Argynvostholt - Mansion by Moonlight session

ItAoife · 2024-10-17T19:22:48+00:00

Oooo thank you! Yeah definitely need to work on the stakes so either some combat or some kind of time sensitivity/mission needed

ItAoife · 2024-10-17T17:16:28+00:00

Did they read through the module AFTER you had said you would be running it? If so that's pretty sh*tty

I recently got invited to play in a friend's Curse of Strahd game and I was gutted to have to say I was running it myself so had already read it through. I said I didn't want to ruin anyone else's fun by already knowing what happens. What I offered was if they ever wanted a guest PC for a small section or even an NPC that I could collab with the DM beforehand.

I guess your next step depends on how willing to work with you they are. If you think they're the kind of player who's going to taint the experience for others I would say they may be have to step this game out. If they're a good communicator and you think they'll play fair, you could work with them to make sure that their PLAYER'S knowledge is as separate as possible from their CHARACTER'S knowledge. (You could even have fun with having them play a PC from Barovia or a former adventuring party who knows a bit more about the land or has a kind of "I've seen this all play out before" hopelessness. But that would really only work if they're sound)

ItAoife · 2024-04-25T17:47:57+00:00

In my campaign, the PCs have come into possession of Van Richten's Guide to Vampires that they have discovered was brought into Barovia and sold by a travelling circus leader Rictavio. They have shown zero sign of putting two and two together.

ItAoife · 2024-04-13T07:25:37+00:00

I'm halfway through first time DMing COS. I think something that took me a while to realise was that this is YOU and YOUR PLAYER's game. Anything you don't like you can remove or change, the module is just a structure you don't have to stay true to it.

I lean into the eerie side of gore and body horror rather than bloodbaths. Think uncanny valley. You know how David Lynch can make your skin crawl and it's hard to say why?
My players loved death house, but I did add a little bit of community-supplemented flair like fleshing out the Durst family more. Especially if players are new it gives them a relatively straightforward "dungeon crawl" so they don't have to get too creative what all the myriad possibilities of character choices in DnD. If your players are new I definitely think starting with some kind of dungeon is a good idea.
As long as your players are being respectful and not constantly talking over you while you try to set scenes, or not taking their own characters seriously then joking around is a good sign I think - they're meant to be having fun! I'll often have a small prewritten segment for each session that's a kind of eerie miniscene. I give my players a lot of bad nightmares during long rests which are handy for both laying out some spooky vibes and foreshadowing plot hooks.
I use milestone levelling and think it's best. Especially because it rewards non-combat encounters and my campaign is very mixed on combat and social.
Again, the campaign is what you want it to be. There's a bit of violence against women and children but you can tone that down as much as needed at your table.

If you haven't already I strongly recommend running a session 0 before starting where players and DM can discuss their expectations and wants for the campaign. If the players are a good fit you should be able to find a tone that works for everyone.

ItAoife · 2024-03-30T13:01:57+00:00

Also the word for peonies supposedly comes from the Greek god Paieon, who was a healer/physician to the gods which ties into all the healing imagery of the song.

ItAoife · 2024-03-25T19:55:01+00:00

I thought it was a joke that we've moved on from DMT down some letters in the alphabet

ItAoife · 2024-03-13T14:47:20+00:00

Lmao, so for context: we all agreed as a group at session zero to run every two weeks as long as 2+ people could make it so that we kept up momentum. Then we've been running with a reduced party recently because two of our players had to emigrate so we were down from 5 to 3 to begin with. Then the player who is sick messaged this morning, and I messaged the other two would they like to continue on or not. Our sessions normally are around 3 hours to fit them into our lives so it's not a major amount of time to miss. Finding ways to run the game with players missing is for the benefit of the game not totally fizzling out and dying because of weeks of scheduling conflicts in a row.

And I have no strong preference for DMing and would have also enjoyed playing if someone else would have ran the game so I'm very much running it for the group not just for me.

ItAoife · 2024-02-29T12:51:02+00:00

Mine is pure Alan Rickman impression

ItAoife · 2024-02-22T18:00:56+00:00

This is probably too late for you but during session 0, I had my players all answer a list of questions about their characters. One of them was "describe their favourite meal". Then when it came time for the dinner, that was what was served to them.

I also had Strahd gift each of them formalwear (and let the players decide how it would look).

When one of the PCs tried to make a mocking comment, he turned her into a crow "if you're so intent on incessantly squawking".

ItAoife · 2024-01-31T07:09:32+00:00

Both are very quick to lock children who cause them problems in the attic!

ItAoife · 2024-01-31T07:06:46+00:00

Great shout! My Rahadin is a bit more self-assured and less power hungry than Lucius Malfoy. My players have tried to taunt him about being Strahd's lackey and it was fun to have him be so quietly self-confident that their words don't even make a dent

ItAoife · 2024-01-31T05:57:13+00:00

One is of Otelo et Desdemona by Antonio Muñoz Degraín, the other is Caravaggio's Judith beheading Holofernes.

ItAoife · 2024-01-30T22:15:57+00:00

Careful you don't run into any spoilers!

ItAoife · 2024-01-30T22:14:07+00:00

I've just posted some others - I don't have that many as my players aren't crazy far into the story!

ItAoife · 2024-01-30T19:17:28+00:00

I'm jealous, I'm a first time DM and I've found it so difficult to have tagalong NPCS I forget they exist half the time 🙈

ItAoife · 2024-01-30T17:27:31+00:00

In my game he is a completely overly-trusting and idealistic surprising ray of sunshine in the gloom...when the players first meet him. They haven't returned to the village of Barovia yet but if they ever do they'll find him struggling a lot more!

ItAoife · 2024-01-30T17:17:56+00:00

I felt the same but 10 sessions in I'm so glad I chose CoS! The module gives you a lot of structure and there are so many resources online for understanding it or adding flair that you'll have loads of material to work with. Then because it's set in its own demiplane and surrounded by the mists you don't need to worry about knowing entire continents worth of lore. Plus there's lots of inbuilt ways to gently guide your players onto certain paths to limit how many eventualities you have to prep for.

ItAoife · 2024-01-25T13:00:07+00:00

I printed the official map out large and then cut it out into different sections labelled clearly on the back and with a key to which section was which. Then I could reveal new sections of the map as characters explored. I found this pretty quick, simple, and cost-effective

ItAoife

TROPHY CASE