[3.5][Advice] Expedition to Castle Ravenloft - SPOILERS

[Myatar_Panwar]

In a month or so I plan on running Expedition to Castle Ravenloft with my group. This being partially inspired by the vampire kick I've been on, as well as wanting to see what this Strahd guy is all about when I read of him a couple years ago.

I've been reading through the (long) adventure and I have some questions if you guys would be so kind. I haven't DM'ed 3.5 for a very long time.

*The adventure is for 4 players of level 6. Because of winter break I will have around 6-7 players. I imagine a number of the encounters will just need to have one or two more creatures but if anyone has any suggestions for specific encounters (namely how much I should beef up Strahd and his named minions, and in what ways) I would really, really appreciate it.

*There are alot of encounters in this book. The zombie section alone was freakin' huge then I go to check out Castle Ravenloft and the tactical encounters go from page 128 to 199! I already know that I am going to trim the opening zombie section to maybe just one initial fight, the courtyard rumble, and then maybe one more when zombies attack the barricades or something. Any advice for trimming down the castle, or should I leave it as is and let the players realize that they should probably just avoid most of these things?

*I'm not sure how into the serious horror stuff my players will be, but I would at least like to give it a shot. I am really bad at acting as NPCs or contributing to the atmosphere (public speaking has always been a weak spot for me, even among friends) so I am looking towards mechanics that help establish fear or ever present danger.

The mists seem like a good mechanism already in place. The book suggests the taint mechanic in Heroes of Horror. Is it any good? Has anyone else used a similar mechanic to great success?

I think enforcing character deaths could also be beneficial. If the mists are keeping the PC's from leaving, I don't see a reason why new adventurers should be let in upon their deaths. I figure they could take over some of the NPC's they meet (Ashlyn, Irenna, and Sir Urik). Not sure how to handle it if they run out of those guys though.

So yeah, any general advice from people who have run/played in the dungeon also greatly appreciated.

[Bugbeartrap]

I ran EtCR with a party about that size. I ran the zombie part as is and did fine. My players weren't really optimized (bugbear paladin, drow cleric, blaster sorceror, undead hunting ranger, and a rogue ::facepalm::). When it came to the castle, my group became very practical about just finding what they needed and getting out. It was dissapointing cuz there was some cool stuff they missed, but it kept the game from becoming a bore.

My advice: get them to Madame Eva and stress the importance of the reading. That way they have clear objectives. Also, each time they encounter Strahd show them a different side; not only combat abilities but his personality. Then when they have decided they have completed enough objectives and want to go for the kill, don't. hold. back.

[Coidzor]

I think enforcing character deaths could also be beneficial. If the mists are keeping the PC's from leaving, I don't see a reason why new adventurers should be let in upon their deaths. I figure they could take over some of the NPC's they meet (Ashlyn, Irenna, and Sir Urik). Not sure how to handle it if they run out of those guys though.

Err, that's how the PCs generally get there in the first place, so why wouldn't others be capable of entering or having entered? :smallconfused:

[Myatar_Panwar]

I will need to read it again, but I thought strahd only opened the gates to Barovia because he was interested in the PC's. He closes them immediately upon their entry.

edit: Also, how much am I to assume the villagers know about Strahd? At a certain point in the adventure it tells me that the PC's should know plenty about "the devil Strahd", yet I don't think I've read anywhere that the villagers are that aware of him. Aside from Irenna. How does he interact with the people?

[Morbis Meh]

I am currently playing in this campaign and my DM has decided to use the rules for taint and depravity, which adds a bit of flavor. As for the encounters no need to really beef them up if your party is not optimized. Our party is made up of four people a couple optimized characters (like my dmm cleric/RSoP) but I do suggest that if one of your PC's is a cleric specializing in turning then you may want to throw in some non undead monsters. The really fun part about it is that our party has leveled like crazy (started at lvl6 now at 12) but we still have had casualties (our monk died twice lol). All I would suggest is take a look at your PC's and based on their weakness throw in a couple of tougher opponents that exploit it. For example our party has no rogue so add some traps, or if everyone has high will and fort throw some enemies to exploit reflex saves.

[Mordokai]

Just a friendly reminder, it's Strahd von Zarovich (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strahd_von_Zarovich), not Straud von Zarovich.

As for taint... it's usually a bad idea. I imagine there's no better place to contract taint than Barovia(doubly so the castle itself), but really, the mechanics itself don't lend itself well. You can read more about taint here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/campaigns/taint.htm).

[Boci]

As for taint... it's usually a bad idea. I imagine there's no better place to contract taint than Barovia(doubly so the castle itself), but really, the mechanics itself don't lend itself well. You can read more about taint here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/campaigns/taint.htm).

Heroes of Horror has better taint rules, but some result of taint can still be annoying.

As far as Strahd, mechanically he is an unoptimized, unfocused mess. Looking at his abilities it appears he was meant to blast the party wth some high level spells, then enter melee to further debuff them and restock on spell before retreating and using magic at range again. Depending on your group this may or may not be a problem. If it is, you need to decide what type of caster you want him to be and then either build him yourself or ask the playground to help.

[Mordokai]

Heroes of Horror has better taint rules, but some result of taint can still be annoying.

To be honest, I didn't even read everything in that link. I just assumed that the rules are same as in HoH. I now see I was wrong. And yeah, taint is pretty annoying, no matter what.

[Boci]

To be honest, I didn't even read everything in that link. I just assumed that the rules are same as in HoH. I now see I was wrong. And yeah, taint is pretty annoying, no matter what.

Yeah, but as long as the DM is a bit leniant, say allowing you to roll twice and picking the result or delaying the results of the taint from showing for 24 hours, the chances of your character being crippled by minor taint is pretty low. I find the taint mechanics quite good for certain games, but the players should have a say in it as well.

[Myatar_Panwar]

Just a friendly reminder, it's Strahd von Zarovich (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strahd_von_Zarovich), not Straud von Zarovich.

Thank you for that



As far as Strahd, mechanically he is an unoptimized, unfocused mess. Looking at his abilities it appears he was meant to blast the party wth some high level spells, then enter melee to further debuff them and restock on spell before retreating and using magic at range again. Depending on your group this may or may not be a problem. If it is, you need to decide what type of caster you want him to be and then either build him yourself or ask the playground to help.

As far as I can tell he is built well for the hit-and-run routine, but yeah I'm not sure how the final confrontation is supposed to work. I will probably tweak him when I know the party composition.

[Psyx]

Firstly, you might want to write 'contains spoilers' in the title, seeing as it's not, and at least two people on the boards are playing the scenario at present.



The mists seem like a good mechanism already in place. The book suggests the taint mechanic in Heroes of Horror. Is it any good? Has anyone else used a similar mechanic to great success?

Yes. Use it. Otherwise it's like CoC without SAN loss!



I don't see a reason why new adventurers should be let in upon their deaths. I figure they could take over some of the NPC's they meet (Ashlyn, Irenna, and Sir Urik). Not sure how to handle it if they run out of those guys though.


Your players might not appreciate being made to play a character who selected 'Toughness' as a feat.


[Am not reading further or replying further to the thread, in case of spoilers]

[Kislath]

The local barovian people know Strahd all too well. He spends most of his time in the castle, but he goes to the villages occasionally. They once stoned a girl he liked to death, and he went into town to get her body, which they rapidly coughed up without hesitation.
He likes to let his minions do the heavy lifting.

[Myatar_Panwar]

Good to know Kislath. And thanks for the heads up about the spoilers Psyx. Edited the title.

[Thurbane]

In a month or so I plan on running Expedition to Castle Ravenloft with my group. This being partially inspired by the vampire kick I've been on, as well as wanting to see what this Strahd guy is all about when I read of him a couple years ago.

I've been reading through the (long) adventure and I have some questions if you guys would be so kind. I haven't DM'ed 3.5 for a very long time.

*The adventure is for 4 players of level 6. Because of winter break I will have around 6-7 players. I imagine a number of the encounters will just need to have one or two more creatures but if anyone has any suggestions for specific encounters (namely how much I should beef up Strahd and his named minions, and in what ways) I would really, really appreciate it.
I am currently DMing this for a group of 6 players, and yes, you will definitely need to beef up a lot of the encounters. I tried running it "as is" for a couple of sessions to feel it out, and the players were steamrollering the encounters.**

You should consider beefing up the hags that guard the fanes: I threw some levels of Paladin of Slaughter on the Drowned Lady for some Charisma syngergy; I added 1 RHD to Baba Zelenna and gave her Quicken SLA (Invisibility) as her 12HD feat...my players have been workinh with madam Eva rather than against her, so I left her as is. If they had been fighting her, I would have thrown some more Cleric levels on her.

Strahd still managed to kick the party's butt in the couple of encounters they've had so far, but I tweaked his spell selections a bit. I recommend he always has a cronie or two with him during any enounter, otherwise action economy is going to seriously mess with him. Also, maybe give him a couple of swift/immediate spells to throw. Due to his banned schools, he lacks some of a Wizards best defenses (i.e. Mirror Image), so you may want to give that some thought, too.

For the other encounters, I either advanced the monsters a few HD, or added some extra mooks (sometimes both).

I also re-statted The Necromancer as a Dread Necromancer 11 instead of True Necromancer. She has been about the toughest encounter so far...it took the party three trips to her sanctum to defeat her.

**Disclaimer: my group created characters starting at 6th, and knew in advance that it would be an undead heavy game. Some of the players had also played the 1E Castle Ravenloft module. Suffice to say, the party was quite optimized for fighting undead (Cloistered Cleric, Barbarian, Trapfinding Ranger, Sorcerer, Duskblade and Charging Smite Paladin).

*There are alot of encounters in this book. The zombie section alone was freakin' huge then I go to check out Castle Ravenloft and the tactical encounters go from page 128 to 199! I already know that I am going to trim the opening zombie section to maybe just one initial fight, the courtyard rumble, and then maybe one more when zombies attack the barricades or something. Any advice for trimming down the castle, or should I leave it as is and let the players realize that they should probably just avoid most of these things?
While the castle does have a lot of encounters, the party isn't likely to run into anywhere near all of them. Personally, I would leave it as written...but if you feel the need to trim some down, make sure you don't get rid of any that involve Strahd's key allies (Lucian, Kystrix etc.).

*I'm not sure how into the serious horror stuff my players will be, but I would at least like to give it a shot. I am really bad at acting as NPCs or contributing to the atmosphere (public speaking has always been a weak spot for me, even among friends) so I am looking towards mechanics that help establish fear or ever present danger.

The mists seem like a good mechanism already in place. The book suggests the taint mechanic in Heroes of Horror. Is it any good? Has anyone else used a similar mechanic to great success?
I considered using taint, but in the end decided not to, as I didn't need the extra book keeping. It might be worth your while, if you want to add to the horror atmosphere.

I think enforcing character deaths could also be beneficial. If the mists are keeping the PC's from leaving, I don't see a reason why new adventurers should be let in upon their deaths. I figure they could take over some of the NPC's they meet (Ashlyn, Irenna, and Sir Urik). Not sure how to handle it if they run out of those guys though.
I've had two deaths so far...for the first one, I let the party haggle with Madam Eva for a scroll of Raise Dead I let her have. In the end, she Raised the player in exchange for a promise to give her the Necromancer's fragment of the Liber Blaspheme. Party has hit 9th level now, so the second death was able to be Raised by the party's own Cloistered Cleric.

So yeah, any general advice from people who have run/played in the dungeon also greatly appreciated.
Some advice I would give:

Watch out for undead turning. If you have one or more characters with even remotely optimized turning, a lot of the encounters are going to be non-events (especially if you have a RSoP or Cleric with Greater Turning). There also two items in the module (Icon of Ravenloft, Moonfriend) that give untyped bonuses to turning (+4 and +3 respectively). I dropped Moonfriend altogether. I also ended up giving just about every undead with a spare feat Improved Turn Resistence. Like I said, it's something to watch out for.
The Sunblade, before the ritual is performed, glows whenever undead are within 30 feet. This became a major annoyance - I always had to try an keep in mind how close the party was to the nearest undead. This is quite painful, especially in the catacombs. it also means the chances of having any undead surprise the party are pretty low. Not a huge issue, but I did find it a little annoying.
Barovia is a small village, cut off from the outside world. It only has one "general store", who charges an extra 50% for goods. Purchasing gear is likely to be very limited in this game. Even a basic Wand of Cure Light is beyond the wealth limit. This can cause problems for the party, unless they have some crafters. Otherwise, they have to rely on found items.