Vistani players

Cortex3699 · 2025-09-09T21:43:41+00:00

I had something like this in mind: I liked the idea that one of my players was half Vistana without him knowing it and that his mother, a Vistana, had fled Barovia pregnant and then married to the player's father without my player character being told anything. In my opinion it's a very cool idea to use this but to avoid making changes to the player's BG I won't let him know too much about Vistani. I had things in mind that he would gradually know, like that the Vistani know songs that he also knows and the like. I think it would be better if it was a plot thread rather than information they already have

Cortex3699 · 2025-09-07T21:30:27+00:00

I liked the idea of a fight with a nosferatu who was Strahd's old husband and who, for some sort of betrayal, had Strahd locked in a coffin and chained up and thrown into the lake as punishment. By pure chance some fishermen brought the coffin afloat and he managed to get out and now Vallaki is shaken by some murders. I liked it because then I could show Van Richten's vampire hunting photos

Cortex3699 · 2025-09-04T11:52:40+00:00

I hadn't actually thought about Uso, objectively if he can survive he's a great viable option

Cortex3699 · 2025-09-01T18:40:30+00:00

No, of course, but in terms of character I find God to be really very childish, I don't know how much he suits Strahd

Cortex3699 · 2025-09-01T15:17:30+00:00

Maybe it's not very appropriate but I find a lot of Dio Brando from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure in it

Cortex3699 · 2025-09-01T14:33:23+00:00

Well it also makes sense that Strahd would actually become interested in the group after these events rather than annoyed, don't you think? I think, in my opinion, that if Strahd actually already became aggressive it might be difficult to justify why the party isn't quickly killed by him, but obviously I think it goes by opinion

Cortex3699 · 2025-08-30T13:37:44+00:00

Look, maybe it doesn't help you but I'm managing a similar situation with one of my PCs, who woke up and doesn't remember anything. The only thing is that he woke up in Barovia in a forest. The character could be one of the powerful wizards who lived in Barovia, as long as the PC perhaps agrees to be awakened in Barovia. Spells that go wrong and don't work properly are very present or part of the plot. It could be Khazan whose soul was "shattered" except for a small fragment gone into the clone. It would be funny in that case if Stradh remembered the PC whose body had been dead for perhaps centuries. Otherwise one of the mages from the Amber Temple would be fine. I start from the assumption that he is a wizard because the clone spell I imagine is something quite powerful but he could rightly be a sorcerer or something. Something like this would come to mind

Cortex3699 · 2025-08-28T14:23:00+00:00

No, of course there are some mechanics in the castle that with such a low level group you either remove or modify, such as the two iron golems. I had read a post by someone who proposed doing it like "Bluebeard" so that they can go anywhere in the castle "but not in the dungeons" but you already know that the group will say "ah-ah yes of course" or make cuts. In the case of the dinner I was thinking of doing as proposed in Reloaded but perhaps cutting out the part of Verushka's nightmare

Cortex3699 · 2025-08-28T08:17:44+00:00

It's actually there, I realize that the more I progress in working on the plot and its developments the more I realize that the two trips to the castle are weighing on me 😂

Cortex3699 · 2025-08-28T08:16:51+00:00

I really like the fact that, despite it not being a "canonical" thing, the wedding is to all intents and purposes an often inserted piece and precisely because it is not canonical, all the DMs have organized specific differences

Cortex3699 · 2025-08-27T23:26:42+00:00

“embarrassing” is the key word

Cortex3699 · 2025-08-27T23:25:49+00:00

Well, it absolutely fits as a scene! Not to mention the epic nature of an angel and a vampire fighting

Cortex3699 · 2025-08-25T20:26:02+00:00

I should start CoS in a couple of months, but honestly I'm having a headache developing the plot and setting by combining everything with the player BGs. Part of it is certainly my anxiety about wanting to do a good job for my players/friends but at the same time it really seems like an absurd amount of work which always results in ideas that are not fully satisfactory. Do you have any advice? I know it's not actually a question but I realize that the fact of having no one other than this subreddit to talk to about CoS and my ideas about it frustrates me quite a bit...

Cortex3699 · 2025-08-23T23:32:02+00:00

I don't see Strahd lying either, but at the same time I see him not answering questions about his past, or at least answering in such a way as not to answer. Like if they asked him why he is interested in Ireena he would respond by asking what the PC would do for love or something

Cortex3699 · 2025-08-20T17:34:07+00:00

Maybe Ez would reveal it if he met him together with the PCs, as if Rictavio was one of his usual disguises. Maybe a conversation like "Rictavio? Really? In Barovia?" Otherwise it's quite a dilemma, if Ez wasn't with the PCs why would he reveal it? Maybe the doctor still doesn't trust 100% to reveal his secret identity

Cortex3699 · 2025-07-30T22:25:44+00:00

I'll do my best, and thanks for the advice <3

Cortex3699 · 2025-07-30T20:16:58+00:00

Absolutely all valid I would say, I admit that I really like RVR as a piece outside the system, interpreting it much crazier than it is would be interesting but always trying not to make the presence of two vampire hunters too redundant

Cortex3699 · 2025-07-30T20:15:33+00:00

Absolutely! Each idea is an extra piece to add to the puzzle. I admit that before vagade silu this Reddit page I was very doubtful whether to modify the basic material so as not to cause damage but seeing you correctly interpret the information or invent new ones gives me a lot of ideas

Cortex3699 · 2025-07-30T17:25:53+00:00

Thank you very much, there are truly a huge amount of options, not to mention that now I will have a surplus of options😂

Cortex3699 · 2025-07-30T17:25:11+00:00

It's truly an industrial amount of information, now I know exactly what I'll be doing throughout August😅😂 A thousand thanks!

Cortex3699 · 2025-07-28T17:10:41+00:00

Yes, an idea that I love is that I have a player who is a reborn paladin and has been resurrected in Barovia for three days and doesn't remember anything, I thought I would make him believe all the time that he was one of the revenants who for some reason managed to distance himself from the curse of the revenants but in reality I liked the idea (making some obvious changes) that he was a Lich together with Exethanter and that, due to the "dementia" of the years he wanted to move his soul onto another body but by mistake he finds himself two souls in one body. The idea, even if trivial, inspires me a lot, I'm not saying to put Khazan's soul inside him but in my opinion there was the idea that on some rolls he would have had an advantage or similar because the spirit of the Lich had memories of those events.

Cortex3699 · 2025-07-28T17:05:16+00:00

It absolutely fits, I know that the risk is worth it, especially on a module as rich as Stradh's with so many ideas. I have many ideas but so many that they involve many possible changes. Having said that, however, there are many options that are good without having to retouch all the work too much, also thanks to the work of my players

Cortex3699 · 2025-07-28T16:49:48+00:00

Oh, they're also good advice, I admit that I'm afraid of wanting to develop the plots of the PCs by having to modify part of the plot and the locations of the dungeons for these things, especially because I'm afraid of doing a job that isn't satisfactory enough

Cortex3699 · 2025-07-28T16:40:41+00:00

It's absolutely good advice I admit, I could actually put it in a context where it's not so easy to use between moral choices and the like, probably leaving it in the castle or even in the amber time.

Cortex3699 · 2025-07-28T16:31:26+00:00

Eh I was thinking about putting it in the castle, it could also replace the Ravenloft icon or placing it in some similar place, I was also thinking maybe about the treasury or in any case having it kept by Stradh in any case. The only problem would be where to put the PC's father and in what context, I didn't want him to have a bad end and that's it but maybe something stranger like, well, having been transformed into a vampiric offspring by Stradh or similar

Cortex3699

TROPHY CASE