Curse of Strahd - stage direction? (spoilers)

[Douche]

So I'm reading through Curse of Strahd, it's pretty good. There's lots of great imagery, the environments are really detailed.

But I am a little confused on certain parts. It seems like it wants to be linear in some ways, but at the same time it seems lacking in connecting the dots. For example, Chapter 3 - 4, it jumps straight from Barovia to Castle Ravenloft. When I was reading this transition, I felt a little lost. Does the book want me to bring them from Barovia straight to Ravenloft?

Another things is the appearances of Strahd. The intro tells you to make him ever present, constantly harassing the party... only it doesn't give you any suggested appearances. I get that the DM should be able to improvise this stuff, but I feel that it could offer some further guidance.

The other thing is, I find it weird that Strahd is constantly supposed to be found in his tarot location. Whenever he isn't busy creeping on Tatyana, he just goes and cries over his brother's tomb? It's kinda weird. So is he supposed to be actively toying with the party, or weeping over his brother's tomb?

What is the Tome of Strahd good for? Just exposition?

Anyway I'm only up to chapter 5 thus far. I'm just feeling a little lost. Is there some complimentary material that can elucidate certain factors of the text? Otherwise, I'm open to hear any advice (specific to my questions, or just general) you guys have.

Thanks!

Edit: also, with the Tarot reading... what's the point of giving them a predestined ally? I got van Richten (the vampire hunter) but the book doesn't seem to tell me what he's good for. Sure, there's his stat block & whatnot... but without some predetermined act that he's meant to do, I don't see the point. What if, through roleplaying, the party gets more attached to a different NPC?

I get the importance of improvising here, filling in the blanks, etc. But it seems like it's just giving them another NPC to join in the final battle.

[willdaBEAST]

I wouldn't approach Curse of Strahd in a linear fashion, Barovia is meant to be a sandbox that the party is trapped in. They can access areas way out of their ability to survive quite early in the campaign and it's up to you as a DM to, provide ample warning or steer them away from those dangers. For example the hag coven at Old Bonegrinder, the party will pass it on their way to Vallaki, but won't be equipped to deal with even a solitary hag in a direct fight for quite a while.

You're welcome to invite the party into Ravenloft (and imo you should), but I wouldn't run it like a normal dungeon until the party has some potential to survive all the traps and encounters. Toy with them, make them feel like they're in over their head. If the party ignores warnings of danger, figure out a way for them to compromise their morality or send them a message. The resurrection madness can create interesting character changes.

As far as the Tarokka reading for Strahd, I think that's primarily so the party can force a showdown. Since Strahd can move through the walls of Ravenloft, he could evade the party until they all die of old age. Because he's arrogant and melodramatic, the party can exploit that quality and reliably fight him in a specific part of the castle. That doesn't mean he won't use sound tactics or try to escape, but at least he's guaranteed to be in X location.

[tieren]

Also the reading is a foretelling. It doesn't mean that is where Strahd always is, just where you and he will make your final showdown.

Curse of Strahd reads more like a reference book than a story. As a DM learn the characters and settings and work yourself to tie them altogether. As you go you will see soe of it flows more naturally than others, depending in part on where the reading sends them.

I had Strahd show up pretty early and assert his dominance, made all the party members kneel to him or die (survivors chose to kneel). They then accidentally knocked down part of the village church when confronting a vampire spawn in the basement. They then got a bit of a reputation as the ones that kneel to strahd and destroy churches...

Keep pushing them to make morally difficult decisions with no good choices. I made some childlike vampire spawn that would look all humany and beg for mercy as little boys and girls while the party slaughtered them.

[Unoriginal]

Castle Ravenloft is IN Barovia. You can walk to there.

[GlenSmash!]

It is by no means meant to be linear.

I suggest you read through the entire book twice.

Certain things will only make sense when you have the entire context.

On you second read through start jotting down notes on how you want to run it. The first read though is just grasping how it all can fit together.

[odigity]

If you have the time, perhaps consider watching Dice, Camera, Action wherein the author of Curse of Strahd runs his party through most of the book.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfS8QgUdeGYo8F3RPUQ2Wsi2mZLPcaU6X

[ruy343]

Ahhh, Curse of Strahd... Perhaps the greatest 5e adventure published yet.

The three keys to running Curse of Strahd are:


Tell them up front that if they're stupid, their character will die... and that even if they're not, a number of them might die anyways. Really drive home their characters' mortality.
Pick out the things that you feel are interesting and compelling, and present three of them to your players each session as places they could go. They'll take the story from there.
Really delve into Strahd, and have him as an omnipresent actor in the campaign. Don't just have him sit there in his throne room brooding - have him interacting with this dark world that he's created and taunting the players' attempts to be a light in the darkness.


If you do those tthree things, the rest of the adventure will come together.

The manual's depiction of going to Castle Ravenloft multiple times really isn't intuitive, and kind of defeats the purpose - it's supposed to be absolutely terrifying to think that you're even going to attempt to breach it, let alone slay Strahd. Make the castle the final destination. Just ask them whenever they think about going there: "Are you sure that's what you want to do?" They'll get the hint... Or they won't, and they'll die. Either way, they'll be talking about it for years to come.