Love, Vampires & Zombies - Village of Barovia Expansion | Running Curse of Strahd 5e
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- Make the Village of Barovia more interesting with these new quests, and bring logic to Strahd's actions toward Ireena.
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In Curse of Strahd for Dungeons and Dragons 5e, there isn't a whole lot of meat to the Village of Barovia. We're going to fix that by adding a couple of additional quests, and reframing Strahd's actions toward Ireena.
We'll be reframing his actions due to how often players and DMs ask, "Why doesn't Strahd just come and take her?". There isn't an easy answer to that question within the module's text, because there's absolutely nothing to stop him. By changing his motives slightly, we can answer that question and bring consistency to his actions without changing the overall story.
#dnd #rpg #curseofstrahd
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I ran the zombies in the well plot for my party last night, and instead of doing any detective work, our Paladin cast "Detect Poison and Disease" and sprinted around Barovia for the 10min durration until it detected something.
I'm thinking that the Strahd zombies are innately drawn to the soulless Barovians, so as not to dwindle Strahd's food supply.
That’s a neat idea!
This really bothered me too, why, if Strahd has bitten Ireena twice, wouldn't he just do it a third time, let alone invite strangers into his realm that might throw it off. I like your idea, and suggest that perhaps, in his twisted mind, he believes that he was shunned by Tatiana because he tried to take her by force, and so he is trying to have Ireena come to him willingly to seal the deal, and so he is railroading her toward him by burning her bridges at every other turn.
He has done absolutely everything he can to destroy her home, her life in Barovia, any shred of hope, but she still hasn't come to him, and so he willingly lets the players attempt to save her, knowing he can crush them at any minute, slowly, one by one, to show her there is absolutely no hope other than to come to him.
Yeeess!
I was having trouble getting into character, (as DM, I am Strahd) so I was thinking about villains, and then I got it. Strahd doesn't think he's the villain. He thinks he's the victim, betrayed by Sergei, spurned by Tatyana, misled by the Vestige in the Amber Temple, attacked by adventurers every couple of years, it all starts to add up.
Some background -- In my game, becoming a vampire means that you still have a soul attached to your undead body, but it has been twisted into an evil Mirror Universe version. If you used to be a librarian, now you want to horde books instead of giving them to others to read. So if you were a Count of Barovia, who was supposed to protect your people, now your idea of protecting them is to throw all sorts of crap at them to "toughen them up", and make they either become strong, or die. Now, Strahd's not going to admit this upfront, so he needs a cover story. So I gave him a hobby. Here is Strahd's monologue when the party shows up to Castle Ravenloft after being invited, once the introductions and pleasantries have taken place.
"Come, sit, my servants have prepared a feast in your honor. I get so few visitors these days. The food is made with the freshest ingredients, some taken from my own personal garden here at Castle Ravenloft. I have recently discovered the joys of becoming a "Gentleman Gardener". It is most relaxing, and rewarding. It seems I have a knack for this type of work. Have any of you ever had your own garden? It is a sublime pleasure. Seeing a new plant thrive, and grow, in the rich Barovian soil, gives me a sense of purpose like no other. Choosing what to plant, positioning it in just the right spot in my garden. Watching it blossom. Removing the parts of the plant that do not meet expectations, or are threatening the garden as a whole. Truly, gardening is a wonderful way to spend my time. Or should I say, invest my time. I love to witness the fruits of my labors. Speaking of which, you must try the cherry 'palinka', made from cherries grow in my orchard to the north. Alas, the floorplan of Castle Ravenloft would not accommodate the kind I envisioned, so I established my orchard a few miles away. If you join me in the High Tower Peak after dinner, I shall point it out to you. Ah, but that shall be for later! For now I see that the soup has arrived! Join me at the table, all of you."
(he moves towards the table, more silently than a cat, and seems to leave no impression in the ancient carpet)
"I am the land ... "
Not just pretty words.
Love it! Might include it in my game im running soon!
@@2PieceandABiscuit Feel free. Take what inspires you, that's what this forum is for. You might come up with an idea I could steal later on.
@Natasel I read a post on an episode of Cowbelly, I think, one of those Best Memes Of The Day channel, and the writer said that garlic is actually has properties of an anti-coagulent! And that for centuries, vampires have spread the myth that they are vulnerable to the smell! So now, when they pounce on a peasant, the blood flows as freely as wine. I don't know if I will include this as a House Rule, but there shall definitely be a very busy farmer with a garlic patch.
Can i use this in my game?
@@keirscott-schrueder5625 Sure, take what you like. Remember, vampires are long-lived, and they sometimes pick up weird hobbies to pass the time. If you end up not using gardening, how about painting? Or model ship building? Or crocheting? Think how uneasy the players will be when they fight zombies wrapped in brightly colored afghans?
I actually prefer the Donavich encounter as written in the module. It's far more impactful on the players to see this loving father going absolutely mental praying to a god that has abandoned him to save a son he loves so much without succumbing to the darkness. Really paints the bleak picture of hopelessness in the Village (and Land) of Barovia without necessarily turning another NPC into an evil NPC (which we have SO many of throughout Vallaki and Krezk).
Brilliant insight into curse of strahd! You’ve put a great deal of effort into studying this campaign. It doesn’t go unnoticed, seriously, many thanks from the community!!!
Thank you! I'm glad folks have find it helpful.
I'm about to run Curse of Strahd and been doing my research and getting advice. I had the idea of pushing the Ireena timeline back and this just made me all the more confident in that decision. I'm kicking around the idea of Strahd appearing with his escorts and carriage as a noble lord would and stopping at Ireena's home just as the players are passing by. The carriage stops and Strahd steps out, but I avoid using his name, instead simply describe a lavish and handsome noble. He of course notices the party, as part of his plan and knowing he has new guests, he welcomes them with manners and compliments. Taking his time to judge and perhaps eyeball one of the more attractive ones. But before introductions can fully be concluded and his name dropped, Ireena's father, looking gaunt and on death's edge opens the door. Strahd turns his full attention there, commenting how he came to check on his health and brought a physician to assist. Ireena greets the man, as expected of her, and Strahd showers the girl with compliments. This is the point where I want the characters worried, I'll touch on the age difference between the two, and the conflict of emotions Ireena has (Strahd is trying to "take care" of her and she's thankful for him helping her father, but knows he's dangerous ) The Burgomaster is reluctant at first but with a quick charm, Strahd is granted entry into the home of the young girl and the door is closed behind them.
I feel like this gives the players a front row seat to the predatory nature of what they're fighting and sets the tone that this isn't a slasher flick. After the visit, the players can check on a distraught Ireena whose father has just passed. As for the bites, I feel they're... almost inconsequential at this stage. Strahd is working on breaking her spirit. Her body can come later.
I have PC Ismark and decided to change how old Burgomaster died using your suggestion on poisoned well (Heart attack? Really?). I'm going to describe in excruciating detail how Ismark was sitting by the bedside of his dying father with sword in his hand, ready to cut of his head as soon as he rises to unlife. Just adding a bit of drama. Thankfully player who is taking over Ismark is really cool and working with me quite a bit :D
Gosh, the scene where Dolan comes back to life as a zombie 🧟♀️ in front of his family is an absolutely heartbreaking and horrifying moment!!!
I absolutely LOVE the idea of Strahd making everywhere except his castle feel unsafe for Ireena! I'm definitely going to be using this idea for my campagin
Excellent! Be sure to stop back here and let me know how things are going. :-)
Last session my players finished pulling the threads on the missing villagers quest. The look on their faces when Donavich confessed to feeding 40 villagers to Doru was priceless. They went to deal with Doru and left Ismark to watch father D in the church. Fantastic addition.
Very nice! I’m so glad that could come together for you!
The Ireena issue was my exact problem with Curse of Strahd. I ran this module for a group a year or two ago, and when Strahd revealed himself and said "I'm taking Ireena now" the party LET HIM! They didn't want to take care of a damsel, and they thought Strahd would just kill them and do whatever he liked anyway. Literally if one of them picked a fight with Strahd I would have had him go "Ho! Ho! So this is how it's going to be!" and then do his Strahdy thing. Instead they just watched him take Ireena and go, and then ignored her for the rest of the campaign. The monk even said "Man, if I could redo that scenario, I would have exploded Ireena's head before Strahd could take her." and I was like "My dude, that's the ONE thing you could do to make him legitimately kill you instantly." Sad.
"Do you want to roll a new character? Because that's how you get to roll a new character."
Love your stuff man. I gotta say, this whole twist on Donovan got me thinking about how you can really set the tone almost right off the bat in regards to the general atmosphere of despair, while turning Donovan himself into a complex character along the way, one who the PCs might find the need to return to on occasion. So what if Donovan is aware, at least on some level, that many of Barovia's inhabitants seem to lack a soul? In this way, we can preserve his moral integrity, after a fashion, while simultaneously introducing the concept of souless shells into the game early on. Donovan only feeds those without souls to his son, as a way of justifying his actions. However, he doesn't realize that they provide little in the way of vampiric nourishment, and hence why Doru is always "staving", despite being fed regularly. I think this could be a clever clue to the party as a potential hook leading ultimately to the amber temple as well as a bargaining chip to leverage with Strahd himself, who himself is the longitudinal victim to the soul siphoning activities of the vestiges, and even Vampyr himself, to whom Strahd has no power over.... at least directly....
Bloody genius
Good job on suggesting an added quest to the Village of Barovia.
My take on this campaign is that it really is meant for a role playing, story telling enjoyment group of players. Players that can’t endure more than a moment without rolling dice, and fighting monsters are not going to enjoy this module to it’s fullest potential because this is not a module for murder hobos or hack & slash types.
I think you've hit the nail on the head there. There's a lot of non combat encounters to be found throughout the module, and that's not everyone's cup of tea.
Quick question: Where/when do you suggest I drop Ezmeralda?
@@ademiranda2 Any number of places. I introduced her at the Abbey (I have a video for that), but there's also Van Richtens tower, or Argynvostholt. She's a powerful ally, so I wouldn't introduce her until the players are level 6 or 7.
Lunch Break Heroes thanks!
Strahd's removal of Ireenas support structures also gives him the perfect excuse to appear early and wreck a low-level party. I dont plan on killing any of them, but definitely flexing his muscles and also showing Ireena there's nothing the players can do to stop him.
I made a point of not killing the players (in a very early encounter around level 4), he was about to down one player for instance with an unarmed strike and instead of sweeping him with his claws, he waved and then slugged him in the gut. I also told my players not to roll for death saves as they are only being struck to incapacitation. They got the impression, and their characters certainly did, that this was just him flexing on them, making it clear where they stood and they were alive PURELY because he wanted them to be. And that they were no threat to him at all.
Your Curse of Strahd videos are coming out at the perfect time for my campaign planning, thanks a ton!
Same here. I was trying to see how others ran Death House, and I'm so glad I found this channel. Good luck and have fun with your campaign!
I'm glad you're finding the videos helpful! Thank you for watching, and be sure to share!
Same here. Im starting it on Friday.
@@CoffeeShopOracle awesome! Have fun!
@@LunchBreakHeroes My first time DMing. Really nervous.
I just ran the Missing Villagers quest and was an absolute banger for my players, thanks for the idea!
Great stuff! I'm actually musing over having a straight up mcguffin as the reason Strahd doesn't just come and take Ireena. I ran CoS two years ago and the relationship between Strahd and Ireena, and his motives, was the number one thing that tripped me up. So now I'm thinking of having Ireena have a protective amulet, maybe the amulet of a holy person like St. Markovia), which keeps him, and his wolves, from getting within a certain distance of her. Now Strahd's motive shifts to playing his cards to get the amulet away from her so he can get her. He'll use all his cunning; his spies and those who serve him, whether through loyalty or fear, to try to deceive her into removing it for whatever reason.
Speaking of mcguffins, I'm also musing over having the sunsword's power be circular icon of the morninglord at the sword's base, right above the hilt. Strahd found that it couldn't be destroyed, only separated into the smaller part that come together to form it. The circular sun icon would even show up again if it were buried or submerged. So he had what's his name :) separate the icon into its basic parts and hide them all throughout Barovia, maybe giving them to people or families to hold onto for centuries. This could make for great fodder for decenting loyalties, i.e. perhaps some of the werewolf clan is more than happy to reveal the part of the icon hidden away in their caves, perhaps some are willing to bargain to reveal information regarding a specific part, etc. etc. Now, most of Madam Eva's readings have to do with finding these 'parts' so they can be brought together to empower the sunsword ... the sword could still be something to find per the card reading, but another idea is it could be with her- she has come into possession of the sword and has foreseen the PCs coming to Barovia. The sword is just a sword without the icon that clicks into its base. She has been longing for years for the 'chosen ones' to come and defeat Strahd so that her people could be released from his oppression and curse. She hopes the PCs are these 'chosen ones' that have come to find the pieces of the sword's icon and return them to her so she can give it them to wake to power, fulfilling that they are the chosen ones to defeat Strahd. Idk, something like that lol, would love to create a whole version like that for DMs to offer a simplier, quest/mcguffin alternative but don't have the energy alone ... if anyone reading this is interested hit me up!
I like these. I'm gonna use them, but I'll modify Donavich to be feeding his son his own blood, I think. I'm not sure I like the idea he's been corrupted for a few reasons; 1. He might be "the ally" as per Madam Eva's reading 2. I think it devalues any burial ceremony he enacts for the sake of ireena 3. The PCs have enough reason to visit Vallaki; finding a replacement priest seems unnecessary 4. I think it's important to have a symbol of hope... But, hope that is battered/bruised and requires self-sacrifice.
Just my opinion though! I love everything else :)
I thought about him letting his son out periodically to feed and hurry back home instead of murder....for now...
In my game, the reason for Strahd laying off Ireena is motivated by his desire to see Ireena willingly accept her fate. Essentially, he needs her to take the next step in order for her to be like him. He needs her to see the light and join him the way Tatyana didn't. Whether that's by killing Ismark herself in a vampiric transformation, coming to Ravenloft willingly, or simply betraying her protectors' trust. The vampiric corruption in her now is only a means to that end but so is the party, the people of Barovia (town or valley), or Ismark. They are the tetters of her humanity that either Strahd or Ireena herself must destroy. Take for instance the depiction of Mina in the original Bela Lugosi Dracula. Dracula visits her a second time and after that Mina is talkign to Jonathon and almost gives in, using a vampiric gaze to draw him in and nearly ripping open his throat. This would have damned her and not even a stake in Dracula's heart would have changed that. Strahd needs Ireena to take that step. A third bite is just a formality, an admission of failure by Strahd in some ways, he wants the sacrifice of her humanity to be willing and able.
A lovely explanation!
What I do for the zombies in the village, I make them people who Strahd has killed and drained the blood from. They don’t look or act like zombies, and act more like drunk people, so it’s hard to actually tell who’s an actual strahd zombie at most times. The main function of these zombies is the act as spies. The have minds which pretty much work like security cameras which strahd can check through a form of magical connect. So if anyone like an adventurer, vampire hunter or really anyone is entering the village, Strahd will know about it pretty much right away.
Holy shit, that's a creepy idea. Gonna steal it. At the beginning of the chapter, casually mention one drunk guy in the background, as flavor text. The next time the party heads out at night, now there's two. They head to the Blood Of The Vine, and they say they don't have any wine for sale, they haven't had a shipment in weeks, they sold everything 4 days ago. The only thing they have left is "squelch", made from fermented green beans, it's terrible. When asked about the drunks, the bartender is surprised. "They didn't get drunk here," he says. Outside the bar, 6 drunks are trying to get in, Walking Dead style. "Roll for Initiative," I announce.
I love this explanation of Strahd Zombies. I’m going to use it. I’m also going to make the zombies try and do a semblance of normalcy, as in they sit down at tables and try to answer doors. It’s just when they get within 10 feet of a target do they attack.
Well done. I am running my campaign by incorporating a lot of your suggestions. Thanks for your hard work!
Thank you! I hope my suggestions work out well for your game!
Loved these addon quests which really fleshed out the village and made it more than just a Pitstop to pick up Ireena. For the zombies in the well I actually used the Zombie Plague Spreader from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft which worked really well as a 'mini boss' and explained the source of the plague.
I'm running this tonight, and my party is sufficiently paranoid, and two have even eaten thier first dream pastry and are suffering the side effects. I hope I get this right, your additions are inspiring and make CoS even more immersive....thank you so very much!
You're quite welcome!
My god, these are so amazing. I've got my players halfway through the death house as I stumbled upon your videos.. may somehow make the rest of the death house (they never visited the master bedroom yet, so there could be Gustav hanging there).. they never found the empty bundle.. though the kids ghosts said they know of no little brother of theirs, it could be that it was kept a secret from the children.. so now I've got the entire campaign filled with these amazing improvements, many thanks - new patron.
Thank you so much for your support!
I think I'm gonna use some of these changes for my upcoming 4th run of CoS. Ironically I had the same idea with rollback of the number of bites for some of the same reasons. I was originally gonna have it have happened only once thus far and when the party gets there it would be the 2nd time later that same night. This was going to culminate with Kolyan's death at the hands of stress induced by Strahd and an assault by zombies on the house(with probably some of the party KO'd by dream pastries in the night) the same night Strahd visits a 2nd time. Ismark and Ireena in this change were going to have found themselves increasingly isolated as Ireena is the Devil's bride(according to the villagers) and no one in the village wants anything to do with the whole family despite how good of a Burgomaster Kolyan was
Love all of this thank you so much. I am running the campaign for a second time with mostly new players, our old campaign never finished and now I can add some fresh new stuff for the returning players!
Thank you so much for these! I'm preparing do DM Curse of Strahd and your ideas and explanations have been some of the best I've found. I'll also be using a modified version of your tarokka deck adventure hook.
Thank you! It's awesome to hear that you're getting good use out of these videos!
I REALLY enjoy the changes to Strahd-Ireena
OMG THANK YOU! I'm prepping barovia and keep thinking to myself... what the heck am I going to do with all these zombies... my party will want to do something about them. And I don't want this to be a slog. Ty
Happy to help!
@@LunchBreakHeroes barovia expansion went great. Even though the players didn't get to the bottom of "the plague". I still got a couple extra scenes and a combat that really added depth to the town. I connected the threads through bildrath.
After the expected cries for extremely high prices from the pc's, birdbath bartered the delivery of a potion to the neeshkovs. He would then give them a discount on an item or two. "You can't put a price on health...". (As he was scared of doing it himself and catching "the plague".) Thanks again!
Love your homebrew changes! Just started curse of strahd, and I'm sprinkling in these additions to Barovia, and the players are eating it up!
I ran this campaign once before but am enjoying your ideas. I'm going to use all of them! Keep making more vids please. Please.
These were some great tips for the campaign! You really got me thinking into great motivations for Strahd and his manipulation. Nice!
For the ireena issue i am playing into the idea that Strahd is aware of his curse and that he can never have her with the conditions that the Dark Powers have set him up with. So he bit her twice to just make less hassle later and is using the party as a wild card to see if they can help him change his fate. As hes not an idiot and he refuses to play the same game without changing the rules a bit in his favor. Of course, im also changing a fair bit of things to make this work, but i much more enjoy making Strahd this strategist like he should be instead of just evil for the sake of entertainment.
Using the zombie and vampire poritons of this. Tweaked the zombie part a bit though, instead of just boarding up the houses, the village has created a "quarantine" zone for the dead/dying. It's near the top most well, just north east of the Blood on the Vine tavern. Also, didn't have them "start" the investigation into the disappearances, but they were mentioned by Ismark. I also incorporated the Dream Pasteries addition you used, I just so happen to have a hexblood eladrin in my party so he called "Grandmother" being a hag almost instantly. Thanks for all the awesome content!
Gosh, this is so helpful! I can't wait to use these.
We’re meeting for session 0 tomorrow and I’m so nervous! Thank you for these videos they’re giving me a lot of insight on how I might tell this story effectively.
I love these videos. I am gearing up for a Curse of Strahd run and plan on implementing quite a few of your add-ons.
Thank you! I'm glad I could help
Hello,
I am currently running Curse of Strahd for some friends. I started watching your videos on CoS just hours before running the session that has them leave Death House and enter the village of Barovia (I created my own 'into the mists' hook). I sat down to go over some notes, re-read and memorise, etc when *this* video came up in my suggested list.
It jumped out at me as one of my players has read the module cover to cover but never played it; so I'm trying to do what I can to keep some surprises in line for him. I have sown the seeds of all three of your suggested questlines and its got him texting me to say he's excited to see what those new adjustments are going to turn up.
Thanks kindly, they're great suggestions and I can happily vouch that they work a treat and will be referring to your suggestions as their adventure continues.
I’m glad I could help you make the game unique and fun for your players!
I love every one of these videos and wanted to add my feedback as a very new DM to a very new party. The one thing that adding in the mystery to Doru does is delay a combat encounter. From the point of getting into barovia and walking around the village there is a lot of roleplay and not really any combat unless the player decide to break into a house.
What I would suggest, and what I think will incentivise players to look into the sickness in the village, is having some strahd zombies break out of a house as the players are exploring the village. They hear the moans and some banging on houses as they move past them. If they explore it, great. If not. They break out. Potentially have a loved one be trying to help a strahd zombie out of a house but get attacked. The party swoop in and help. Then get the npc to give up some details and point them to the burgomaster or ismark.
Honestly if the party are roleplay happy then it isn't needed. My guys like the combat. A session going by without it leaves them feeling a bit low. So maybe adding this could help bring an early session one combat in. Just my 2 cents.
I think that's an excellent idea, Timothy! Shame I didn't include something like that. :-)
@@LunchBreakHeroes Honestly my friend. Your videos gave me the drive to actually run the game I am. I've always loved Cos but I wouldn't have pulled it all together without these. I just wanted to put in my experience from running the game.
You are the bolt of lightning that animated Frankensteins Monster. All the pieces were there but you have given it life. Thank you for this.
@@Timhann And that, Timothy, is the ultimate goal of this channel. To connect the dots, fill in the blanks, and provide inspiration for you to run the best game you can!
This is almost exactly what I did in my campaign a couple of weeks ago. Having run out of wine, and prices in Barovia being what they are, a family member had taken the trip to Vallaki for supplies. On her return she found her house boarded up. She was hysterically tearing boards from the door when the party arrived leading to the zombies escaping. Unfortunately, the party didn’t exactly prioritise saving her so she was killed by her family and they missed a role play opportunity but what you gonna do?
Gotta say thank you ! lunch break heroes ! For some of the Ideas in these videos I'm currently running the Curse of Strahd and they have been invaluable I've used the Zombie sickness idea and the vampire spawn Duru !
Glad we could help!
Like the second idea, but might tweak the first. The whole idea is that the cleric is morally conflicted, unable to end the suffering of his son and impotent to help him. He represents all Barovians. The time to have his moral breakdown is when the party comes into the village. The cleric knows the people in his village so he's been conflicted about feeding them to Doru, but when the characters arrive, he may try to lure them into the basement or take advantage in some other way. It could be that since Doru has not fed yet from a living soul, he can be resurrected, or killing his sire in a certain period of time would allow him to die in piece. You could play it many ways depending on how the party acts.
Wow wish i had seen this before i ran the church last thursday.
In my mind Strahd already turned a previous incarnation of Tatyana into a vampire and it wasn’t satisfying because relying on compulsion to make her love him isn’t real… maybe she eventually killed herself or was killed by Van Richten/Adventurers.
In any case, this time around he’s trying to woo Ireena. The first 2 bites was just to make her more willing to listen to him…
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THESE VIDEOS! These are helping to make my current CoS game so much more interesting. :D
YOU ARE QUITE WELCOME!
Thank you for watching!
I counted the houses on the map and came up with 121, 15% of it are just about 18... There is no way I lead my party of completionists through 18 house cleansings... :D
Those videos are great help, briliant insight! Thank you for them
I'm glad you got some use out of the ideas! Lemme know how the zombie thing goes, if they latch onto it. :)
I'm really enjoying your Curse of Strahd video series. If I may, the only suggestion I might offer is including a brief outro. Most of the time I'm listening to these videos while I work (so, I'm not watching the video portion), and to those just listening, they just end without any indication. I find myself asking "Oh. Is it finished?" Just a minor thing. Otherwise, these videos are fantastic and chock full of great suggestions.
Yes, I realize some of these videos are a year old or more. Just a suggestion for future videos, if you aren't already incorporating an outro.
I used to have an outro. However, outros and "ending language" such as "well that's it!" have a negative impact on retention rates and the average percentage of a video that gets viewed. Once those come on screen, or over audio, it presents a cue to the viewer that there's nothing more of value in the video, and they tend to ditch. That, in turn, has a negative impact on analytics, and the YoutTube algorithm's tendency to recommend a video.
To counteract that, myself and other creators will talk until the very end of the video, providing content and context until the last second.
It's the algorithm's world, and we're all just living in it. :-)
@@LunchBreakHeroes We're in the matrix!!!
I'm going to start CoS tomorrow, and i'm using mix of yours, MandyMod's and DragnaCarta's idea with some of my own. While your zombie quest idea is nice, i have one problem with it. People wouldn't drink just wine, they would still mix it with water, especially for children. So lack of wine it's kinda not enough reason to check wells. I'm thinking about concentrating houses with zombies in just one part of village, around one of the wells (there are several on Barovia map). So if players start to look into this, and try to investigate what this houses have in common, and why others are safe, it's easier to lead them to the well.
Your videos are awesome! I found your content on Curse of Strahd to be especially interesting and inspiring, as I am planning to run the module as a first time DM for my friends. Thanks again and please keep it up :) Greetings from Germany
Greetings! I'm glad you're enjoying the videos!
Very well thought out content.
Wow this is really good. Damn it. Now I have to watch all your other videos huh?
It’s a law somewhere, yes.
I love those ideas. Reading the Curse as is I felt like Barovia should have collapsed a long time ago at this point at the very least with the nightly attacks by Strahd. Changing Strahd's angle of attack to more subtle stalking of his Tatiana and his overall approach to his subjects to an abuser gaslighting his victims seems so much more fitting to me. I think I will play the Barovians fear of Strahd a bit differently, less fatalistic, and more twisted. With some villagers openly fearful, some cowed into paying lip service to Strahd out of fear and some in outright Stockhome Syndrom defending the Lord of the Land. That way the Vistani and the Merchant don't come across as so blatantly evil, Mad Mary seems less justified in her paranoia and Ireena can be genuinely tempted by Strahd. The whole thing can be extended to the valley overall. With the 3 towns being held by different factions up until now. Those who call Strahd the devil and resist him like Ismark and the Master of Vallaki. The Royalists defending Strahd lady Fiona Watcher and until Strahd targeted Ireena the Master of Barovia. And those broken down in fear like Mad Mary and the Master of Krezk.
I think that is how I am going to play Curse of Strahd next.
That sounds fantastic!
@@LunchBreakHeroes There is more. As is humans in Strahd's domain would have starved long ago. I was expecting to read how the druids come to the village fields and cast "Plant Growth" on the fields so they can be harvested even with the sky always being overcast. But it never came up in the book. By having to rely on Strah's worshipers to survive the villagers would be even more trapped in an abusive situation.
What is preventing Ireena from contracting the zombie disease via drinking water? I'd imagine that Strahd would prefer her to remain alive for the time being (until he can turn her into a Vampire).
A stomach lined with plot armor, of course.
@@LunchBreakHeroes Lmao excellent xD Well now I'm making it canon that one of Ireena's quirks is that she is a big foodie and has an iron stomach. Perhaps she has always had a strong constitution, for reasons yet unknown. Her being interested in unique dishes would also go along with her interest in the outside world, travel, etc.
So between villagers going missing due to Doru, and the villagers going missing due to the dream pies, I'm not there'd be any Barovian villagers left for long. I like this idea, though with villagers instead having gaps in their memories which come up when talking with the adventurers and possibly with new scars. This would be as a result of Donavich assisting in the bleeding of victims and then having Doru be capable of hypnotizing them with his gaze into forgetting it ever happened. I know technically he can't do that, but that ability is a core part of vampire mythology so I give all my vampires (except Nosferatu in Van Richten's) the ability to Charm, though the DC may vary.
I don't really care for the Donavich idea. I prefer to think of him as the sole remaining sanctimonious soul, praying incessantly to keep his church hallowed ground, and the dead buried there.. buried there.. as well for a sign on how to help Doru. I could see a more complex quest, where Donovich has worked out a deal with someone for sheep's blood, and those sheep are being stolen.
I honestly figured that you had a plot about the villagers being turned in to zombies. Since the Village of Barovia has an unsustainable number of zombie residents living there (and not enough non-shell people, by CoS RAW standards, I think a zombie / villager plot makes a whole lot more sense.
Not real sure how to translate zombie overpopulation in to sheep's blood though. That might require some trigonometry. :D
I do like the concept of Doru being outdoors at night. It's entirely possible for an NPC CLERIC to not be scared of the dark in Barovia. As opposed to a simple priest. Makes sense to me. :)
OH! Your second idea is zombies!
HEHEHEHE!! You KNOW... Tristram had that.. EXACT.. same problems with zombies in the well.
Hmm... :D
(Brilliant idea!)
"Strahd wants Ireena to see the world burning down around her." I um... have an expansion on Strahd wanting to see the world burn around him. I just polished it off just now, shockingly, and I'm not quite ready to release it out in to the wild yet. I just wanted to mention that I can easily picture that as being one of Strahd's motivating factors as well.
Great minds do think alike! :D
I like these. Have been scrounge a group together for a CoS campaign for a while. When I finally do it will be awesome.
Best of luck to you!
So, I am inputting a lot of different ideas into my current CoS campaign, and just curious if anyone else had an issue come up that I am foreseeing:
What if one of your PCs drinks the Zombie Water? How are you as the DM going to play that or did play that?
Just getting to Barovia now...Great video!
Thank you!
For my campaign, I am using Jenny Greenleaf to let the party know something is up with Donavich. Since the druid character has become BFF with Jenny (who I decided lives on the edge of town and can speak druid), the party used Jenny as an info dump about the area and she said "There are some family issues going on with Father Donavich and his son Doru but I stay out of it." So now my party knows that 1) Something is going on between them and 2) Doru is in the mix somewhere but they won't see him when they go to the church and may ask about him. Our party druid is already suspicious of Church folk so it should indeed be interesting. :3
Thank you! Helped me alot running this adventure!
Glad I could help!
These videos are so helpful!
Glad you think so!
In the Revamped module for Curse of Strahd, there is an encounter immediately following the burgomasters burial in which a female Vampire Spawn, Ingrid Vikhrov arrives at the church with several wolves and two werewolves. They have come to take Ireena back to Strahd, but everyone hides inside the church so Ingrid can’t enter without an invitation, to which she asks the characters “may I come in?”. In this scenario, the players are meant to stall for time, while also looking inside the church for silver that they can use to crudely silver their weapons and fight the werewolves.
Keeping in line with this guide, I wonder if the vampire spawn is actually just jealous of Ireena and wants to kill her. Since Strahd wants to make Ireena feel safe around him and inside his castle according to this guide, he probably didn’t send Ingrid. Instead, she is jealous that Ireena has attracted Strahd’s eye, and she wants that attention for herself. Perhaps she is young and petty, and she wants to kill Ireena, or perhaps taunt her into feeling unsafe around Strahd. Either way, Strahd isn’t going to like that, and if the players don’t kill her and she goes back to castle ravenloft, he’s going to punish her somehow.
Moreover, Donavich looks to be on the verge of breaking and just letting Ingrid in, and one of the lines that she says to taunt him is “I’m sure Doru would let me in.” If we are using the missing villagers quest from this guide, then it is likely that the players will have no idea who Doru is since he hasn’t been introduced yet. I’m curious to know what might happen if, while the characters are stalling Ingrid for time, they suddenly hear “FATHER, I’M STARVING!” Now, they have more problems to deal with, upping the stakes and creating an ever growing snowball of urgency.
Just as an aside, I love these videos. I’ve just started to run this adventure (after 2 years :/) and I’m already having a blast using these guides to help give the adventure a sense of realism, dread, and cohesiveness.
I’m really glad you find these guides useful, Nick!
@@LunchBreakHeroes My pleasure. You helped me run an awesome, unforgettable encounter with Venomfang in Lost Mines. Only two of my players caught on just before he used his breath weapon, and it was the only thing that avoided a TPK. They definitely want to kill him next time they see him.
Plus, thanks to your videos, I was exposed to I, Strahd: Memoirs of a Vampire. I finished it in about a month (record time for someone who doesn’t read much). I plan to finish these videos and apply them to my own game.
I’m dumb, who is the apprentice priest in vallaki? These videos have been great, just trying to keep changes straight :)
It's Yeska. I don't think he's an apprentice RAW, but it works.
a villager going missing every week for a year means 52 missing villagers. given the size of the village, and also the other stuff always happening, the village would die, due to missing work forces meaning starvation and illnesses.
make it once per month, and have him feed the current villager, so he keeps producing blood until he dies after about a month.
You could do that. Or, there's about 500 out so villagers anyway. Maybe they're scraping by with 448, or maybe the village IS dying. Up to you.
You just described my hometown's church on Sunday,....and most of the people here are Orthodox,
But here let me help, if you have zombies, notify the black watchmen captain, that some necromancer forgot to put away his toys,.....again
If there people dying for no reason, check the waters, there is a ghoul there,
If people especially children go missing, you have vampire partaking in unscantioned murders,
If your crops are dying some hag is living in your barn,
If your animals are being slaughtered its hormonal lycans, notify the Lycan border police,
If your children are speaking in strange tongues, it's bound to be evil spirits, talk to a legal necromancer
If your spouse/loved left you for filthy ***************VISTANI,....just get an axe and find their camp, then blame it on them!..... They deserve it, even the church will give you money for it,
What happens if a player drinks the water? (Disregarding alcohol before knowing the zombies down there)
That's a good question, and entirely up to you. You could rule that their adventurer's constitution handles it better than a commoner's, or you could launch them on a heroic quest to keep from dying of a terrible disease!
Good video mate
Thanks for these we are just starting the "Durst Manor" tonight, and finishing the prep. However, I'm curious on Village what do you do with Ireena? How did you RP her? Did she travel with the party the whole game or dropped her off in Valaki
That's a simple question with a not-so-simple answer. Ireena's a difficult character, and one that I struggle with as well. She's a blank slate, and it's up to you to make the party care about her.
If you're lucky like me, you have a group of players who understand that she's the McGuffin they need to focus on. Otherwise, do you best to make her likeable. Have her be crafty and make useful things for the party. My party didn't have their equipment, so she made them packs to carry their gear.
What your party does with her is up to them. Some drop her off at Vallaki, thwart the feast, and move on. Others take them with her for one reason or another (failed feast, for example). Either way, keep in mind that she's the object of Strahd's desire. If she's away from the party, then Strahd's focus is around her and probably not on them. News of the trouble Strahd causes around her can make its way back to the party, and encourage them to focus their efforts there.
super helpful
These are great! Do you have any suggestions on how to do a similar thing to make Vallaki have more background ticking over?
Man, the idea that the people of the Village of Barovia drink wine instead of water is a tough sell for me. Alcohol is an diuretic, and wine may be cheap in Barovia, but it ain't water cheap. Supply also has to be a problem. I feel like dehydration is gonna be a bigger threat than the zombies!
Strahd is the best campaign hands down. Great job man.
Thank you!
Why aren't you famous? This is gold! Thanks!
I ask myself that every night in the mirror!
Alright not really. But you can help the channel grow by talking about it and sharing the videos wherever you can!
@@LunchBreakHeroes I sure will, well after I run it so I don't spoil the fun.
Damn! I already get out from the village but I wish I had seen this video before
You can always move the zombie quest to Vallaki.
What's a good way to transition from the burial to starting the murder quest? Now that there's nothing keeping Ireena in Barovia, I'd imagine Ismark is eager to see her off, so I'm not sure how to hook the players into making the murder mystery a priority before they leave. It could be that he gives them the quest BEFORE they go do the burial, but then who would perform the ceremony, should Donavich be indisposed?
Hey thanks for helping with the burial. You seem like capable folk, and I could use an outsiders perspective on a problem…
@@LunchBreakHeroes I definitely like the idea of this being a chance for the PCs to show off their (hopeful) competence to Ismark to further raise his confidence in their ability to protect Ireena, as beforehand he really had no way to actually gauge their reliability, so it always seemed strange that he'd just hand his sister over to some strangers in town (even if desperate).
They need someone to trust, so don't use Donovich. Use some dumb hump, like the guy that runs the general store. He, obviously, doesn't need your business.
Also, you can have a herd of zombies wander through. It would be a good opportunity to organize survivors, let players show their TWD ideas (most of us have ideas for a Zombie Apocalypse, right? Bladed revolving doors and things like that? Yeah?), or let the characters see how the survivors have stayed survivors. The village needs the cleric, and maybe he has a few "choir boys" that can cast a first level spell, or turn undead?
How does the town turn shadows? Ever see a bed box? Like a cabinet with a bunk inside it. They may even be built with an escape hatch to the next room or lower floor. A few streets may well be barricaded at night.
The villagers may well show the party a good place to hole up, and let them keep it. Technically, the Burgomaster can give away eminent domain to bolster the village and indebt the party to him.
The party could also become some of the people that go scouting. Maybe some of the magic or silvered weapons (cold Iron, even) were with people who disappeared? This might also put them onto getting the sun blade, or another item that will help them take down Strahd.
A few of the missing persons may have followed the ghosts, to see where they've been going each night? Screwing with Strahd might delay him from his intended bride, if the party doesn't want to escort her away. The party may also be used to take down a few spies and traitors in the village.
Your content is top tier. Good job.
Thank you!
Nice! I am using this. I love the Love/Tear Down the Support Structures theory.
Thank you! Let me know how it goes.
Hello LunchBreakHeroes, I have a question, how do you create a Barovian name? I'm reading the module and just throws at you some suggestions, but what are the rules to create one? Or do you have your own rule?
Use something that sounds vaguely Russian and you’re good.
Cool video! But re the "Missing Villagers" quest, what if the players drew the priest as their ally? It doesn't seem like they'd want to team up with him after this (as you mention, they're very likely to kill him).
See, that just makes the situation sound more interesting to me. But the drawing is after the village, so you could always change the Ally to Father Petrovich. Or even Yeska.
If Madame Eva picks his card, she tells the party that he is falling into darkness, but is not all the way down. He may be saved, he can redeem himself with the party's help. Plus, you can have the Tarokka episode before they arrive in Barovia. Maybe the caravan is heading out while the party is heading in. Or, move the party's entrance to Barovia, to another edge of the map. (my players are entering from the south-west corner, and have to travel through the woods before meeting anyone, hex crawl style, to acclimate them to the demi-plane's creepy atmosphere. They're coming from Phandalin.)
Little shop of horrors on steroids, love it
one of my players got bitten by the zombies in the well and didn’t make his constitution saving throw. do you have any ideas how he can prevent turning into a zombie at 0hp?
(I mean like a fun hook, like travel somewhere or find someone that can help? my party doesn’t control a resurrection or raise dead spell)
Absolutely. Cutting off the infected appendage would most certainly stop the spread of the disease.
That, or lesser restoration. But that's the boring option.
Excellent video! You've earned another subscriber.
Glad to hear it!
Is Strahd insane? I'm not sure. I'm controlling Strahd long-distance for a mate's campaign, and I might be empathising a little too hard.
Not insane, but his weak point is Tatyana. After 750 years, I think anyone is bound to start losing it just a little in that regard.
You could have made this really cool with some dark background effects, not a bright wall.
Umm, so one of my PCs drank the water from the well....what do I do??
Give them dysentery?
They're adventurers, so they're made of stronger stuff than run-of-the-mill commoners. It's entirely possible that their constitutions could shake off whatever crap is in the water. Maybe tell the player that their character feels violently ill, vomits uncontrollably for a while, and gains the poisoned status for 24 hours.
I don't like the idea of Donavich a bad guy, even one with the somewhat sympathetic motivation of looking after his child.
I love a good mystery, and I feel like the one you've designed and implemented here is very well-done. It's also probably the perfect place for a mystery like in the adventure.
But the idea of poor Donavich being tormented by the cries of his son--and that holding pattern having no resolution in sight--is just too horrible for me to let go of.
The Donovich/Doru quests sounds great, but how or where did you set it up? The events are great but what gets the players to begin investigating this quest unless they have reason to suspect something in the locations? I'm thinking about seeding it completely with Ismark at the start of the scene where they meet him.
Seeding it with Ismark is basically the idea. There's some stuff going down in the village, but he can't be bothered with it because of Strahd going after Ireena. So he asks the party for a little assistance before he entrusts them with the life of his beloved sibling.
@@LunchBreakHeroes I like a lot of the guides out there, and yours is no exception. But I need to have a linear path or flow or I am forced to read, re-read and read again until I get the gist of it and figure out how to fit it in. The best guides for me are literally like this: "Step 1: Change this and replace with this, Step 2: Change this from this to this" This way I'm not sifting through tons of text trying to determine "Ok, where did he mean for this to go?" Either way great stuff. As you posted your reply I was re-watching your Death House video and i'm going through "triple checking" my notes to make sure I got everything correct as I am running that scene tonight.
@@mikeet207 lemme know how it goes!
@@LunchBreakHeroes Will do!
hello. not sure if you will see this but I have a question. If Strahd has never bitten. what did you use for Kolyan Indirovich's letter (version 2) Or possibly eliminate that letter completely?
Of course I'll see this!
I omitted the letter entirely, but only because my party found it, didn't open it, and then forgot about it.
... They're in the Amber Temple now and technically still have it in their inventory.
However, if a party did read the letter, you can just change it up so that it says that she is "harried" by Strahd and that the burgomaster fears the worst for her.
@@LunchBreakHeroes cool thanks I was at little bit of a loss for this
I love this guy!
Thank you so much!
Did you also add your own quests to The Town of Vallaki-Chapter 5?
I've got plenty to say about Vallaki, just you wait. 😁
Lunch Break Heroes Well, you just got a sub. 😃
I love these videos! Keep it up :)
Excellent expansions
Thank you! I'm glad you like them.
Where is the well?
It’s a home brew addition, so wherever you want!
god i wish i had watched ur video long time ago
Better late than never!
You have a lot of great insights and I've been enjoying your videos on character insights, but I really disagree with the zombie plague idea. Strahd destroying Berez I can get because it was probably the closest he had ever come to actually wining over one of Tatyana's reincarnations and there were three other major towns that he could still rule over and use to feed/entertain himself, so he felt justified in really turning them into an example. Strahd had ruled over Barovia for hundreds of years at that point though and he had never resorted to wanton destruction of entire populations either out of malice or carelessness before Berez. He must have had some concern for the sustainability of his lands or else Strahd would have razed and regrown Barovia a few times over by now. Strahd just dumping some zombies down a well and letting an entire village die within a few months seems very out of character. His whole "schtick" seems to be much more geared towards decades, or even centuries, long campaigns of manipulation, predation, and abuse. An entire town dying within months seems like it would be too careless and boring for him.
Is this available in text form?
Sorry for the extremely late response, but yes it is! All guide videos are available in PDF form for members of our Patreon.
One a week? seems too many.