At present on the fifteenth Of March 2026, Dungeons And Dragons’ Curse Of Strahd turns ten years outdated. It’s each my favorite module for 5e, and the preferred to this point. (Regardless of brazenly promising a horrible time for all of the PCs.) I’ve performed 4 campaigns of Curse Of Strahd from totally different DMs. I’ve run one marketing campaign, and I’m gearing as much as run a second. Along with a dozen or so others I’ve skilled the highs and lows of Barovia. If you wish to ring within the date by kicking off a gothic horror everybody remembers for years afterwards, listed here are my suggestions for 5 issues you must do to run a terrific Curse Of Strahd marketing campaign.
5 Issues You Ought to Do To Run A Nice Curse Of Strahd Marketing campaign
Spoiler Warning! This incorporates some particulars of the Curse Of Strahd module. If you happen to don’t wish to see a few of the story particulars you’re greatest to keep away from this.
1 – Perceive The It Is Not Good
Curse Of Strahd is a superb module. It’s atmospheric, compelling, and it’s a nice backdrop for characters’ tales. Nonetheless, some particular components of it, aren’t very enjoyable to play. There are just a few encounters which can be flat out unfair of their issue. The Loss of life Home spectre alone has been the loss of life of many stage one PCs, and there’s actually no option to keep away from having to cope with an incorporeal ghost that may one-shot most courses on the stage they run into it. Now, some DMs would possibly argue that the unfairness is a part of CoS’s horror theming, which is ok if in case you have a desk to individuals wanting a death-filled expertise, however most of the time I simply noticed gamers trying disillusioned and pissed off making a personality to have them one-tapped thirty minutes into session one.
There are additionally some decisions which have caught some flak through the years since its launch. The characterization of the travelling Vistani individuals as principally unscrupulous is likely one of the extra widespread critiques of the module, although subsequent materials has tried to redress this a bit extra.
As a DM, you shouldn’t really feel sure to stay to sure issues within the module if you realize your gamers gained’t reply properly to them. Change issues, make issues up, don’t really feel stress to stay too near every thing.
2 – Use The Group Content material
Associated to the purpose above, if you wish to change or add one thing to the prevailing materials, however aren’t positive the place to begin, you might be already lined a number of occasions over. Curse Of Strahd advantages from a terrific group, and nice creators inside it who’ve executed a ton of labor constructing on the unique module. Dragnacarta’s Curse Of Strahd Reloaded takes the marketing campaign and does an enormous overhaul whereas maintaining it fairly canon pleasant. There’s additionally MandyMod’s Fleshing Out Curse Of Strahd, which extends on every space and offers options to construct on it. Each are glorious. You don’t have to make use of them of their entirity. (Reloaded scolds you for it, however you will get away with choosing and selecting so long as you learn the entire thing.)
3 – Make It Scary
Curse Of Strahd is meant to be scary. And by ‘scary’ I don’t imply ‘kills the PCs each session’. Gamers can be numb to threats if PCs develop into simply extra meat for the grinder. As a substitute you must discover threats which can be extra refined. Get gamers hooked up to NPCs then have Strahd come after them, present dreadful conditions the PCs can’t simply repair, current encounters the place the percentages are overwhelming and the PCs have to decide on between allowing evil to happen, or probably throwing their lives away to a futile finish. Have Strahd attempt to corrupt characters. Have energy come at some dreadful price to a PC’s integrity, and even their soul. Don’t be afraid to introduce the Darkish Presents from Van Richten’s Information To Ravenloft, and have lifeless PCs resurrected with some dread affect pulling their strings.
You don’t need your PCs feeling too secure, however you don’t need them feeling so completely harassed that there’s no time to course of The Horrors™. Among the greatest interactions which have come up between social gathering members in video games I’ve performed have been much less about hazard, and extra in regards to the psychological terror of PCs feeling their idealism slipping, and turning into much less themselves than earlier than.
4 – Enable Strahd To Be The Worst
Strahd is one in all D&D’s most iconic villains for good purpose. Performed properly, he’s somebody PCs will genuinely detest. That stated, it may be a balancing act to maintain everybody engaged. If Strahd instantly cancels the life subscription of any PC who appears to be like at him humorous, there’s no pressure. Everybody’s simply lining up the following character sheet. If he’s too permissive of the social gathering’s nonsense, he turns into a joke all of the heroes attempt to sass each time he seems. The hole between these, when gamers aren’t positive what motion the Vampire Lord will dismiss as a captivating quirk, and what is going to get them fed to zombies within the Ravenloft oubliette, is the place the horror is.
5 – Let Every Of The PCs Shine With Content material Tailor-made To Them
One thing I hear so much relating to Curse Of Strahd is ‘Effectively, Barovia is a distinct aircraft, so you’ll be able to’t make something private to the PCs.’ Now I’ve seen loads of DMs do in any other case, however even when nothing in Barovia relates on to the characters, it doesn’t imply that you would be able to’t arrange conditions that can resonate along with your PCs and provides every of them a superb likelihood to really feel essential. It’s too simple for the marketing campaign to begin feeling like a haunted home attraction the place the social gathering simply rock as much as a brand new location and begin blasting something that appears at them humorous. Taking a little bit of time to tie every PC into one thing taking place in Barovia so all of them get a little bit little bit of highlight could make every thing really feel extra interactive.
A number of examples:
- In case you have a cleric, monk, or paladin with an apparent religion the priest characters like Father Donovich, or Father Lucian, might instantly belief them extra. The Abbot may also take curiosity in them, and possibly even try to control them into one in all his schemes.
- Elves of any stripe would possibly appeal to odd appears to be like or feedback round Barovia, and the Nightfall Elves are prone to take instant curiosity in them.
- Characters of noble background could also be pulled into the Vallaki political strife, with each the Vallakoviches and Wachters desperate to get one other of ‘their very own social standing’ onside.
- A bard may be requested (or informed) to carry out on the Pageant Of The Blazing Solar.
- Druid or ranger PCs would possibly encounter the feral, filthy druids of Barovia. Are the Barovian wildfolk extra forgiving in direction of different customers of nature magic? Or do they view them as a traitor?
- Victor Vallakovich instantly takes to a celebration wizard, keen to seek out somebody he would contemplate an ‘mental equal’.
So these are my 5 issues you must do to run a terrific Curse Of Strahd marketing campaign. I hope the following tips will turn out to be useful and that they’ll allow you to be taught from my experiments and errors over my many campaigns. If you happen to’ve already run Barovia into the bottom, would possibly I counsel having a look on the sister article to this one, the 5 greatest Domains Of Dread.
