curse of Strahd Questions

[Morfedel]

For those of you who've played or GMed Curse of Strahd, how is it? More to the point, however, how well does it do Gothic Horror?

I ask because I'm making a new campaign setting, and designing it to be a little darker and more... well, horrorish. I realize D&D may not be the best medium for that, but if at least it does a credible job, thats a bonus in my book. I was considering getting CoS and running it as a primer for myself as an aide to help me finish designing my campaign world.

So... thoughts?

[Zacchaeus]

I would have thought that COS is all about the Gothic Horror considering the subject matter. But I'm not sure that's what you mean. Do you mean does it have amended rules or something like that?

[Morfedel]

I would have thought that COS is all about the Gothic Horror considering the subject matter. But I'm not sure that's what you mean. Do you mean does it have amended rules or something like that?

What I mean is does it do a good job of it? There is a difference between "does it do gothic horror" and "does it do gothic horror well?" Thought that was obvious with my question, sorry.

[Redemption77]

As its written it does. Its more about a horror atmosphere then straight up combat but no matter what system you use its about how you as a DM build tension and describe the world around the characters that creates the horror.

[Calisto]

I am mid-way through a CoS campaign and I would say it does a great job of providing story elements needed to convey horror to the PCs, it is hard to sustain in a D&D game however no matter the source material. Just in the way D&D is constructed the players know they are likely to win in the end but I have had moments.

* Spoilers *

Early on in Death House one character approaches a certain crib and sees a bundle laid within. He approaches and the nursemaid surprises him. This was a "boo!" moment and he jumped out of his skin, it was creepy enough that another PC jumped out the window to escape. Can't use moments like that too often but it's defiantly a creepy setup.

When in Barovia I had a ragged black wolf watching them from a distance only to run off, their first Strahd encounter. On Yester Hill (think wickerman) I had Strahd descend through a raging thunderstorm on his nightmare trailing fire. He landed during the middle of a tough fight and nearly destroyed a PC before laughing, turning to mist and escaping.

Use Strahd early and often, there are GREAT ideas online. Check out Powerscore for a great run down of the adventure and tips on how to run it.

https://thecampaign20xx.blogspot.com/2016/03/dungeons-dragons-guide-to-curse-of.html

Also check out Dice, Camera, Action.. Chris Perkins runs CoS for a party and it's helpful to see how he navigates the story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1ZbgywIF6Y

Music and ambient sounds make a huge difference. Falling rain, gloomy skies, swirling fog, people without hope and horrific evil throughout the land. Barovia is a scary place. At the end of the day we are all having a lot of fun.

Download "death house", it's a free adventure for CoS that gives you as sense of the tone in Barovia. I will say it's a sandbox adventure and you really need to prep before you run it. Read the entire module and get familiar with options in Vallaki in particular. My PCs right now have 4 or 5 thread they can follow and I have to be prepared for what ever direction they decide to head. There are a few situations where the PCs can easily wander into an area well beyond the level.

Overall highly recommended!

[drakonin]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CvQ4eNtza4v7smTZze5m4pSA6SpmQNOdymU89M1gUfk/edit?usp=sharing
Posting this here in case others will find it useful. It is a mostly RP free version of how my party has made their way through Barovia, we are about 80% done and just hit level 8. It not spoiler free by any means so if you are a player I don't recommend reading it.

[bnickelsen]

Follow up Questions for any DM that has run CoS, How hard is this adventure to Scale. I am thinking of inserting this in between the first and second part of OOA. I wanted OOA's second half to be a bit higher in level so I have started to scale it. Now I need something to take the character from 6-8 level to up to about 13.
Second question At the end of CoS is the castle left is such a way that teh party could claim it as their own?

[Zacchaeus]

You can scale it by missing out some of the low level stuff and go directly to the castle at the level you are talking about. However the story depends on certain elements which I'm not going to go into here since it would give away too many spoilers. You may have more fortune in integrating Storm Kings Thunder into or The Rise of Tiamat (you could use Tiamat without having done the first part) into OotA.

As regards your second question; you're the DM. If you decide the castle is there for the taking; it's there for the taking.

[FSHSchmo]

I thought they did a very good job of providing some suspense and horror moments during the parts of the campaign I DM'ed. As others have said, use Strahd to help add to the suspense factor. Have him show up at odd moments, show them how strong he is, have the party scarred that random PCs might be him. I added some extra horror details to certain buildings, just general things to make the players uncomfortable. Sound effects help greatly. You would be surprised how a weeping child or random kids giggling can add to the game.