So...how poor is Barovia for real?

[ChampionWiggles]

So I'm currently DMing a game of Curse of Strahd with my friends and I'm starting to wonder how poor the people of Barovia (The country, not the village) really are. Like it's pretty obvious the VILLAGE of Barovia is bad, because Bildrath is the only shop keep and his prices are stupid ridiculous (Whom my party murdered). But what about the rest of the country? The party is currently in Vallaki and the book doesn't really give any indicators about shop keepers in the village, so I'm assuming there's more shops in the town with more money to trade. But how much money and what sort of goods would they have?

The party was trying to sell the loot they got from the death house and I had them go to a general trade store where selling the 25G rings and 75G box was easy, but the 750G platinum pendant seemed like it might be much for normal shop keepers to have in a poor country like Barovia. I had the shop keep suggest they could see if either the Burgomaster or Lady Wachter would be interested in buying it or possibly giving it as a gift to gain favor from them.

The other issue I wasn't sure how to rule was how readily available spell components with gold value would be. Being a wizard is frustrating as is with how expensive it is, but making sure you have your costly spell components is too. My wizard was at the general goods store and trying to find a 100g pearl for their Identify spell and I wasn't sure if the shop keep would have that. I rolled a percentile dice and the dice dictated that he did not. The current plan is to have Lady Wachter offer the pearl in exchange for helping her overthrow the Burgomaster.

The overarcing question I'm trying to ask is, was I being to restrictive or stingy with how much gold/materials are readily available in Vallaki?

[ad_hoc]

The Village of Barovia sets the tone for the entire domain.

They are poor compared to the Forgotten Realms. The shopkeepers are also only expensive compared to the Forgotten Realms. What does it matter if you have a lot of currency if there is nothing to buy?

The lack of available goods is a key part of the setting that sets it apart. Healing Potions aren't available which makes a big difference in play. If they want something special then yeah, one of the wealthy people in each village might have it.

As an aside, having an evil party play CoS defeats a lot of the fun and tension in the adventure.

[Unoriginal]

Barovia is gothic horror. To put it differently: "your money won't save you here".

[ChampionWiggles]

Okay, so it feels like I did the right choice. I didn't have the shopkeeper in Vallaki charge outrageous prices because part of the book suggest to have little pockets of light, since 90% of Barovia is monsters and @$$holes.



As an aside, having an evil party play CoS defeats a lot of the fun and tension in the adventure.

I mean, they're not really evil. Sure they murdered Bildrath, but the situation escalated and when Perriwimple tried to shove them out the store, they fought back and that's what resulted in the fight. But they also restored the bones of St. Andral, escorted Ismark and Ireena, gave 50 gold to Milivoj for his sisters and brothers, and saved Ireena from being abducted by Izek. Like the murdering of the shopkeep and Periwimple made me worried they would be murder hobos, but their actions in Vallaki have made it seem like a very mixed and morally neutral party.

If anything, I'd think an evil party would be more tense in CoS, since the 3 most powerful holy relics won't work for them (Sunsword is good aligned sentient magic item, Holy Symbol of Ravenkind requires attunement by good aligned paladin/cleric, and Icon of Raveloft requires attunement by good character and non-cleric/paladins only benefit from 2/3 effects.) If anything, it definitely makes the adventure more difficult which is kind of the ship my party is in. It's a CN Ancestor Barb, CN College of Whispers Bard, LE Necromancer Wizard, CN Grave Cleric, and CG Kensei Monk.

So Monk will probably get Sunsword and Icon of Raveloft, but can't get powered up Turn Undead. Strahd will probably Charm the monk when he gets the Sunsword and tell the monk to hand it over. But that's assuming the party finds any of the treasures of Ravenloft. Soon into the campaign they quickly decided to not trust the Vistani and completely avoided the camp where Madam Eva's card reading was. So they'll either stumble upon the treasures or maybe they'll get a card reading from Esmerelda.

[ad_hoc]

3 neutral and 1 evil character and they're killing shopkeepers.

That's an evil party if I've ever seen one.

I don't mean raw power level.

There are a number of decision points in CoS that are only interesting if the party is good and trying to do the right thing. If they don't care about that then the adventure loses a lot. Heck, part of Strahd's goal is to coax them toward evil so they can become his successor and he can be rid of his curse.

[Ganymede]

I mean, they're not really evil.

Yeah, it sounds more like a classic D&D dumpster fire than it does a concerted attempt to be evil. It is like when there are moral choices in a video game and you just do whatever because its a game.

My group did all sort of weird random craziness in Barovia. They didn't kill Bildrath, but they did threaten to after he didn't give them a discount.

[sophontteks]

CoS definately goes further when the players get more into their roleplay. Killing shopkeepers for a disagreement is about as evil as it gets, but I think its more them playing a video game and not roleplaying. You can get them into it though. Study their characters and use Strahd and the environment to really prey upon their weaknesses and turn them upon each other. Make the terror really personal and they will eat it right up :P
HAve fun.

I'll second the sentiment that CoS is designed to be a game with relatively good players being corrupted. That is the fuel in Strahd's fire. The butter in his toast. Strahd hand picked the group for his amusement.

[Unoriginal]

I'm not sure if making one point where things are waaaay cheaper is what is called for, but you're the DM so it's your call.

More than poor, Barovia is EXTREMELY isolated. People can only trade in what is native to the country, aside from rare occasional exceptions when something get sucked from the outside.

[Laserlight]

Being a wizard is frustrating as is with how expensive it is, but making sure you have your costly spell components is too.

Truth. Make it clear that the spell components can be acquired, and you're not punishing him for "being a wizard". If my party couldn't buy and refused to steal, I'd suggest research to see if some other item could be used--for instance, if they can't get a pearl, maybe try a moonstone. Some players would get frustrated by having to experiment, some would get a kick out of it. And lead to questions like "How in Hel's name did you combine bread crumbs, dried paint and water and get explosive?" "Talent!"

[Unoriginal]

If someone is learning spells while having to live in Barovia, it makes sense they'd learn to make spells that work in Barovia.

However I'm pretty sure all the standards and most of the costly components are available in the accursed land. Wizardry is something important for the local ruler.

[ToastyTobasco]

Outside of our starting gold, our party has had very little come our way in terms of coinage. We havent bothered trying to sell much of anything because we know we would get ripped off. Barovia's economy is at a standstill. Most things are grossly marked up or there is simply no shops for things you need outside of rations and maybe basic camping supplies. I keep bugging our DM if there are weaponsmiths in any of the towns we visit but I'm 0-3 on that so far.

[ChampionWiggles]

Yeah, it sounds more like a classic D&D dumpster fire than it does a concerted attempt to be evil. It is like when there are moral choices in a video game and you just do whatever because its a game.

My group did all sort of weird random craziness in Barovia. They didn't kill Bildrath, but they did threaten to after he didn't give them a discount.

I also think it was more of the thought process of "Oh, a battle encounter has started. This only ends with one side dying" Some players I don't think realize you don't HAVE to see a combat encounter to the end. I'm also certain they didn't realize that Bildrath was a Commoner with 4 HP, so the 1st and only attack that hit him, killed him sending Perri into a blood rage.

They are getting better. Like I said, they escorted Ismark and Ireena safely, buried their father, helped get St Andals bones, gave Milovij 50g for his brothers and sisters when they found out that's why he stole the bones, prevented Izek from abducting Ireena (and even tried to talk him down, but...he can't be), and then tried to get the Coffin Maker to safety with his money after finding out about the Vampire Spawn nest.

[ad_hoc]

Truth. Make it clear that the spell components can be acquired, and you're not punishing him for "being a wizard". If my party couldn't buy and refused to steal, I'd suggest research to see if some other item could be used--for instance, if they can't get a pearl, maybe try a moonstone. Some players would get frustrated by having to experiment, some would get a kick out of it. And lead to questions like "How in Hel's name did you combine bread crumbs, dried paint and water and get explosive?" "Talent!"

Coinage isn't of much use. What is traded is power. There are wealthy people in Barovia, they just don't care about coinage. And their wealth comes from power. Trade some power.