Expedition to Castle Ravenloft

[tricktroller]

Hey Folks of the playground,
I am going to be running EtCR tonight with my group having just finished Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde. I've been reading over the module but I was wondering if anyone had any tips of advice for running it? My plan is to run it as the Descent into Madness, give the characters a sense of horror but maybe some sympathy for Strahd when they discover what is really going on with him. I look forward to hearing from you guys. Thanks for your time and help!

[Downysole]

That is one of the best written modules I've played. I recommend running it...whatever way you think your players will have the most fun with. I can recommend that you play in a dark room with candlelight if possible. Set the mood for the players and their characters will get it a lot better.

[prufock]

Hey Folks of the playground,
I am going to be running EtCR tonight with my group having just finished Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde. I've been reading over the module but I was wondering if anyone had any tips of advice for running it? My plan is to run it as the Descent into Madness, give the characters a sense of horror but maybe some sympathy for Strahd when they discover what is really going on with him. I look forward to hearing from you guys. Thanks for your time and help!

This is timely. I'm just going to lurk on this one, because I'm working Castle Ravenloft into my group's campaign (as a short 1-2 session adventure adaptation) in a couple of weeks.

[John Longarrow]

NOTE:
Rather than candles, christmas tree lights give a better illumination (when hung from the ceiling/supported from walls) without the chance of fire or wax damage. They also give you the chance to turn them off all at once for dramatic effect...

[tricktroller]

actually, since we play out in the garage, my plan is to turn off all the overhead lights but one in the garage and open all of the doors so the whole room is open and exposed and turn off all the exterior lights. That way no one can really see what is outside and they are exposed on all sides. No way to put your back to a wall does funny things to your subconscious.

[DigoDragon]

Atmosphere. Atmosphere. Atmosphere.

When I ran that module, I had a laptop with me that had a selection of creepy music (Silent Hill, Portal 2, and Half-Life each has some really creepy music tracks that might work for you). Then I dialed that creepy to 11 with a freeware sound program that can imitate the sound of thunderstorms and rain hitting windows (this sometimes scared the players more than the music).

Next, the fun part: Mess with player expectations. Minor adjustments to how D&D creatures look can help throw them off their game. For example, instead of the classic haunched-over winged gargoyles, I decorated the castle with old greek-style marble statues of men and women in various poses and such. Some were gargoyles, some not (and the broken statues missing an occasional arm weren't necessarily just statues)! The players Expected the classic looking gargoyles to be alive. They didn't think of gargoyles in other shapes and forms. :smallbiggrin: Another way to mess with them: once in a while have a player make a saving throw for touching something inocculous like a door knob or drawer handle. Note the result and move on. If they ask what the roll was for, tell them they don't notice anything yet. Once in a while a random saving throw for no reason gets them suspicious and on edge (One time I panicked half the party for a solid 20 minutes with a noisy pressure plate that did Nothing).

Lastly, get a pad of sticky notes. Once in a while it's fun to pass secret notes when only some players notice something and others don't. Even better, a red-herring secret note! Example:

PCs were searching a bedroom. I called for search checks, while I made a few "secret" spot checks (I was faking it). I give the party Monk a note saying he saw an unidentified figure peeking at the party from behind the ajar closet door. Monk tells the party he saw something in the closet. Party goes through the closet expecting to find someone, but there's nothing in there but clothes. Now the party returns to searching, but they're all watching that closet expecting something to come out. Any minute now... any moment...

:smallbiggrin:

[Diarmuid]

[I]
PCs were searching a bedroom. I called for search checks, while I made a few "secret" spot checks (I was faking it). I give the party Monk a note saying he saw an unidentified figure peeking at the party from behind the ajar closet door. Monk tells the party he saw something in the closet. Party goes through the closet expecting to find someone, but there's nothing in there but clothes. Now the party returns to searching, but they're all watching that closet expecting something to come out. Any minute now... any moment...

:smallbiggrin:

So you called for unnecessary rolls, that seems fine. And then made some unnecessary rolls, this is also fine. But then told someone something that was completely untrue and then were amused that were concerned about what they might have seen.

I was with you up until the last part. The "told him he saw something even though there was nothing to actually see and there wasnt actually something there" part is just plain old lying/misleading. If there was an illusion, fine. If it was an incorporeal creature that continued on and wasnt there when they looked, cool. But simply misleading the group to make things more "tense" seems irresponsible to me and not how a DM should be running their game.

[John Longarrow]

Diarmuid,
I think they lifted that straight out of Heros of Horror. They have a bunch of neat "Creepy" tables for situations intended JUST to create atmosphere. If the Monk "Sees" something that is a trick of the light, they can misunderstand what they've seen. This happens all the time in real life. Should be no problem to add the same to a game, especially if it adds atmosphere that is very appropriate for the module.

[DigoDragon]

I was with you up until the last part. The "told him he saw something even though there was nothing to actually see and there wasnt actually something there" part is just plain old lying/misleading. If there was an illusion, fine. If it was an incorporeal creature that continued on and wasnt there when they looked, cool. But simply misleading the group to make things more "tense" seems irresponsible to me and not how a DM should be running their game.

I think they lifted that straight out of Heros of Horror. They have a bunch of neat "Creepy" tables for situations intended JUST to create atmosphere. If the Monk "Sees" something that is a trick of the light, they can misunderstand what they've seen. This happens all the time in real life. Should be no problem to add the same to a game, especially if it adds atmosphere that is very appropriate for the module.

I've not read Heros of Horror, but John pretty much explained it. It is a thing that happens all the time in real life. You might be up late night working on a project, thinking about a good night's rest when you finish, and then you see something out of the corner of your eye. You check and you don't find anything there. Was there any thing there? Sometimes there isn't. :smallsmile:

So a rare red herring is a perfectly legitimate thing to do, especially since this module was designed to build tensions. In my example, the Monk was randomly picked to see the 'nothing' behind the closet door. Now I was always fair to the party and only used such misleads rarely, and when it could make sense (like in a poorly lit room).

[Diarmuid]

But that's the point of things like a Spot check. If Spot checks had a potential penalty for "failing", I could see something like that. Or at the very least, when they go into the closet, explain that there is a long coat hanging that could have cast the shadow.

I certainly understand what you were going for, I just think it not having any actual cause or mechanical representation is silly/lazy. If the characters had decided they wanted to spend a bunch of time and/or effort/resources looking for whatever that was and ended up missing something else, or being less prepared for an encounter because of it then that's not really fair to the players, is it? And it they do want to spend time on it, and you wave them off saying "guys, it was just a shadow", then what was the point of doing it in the first place.

Tension is good in that kind of setting. Tension for tension sake is the same as everything else when simply done for no reason.

[tricktroller]

Awesome advice so far folks, I really do intend to set the mood and the atmosphere a bit creepy. Now does anyone have any advice for tricky situations that PC's pulled on them or things to watch out for or things that are poorly worded/setup like in Shattered gates of Slaughtergarde?

[DigoDragon]

But that's the point of things like a Spot check. If Spot checks had a potential penalty for "failing", I could see something like that. Or at the very least, when they go into the closet, explain that there is a long coat hanging that could have cast the shadow.

I did tell them the closet had clothes hanging in it. I just wanted them to draw that conclusion rather than outright tell them. But it's fine, they've had experience with me before as DM and know I do occasionally throw them a red herring. I won't claim m style is for all DMs.

The three PCs that died in that module were not because of fake Spot checks at least.

[prufock]

But that's the point of things like a Spot check. If Spot checks had a potential penalty for "failing", I could see something like that. Or at the very least, when they go into the closet, explain that there is a long coat hanging that could have cast the shadow.

This is easy. DC to spot humanoid shape in the closet: 12. DC to spot that it isn't a person but a coat: 15.

~

I'm running this in 2 weeks. The PCs are level 10, and have been travelling the world, ever farther from their small hometown, in an attempt to fix random portals to other planes that have been cropping up on the material and causing various kinds of chaos and destruction. They entered a dwarven town where everyone was paranoid and xenophobic thanks to mysterious fear-causing mist. Having been driven out of the town, they fell deeper and deeper into the mist, arriving at Castlevania... I mean Castle Ravenloft. They were accosted by zombie and werewolf guards just inside the gates, and entered the castle, believing it to be the locus of a planar rift. They are correct, but I'm altering the Ravenloft canon to be an area of Gehenna rather than a demiplane. Entering the castle they see a large painting of a formal-looking gentleman with the plaque "Strahd" underneath.

That's where we ended last game. I am changing the castle itself a little, and switching some encounters up. There is very little of the background story to this one, as I'm hoping it will be done in one or two sessions.

[tricktroller]

lol that's barely even using the adventure :P

[prufock]

lol that's barely even using the adventure :P

Yeah, it's closest to the "one-session" variant. I'm cribbing the map, monster stats, etc but revamping the story (ie Strahd's goals) a bit.

[tricktroller]

right on, I am wanting to run this as the mini campaign. I have selected 5 modules and reworked them a little bit each so that they are all connected to one another leveling the characters from 1 to 20. Not sure that we will end up getting to the end of everything I have planned but it is there.