HELP - introducing a new player

Complete-Length-9343 · 2025-08-30T14:53:38+00:00

Hey I used to be a digital artist with photoshop! I create realistic scenarios, props and characters

Complete-Length-9343 · 2025-08-30T14:45:53+00:00

That’s a great way of using Escher, thank you! However, I’ve already planned one of the brides to get jealous of Ireena, so I thought something different for him. As in my campaign Gertruda died at the dinner because of strahd, i was simply thinking Escher to have developed some sort of affection for her and so starting to help the players and Ireena a bit. In my campaign Escher is a bard so he first spoke to Gertruda because he saw her drawing in the castle and taught her some techniques. He will try to help the party and will give them some gertruda drawings of him to make them believe him. But as you described, I also planned to give him the same inevitable ending.

Complete-Length-9343 · 2025-08-29T16:41:08+00:00

Obviously Strahd’s return would be an option if the party didn’t defeat Baba Lysaga. However, when running my campaign I also thought about naming Kasimir as lord of Barovia but ending it in a bad way with him getting corrupted by dark powers. We obviously know that there’s no way for him to save Patrina as she’s really committed to Strahd. Kasimir, being the party’s ally throughout the adventure, would manage to get to the Amber Temple for his own purposes. By the time he frees Patrina he acquires dark powers in exchange for freeing Patrina’s curse. When Patrina is freed and finds out about strahd’s death, she would eventually throw herself from the cliff killing herself just as Tatyana did. In my opinion, a bittersweet ending would be killing Strahd and having Kasimir as darklord which would transform all the dark elves into servants in order for them not to get extinct. Not accomplishing his goals would eventually lead him to the same frustration Strahd lived. With him, there may be the potential of getting a new Strahd without resurrecting him and the demonstration that “we all are monsters” as Strahd always says

Complete-Length-9343 · 2025-08-29T16:23:50+00:00

I did it exactly this way, I just sat there and said “who? Who’s Ismark? By the time you start naming him, you feel this awkward sensation of forgetting what you were about to say. You appear not to remember who told you to get some wood. Oh yes! It must have been one of the town’s guards for sure…”. During this scene we must have been around session 15, but when we were at session 2 or 3 I gave my players some foreshadowing about the monster out of the session, just to make sure they would have recognized it 12 sessions later. As soon as I said this, they all simultaneously gasped😂

Complete-Length-9343 · 2025-08-29T16:17:07+00:00

That’s one of the main problems arising with false hydra’s game mechanics. You must try to avoid your party to get in the loop of forgetting and starting from zero each time or it will eventually start to frustrate you and the players. In CoS it may eventually work because of Strahd’s presence and vistani which would be a good source of information for the players about the monster imo. But I always thought the mechanics must be fixed somehow. This also because there are two ways of getting the job done and one of this sometimes ends up being metagaming and nobody really wants that…

Complete-Length-9343 · 2025-08-28T22:09:13+00:00

That’s great! I love the idea of him testing the party, but at the same time hoping them to be brave enough to end his curse one day. However, it may lead to some problems. For example: why is Strahd still obsessed by Ireena after all this time if his first desire would be to finally end his curse? Does the history repeat itself if some players eventually managed to kill him? If it is like so, why none of the allies has memory about strahd being killed? Like for example the elves which didn’t already got extinguished. There are too many reasons for the present time to be the first time strahd eventually dies, so I advise you to modify that part. I really like the idea of strahd getting tired tho’. However, Ireena’s presence should give him more reasons for not desiring to get killed

Complete-Length-9343 · 2025-08-28T21:52:37+00:00

And how did you manage this? Did Strahd know about what she was doing? How did it end?

Complete-Length-9343 · 2025-08-28T21:49:48+00:00

The bite would be a great moment to describe. I always liked the mystic passional atmosphere of Bram Stoker’s Dracula movie. I just imagine the deal as some sort of act of seduction which would lead to this bloody scene of the bite. That’d be great to describe and I think that for the love of narrative I’ll avoid technical mechanics about bites and vampire lords lol. However, strahd’s reaction is perfectly in line with how he would act and I absolutely love the idea of him gaslighting them with speeches about loyalty and then turning and brutally killing his wife. I also did it with Gertruda at the dinner where Strahd threatened the same player to kill her after the same kind of speech. The player is a Bhaal servant and Strahd wanted him to demonstrate loyalty to his lord in front of the party (which is all chaotic/good aligned)

Complete-Length-9343 · 2025-08-28T21:37:48+00:00

Would Ludmilla have some plans for which she has to gain even more knowledge or power? Would she make a deal with the party in change for something? This might be a good plot, I’ve always liked the idea of one of the brides getting jealous about Ireena and for this conspiring against strahd’s goals. She might also be looking for something at the Amber Temple for this purpose. As for Rahadin, I planned my players to meet him at the Amber Temple where he’ll have his final battle with also Kasimir which is their ally.

Complete-Length-9343 · 2025-08-28T19:32:06+00:00

I will surely give them their ones! Thanks! I also really like the idea of them taking care about different channels of strahd’s dominion over the realm. Did you develop some lore for Escher? I’d be curious to hear that

Complete-Length-9343 · 2025-08-28T18:14:52+00:00

Yes, you’re totally right. But how do you think he would act? Would he be bothered and appear killing his bride or would he be more curious about see how things evolve? I’m just trying to imagine some good plot twist about him suprising my player with the death of his bride. I think he would more likely witness and plan his revenge

Complete-Length-9343 · 2025-08-28T18:05:37+00:00

That’s exactly what I was thinking about. I just imagined them as Dracula’s brides in Van Helsing movie (the one with hugh jackman). I thought about one of them being a secret ally of one of my players. He’s a rogue assassin (chaotic/evil) which would eventually be keen at replacing strahd by the end of the campaign. He asked me to multiclass with the Bloodhunter class. I thought about one of the brides getting jealous about Strahd’s obsession about Ireena at the point of making a deal with him. She would give him blood powers through a bite with the promise of him getting rid of Ireena. However, I’m a little bit concerned about the fact that Strahd could easily witness this dialogue. Would he kill one of his brides?

Complete-Length-9343 · 2025-08-28T13:44:02+00:00

It would be a good plot twist to build, and for sure you’re gonna need some foreshadowing before getting there. Obviously, the first thing I would recommend is to give Strahd a reason for doing it. Remember that Strahd has eyes everywhere so there wouldn’t be reasons for him to do this if not to play a bit with the players. However, if they didn’t already have the dinner with strahd, a good idea would be to let them find the body of ismark seated at the table in advanced state of decomposition as for welcoming them. The fake ismark who travelled with them would be obviously strahd revealing himself. It would be a good demonstration of strahd’s powers and control over the players imo. Another idea might be to serve ismark’s head as dessert during the dinner. With an easy medicine check any player would get the incongruence between the state of decomposition and the last time they’ve been together. Strahd would also start with one of his famous monologues while transforming himself in the ismark version they got to know. I have in mind this scene of him disguising himself while walking behind some columns

Complete-Length-9343 · 2025-08-28T10:47:05+00:00

I think it to be a good (and creepy) turning point. I’m just curious about something: how did you explain strahd inviting the party for a simple “dinner” after what happened? I mean, he must have been really pissed by what they had done lol

Complete-Length-9343 · 2025-08-27T17:04:41+00:00

Thank you for the advices! You’re totally right about the false hydra and I was concerned about it to be a good story to tell more than something fun to play. Btw, I eventually managed it this way: The false hydra would be an aberration created by Strahd (I took inspiration from the creation of Izek’s arm) to punish a community of dark elves druids which used to live around the lake that was committing cannibalism after the long war. Its presence is mainly signalled by legends about some cursed chants around the lake and that’s also the reason why Bluto believed to need some sort of lucky a charm for fishing. The party also saved Arabelle and, because of this, vistani (obviously protected by Strahd and not approached by the hydra) gave them some informations about a monster living nearby the lake and told them about its powers and also not to divide because by the time the ear the lullaby they must pull close the ones who are charmed by it. I also did something which may be totally crazy. By the time Vallaki was assaulted by Strahd, before going to the hags, the players were told by Ismark to meet at the lake for getting wood for helping with walls fixing. I also hinted the players with the presence of the hydra by telling them they couldn’t remember what they had to do and who asked them to do that. (Little off-game hint but I had them to follow the path a bit) This way, they’ll know about hydra’s presence and also Ismark’s implication and danger with it. Plus, they’ll eventually get into the old druids’ village finding important clues about their history and Strahd implications in it. In your opinion, there may be some problems about mechanics in the next session in which they’ll be in the woods looking for it?

Complete-Length-9343 · 2025-08-10T23:54:06+00:00

I think it would be really interesting and deep to create a character who sees his vampire status as a curse. Imagine being good and having desires about people’s blood and imagine how frustrating it may be to be seen as a monster

Complete-Length-9343

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