I made the Hags pretty young women, the PC's fell over themselves trying to impress them at first and when they found out they were being used by hags, the sense of betrayal was very personal.
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
Haha I can see how that change would trick the players
@fire99xyz
3 ай бұрын
Bro that’s amazing! I will 100% do that
@paulcoy9060
Жыл бұрын
8:40 I actually gave The Abbot the foreshadowing gig, because when the party meets him, he tells his backstory of being a servant of the Morning Lord, who was sent to Barovia to wipe out Strahd. At the gates of Ravenloft, the Abbot destroyed Strahd, using his full angelic powers, and as he smugly awaited the Mists to part, bringing in the Sun's cleansing light, Strahd's broken body started laughing, as he reformed back to his normal self. "I am the Land, I am the Ancient" he said, and walked inside his castle, completely regenerated. The Abbot stood there for a week, trying to figure out what went wrong. Then he came up with the idea that since Strahd is connected to the land, he must break that connection. And the best way to do that is to connect him to a wife, like Vasilka. "Let these two become one," and then Strahd becomes vulnerable, and can then be killed by the Abbot. Or so the Abbot thinks.
@trishapellis
3 ай бұрын
I also gave the Abbot a story where he fought Strahd when he arrived in Barovia, nearly died, and then decided that apparently it just wasn't his task to try and kill Strahd (with added confusion for the angel because Barovia cut him off from the voice of his god, and he didn't manage to leave with his power diminished, so he's spent those 200 years in isolation). In order to avoid breaking the people's hope, he then erased the memories of everyone who knew. Then Strahd came with his sob story about him being so lonely and if he could just have his dream wife to keep him busy, he wouldn't need to do all this evil stuff he did out of boredom. For Strahd's regeneration I managed to kill quite a few birds with one stone by creating a ruined dusk elf village on the far shore of Lake Zarovich, where they went to look for the Mad Mage. This set up the story of Rahadin and the dusk elves (because the PCs didn't engage with them at all at the vistani camp and didn't draw any cards related to them); it allowed me to give them some scrolls of Greater Restoration which they were going to need for the Mad Mage, hidden in a cache in the village; and I also planted a diary in there documenting a supposed previous instance where Strahd was killed by a group of adventurers and the mists parted etc, only to have an entry several months later lamenting that Strahd returned. (I also made a village of axolotl people in the lake with a diamond mine, who asked the players for help killing some lake monsters in exchange for a shitton of diamonds. They used to trade the diamonds with the dusk elves for iron utensils - smithing is hard underwater - but with the dusk elves gone, the diamonds are useless to them).
@Rathammergames
2 жыл бұрын
The last one is correct; some player are so afraid of Strahd that they will never accept a dinner date from a (famous) vampire lord!
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
For real! I'm glad I had a player who vocalized their video-game mentality so I could encourage them to not think of the campaign like that. I remember very clearly when Strahd was attacking them at one point, the player said, "Why is the END BOSS ATTACKING US?" in a funny way.
@Rathammergames
2 жыл бұрын
Yep! Exactly that
@trishapellis
3 ай бұрын
Mine were paranoid thinking he wanted to kill them, but really he just wanted to mess with them XD In my game, a player left quite early, so I had their bard PC leave the party in the middle of the night to go offer Strahd his services - wanting to be a double spy, but by the end he became a consort, because Strahd wanted to mess with the party's heads and ruin their trust in him. However, Strahd wasn't just going to trust this bard for no reason, so he had to give up Van Richten... then Strahd brought Van Richten out during the dinner as a vampire spawn, initially in the guise of Rictavio, to tell his own oh-so-secretive life story for entertainment. He then used the party's anger and resentment toward the bard to try and convince the dhampir paladin to drink the bard right up. They stayed the night at the castle, and the bard - having by this point been used as a juice box by Strahd himself, down to like 2HP - helped them find the dragon's skull, which they successfully stole.
@garwynrosser8907
Жыл бұрын
I replaced a part of the crypt with an alchemist lab where strahd was experimenting with souls and homunculi. Which was rad because the start of my campaign began with nobody having a memory of entering Barovia. So when they entered this room for the first time they were like ohhhh ssccchhhiiitttt! And it all clicked. Epic DM moment for me.
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
Oh, that sounds amazing! I forget which Domain of Dread it is, but Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft had a gnarly one where that plane's dreadlord was swapping creatures' heads and stuff. That would be fun to incorporate. Nice work!
@twistednwarped314
Жыл бұрын
I actually sort of tricked my players into a very chaotic incident at Vallaki. I emphasized how the ppl seemed to be forced to act happy and when they met Lady wachter she explained she wanted to stop the burgomaster died to his cruelty. So they helped her overthrow the baron and kill the town guards, only to find out that Lady wachter serves Strahd and had been using her cultists to actually summon demons. The end of it all was her death and Vallaki literally in flames and infested with monsters and demons.
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
I believe that's the intended way to play Lady Wachter. It just works!
@mandawhy4804
2 жыл бұрын
On tip #10 I made my players make vampire spawns and we did some one shots with them. My surprise is I'm going to use them in the coffin maker's shop. They're gonna scream lmao
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
THAT'S AN INCREDIBLE IDEA! Ding ding ding everyone should read your comment.
@TheSarcasticModerate
Жыл бұрын
I know I'm 10 months late, but I'm doing research before running CoS and just found this video/comment. There's a 99% chance I'm shamelessly stealing this, it's just so deliciously evil.
@kev_whatev
Ай бұрын
Ooh I have been thinking of doing Death House as a one shot to test Nimble before running CoS a few months from now. Now I want to have the one shot characters be vampires later when they play CoS
@jurelle
2 жыл бұрын
I didn't want this video to end lol I'm a very new DM and running CoS is intimidating on the surface but very fun for the player and the DM (so much prep involved if you want to make it good). These tips boosted my confidence and gave me great ideas. Thanks!!
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
You can do it! And thank you for the compliment :)
@coyoteink
2 жыл бұрын
I found the less encounters with Strahd the better. I ran it a few times then it dawned on me when i remembered what director of Alien said The less you show the monster the better. Nothing is more scary than the monster in peoples imagination.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
There's certainly a balance between using him too often and too seldom.
@HeabSaysNo
3 ай бұрын
Strahd has personality though- and quite a lot of it. This isn't a monster movie, or a slasher film, it's a psychological thriller, and to really drive that narrative home, the players need to interact with him enough to actually understand him, at least partially.
@Mundatorem
2 жыл бұрын
Yeah, my biggest takeaway from DMing CoS for first-time players (and I'm a first-time DM but have watched hundreds of hours of DnD campaigns) was this: - Make Strahd more approachable, as you mentioned in your last tip. All of my players are gamers, and immediately assume that once Strahd is shown as a tyrant by some citizens he is a Sunday morning run-of-the-mill villain. Once I introduced the dinner invitation they scoffed, and once I teased them with a horse and carriage with open doors on the way to Vallaki they set the carriage on fire and subsequently killed the undead horses that were pulling the cart. Thus missing out on having dinner with Strahd. - I learned that my players are very combat-intensive and are actively seeking combat, so I attempt to illustrate that their actions have consequences and that their (at times) senseless killing sprees might not always be viewed positively by other people. They went out of the way to break into, rob, vandalize and scare the Mayor of Vallaki's house and son.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
That's an intense party! I agree that players should be surprised that they can interact with Strahd along the way and it doesn't have to be combative.
@Mundatorem
2 жыл бұрын
@@FlutesLoot They sure are hahaha! I dare say some of them are tetering on being murder hobos, and an alignment change might be in order for the cleric/paladin if this continues. But they are very attentive, fun and are genuinely roleplaying their characters and refuse to metagame. The barbarian is used to playing sports and partying irl and relaxing with strategic FPSs on his off time, so if he cant get at least 1 combat in a 6 hour session, he will get twitchy hahaha.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
@@Mundatorem knowing your players is half the battle :)
@brandondennis7527
2 жыл бұрын
I had a group somewhat similar to that. In the same scenario, I let the players believe Vallaki was very safe. (Vampires can't enter without permisson, and I extended that to Vallaki's gates.) So they mocked Strahd when he showed up at the gates with a small army of wolves and a few vampire spawn.. then he smiles and takes one deliberate step forward, passed the threshold, holding up a letter and thanking the Mayor for the invitation.
@TaylorWeston
Жыл бұрын
I really love the advice of rather than trying to tie in their backstories (which, yeah, that would feel forced) to look for themes in their backstories. Keep this kind of advice coming!
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
Thank you!
@oldarus
Жыл бұрын
I just ran this for my group and in your intro was probably one of the best pieces of advice. Keeping a time calendar for the group to see. We ran into this problem of them not remembering when certain dates or events were supposed to happen and they got distracted by something else. I think this is a great idea. Ill use it next time. Ty!
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
I'm glad that bit in the video was noticed! I really believe it is impactful and essential to track time.
@IcsulX
2 жыл бұрын
My favorite way to run Strahd is as he is written in: I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire. Makes things way more challenging and fun. Also lets the player explore the character much deeper. (The War Against Azalin can also be helpful to play with Strahds magic items and magical capabilities, and also tactics)
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
That lore and info are fun to explore! I may have to read the memoir when I run CoS again.
@aftermath_euphoria
2 жыл бұрын
I read I Strahd and Vampire of the Mists and that really helped me to role-play strahd and understand him
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
@@aftermath_euphoria great material. I liked writing down favorite quotes that felt Strahd-ish so I could find a good one at a glance :P
@ciarandwynvil273
6 ай бұрын
I'm so glad to hear that someone does this! Both novels are a great read. Strahd, while far from being a saint, is likeable in them, and overall a pretty good lord of Barovia. He truly is the land, and I am of the opinion that Barovia without him would actually be worse off than it is with him at its helm. Especially in The War Against Azalin, he proves himself as the protector of his land and people. Granted, his motivation isn't that of an embodiment of all virtue, but he is effective as Barovia's lord protector, he makes sensible decisions, doesn't waste the lives of his people, isn't out to slaughter innocents, and upholds law and justice. He is harsh, but also fair, and there are moments when he shows mercy even when it yields him no benefit. He also is a man of strong emotions. He is able to control himself better than most, but he does have intense feelings (much to the contrary to what the introduction to 5e module says). In short, I firmly believe that without reading these novels one cannot truly understand Strahd and play him the way he deserves to be played. He is a man of greatness, a man scarred by tragedy, a man whose soul isn't yet entirely without light. He has committed great wrongs, true, but he has also accomplished heroic feats - and both make him the man he is.
@NoalFarstrider
2 жыл бұрын
Moral:Treat Borovia as purgatory. I got it.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Useful way to portray it to players
@robertlombardo8437
6 ай бұрын
That idea you had about starting on the roof of Ravenloft in the rain and fighting in phases was SO cool! Reminds me of fighting Ganondorf at the end of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I wonder if anyone has done a liveplay where they put that into effect. I want to see it now!
@FlutesLoot
6 ай бұрын
I'd love to see that, too! This was not actually my idea alone. I participated in forums and asked questions about how others handled the final fight by location, and the ideas that came from those interactions were exciting and helpful :)
@christianmartens9697
8 ай бұрын
Strahd returning always felt like such a stupid idea to me. "Oh, you know all of that work your characters did? All of the sacrifices they had to make and all the growth the achieved to overcome this terrible monster? Yeah, it was all for nothing. Your characters got out and now have some cool abilities, but Barovia and everything in it will all return back to normal in a few years, give-or-take. Nothing your characters did mattered in any way except that they got to leave Barovia." I can't imagine anything less motivating then telling someone that anything they do won't matter. Who cares if the winery gets destroyed? It'll get rebuilt in a few years when Barovia comes back. Who cares about helping or befriending the Barovians? 90% of them aren't actually real anyways, and the remaining 10% will just be trapped in Barovia yet again... I just can't get into the head of the authors when they wrote that. "The victory you've spent probably over a year preparing for is hollow and small." How would that motivate people?!
@FlutesLoot
8 ай бұрын
I also have a hard time with the "nothing mattered" scenario. I had to give players an option to replace him or something.
@kycool8684
5 ай бұрын
To be fair, the nothing you did mattered idea is very common in horror
@arphayas2826
3 ай бұрын
My plan for the dinner will be, for Strahd to give each player a present matching their playstyle (Fighter gets a plate armor for example), in the final battle, those presents will work against the group, the armor turns into an hostile animated one, the spider climb boots will make the player stick to the ground, the wild shape improving ring would force them into their form and attack their friends...some stuff like that.
@FlutesLoot
3 ай бұрын
That will be a brutal surprise! XD Be open to revealing the items' drawbacks earlier than the end fight, depending on how brutal the drawbacks are. I did the animated armor reveal in a Strahd encounter before the final encounter, which worked just as well for the surprise. :)
@Warwipf
8 ай бұрын
Your homebrew tip is invaluable. As a new DM I wanted to give my players the best possible experience and thought more content = better, so I used the Dragna Carta homebrew and added other details from different people as well, but I think it got out of hand so now I'm trying to steer it back to the normal RAW campaign as best as possible. It is just too much for a new DM and I found that the gaps CoS leaves are not a bad thing. Players will speculate and come up with their own theories of how the things the module leaves out actually work and I can just pick ideas they bring forward and go with them. I think that being very familiar with a smaller amount of content absolutely beats being somewhat familiar with a larger amount of content as well. Still HUGE respect for Dragna Carta, he does some incredible work and for more experience DMs or people with more prep time it is super useful I'd imagine.
@FlutesLoot
8 ай бұрын
100% on all points :)
@Ian_Comics
23 күн бұрын
While I don't like combining Strahd's infinite charm with a TPK as that falls under DM-VS-Players to me, I do love the idea of charming everyone at the dinner, turning it into a party, and everyone comes to their senses the next day mostly drained of blood.
@FlutesLoot
23 күн бұрын
Yeah that's the good stuff
@klgw99
Жыл бұрын
I think the few homebrew things ive seen people use and loved were were incoperating Strahd as Vasili von Holtz and having him meet the charcaters and pretend to be an ally. He's mentioned in the book but never expressly meets the characters but the ones ive seen that use him as an "ally" that actually works to mislead and hinder the characters. I also love the ones that give personalitesd to the Brides of Strahd. They all have great backstories and the fact that they arent utilized basically at all in the book is a travesty.
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
Those are two great ways to enhance the campaign :)
@gstokker
2 ай бұрын
I’m going to start running this soon… toying with the idea of rather than using those “adventure hooks” the module provides to do something like LOST or FROM
@FlutesLoot
2 ай бұрын
Do you mean having them mysteriously swept away as a group?
@tabletopbro
2 жыл бұрын
This video should be required watching for anyone who wants to run Curse of Strahd. I personally can't stand the campaign because, while I think there's a ton of potential for it to be a fun filled gothic horror game, the DM has to run it PERFECTLY or else it just becomes a shitty memefest. I love your suggestion of turning stress into a mechanic for the game. When I ran it (very briefly) my players were definitely creeped out by murder/death house, but they cleared it, the game became a meme as they didn't take anything seriously. I think mechanizing character fear definitely prevents that. I also really like the mysterious letters sowing distrust between the players and NPC's as well as Strahd's spy network. I think the way to pull off the sowing distrust is to definitely have the first one or two be true rumors about NPC's being treacherous so they're not immediately like, "oh Strahd's messing with us." When I was a player for CoS (also my first DnD campaign ever), my DM didn't do ANY of that and so Barovia really didn't feel threatening at all. There also weren't really stakes to leave either, and a lot of my fellow players felt no reason TO want to go back to Faerun.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Ah man, missed potential! You are too right about the latent pitfalls of the campaign. I've heard of many CoS campaigns finishing very early because they fell apart. Thank you for the praises, but I wish you could've had a better experience with the module. I also wish I'd been able to play in the campaign before I ran it so I could've had that experience.
@isaakvanast
2 жыл бұрын
Amazing tips man! One question - how do you feel about allowing the PCs to recruit all allies available? Like rallying a small army to confront Strahd? I'm a green DM so please be firm but kind! Thanks!
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
I'm all for them gaining whatever allies they earn! The destined ally is a very specific game mechanic that does not disqualify other alliance candidates. I recommend assigning allies to your players in combat, so they have the responsibility of running them; this will make it so their decisions are their own and they won't accuse you of messing up on purpose or something, and it tells them that they have to want the allies enough to handle them instead of putting them all on you. I did this and found that I'd step in sometimes because I knew it was straightforward what an NPC ally would do and I could do it faster. Avoid DMPCs where you might seem to live vicariously through the NPC. Thanks for watching, commenting, and complimenting! :)
@Zandaarl
2 жыл бұрын
Wow. Just wow! So many helpful tips and ideas!
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
I'm so glad they were helpful!
@simsgirlgem
2 ай бұрын
I sent your video to my friend who’s gonna be doing curse of strahd
@FlutesLoot
2 ай бұрын
That's great! Thank you for sharing :)
@doodskull8150
5 ай бұрын
"Characters life. Not real life" Alright, Jared, Strahd hits you for 40 points of damage, almost as hard as your dad hit you when you when you dropped out of school.
@FlutesLoot
5 ай бұрын
🤣🤣🤣🤣
@admpandora91
Жыл бұрын
i plan on running this (haven't decided how vanilla it'll be yet), but i really like the idea of having 2 groups of "hunters" failing to kill Strahd. one of the groups will fail with Mordenkainen, another will have died to the various horrors of the region. maybe a wandering revenant muttering about the hags where a pair of the mongrelfolk reminisce their lost party member while describing the weapon of said revenant. at the moment though, i'm more likely going to complete and attempt-to-run my own Dread Domain. i'm basing the environ on an extended run of the Death House while using the House of Keys board game's floor plan. i'm done laying it out as a colorized template, just need to convert it into a TaleSpire scene and write the story. :D
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
Those sound like fun ways to use failed adventurers in the campaign!
@jarradkeefe
2 жыл бұрын
Sounds like you would be a great and respectful DM
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
I sure try to be
@joserobertossa
Жыл бұрын
Maaan, so dopeeeee! Loved it 🤩
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
That's great to hear! :)
@shushpanchicusrex6410
5 күн бұрын
I also run COS 5 times! ... Because of 3 TPK and the one when players just scream at each other and break the party... btw its the same group just with +- some players
@FlutesLoot
4 күн бұрын
Brutal 😅
@ThomasDuellMusic
Жыл бұрын
Currently playing CoS with a character I made in my first run of the campaign. My character (a reborn bard) recently had an encounter with a bat that they discovered was from that first adventure through berovia. My DM didn't even tell me I was a reborn at first. Just dropped hints like I don't get hungry or I don't need sleep. Its been crazy.
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
That sounds fun. You're playing the same character a second time in the CoS then? That's a first that I haven't heard of.
@ThomasDuellMusic
Жыл бұрын
@FlutesLoot yeah, basically my original party got to castle ravenloft and we fought strahd. My party and I sadly parished and I woke up a decade later in an unmarked shallow grave.
@VanNessy97
2 жыл бұрын
Today, I learned that Strahd always comes back.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
It's often not played that way, but that's how the module is written. :)
@dannon9699
8 ай бұрын
I’m running my first module with this, and it is hard for me to not improvise, because one of my players was a previous DM, and her last story was curse of Strahd
@FlutesLoot
8 ай бұрын
When you say 'improvise,' are you referring to homebrewing to freshen things up for your friend? I really think you'll be fine if your friend is willing to play in a module they ran. CoS is sandboxy enough that it shouldn't be an issue if your friend has agreed to not metagame the story and details. If you were to homebrew, what are you thinking of homebrewing? There are plenty of minor ways to homebrew that can be exciting. It would be nice to know how your friend's game went so you can see if there are details they didn't explore when DMing.
@dannon9699
7 ай бұрын
@@FlutesLootlike you said there’s so much homebrew content already I’m a first time DM so I can’t even tell the difference between them. There’s pyram king on KZitem and his take on curse of strahd is really interesting and has helped give me perspective on the whole thing. I wish there was more on the other Dark lords like the last rider because I would love to go from CoS into another dark lord We’re trying some new DnD one rules in combination with “gestalt?” Rules so the player power is going to scale beyond the book so aside from beefier encounters. Also skipping death house and starting at level 5 because when I was a player we had ran deathhouse 3x with the same group cause we got tpk’d 3x before Vallaki
@FlutesLoot
7 ай бұрын
@@dannon9699 Pyram's content is super interesting! He does good work. Let me know how your campaign goes when you're a few sessions in :)
@paulcoy9060
Жыл бұрын
20:26 Lt. Commander Piddlewick II? Maybe he's the party's destined ally, and wants to be a real boy?
@cwesley2005
Жыл бұрын
This was AWESOME thank you so much!
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
I'm glad you enjoyed it, and thank you! :)
@HeatherVerhagen
Жыл бұрын
Hey, I'm about to watch your video, but want to bring up some player/new DM tips of my own after just being a player in Curse of Strahd for the first time. The first one is to encourage healthy communication between your players, and your players and yourself. This may be something that DMs are doing or at least attempting in every campaign or one shot, but it's espiecally important in Curse of Strahd. Why do I say this? My group was just in a situation where the DM asked the party if we wanted to go to one destination or another. 5 wanted to go to location one, one, me, wanted to go to location two because I was very uncomfortable as both a player and character with location one. The DM brought us to location one because the majority voted for it. I was so busy being upset that I decided not to say anything to the other characters about their bad decisions. I thought that if I did, I would be angry and say something I'd regret. A lot of things went wrong in the battle and we TPKed, because the battle itself was marked deadly. If you as a DM noticed that someone is uncomfortable, ask everyone to take a break, or ask them to try to explain their feelings in a constructive way. Not everyone is good at communication or expressing their emotions, and even if they are, people are human and make mistakes. My second tip for DMs is to ask their players what their playstyle is before running Curse of Strahd or any campaign. Also, tell them your playstyle is and what to expect from the campaign reguarding if its combat heavy, exploration heavy, or social interaction heavy..If they like things like exploring and roleplay a lot more than combat, try to add downtime moments or exploring time moments to your game, and slow down the overall pace so they can enjoy the npcs and setting. Or tell them that it would be better to find a group that matches what they want/their playstyle better. Personally, I think this campaign is difficult and combat heavy as written. I don't want to say that it wasn't for me, because all DMs are different, but I might have a hard time finding a DM who wants to play CoS on easy mode/story mode.
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
Those are great tips for DMs of any campaign, but especially CoS as you said! Thank you :)
@Yekrep
Жыл бұрын
The homebrew trap is very real. The Reddit community has made sacred cows of several popular addons. Lots of DMs struggle because they try to incorporate too many "good ideas" and they never really thought about the 2nd and 3rd order effects of their changes
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
Exactly! I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees a trap there.
@Yekrep
Жыл бұрын
@@FlutesLoot I remember one of the first posts I read there was about a dog in deathhouse, and I was very confused.
@esbeng.s.a9761
2 жыл бұрын
to point 13. You can also tell your pc that you are going to play in the campaign, so that they can make pc who fits in
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
While I did that, I didn't encourage players to have Barovian backstories. I let them make their material plane backstories, and I tried to incorporate them to various degrees of success. I did one where Patrina was secretly the Kalashtar's Quori, for example (probably my best backstory incorporation as a twist at the end). Have you had success allowing PCs to actually be from Barovia instead of being brought in?
@ashleighhahn5476
Жыл бұрын
I think it honestly depends on what kind of character they’re playing. There’s one PC in my campaign that I let have a barovian backstory for a very specific reason (she’s an escaped one of Strahd’s consorts (she really wanted to be a vampire) that he got bored with and now she wants him dead for putting her in the catacombs and treating her like garbage) Or also ties to the world in other ways Maybe a character shares a vistani heritage they’re just learning about Or maybe there’s a particular NPC in barovia they have a relation to - another one of my players is playing a variant lolcanth and her family was murdered by Van Richten after being mistaken for mind flayers I dunno I think there are some fun ways to still tie their backstories to the world as they make their way through
@hexathymia9123
2 жыл бұрын
Great tips, I'm going to start running Curse of Strahd within the next few months as a "first" time DM, I've DMd small one-shots before but not a full campaign, this will be a great source of inspiration! :) Also, what is the background music at 3:48 ? I feel like dark classical music would be a great addition to the atmosphere within Castle Ravenloft
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you and good luck! The music you asked about is Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata".
@hexathymia9123
2 жыл бұрын
@@FlutesLoot Great! Thanks again :))
@arlesdinosauremoji
8 ай бұрын
I am running Curse of Strahd for the first time, for a group of first-time players They learn about the game on the go (I walked them through character creation and we did a session 0 where I explained how combat etc work), and don't really understand yet that Strahd is a very powerful enemy, and that actions have consequences They are level 2 and want to go beat up Strahd already "We're 7 against 1 guy, what could go wrong?"
@FlutesLoot
8 ай бұрын
That sounds like a lot of fun to have new players who lack the assumptions and expectations that veteran players have. :)
@thedeaderer8791
2 жыл бұрын
Lol every time I hear his name I think it's flute sloot like no bueno
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Haha you're the second person to bring that up. We really thought he had chosen a site/channel name that wouldn't fall victim to anything from Urban Dictionary, but we were wrong :P
@williamjeffries1533
18 күн бұрын
Question: I am just starting this campaign, literally we haven’t even done session one but all the characters are made. I was reading through the book and it said that the only way to kill him permanently is if you kill him while he is in his crypt and it gave a, short description of what to read that said something along the lines of “with shock and rage, his eyes open in surprise. Eventually, that look fades into a look of peace as his body and bones fall into ash leaving only finery and something…” is this not meant to be a permanent death?
@FlutesLoot
15 күн бұрын
For a normal vampire, it'd be permanent death. Barovia itself is ruled by the Dark Powers, and they bring back Strahd as a kind of anchor for the Barovia Domain of Dread, at least in this module. Many DMs tend to alter this because it feels dissatisfying. I think it works if you focus on Barovia as the thing to escape, and Strahd is an obstacle to achieving the escape.
@zero3045
4 ай бұрын
SO many homebrew stuff added. Still can’t figure out what to add or remove since there so many complaints on things
@FlutesLoot
4 ай бұрын
Hot take: most COS complaints aren't substantial enough to warrant heavy homebrew. DMs usually just need to read the whole book and think ahead.
@Dragon_Lair
2 жыл бұрын
I'm running CoS right now. The party just fought and defeated Baba Lysaga. Three party members have died and 2 of them permanently.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Baba is brutal. Where have your PCs perished?
@Dragon_Lair
2 жыл бұрын
@@FlutesLoot Finger of Death from Lysaga took out one of them. Strahd killed the party's wizard in less than 2 rounds when they smuggled him into Vollaki and took him straight to the the priest and the bones of St. Andral. The bard died at the Pool of Krezk to Rahadin and a bunch of vampire spawn but was revived by the angel after they struck a deal with him to help get a wedding dress.....which is how they ended up smuggling Strahd into Vollaki. That same bard is now possessed by Mogantha the Night Hag thanks to a Hag deal as well.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
@@Dragon_Lair spicy!
@stevenstone307
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you for this!
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
You're welcome! :)
@Stormfire1777
2 жыл бұрын
I’m about to run curse of Strahd with some friends. It will be my first time being a DM. Do you have any tips for a first time DM?
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
That's a big question that is hard to answer without knowing more about you and your group, but my recommendation for a new DM is typically to run lots of one-shots and get used to it. I also don't recommend CoS for first-time DMs. If you are set on running CoS, I recommend having a VERY productive session zero. I was on a panel today where we spoke at length about session zero: kzitem.info/news/bejne/oo1us42JmJaFY20 Read the CoS book for a good idea of what generally will happen. Feel free to ask follow-up questions.
@brandondennis7527
2 жыл бұрын
At the end of every session, ask your players how it went. "Favorite part? Least favorite part? Things you want to see more off, things you want to be less off?"
@mastermonster4385
Жыл бұрын
3:35 is that stright up hugh jackman?
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
Definitely :P
@emanononame421
11 күн бұрын
Hi, Where can I found the stress sistem?
@FlutesLoot
11 күн бұрын
I don't know the exact system my friend used, but here is a system you can fully preview and pay what you want on the DMsGuild: www.dmsguild.com/product/251693/DD-Stress-System?affiliate_id=3063449
@Bwomackusmc
2 жыл бұрын
I’ve been running Cos for years, great stuff. Question where did you get that thumbnail art?
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks! It took me a hot minute to find the art's origin (I saved it years ago for my home game), but I finally found it on Etsy. It's supposed to be Strahd with a Bloodbourne eldritch twist: www.etsy.com/dk-en/listing/1100151192/curse-of-strahd-11x17-print-cos-vampire Seller/artist seems to be Shoshanah Graves
@CraigMRyan
2 жыл бұрын
20:25 #SuddenlySpiner lol
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Haha yeah I used Spiner as Data to inspire me to play the Abbot.
@pauual
2 жыл бұрын
amazing tips! Multumesc!
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you!
@nicememes7570
Жыл бұрын
My player tried to picket a bottle of vistani wine in front of everyone, but someone was genuinely watching over his shoulder. He was cursed, rolled arcana, all he felt was a spine tingle, but he lost the ability to tie knots (didn't want to debilitate the player right after the baroness summons in the beginning)
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
That's an interesting curse!
@darkmatter9643
2 жыл бұрын
Best thing in curse of strahd to do: make strahd more powerful
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Using the Charm ability as I described is a great way to do that, especially with castle wall-phasing guerilla tactics.
@mrpowers3649
3 ай бұрын
Can I get some advice on keeping a good calendar?
@FlutesLoot
3 ай бұрын
I kept countdowns in my notes. For example: Festival of the Blazing Sun - 3 days Whenever a day passed, I lowered all the day counts.
@mrpowers3649
3 ай бұрын
@@FlutesLoot So making a major events calendar and than keeping track of the days? Got it. What would you consider time sensitive events?
@FlutesLoot
3 ай бұрын
@@mrpowers3649 Some time-sensitive events will depends on your players' choices. For example, if they fail to slay allt he Bonegrinder Night Hags, you might give yourself a timeline for when the hags will appear again to spring a trap on the player characters. Some other time-sensitive events may include the Festival of the Blazing Sun, Strah'd invitation to dinner, the ritual at Yester Hill, the Feast of St. Andral, the kidnapping of Arabelle, and more.
@mrpowers3649
3 ай бұрын
@@FlutesLoot That helps a lot. Thanks for the advice! I wanna make sure this gives my players a sense of urgency and this has given me some great ideas!
@Johnn84
Жыл бұрын
Having Strahd hide behind something and charm the group, must be very frustrating and unsatisfied ending for a long campaign. I think I would change so that Strahd can't retry his charm until atleast 1 minute later.
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
If I can suggest an alternative, have Strahd spam Charm early in the campaign so players fear it, but allow the Tome of Strahd to make them immune to his Charm ability (or some other boon from the tome to help them against it).
@Johnn84
Жыл бұрын
@@FlutesLoot That is an interesting idea. Or perhaps the symbol of Ravenloft could be a suitable protection against the charm. Another idea is to give the victim advantage on saving throws if succeeded once before the same day. Perhaps also if they wear a religious symbol by the morning Lord.
@dispater5023
Жыл бұрын
Data Von Zarovich
@josephbove9543
2 жыл бұрын
Did i see Data from Star Trek pop in there randomly???? am i the only one who caught that? haha
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Haha a few people caught that. He's my muse for the Abbott.
@josephbove9543
2 жыл бұрын
@@FlutesLoot ohhhhhh haha I like it
@noneofyourbusiness8963
2 жыл бұрын
DM tip #1 Let me in your game! 😭
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Pro tip! :D I'd love to be able to DM for more people, but sharing ideas will have to do for now haha.
@snartgaming4922
2 жыл бұрын
Nice
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks!
@philippwittke9453
Жыл бұрын
Why did you run it three times? ;)))))
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
I had enough people who wanted to play CoS to do it three times, and I was interested in running it for all of them. I'd do it another time!
@Ryan-mech-muffin
16 күн бұрын
I'm not keen on the whole "Strahd isn't gone forever and will return" idea. It makes any victory seem cheap and meaningless. Sure, it might add some more dread into the ending, but for me that's too high a price to pay for potentially ruining the players' faith in the GM that their hard work will be rewarded. Why not have someone else take Strahd's throne? Why not add a questline allowing them to sunder Strahd's curse for good?
@FlutesLoot
15 күн бұрын
That's what I did. I think most people do. If I were to do it again, I'd focus on Barovia and escaping it as the core of the game. Just my opinion.
@thomazeblen
2 жыл бұрын
i runned 13 times
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Wow! Did you run CoS start to finish all 13 times? Impressive.
@thomazeblen
2 жыл бұрын
@@FlutesLoot didnt finised most of the times. Mainly because is hard to find a party that play for like 8 mounths without leaving the game for real life stuff. And you cant just add a new player at level 9 in cos they will never have the emotional conection.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
@@thomazeblen Yeah, that's tough.
@jodymicheallee
Жыл бұрын
Yawn
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
😴
@JustBenUnofficial
2 жыл бұрын
One of the biggest changes I made to CoS was starting with the dinner. I think it’s because I had just re-read Dracula for inspiration. My players seemed to really like this change because it introduced Strahd and his court early on. I didn’t have him attack the characters but instead he offered them a quest. Obviously the players knew he was a vampire and the villain but their characters had no idea and were sympathetic to him.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
I completely agree. A quest given at dinner with a deadline is perfect. One of my parties released Emil, and when Strahd found out during dinner, he thought it was charming. He tasked them to get Emil back within the week.
@JustBenUnofficial
2 жыл бұрын
@@FlutesLoot I had him tell the party that his lover was being forbidden from leaving her home by her father who did not approve of their love. (A real princess in a tower situation) He sent the party to free her and told them if they brought her back to the castle, he'd grant any wish they had. This actually led to one of my players betraying the party and tried to take Ireena to Strahd.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
@@JustBenUnofficial oooo the dreaded betrayal! I hope it was super fun.
@reeven1721
Жыл бұрын
I suppose starting with the dinner and Strahd telling the players to FIND Ireena and deliver her to him is a decent twist.
@JustBenUnofficial
Жыл бұрын
@@reeven1721 Like I said, I think I was just really leaning into the Dracula inspiration. Having the players think of the Count as their friend before they realize how much of a monster he really is.
@TabletopBob
2 жыл бұрын
I ran CoS so long ago at this point, if I were to run it again, I would use a lot of these tips. With all the community work and Van Richten's guide, the possibilities are endless.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Oh certainly! That's another thing I'm going to be happy to do if I run CoS again; comb through VR's Guide for new ideas. The stress and fear system that I mentioned is only one example. Supernatural/haunted traps would be another fine addition. :) Community work does feel endless. So many people have contributed ideas.
@NoESanity
2 жыл бұрын
my favorite thing to do in CoS, since 2e has been to give the players powerful artifacts that turn them into darklord candidates. It's a good way to both show how easy for a good character to choose evil in the short term to accomplish a task, like abandoning a villager to wolves to heal their party member, and how those small evil choices mixed with rising stakes and power can be very corrupting. Then when they, look at strahd and start learning his history, they will start to see some similarities. a lawful good character (remember he had a Pegasus mount, meaning he was genuinely lawful good), who got put on the path of evil one small step at a time. a couple of Faustian deals, a dash of greed, a spoonful of jealousy, and a midlife midlife crisis were the only major difference from strahd and the average lawful good paladin. let the party think that instead of killing strahd, maybe he can be redeemed, and that barovia can be saved. let them play a chunk of the campign running around trying to lessen the power of the darker powers, these evil gods that have corrupted that poor man, and when the party feels good about their redemption plans, when they think they are about to bring strahd back to the good side of the alignment chart, then they can find out about his reincarnation obsession, his genocide of the elves, and his willingness to slaughter people for pleasure. Let them slowly realize that strahd is well past any chance at redemption or having his sins absolved through anything short of divine intervention of a greater deity. While this is happening, keep putting the players in situations where the artifacts offer them small deals, like let someone get hurt to gain a boon or ignore cries for help and be lead in the right direction. simple things at first, let the party try to rationalize it, let them spread the bad choices so no individual becomes evil they all just become slightly less good. Then throw in a couple of big choices, like ignoring a fatal blow by gaining a monster template or resurrecting a fallen party member for the small price of a innocent life. Choices that are only made necessary by the short timeframe of CoS. The party doesn't have time for a proper rest or time to recover spells and heal their injuries, the BTB version of CoS is generally just a week maybe two and most of that is spent on the road between locations. Choices need to be made, sacrifices must happen, and good characters will choose small acts of evil for the greater good almost every time. This works very well when the players come to the end and finally defeat strahd. At this point at least one of them has made enough deals with their artifact, have taken a dark gift maybe more, and are perfect for taking over as a darklord, only to realize that once they take the seat, that no matter what intentions they had about being a better ruler than Strahd, no matter how good they once were, they will eventually become puppets of the dark powers. If they are lucky they will be driven far to mad to realize what's happening, when decades later, when they just happen to glance in the mirror and see strahd's face before their reflection vanishes forever, because there is no better dark lord for Barovia than Strahd von Zarovich.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Those are fantastic ways to make character development interesting in CoS, and I love the mirror bit at the end of your summary. I had several players who took up the mantle of Darklord only to find that they became puppets as you said. Makes for memorable endings for them.
@Prophed2301
2 жыл бұрын
I was wondering, what powerful items did you give your players ?
@NoESanity
2 жыл бұрын
@@Prophed2301 I try to handmake them for the players during the game. Some recent examples have been a dagger with a reach of 15ft that deals sneak attack damage to the target and adjacent enemies. A pair of daimond knuckles that crit on a 17-20 and gave an extra action when an enemy is bloodied or downed. And a maul that gave its wielder a blood thorns aura ( damaged attackers and would heal the damage dealt by the thron effect.)
@Prophed2301
2 жыл бұрын
@@NoESanity Cool, I really like this idea of gradual corruption. And ho do you go about bringing the deals, does the item "speak" to the one attuned to it ? Do you do that hidden from the other party members ? (It's my first time running COS )
@NoESanity
2 жыл бұрын
@@Prophed2301 I generally start with the items being gifted by an anonymous benefactor. They are magic but weak, each one will offer the player they are meant something specific from their background, like raising a loved one or getting revenge. Then at different story points, like when they complete a taroka card, the item will offer a quest to unlock more of its power. The quests start simple, giving dream pastry addicts gold or delivering a package from one town to the next. they start to ramp up, things like having the player to offer blood to the dark powers at the amber temple or finding children for the bonegrinder. I usually try to offer these to the whole party at once, so if one player has to feed a child to a hag, another one isn't hiking across the country looking for a mailbox. If a player dies and makes a new pc I usually just have them be at the same tier level as the rest of the party, doing a little rp and maybe a combat as part of character creation so they know how the item functions. One of the big points is when the players are about to storm the castle, the items will offer them a contract, a simple contract to fight strahd. once the pc agrees the item no longer uses an attunement slot, the pc can use its full power, and all it costs is letting a dark power have a single drop of yohr blood, your players don't need to know that the dark powers will then own them. If the pc refuses, the magic item will cease to function, unless the pc offers themselves fully to the dark powers, which in my experience at least one player always makes the deal, because when you're between a vampire and a hard place, the magic sword in your backpack that let's your wildshape into a celestial starts to look worth the cost.
@davio3d
2 жыл бұрын
I am at the end of my second campaign in CoS and here is my lessons learned. - Give Ireena something to do. She is important NPC and treated like hell in the module. Give her goal and ambition for those goals. If you as a GM doesnt care about Ireena, the players will not. - If Strahd is relying on spies, teach the players that missinformation is big part of the game. - Like you I did personal quests in Barovia, even if they all are somewhat tied to the land, part of the overall mystery feel lost. Next time I will go rather with themes as you suggested. - I personally dont like Strahds charm since it has always given wierd roleplaying moments, player act wierd and they lose their agency. Group know they are charmed and sometimes freeze out the person from the group because they risk giving out information to Strahd. Give Strahd access to modify memory in other hand, gives alot of experience. Player just loose suddenly passage of time. Roleplay something that didnt really happen and so on.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Modify Memory is a fun addition to Strahd, I agree. Ireena is interesting because I try to give her a personality all her own while still being steered by the influence of the players. If they're heroic, they push her to be bolder. In one scenario, Ireena traveled with them and used herself as a shield against things like Fireball from Strahd since he wouldn't harm her. The players thought she was admirable when she reached that point of spite and resistance against her abuser. I also made Ireena stronger by allowing the Sidekick rules from Tasha's to make her more durable, supportive, etc. based on who connect with her most.
@davio3d
2 жыл бұрын
@@FlutesLoot Thats sounds like an awesome take on Ireena. I made her strong, but doubted herself and being a person that realised she is in a endless nightmare - where she will always be hunted by nightmares, life after life. Depending how the party treated her, the confrontation with Sergei at Krezk pool could have two outcome. She accept her fate as Tatyanna and tries to escape with Sergei, or she reject him and decides to choose her own fate and bring down Strahd.
@VanNessy97
2 жыл бұрын
@@davio3d I actually unironically love Ireena becoming her own person and rejecting everything that makes her Tatyana
@davio3d
2 жыл бұрын
@@VanNessy97 I agree! In my currect game, because of the players action and teaching, she forsake her distant past and said basicly f-u to everyone who just assume that she was the same person as before. And it is awesome! So I can highly recommend giving Ireena a story arc of seeing if she accepts her old past and who she once was to follow Sergei into the pool, or forsake it to become her own person as Ireena Kolyana and stand up against Strahd.
@VanNessy97
2 жыл бұрын
@@davio3d I'm now wondering if Tatyana had any nicknames or pet names that Ireena might be called by the people around her, just to have that extra factor of "I'm not any of the hundreds of names that everyone wants to give me, I'm my own person who is getting out of this town"
@Neura1net
Жыл бұрын
Lol at the random portrait of Data from Star Trek
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
Haha I love using him for the Abbott
@zenwealth186
3 ай бұрын
OMG that's brilliant. I will be channeling data... Or maybe Lore 😈
@DungeonDad
2 жыл бұрын
This is a good video. Having Strahd pretty present in the campaign is exactly the vibe.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
One hundo percent
@couragew6260
2 жыл бұрын
I once ended the campaign with my Paladin becoming the antithesis of Strahd. Through Epic Boons and Blessings, my Paladin became an immortal who could call upon the help of spiritual warriors, and had an unnatural healing factor (Boon of Immortality, Blessing of Valhalla, Blessing of Wound Closure). I know it sounds like it could have killed the mood of the campaign, but the work my DM set about me getting these boons is what drove it for me. The agreement I kept with my DM is that I likely wouldn’t be allowed to have any magic items unless the DM gave me the “OK.” I wasn’t complaining though because I got what I wanted. It ended with Strahd always reviving no matter what, but that also left my Paladin as his direct opposition for all eternity. Just like Strahd became a terror in Barovia, my PC became its hero, and whether Strahd liked it or not, he got what he wanted: “His Successor (which he hates)” It also ended bittersweet as after Strahd’s 2nd death, the rest of the party was given the chance to finally leave while I stayed around to try and maintain peace in Barovia.
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
That's a fun way to keep the "Strahd returns" ending while still giving players a sense of permanent victory. Cool!
@vladimirserpov6773
2 жыл бұрын
Running CoS modified into a bigger adventure among Domains of Dread. Some tips are: -Don't let the first PCs death be final and show there are fates much worse. A party member dies? Let the dusk elves give party a direction towards the Amber Temple, let one of them pay the price, and then make sure that revived character is not the same - shift alignement from good to evil, from evil to good, leave a mark on them. Someone dies in the Mists? Let Victra Mordenheim conduct an experiment on cadaver and return the character into play as a poor sod with a parasittic conscious entity in their brain, or as Reborn from Van Richten's Guide. Talk to your player - if they are eager to play other char that's fine, just put the revived former PC in a stash and unleash it upon them in the most dramatic moment. "YOU LEFT ME FOR DEAD! I'M GONNA MAKE YOU JOIN ME NOW!" -Strahd can hear any prayer or interplanar connection attempt in Barovia. With his deception bonus he may clearly pose as Cleric's deity, pushing them away from their path. Or intervene with warlock's communication with their patron, making them lose the favor and potentially leading to taking Strahd as a patron. -If you can't get all players together at sone date, roll out some adventure of Vallaki guard or a peasant from Barovia village, give them a taste of what regular people feel when facing the dark. Or give them a team of undead knights of Argynvostholt searching to stop the Abbot from his attempts of releasing Strahd, to let players see, how powerful they potentially are, while all that power is laid to waste due to Horngaard's stubborness. Seeing that the world (un)lives even when PCs aren't around adds color to the picture.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
I LOVE these ideas! The first idea I somewhat applied, but you went above and beyond. That's an inspired bunch of ideas. Your third idea would've been fun. I don't like canceling sessions, so side quests would've been enjoyable. I did use Strahd's interception of interplanar/divination messages, and man did it feel good when the Cleric/Warlock/whatever realized they had been talking to Strahd the whole time. Golden!
@vladimirserpov6773
2 жыл бұрын
@@FlutesLoot funny thing is, as a player I nearly got baited into same "talk to the goddess" trap, with my profane soul blood hunter. "DM knows I led this module. She wouldn't try this with me... Of c(o)urse she would." Some old tricks from the book just work 😂
@steeledminer616
Жыл бұрын
I fully intend that if the players have reason to piss of Strahd he takes at least one of them as a spawn that will be there in a future encounter.
@carsteneckhardt6572
2 жыл бұрын
I gave Strath more servants like Lief (the accoutant). Just good folks that close their eyes to the horror. In my game he had Bertha a female cook and her husband Johann who worked as a butler. Always polite and helpful. Also Clovis was convinced that the characters were there for the wedding and I was hoping they ask him about secrets about the castle, but they left the crypta as fast as they could and didn't care about all the small doors with the brass plates and possible secrets... All were there for the dinner with Strath of course.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Adding more personalities to the castle is fantastic! I had a player character captured in the castle and had to do chores for Cyrus. I was proud of that. I think I got that idea from Many Mod, but I'm not certain.
@striker8961
11 ай бұрын
I think players should understand they are entering Barovia, a different plane of existence when making their characters. Don’t expect your literal backstory to come into play very much, and especially don’t make a very complicated intricate one. Understand that you should create a character with strong beliefs, ways of doing things, morals, personality, modus operandi. That will gel well with the setting, gives them a place and purpose. How does Barovia challenge them and how do they challenge Barovia. Physically and mentally. So I definitely agree with your point about echoes of backstory. How they relate to the world they are in. Sympathies, memories. Chances to correct past mistakes or help others in similar crisis.
@FlutesLoot
11 ай бұрын
Well said!
@mke3053
2 жыл бұрын
Strahd final battle on castle's bridge... No one tought it possible... Strahd uses Steel wind strike to kill 4 pcs and there were only 2 players left... a player willingly uses a "This is sparta" kick to shove the other on a death fall, instantly and surprisingly becoming the traitor (and a vampire spawn)... not even the DM could imagine that.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Is that what happened in your group? That's brutal! I also had a fall from that bridge, but it was at the hands of Kiril.
@mke3053
Жыл бұрын
@@FlutesLoot Yes, exactly that. Memorable!!!
@solredqueen
8 ай бұрын
Ended up incorporating Carmilla, (Or Miracilla as her alias is) Into COS. It's pretty funny.
@ChioniLoux
2 жыл бұрын
This video was so insightful! I’m running CoS right now where I’ve dropped the realm of Barovia into my homebrew world and it’s been quite challenging but so rewarding so far! I’m definitely going to be using your advice!
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
I'm always thrilled to hear that my ideas were helpful for someone else to make their own. :)
@aftermath_euphoria
2 жыл бұрын
I've just finished the campaign for 1 group and definitely learnt a lot. Group 2 is ongoing and group 3 starts soon. Love these tips and will definitely use some in the future.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Good luck with your groups! :)
@adamalderman2264
2 жыл бұрын
Great video! I loved the advice about having the fight start at the top of Ravenloft and phase downward. Definitely enhances the boss-battle feel!
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
I'll definitely attempt that next time I run the module. That idea came from me asking on Reddit where people prefer to have the final fight, resulting in the discussion leading to the concept, so I can't take sole credit for the idea.
@adamalderman2264
2 жыл бұрын
@@FlutesLoot I'm about to run this for my kids and their friends and in the prep phase and KNOW I'll be coming back for more of your insight. Thank you so much for the videos!
@dlingeman1
2 жыл бұрын
Hey Flutes! I just want to say I think your content is great! I’m glad you keep doing videos that are backed up by useful articles. So much of DnD on KZitem is just reacting to new WotC releases or extremely niche character optimization. The articles on your site make it clear you and the other authors actually play and enjoy the game and your recommendations (including character feat choices and stuff. I’m not against optimization) reflect that.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you! We absolutely decided early on that we wanted to make sure our content is always unique on the internet in some way, and definitely distinguishable from anything AI could write/create, haha :P I'm always pleased to hear someone thinks we're meeting that goal :)
@Jessie_Helms
2 жыл бұрын
I’ve got some interesting backstories for my PC’s: Grave Cleric: Grew up in a swamp by a graveyard, met and befriended a revenant who’s purpose was to find and lay to rest his comrades who he’d abandoned in battle. The young Tortle befriended the revenant and eventually convinced him to find the bodies, listen to the ghosts, and lay them to rest. Originally it was a ghost but I said “oh hey, there’s a revenant in Barovia, might be cooler if it was a revenant you befriended” and the player agreed. Lizardfolk Druid: He’s the sole survivor of a previous party and owes Gertruda and Mad Mary a life debt for nursing him back to health. Everything before Barovia is extremely vague. (He’s also the sole survivor of an actual TKP). Wild magic Barbarian: The soul of a failed lich is stuck inside him. This outta be interesting once they run into the dragon lich and stuff. The monk just wants to punch evil things.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Those are FANTASTIC backstories for adventurers in Barovia!
@leomanach4735
2 жыл бұрын
LMAO I got a monk who just wants to punch evil things and a fighter who just wants to pick evil things (yes he goes with a pickaxe) on my Icespire Peak party
@KevorkianDoctor
2 жыл бұрын
Strongly recommend upgrades the wives to full characters and importance.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Great tip! I found that the players always "enjoyed" having at least one wife to despise.
@vladimirserpov6773
2 жыл бұрын
+ full vampires, not vamp spawn
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
@@vladimirserpov6773 they're far less limited as full vampires, but I think it can be fun to play them as "greater" vampire spawns who are trying to get Strahd to let them drink his blood so they can finally become full vampires who are not beholden to his will. Fun either way! :)
@vladimirserpov6773
2 жыл бұрын
@@FlutesLoot I really love the "family feud" road, when Anastrasija or other consort/bride becomes too jealous for their own good, makes attempt at Tatyana's incarnation life, and then Strahd may send party off on the hunt: "Divorce process is regulated by law, but we aren't married. No need to kill a lady, of course. Just stake her and bring me the body. I am merciful, after all." And while the party is busy, Strahd would make a classic move of attempting abduction of Tatyana's incarnation, if that incarnation is not among the party members. Of course making brides stronger should always come with a proper plot twist for applying divide and conquer strat.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
@@vladimirserpov6773 I too enjoy the family feud angle. All my campaigns involved one of the brides trying to work through others to get Ireena killed while remaining apart from it to avoid suspicion/punishment.
@Il_Grande_Mur
2 жыл бұрын
Where did you find that good maps of Castle Ravenloft? In the book the maps are very good but not usable to show the players where they are. I need maps viewed from the top, to show them piece by piece, while the war fog fades away.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Great question! I purchased these high-quality maps for Castle Ravenloft on the DMs Guild specifically because I wanted the castle to be a highlight when I was playing online. I don't remember if they have instructions for print, but they were fantastic for online (they're big, so you can zoom in for tokens and still look great): www.dmsguild.com/product/185990/Castle-Ravenloft-hires-colour-jpg-maps?affiliate_id=3063449
@PrometheanConsulting
2 жыл бұрын
Strahd **HATED** me. I can't speak to the DM side of things on this campaign... I've been DMing various games since the 70s. But I was playing a Beguiler under 3.5 rules and specialized in counterspell feats and I don't know how Strahd's charm is supposed to work but enchantments and illusions are a Beguiler's jam and perhaps there's a mechanics reason I was never charmed and maybe the DM decided that if I was charmed that the party had no chance at all?! I can see an argument for that. When we faced off, though, Strahd found himself without any good options. We had powerful melees and we had a solid cleric and wizard. But whenever Strahd wanted to cast, if I had a spell in that school available (and for Beguilers, all spells in their spell list are available), I'd automatically counter it. And if it wasn't in a school I had, I had a Dispel Magic (maybe a Greater, I can't recall what levels we were) to contest it. And if he became vulnerable to take care of me, my party was going to swarm him. Near the finale, I was forced to cast a Greater Mirror Image as a defensive action and Strahd saw his chance. He braved fire from my teammates and engaged me, wounding me. To which I responded with Alter Self to Strahd's lost love. He & I were surrounded by images of a wounded Tatyana swirling around us. OOC - I feel the GM lost a storytelling moment and I would have gone another direction. The GM responded later that Strahd had True Sight so he was able to see through the illusion. As a GM, I would have rewarded the creativity with a pause. Even when people KNOW something intellectually that doesn't mean they are unaffected emotionally. I think it would have been disorienting to be confronted by such a vivid image. At a minimum, something like... "Strahd smiles thinly and hisses, 'Nice try.' and quits the battlefield to heal."
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
It's definitely more fun when the "beguiling" techniques are paid off in some way, even if they didn't *work* entirely. Strahd is a master manipulator, so he'll either be impressed or disgusted by another like him. Eventually he hates everyone haha.
@EXScytheMint
2 жыл бұрын
After I TPKed my group at the Feast at level 7, my players mentioned they didn't like how they didn't feel like they were hitting any milestones or "accomplished" any goals. They had issues with exploring as encounters/areas were higher levelled and felt completely powerless in some situations. I would probably emphasize or modify a few moments in the campaign where they just "succeed" something versus "succeeding but with a less desirable outcome" as it happens quite a lot.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
This is a great point. I also found it was easy for players to feel like they weren't progressing. Once they had some big wins, it all turned around. Emphasizing what they can achieve, such as finding the fortunes of Ravenloft items, really helps.
@marksokka
Жыл бұрын
i'm noticing a lot of similarities between the curse of strahd and the video game series Castlevania. Both have a vampire that always comes back to life and both have living castles.
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
Yep!
@DemoBytom
2 жыл бұрын
I would say - do something with the Hags. In the module they are quite boring, 1-dimensional, objectively evil beings, players pretty much have to kill, when they learn the truth about their pastries. Instead it's much more interesting to tone them down a bit, and then weave them into world more - as those creepy old ladies, that some people have been making deals with. They could divine for the players, or provide some rare spellcasting materials (at extra cost), usually with creepy side effects. And everything comes at a price, not always covered with gold. In my game they have a host of "services" they can provide, and thus - become harder to just kill off. And think about their motivations - are they trapped in Barovia and want to get out as well? But are smart enough to not go against Strahd themselves, instead waiting till someone offs him, for them. They might be cutting deals with many people - if players piss off Lady Wachter, she might cut a deal with the Hags to have a Banderhobb stalk them, for example. Also be prepared to tone down the pastry reveal, or to change it completely - make sure your players will be OK with that twist, and if not - change it beforehand. In my game I wasn't comfortable with the idea of feeding dead children to player characters, so I reworked it as follows: The hags are "emotions" vampires - they feed off good emotions people have - especially beautiful dreams, they harvest as people sleep. But Barovia is a somber place, so they'd starve - so Morgantha created Dream Pastries - she uses a bit of those "good emotions" to enchant the pies, she then sells to people. They eat it, and have the most beautiful dreams in their lives, happiness they never expirienced, which when they wake up - is all gone - harvested by Morgantha and her coven. People get hooked on that feeling and want more, going so far as to selling all their belongings, just to afford more, and the Coven has their own "dreams factory" in the Village (and late Vallaki). People who can no longer afford pastries might start cutting terrible deals, commiting crimes, stealing and eventually dying from the sadness that seeps in every time they wake up. Another thing - Do something with the Brides. In the module they are uninteresting nobodies, just "creepy ladies that Strahd has in his crypt". Instead - give them personality and something to do. Strahd needs "lieutenants" to carry out his will out in the Valley, and keep track track of minutia he's too busy. Someone who will be an intermediary between comon spy and himself. I had every bride be responsible for one big event in the module, overseeing it. And when players thwarted it - they'd escape. THat also makes the encounter with them all in the castle later more insteresting. I had Ludmilla oversee the theft of bones in Vallaki as well as preparing for the Feast (she was one of the vampires in the coffin maker's shop) Volenta coordinated the attack on the vinery and keeps an eye on both the druids and werewolves. Anastrasya was responsible for corrupting and keeping an eye on the Abbot - feeding him lies, and pushing his madness further and further. She was warded against divination with a necklace and had magic aura spell on her, to hide the fact she was a vampire and undead.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Great tips! I think the hags and the wives are some of the most interesting aspects for players. Each campaign I ran had players comment about how much they hated or were intrigued by the hags and wives (in a fun way). How to handle them is worth considering, and you provided useful ideas.
@timothypeterson4781
2 жыл бұрын
I've run it many *many* times. I do three main parts of homebrew and one small one. One: I have redone most of the Amber Temple and try to lure players there early. I make it so that the deals don't just take away your character if you fail. You can take one deal, and that's that. Though they have negatives down the line. Two: I gave all his wives personalities. One is in love with one, one is obsessed with him, and one is just there because of an old political deal that was made with the Zarovich family. And they all have their own motivations and interests. Three: I make the mad mage more of a moral dilemma. Not a "go fix this guy." It's a "if you want... You can have his power to help your cause. But you will need to kill him to take it." Minor: I rework Morgantha to make her more likely to help the players when they show up first, for... A favor in the future. The best feeling is when she extends a hand to shake and when they shake it you have her say "the deal is struck." They know they just made a deal that they probably shouldn't have.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Giving personality to the wives is a popular one. I enjoyed highlighting them and making the players hate at least one of them.
@LJupiter89
9 ай бұрын
I revamped both Ismark and Ireena as I felt that they should be more than just a Veteran & Noble. I ended up turning Ismark into a van helsing type bro who after months of keeping his sister safe has trained and developed those credentials lmao Ireena was turned into a Paragon of sorts with some hefty inspiring abilities and high charisma lmao They both have silvered weapons and holy water flasks. They've become staple travel companions for the group I introduced them to as such. They love them!!! I feel like it really brought those 2 to light and gives the players more reason to contend with Strahd after befriending the siblings and aiding them.
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
📒 Read my article on 13 tips and lessons learned for running #CurseofStrahd here: www.flutesloot.com/curse-of-strahd-dm-tips-advice-ideas-lessons 📚 Read all our Curse of Strahd articles www.flutesloot.com/category/running-the-game/curseofstrahd 🗺Purchase the same maps I purchased for Castle Ravenloft: www.dmsguild.com/product/185990/Castle-Ravenloft-hires-colour-jpg-maps?affiliate_id=3063449 DragnaCarta talks about how to run terrifying villains (I HIGHLY recommend this video): kzitem.info/news/bejne/x36X2pycnaWCpH4 Tell me which of my ideas inspired you with this poll: poll.fm/10954697 Much of the art in the video was gathered years ago when I ran CoS, so let me know if you want me to help you find a particular art piece that you liked in the video.
@joostq.vansantvoort5245
Жыл бұрын
My personal tip: Add more monsters to give your players a little more variety in enemies and so it makes the world a little more engaging
@scottburns4458
2 жыл бұрын
Excellent video! I really mixed it up from the get go and played up that they really weren’t home. Some of the ways I played up the alienness of the place was by changing up the religion to Greyhawk deities from my Homebrew deities. I also lent heavily into the differences in how magic worked and expanded those rules for spells that would produce different effects I also had them appear near the left side of the map with the Death House the only sign of civilization they initially saw. This starting point made it so they could see the changes in the landscape and people as they got closer to Strahd etc. I also had their dead haunt them being heard and seen in the mist at every opportunity demanding why they won’t save them. It was truly an awesome campaign to DM. Cheers
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
That sounds like the classic Strahd experience players crave! I love the haunting dead in the mist idea.
@scottburns4458
2 жыл бұрын
@@FlutesLoot Thanks I really tried hard to make it a campaign to remember as it was my last with that group
@theturtlerguy1236
4 ай бұрын
originality is the ability to conceal the source
@FlutesLoot
4 ай бұрын
🥸
@Jgpgames
Жыл бұрын
I'm homebrewing a lot of the mechanics of Curse of Strahd but leaving the story nearly untouched (except for somethings I'm taking inspiration from I, Strahd) decided to run it for some high level adventurers and buffed up Strahd a good bit with higher level spells, some maneuvers from his soldier days, and general tankyness due to vampires in my setting being based off the witcher
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
It's fun to ramp up Strahd to be tougher
@frankmconrad
2 жыл бұрын
How did you make travel dangerous and not boring/tedious?
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
As I reflect on that, I think it's two-fold. 1) Urgency. I made it clear that there were multiple timelines and a calendar being kept for events to happen. For example, a missing girl, the bones of St. Andral, the winery, etc. The players knew that if they left a location to travel, that they'd lose time that could be devoted to solving a problem where they already were. This made travel a meaningful decision and not a fast travel to hand wave. 2) Each encounter on the road was relevant to the players and not a throw-away combat sequence to be quickly forgotten. Even running into tree blights became meaningful because they'd find information on a corpse or have a vision, or they'd wonder where they came from. I also used eerie trinkets to be found and for the players to reflect on, kind of like foreshadowing. Phrasing this point another way, I considered how everything encountered on the road would matter to the plot or to the player characters in some way. It's also ok to just see something without a forced combat; there are multiple ways to interact with a scenario of interest. I hope this helps. I think it's generic advice, but it works.
@frankmconrad
2 жыл бұрын
@@FlutesLoot Btw with a lot of quality COS videos or there this was some quality content... Good job and thanks duty your effort (I know the amount of work to do into YT videos) That's a great point about urgency in keeping that in my mind that traveling somewhere to accomplish a goal needs to have the drawback of not being able to accomplish something in the current situation... My biggest question and concern I've had in many of my games is how to handle overland travel.. judging from your response you have "planned encounters"... This allows you to do the foreshadowing and potential lore drops... My concern is always that I have limited time at the table with my players and don't want to waste it on roadside travel "filler,"..... Anyway Id love to see you put out a video giving a deeper explanation on how to make travel dangerous and meaningful yet not bog down the game. Thanks!
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
@@frankmconrad thank you! And I've added this idea to my list. Exploration and travel suffer in 5e, so more content about that would be useful. I also have a DM round table video where I ask several other KZitemrs about the Exploration pillar of play in D&D 5e (because I struggle with it).
@ChaoticVoicesofAndreas
Жыл бұрын
Beautiful video! I'm going to use a lot of these tips for my own game!
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
I'm glad the video inspired you :)
@CelticpredGaming
Жыл бұрын
Made my players go to the castle for the heist and they got to explore most of it and the catacombs/dungeons, they really enjoyed it, one player even got killed using the orbs and got teleported into the Vampire spawn room in the Amber temple.
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
Those orbs will getcha, haha. Exploring the castle is very fun for players.
@tritan1310
2 жыл бұрын
20:25 lmao why is Data here Man caught me off guard
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Haha I used Data's image to portray the Abbot in my first CoS game.
@ahhabanderys3286
2 жыл бұрын
Hi, thanks for the video. Starting CoS next month. I already tried to launch it a couple of years ago, but I had to move and the campaign stalled. This will be my first game as a dm. Last time I killed half the party in the dead house, they level 3 went to the hill and barely escaped there. So thanks for the tips "how to" and there won't be a couple of words, what "definitely not" to do?)
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
Good luck! Is the last part of your comment requesting more info on what *not* to do? I think the best tip I can give there is to not constantly make the campaign a downer. The party should have wins and quiet moments between moments of horror and moral dilemmas. There should NPCs they can trust and return to. If the DM tries to keep the action and suspense high at all times, the players will burn out and lose interest.
@sammybowker7823
2 жыл бұрын
If I'm using the death house intro for this module, when is a good time to introduce strahd? (more so their first interaction with him) in the house? after they escape? after madam eva's card reading? first time running it and I'm just curious how you handled that!
@FlutesLoot
2 жыл бұрын
I like to introduce him within the first or second session following Death House. My favorite was him attending the funeral of Ireena and Ismark's father at the church. However, one of my groups went to Vallaki as fast as possible. They didn't meet him until he teleported to the coffin maker's shop during their fight with the vampires there (via the teleportation mechanism for that location from Castle Ravenloft).
@sammybowker7823
2 жыл бұрын
@@FlutesLoot awesome thank you!!
@lanestonesvlogs
Жыл бұрын
I introduced him via a letter after they conquered Death House and the Funeral they woke up to a letter on the desk then immediately after they met Vasili they got the invitation to the Dinner which they enjoyed very much, what's funny is a few sessions later when they found out Vasilis actual identity they told me after they had suspensions about him but they really thought he was a good guy
@Animefan1803
Жыл бұрын
Another tip when running CoS for an experienced group that played CoS before. Nothing stops you from making Strahd immune to the magical MacGuffins that the players collected over the course of the adventure. He´s literally an ancient Evil that can or has returned dozens of times. Sometimes you gotta amp up the antics a bit.
@FlutesLoot
Жыл бұрын
I don't recommend making Strahd immune to the magic items the campaign sets up as tools to defeat him. Making Strahd outright immune would undermine your efforts as the DM to make the players feel like their choices matter, in this case being the choices to bother gathering the magic items. Player agency is integral to the game; players will lose interest without it. If the group is experienced and has played CoS before, I'd find other ways to remix the campaign in unexpected ways. Adding more detail to factions and locations would be fun. If they haven't had much of a chance to explore the castle in past campaigns, I'd definitely enable them to do so.
@pigeonsyndrome2249
Ай бұрын
As for tip #6, on homebrew ways to dethrone Strahd, I remember seeing suggested that the only way to rid Strahd of his curse was for someone else to replace him and that's still probably my favourite method of perma-killing Strahd. Both the Death House and the Tree seem to not only foreshadow Strahd's immortality but also reinforce a theme of stasis in Barovia. As a soul-trap maintained by the Dark Powers, everything is bound to remain eternally unchanging. Strahd may seem like Barovia's master, but he too is bound by this rule and in this sense he's no less a servant or a toy to the Dark Powers than the players are to him. If you as a DM play on this theme of Barovia being unchangable, then the only plausible way to defeat Strahd is to replace him - to have one of the player characters be willing to work with the Dark Powers and effectively "steal" Strahd's curse of immortality, but in the process sacrificing their chance of escaping and dooming their soul to be stuck in Barovia forever, possibly being corrupted by the Dark Powers. Strahd may be gone, but the ending is still open - will the new ruler be any better than him? Or will they eventually succumb to the forces that keep Barovia unchanging? Was the sacrifice really worth it if the result in ultimately the same?
@FlutesLoot
Ай бұрын
That's the alternative I used and it seemed memorable for the players. If I run the campaign again, I'll have to consider how I want to set up the ending options to switch things up.
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