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View Full Version : Gamer Tales How An Open World Approach Turned Curse of Strahd Into a Massive Campaign



wayfare
2020-07-18, 11:09 AM
I've seen a bit of discussion regarding open world/sandboxy style play in the community, and I thought I'd share my experiences with it. For the last three years I've been running a campaign that is intended to add some historical background to the story of Strahd von Zarovich. The goal was to flesh Strahd out a bit, give some context to his relationship with Sergei, and add some more Byronic elements to his character -- still a villain, but more tragic.

My overriding goal here was to have the players interact with a mythologized history of Strahd before falling in to Ravenloft. I wrote up a campaign document, history of the region, and myths about a vicious warlord called "the dragon of the mountains" that still persisted on the campaign world. The three intro sessions were supposed to seed the idea that an otherworldly presence was corrupting the material plane, with some help from some cultists. There was a dungeon to explore, which would ultimately lead to the ruins of Castle Ravenloft and into the domains of dread.

But, it didn't work out that way.

Early on, I'd decided that I was going to give the players a lot of agency in how and what they learned about Strahd. I wanted this story to be about the history of the character, the why of Strahd becoming a villain. So, instead of leaving breadcrumbs, I let the players explore anything they wanted.

When the party abandoned the first dungeon (never finding the door to Castle Ravenloft), in order to track down the cultist, I said sure. Thanks to some great tracking rolls, they were able to follow the cultist and find a portal he was opening, arriving just in time for him to stop him from passing through it. The battle led the party to a hostage situation, with the cultist bargaining with a players life to exit the portal. Instead, the players conjured some bears and fought the cultist, forcing him to lap through the portal with a PC, unable to close the portal behind him. The PCs, of course, followed.

It's been like this ever since, and it's honestly made my time as a DM so enjoyable. My story, which was supposed to lead to ravenloft very quickly, has instead evolved into a full campaign setting. The cultist, was was supposed to be possessed by Strahd as the final villain of the game, became the first villain of the story. The party became very Ahab about the villain, which eventually led them to an ethical choice -- do they save some captured civilians on whom a dark ritual is being performed, or do they fight the cultist. They chose the fight, and now 100 corrupted civilians are running around in the world.

More recently, when approaching a town under siege by some bandits, the party encountered an NPC who offered to take them to the Mayor who was in need of healing. This was my way of putting a quest marker on the map. The party instead chose to fight off the brigands themselves, which led to them being outmatched, and forced to negotiate with a bear-trap wielding barbarian who basically relieved them of their gold and some treasure in exchange for their lives.

Throughout this three year long journey, player choices have led to wonderful ethical dilemmas, expanded lore, and great opportunities for the players to show off who their character really are. When the paladin saw the cook die in a battle, he took over as camp cook. When the druid had the chance to save his allies or save the civilians, he chose to pursue his enemy instead. When the fighter saw the party nearly wipe in battle, he took a level in barbarian to represent the anger issues he'd developed after feeling helpless to defend his allies. This game has lead to some rich character development, and I always look forward to what comes next. Because the players are now fully off what I had initially intended, I've been able to add in an element of creeping dread. The campaign world has gotten weirder since the game first started, and as a strange mist creeps across the setting and vanishes entire towns or leaves behind strangely resilient zombies, the party is eager to enter the domains of dread.

The biggest takeaway I've gotten from running this sort of story is to deeply consider the consequences of the characters actions. Not to play with irony, but to give some thought to what comes from what they are putting into the world. The goal here shouldn't be to mess with the players or to make every evil in the realm come from them, but rather to underscore how important their presence is.

The other important element is keeping your world moving. The other characters in this story all have goals they need to achieve. The players involve themselves in key moments, but plots have their own momentum. When the party chooses to involve themselves in one area, things can and should be happening elsewhere in the world.

We now just one arc away from entering Ravenloft, and I couldn't be happier with how it's all gone. So, I say give your players the freedom to just drop everything and find their own way through your story. You may go off the beaten path quickly, but what you can find there will make for an interesting campaign in itself.

Dire Ferret
2020-07-18, 04:14 PM
I don't have much to say other than that was a good read. Glad your campaign has gone so well, thanks for posting about it.