Thanks. I think this point is a bit hard to unpack in the short time I gave it. Glad you get my point.

I view it as he's tried to take her by force many times but it never works out so he's looking for a different solution this time.

@@toshomni9478 Yes. Unfortunately he's not smart enough to understand he will never get her.

Oops lol you said what I just said basically... Guess I should have read more first ;-)

@@FalcorDragon lol. Not a big deal.

Interesting ending, Rob.

Im palinning in doing something like that. Once they kill Strahd they will travel to de normal world (a hombrew setting im being working on for a long time) and mayvbe 4-5 months since they arrival they will now that Strahd still alive and that he is even more evil, seking revange. Thats if the characters that killed him still alive obiously.

My character shoves a letter back into a wolves mouth. A letter: Sorry, I am childfree, friend

@@viktorgray7425 even better: Jokes on you, I'm sterile. Checkmate.

It's just called the house.

Why?

Durst Estate if you will And bone grinder can be Durst Mill

Bro, I've done the same thing and for real dude; read through the whole book before you even think about starting. I made that mistake a while ago and I have been hating myself because of it

@@GloriainMorte I've probably read it at least a dozen times now😅 that's not even counting partial reads & online research

Did u run it? Same boat.

yeah that broke my heart. i wanted to start DMing with this and bought it, looked up guides on youtube before i start reading and this is my 3rd video about the adventure

@@Neth91 You can still run an intermediate (or even advanced) adventure if you're a beginner dm.

The Original Castle Ravenloft map drove me nuts. The new map was a slight improvement. There are a few tricks, but I know your pain.

There's a few top down maps of castle ravenloft makes it a lot easier to track

@@OutOfPrintGM really? Didn't know about this. I will look for them, thanks.

@@OutOfPrintGM Thanks for sharing Simon. Not something I had available when I ran it.

Look up "Taking a tour of Strahd's Castle Ravenloft in Minecraft" on KZfaq. It's 50 minutes of a guided tour, but still blocky looking. You get used to the weird visuals.

lol

Good for you.

Since my group went to his crypt instead od going where the Tarokka card said, when they were leaving Barovia Madame Eva approached them and, after learning that fact reacted in a very "oops"-like fashion, so the Vistani hurried elsewere after the conversation. It was a perfectly good reason for him to come back.

4:58 Httth54😊h3 4:59

Recently finished COS after 2 years as a player, our DM used somethinf similar to this, when we went to amber temple we disovered a ritual, but we needed to defeat Stradh first Then we had to go to his resting place, and there 3 castes needed to focus during 10 minutes on the ritual to call Vampyr, while the rest of us watched/defended. After those 10 minutes Vampyr appeared and one of the casters had to roll a D20 as a bonus action 3 times on a row (3 turns) to sucessfully seal Vampyr on the Amber, with a DC18 wisdom roll while the rest of us "tanked" Vampyr without killing it. Ending was Epic as on tje last roll the caster rolled a 6+5 and the rest of the party gave her all the luck wr had left and was just the 18 we needed (wr didn't know how high she had to roll) Another think I liked that our DM did, one of the players had his character died, she created a Dhampyr whose mother a father was killed by Stradh, but before dying, her father, who was a craftmen gave her a special arrow with the name "Stradh", so when we fighted Stradh we managed to get him bleeding, and then this Dhampyr hit him with the special arrow, killing Stradh on one shot and burned him

You took that idea from somewhere else

I hope it went well :)

Yes.

lol. Maybe not that many...

Both are very tough.

@@HowtoRPG true, I agree, what I meant is the real deal should be Strahd castle, not the death house.

@@Anderson_101 Yes.

Thanks Drew. Lunch Break Hero does a good job of Homebrewing and explaining the adventure.

Experienced Dungeon Masters can handle the adventure for sure.

Very much agree, and I HIGHLY recommend running CoS for smaller group sizes. It's too difficult to scare a full-size party.

@@vichraev.5386 not if you know your party

?

@@HowtoRPG The idea is after the party kills Strahd they are pulled back into Borovia after a time of peace. Strahd has upgraded himself thanks to an Artificer he's held prisoner. Strahd is now a CR 26 (27 in Ravenloft) Construct Undead bent on destroying the adventurers that managed to defeat him. Adventure goes from level 10-20 with a legendary final encounter at level 20 against Strahd, finally ending his evil for good.

@@meektheshy Oh, I see.

@@HowtoRPG you like the idea? It wasn't mine lol

Yes.

It's not railroading when the entire set of Ravenloft is controlled by Strahd and the Shadowfell itself. The point of CoS is to either kill Strahd or die trying. You can do every other mission or quest in whichever way your party sees fit and you can even add in your own ones could fit into the module. Strahd comes back because The Dark Powers he signed a pact with won't let him stay dead. This is a horror module and is supposed to make the players feel hopeless in many scenarios, letting them know that they are not in control, Strahd is. Calling it "Railroading" and an "MMO quest" Is just missing the point. Is Having to kill Tiamat in RoT railroading? How about having to kill the Big Bad in any other campaign you've run? And, if you don't like the fact they're stuck in a realm or the fact it resets after they win, be a creative DM and homebrew a whole world around Ravenloft and retcon the Dark Powers for your campaign. It's not like these issues are even a big deal.

@@theinformantky9332 None of these issues are a big deal for the right Dungeon Masters. But is every Dungeon Masters right for the Curse of Strahd?

@@HowtoRPG you do have a point there. However, I believe that no matter who the DM is, if they're experienced enough, they can run CoS just fine. So beginner DMs should, of course, try cutting their teeth on something smaller than CoS before trying to run it.

@@theinformantky9332 Yep.

You are welcome. A party of elven is going to require major modification of the adventure. You have your work cut out for you.

@@HowtoRPG Oh do I ever. Fortunately, I've run plenty of campaigns before, so I'm not a rookie. But you're right, I've had to make major modifications already. I've considered getting rid of the death house, and I'm definitely getting rid of the powerful ally that aids the party against Strahd, since they clearly don't need extra numbers. Hell, I've even considered heavily nerfing Esmeralda for that reason as well.

Thank you Tim. I have noted the second item, which is complex multiple questions. The first request is much more involved and requires multiple specific issues, characters and location to be addressed in multiple videos.

@@HowtoRPG Oh thats a good point, as DM's we need to do some of the work ourselves too haha :D For both I was more thinking your tips and ideas about how to deal with these problems, not a detailed guide.

@@timohanlon5349 There is no easy answer that's quick for any of the requests you made.

It is a real shame that there is no official CoS online module that just reprints all mentions of specific NPCs like Ezmeralda, Rahadin, Rictvario in a single place along with their stats. It would cause bloat in the book, and you can just do it yourself, but it would save a lot of work if you could just print out the 'Rahadin page' and have everything you need right there. I'm sure people have compiled this stuff on places like Reddit, but still. The original module gave multiple options for Strahds motivation, but it was also a lot less reliant on Strahds motivation for the module to work. He was just an evil vampire who terrorized everyone you meet in the one village you go to before trecking to the castle that is a massive dungeon and contains loot helpful to kill him. He wants Ireena and fears the blade of the sunsword the players brought with them. That is all you need to explain his caution and since there are not a lot of places that interact with Strahd his motivation doesn't factor in too heavily. I think the CoS book should have made a clear choice in what Strahds motivations are in CoS, and then perhaps made some suggestions for alternative motivations for DMs that had already run CoS once and want an alternative experience, with the express warning that stuff might require fundamental rewriting. By sticking with a concrete motivation, it becomes easier to write helpful advice for the DM. For instance, I made it so that Strahd has already taken reincarnations of Tatyana by force many times before. I also extended the timeline a little to allow Strahd to have had time to try all sorts of things with Tatyana reincarnations. He has sometimes let her live out her life, tried to court her as a man appearing human, mind contolled her, performed experiments on her, both magical and scientific in nature. This time he wants her to fall for him by saving her from danger. Once such a motivation is clear, you can start introducing complications. For instance, the underused brides might not like all the swooning and brooding Strahd is doing Scrying for that perfect opportunity, and they decided to speed things up. That is why the Burgomaster died, something Strahd had not planned for (and perhaps banishes that bride from his castle for, allowing a nice early antagonist to harass the party). I had Strahd show up at the funeral to pay his repects to the fallen Burgomaster. That really put the players on edge, but it also shows that Strahd is the master of the realm and considers the denizens his subjects. They should have either committed to Barovia being part of the Ravenloft realm (and been more explicit about travel between dark realms etc), or committed to placing it physically back into whatever setting you're already playing in. I get that Ravenloft has all this world lore and it uncool to get it yanked out of there, but the 5e CoS is also taking a lot of inspiration from the original module, in which stuff like the letter from the Burgomaster was meant to reach a people outside the gate. That makes no sense when the mists have been abducting people for ages. By not committing they are getting the worst of both worlds. The 'abducted by mists' version of the entrance robs players of the physical choice of entering Barovia and seeing the gates shut behind them. It makes the alternative solution to the problem proposed by the burgomaster a bunch of nonsense (which is a shame because CoS could have been the ultimate version of 'the only winning move is not to play'). It means the people of Barovia are not part of the 'real world', and so their tragedy is lessened a ton. It means the Vistani travelling in by Strahds permission a lot more complicated than him literally opening gates only for Vistani, which also makes regular people coming in and out without his knowledge a lot more suspect, as just having come along with a Vistani group is now not as clear. On the other hand, you can get a lot out of the world of Ravenloft that CoS leaves on the table because it wants to wall everything off. The big thing here is that you gain a central antagonist to Strahd. He isn't really fighting the adventurers, he is fighting the Dark Powers that cursed him, and their fundamental altering of the world serves as a great glue to bind everything in the setting. I would have added a segment on how Strahd has learned over the centuries that any move he makes that takes away all opportunity for adventurers to 'win', always backfires. Because the Dark Powers feed off of the tragedy in the Dark Realms, they need adventurers to have a semblance of hope, as tragedy requires the possibility of a good ending. So that is why Strahd doesn't break any of the items, or puts them in unreachable places, or mercilessly hunts down potential allies. Now the players never need to be told this, but it helps create a consistent Strahd when the DM is aware of what Strahd is fighting. Additionally, the Ravenloft setting allows for invasion by other Dark lords, which Strahd might enlist adventurers to fight on his behalf (I really like the idea of a lich lord wrestling over control over everything to the west of the western gates of Barovia, but you could make it anything). Anything that undead are just not a great matchup for will do. Strahd is inherenty protective of Ravenloft as it is his connection to Tatyana and his past happiness. Anything that threatens that is a danger to him. Strahd needs functional villages for people to grow up in, reproduce so he can consume them, and reincarnate Tatyana from. An invading army is a threat to those things, so Strahd is more than happy to invite adventurers over to duke it out with them. All of a sudden you have this much more complex relationship with Strahd that can evolve over time to be more hostile depending on what the players do. All of a sudden the dinner invitation isn't just a power move, but actually an attempt from Strahd to bond with allies. (having an external power wrestling control from Strahd also helps give people motivations other than 'they're crazy'). Victor can be hearing whispers from another world that lead him to complete his teleportation circle, Fiona Wachter might be trying to get Vallaki to get out of Barovia and into another Dark Realm where she will then be the leader of Vallaki, the druids are split into a faction that wants to return the land to its older dark realm home while others want to pledge loyalty to Strahd, building a Wickerman of him and fighting his enemies as a demonstration of loyalty. All sorts of motivations fall into place when there are concrete forces at play to ally with or against.

Agreed. Stop th wining

lol. and?

@@HowtoRPG Just not particularly insightful, or even all that helpful is all.

It's going to end badly in any case.

You are welcome. Frankly I target NPC's and find different ways to cycle them out.

@@HowtoRPG Got it! Dump their exposition ...hand out some items and equipment to the players....Kill them, and then bring in new ones! It's a strategy...lol

@@WilliamSlayer That is not what I said.

@@HowtoRPG Ok, when you say 'I target NPC's' my mind goes to combat. Would it be closer to what you mean to say 'I select NPC's one at a time, and find ways to cycle them out of the party' ?

@@WilliamSlayer Yes,. But sometimes you will have to target NPC's in combat, just not all the time.

Thanks for sharing your experience. That sounds like something Strahd would do.

The third seed is actually in the hut of baba lysaga, it states it in the book. She stole it and used it. It’s underneath the floorboards.

@@RESIDENTNINTENDO Actually that is one gem of the three known gems, the other is at Yester Hill with the Druids. The third is till lost.

@@HowtoRPG perhaps I misremember the adventure then.

I put it under the stone circle next to Old Bonegrinder

Thanks, Jerry. That question depends on lots of factors. I have a Curse of Strahd Live Stream today in one hour. Come and ask me then.

You are most welcome Devil Dog.

Thanks for sharing your story and experience.

I felt this exact way playing through this campaign. I also found that when the motivation is to "escape barovia" it actually runs at odds with everything the campaign is trying to do. If the players don't want to kill strahd, but want to escape, it doesn't set the right tone.

Yes. Session zero is a must.

True that the adventure doesn't really allow for downtime, but a DM can fix that.

I am not surprised. A very tough campaign for Dungeon Master's and players.

It requires a thinking player to understand what is going on.

Thanks for sharing your solution, Anders.

​@@HowtoRPG No problem, and nice video! I'm a first time DM running Curse of Strahd, so this was very helpful!

@@AndersMurberg Glad to hear it.

It is definitely a shared thing, but it's primarily on the player in almost every occasion. Unless you've got the DM constantly fudging rolls help out and stopping every 5min to drop meta warnings it's out of their hands. Players get MC syndrome in a module where they're decidedly _not_ supposed to, that's all on them.

@@Chance57 I disagree. There are narrative tools and mastery over the entire world at the DM's disposal. Foreshadowing isn't against the rules, but it's a thing many DMs fail to do adequately. D&D is, for the most part, collaborative storytelling for many people, and that requires good storytelling technique, too. I'm not saying the players don't have responsibility, but it's far from primarily being on them. When things go awry that could have been avoided, everyone needs to look at themselves, but for a DM channel/video to suggest the DM needn't is seriously flawed and deeply wrongheaded, imo.

@@RashidMBey actions have consequences and usually those consequences are higher in a horror story. It's a horror module, it smacks far too much of railroading when your DM is going out of his way to make sure you have a guardian angel over your shoulder every second of the day just to save you from death that any cautious players who're aware of their mortality and alert to the danger of the setting wouldn't suffer from. Let your player do as they will without constant manipulation and come up with a story that suits their choices. 35 warnings about how "your PC knows to challenge them means death. Do you continue" is too much training wheels for a horror setting. It is collaborative story telling and I disagree with DM plurality over it. Session zero does it need to be anything more than "hey guys, this will be far less power fantasy than you're used to. You're adventures, and even if your character considers themselves a superhero, the world doesn't have to agree with them. Be careful." If they then fail to practice caution at all, waltz up Strahd and take a piss on his leg, only a poor DM starts warping reality to make sure they make it out Scott free.

That is not entirely what I said.

It can be all of that.

Thanks. Some adventures were designed for beginners and some for more advanced Dungeon Masters and Player's. Some rule sets had the same approach. I am not confused.

That's what an experienced Dungeon Master can achieve. These problems are not issue for all people.

Thank you so much for sharing a different solution to the mad mage.

Thanks.

That’s why I always gave my players just a sliver of hope. Even if things seemed helpless, I always made it sound like there was a way to save everyone, to kill the indestructible. Because without that thread of hope then you’re right about them not trying.

There will be groups who can manage with 4 players, but it's not a common experience. The Roc and Amber Temple will make veteran's struggle with good DM tactics. Glad to hear it's going well.

@@HowtoRPG My group had 4 characters too. The roc was manageable because I used the old 2e flying mobility rule so that it only could attack every three rounds. It killed Kasimir, though. And two other characters died at the temple after turning against their companions (they accepted the deals of the amber sarcophagi)

@@carlosmingorance2110 That Roc can kill a whole party.

That depends on more factors than I have time to ask questions of you. I will make a basic Guide on recommend character levels for sections of the adventure in the future.

@@HowtoRPG thank you

I would allow them one Hireling. They sound like experienced players.

Did you watch the video? You don't seem to understand that what appears to be a problem is infact a feature. I do offer solutions for everything if applies, but clearly you did not like them.

Thanks. Oscar, once a month at the end of the month.

There are safe locations. Maybe you didn't find them.

@@HowtoRPG We found locations we thought were safe but after we used them for a while they always turned out to have some flaw which allowed them to come after us.

Both of which are indestructible in different ways.

Tarrasque in 5e is one shottable. The count is like orcus. You can never get rid of him.

Things can be changed.

How to D&D agreed I was just pointing it out incase any one was confused

You are very welcome Luck Dragon Lair. I hope you like what is coming in the future.

Pathfinder Role-play Game.

@@HowtoRPG I was gonna say I didn't think it was D&D. That makes sense :) very cool.

Dungeon Masters can run premade adventures differently.

Try it out.

I hope everything has been working out.

That's one way to do it. I assume you Dungeon Master? What adventure did you run?

@@HowtoRPG Either lost mines or I go acapella which is my DM superpower or so I'm told. I've even once thrown CoS with a twist at a higher level group and it was a blast.

@@dmstantastic3653 Thanks for sharing.

Just saw it now.

The SJW version lol

Well that sounds like a sound approach. Your Dungeon Master is likely adjusting the adventure for you. All the best :)

@@HowtoRPG Most likely, but we've had a few close tpks~ The party is, at present, Ranger, Monk, Cleric and a Wizard.

You can do what you like with the adventure. The original design was not trying to make Strahd a tragic hero.

And the crazy antics might drive the players or characters mad. lol

I didn't have to deal with that, as I ran it from the physical book. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Thanks for the feedback 😀

All the best. I will have a Curse of Strahd live stream once a month for sometime. I will also be doing more video's on the topic.

How is it going? I started it a few weeks ago with 6 players and they aren't even finished with death house and they had two characters die. The guy was okay with it, and apparently didn't like his second character so he wanted that one to die. But the encounters have been brutal. I am also a new DM.

@@TheBlackWaltz I now have two videos with recommendations for adjusting the Death House Encounters.

@@HowtoRPG they only have the last two left. They just like to charge in and do stupid stuff. The specter on the 3rd floor killed one of them when it was 5 people at 2nd level. I explained that sometimes disengaging is a good idea. So far they just face tank everything. I will watch them though!

@@TheBlackWaltz lol. Best of luck.

Yes, there should be a lot of running at the beginning and middle.

That sort of group has to exist eventually, lol. Sounds like you have your hands full. Thanks for sharing your experience sofar.

We can disagree on party size.

Thanks for sharing your perspective.

My pleasure, Steve.

It's been missing for a while.

Some people see Character death as a problem. I agree that death is not the end in Barovia.

@@HowtoRPG These people need to get over it. The threat of death is what keeps the game in general interesting. That said, you don't always have to go for killing the characters. Like the hags at the mill may want to spare the PCs to enlist them in their dream pastry operations. Both selling the addictive treats in town and bringing children back to be baked into the pastries. Or if the players face Strahd early, he may drop them off in the nearest town with a taunting message to either give him an actual challenge next time or learn their place under his boot.

lol. I have played the original adventure. Nothing is perfect. I know what you're trying to say.

Yes. The Wizards of the Coast adventurers are much to long.

2. I think you missed the mark a little when you brought up why Strahd doesn't just grab Irena when the real answer is fairly simple. Strahd has watched as Tatiana's soul has been reborn a hundred times only to be snatched from him every time . He knows his smallest actions will cause her to be lost to him yet again. He doesn't care in the least about the players other than if they can be used to help gain Tatiana.

3. The story can't get Strahds title correct! Is he a prince from another land?;A king in Barovia? A count? They never should have changed his parents noble rank! 4. Unfortunately a lot of players have no idea what playing in a game where permagodeath play with extreme caution. I have lost many characters in D&D 2 but nothing beats surviving a tuff adventure with your favorite character!

You are welcome.

josephskiles Hi, I don’t agree with your statement of point #1 at all. I have only read this 5th edition version of Ravenloft and even though I have been playing D&D since 1st edition I never had any DM run the previous adventures. Also I have only been a DM for about a year so this is my only exposure to the lore. According to this edition Strahd is stuck in the realm of Borovia because of his evil past deeds, and completely not dependent upon Tatiana in any way. She has never been his “ultimate goal” his reason for being there is because the dark lords feel he deserves to be there, it’s not up to him in any way. He is a prisoner there and weather or not Tatiana exists has absolutely no bearing on his fate. The book actually describes Strahd as not having any emotion or desires of the heart in any way and that his interest in Tatiana is nothing more than the equivalent of a sort of shadow of an emotion he once had for her. It says her death is the only regret he has, but that there is no real emotional investment in it, more like an empty thought. The true reason Strahd is in no hurry to turn Ireena, is deep down he doesn’t really care, its just loose end from a previous life he used to have.

@@BaritoneUkeBeast4Life I'm not trying to be rude but if you haven't read the old lore then it's really hard to get an idea of just how much she effected Strahd, He had his faults before his pact with death/ the dark powers/ whatever retcon they call it now but the major influence on Strahds fall to evil is his obsession with Tatiana , it is because of her he began to regret how much of his life he had squandered ,and while Strahd did envy Sergei's you he only killed him because of Tatiana ( though it was part of the pact to make him imortal). I suggest reading the novel I, Strahd it builds greatly on the lore and I really think if you did some research into it you will come to my way of thinking. If you can't get the book or just are not interested there are numerous sites that dwelve into the original lore for him and most of the other dark Lords free on the net. Another point is almost no darklord gains the attention on the dark powers just because they did some evil crap , Ravenloft works on a kind of Twilight Zone or Tales from the crypt karma system where the Lord although gaining great power they are constantly tormented by never getting what the want most in life/ unlife. Take Mordenthiem (who is basically Dr. Frankenstein ), he is obsessed with finding a way to save his wife with his experiments in raising the dead but his creation Adam hounds his every move. Or lord Godfrey a ghost who had killed his wife and daughter now they hunt him down every night and tear him to fish bait. I hope you do look into the lore, Strahd is one of my all time favorite villans

Thanks for sharing your solution. What your doing with the Mad Mage will not appeal to a lot of Dungeon Masters. But if it works for you, great. I don't actually worry about changing or removing elements from Curse of Strahd.

It can, but it's not vital in my opinion. I did run the Death House because I had a similar opinion when I started the campaign.

These issues where taken from the Internet. Common problems Dungeon Masters experienced and asked for help with. These issues with Curse of Strahd are often a product of inexperienced Dungeon Mastering and playing. Which is why the common calls for help are around combat.

lol

All the best. I do feel for Dungeon Masters who start with Curse of Strahd as it's much more prep than Lost Mine of Phandelver.

@@HowtoRPG Likely very true! However my group had already played through that so it wasn't an option. Prep time isn't too much a factor as I have no life

Explaining the Curse is a good idea. As I mention, better to say nothing about what happens after Strahd is defeated.

How to D&D true, but I would personally guess that Strahd would be bragging about his apparent immortality and invincibility. It might even be part of how he messes with the players, taunting them with it. He may let them kill him for kicks and giggles, but it also seems like people would remember that he can’t die, even if it is only the characters in the module who have been around that long. They might say it’s pointless... and at that point, I usually ask why I’m telling this story in particular? Is the only memorable thing about it in Strahd’s timeline the characters? Strahd could be at a breaking point, making this adventure something worth telling out of all the times adventurers have come and gone. I guess in the end, it seems like his invincibility would heavily play into how he approached situations. What if he let the players kill him after the 3rd or 4th session, just so they could try and unite Barovia against him, allowing him to relive his youth of conquest in a few months when he resurrects? That might make this particular adventure more worth telling. There would be a larger problem for players to deal with then, raising the stakes and creating an adventure for even higher level adventurers. Does that make sense? Sorry for rambling by the way 😅

@@SpookyGhostIsHere Lots of ways to do it.

You have reshape the story into your own creation. Everyone can do that.

Maybe...

It's used so much because it's the BEST module released for 5e so far.

@@axemel I agree, but not for beginners.

@@HowtoRPG I could agree to that. I think Lost Mine of Phandelver is probably the best starting adventure published for 5e.

@@axemel Yep.

What you have stated as necessary for the adventure are not skill that new players or Dungeon Masters usually have. Thanks for proving my point.

People keep saying that CoS is not suitable for new DMs, but then don’t give specific examples of why. I started CoS as my first ever campaign as a DM at the start of quarantine and I’ve had a blast. I guess I’ve just been confused as to why it’s bad for newbies? The prep work has been no trouble and it’s been really fun to tie together some of the disconnected threads scattered throughout the module. Plus, I feel it’s easier because the characters are stuck in the demi plane of Barovia. I just have to worry about this one valley, rather than dealing with an open world where the players could drop the story and go off literally anywhere. It’s great. :)

How to D&D You really think new players and DMs don’t know how to read and communicate with each other? That’s literally all it is. What exactly is so daunting about this module that makes it such a forbidden prize only for use once you’ve paid the troll at the gate?

Thanks Dylan for your advice and sharing your experience.

Thanks Ray.

Thanks. Personally, I don't think there are problems with the Curse of Strahd, but my opinion is not the video topic. I selected common problems that Dungeon Masters and Player's had with the adventure. I then give a quick and dirty solution to their issue with the adventure. Most of the time it's new Dungeon Masters and Player's that have problems with the Curse of Strahd, but not always. We can disagree if you like.

Not everyone will like the adventure. I have had a player who had their own reasons for not liking it.

This was exactly how I felt. My character tee had no reason to like anyone in barovia. Everyone we met were unsympathetic assholes. It felt like the module wanted us to just murder everyone. The big one I’m still mad about is the module expects you to go have dinner with the evil vampire everyone tells you is going to kill you. The module also spends all its time reinforcing how pointless your actions are, and how Strahd knows everything and is super powerful, which just makes it all pointless. There’s almost no loot, nothing to buy if you get some, and he whole thing just made me feel awful unless we were in combat.

You left out the context of those ideas I presented. I did not say that DM's should not run Curse of Strahd.

That is generally the case with all adventures.

They are not a racist depiction. They are not depicted as all bad. Some ally with Strahd and some don't. Interesting point about Van Richten

The God you never knew “habitually drunk” and “known scammers”. It’s... pretty bad.

Yeah they are constantly depicted as drunks, thieves, violent... its bad.

@@timohanlon5349 that's not always the case, i interpret the vistani at Tser Pool as cheerfull, colourfull, happy and generally misterious, though they do have a problem with drinks and there are some of them who are spies of Strahd. This depiction of "vistani is all bad" is more a racist interpretation of what other people in the Dominions of Dread think about them, but it isn't always the case.

Ok

@@HowtoRPG - Meh. It loses something over TWO YEARS. =P

You took a lot of time to restate many of my own points, then insult me. What?

Did Strahd have a big enough force of troops and minions. A Vampire alone is no match for 5+ characters, particularly if the players are highly experienced. What tactics did you use with Strahd. There a lot of reasons why this could of happened.

My 4 players (plus werewolf ally Zuleika) kicked Strahd's ass in two rounds. They got the Sunsword from the armory, and got the Helm of Radiance in the same place, so they just focused on him. I had decided that, at this point of the module, Strahd using his lair power to ran away would lead to a tedious pursuit (the players were pretty tired from almost 2 years playing, with a toxic player and a newbie DM, so they wouldn't have liked it at all).