Thinking about it now, I guess a shower would be running water... Make sure to check out WORLD ANVIL: www.worldanvil.com/ And some of the art in this video was made by JAMES' RPG ART: www.patreon.com/jamesrpgart

I know no one will believe me, but my very first session on DND EVER was Curse of Strahd with Jacob. If you see this, love ya man. -Carson

I assume you meant that, when playing Strahd, I need a... Strahdegy? *AIRHORN* *AIRHORN* *AIRHORN*

Curse of Steve would possibly be a lot more terrifying.

I made it so that van Richten had stolen the Tome of Strahd before the players got there, giving Strahd a reason to want to hunt him down. When Strahd first met the players he gave them the task "find me Rudolph van Richten" as a test of sorts

As a general rule for BBEGs in 5th ed bring some minions to the table. Most high CR monsters can be beaten just using the action economy. For Straud (a CR 15 monster) I would bring 2 or 3 vampire spawn, a dozen zombies or skeletons, and maybe something weird like a dire wolf or a dire bat. You can always scale back the number of minions at the start and trickle them in as the fight goes on.

“She *YEETS* herself off of the balcony!” OMFG I am CACKLING!! 🤣

Our DM shifted the focus to Ireena during our campaign. In our run, Ireena was the BBEG, along with other female NPCs that became his vampire brides. Strahd scattered the Sunblade and Symbol of the Ravenkind into other Planes so we won't be able to use it against him, we had to seek the help of Mordenkainen in order to get them back. It was really fun!

I know you showed some panels from the comic, but "Shadows of the Vampire" was an excellent source of inspiration for featuring Strahd within my campaign. His dialogue, appearances, and attitude, were all used when I ran the game and he still remains the most memorable villain I have ever had the pleasure to play. Highly recommend the comics if anyone is looking for inspiration. "I, Strahd" also highly recommend.

LITERALLY STARTED THIS GAME YESTERDAY AS A DM AHHH

With van ricten, i always thought of him like the van helsing of this world. A famous and renowned vampire hunter who is taking on the godfather of vampires, strahd defeating van ricten would send a message to all of the forgotten realms of his power

I think a DM should still use the invitation weakness of Strahd. Sure, he is the ruler of the land, but he isn't a property tycoon who owns every single piece of land, house and shop on all Barovia. It doesn't make sense making him immune to his weakness just because he is the ruler of the land. It would be the same as, let's say, removing a undead's weakness to Radiant damage because he was a paladin in life. The catch is that this weakness must be used to stop him from reaching his objective, not to defeat him. For example, he could Alter Self into an old lady and reach to the party's room in a tavern. She explains a problem that it is happening (it can even be something real from the game, the Wine Factory being a pretty good example of that) and asks if she can come in to explain more details. If the party has Strahd's diary or if they are paranoid, they could not let her enter and just gain a small clue. But if they let her in, Strahd reveals himself, defeats the party and kidnaps Irenna. You plant seeds of paranoia into the players, after all, it is a horror story.

I remember watching this and getting inspired to add a lil something to Strahds goals as fuel for his hatred of Richten. I added an addition where Sergei and Tatyana had a secret child before marriage, and Madam Eva took it with her when she escaped. The only one who knows of this secret continuation of the line is Madam Eva. A tarroka card reading later in his reign revealed to Strahd that "a great hunter of the vampire will come to these, one who holds the blood of Sergei. They will seek an end to your reign." While Strahd does want an end to his reign, and to that extent his curse, he abhores the idea of a true heir to his throne, much less that of a product of the union he despised. Upon hearing of any vampire hunter, he makes them his top priority. He believes Richten to be that descendant, while the true descendant is Esmeralda.

Van Richten is well renown monster hunter through multiple worlds, and is a recurring character throughout Raveloft’s lore. Strahd is the father of all vampires. Of course their fates are intertwined. The events of the novel “I, Strahd” are introduced in its first pages as being the contents of Strahd’s memoires as encountered and read by Van Richten as he snoops through Castle Ravenloft while Strahd is napping. The two have a long-running game of cat-and-mouse, and Strahd is too smart to ignore the old saying, “fear the old man in a profession where everyone dies young.” He wants Van Richten dead.

Isn't this considered the best module in the game?

Our group did a shortened 15-sesh run of this module. Loved every second of it. It's a wild, wild ride.

I am legit about to run this at 3:00 est for my schools D&D club. Amazing timing

The piano piece played throughout the video is called Mysterious moments by Eneide and is perfect for Curse of Strahd so eerily sophisticated and haunting, it really encapsulates the overall tone of the module, another good song is Waltz for the wicked by the same artist, all of it its just *chefs kiss* C'est Magnifique

Bump up the challenge by having Strahd wearing his own animated armor, effectively giving him two turns to move around with and an external pool of hp to draw from until the armor is destroyed. Make his sword an animated sword as well for another turn worth of attacking.

"Tony... It's not the piece of plastic..." Your savage meme game is strong...

Actually, giving Strahd/Strahdanya their own posse sounds like a cool idea. They could be trusted commanders in Strahd's own army, or previous adventurers that they defeated. OOOOH, that actually gives me a great idea! Have your players give you their Character Sheets from previous campaigns. Then, when the party reaches the throne room to fight Strahd/Strahdanya, have them snap their fingers and four coffins open that are standing in the corners of the room. Whip out four of those character sheets and have those characters emerge from the coffins as vampiric versions of themselves under Strahd's control. Faced with their old PCs, your players will go nuts!

I ran a Halloween one shot of curse of strahd, specifically the one on D&D beyond. Basically you get 5 hours to explore the castle and defeat strahd. All of the items are in the castle, as well as a few (potentially) ally npc’s. Strahd was supposed to be inside of his tomb as per the card I drew for his location, and party literally got to the gate at the end of their time limit, so strahd began fighting them. One character outright died, another was charmed, the third and fourth were knocked unconscious, and the fourth was able to roll a natural 20 on a death saving throw, which game him the opportunity to attack strahd from behind and roll natural 20 for his attack to kill strahd. The charmed character knocked the fourth character out, which allowed strahd to reform in his coffin before the two unconscious characters woke up, and he killed them as well. In an outright combat scenario, the party fared alright considering they had magic items, the campaign specific items, and an ally assisting them in the fight. He’s definitely not as bad as you make him out to be, but maybe a slight buff to his numbers would make him last longer. His big weapon against the party is his charm. Over the campaign he should definitely learn who is the weakest link mentally, and he should target them in the big fight with his charm. This will help the dm by not having to add a lot of minions to the turn order while still letting strahd be more of a danger.

I played CoS a few months ago with my groupe and it was one hell of a ride! Lots of fun locations, a great villain and tons of opportunity for your players to do heroic/crazy stuff. (Sometimes even too crazy, I just say blowing up Strahd from the inside and yeeting yourself through the air like a galleon figure while immobilized...)

Im playing Strahd rn. And my party did a thing that they gave him Ireena. So now they kinda wanna stop the wedding. What I do, to keep things interested, is having some extra vampire spawns around him. So the action economy is a bit more balanced (also makes scense to me, that he would not be alone) Anyways, my tip if you gonna play CoS ;]

Going to be running Curse of Strahd this summer so super excited for this series since it is so much time to watch your play through of it. Thank you and keep up the amazing videos!

If I was to make a movie about Strahd, his soldiers trying to kill him and his act of slaughtering them would be portrayed as the most tragic part. Strahd was a military man in life, he built his army up from nothing and likely won their loyalty by leading them to victory in the valley of Barovia. It’s likely that Strahd’s relationship with his soldiers was the only real connection he had in his life. They see the man they followed to hell and back transform into a monster and attempt to strike him down in fear and disgust. And Strahd in turn kills them in a blind rage.

I just started running curse of strahd this week (because of your suggestion in the other video on picking an adventure). Getting more insight from you on this adventure is amazing! Thanks a lot!

I feel like Jacob should read I, Strahd: Memoirs of a Vampire (which is what Ravenloft is based off of), as the setting stuff misses some fun bits and pieces. For example, Strahd was into Tatyana, but she viewed him more like a father figure due to the fact that he was in his early to mid-forties, and his bargain with the dark powers was specifically to cease aging, plus he also had to kill his best friend and trusted lieutenant as part of the bargain, not just Sergei, and drinking blood was not part of it and he did not do so for that. It wasn't his own guards that shot him, the reason his whole plan went to shit is because a traitor in his ranks allowed remnants of the Tergs (the army he reclaimed his family's land from) into the wedding of Sergei and Tatyana to turn it into a bloodbath. They sort of weaken Strahd's connection to the land in the setting to make Strahd less terrifying too. For example, Strahd can't commit suicide by sunlight, since he tries this and the land itself moves him to safety before sunrise (he's unconscious while it happens, having leapt off of a cliff). Another aspect is that he is the land, so invitation isn't really a thing he needs, as all of the dwellings are his property.

Yes, more of these how to play campaigns. I love this already please do more of these.

Really glad this is a multiple part video. I've been running CoS for about 8 sessions now and my players have maybe touched 25-30% of the adventure. Great video! Love your stuff, keep it up!

To make Strahd stronger and cooler, I've gave him a powerful sword and an animated shield that orbited around him (It matches the theme of his armor and gives him a cool arcane warrior vibe). To fight at his side I gave him 2 strong minions his animated armor and a Sword Wraith Commander from Mtof. The Sword Wraith was Strahds 2nd in command and bodyguard a undying soldier that fought alongside Strahd since his days as a mortal military conqueror. They were brothers in arms in life and he still serves him in death.

been running this for a group lately, and We've had a ton of fun. I love strahd as conceptual villain especially in the context of vampires as fictional analogy for feudal class abuse. With some tweaking it's easily on of my favorite games to run.

literally was about to run strahd for the first time next week, really helpful

I got this for Christmas. Thank you for making this. It really helped

Why did this came out of no where at the time I needed it most. God. Thank. You.

i've played CoS and played Ravenloft back in the day, and even run some CoS myself, and this video gives a real clarity on some things i never thought about so succinctly. this is a great help!

I ran CoS for the D&D club at my school a while ago and could not have done it without these videos. Thanks Jacob! You made that campaign awesome

About to have our session zero for COS this Saturday. I've been looking forward to running this for a long time and we're all pretty damn excited. Thanks for the vids!

Couldn't have come at a better time. I just got the CoS module and I'm preparing to run it in a few weeks. Any and all CoS content from you is much appreciated.

I’m running this campaign in like 2 weeks, so *THANK YOU* for this video!

I LOVE that you're taking a look at these modules, and that you opened with this one. I'm currently running a fairly new-to-DnD group through it and everyone is having a blast! I look forward to the moment they get no-selled by their first big hit on Strahd thanks to the Heart (best buffer for intimidation!), and he's already showed up once just after their Tarokka reading to welcome them to his land. One failed DC 17 charm test later and he officially cemented himself as 'Faux Noble, but deplorable underneath,' so my players are VERY much looking forward to kicking him in the junk! Can't wait to see more, and hope you're having as much fun making these as I am watching them!

Now this is amazing! I need this for Descent into Avernus!

Was considering running a Curse of Strahd game. Looking forward to the rest of this.

I've been waiting for a good video on strahd!!

Hey great work man! You obviously put a lot of time and effort and thought into this and it shows. Some great tips in there. It sure gives me the itch to run it again. And some great artwork throughout too ;)

Im reading up on the game now as i am to be GMing this as my first game. super excited and thank you for those tips!

I just got this adventure for Christmas, so this video was fantastic!

I’m legit running this module for some friends this semester, excellent timing. I’m also lowkey basing some of Strahd’s mannerisms after Dio because he seems like the perfect example of a cold, insane, OP vampire lord.

I am currently DMing this adventure and I definitely agree that you should have sporadic encounters with Strahd but don't have them too often. Strahd always goes for the most advantageous moments and also having some undead friends helps give the characters a feeling of hopelessness. Thank you for this video on the Curse of Steve-- oh wait Strahd xD

thank you so much OuO someone bought me the sourcebook and was like "please run this for me." problem is. . . ive never run a prewritten game.

If anyone here hasn't read the book "I Strahd: Memiors of a Vampire" you should. It really expands on the character of Strahd and others. The book also makes Strahd more of an evil man with ambitions and logic rather than a woman craved lunatic.(Despite him being one) Also, let a character play the unearthed arcana rogue archetype the undying. It works really well with the Barovia setting.

Yooooooooooo I literally just started doing CoS couldn't have been better timing thanks Jacob!

Well this is perfect, I'm literally in the planning stages for this very campagin. Thanks in advance!

Just finished CoS tonight! I've been waiting to watch this!

Thanks for this, I'm running this right now, actually, and any tips would be great. I'm glad to know that I've been using him right so far, though I think I need to hit the brakes on his appearances. Thanks again!

I’m working on my notes for a Curse of Strahd campaign I’m going to do and this pops up, perfect timing.

Literally about to DM this. Thanks so much for the content.

Hi Jacob! Just wanted to say that we love your videos. And Congrats for the 200.000 subscribers :D I'm showing your videos to all my friends here, even though we're not english native speakers xD Good luck and greetings from Argentina! Like we say: Dale para adelante capo!

You have the best Strahd video. Good work.

Currently running Curse Of Strahd. My party is midway through exploring the absolute shitstorm that is Vallaki. I hope they're having fun. The way you describe it, Jacob, had me absolutely crying with laughter. Excellent video! Can't WAIT for the others!

Got it. Strahd dies from waterboarding

Helpful video bc i'm DM'ing for the first time this Friday with this campaign hahaha thanks man!

I ran CoS start to finish(my first time doing that for any campaign) and my group had the best time ever. I think videos like this absolutely helped. Especially when it came to the STRAHD fight at the end. My party had to fight him about 3 times before his death actually took

Would love to see these guides for the rest of the 5e published adventures :)

Thanks for this! I’ve been watching others play this story and it’s taking too long. Lol appreciate the simple thoughts for how to DM this

This video was such perfect timing, becouse I’m about to start Curse of Strahd in a few nights.

Wow just what I needed, me and my friends just started this campaign.

I planned on revealing strahd for the first time tommorow... so thanks for all the tips

I remember someone commented you should do this video and you did, thanks for listening to your audience man

I’m definitely a year late, but for most if not all of those moments where he basically said he didn’t know why strahd or rules were the way they were, to my knowledge it’s all rooted in the inspiration for strahd, being clearly Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula. In that book all the presented weaknesses are weaknesses for Dracula, as well as a professor named Van Helsing (the inspiration for Van Richten) was a vampire hunter so to speak, and therefore would be included as an antagonist to Strahd. I’m not sure if this explanation helps or was necessary, but it seemed to me that the creator of this video and viewers may not have known that this stuff was in Dracula.

Thanks jacob. I love the fact you just don't tell us that CoS is a good module and we should play it, but also give us tips to get the most out of the experience. I'm really excited for the following vids.

Minor nitpick: His ancestors don't lock him up in Barovia; He is a Shadow Lord and that's just one of their abilities. Borovians think that his ancestors lock him up there, but that isn't true. Other than that, great video!

THIS IS WHAT I NEEDED TYSM

Thank you so much for these videos. I'm about to run Cos for the first time

I love this campaign so, so much. I'm glad to see it gets continued love each year. Thanks for the tips, by the way! I'm currently running the final dungeon crawl through Castle Ravenloft and... I admit, I didn't feel ready! This helped a lot!

My friend and I literally started curse of Strahd just a bit ago, it's so much fun

"oh look, hanging corpses" Logan Paul: * chuckles *

My players are about to start ravenloft and this has given me a lot of ideas. Keep up the good work m8.

Holy crap this is the first sponsor ever im glad i saw, thank you

i love your videos! keep it up man

I have yet to play this campaign but I’ve been DYING to! 🖤

Thank you, just seriously THANK YOU! For Disturbed's guy in this 🤣🤣🤣

Yeah I'm running the Van Rikten bit like "Wouldn't killing this guy be fun? He thinks he can kill Vampires. Let's play"

A dark shadow looms over the forest. Everything falls silent, and you feel a dark presence. A chill runs down your spine. You see a tall, looming figure standing there, covered in a shadowy veil. He takes a step forward, then speaks: "hey what's up I'm strahd. meeleeeleeleeh" And then he leaves

I really like this idea for a series. Are you planning on doing this for any other campaigns? I’d love to see a tomb of annihilation one.

Hey Jacob I gotta know the name of that piano music at the part where you talk about how you can make Sthrad more challenging. It's so good and fitting!

This is a very good series concept.

I just had to quit a Strahd game I was running because there was just too much going on in life for me

In my campaign(we began at level 5,with a ring if spell storing from a previous questline).long story short, rouge snuck in via feign death, then rouge uses sneak attack, ring uses dimension door, and the battle begins. The sorcerer blows up a side of the castle with wild magic surge fireball killing 2 pcs and most of the spawn and minions. We won, but everyone mostly died and no-one was there to assume power. Everyone escapes though besides everyone in the castle.

The stake to the heart is less about “Power of Christ” and more about something that was done historically in Romania since some people were buried alive by accident and when the coffins were reopened people would find out that the one they buried was alive and died from suffocation while trying to claw their way out. Mythologically, the stake was used to make sure that the body of a sinner did not become a Strigoii (zombie vampire)

Yay! More how to :D This is great i wouldn't mind at all if he did the other pre written books as well. *cough cough* eberron... >_>

Pleeaaase make one for Ghosts of saltmarsh and so many other this can be very useful to alot of DM's that dont understand the story

Hey, what a coincidence, a friend of mine is going to be running Curse of Strahd for us this Saturday. I'm going into it with a Wizard, so I'd better take my notes on Strahd to be ready! Or just pull a Coulton and get our Barbarian to suplex him.

Running this on Fantasy Grounds, and loving it. In FG there is an interactive map with links to every location.

I would do a horcrux system. If you can find the objects holding his soul and destroy them he becomes weaker. But the longer you take to find them, the worst stuff Straud will do to the people of Barovia making it a moral delema. Also he would send bounty hunters after the group promising them freedom from Barovia.

I'd argue that dawn is still useful, because it controls how Strahd uses his legendary action. Anything that takes away from the enemy's action economy IMO is more effective than something that does hit point damage. When you're a DM running a creature, your ability to challenge the players is hinged on how much you get to do in a few turns, not how many hit points the creature has. The hit points are going to come down anyway, that's the easy part.

its was verrrrry good thank you!

I'm literally just starting curse of strahd for my players

I’m starting to run Curse of Strahd next weekend! This couldn’t have come at a better time! Keep up the good work dude!

I'm reading up on this having jsut received the revamped version so I can run a campaign. Thank God I realized these videos exist.