I strahd9/12/2023 We’d come off more than a year of Out of the Abyss under a seasoned DM. When I started Curse of Strahd, I wanted to do it right. Birds of ill open (somewhat subverted in this case) warn unsuspecting adventurers off from some of the most dangerous encounters of the valley, including Old Bonegrinder, which party fresh out of Death House might think would be an excellent place to explore. The Tarroka deck literally spells out the party’s fate. Ireena dreams of Strahd every night following his visit. Portends and prophecy, dreams and nightmares are constant motifs in Curse of Strahd. Author Phil Posted on AugAugCategories Dungeon Master's Advice Tags Campaign Prep, Curse of Strahd, Dungeons and Dragons, I Strahd 1 Comment on Campaign Read-Aloud: I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire Last Night I Dreamt of Ravenloft Again…ĭream on, dream on, of bloody deeds and death. Characters who had dreamed of some of these excerpts had fun moments when a familiar story was given context, and I tried to provide a reaction from Ireena (or provoke a reaction, when I’d fully handed off control to a player) when the story directly involved Tatyana. We didn’t end up reading every single excerpt (although there were only eleven, we would often forget to have a reading at a given rest, so we never made it through the full list). If the number rolled had already been read, I simply proceeded to the next one on the list. They decided to skip around, meaning a d12 roll on their part chose which excerpt would be read next. The was no reason or consequence to failing the save, so what was the point? Our first time, I asked if they wanted to attempted to decipher the text front-to-back, or skip around. I would ask a player for an intelligence check to attempt to “decipher” the faded text and coded script, but I quickly did away with that check as I wanted them to succeed on that anyway. When we started with the “further study” of the tome, on a long or short rest, someone could sit down to try and read the tome if they wished. Not that he isn’t necessarily those things, but he’s other things too. I wanted them to get to know the Strahd I had gotten to know, someone so much more than a black-caped villain with a Romanian accent, a monstrous overlord lurking in a castle. The party also received the the Tome of Strahd text from the adventure, which more or less covers the same information. I would definitely avoid doing this until later if they had received the tome at, say, the crossroads or Vallaki. The party would not receive the Tome of Strahd until mid to late game (level six, Argynvostholt), so some of the stories shared through the excerpts would be already known to them, others were revelations. In the end, I came up with a list of eleven sections to read. With that, the idea of expanding on the Tome of Strahd came to life, and I found a fun way to share more exposition with the party in a more natural way. When I was finished, I collected these flagged sections, doubled back and specifically marked out paragraphs that might make for good “box text” for the party. The first time Tatyana is reincarnated in Berez. Strahd meeting Tatyana for the first time. While reading, I found myself flagging particularly notable scenes, especially pieces that tied directly into people and places I recognized from the adventure: Strahd taking formal control of the castle (one of my favorite bits). I can’t say the book is quality literature, but I had a hell of a good time with it, and it did a lot to inform my own telling of Curse of Strahd and who Strahd von Zarovich is. Elrond’s I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampireduring campaign prep for Curse of Strahd, I knew I wanted to find a way to share some of the magic of the story with my party when we got to finally playing the campaign.
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