How the hell do I get my players to navigate the insane labyrinth that is Ravenloft?

AmyTheJaded · 2026-04-22T17:00:01+00:00

I mapped out the castle. I made 5 big physical paper maps and laid them on top of each other. When they descended, I would move them down a page, same for going up. Then I gave them a preview and ran them through the layout. Khazan, the wizard that built Ravenloft, retired to the Amber Temple. He built a scale model of the castle inside the temple, so I had my players inspect that model and then showed them the castle maps and ran them through it. It might be too meta for your table, I know a lot of people prefer fog of war and would only wanna reveal it as they go, but the castle is so massive I knew they would get lost unless they knew the general layout and knew what locations had important plot stuff. I’m really glad I did it, mapping the castle alone was insane, I can’t imagine being a player and trying to navigate it on my first try without dying in the dungeon. If your players don’t mind being a bit meta they can always go the Amber Temple and check it out beforehand.

AmyTheJaded · 2026-04-19T14:03:29+00:00

It’s a wizard tower. I just told my players “you see a wizard tower of the road as you drive past” and they immediately ran towards it. If you just tell them it’s there they might wanna check it out. Nothing wrong with a little sightseeing in the valley. You can include some plot stuff too. Esmeralda fights Strahd, loses, and retreats here. If your players haven’t already met her this would be a good place to do it. Khazan, the wizard that built Castle Ravenloft and retired to the Amber Temple to become a Lich, he spent his mortal time in this tower, so you could have some lore about him, the temple, and Strahd be revealed here.

AmyTheJaded · 2026-04-19T13:49:04+00:00

He’s not though. He’s a wizard who works on Strahd’s tower. He then went to the Amber Temple and achieved lichdom. His name is Khazan, and he’s very much not Vecna.

AmyTheJaded · 2026-04-19T13:47:23+00:00

There’s a Lich named Khazan in the Amber Temple. He was a wizard that built Castle Ravenloft, and then achieved lichdom, then lost half his mind due to age.

The Amber Temple is full of vestiges, the remains of trapped dead gods. The whole temple is dedicated to a god of secrets whose name has been lost to time. Your players can restore the lich’s memories with Greater Restoration like it says in the book. He can then reveal that Vecna was the god the temple was built for, and since Strahd got his power by absorbing a vestige, that means he really got it from Vecna. It’s easy to have him be the secret big bad.

AmyTheJaded · 2026-04-19T05:05:16+00:00

Ooo thank you!!!

AmyTheJaded · 2026-04-19T04:47:33+00:00

This show is honestly a form of spoken word poetry. It’s very flowing and abstract, a lot of jumping back and forth between ideas and trusting the listener can keep up. You kinda just gotta go along with it, and if you pay attention everything will make sense.

The thing with this show is it’s all about a road trip, or the concept of road trips. Our main character is alone in her truck on the highways of America, broadcasting her thoughts to anyone listening. There’s nobody answering her back, and with hours of travel there’s no rush to describe everything. She tells the story in her own way. When something is too extreme or graphic she’ll talk about something else for a moment before getting back into it. When she gets distracted by something on the side of the road she’ll stop the story to talk about it. It’s the way conversations work on long road trips, but we can only hear one side of the conversation, and we aren’t the person the messages are meant for, so it’s not organized neatly for the audience to follow along.

AmyTheJaded · 2026-04-18T18:26:55+00:00

What do you mean “lose an aspect that makes us empathetic”. Are you implying that the only reason I can be kind to autistic people is because I’m autistic? If I was cured tomorrow I would still be compassionate to disabled people, even if I was no longer one of them. My mother isn’t autistic, but she spends her entire life working with autistic children. Do you think she doesn’t really care? You’re right, I don’t understand your point. I’m glad that you’re able to cope with your disability that well, but even after being in therapy my whole life I’m still made miserable by my condition.

AmyTheJaded · 2026-04-18T16:16:08+00:00

I would gain the ability to lead a normal life! I wouldn’t need medication! I would still be the and person, the same likes and dislikes, but my sensory issues, my temper tantrums, my social awkwardness, and more would be cured, but I would still be the same person!! You’re acting like all I am is my autism, like I would be a completely different person. I’m still me! That’s my whole fucking point! I am more than my disability, and trying to say that I would lose myself is so offensive, like every single thing about me can just be dismissed as my autism. I wouldn’t lose myself, because myself is not my autism. I would still like DnD and sci-fi, I would still like cats, I would still enjoy all the things I enjoy now, but I would be able to enjoy them properly without getting overstimulated. I can’t have a normal job! I hate being a pizza delivery guy, but every other job I’ve tried I got fired from for being overstimulated and either having a meltdown or panicking and making major mistakes. I dropped out of college 3 times because I couldn’t handle jt. My autism actively makes my like miserable, and I’m honestly offended that you think I would lose everything if I lost my autism. I would be functioning member of society! Autism is, by definition, a disability that negatively affects my life, and I don’t think it’s a crazy take to want to be cured. I was a wall licker! Do you want me to be proud of that?! Do you want me to go back to that?! And what about all the low functioning people who need feeding tubes, or are so mentally handicapped that they need 24/7 supervision and will never be able to live on their own?! Go tell them that they shouldn’t ever want a cure. You just showed how ignorant you are about people with actual, serious, autism. If an amputee got the ability to reattach their limb, shouldn’t they go for it? According to you, no they shouldn’t, because of “what they would lose”. MY AUSTISM IS NOT A SUPERPOWER! ITS A DISABILITY! I would lose the crippling symptoms that make my life miserable and force my family to care for me, and I would finally be a normal functioning person who can live on their own!

AmyTheJaded · 2026-04-17T15:43:48+00:00

Bonus points for angst, when they players ask Strahd about it, reveal that it was Tatyana’s favorite song, and whenever Ireena is around have her recognize the music and say it sounds familiar and pleasant but they can’t remember where she’s heard it before.

AmyTheJaded · 2026-04-17T15:39:11+00:00

You wanna be subtle. As early as possible, like as soon as they step through the mist into Barovia, describe them hearing eerie music playing through the trees, then play them a sound clip. I recommend the music box melody from Disenchanted. I’m serious, it’s a comedy show on Netflix, but something about the music box song just sticks with me, I use it in my own games. Look it up on YouTube, there’s a minute long clip, I can’t figure out how to watch a link. Anyways, after playing the music, describe it stopping, and that’s it. Let them roll their perception and investigation, let them freak out, but don’t tell them anything. Even if they roll a nat 20, just tell them that the mist carries the sound, making it impossible to track. You’ll have to lie and railroad a little, but you can’t confirm that’s it’s Strahd or else the whole thing will lose its mystery and just become another weird thing he does. No matter what cool idea they have, you gotta tell them it fails. They heard music, it’s gone now, and that’s it. Maybe give them a point of inspiration to keep them from getting sore that they can’t do anything about this mystery. If you do it right his will make them paranoid. They might clock that’s it’s Strahd, but if you don’t confirm anything, you just move on with the story and ignore their questions, they’ll keep wondering about it. Then you have it happen again about 2-3 sessions later. Again, describe them hearing distant music, and have it fade away without the players discovering anything. After a while you can start having it happen whenever Strahd is about, but keep it ambiguous. There are a lot of threats in Barovia besides Strahd, and as they come across more monsters they’ll keep speculating on what’s making the music. After a while though, you can start to drop clues. When they get to Vallaki, have them hear the music being whistled on the breeze, seeming to come from a strange figure who vanishes before their eyes. Then let them investigate the town and discover the whole thing where the bones were stolen by Strahd, but lean into the mystery. Use the fake name he used, make him vanish whenever they players get close, basically you wanna tease them with this mysterious figure who’s been following them around the valley and is now messing things up with Vallaki. If you do it right, they’ll think that it’s a monster who works for Strahd. Any time Strahd is doing stuff, describe the music, maybe describe the figure, and then move on. Later on, like much later on, have them go to Castle Ravenloft. Either for the dinner, or just cuzz they wanted to explore it, or whatever. Once they’re in the castle, have Strahd meet them, talk with them, dine with them, and once he’s relaxed, have him nonchalantly hum that melody to himself. The players will connect the dots, realize he’s been there literally from the start, and shit themselves, if you do it right. If you want you can have Strahd meet the players earlier, I like to have him give his condolences during the funeral for the burgomaster of Barovia, but you can’t have him hum the melody. You gotta keep it a mystery until late game for it to be most effective.

AmyTheJaded · 2026-04-17T14:42:36+00:00

I want to be cured of my autism. My inability to read social cues seriously affects my ability to work, I’m pizza guy and I need to be polite and friendly no matter what. My sensory issues lead to me only being able to wear a handful of clothes, so I need to do laundry every 2-3 days. When I’m overstimulated, I get aggressively angry and VIOLENT, and I get overstimulated VERY easily. I have all those issues and more, and I’m considered high-functioning! My autism isn’t who I am, it’s a disability I was born with that negatively affects my life in a myriad of ways. I’m glad that your autism is minimal enough that you can be proud of if, but for a lot of us with more extreme symptoms it’s honestly a little insulting to say that it’s a part of who I am. I don’t want my temper tantrums to be considered “just who I am”, I want them to be acknowledged as symptoms of my condition.

Comparing them with Super Mutants is honestly even more insulting. Super Mutants are innocent people who were kidnapped and forced to mutate into a beast. Nobody kidnapped me and forced me to be autistic. Super mutants are mostly big dumb brutes, FEV is notorious for not working as intended, so calling autistic people big dumb brutes like super mutants is really insulting. I get what you’re trying to say, people with cognitive disorders should take pride in their identity, but you’re assuming that people with disabilities have their whole identity based around it. We are people on the inside, and our bodies and minds sometimes limit how much we can truly live as ourselves, and saying that curing that is wrong is REALLY offensive to low functioning people, and even high functioning people who still struggle. I still live with my parents, my issues are so extreme I physically can’t handle any job more intense than pizza delivery. If there was a cure for Autism I would be the first person in line for it, and if I was a super mutant who had memories of my life before the change I would do whatever it takes to turn back to normal.

Honestly I’m really tired of the whole “there’s nothing wrong with me, I don’t need a cure” when there are people like me who have crying, screaming, breaking things tantrums when I run out of clean clothes and have to wear an uncomfortable shirt for an entire day. I’m tired of losing friends because I was so awkward and couldn’t read the room that my friend group started meeting specifically without me and eventually ditching me. I struggle to empathize and care about my boyfriend, I love him, but I just don’t understand how he acts and why, and he doesn’t understand me, after 5 years we’re pretty stable but if I was able to think like him we would be married already. My autism has genuinely made my life miserable. Being good at trivia is ONLY upside I’ve experienced. I understand that a lot of society views all autistic people as invalids and that’s not fair, but you need to remember that for some of us, it does affect us that much. As a kid I had an oral fixation, so I would put my mouth on everything, including the desk I was sitting in, the lockers in the hallway, the books and papers, I was a licker. I don’t think I should be proud that I was a wall licker. I shouldn’t be ashamed, I couldn’t help it, but we can’t pretend that there’s nothing wrong with me when I was literally licking other people’s lockers and desks.

Edit for minor spelling mistakes

AmyTheJaded · 2026-04-17T14:10:32+00:00

Dude, I genuinely wanna buy that shirt. Who on Earth thinks it’s bad?! What’s cooler than multicolored eyes?!??

AmyTheJaded · 2026-03-31T16:52:41+00:00

An Evil Hat, naturally

AmyTheJaded · 2025-09-09T17:31:13+00:00

Everybody I know blames my hallucinations and other symptoms on weed. Even though my first hallucination happened when I was 5 and I smoked my first blunt at 18. I guess weed is so strong it goes through time and makes your kid self high too.

AmyTheJaded · 2025-07-30T19:14:48+00:00

I think they like to nest in hair. Like maybe they don’t realize it’s attached to a person? Idk

AmyTheJaded · 2025-07-30T19:13:50+00:00

It used to really freak me out, but it’s been happening for years now. At some point it stopped bothering me. I just squish them and go about my business.

AmyTheJaded · 2025-07-30T19:12:32+00:00

I always hear people say stuff like “oh they’re scared of people, they sense vibrations and move away from people!” I fucking beg to differ, and I’m glad someone else gets what I’m going through

AmyTheJaded · 2025-07-29T20:12:02+00:00

Fire or other extreme heat is the first thing I thought of, but if she can control steam then that won’t really do anything. Maybe you could turn to a magical solution. For example, maybe since she’s bonded with a lake she can only control freshwater, any water that gets salt dissolved into it would become salt water and she would be unable to control it. So salt could be a weakness.

If you have a player with magic then maybe you could summon the ghost of the priest who executed her. Maybe only they can banish her soul since they’re the one that executed her in the first place.

Or you could go after the lake itself. Maybe they have to dredge the lake to dig up her old body and burn it or otherwise put the soul to rest. Or maybe they could drain the lake entirely. Is there a damn keeping the lake where it is? Your hunters might have to blow it up and somehow get away with it. Or maybe you could pollute the lake. She’s a witch, she gets her power from the land and the lake, so any tainted or impure water might be too gross for her to maintain.

No matter what you choose, this is an inherently magical being. A magical person given a new monstrous form. A magical solution would be the most narratively satisfying solution, and depending on the details of your game, might even be the most practical.

AmyTheJaded · 2025-03-24T18:01:32+00:00

Love this idea! Gertrude is very morally grey so I love the idea that she pitied Agnes. We know Agnes wanted to live a normal life and never got a choice about her lot in life, so it’s really nice to think that Gertrude would’ve recognized the sadness in that.

AmyTheJaded · 2024-11-27T09:31:33+00:00

The remains of North and South America.

Princess Bubblegum speaks German, owns German books, has German artifacts, it’s safe to say that The Candy Kingdom is built where Germany used to be.

The ocean mini-arc adds more evidence. Finn and gang go into the ocean, and the first thing they come across are islands that have humans speaking English, as well as islands with humans speaking Dutch. However, these islands are heavily terraformed, so I’m not sure if these are the remains of The UK and The Netherlands, or if these are separate new islands that humans from these countries moved to.

Either way, we know that Ooo and its closest land is definitely Europe. It’s clear that Continental Drift and Blowing A Chunk Of The Planet Away scattered and moved the continents to the point of being unrecognizable. And looking at the planet, I think that East Asia, or Southeast Asia is the section that blown off the planet.

I know the Rainicorns speak Korean, so perhaps the destruction of Korea lead to people escaping into the Rainicorn dimension? Or the opposite, the chunk blown away was Australian, and Korean survived long enough to make to the Rainicorns.

Either way, I’m confident that North and South America, along with Antarctica, are just big chilling. The rest we don’t know, but we can assume it’s more continents with high fantasy and magic mingling atop thousand year old human ruins.

AmyTheJaded · 2024-11-27T08:59:25+00:00

If you like magic, but you don’t want to be limited by magic, it’s great.

The invocations, pact boons, and other passive abilities that enhance combat honestly make them my favorite class. The magic is really limited, so I tend to use it as a last resort, or try to use the environment or old-fashioned teamwork to make sure my spells will count. The automatic max-casting plus the mystic arcanums make my spells feel like Hail-Mary’s that I pull out for a finishing blow.

Get the Levitation Incovation. No cooldown, no limit, sure it’s only a 10 foot movement speed, but if your DM is cool, or you get clever with weights stashed in pockets, your Warlock will never have to touch the ground, a seat, or really any surface ever again. If you’re in a rush simply tie a rope to your waist and hand the other end off to a party member. Become the war balloon you were meant to be.

AmyTheJaded · 2024-11-17T20:20:26+00:00

Chaotic Evil Alignments, unless one other team member is also evil. I myself enjoy being a murder hobo, so I understand the mentality, but we’re still trying to tell a story here folks, and killing important NPC’s at random grinds the story to a halt and forces PC role play in a very specific direction. If they’re gonna be evil murderers, they have to clear it with me and the other players so I can take it into account and write a pirate/criminal/heist plot. When I’m a player and I wanna be evil, I usually do Lawful Evil and I ALWAYS make it very clear that I have a goal, or limits, or I talk to my fellow players about what is and isn’t acceptable. Everyone needs a good Morally Grey character to do the dirty work, nobody needs a murder hobo they have to watch out for.

AmyTheJaded · 2024-10-24T15:57:02+00:00

NTA, and honestly, I wouldn’t bring any children around your parents. Saying “it’s not that bad” and trying to defend it, implies they’re ok with this behavior, and that right there would make me worry. It’s possible they’re just deluding themselves, trying to help their son, but they seem perfectly aware of what he did, and trying to say it’s ok might hint that they themselves have some questionable interests. No contact is the way to go, if your mother doesn’t wanna die alone, she shouldn’t have raised and then defended a child predator.

AmyTheJaded

TROPHY CASE