I finished up a session today and am feeling pretty self-conscious about it, hoping to get outside input.
I'm running Curse of Strahd for my group, mostly as written but with a couple of additions here or there based on their backstory. This was our third session, and my group tend to hard-focus on what they perceive as the primary objective. As a result, they're only level 3, and have already gotten to Vallaki. After figuring out the church was no longer blessed/safe, they went straight through the trail of breadcrumbs to find the Coffin Maker and, by extension, the apparently infamous vampire spawn encounter. My group are all fairly new to the game, or at least new enough they didn't really comprehend how dangerous even a spawn can be.
So, they decided to try and sneak into the room and stake the vamps while they were sleeping. Of course they failed their stealth tremendously. In my mind I had two choices, kill off the whole group and have them roll up new characters, or use it as a learning opportunity for how much of a jerk Strahd really is. I had them all get beaten to within an inch of death, and then when they decided to run, Strahd blocked the doorway and basically jeered at them. Vampire spawn run away in all directions with the bones preventing the church from being blessed, and Strahd gloats that the town is so delusional the party will never manage to convince them there's any danger. Essentially, psychological torture of the party as they try in vain to bring the Burgomaster to his senses.
Of course, I fully intend to give them the tools to actually stop Strahd's plans, but I can tell that the whole thing immediately sucked all the energy out of the room. Afterward I tried to get a feel of how they were doing, but my party almost never give me feedback positive or otherwise. Considering that, it hit me extra hard when one of my players said I should have just let them die because now it seems like the campaign is just unwinnable anyway...
So did I screw up? I labeled the whole campaign as a struggle against a deadly ancient foe and that it would not be easy during session zero, maybe I've subverted that now by using it as a way to set up all the other things happening in the city. I thought having Strahd dangle the carrot of proving him wrong would be a good motivator, but maybe I was wrong.
Hi Fenzik - Curse of Strahd is a very difficult adventure to run for exactly the situation you describe. I run the campaign and find it hard to balance motivating and discouraging players. Hang in there! ;-)
I don’t think you screwed up at all. it sounds like you made an effort to set expectations during session zero, played Strahd true to character, and used judgement for the sake of the game. All good stuff, which is why I acknowledge them!
However, another attempt at player check-in may be in order. Confirm the trust that the campaign is winnable, only hard. Sometimes after the immediate shock of the session wears off, it’s a bit easier for the players to respond. If they’re reticent to give feedback, perhaps a different format (e.g as a group, one on one) might elicit a conversation.
Good news is that it’s not too late to give the party some encouraging moments to restore hope. If it seems right to do, perhaps the party encounters a stroke of luck or an unexpected ally in Vallaki. Perhaps one of the spawn makes a mistake that helps reveal the danger. You could start the next session with this glimmer of hope. Or, bring in some of the humorous characters, of which there are in town, to lighten the tone for a moment. Most parties like it when they discover they’re the least flawed thing in Barovia.
I appreciate the feedback. My first instinct after was to give them a breadcrumb to Rictavio who I played up as kind of a Volo-adjacent idiot while he's under disguise, and that seemed to help. It probably also didn't help that they had largely curb-stomped the other encounters they had up until that point, so not only did it shake their characters confidence, it shook their personal confidence as well.
I'll just see how next session goes. They are planning on trying to expose the Burgomasters nastiness to discredit him and get the rest of the town's heads out of the sand with Rictavio's help so, if they can succeed at that maybe that will be a good confidence booster.
I like how you think. Rictavio is perfect for that role. My group had a similar play style to what you describe, and that moment when curb-stomping no longer works can be rough on player emotions, perhaps more so than on their characters! Easing up on the intensity for a session or two does a lot to manage this.
If this is your first play-through, I offer the idea that Vallaki is complex to run with all its sub-plots. Allow the party to drive the direction that game goes. My party, for example, got overwhelmed in this town, simply left, and only returned much later. I had a few consequences occur "off-screen," yet preserved most sub-plots for when they returned later.
I hope things go well for you and for your table. Cheers.
Greatly appreciate the pointers! Yes, they aren't even aware of Izzeks connection to Irena, the wereravens, or the demonic book club and I will probably just let the wander into those themselves if they discover them at all. They are already feeling overwhelmed.
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Greetings! Spoilers for the module, naturally.
I finished up a session today and am feeling pretty self-conscious about it, hoping to get outside input.
I'm running Curse of Strahd for my group, mostly as written but with a couple of additions here or there based on their backstory. This was our third session, and my group tend to hard-focus on what they perceive as the primary objective. As a result, they're only level 3, and have already gotten to Vallaki. After figuring out the church was no longer blessed/safe, they went straight through the trail of breadcrumbs to find the Coffin Maker and, by extension, the apparently infamous vampire spawn encounter. My group are all fairly new to the game, or at least new enough they didn't really comprehend how dangerous even a spawn can be.
So, they decided to try and sneak into the room and stake the vamps while they were sleeping. Of course they failed their stealth tremendously. In my mind I had two choices, kill off the whole group and have them roll up new characters, or use it as a learning opportunity for how much of a jerk Strahd really is. I had them all get beaten to within an inch of death, and then when they decided to run, Strahd blocked the doorway and basically jeered at them. Vampire spawn run away in all directions with the bones preventing the church from being blessed, and Strahd gloats that the town is so delusional the party will never manage to convince them there's any danger. Essentially, psychological torture of the party as they try in vain to bring the Burgomaster to his senses.
Of course, I fully intend to give them the tools to actually stop Strahd's plans, but I can tell that the whole thing immediately sucked all the energy out of the room. Afterward I tried to get a feel of how they were doing, but my party almost never give me feedback positive or otherwise. Considering that, it hit me extra hard when one of my players said I should have just let them die because now it seems like the campaign is just unwinnable anyway...
So did I screw up? I labeled the whole campaign as a struggle against a deadly ancient foe and that it would not be easy during session zero, maybe I've subverted that now by using it as a way to set up all the other things happening in the city. I thought having Strahd dangle the carrot of proving him wrong would be a good motivator, but maybe I was wrong.
Hi Fenzik - Curse of Strahd is a very difficult adventure to run for exactly the situation you describe. I run the campaign and find it hard to balance motivating and discouraging players. Hang in there! ;-)
I don’t think you screwed up at all. it sounds like you made an effort to set expectations during session zero, played Strahd true to character, and used judgement for the sake of the game. All good stuff, which is why I acknowledge them!
However, another attempt at player check-in may be in order. Confirm the trust that the campaign is winnable, only hard. Sometimes after the immediate shock of the session wears off, it’s a bit easier for the players to respond. If they’re reticent to give feedback, perhaps a different format (e.g as a group, one on one) might elicit a conversation.
Good news is that it’s not too late to give the party some encouraging moments to restore hope. If it seems right to do, perhaps the party encounters a stroke of luck or an unexpected ally in Vallaki. Perhaps one of the spawn makes a mistake that helps reveal the danger. You could start the next session with this glimmer of hope. Or, bring in some of the humorous characters, of which there are in town, to lighten the tone for a moment. Most parties like it when they discover they’re the least flawed thing in Barovia.
Good luck!
I appreciate the feedback. My first instinct after was to give them a breadcrumb to Rictavio who I played up as kind of a Volo-adjacent idiot while he's under disguise, and that seemed to help. It probably also didn't help that they had largely curb-stomped the other encounters they had up until that point, so not only did it shake their characters confidence, it shook their personal confidence as well.
I'll just see how next session goes. They are planning on trying to expose the Burgomasters nastiness to discredit him and get the rest of the town's heads out of the sand with Rictavio's help so, if they can succeed at that maybe that will be a good confidence booster.
I like how you think. Rictavio is perfect for that role. My group had a similar play style to what you describe, and that moment when curb-stomping no longer works can be rough on player emotions, perhaps more so than on their characters! Easing up on the intensity for a session or two does a lot to manage this.
If this is your first play-through, I offer the idea that Vallaki is complex to run with all its sub-plots. Allow the party to drive the direction that game goes. My party, for example, got overwhelmed in this town, simply left, and only returned much later. I had a few consequences occur "off-screen," yet preserved most sub-plots for when they returned later.
I hope things go well for you and for your table. Cheers.
Greatly appreciate the pointers! Yes, they aren't even aware of Izzeks connection to Irena, the wereravens, or the demonic book club and I will probably just let the wander into those themselves if they discover them at all. They are already feeling overwhelmed.