I recently was called to run a session for some friends outta town. They asked specifically for a curse of Strahd esq adventure. But I don't have enough time to create a full castle. Is there a online resource for easy to run gothic horror castles? Or any tips for a quick cheat sheet for room details?
How many hours will you have to play? If it’s an impromptu play session for a day, you can describe most of the huge elements of the castle but you will really only need the amount of content you can fit into your single session.
If you’re on the hook for a weekend DnD retreat, you might want to tell everyone to send you five bucks a head for Curse of Strahd!
This is a tall order. For one session, you're probably not going to get Curse of Strahd, but maybe shoot for Castlevania. For a one-shot attenuated castle crawl kind of thing, google gothic castle floor plans to get a map.
For room details, think Castlevania or the Haunted Mansion at Disney. Ballroom, Library, Art Gallery, Kitchen, Laboratory, Dungeon, Chapel, Garden, etc. Themed sub-boss in each room. Maybe string them from one to another, looking for the secret door that leads to the Crypts. If you only have one session, don't be afraid to railroad. Keep an eye on the clock and have a good idea of how long the final room will take. Then it turns out the secret door was in whatever room they were searching at the time. If you have more time, do something more elegant. Maybe they need x keys to open the door in the Chapel and the keys are spread out all over the place. Along the way, they find the sun sword, the holy symbol and the tome.
Castlevania esq is what I was planning for. I figured a good Split branch railroad would be good with the option to double back if time permits or go on to the final section. It’s not a full weekend, but it is a full day of play essentially. And since they don’t really know what’s past the screen they can’t tell where the things going. I have a day to prep, but it’s a lot of writing to fit In.
You could always take an existing dungeon (lots of good ones in Tales From the Yawning Portal, or you could use a section of Dungeon of the Mad Mage) and just re-skin it to be a castle.
I made a haunted house for my campaign for Halloween. Populated by only un-dead.
As posted above you can get random maps generated, they may not look like a castle but all you need to do is put a big courtyard in the front. Fill it with Awakened Shrubs and Trees and a graveyard out of which come zombies or some such
So, I ran the one shot to great success. I grabbed a map of an actual castle that was already named. And then I basically made 7 combat encounters each one forwarded the story and told the players where too go. The description I used where based of travel journals on said castle. I just embellished them with some more gothic horror terms. It worked nicely. Players had a great time!
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Hello,
I recently was called to run a session for some friends outta town. They asked specifically for a curse of Strahd esq adventure. But I don't have enough time to create a full castle. Is there a online resource for easy to run gothic horror castles? Or any tips for a quick cheat sheet for room details?
Thanks!
Don't run it. Take the time and make it.
google search for
5e castle generator
or
5e dungeon generator
How many hours will you have to play? If it’s an impromptu play session for a day, you can describe most of the huge elements of the castle but you will really only need the amount of content you can fit into your single session.
If you’re on the hook for a weekend DnD retreat, you might want to tell everyone to send you five bucks a head for Curse of Strahd!
This is a tall order. For one session, you're probably not going to get Curse of Strahd, but maybe shoot for Castlevania. For a one-shot attenuated castle crawl kind of thing, google gothic castle floor plans to get a map.
For room details, think Castlevania or the Haunted Mansion at Disney. Ballroom, Library, Art Gallery, Kitchen, Laboratory, Dungeon, Chapel, Garden, etc. Themed sub-boss in each room. Maybe string them from one to another, looking for the secret door that leads to the Crypts. If you only have one session, don't be afraid to railroad. Keep an eye on the clock and have a good idea of how long the final room will take. Then it turns out the secret door was in whatever room they were searching at the time. If you have more time, do something more elegant. Maybe they need x keys to open the door in the Chapel and the keys are spread out all over the place. Along the way, they find the sun sword, the holy symbol and the tome.
Castlevania esq is what I was planning for. I figured a good Split branch railroad would be good with the option to double back if time permits or go on to the final section. It’s not a full weekend, but it is a full day of play essentially. And since they don’t really know what’s past the screen they can’t tell where the things going. I have a day to prep, but it’s a lot of writing to fit In.
thanks for the suggestions!
You could always take an existing dungeon (lots of good ones in Tales From the Yawning Portal, or you could use a section of Dungeon of the Mad Mage) and just re-skin it to be a castle.
I made a haunted house for my campaign for Halloween. Populated by only un-dead.
As posted above you can get random maps generated, they may not look like a castle but all you need to do is put a big courtyard in the front. Fill it with Awakened Shrubs and Trees and a graveyard out of which come zombies or some such
So, I ran the one shot to great success. I grabbed a map of an actual castle that was already named. And then I basically made 7 combat encounters each one forwarded the story and told the players where too go. The description I used where based of travel journals on said castle. I just embellished them with some more gothic horror terms. It worked nicely. Players had a great time!