13:54 So wait, Sips? Also, I just feel bad for Ireina at this point. Nearly everyone in the land wants her for Strahd who is A CREEP( GO AWAY, YOUR A CREEP, WE WERE HAVING SUCH A GOOD TIME BEFORE YOU SHOWED UP) AND THE ONLY WAY TO QUELL HIS METAPHORICAL THIRST IS TO TAKE OTHER PEOPLE'S BODY PARTS TO MAKE A CREEPY SEX TOY REPLICA OF HER. DID I FORGET TO MENTION THIS GUY HAS NO WEAKNESS, IS TO STRONG TO DEFEAT, AND IS TO STUBBORN EVEN FOR STEVEN UNIVERSE TO PERSUADED. P.S.: 21:03 Oh, you are so ded, and I was right this time.
I’m quite old and have really bad arthritis , so cleaning myself can be quite difficult, but with the turbo scrub I can clean every nook and cranny of my big ,saggy, old ass
I like how Boshack is the perfect definition of a "compliant" chaotic-evil character who uses his knowledge of the dark arts to help fill in logical holes for the party. All for his own benefit of course! But that's better than screwing the entire party or murderhoboing.
Oh yeah if you know how to do it playing an evil character is very possible, but the problem is most people don't know how to play an evil character which results in the unfortunate chaotic stupid, screwing with the party, and murder hoboing
@@NobodyDungeons To be honest most people don't know how to play any alignment beside stupid. It is why there is so many chaotic neutral players, despite it being actually worst alignment possible! Yes, you aren't obligated by morality and law, but you know what? Everyone know that! Good or Lawful people would not hire bandit, evil would not hire undecided, you aren't even good option for chaotic neutral thugs, as even they can't trust you! You people limit yourself to lamest tasks on the list! But noo... noooo limitation on paper is so cooooool 0_0 (for clarity I'm not saying that people should not pick it, when they have actual reason to do so, just why so many people pick worst option on list for profits? Stupid!)
"By the way," said our DM, "I wanted to introduce you to my roommate, he's interested in joining our game." He gestured towards the kitchen. There, next to the refrigerator, stood Strahd Von Zarovich.
@@toonsandwich4284 As we shied away from Strahd Von Zarovich our Grubhub order arrive. Hungry, our Cleric's player opened the door and there stood Strahd Von Zarovich.
Boshack: "I WARNED YOUUUU!" So clearly Boshack's soul somehow got trapped in a weapon in another crystal sphere and became the Weapon of Warning from that one game of Ben's
Oh please no, that annoying chunk 'o metal is an a$$hat. Boshack was just clarifying he was right about a very specific warning which everyone pretty much ignored.
@@turbopokey But he said it in the exact same connotation, it's gotta be him. It's just as a magic weapon from another plane of existence he sees so many things he has to warn his owner about that he can only give them a general warning for the day.
@@Carbadonia mmm...I can understand your desire to formulate a theory and to hammer it into shape to fit into "PuffinForest" canon, I enjoy similar thought experiments, I'm just expressing that the reason might not need to be as complicated as you're suggesting. It could be as simple as Ben's being a smarta$$. Again, your concept is great, I'm just leaning away from giving that annoying sword any more validation than it's already received, but I can't think of anything better.
@@turbopokey I originally had a witty reply about Occam's Razor and the cosmos, but then RUclips did a dumb, so I'll just leave it at that and say screw the badly designed reply from notifications system.
@@nathanfriedman7367 Also if there a Paladin in the group he know where that Paladin is at all time because there holy good powers shine like a beacon in borovia atleast in old dnd edition, is it still the same in 5E?
Esmerelda: Hi! I am your one and only true ally in this blasted hell filled with things that want to kill you! *dies and get turned into a vampire* Garo: T_T
I mean, that's pretty on pint for Barovia... that kind of stuff happens, and I'm sure not just to the big, "bigger than life" tragic saga characters, but all those lesser or unknown guys just living their lives in said blasted he'll, or st least trying to without going completely twisted or corrupt...
@@WingZX1103 Well, he was one of the ally cards they drew, meaning he would join them. Plus they also drew the actual best ally card too, aka the archmage with 9th level spell slots
Ben: "So you're telling me this whole time, when we were at [all these places], that raven's just been sitting there, on your shoulder, *the whole time?!?* " DM: "Yep, it didn't leave." From off in the distance, Vaarsuvius waves to the party.
21:25 🤣 Oh... wow. Totally losing it here! Every video in this series so far, I've made a "I waaaaaaaarned youuuu" joke in the comments and gotten tons of upvotes each time. This time, I decided to do something different... and then I watch the rest of the video, and the joke I didn't use this time *was in the video itself!!!* 🤣
"Be careful not to give it baubles, or else it'll never shut up about it!" "That's only because everyone tries to steal my shiny! But I won't let them!" Love me some Order of the Stick
People tend to forget about anything that isn't actively making itself known constantly. Heck, I've seen many DMs do that. I've been in multiple battles where I ask "are the NPCs doing anything in this fight?" only to have the DM say "oops, I forgot they were there." Ravens tend not to be noticed often; it's the one major advantage wereravens have here.
I suspect the reason Strahd never gave control of the ravens to Valenta was because he himself does not have control over them, but is too prideful to admit it. On the bright side, it is still possible to save Ezmerelda, albeit highly unlikely. If Van Richten's been stalking Strahd well enough, he could sneak into wherever he's keeping the body and cast Raise Dead on it.
@Jared Hite-- it's certainly possible to save Ezmerelda, you just have to be clever enough to do it. Yes, the Devil Strahd(spits off to the side) can easily see through Illusion magic, but not a Normal disquise(though he certainly has a high Wisdom modifier). Make the flesh golem look like Ezmerelda and vise-versa before combat starts(KO the fallen cleric if you gotta) and he'll go after the fake every time. My group kinda fell into this plan, as we originally intended to get Ezmerelda close to the Count & stake him...
DeathMetalBard If I remember correctly, the Demiplanes of Dread, like the one Barovia is stuck on, are attached to the border of the Shadowfell, or something like that. It would make sense for the RQ to have a bit of influence if that's the case.
Keeping things as spoiler free as possible, both of those things are a possibility. Ravens are one of the few allies visitors to the land of Barovia can turn to, and no vampire hunter worth his salt leaves home without a way to raise the dead
I low key understand puffins frustration. The pet thing is kind of starting to happen. The party has a slime in a jar, a pocket watch mimic, and a pigmy maple gnome.
@@EspyLacopa2 dont want to bother or instigate... but I really wanna hear the story I might have to kill the mimic... I dont remember them feeding it in over two sessions. They cant even take care of them DX
@@kendrickrochelanzot2053 not so much I mean the enemies are also really dangerous the first enemy was somebody that stab the shit out of us Whit concrete Spears
I had a cleric once who worshiped the "Morning Lord". Or, more specifically, the "Morning Star". Or, to put it bluntly, Lucifer. Due to the subtle way that I played the character, it took the other players about 7 or 8 sessions before one of them finally had a revelation. "Wait a minute! He's EVIL!" The player declared in shock. Which instantly became a meme for the group.
I was playing a changeling with dissociative personality disorder disguised as an Eladrin with each season being a different alignment. The party never realized that Winter (whom by sheer chance I was playing for the majority of the campaign) was a neutral evil sociopath despite my questionable behavior.
Except Lucifer isn't actually evil. It is misconception, based on mistranslation mixed with bias and stupidity. Hell, bible say that straight! ""I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star" Revelation 22;16 But noooo! There is contrived explanation for that, as everyone know that reference to Nabuchodonozor II title of son of planet Venus is definitely about devil 0_0 Hell! Even in actual legend of Raziel it is transparently clear that he wasn't punished for descending on Earth! Because you know. He was the judge! It was Satan who overstepped his authority by accusing him who was punished by demotion. But nooooo 0_0
@@kylepessell1350 To be honest most players in D&D is murderhobo. I have in my campaign recurring character of Fifi the Unicorn (straight MLP) who is worst nightmare of my players, as whole idea behind it is playing on preconceptions. He is involved in lot of "Curse of Strahd" actions and on top of that he is actually a good guy, so they can't just ignore him ;D
True. We had the bad-to-worse plots, the awkward dinner, the betrayer...all we need is for Garo to discover Strahd is his Evil Magic Daddy and we can wrap this garbage fire up in a nice bow.
Wing ZX1103 she’s not really all that needed, before the campaign starts the dam randomized 5 things, the location of the book the sword and the amulet, where strahd fights them the first time they go there, and the “destined ally”. Almost any combat NPC can be said ally or you can have no ally
He's intelligent if his goal is to keep the party alive until they're strong enough to defeat him. Otherwise he should've tpk'ed the players at the first opportunity
@Yamareto Yes. What people forget is that they technically work for him. He literally did hired them on beginning of the story, just they vent rogue after finding that invitation was fake. It literally doesn't make sense for him to want kill them. At least not until team fulfill they purpose.
Markus Hansen ok first strahd is a good character but NOT Arthas level of good and really if anything Arthas would freaking roflstomp strahd and the whole demiplanes of dread, heck in canon Lord Soth almost did the same to strahd and he was simply a death knight (which while strong is NOT Lich King level of power) and the only reason why in the end that didn’t happen was because strahd was so scared of Soth that he simply allowed him to leave barovia because otherwise strahd knew Soth was powerful enough to perma-kill him.
Every time Strahd appears it only reminds me of RT's memes involving Von Karma Strahd: It was I who gave you those cursed magic items! Puffin: Strahd no!
Last episode, I was comforted by the fact that whilst Good was pointless, it was tempered by Evil being dumb... but now I see that Good is also so, so dumb...
I really enjoy these recaps much more than the full session recordings that some channels do. I hope this becomes a regular feature on your channel! Even if you did it without art, just the voice work you do makes it so enjoyable to listen to!
The recaps aren't that long, you could just listen to the "the curse of Strahd" playlist on his channel page. If you REALLY wanted to have a non-recap version, it's actually pretty easy to do yourself. Get a free RUclips downloader, there's plenty of them and not all work but because there's so many you will find one that works. Once you have the video (or audio, as most downloaders have a file conversation option) you can use Audacity to edit the files. Audacity is completely free and REALLY useful, I got it for one thing in particular and to this day I still use it on a lot of personal projects big and small. At first glance the options aren't apparent the way paint programs already have the tool buttons on screen, in audacity most tools are in the drop-down options, but if you mess around with it the learning curve is actually pretty fast and easy. Edit your files and *BAM!* ...you're done. The end. I think that as long as you have a good day (MAYBE two) learning how Audacity works that you can do the whole thing yourself in under an hour. The choice is yours.
Interesting to see how their DM handled the Abbot. In my game, I played him as more of an innocent monster instead of a defeatist. He genuinely believed that everyone could be saved, even Strahd, and believed that if Strahd could finally experience true, mutual love, he would be capable of redemption.
@@alexanderzhmurov9624 In what way likable? Stupid characters aren't likable, until you have weary low self-esteem. And downright stealing body parts to "save" a villain, who just want fancy body pillow, is anime level of ridiculous.
@@TheRezro There's more to this particular story on both the Abbott and Strahd's side that somewhat explains a few things. Without spoiling anything, the Abbott isn't stupid, he just has a very different view of the world compared to everyone else based on his own knowledge and experience. That's not to say either of them are fully justified in their choices, though. Both of them are pretty batshit crazy by any normal metric of sanity.
TheRezro Actually pretty logical ethically and philosophically speaking, as well as in practicality. I mean If you look at it like a super cliche story with a predetermined ending then of course not, but the abbot doesn’t have meta knowledge. Though the abbot’s strategy may be desperate and a moral grey area but if you look at the situation as if it was real and recognize he’s acting out of necessity then he’s had the best plan of anyone in the campaign so far. Many far more messed up people have been redeemed/rehabilitated in real life with less, and simply buying time to save countless lives is pretty smart too, though again in an interesting grey area because of the mind wipes. Seems like a cool and deep character however you want to spin it. Lot of ways to look at him but certainly the last of which is stupid, looking at it in black and white though? That’s pretty stupid.
Keep 'em coming, Puffin. This series is great. Vids on Curse of Strahd are entertaining to watch, because it never is the same experience, but it always has great drama. Best 5e campaign imo for this replayability.
I feel like a Grave Domain Cleric would be quintessential to a campaign like this. Those filthy vamps would NEVER get the drop on anyone, and it would be harder for them to get more thralls with easy Spare the Dying and Gentle Repose on your side.
That is exactly what I am playing in a heavily modded CoS campaign right now. Trust me, with a grave AND life cleric on your side, vampires aren't nearly as much of a problem. 2x Spirit guardians, 2x spiritual weapon + heals on the side and I can annul any crit within 30 ft of me...
My grave domain cleric was absolutely disgusted by the Abbott for defiling the dead. so I attacked him(i know i shouldnt have), and then got my head crushed in. The abbott brought me back to life, and my face was caved in.
Fun fact: When I played Curse of Strahd there were two sessions where a player and the DM had secretly planned their PC's death. The second one involved the reveal that Ismark had been replaced with Strahd a *long* time ago and proceeded to take three things from us, who were powerless to stop him. His journal, which we had just found Ireena Kolyana, who we genuinely thought was safe The heart of our Bard, in retribution for him taking Ireena's I still remember the moment where my character realized that even True Sight could not reveal a master deceiver. We took so much for granted that VARIS could boast about nothing escaping his sight when Strahd was still right under his nose
CoS really is one of those classic campaigns for a reason. When run well (like your GM is doing), it can be such a frustrating but fun experience as you feel like every step forward you take is the two steps backwards. Strahd is a villain you love to hate and he's actually really terrifying. Love these vids.
it seems to me that everything about this campaign is stuff that players would complain about. . .if it was a homebrew. railroading, player agency, unkillable DMPCs as the villains . . . but people are okay with it because it's "official product" if it was written by a homebrew DM, people woild be like "oh, what a terrible DM, it's supposed to be OUR story, not the DM story, we should get to do anything we want but the DM goes out of their way to make things happen THEIR way" . . . this is not to say I wouldn't want to play this campaign, but know it's spoilered for me. . . i'm not saying its a terrible campaign the DM is doing a great job interpreting it. i'm saying that if it wasn't "official ", players would criticize it as being "terrible" when it's not. People would probably not have given it a chance it a homebrew DM tried to do this
You’re party, still drunk from the club, enter the McDonalds at 5am. And there, behind the counter wearing an employee uniform, stood Strahd von Zarovich
Puffin, you really are a great story teller. I just had to pause the video the write this. For just one person to captivate my attention for literally hours, it's a gift. I do like your animations but clearly just your voicework is great on it's own. Thanks for your work.
Currently playing through Strahd and it kills me that I can’t watch these videos :( I’m sure they are just as great as usual and at least I’ll have a bunch of videos to watch when we finish.
I love these! Right now I am running CoS and these stories give me a lot of ideas. After a few sessions my players are feeling the weight of continuous failures.
This series is one that I'm always looking fwd to! It is definitely helping me to keep sane during this lockdown! I appreciate this series and all the other videos you have made thus far! Thank you!
It might have worked for the Vampire Spawn but the Simulacrum is considered as a construct and therefore, not really affected by the Sunlight. They might have also used up all the charges of the icon by the time the REAL Strahd showed up.
@@randonimity84 Your comment just made me realize the imposter was technically impersonating one character impersonating another character. That's some mission impossible level of fuckery.
Actually, they book does say that while there is still sunlight. It seems more of a dark overcast, where you can’t see the sunlight and Strahd can walk outside to a degree but it’s not enough to make them back off or die
I am not a loooong time subscriber, but since I've found this channel I've been seeing all your content. This new vids are not the exception. Bro...your killing me! I'm so into this form of telling or re-telling your games. I was so immersed that I didn't notices how tense I was over all the poop that was happening. Loving this series of videos your making, LOVING IT! Thanks for sharing man.
@@WingZX1103 Yeah, I have the adventure and the Abbot isn't that messed up. The Mongrelfolk come from a family that had a degenerative disease and mutations. He tried to cure them, but the Dark Powers twisted it and replaced the deformities with animal parts. The family were already evil people and they like being less human, but the Abbot feels bad and tries to take care of them. They continued to breed and now they've got a swarm of inbred evil animal mutants and the Abbot can't bring himself to end them, telling himself that one day he'll figure out how to cure them.
A lot of the morally grey NPCs in the adventure have a character flaw that causes them to subvert a traditionally good trope and twist it into evil. In the Abbot’s case, good’s traditional faith in the power of redemption was twisted into pride that he can one day pull it off on Strahd, if only he’s given enough time to try. Ironic: pride that good must triumph through him in that one specific way let the Abbot dig himself so deep into sunk cost fallacy that he became an agent of evil.
So uh, spoilers below [I waaaaarned youuuu!] So this campaign diary inspired me to finally crack open the actual module in order to loot some ideas for my own homebrew campaign. I kinda want to discuss what Puffin's GM changed and whether it was better or worse-- For the most part, I think he's manipulated things to put the characters in more morally difficult situations: -The module generally seems to imply that the Hags won't sell players their pastries at all, let alone employ them. - In the original, Fiona is much more upfront about working for Strahd and generally her character (and her family) will come off as more suspicious and a non-evil party doesn't seem likely to ally with her. -And (most) of the mongrelfolk actually specifically wanted to become mongrelfolk since they have like an oddly specific fascination with specific animal parts and the Abbot is more just insane with no mention made of how he crafts flesh golems (Strahd gave him the idea and encouraged him but no mention is made of a manual or where the Abbot learnt the necessary spells). -Some characters and elements seem to have been cut or moved for simplicity: the mongrelfolk are confined to the abbey rather than making up the whole town of Kresk as they seem to in this game, which may be for the best as there isn't really much of significance in Kresk outside of the Abbey, I think. I think some of them seem a bit edgy in a way I'm not sure I'd be down to run (tricking player characters into cannibalism can be a bit awkward...) but for the most part I like it. I think the Abbot's characterization here is much better and it's by far my favourite change in the campaign so far. The one thing I really don't like though is the Strahd simulacrum twist: I don't think there's anything in the original module (unless I'm really missing something) which implies that Strahd is capable of this kind of magic. I have a feeling that it might have been a last minute saving throw on the part of the DM who might have accidentally let Strahd get killed after assuming it would be an easy fight (hence why the Warlock only notices the telltale signs that the thing they killed was not Strahd after the initial fight) but I have two major issues with this: 1. Strahd already has a million ways to escape combat and/or revive himself, I really don't understand why he needed another one. 2. After including an element like this, it begs the question why Strahd doesn't use these simulacrums (simulacrae?) more aggressively? His casual reaction implies that this isn't a significant setback and that he can easily create more clones. Even if he can only have one at a time, one would think he could be using this ability to a far greater extent in a way which would break the module in a number of ways and essentially make it impossible for players to ever be sure they killed the real Strahd instead of just killing evil clone #4926. Maybe I'm being very arbitrary here but this is just something that would concern me as a player (even before I read the module-- just, I might be more inclined to blame the original writers then) and take some enjoyment out of the game. Can anyone give me their thoughts or help me out on whether I missed something for how 5e Ravenloft Strahd could pull this kind of shit (without it being completely game breaking?)
This is a super old comment but I just wanted to thank you for posting it. Getting to see the differences is really cool I personally agree about the clone thing. A justification that comes to mind is maybe some of the players knew the story already, and DM was trying to mix things up to keep them on their toes? And secondly, if I were Strahd, I wouldn't let on if cloning myself was super difficult. "Oh this old thing? Nbd I'm so powerful, resistance is futile blah blah blah"
I am currently running CoS and I am LOVING these. About 3 months ago I even searched for them... "puffin forest ravenloft" etc in my search history. Clearly it was fate.
Sword of Warning Whenever something shitty happens that could have been avoided with the right information, the sword will loudly shout 'I warned you', and everyone in the party will have modify memory cast on them so that they have memories of the sword giving them the information
I love listening to curse of strahd stories, and comparing them to how it played out when I DM'ed it. Seeing how other people handled different stuff and how drastically differently the story played out makes me want to start up roll20 and run it again for a group of randos.
Retaining the Symbol of Ravenkind was worth whatever other setbacks the party suffered in the encounter. Good structuring by the DM to be giving players what they need to be ultimately successful but still make it appear to be completely hopeless
Thank you for posting these videos, im DMing straud also and you gave me ideas. Like the necromancer in our group is looking to bring his sister back from the dead when she went into barovia for a quest and im using his sisters head for the flesh golem at the abbey. These videos have given me confidence in running curse of straud different from the book but keeping it the same story but made it more personal to my players so thank you.
I really enjoy this series and hope you do more! I don't mind the less amount of animation, I just enjoy your voice\storytelling. I have watched most videos at least three times.
Love this! Preparing CoD, and this is so helpful. Making the dinner invitation as a mid game teaser instead of end game battle, and Strahd killing a major NPC/ally infront of their eyes are definately something I'll incorporate.
Ravens in REAL LIFE can talk. I am not kidding. Look it up. They sound so bizzarely human compared to parrots. It's why Kenku, raven/crow people, can mimic people's voices.
Yes, as can almost all members of the blackbird family. Now obviously they copy with only limited understanding, but they also have been shown to have a fairly developed language of their own, being the only other non insect proven to be able communicate to others of their kind about an objects position across time and space. (Insects do so with chemical signals as you may have heard.) Blackbirds also seem capable of describing human faces to each other, and can not only use tools but have done things like bend a wire into a hook to fish an object out of a crack. I personally believe them to be the other sapient species on the planet even if they obviously have not matched our technological development.
Crows, ravens, blackbirds. I've seen them take cockles then smash then onto cars yo get at the meat. Heck I've seen them wait for traffic lights to turn green
It's interesting to see how other DM's run CoS. My own version was a high mortality game, where everyone was instructed to have a backup character ready at all times. I even did a session where we jumped to them playing their backup characters instead of the "main" party. I do enjoy some of the things Puffin's DM did though. It almost makes me want to run CoS again with some internet Randos, just to see how differently it would play out from my first attempt.
i look forward to every episode of this Puffin. Hats off to both you and your fellow party members. Ive always wanted to be part of this adventure. Now in a way i am. Thank you :)
This will likely be lost in the regular tidal wave of adoration you get from fans but I wanted to say thank you Puffin for entertaining me these past few years.
These have been fantastic to listen to. I've been debating running this module for my group for awhile and it's been interesting to see how they've modified it this time around. (I've run the 3.5 module before and read the Ravenloft novels, so it's been a real treat to listen to your play through).
A lot of his changes are popular changes catalogued on the Curse of Strahd subreddit on Reddit (MandyMod and DragnaCarta's Curse of Strahd: Reloaded are the two big ones). The only really new one that I hadn't seen before is Gertruda as a hag child - in the base game you find out she went to Castle Ravenloft to be with Strahd and is totally ignorant to his true personality.
My favorite moment in my own campaign was when the players left their adopted daughter with.... Well, I won't spoil it, but lets just say they, unknowingly, left her in a deadly situation. I had the girl try to tell them about what was wrong beforehand, but it was when the party was in a rush to accomplish another goal, so they brushed it off with a, "We'll talk about it later," which ended up being the last thing they said to her before she was killed. One of the players (the adopted dad) basically made it his mission from then on to find a way to bring her back.
@@badboyluvr I get that the module is deadly, but RAW, there are certain elements that are just stupid, unnecessarily deadly, e.g. CR 5 shambling mound in the basement of Death House, six CR 5 vampire spawn in the coffin maker's shop in Vallaki, etc... I get that they don't NEED to be combat encounters, but just running them as is, "Well, you started a fight. Bite the pillow, I'm going in dry," might not be the best way forward. You can kick the shit out of the party and still let them fail forward without completely crippling their chances at realistically taking down Strahd.
@@rukysgream You clearly haven't played Curse of Strahd if you're saying that. Because I have & my DM was pretty chill & we still got our butts handed to us a lot in that campaign. Some campaigns are genuinely harder, darker & more brutal to give players who want a challenge, a challenge.
What magical gifts have you gotten from your age?
*a r t h r i t i s*
Has the same energy as "I warned you!"
Pact of the lumbago
13:54 So wait, Sips? Also, I just feel bad for Ireina at this point. Nearly everyone in the land wants her for Strahd who is A CREEP( GO AWAY, YOUR A CREEP, WE WERE HAVING SUCH A GOOD TIME BEFORE YOU SHOWED UP) AND THE ONLY WAY TO QUELL HIS METAPHORICAL THIRST IS TO TAKE OTHER PEOPLE'S BODY PARTS TO MAKE A CREEPY SEX TOY REPLICA OF HER. DID I FORGET TO MENTION THIS GUY HAS NO WEAKNESS, IS TO STRONG TO DEFEAT, AND IS TO STUBBORN EVEN FOR STEVEN UNIVERSE TO PERSUADED.
P.S.: 21:03 Oh, you are so ded, and I was right this time.
@@brainfood473 the i warned you! was probably a call back to games he dm,ed.
I’m quite old and have really bad arthritis , so cleaning myself can be quite difficult, but with the turbo scrub I can clean every nook and cranny of my big ,saggy, old ass
I like how Boshack is the perfect definition of a "compliant" chaotic-evil character who uses his knowledge of the dark arts to help fill in logical holes for the party. All for his own benefit of course! But that's better than screwing the entire party or murderhoboing.
Yeah he is Chaotic Evi, not Chaotic Stupid. Always good to have that in your group.
An example of how to play an evil character the right way for sure.
Oh yeah if you know how to do it playing an evil character is very possible, but the problem is most people don't know how to play an evil character which results in the unfortunate chaotic stupid, screwing with the party, and murder hoboing
For those who want to play an evil character, follow Boshack’s example: be evil FOR the party, not TO the party.
@@NobodyDungeons To be honest most people don't know how to play any alignment beside stupid. It is why there is so many chaotic neutral players, despite it being actually worst alignment possible! Yes, you aren't obligated by morality and law, but you know what? Everyone know that! Good or Lawful people would not hire bandit, evil would not hire undecided, you aren't even good option for chaotic neutral thugs, as even they can't trust you! You people limit yourself to lamest tasks on the list! But noo... noooo limitation on paper is so cooooool 0_0
(for clarity I'm not saying that people should not pick it, when they have actual reason to do so, just why so many people pick worst option on list for profits? Stupid!)
"By the way," said our DM, "I wanted to introduce you to my roommate, he's interested in joining our game." He gestured towards the kitchen. There, next to the refrigerator, stood Strahd Von Zarovich.
I WARRRRRNED YOOOUUUU
I took out the character sheet for Stan and instead of my character, there stood Strahd Von Zarovich.
@@toonsandwich4284 As we shied away from Strahd Von Zarovich our Grubhub order arrive. Hungry, our Cleric's player opened the door and there stood Strahd Von Zarovich.
Somebody snuck a Baneblade behind enemy lines. STRAAAAAAAHD!
@@zenogias01 "This is getting out of hand. Now there are two of them!"
Boshack: "I WARNED YOUUUU!"
So clearly Boshack's soul somehow got trapped in a weapon in another crystal sphere and became the Weapon of Warning from that one game of Ben's
Oh please no, that annoying chunk 'o metal is an a$$hat. Boshack was just clarifying he was right about a very specific warning which everyone pretty much ignored.
@@turbopokey But he said it in the exact same connotation, it's gotta be him. It's just as a magic weapon from another plane of existence he sees so many things he has to warn his owner about that he can only give them a general warning for the day.
@@Carbadonia mmm...I can understand your desire to formulate a theory and to hammer it into shape to fit into "PuffinForest" canon, I enjoy similar thought experiments, I'm just expressing that the reason might not need to be as complicated as you're suggesting. It could be as simple as Ben's being a smarta$$. Again, your concept is great, I'm just leaning away from giving that annoying sword any more validation than it's already received, but I can't think of anything better.
@@turbopokey I originally had a witty reply about Occam's Razor and the cosmos, but then RUclips did a dumb, so I'll just leave it at that and say screw the badly designed reply from notifications system.
@@turbopokey If only the sword had warned you about the dumb comments you were making.
This episode in a nutshell:
Shenani Guys: Okay hopefully we can have some safety here.
Strahd: No.
Strahd: Also, no again.
It was I! DIO!
Module book: there is no safe place in borovia...well, expect for one thing, but the players have to take a sort of leap of faith.
@@WingZX1103 In my campaign, Strahd got some party member's hair and could just scry on us whenever he wanted. It was infuriating.
@@nathanfriedman7367 Also if there a Paladin in the group he know where that Paladin is at all time because there holy good powers shine like a beacon in borovia atleast in old dnd edition, is it still the same in 5E?
chris20364 to a degree, unless they put the revenants to rest then its disruptive somewhat. But he’ll know once you get to the castle.
Esmerelda: Hi! I am your one and only true ally in this blasted hell filled with things that want to kill you! *dies and get turned into a vampire*
Garo: T_T
Gollvieg I guess we forgot her master is still running around and the fact Emile is M.I.A fighting the other guy.
I mean, that's pretty on pint for Barovia... that kind of stuff happens, and I'm sure not just to the big, "bigger than life" tragic saga characters, but all those lesser or unknown guys just living their lives in said blasted he'll, or st least trying to without going completely twisted or corrupt...
Alexander Zhmurov shiiiiii, I swear it’s gonna be a crazy fight for van richten assuming he joins the party.
@@WingZX1103 Well, he was one of the ally cards they drew, meaning he would join them. Plus they also drew the actual best ally card too, aka the archmage with 9th level spell slots
I hate that I scrolled down before finishing the episode and read this.
"I WARRRRRNED YOU!"
BEST. CALLBACK.
The fucking sword of warning.
I want my Sword of Cocaine
IIIIO WArnED YOUIII
@@BlueScreen19 Always trust in the cocaaaiiiiiine!
"What gifts have your old age given you?"
'ARTHRITIS!'
"I WARNED YOUUUU!"
Ben: "So you're telling me this whole time, when we were at [all these places], that raven's just been sitting there, on your shoulder, *the whole time?!?* "
DM: "Yep, it didn't leave."
From off in the distance, Vaarsuvius waves to the party.
21:25 🤣 Oh... wow. Totally losing it here! Every video in this series so far, I've made a "I waaaaaaaarned youuuu" joke in the comments and gotten tons of upvotes each time. This time, I decided to do something different... and then I watch the rest of the video, and the joke I didn't use this time *was in the video itself!!!* 🤣
Yes, his/her loyal raven companion has been with them this whole time.
"Be careful not to give it baubles, or else it'll never shut up about it!"
"That's only because everyone tries to steal my shiny! But I won't let them!"
Love me some Order of the Stick
People tend to forget about anything that isn't actively making itself known constantly. Heck, I've seen many DMs do that. I've been in multiple battles where I ask "are the NPCs doing anything in this fight?" only to have the DM say "oops, I forgot they were there." Ravens tend not to be noticed often; it's the one major advantage wereravens have here.
Vaarsuvius reconciling with Blackwing (#672) is one of my favorite strips. :-)
I suspect the reason Strahd never gave control of the ravens to Valenta was because he himself does not have control over them, but is too prideful to admit it.
On the bright side, it is still possible to save Ezmerelda, albeit highly unlikely. If Van Richten's been stalking Strahd well enough, he could sneak into wherever he's keeping the body and cast Raise Dead on it.
It would make sense as the Raven Queen is a goddess of death and uses raven's particularly.
Or Gentle Repose. That's much cheaper and much lower level.
@Jared Hite-- it's certainly possible to save Ezmerelda, you just have to be clever enough to do it. Yes, the Devil Strahd(spits off to the side) can easily see through Illusion magic, but not a Normal disquise(though he certainly has a high Wisdom modifier). Make the flesh golem look like Ezmerelda and vise-versa before combat starts(KO the fallen cleric if you gotta) and he'll go after the fake every time. My group kinda fell into this plan, as we originally intended to get Ezmerelda close to the Count & stake him...
DeathMetalBard
If I remember correctly, the Demiplanes of Dread, like the one Barovia is stuck on, are attached to the border of the Shadowfell, or something like that. It would make sense for the RQ to have a bit of influence if that's the case.
Keeping things as spoiler free as possible, both of those things are a possibility. Ravens are one of the few allies visitors to the land of Barovia can turn to, and no vampire hunter worth his salt leaves home without a way to raise the dead
I low key understand puffins frustration. The pet thing is kind of starting to happen. The party has a slime in a jar, a pocket watch mimic, and a pigmy maple gnome.
At least your party doesn't collect catgirls.
@@EspyLacopa2 dont want to bother or instigate... but I really wanna hear the story
I might have to kill the mimic... I dont remember them feeding it in over two sessions. They cant even take care of them DX
At least you don't have a bread fungus that is one of the PC that is absolutely Over powered
@@fcomolineiro7596 you have a bread fungus PC? That sounds broken
@@kendrickrochelanzot2053 not so much I mean the enemies are also really dangerous the first enemy was somebody that stab the shit out of us Whit concrete Spears
I had a cleric once who worshiped the "Morning Lord". Or, more specifically, the "Morning Star". Or, to put it bluntly, Lucifer.
Due to the subtle way that I played the character, it took the other players about 7 or 8 sessions before one of them finally had a revelation.
"Wait a minute! He's EVIL!" The player declared in shock. Which instantly became a meme for the group.
I was playing a changeling with dissociative personality disorder disguised as an Eladrin with each season being a different alignment. The party never realized that Winter (whom by sheer chance I was playing for the majority of the campaign) was a neutral evil sociopath despite my questionable behavior.
Except Lucifer isn't actually evil. It is misconception, based on mistranslation mixed with bias and stupidity. Hell, bible say that straight!
""I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star"
Revelation 22;16
But noooo! There is contrived explanation for that, as everyone know that reference to Nabuchodonozor II title of son of planet Venus is definitely about devil 0_0
Hell! Even in actual legend of Raziel it is transparently clear that he wasn't punished for descending on Earth! Because you know. He was the judge! It was Satan who overstepped his authority by accusing him who was punished by demotion. But nooooo 0_0
@@kylepessell1350 To be honest most players in D&D is murderhobo. I have in my campaign recurring character of Fifi the Unicorn (straight MLP) who is worst nightmare of my players, as whole idea behind it is playing on preconceptions. He is involved in lot of "Curse of Strahd" actions and on top of that he is actually a good guy, so they can't just ignore him ;D
@@TheRezro Wow. That's all 100% irrelevant.
Thank you.
@@JoeSyxpack Yes, I also think that about the religion ;D
Just when you think each session end couldn't get more Empire Strikes back, we get this ending
Empire Strikes back was three episodes ago. This is Infinity War.
what do you mean? Empire strikes back has a very different storyline🧐
@@fafikommander1903 Can't tell if you're trying to be funny or actually don't get it
True. We had the bad-to-worse plots, the awkward dinner, the betrayer...all we need is for Garo to discover Strahd is his Evil Magic Daddy and we can wrap this garbage fire up in a nice bow.
Wait until Stan velsing comes in he’ll be able to defeat strahd no problem
Honestly im expecting the DM to turn that into an NPC if esmeralda was essential and needed a replacement
Wing ZX1103 she’s not really all that needed, before the campaign starts the dam randomized 5 things, the location of the book the sword and the amulet, where strahd fights them the first time they go there, and the “destined ally”. Almost any combat NPC can be said ally or you can have no ally
@@pillarsofsnow7940 i got a bet going on if Stan actually makes it into the campaign or not
Players : Finally we have hope!
DM : Cute.
"Well, what magical gifts have you gotten from your age?"
"Arthritis!"
Oh my God I love this your GM is a ctually playing Strahd intelligent
Did you're DM not?
He's intelligent if his goal is to keep the party alive until they're strong enough to defeat him. Otherwise he should've tpk'ed the players at the first opportunity
@Yamareto so hes the lich king from WOW
@Yamareto Yes. What people forget is that they technically work for him. He literally did hired them on beginning of the story, just they vent rogue after finding that invitation was fake. It literally doesn't make sense for him to want kill them. At least not until team fulfill they purpose.
Markus Hansen ok first strahd is a good character but NOT Arthas level of good and really if anything Arthas would freaking roflstomp strahd and the whole demiplanes of dread, heck in canon Lord Soth almost did the same to strahd and he was simply a death knight (which while strong is NOT Lich King level of power) and the only reason why in the end that didn’t happen was because strahd was so scared of Soth that he simply allowed him to leave barovia because otherwise strahd knew Soth was powerful enough to perma-kill him.
When I heard Garo start cursing in pure fury I was shook. Goddamn this is getting juicy
Dudes been getting worn down since ep2
Every time Strahd appears it only reminds me of RT's memes involving Von Karma
Strahd: It was I who gave you those cursed magic items!
Puffin: Strahd no!
Last episode, I was comforted by the fact that whilst Good was pointless, it was tempered by Evil being dumb... but now I see that Good is also so, so dumb...
Also a critical point, Strahd is a long way from being dumb.
"sooo. . .now you see, that evil will always triumph. . .because Good is dumb"
- Rick Moranis
Man, I'm really feeling the player's frustration lol. This series is awesome, can't wait to see more
It's getting to "DM make a death save levels of frustration."
Looks like they still have that Blade of Warning. "I warned you!"
Questionmark that was Boshack saying I warned you.
@@deniseg9210 Boshack is a sword of warning?
Questionmark He’s a lizardfolk and in the previous episode he got powers from Dendar which made him more snake like.
@@deniseg9210 geez you're dense. I'm fucking with you. The original comment I made is because Ben said "I warned you" like the sword of warning.
Questionmark I’ll have you know I’m way smarter then you think ya doofus.
I really enjoy these recaps much more than the full session recordings that some channels do. I hope this becomes a regular feature on your channel! Even if you did it without art, just the voice work you do makes it so enjoyable to listen to!
Yay, more! When the entire series is done, will you edit them together into one long video so it can be listened to without recaps?
I hope this happens it would be perfect
The recaps aren't that long, you could just listen to the "the curse of Strahd" playlist on his channel page.
If you REALLY wanted to have a non-recap version, it's actually pretty easy to do yourself.
Get a free RUclips downloader, there's plenty of them and not all work but because there's so many you will find one that works. Once you have the video (or audio, as most downloaders have a file conversation option) you can use Audacity to edit the files.
Audacity is completely free and REALLY useful, I got it for one thing in particular and to this day I still use it on a lot of personal projects big and small. At first glance the options aren't apparent the way paint programs already have the tool buttons on screen, in audacity most tools are in the drop-down options, but if you mess around with it the learning curve is actually pretty fast and easy.
Edit your files and *BAM!* ...you're done. The end.
I think that as long as you have a good day (MAYBE two) learning how Audacity works that you can do the whole thing yourself in under an hour.
The choice is yours.
"I WAAAAAAARNED YOU!!!!"
Best line.
Man, real flesh real dolls. Now that's some H. P. Lovecraft level product.
Snow is better, change my mind.
@@IrvingIV What's Snow? I mean, not the white stuff, unless you mean the white stuff? I have no idea what you are referring to.
@@HellecticMojo He's talking about Simulacrum.
My wife and I are liking this series a lot, always excited for a new episode! Thanks for doing this.
I honestly think this is the best content youve ever made. Keep it up.
I do admire how Strahd is a hands-on kind of guy and not just someone sitting on a throne doing nothing but giving orders
Interesting to see how their DM handled the Abbot. In my game, I played him as more of an innocent monster instead of a defeatist. He genuinely believed that everyone could be saved, even Strahd, and believed that if Strahd could finally experience true, mutual love, he would be capable of redemption.
So he is a moron?
That would be my kind of take, a more likable one
@@alexanderzhmurov9624 In what way likable? Stupid characters aren't likable, until you have weary low self-esteem. And downright stealing body parts to "save" a villain, who just want fancy body pillow, is anime level of ridiculous.
@@TheRezro There's more to this particular story on both the Abbott and Strahd's side that somewhat explains a few things. Without spoiling anything, the Abbott isn't stupid, he just has a very different view of the world compared to everyone else based on his own knowledge and experience.
That's not to say either of them are fully justified in their choices, though. Both of them are pretty batshit crazy by any normal metric of sanity.
TheRezro Actually pretty logical ethically and philosophically speaking, as well as in practicality. I mean If you look at it like a super cliche story with a predetermined ending then of course not, but the abbot doesn’t have meta knowledge. Though the abbot’s strategy may be desperate and a moral grey area but if you look at the situation as if it was real and recognize he’s acting out of necessity then he’s had the best plan of anyone in the campaign so far. Many far more messed up people have been redeemed/rehabilitated in real life with less, and simply buying time to save countless lives is pretty smart too, though again in an interesting grey area because of the mind wipes. Seems like a cool and deep character however you want to spin it. Lot of ways to look at him but certainly the last of which is stupid, looking at it in black and white though? That’s pretty stupid.
Keep 'em coming, Puffin. This series is great.
Vids on Curse of Strahd are entertaining to watch, because it never is the same experience, but it always has great drama.
Best 5e campaign imo for this replayability.
"Kneel before Strahd!" Haha, I love that reference.
21:24 Ah.... There it is.
I love this module for how just slowly turns players evil not turning them into a moustache twirling villain but through small little compromises
The party has the patience of a saint to not murder Gouda.
Sheev Palpatine
Also she’s pretty useful.
Yeah Gouda is that one character you know should die (and did) but keeps sticking around and being useful in combat.
Did you ever hear the story of Darth Gouda the unwise? I thought not. It is not a story the Paladins would tell you.
She's my favorite.
I feel like a Grave Domain Cleric would be quintessential to a campaign like this. Those filthy vamps would NEVER get the drop on anyone, and it would be harder for them to get more thralls with easy Spare the Dying and Gentle Repose on your side.
Dude, a Cleric of the grave would just go "I KICK ARSE FO THE LORD!" and blow everything to pieces.
That is exactly what I am playing in a heavily modded CoS campaign right now. Trust me, with a grave AND life cleric on your side, vampires aren't nearly as much of a problem. 2x Spirit guardians, 2x spiritual weapon + heals on the side and I can annul any crit within 30 ft of me...
Hell, a cleric that learns raise dead essentially has the master key for any crazy shit in this campaign
@@WingZX1103 hehehe. Sure of that are you? [insert an evil DM grin, and a crack of thunder in the background]
My grave domain cleric was absolutely disgusted by the Abbott for defiling the dead. so I attacked him(i know i shouldnt have), and then got my head crushed in. The abbott brought me back to life, and my face was caved in.
Y'know what? This is a better story than Tiger King. I mean, a lot of things are better than Tiger King, but you deserve to be more popular.
Fun fact: When I played Curse of Strahd there were two sessions where a player and the DM had secretly planned their PC's death. The second one involved the reveal that Ismark had been replaced with Strahd a *long* time ago and proceeded to take three things from us, who were powerless to stop him.
His journal, which we had just found
Ireena Kolyana, who we genuinely thought was safe
The heart of our Bard, in retribution for him taking Ireena's
I still remember the moment where my character realized that even True Sight could not reveal a master deceiver. We took so much for granted that VARIS could boast about nothing escaping his sight when Strahd was still right under his nose
CoS really is one of those classic campaigns for a reason. When run well (like your GM is doing), it can be such a frustrating but fun experience as you feel like every step forward you take is the two steps backwards. Strahd is a villain you love to hate and he's actually really terrifying.
Love these vids.
it seems to me that everything about this campaign is stuff that players would complain about. . .if it was a homebrew.
railroading, player agency, unkillable DMPCs as the villains . . .
but people are okay with it because it's "official product"
if it was written by a homebrew DM, people woild be like "oh, what a terrible DM, it's supposed to be OUR story, not the DM story, we should get to do anything we want but the DM goes out of their way to make things happen THEIR way"
.
.
.
this is not to say I wouldn't want to play this campaign, but know it's spoilered for me. . .
i'm not saying its a terrible campaign
the DM is doing a great job interpreting it.
i'm saying that if it wasn't "official ", players would criticize it as being "terrible" when it's not. People would probably not have given it a chance it a homebrew DM tried to do this
21:25 “I WAAAAAARNNNNED YOUUUUU!!!”
*The audience erupts into boisterous cheers and applause throwing countless roses on the stage*
You’re party, still drunk from the club, enter the McDonalds at 5am. And there, behind the counter wearing an employee uniform, stood Strahd von Zarovich
Puffin, you really are a great story teller. I just had to pause the video the write this. For just one person to captivate my attention for literally hours, it's a gift. I do like your animations but clearly just your voicework is great on it's own. Thanks for your work.
Currently playing through Strahd and it kills me that I can’t watch these videos :(
I’m sure they are just as great as usual and at least I’ll have a bunch of videos to watch when we finish.
They are actually better than normal, some of his best work. I can't wait for the next one to be released.
How’d things go? It’s been a year.
@@Arcticmaster1190
Curse of Strahd was really fun. And the videos did not disappoint :)
12:03 lol even the Gazer is disturbed
Hearing the "I warned yooooou!" I instantly think of the Defective Sword of Warning.
I love these! Right now I am running CoS and these stories give me a lot of ideas. After a few sessions my players are feeling the weight of continuous failures.
This series is one that I'm always looking fwd to! It is definitely helping me to keep sane during this lockdown! I appreciate this series and all the other videos you have made thus far! Thank you!
Strahd is fantastic. Amazing storytelling.
Can't get enough of this story man! I eagerly await every entry. You are giving me so much joy in these dark times! Thanks for this.
Did you think about using the sunlight at the time? That would have been highly effective to at least keep em at bay.
I was wondering that too. They probably could have also driven off Strahd and saved Ezmerelda.
It might have worked for the Vampire Spawn but the Simulacrum is considered as a construct and therefore, not really affected by the Sunlight. They might have also used up all the charges of the icon by the time the REAL Strahd showed up.
@@randonimity84 Your comment just made me realize the imposter was technically impersonating one character impersonating another character. That's some mission impossible level of fuckery.
Actually, they book does say that while there is still sunlight. It seems more of a dark overcast, where you can’t see the sunlight and Strahd can walk outside to a degree but it’s not enough to make them back off or die
I am not a loooong time subscriber, but since I've found this channel I've been seeing all your content. This new vids are not the exception. Bro...your killing me! I'm so into this form of telling or re-telling your games. I was so immersed that I didn't notices how tense I was over all the poop that was happening. Loving this series of videos your making, LOVING IT! Thanks for sharing man.
Wow...
The Abbot is one of the most messed up characters in this campaign
Heck, even Strahd will at worst just kill people.
Granted the dude has lost all hope. I mean im not justifying what he did was right. But i see where he's coming from
@@WingZX1103 Yeah, I have the adventure and the Abbot isn't that messed up. The Mongrelfolk come from a family that had a degenerative disease and mutations. He tried to cure them, but the Dark Powers twisted it and replaced the deformities with animal parts. The family were already evil people and they like being less human, but the Abbot feels bad and tries to take care of them. They continued to breed and now they've got a swarm of inbred evil animal mutants and the Abbot can't bring himself to end them, telling himself that one day he'll figure out how to cure them.
A lot of the morally grey NPCs in the adventure have a character flaw that causes them to subvert a traditionally good trope and twist it into evil. In the Abbot’s case, good’s traditional faith in the power of redemption was twisted into pride that he can one day pull it off on Strahd, if only he’s given enough time to try. Ironic: pride that good must triumph through him in that one specific way let the Abbot dig himself so deep into sunk cost fallacy that he became an agent of evil.
Been really enjoying thease at work. As a gm, I always enjoy hearing other people's adventures.
So uh, spoilers below [I waaaaarned youuuu!]
So this campaign diary inspired me to finally crack open the actual module in order to loot some ideas for my own homebrew campaign. I kinda want to discuss what Puffin's GM changed and whether it was better or worse--
For the most part, I think he's manipulated things to put the characters in more morally difficult situations:
-The module generally seems to imply that the Hags won't sell players their pastries at all, let alone employ them.
- In the original, Fiona is much more upfront about working for Strahd and generally her character (and her family) will come off as more suspicious and a non-evil party doesn't seem likely to ally with her.
-And (most) of the mongrelfolk actually specifically wanted to become mongrelfolk since they have like an oddly specific fascination with specific animal parts and the Abbot is more just insane with no mention made of how he crafts flesh golems (Strahd gave him the idea and encouraged him but no mention is made of a manual or where the Abbot learnt the necessary spells).
-Some characters and elements seem to have been cut or moved for simplicity: the mongrelfolk are confined to the abbey rather than making up the whole town of Kresk as they seem to in this game, which may be for the best as there isn't really much of significance in Kresk outside of the Abbey, I think.
I think some of them seem a bit edgy in a way I'm not sure I'd be down to run (tricking player characters into cannibalism can be a bit awkward...) but for the most part I like it. I think the Abbot's characterization here is much better and it's by far my favourite change in the campaign so far.
The one thing I really don't like though is the Strahd simulacrum twist: I don't think there's anything in the original module (unless I'm really missing something) which implies that Strahd is capable of this kind of magic. I have a feeling that it might have been a last minute saving throw on the part of the DM who might have accidentally let Strahd get killed after assuming it would be an easy fight (hence why the Warlock only notices the telltale signs that the thing they killed was not Strahd after the initial fight) but I have two major issues with this:
1. Strahd already has a million ways to escape combat and/or revive himself, I really don't understand why he needed another one.
2. After including an element like this, it begs the question why Strahd doesn't use these simulacrums (simulacrae?) more aggressively? His casual reaction implies that this isn't a significant setback and that he can easily create more clones. Even if he can only have one at a time, one would think he could be using this ability to a far greater extent in a way which would break the module in a number of ways and essentially make it impossible for players to ever be sure they killed the real Strahd instead of just killing evil clone #4926.
Maybe I'm being very arbitrary here but this is just something that would concern me as a player (even before I read the module-- just, I might be more inclined to blame the original writers then) and take some enjoyment out of the game. Can anyone give me their thoughts or help me out on whether I missed something for how 5e Ravenloft Strahd could pull this kind of shit (without it being completely game breaking?)
This is a super old comment but I just wanted to thank you for posting it. Getting to see the differences is really cool
I personally agree about the clone thing. A justification that comes to mind is maybe some of the players knew the story already, and DM was trying to mix things up to keep them on their toes? And secondly, if I were Strahd, I wouldn't let on if cloning myself was super difficult. "Oh this old thing? Nbd I'm so powerful, resistance is futile blah blah blah"
21:25 that reference is spot on. Good ol' sword of warning (or whatever it's called, been a while since I saw that video).
+the Flin reference (Aarakokra bard)
There's something magically funny and inane about having that raven the entire time that only real people could create.
I love this retelling!!! I’d like to hear more retellings of other campaigns like this
These episodes are such a treat I should play this campaign sometime
I am currently running CoS and I am LOVING these. About 3 months ago I even searched for them... "puffin forest ravenloft" etc in my search history. Clearly it was fate.
Bud, I dig this series. I don't get to play hardly at all any more and this atheist gives me an adventure to listen to
I just want to give a huge shoutout/thank you to Ben. Your campaign stories are one of the only things keeping me sane during this quarantine.
Hey thank you for getting me into dnd keep doing what you do.
*sees notification and clicks at the speed of light*
I love this so much
nobledonkey17 same
You have no idea how much I appreciate these videos during quarantine.
I'm loving these long session histories of yours Puffin. Hope you do more in the future.
This is great and i wish there was one for every dnd campaign module out there
"I WAAARNED YOU!" XD
.
.
.
...wait, is that you Abserd?
Sword of Warning
Whenever something shitty happens that could have been avoided with the right information, the sword will loudly shout 'I warned you', and everyone in the party will have modify memory cast on them so that they have memories of the sword giving them the information
"Kneel before Strahd."
pokeymans gotta catch em all is that a Superman 2 reference?
@@mikesands4681 It is but did the DM intend it or did I just imagine it?
I'm loving this post-campaign commentary narration style. Keep it up!
I love listening to curse of strahd stories, and comparing them to how it played out when I DM'ed it. Seeing how other people handled different stuff and how drastically differently the story played out makes me want to start up roll20 and run it again for a group of randos.
Thank you for doing these. Really enjoying listening. Giving me the fix I need while cut off.
OMG Strahd killed Esmerelda? Now she's gonna turn?
Damn I thought the CoS campaign I ran was dark.. but this one is CRAZY dark!
Retaining the Symbol of Ravenkind was worth whatever other setbacks the party suffered in the encounter. Good structuring by the DM to be giving players what they need to be ultimately successful but still make it appear to be completely hopeless
Kudos to your DM for making an epic campaign.
I'm loving this and the really somber tone is strangely heartwarming
The sword of warning...!!
I WARRRRRNED YOU....!!!!
Ben, this is exactly what I needed during this lockdown......!!
Smit Rajguru running jokes between campaigns are the joy of d&d
Yay I'm here sad it's only 30 minutes though. Thank you puffin.
Thank you for posting these videos, im DMing straud also and you gave me ideas. Like the necromancer in our group is looking to bring his sister back from the dead when she went into barovia for a quest and im using his sisters head for the flesh golem at the abbey. These videos have given me confidence in running curse of straud different from the book but keeping it the same story but made it more personal to my players so thank you.
I really enjoy this series and hope you do more! I don't mind the less amount of animation, I just enjoy your voice\storytelling. I have watched most videos at least three times.
The Legendary Power Of Arthritis!
Gouda: winks
Me: With which eye?
The other one. ;)
Really loving this series, it's helping me maintain sanity during this lockdown!
Love this!
Preparing CoD, and this is so helpful.
Making the dinner invitation as a mid game teaser instead of end game battle, and Strahd killing a major NPC/ally infront of their eyes are definately something I'll incorporate.
I love hearing these D&D replays.
Thanks for giving me stuff to listen to during quarantine if it weren’t for y’all tubers I would go crazy thanks
Ravens in REAL LIFE can talk. I am not kidding. Look it up. They sound so bizzarely human compared to parrots. It's why Kenku, raven/crow people, can mimic people's voices.
Yes, as can almost all members of the blackbird family. Now obviously they copy with only limited understanding, but they also have been shown to have a fairly developed language of their own, being the only other non insect proven to be able communicate to others of their kind about an objects position across time and space. (Insects do so with chemical signals as you may have heard.) Blackbirds also seem capable of describing human faces to each other, and can not only use tools but have done things like bend a wire into a hook to fish an object out of a crack. I personally believe them to be the other sapient species on the planet even if they obviously have not matched our technological development.
Crows, ravens, blackbirds. I've seen them take cockles then smash then onto cars yo get at the meat. Heck I've seen them wait for traffic lights to turn green
Ah, good old arthritis, amazing magical super power.
Your DM was brutal in this. When I ran this, my players were nearly killed a few times, but only had a couple run ins with Strahd.
It's interesting to see how other DM's run CoS. My own version was a high mortality game, where everyone was instructed to have a backup character ready at all times. I even did a session where we jumped to them playing their backup characters instead of the "main" party. I do enjoy some of the things Puffin's DM did though. It almost makes me want to run CoS again with some internet Randos, just to see how differently it would play out from my first attempt.
i look forward to every episode of this Puffin. Hats off to both you and your fellow party members. Ive always wanted to be part of this adventure. Now in a way i am. Thank you :)
This will likely be lost in the regular tidal wave of adoration you get from fans but I wanted to say thank you Puffin for entertaining me these past few years.
I would like to see an interview with Puffins D&D group afterwards including their devious dm.
These have been fantastic to listen to. I've been debating running this module for my group for awhile and it's been interesting to see how they've modified it this time around. (I've run the 3.5 module before and read the Ravenloft novels, so it's been a real treat to listen to your play through).
So far the GM changes to the story are excellent. I would love to incorporate his edits into a revised CoS campaign in the future.
A lot of his changes are popular changes catalogued on the Curse of Strahd subreddit on Reddit (MandyMod and DragnaCarta's Curse of Strahd: Reloaded are the two big ones). The only really new one that I hadn't seen before is Gertruda as a hag child - in the base game you find out she went to Castle Ravenloft to be with Strahd and is totally ignorant to his true personality.
When I have the time I can’t wait to watch all of these back to back.
I'm so addicted to this series, I hope you do this again in the future please!
Good lord, killing your ally and turning it into a vampire.
Your DM has zero chill.
My favorite moment in my own campaign was when the players left their adopted daughter with.... Well, I won't spoil it, but lets just say they, unknowingly, left her in a deadly situation. I had the girl try to tell them about what was wrong beforehand, but it was when the party was in a rush to accomplish another goal, so they brushed it off with a, "We'll talk about it later," which ended up being the last thing they said to her before she was killed.
One of the players (the adopted dad) basically made it his mission from then on to find a way to bring her back.
Nah, it's really the entire Curse of Strahd campaign that has zero chill. The DM is just rolling with the campaign's vibe.
@@badboyluvr Right on the money with that.
@@badboyluvr I get that the module is deadly, but RAW, there are certain elements that are just stupid, unnecessarily deadly, e.g. CR 5 shambling mound in the basement of Death House, six CR 5 vampire spawn in the coffin maker's shop in Vallaki, etc...
I get that they don't NEED to be combat encounters, but just running them as is, "Well, you started a fight. Bite the pillow, I'm going in dry," might not be the best way forward.
You can kick the shit out of the party and still let them fail forward without completely crippling their chances at realistically taking down Strahd.
@@rukysgream You clearly haven't played Curse of Strahd if you're saying that. Because I have & my DM was pretty chill & we still got our butts handed to us a lot in that campaign. Some campaigns are genuinely harder, darker & more brutal to give players who want a challenge, a challenge.
Decided to take a drink at 21:25. That was a HORRIBLE idea!
"I WAAAAAARNED YOOOOOUUUUUUU!
Your DM is a fucking hard ass lol The Symbol of Ravenkind should have been plenty of firepower to get Strahd to back off. Yeesh
I love this series. PLEASE keep it going.