's also a fantastic Reddit thread with loads of ideas.
The other thing I will say is that the campaign book is written with the assumption that the players will spend a big chunk of the middle in Castle Ravenloft after accepting an invitation from Strahd but in both the campaigns I was involved in the parties took one look at the invitation, the big spooky carriage and the even bigger even spookier castle and went "nope." There's no real reason they should accept that invitation and without it Strahd becomes a much more distant villain that they never really meet so if this happens to you make sure to add some random encounters with him along the road so they know who they're facing. I also made more use of the Brides than the book does to again give the party recognisable threats. The book barely gives any details on them but there's loads of details on their names and personalities online that have sort of developed into accepted fan canon.
Also the new Heir of Strahd novel is well worth a look as it has some fantastic scenes within the castle to spark creativity and overall represents the same basic story as Curse but in a totally different way
Definitely read the Strahd novels as they provide insight into Strahd and give you ideas on how to play them. Definitely read the older versions of Ravenloft for ideas. Join the subreddit for Curse of Strahd, r/CurseofStrahd, where you can find all kinds of ideas and inspirations for your campaign. Then, change whatever you feel like to make it your own. We are nearly finished with this campaign and our DM threw in a demonic incursion which really changed the base adventure. This was great as I had played both Ravenloft and Ravenloft II and had read through Curse of Strahd and it the demonic incursion really stopped any metagaming (intentional or not).
#OpenD&D #ORC
"...or you can find the secret tunnel that leads to the Vault of Dickish DM which is filled with 10,000,000 copper coins and a 5,000 pound solid gold statue of a middle finger that is too big to fit through the door."
it requires a less chaotic party or progress in this campaign speciffically is difficult
bring back party wizzard!
click here to sign petition!!!