Question on the Curse of Strahd adventure...

[CrackedChair]

Now, I've only heard a few things about this particular adventure, that it's a entirely new adventure separate from the Forgotten Realms adventures currently released and it is a fantasy-themed horror adventure...

But the question is; am I particularly going to enjoy it?

I am a fan of the Castlevania series, and thus I might enjoy this particular adventure, but on the other hand, I get the feeling it might be slow for an adventure, with not too much action in between plot development...

Do tell, would this mesh well with me?

[Aurthur]

It's a fantastically written adventure in a cool world. If your DM does it justice, you should have a good time.

[neuronphaser]

It's a great adventure, with plenty of action. PLENTY. There are lots of random encounters, and most of the major NPCs have enough "plot weight" to them that interacting them won't be simply "Here's a quest" or "Kill me to advance to the next area." It's much more complex and fun than that.

That said, there are two particular locations that are a bit "barren" and thus could be slow. They are done like this on purpose to help up the horror and tension, creating a forced pace that slows down before things get crazy. I won't spoil them, since you might play, but for those paying attention it's T and Appendix B. They are SLOW (in parts).

[CrackedChair]

Ah, I see. Thanks! I might get my DM to see about purchasing the book soon enough.

[Estrillian]

Curse of Strahd is the latest in a long long line of remakes of the original I6 Ravenloft, focussing around "The Devil Strahd" and his land of Barovia. The orginal adventure gave rise to a whole series of Ravenloft scenarios, and then a succession of Ravenloft campaign worlds (most of which are sitting on my wife's shelf as I type), encompassing pretty much every horror trope ever: vampires, werewolves, mummies, undead armies, golems, evil toymakers, zombie pirates, etc. etc.

Over the years the original lore of Ravenloft and Strahd got expanded into a huge and complex world full of demiplanes, dark lords, evil powers and so forth (not to mention a lot of fiction), but Curse of Strahd goes back to basics. At its core is the original Ravenloft module (it re-uses the original maps and a lot of material that has seen print before) but expanded by the original authors (Weiss and Hickman of Dragonlance fame) into a much larger realm with many more locations, NPCs and dangers. It is a very very sandbox sort of setting. There are no suggested levels for its areas (unlike Princes of the Apocalypse for example) and no suggested level up points. Conversely there are many reasons to go to almost all of the locations - it definitely isn't linear - and a clear assumption that you will want to revisit quite a few of them. A tarot reading mechanic (Taroka in Raveloft terms) puts key items in random locations and makes certain NPCs important or not, so the adventure wouldn't be the same twice, and even a player familiar with the setting wouldn't be able to tell in advance where things are.

The land of Barovia is very much a place of Gothic Horror in the classic sense. Think crumbling castles, mist shrouded hills, deserted villages, bodies in the wood, ghosts of old heroes, charismatic evil overlords, asylumns, ancient sins resurfacing in the present day, dinner parties amongst rotted food and decaying velvet. The setting is a little more renaissance than default D&D, more crossbows and leather than swords and plate mail, with the vague possibility of firearms. Older Ravenloft products moved firmly into that 16th/17th century feel, with coaches for travelling, pistols, and cannon, but Curse of Strahd doesn't go quite so far. It is also very much in tune with the Germanic / Eastern European feel of a lot of these legends. Barovia could easily be in Saxony or Transylvania - expect faux-Russian names, fur clad hunters with axes, rain soaked villages with fretwork gables, gypsies with brightly coloured wagons, and dark pine forests.

If I have a criticism of the adventure from reading it (but not playing it), it would be that it is just has so many quality locations and interesting NPCs that it struggles to do equal justice to all of them, and I expect most groups would struggle to visit half of them before the adventure ended. Of course that's a problem many sandbox adventure share, as is the fact that it would be very easy to walk into unexpectedly lethal situations (there are encounters with 50+ CR2s at once, and others with multiple CR10s). It is definitely the sort of adventure that rewards caution, exploration, gathering rumours, and playing things very very carefully (as any horror should be). I think gung-ho treasure hunters would not have a great time of it.

There is some nice artwork (though not as many as other recent scenarios) and some very nice area descriptions, but only a very minimal level of new rules and monsters. Like most official 5E books it mostly leans on the standard commoners, guards, bandits, bandit captains, berserkers, spies, nobles and so on (and it does seem to be very human-biased) with a middling number of new monsters (fewer than PoTA I think, though I haven't counted). There is one new background, for people with a cursed past, but no new spells or rule options. There is a good mix of social situations, town encounters, and dungeons, though a lot of the dungeons are pretty complex, and in some cases weirdly comedic.

[Kish]

There are no suggested levels for its areas (unlike Princes of the Apocalypse for example) and no suggested level up points.
I have no issue with most of this post, but these are incorrect.

[Safety Sword]

Ah, I see. Thanks! I might get my DM to see about purchasing the book soon enough.

Never known a DM to turn down an adventure module given as a gift. :smallwink: