I haven't run CoS yet, but from all the videos I've watched on how to best prep for it suggest that you show as little of the map as possible. The theme of the game is horror and mystery, and not knowing where anything is (at first) is critical for maintain that feeling of being lost and discovery. When/if I ever run this module I'll probably print the Barovia map out and cut it into pieces like a jigsaw puzzle. When they reach a new area I'll take the discovered piece from the sandwich bag and paste it down to an A4 piece of paper for them (like exploring the map in a game like World of Warcraft).
Also, I know it's not part of your question, but assuming you're starting the module tomorrow and you haven't started 'Death House' yet, check out this 'revamp' of that section. As I said, I haven't run the original version or this improved version, but I think it makes a lot more sense and seems like it would make a much smoother transition from the hook into the adventure.
Death house is just that a place PCs go to die. It's insanely difficult. But it can be fun too. As for the map I reveal as much as the PCs tell them about. Ismark can give you a good layout of the area near the town of Barovia up to Tser Pool. Madam Eva if you meet her at Tser Pool (I highly recommend it) can give you a really great overview of the valley and where important locations are. Ricatvio has a ton of good info too. I've found the map itself isn't all that of a big deal if they know where things are. They don't really know WHAT is at each of those locations.
I haven't run CoS yet, but from all the videos I've watched on how to best prep for it suggest that you show as little of the map as possible. The theme of the game is horror and mystery, and not knowing where anything is (at first) is critical for maintain that feeling of being lost and discovery. When/if I ever run this module I'll probably print the Barovia map out and cut it into pieces like a jigsaw puzzle. When they reach a new area I'll take the discovered piece from the sandwich bag and paste it down to an A4 piece of paper for them (like exploring the map in a game like World of Warcraft).
Also, I know it's not part of your question, but assuming you're starting the module tomorrow and you haven't started 'Death House' yet, check out this 'revamp' of that section. As I said, I haven't run the original version or this improved version, but I think it makes a lot more sense and seems like it would make a much smoother transition from the hook into the adventure.
I watched the vid, I will definitely give the revamp a look. Thank you!
1) I used the death house. Worked fine though I had experienced players. No one died. They didn't wake the creature in the basement and fled when the house acted up. Avoided doorways as much as possible, up the trap door to the parlour, through the wall to the front hall and out the front door. The rest of the encounters were ok. It is important to remember that CoS emphasizes look and feel, quite often over substance. There are some immense fights but the party doesn't typically have too many encounters in a day and based on the leveling information in CoS .. leveling up is pretty quick since it uses various milestones. (Don't try using XP to level in CoS since I am not sure there is enough to get anywhere unless you add lots of random encounters).
2) I introduced the map of Barovia early on but only revealed the parts they could see from the routes they traveled. Barovia is steeply mountainous everywhere which means that the can't necessarily see that much of the map. However, having the map available helps a lot of players with the geography and layout so that when they go from the village of Barovia to Vallaki to Krezk ... it makes a bit more sense.
I Agree Not To Use XP But Personally I Think Running A Plea For Help Is Better Starting You With Madam Eva And Explore The Castle And Leave Getting A Taste For The Setting And Showing Ho Deadly Barovia is, But When You Start With Ismark Giving You A Quest It Just Feels Forced And bad Writing And The Death House Also Feels Forced And 2 dimensional, But Now That My Game Is On Session 4 I Have Hid A Map with Basic Landmarks Including Vallaki, Village Of Barovia And Castle Ravenloft and 2 Other Places Overall It Has A lot Less Detail I Have Did Hid Two Of These I Hid One In Ezmarelda's Home And Rictavio's With A DC of 15 To Find It And One In The Burgomasters Home In Barovia With a DC of 18.
Wut? Your other comments were fine until you reached this part.
I ran Death House. Worked fine. Players liked it. It advanced the characters to level 3 rather than letting them start at 3.
Death House is supposed to be a railroad. It is a test by Strahd to see if these newcomers to Barovia are even remotely worth his interest. The weak die, the strong survive - though since the DM is running it this is mostly up to the DM. Properly presented to the players, it can really set the dark and dangerous tone of the world of Barovia which exists either in whole or in part in the mind of its ruler Strahd. He controls the mists, they obey his will, if he wants characters to go somewhere he can make them. They are his play things, his distraction, are they worthy? Only time will tell.
In my opinion, it wasn't bad and was at least a half-way decent mini module to get the characters to level 3.
No, Strahd Had No Intention Of His Playthings entering it was the house not him and they need to face its hardships on their own terms. As My Final Note Railroded Sections are not fun [Redacted]
No, Strahd Had No Intention Of His Playthings entering it was the house not him and they need to face its hardships on their own terms. As My Final Note Railroded Sections are not fun [Redacted]
You do realize getting swallowed up by the mist is a pretty typical way of making it to Barovia, right? That's hardcore railroading. [Redacted]
Yes This Is The Game With The 12 Year Old's After The Exposition They Tried To Kill Madam Eva And Everything else and burned down the wagons along with a magic item and the icon of ravenloft which are gone and were chased out with 2 PC's Dead. They Followed The Trail To The Castle And Skipped The Carriage And Took A Short Rest In The Castle and were chased out by strahd zombies and ran to the village of barovia with a level of exhaustion each and killed mad mary and cleared out a house to sleep in each dragging along on 2-4 hitpoints (they were lvl 3) They Did The Quest Line Of Escorting Ireena they snuck into vallaki with shapeshifting and sneaking and killed commoners there and took their clothes and dumped her there. they went back to madam eva's place with the visitani not wanting them there they had to sneak into madam Evas tent and got their card reading. and took the icon of ravenloft and peed on doru the vampire spawn they went after the next treasure the tome of strahd at argynvostholt but got lost and are about to arrive at old bone grinder.
But By The End They Had Big Goofy Smiles. but there was lots of yelling and anger from the kids who died within 3 minutes
they learned to accept their PC's death, and that was 2 sessions, It's going to be hard to write them back into the story because they both made meta magic nukers. any ideas?
they learned to accept their PC's death, and that was 2 sessions, It's going to be hard to write them back into the story because they both made meta magic nukers. any ideas?
What's a meta magic nuker? Edit: like sorcerers? I'd just handwave them in. I'm guessing they just want to kill stuff and get loot, and aren't worried too deeply about plot subtleties.
This Video Will Give You A Idea Of How Broken Their Characters Are But Theirs Are way Stronger And Are Optimized builds AND THEIRS TWO OF THEM. also the man in the video is not even using all his spell slots or half his sorcery points.
This Video Will Give You A Idea Of How Broken Their Characters Are But Theirs Are way Stronger And Are Optimized builds AND THEIRS TWO OF THEM. also the man in the video is not even using all his spell slots or half his sorcery points.
I'd say, let them have their nukes on occasion. They're 12, it's fun, and presumably they wanted to do better after dying once. Good for them--they are problem solving! And good for you--you've kept them interested in the game and excited to get better at it!
That said, one trick ponies can be countered. Of course, it's not really DM vs. players. I like to encourage creativity, so I don't let crazy brilliant solutions work more than once or twice. It's more engaging for players. Godlike power gets boring fast.
When you want to let the other party members shine, you can use zones of silence (no verbal spells can be cast), large numbers of weaker enemies to target (if you have the twinned/quickened thing going on), counterspell, enemies that sneak or surprise, abjuration wizards, or enemies with mage slayer.
No, Strahd Had No Intention Of His Playthings entering it was the house not him and they need to face its hardships on their own terms. As My Final Note Railroded Sections are not fun [Redacted]
This is patently false.
Endings
The mists of Ravenloft continue to surround Death House until the characters stand atop the dais and either appease or defy the cultists. Strahd is satisfied either way, prompting the mists to recede.
Strahd lured the PCs into death house.
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When Do I Break Out The Map Of Barovia For My Players? Really Need A Answer For Tomorrows Game
I haven't run CoS yet, but from all the videos I've watched on how to best prep for it suggest that you show as little of the map as possible. The theme of the game is horror and mystery, and not knowing where anything is (at first) is critical for maintain that feeling of being lost and discovery. When/if I ever run this module I'll probably print the Barovia map out and cut it into pieces like a jigsaw puzzle. When they reach a new area I'll take the discovered piece from the sandwich bag and paste it down to an A4 piece of paper for them (like exploring the map in a game like World of Warcraft).
Also, I know it's not part of your question, but assuming you're starting the module tomorrow and you haven't started 'Death House' yet, check out this 'revamp' of that section. As I said, I haven't run the original version or this improved version, but I think it makes a lot more sense and seems like it would make a much smoother transition from the hook into the adventure.
Im Never using Death house its a lame meat grinder of a dungeon and sour's your taste for the gothic horror
Death house is just that a place PCs go to die. It's insanely difficult. But it can be fun too. As for the map I reveal as much as the PCs tell them about. Ismark can give you a good layout of the area near the town of Barovia up to Tser Pool. Madam Eva if you meet her at Tser Pool (I highly recommend it) can give you a really great overview of the valley and where important locations are. Ricatvio has a ton of good info too. I've found the map itself isn't all that of a big deal if they know where things are. They don't really know WHAT is at each of those locations.
I watched the vid, I will definitely give the revamp a look. Thank you!
1) I used the death house. Worked fine though I had experienced players. No one died. They didn't wake the creature in the basement and fled when the house acted up. Avoided doorways as much as possible, up the trap door to the parlour, through the wall to the front hall and out the front door. The rest of the encounters were ok. It is important to remember that CoS emphasizes look and feel, quite often over substance. There are some immense fights but the party doesn't typically have too many encounters in a day and based on the leveling information in CoS .. leveling up is pretty quick since it uses various milestones. (Don't try using XP to level in CoS since I am not sure there is enough to get anywhere unless you add lots of random encounters).
2) I introduced the map of Barovia early on but only revealed the parts they could see from the routes they traveled. Barovia is steeply mountainous everywhere which means that the can't necessarily see that much of the map. However, having the map available helps a lot of players with the geography and layout so that when they go from the village of Barovia to Vallaki to Krezk ... it makes a bit more sense.
I Agree Not To Use XP But Personally I Think Running A Plea For Help Is Better Starting You With Madam Eva And Explore The Castle And Leave Getting A Taste For The Setting And Showing Ho Deadly Barovia is, But When You Start With Ismark Giving You A Quest It Just Feels Forced And bad Writing And The Death House Also Feels Forced And 2 dimensional, But Now That My Game Is On Session 4 I Have Hid A Map with Basic Landmarks Including Vallaki, Village Of Barovia And Castle Ravenloft and 2 Other Places Overall It Has A lot Less Detail I Have Did Hid Two Of These I Hid One In Ezmarelda's Home And Rictavio's With A DC of 15 To Find It And One In The Burgomasters Home In Barovia With a DC of 18.
[Redacted]
Wut? Your other comments were fine until you reached this part.
I ran Death House. Worked fine. Players liked it. It advanced the characters to level 3 rather than letting them start at 3.
Death House is supposed to be a railroad. It is a test by Strahd to see if these newcomers to Barovia are even remotely worth his interest. The weak die, the strong survive - though since the DM is running it this is mostly up to the DM. Properly presented to the players, it can really set the dark and dangerous tone of the world of Barovia which exists either in whole or in part in the mind of its ruler Strahd. He controls the mists, they obey his will, if he wants characters to go somewhere he can make them. They are his play things, his distraction, are they worthy? Only time will tell.
In my opinion, it wasn't bad and was at least a half-way decent mini module to get the characters to level 3.
No, Strahd Had No Intention Of His Playthings entering it was the house not him and they need to face its hardships on their own terms. As My Final Note Railroded Sections are not fun [Redacted]
Are you alright?
You do realize getting swallowed up by the mist is a pretty typical way of making it to Barovia, right? That's hardcore railroading. [Redacted]
Sorry That's Not What I Meant I Used 5 lvls Of Waterdeep Dungeon of the mad mage and got a new quest line and moved over to a plea for help
Was this the game with 12 year olds?
If so, did things settle down at all?
Yes This Is The Game With The 12 Year Old's After The Exposition They Tried To Kill Madam Eva And Everything else and burned down the wagons along with a magic item and the icon of ravenloft which are gone and were chased out with 2 PC's Dead. They Followed The Trail To The Castle And Skipped The Carriage And Took A Short Rest In The Castle and were chased out by strahd zombies and ran to the village of barovia with a level of exhaustion each and killed mad mary and cleared out a house to sleep in each dragging along on 2-4 hitpoints (they were lvl 3) They Did The Quest Line Of Escorting Ireena they snuck into vallaki with shapeshifting and sneaking and killed commoners there and took their clothes and dumped her there. they went back to madam eva's place with the visitani not wanting them there they had to sneak into madam Evas tent and got their card reading. and took the icon of ravenloft and peed on doru the vampire spawn they went after the next treasure the tome of strahd at argynvostholt but got lost and are about to arrive at old bone grinder.
But By The End They Had Big Goofy Smiles. but there was lots of yelling and anger from the kids who died within 3 minutes
That's quite the adventure! Was that just one session? What did you do with the ones that died? Did they deal with it okay in the end?
they learned to accept their PC's death, and that was 2 sessions, It's going to be hard to write them back into the story because they both made meta magic nukers. any ideas?
What's a meta magic nuker? Edit: like sorcerers? I'd just handwave them in. I'm guessing they just want to kill stuff and get loot, and aren't worried too deeply about plot subtleties.
You're doing great--hang in there!
This Video Will Give You A Idea Of How Broken Their Characters Are But Theirs Are way Stronger And Are Optimized builds AND THEIRS TWO OF THEM. also the man in the video is not even using all his spell slots or half his sorcery points.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqKxD-T0PP8
Hahahaha, that's hilarious!
I'd say, let them have their nukes on occasion. They're 12, it's fun, and presumably they wanted to do better after dying once. Good for them--they are problem solving! And good for you--you've kept them interested in the game and excited to get better at it!
That said, one trick ponies can be countered. Of course, it's not really DM vs. players. I like to encourage creativity, so I don't let crazy brilliant solutions work more than once or twice. It's more engaging for players. Godlike power gets boring fast.
When you want to let the other party members shine, you can use zones of silence (no verbal spells can be cast), large numbers of weaker enemies to target (if you have the twinned/quickened thing going on), counterspell, enemies that sneak or surprise, abjuration wizards, or enemies with mage slayer.
Let them know that they are doing well.
This is patently false.
Endings
The mists of Ravenloft continue to surround Death House until the characters stand atop the dais and either appease or defy the cultists. Strahd is satisfied either way, prompting the mists to recede.
Strahd lured the PCs into death house.