I'm thinking about running Curse of Strahd as a play-by-post for a few friends of mine and was looking for snippets of dialog that would be fun to throw out during conversations with Strahd himself.
I have changed Strahd's story a bit. He had two children with Tatyana and they both became deathly ill with a magical sickness. He dove into study, devoted his time to finding a cure for this disease. This is why Tatyana grew apart from Strahd and fell into the arms of Sergei. After the kids died from the magical disease he devoted himself to still finding a cure so that no parent in Barovia would suffer as he had. This is when he killed Sergei and Tatyana threw herself from castle Ravenloft. Strahd has devoted a long time to finding a cure for the children afflicted with the disease with no real luck of curing it. He has found that turning the children afflicted into vampires halts the progress of the disease and he now "collects" the children to hopefully save them at some point. I have made adjustments in the Tome of Strahd to reflect all of this.
Knowing this background what are some other good ways to make the PCs believe Strahd isn't as bad as he seems (He is still awful and evil, but don't most evil people think they are the good guys?)
What are some good role-play opportunities you would inject into a Curse of Strahd campaign?
If you want the PCs to believe in a "good" Strahd, you will have to show them, imho the book alone won't be enough. A small side quest could help with that.
I would spin the plot like this:
The party fights against some monsters and is really hurt. Luckily, they come across a small hut. In the hut lives a friendly, but poor family, that offers shelter and food. They also have a small child, who is full of energy and wants to become an adventurer. That child plays with the PCs and asks them questions about their lives and adventures.
At the end of the day, the party should grow to like that child. But when they finish their rest and get ready to leave, the mother asks them a favor. Her child is sick. It is a slow, creeping disease, but it won't survive the next month. The priest of the nearby village mentioned a rare medicine that might cure the disease, but he needs an ingredient that is in the heart of <insert dangerous place you like>.
Hopefully your PCs are heroes and will agree to help. Good, now you have a standard adventure to get that ingredient and return with the medicine.
As they return, the child lies already unconscious in a small bed. It looks horribly pale and weak. The party offers the medicine, but it doesn't seem to have much effect.
While the party and the parents tend to the child and hope for the best, the time passes. Hour by hour and the child looks weaker and feels colder. In the middle of the night Strahd knocks at the door. He asks politely to enter the small hut and offers his help. One of the parents agrees and Strahd enters the hut. He bites his finger and feeds the child a small drop of his blood. Almost instantly, the pale skin turns rosy and the slow, pained breathing becomes deep and regular.
*Strahd looks at the parents*
"This will buy her a few days. Time enough to say goodbye. Centuries of research, and all I can do is this."
*Strahd sighs heavily and looks over to you*
"When she wakes up, tell her this. My blood only delays the inevitable. But if she returns my gift to me, she can live forever. The Dark Gift stops the disease, but it comes at a terrible price. Some here in Barovia consider us monsters. And they are right. But sometimes it takes a monster to do what no man can achieve. I will return the night after tomorrow and await her decision."
This should show that Strahd is not completely evil in this campaign and hint at his new backstory. It also gives the PCs a very valuable information: they know where he will be two days later. If they want to ambush him, this is a perfect opportunity.
I'm thinking about running Curse of Strahd as a play-by-post for a few friends of mine and was looking for snippets of dialog that would be fun to throw out during conversations with Strahd himself.
I have changed Strahd's story a bit. He had two children with Tatyana and they both became deathly ill with a magical sickness. He dove into study, devoted his time to finding a cure for this disease. This is why Tatyana grew apart from Strahd and fell into the arms of Sergei. After the kids died from the magical disease he devoted himself to still finding a cure so that no parent in Barovia would suffer as he had. This is when he killed Sergei and Tatyana threw herself from castle Ravenloft. Strahd has devoted a long time to finding a cure for the children afflicted with the disease with no real luck of curing it. He has found that turning the children afflicted into vampires halts the progress of the disease and he now "collects" the children to hopefully save them at some point. I have made adjustments in the Tome of Strahd to reflect all of this.
Knowing this background what are some other good ways to make the PCs believe Strahd isn't as bad as he seems (He is still awful and evil, but don't most evil people think they are the good guys?)
What are some good role-play opportunities you would inject into a Curse of Strahd campaign?
If you want the PCs to believe in a "good" Strahd, you will have to show them, imho the book alone won't be enough. A small side quest could help with that.
I would spin the plot like this:
The party fights against some monsters and is really hurt. Luckily, they come across a small hut. In the hut lives a friendly, but poor family, that offers shelter and food. They also have a small child, who is full of energy and wants to become an adventurer. That child plays with the PCs and asks them questions about their lives and adventures.
At the end of the day, the party should grow to like that child. But when they finish their rest and get ready to leave, the mother asks them a favor. Her child is sick. It is a slow, creeping disease, but it won't survive the next month. The priest of the nearby village mentioned a rare medicine that might cure the disease, but he needs an ingredient that is in the heart of <insert dangerous place you like>.
Hopefully your PCs are heroes and will agree to help. Good, now you have a standard adventure to get that ingredient and return with the medicine.
As they return, the child lies already unconscious in a small bed. It looks horribly pale and weak. The party offers the medicine, but it doesn't seem to have much effect.
While the party and the parents tend to the child and hope for the best, the time passes. Hour by hour and the child looks weaker and feels colder. In the middle of the night Strahd knocks at the door. He asks politely to enter the small hut and offers his help. One of the parents agrees and Strahd enters the hut. He bites his finger and feeds the child a small drop of his blood. Almost instantly, the pale skin turns rosy and the slow, pained breathing becomes deep and regular.
*Strahd looks at the parents*
"This will buy her a few days. Time enough to say goodbye. Centuries of research, and all I can do is this."
*Strahd sighs heavily and looks over to you*
"When she wakes up, tell her this. My blood only delays the inevitable. But if she returns my gift to me, she can live forever. The Dark Gift stops the disease, but it comes at a terrible price. Some here in Barovia consider us monsters. And they are right. But sometimes it takes a monster to do what no man can achieve. I will return the night after tomorrow and await her decision."
This should show that Strahd is not completely evil in this campaign and hint at his new backstory. It also gives the PCs a very valuable information: they know where he will be two days later. If they want to ambush him, this is a perfect opportunity.
This is actually the most creative way of handling this I have ever seen, kudos for being a cool human
That's pretty amazing, I love it! I will definitely incorporate this into the campaign.