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In that instance, don't level them for at least another session or two. Sometimes the group might fly through a chapter in a single session and it will feel too soon to level them. Just have the group level at certain points, usually after they finish a chapter. Gaining Levels: I would recommend that you do not give out experience points when you run this. I decided to make one a dramatic introduction encounter, and the other 3 based on each of Strahd's Goals (listed on page 10). I placed four Strahd Encounters prior to the actual trip into Castle Ravenloft in my outline. There are general guidelines for encounters on page 10, and there are a number of suggested Strahd encounters sprinkled in various chapters, but ultimately it's up to you to decide what you want to do. Strahd Encounters: One thing the book leaves in your hands is when, where and how Strahd interacts with the group as they travel through Barovia. If you don't own a tarokka deck, that's fine. When it came time to run this, I would stack my tarokka deck so that when I did the reading at the table when running the game, it would give me the results I wanted. That way I could put the items in locations that I want to run, use the NPC I like, and put Strahd in the room that I think is the most fitting. For the tarokka reading, I just picked the results that I wanted. So if I did a reading at the table and I draw the temple, I'm kind of stuck with it. As an example, while I think the Amber Temple is awesome, it just didn't feel right to me for this campaign. Be aware that if you do the reading at the table with your players, you might get results that you don't like. This way, if the heroes never meet Eva, you have determined where the items are and etc.
#Curse of strahd blood spear how to
How to Handle the Tarokka Reading: In the adventure, it is suggested that the DM do one reading before the game, and then another if the heroes go to Eva's. The wereravens are good guy allies of the heroes from start to finish. If things get muddled and your group is floundering in the game, remember that you can use the wereravens to nudge them in the right direction.
The details are buried in the text of each chapter. Making Connections: The trickiest thing about making an outline for Curse of Strahd is finding out how to connect one section to the next. The fact that the magic items that the heroes need to get (the tome, the icon and the sunsword) are in specific areas means that the group has to go to those areas at some point. For the most part you'll probably be fine. Making Your Outline: When you are planning out your campaign outline, keep in mind that certain things might change once you start running the game depending on the actions of the players. I wrote a Guide to Curse of Strahd which might help you figure out other stuff, too.
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I would suggest that you create an outline of the places you want the group to go to, and in what order. There are a lot of details in a lot of different places and it can be very difficult to fit it all together.
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What Do I Do With This? You might look at the Curse of Strahd book and ask yourself, "What do I do with this?" Your job is to link the different areas and ideas together to form a storyline path. You can see how he ran it and how he handled things. On that show, the guy who wrote this adventure runs it for a group. This Show Helps: If you have the time and you are new to D&D, you might want to watch Dice Camera Action, a show that is on Twitch and Youtube. In this section, I am going to give you an outline of how you can put this adventure together. How to Run Curse of Strahd I've been reading that a lot of newer dungeon masters are having a hard time figuring out how to run Curse of Strahd. At the end, I have included a sample campaign so newer DMs can get an idea of how to put this adventure together. This guide has a lot of stuff that should make your life easier. In this guide, we are going to go over Curse of Strahd and discuss the things you need to know when running the adventure. Appendix A: Character Options.īefore you start the campaign.Ĭhapter 2: The Lands of Barovia.Ĭhapter 3: The Village of Barovia.Ĭhapter 5: The Town of Vallaki.Ĭhapter 8: The Village of Krezk.Ĭhapter 10: The Ruins of Berez.Ĭhapter 11: Van Richten's Tower.Ĭhapter 12: The Wizard of Wines.Ĭhapter 13: The Amber Temple.
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