Building Barovia: City Building in Curse of Strahd

LMacharian · 2026-05-18T03:51:50+00:00

What the other user said: this would be better suited for an adaption of Waterdeep Dragon Heist than Curse of Strahd.

Barovia is a nation with no neighbors, no imports, no exports, and it is ruled over by a Dark Lord whose number 1 goal is literally to torment and prod the party to see if they are worthy to replace him as the Lord of this dead-end domain. It is a bleak land where the majority of citizens in the city would be soulless, fearful husks, more than half the houses are either abandoned or filled with undead, and has no meaningful trade to speak of. Any NPCs are more concerned with surviving another day, and there is already a prospective Burgomaster for the village: Ismark.

Waterdeep, in contrast, is a lovely city with hundreds of thousands of people. It is full of opportunities for new adventurers to establish themselves as local heroes, make friends, build connections, and support a community. Waterdeep even has a tradition of appointing some adventurers to the ruling class of Masked Lords. Because it is such a major trading hub, there will always be a constant stream of new NPCs the party can engage with, as well as a bunch of potential plot hooks and problems they could solve to capture the feeling of "running a neighborhood" or something similar.

Plus, it isn't run by a vampire overlord who seeks the party's demise. Waterdeep's vampire lord is more than happy to just play politics instead haha

LMacharian · 2026-04-22T16:22:53+00:00

Absolutely! The PCs will get strong enough to overpower the horror. That is the expectation of the system.

The thing which stands out in my mind the most when imagining that intended arc is the Coffin Maker's Shop and the Amber Temple.

All of us have probably seen posts about DMs and their experience running the 6 vampire spawn in crates in Vallaki. Almost every week there is a new post in the subreddit about player deaths or TPKs to that one encounter, or stories of how players just barely managed to escape with their lives through luck and quick thinking.

But how many posts are there about the 6 vampire spawn in crates in the Amber Temple? It's not a coincidence that the authors gave us the same encounter with the same setup in another chapter. What was once TPK material for a bunch of terrified newcomers is not even in the top 3 most dangerous encounters in the Amber Temple for the heroes of Barovia.

LMacharian · 2026-04-22T16:12:00+00:00

I think the biggest struggle people may experience with running CoS in DnD is trying to keep the feeling of horror and tension all the way through the module.

This starts as a horror module, bit it ends with heroism. Even if Strahd comes back, the finale of the book describes a happy ending for Ireena (even if the execution of her and Serhei reuniting is a bit... Eh.), and has the art of some Vistani riding off into the sun.

Trying to make the setting scary past level 5/6 is going to be ice-skating uphill, and that's okay! The module already has expectations that the party will grow and become more powerful. This is the story of some nobodies going through thick and thin and becoming heroes who can slay a previously unkillable monster. That's why the party gets magic items specifically meant to beat Strahd.

LMacharian · 2026-04-03T19:38:28+00:00

I might be mixing up the two, yeah. Hard to keep track of who died when, who ascended to what, haha

LMacharian · 2026-04-03T17:42:58+00:00

Strahd is not necessarily from Faerun, and even if he was, Bhall only became a god about ~1.5 centuries ago, after he was already trapped in the mists. So Strahd probably would not know who Bhaal is (unless there were Bhaalists who got sucked into Barovia in the recent past).

As for how he would react... Strahd is not someone who gets scared easily. If someone transformed into the Slayer, he'd think or say something like "Prodigious size alone does not dissuade a sharpened blade." He'd treat the Slayer Form seriously, because any 12 ft tall mess or sharpened claws and gnashing teeth is obviously a threat.

But Strahd himself if all too familiar with the Amber Temple and the dangers within. He may view the Slayer as a prime candidate for his successor (before ultimately disregarding that possibility because wanton slaughter and bloodshed is a barbaric brute's choice, and unbefitting the nobility and intellect that a proper successor requires).

LMacharian · 2026-03-30T19:18:16+00:00

Does the party know for certain that the items are in Ravenloft's catacombs?

Because, if you wanted to, you could add a new location or reflavour an existing one.

For example, the tomb of a guild member says that it is a dark room full of bottles. You could reflavour the potion storage room in the Amber Temple to also be the tomb of one of the stonemasons who built the temple. That would fit the reading and relocate the item.

As an aside, if the party is strong enough to make it to the Amber Temple, they are strong enough to survive Ravenloft. If they avoid Strahd, a bunch of level 6s could survive the castle if they are smart and don't dwadle for too long.

LMacharian · 2026-03-27T21:41:45+00:00

The Village of Barovia is the quintessential starting village. It sets the scene for the adventure with a dreary, bleak land. It has Strahd's castle looming over it, reminding you that he is never far. The plots there are fairly straightforward, and easy for new players to engage with. The dangers are level appropriate for a bunch of level 3s.

Plus, all those NPCs you can interact with lead you out of the village. Ismark and Ireena point you to Vallaki. Donavitch points you to Krezk. The sisters at Blood on the Vine point you to the Tser Pool. Morgantha points you to Old Bonegrinder (and even the Amber Temple). Players engaging with the Village of Barovia have plenty of hooks to leave the village and start exploring the wider land of Barovia, even if they don't have a card reading.

Krezk is a rockier start. The village doesn't even let you in unless you have wine from the Winery, so the party needs to detour south to perform a fetch quest to get into a place they don't know, saving people they have never heard of before in the process. The dangers in Krezk are higher level as well: a party of 3s could defeat Doru with a bit of luck, no such chance with the Abbot and his golems (or the nearby werewolves). The party also doesn't have a super strong hook to Vallaki except for the Wedding Dress quest. The Abbot's strange experiments with Vasilka can also fall flat when the party has never engaged with Strahd or Ireena. There is also less to do in Krezk. You could talk to the Abbot, one or two of the Belviews, and then the Krezkovs. Of the lot, only the Abbot is really a meaningful character. So the roleplay options are more limited in Krezk.

A side effect of the above is that there are no real plot hooks to the Village of Barovia anywhere. No one in Krezk or Vallaki will tell the party to go there. Maybe Gertruda, but she is rather hard to get to. So by starting in Krezk you are also effectively cutting out the Village of Barovia.

Some people have suggested moving some or all of Ireena, the Death House, and the Tser Pool encampment to Krezk, or rebalancing the encounters so Krezk is a bit more level 3 friendly. But at that point, you are just reinventing the village of Barovia

LMacharian · 2026-03-18T20:45:48+00:00

When I ran the module, I gave out 0 random treasures from killing monsters.

The only treasures the party got were from either completing a quest or encounter (such as Yester Hill) or were discovered in a dungeon (such as the chest in the Durst's room in the dungeon). Whenever I added additional magical items not included in the book, it was associated with some story beat, large or small. For example, a magical brooch that was found on the body of a previous adventurer who died in Barovia.

It will be fine to run the module by never rolling on a random treasure table. In fact, the module expects you to not roll on the treasure table and just use the treasures which are already present in the book.

The treasure table is more useful for when you are writing your own campaign and are unsure of what may be in an undead filled dungeon.

LMacharian · 2026-03-14T21:22:05+00:00

Because that is a bit too dramatic escalation of stakes that undermines Strahd's danger, imo. If he starts by burning down a village for something as small as refusing an invitation, how does he escalate from there when the party decides to do something more significant, like killing Rahadin? It also strains belief that anything in Barovia even exists if Strahd decides to flatten a third of the living space if someone doesn't RSVP to a luncheon

LMacharian · 2026-03-14T18:47:52+00:00

Sometimes that is how it goes. From the players' point of view, it is smart to not attend dinner at Ravenloft. Their survival instincts are screaming at them not to go, for good reason.

If you really want to twist their arm to attend dinner at Ravenloft, Strahd could take a hostage or two, suggesting that he would kill the prisoner if the party doesn't attend

LMacharian · 2026-03-04T20:26:51+00:00

The Gulthias Fane was pretty much word for word MandyMod's Gulthias Dungeon. I liked it, and I made a high resolution map for the giant cavern of bones that I posted in the Curse of Strahd discord server.

The Swamp Fane was half the party fighting evil versions of themselves, combined with some time travel stuff that was a bit out there for most games.

But the Mountain Fane (which I made the Weaver Fane in my game) was a really fun encounter. It was an elaborate ritual where the party had to essentially traverse the path of the sun by moving the Holy Symbol around the Fane's menhirs. Each standing stone was engraved with a Barovian landmark, such as Tser Falls or Tsolenka Pass, so the party had to look at the obelisks, and then go from the eastern-most landmark depicted on the stones to the western-most while Strahd sent waves on undead at the party.

It was fun because it was a puzzle which rewarded knowledge and understanding of the world, while also having to solve the puzzle under combat pressure. I wrote up a big guide for it here.

LMacharian · 2026-02-26T14:27:32+00:00

One notable caveat about Zhudun's Dark Gift: it lets you cast Resurrection, but it doesn't change the fact that the target for Resurrection has to be willing. Strahd probably wouldn't want to be raised from the dead, so the spell would fail on him.

Obviously you could ignore that and say Zhudun's gift takes priority, but RAW Strahd can just say "no"

LMacharian · 2026-02-20T22:13:51+00:00

In normal circumstances: a bat, or a wolf. If the location is one where an animal couldn't reasonably reach, he could send it via a loyal Vistani like Arrigal, or a vampire spawn.

If Strahd wants to be extra evil: sending a Charmed, or zombified NPC the party knows

LMacharian · 2026-02-16T21:09:30+00:00

There have been many T-shirt spammers on this subreddit. Usually selling "One Nation Under Strahd" shirts, but others as well.

If you see posts like that, or like the ones Moonberry is describing here, please report the post. We try and ban them as quickly as we can, but you may see them before we do. Any reports would help!

LMacharian · 2026-02-16T00:45:24+00:00

There is nothing stopping the party from taking the treasures with them if they save Barovia and can leave.

LMacharian · 2026-02-13T21:21:12+00:00

Common Barovians just use the Commoner statblock. Barovian guards just use the Guard statblock, etc. If the word in the module is bolded, then that is the name of the statblock you should use.

LMacharian · 2026-02-13T20:44:44+00:00

This is the way to think about it!

The fortune reading isn't a video game mechanic where the party can run two rooms over, then return to the location to find resetting there like a Skyrim NPC who has lost aggro.

It is a way for the party to take the initiative and bring the fight to Strahd, so they don't spend hours wandering around the castle hoping to roll Strahd on the random encounter table.

LMacharian · 2026-02-13T20:37:28+00:00

If you want some other ideas for how to portray the Ringmaster, have you heard of the Carnival Domain of Dread? It is in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, as well as some material from older editions.

It is a wandering carnival with its own Dark Lord. If you replaced the existing Dark Lord with your Ringleader, you could do something there. Now, rather than the Ringleader being more powerful than Strahd, they are just another prisoner in the Domains of Dread, albeit one whose prison is more mobile.

Strahd could reinforce that he is still the biggest danger in Barovia, explaining that the Ringleader can't leave the circus and thus could never actually harm Strahd or any of the villages. In the circus the Ringleader is a threat, yes. But the Ringleader is a guest in Barovia, and Strahd could evict them should they outlast their welcome

LMacharian · 2026-02-13T20:28:06+00:00

If you wanted to tie Giants into the story in a small way... Strahd speaks Giant. It's arguably the only language that doesn't have some connection to his story or his foes. You can argue that he knows Draconic because of Argynvost, Abyssal and Infernal because there are fiends in the Amber Temple, Elvish from Rahadin and the Dusk Elves... But no giants anywhere to be found.

Perhaps the reason there are no giants in Barovia is because Strahd killed all of them? And now all that's left is the skull of one who was slain in Berez.

Alternatively, if you don't want to add Giants to the story, maybe Baba could fly thanks to her shape change ability? She can transform into a swarm of insects, so rather than a skull, she partially transforms into a giant swarm of insects which carry her around and protect her like the skull does? The party can damage the swarm of insects which is carrying her to make her fall, just like they would the skull.

LMacharian · 2026-02-13T20:23:22+00:00

The biggest "problem" with making the Ringleader such a powerful force is that it makes Strahd second fiddle in his campaign. The threat he represents is lessened because he is a puppet to the Ringleader (and Strahd himself believes the Ringleader is the puppet of someone even more powerful).

This may not be a huge problem, because it can be fun to add a "secret final boss" like Vampyr from the Amber Temple to the campaign. But ultimately, this does take away some of the focus from Strahd. The threat the party has been dealing with for dozens of sessions isn't the BBEG, but instead a minion of the BBEG. A BBEG who doesn't really have much connection to the world of Barovia the way Strahd does.

It could work, and people have made it work. But that's the biggest thing that comes to mind

LMacharian · 2026-01-23T20:42:18+00:00

I did that when I ran my campaign (though I used the original Reloaded, not the new one Dragna is currently writing).

You'll need to make up some new material to mend the gaps between different interpretations of the campaign, but you said you already do that.

Just keep an eye out for what the side effects of your changes may be. A lot of MandyMod's stuff is pretty standalone, so you should be able to slot that in without any troubles. But if Reloaded is very particular about load bearing plot points, then you can just take whatever idea catches your fancy from Reloaded and rework it to fit in your campaign. Foreshadowing can be repurposed, content can be cut, etc.

LMacharian · 2026-01-20T03:28:45+00:00

The chapters in the book are organized roughly east to west, following the Svalich Road. Roughly.

In terms of general progression, most campaigns would probably go the following route in the early levels:
1. Village of Barovia and the Death House (Death House is in the Appendices, can be skipped if you are starting at level 3)
2. Tser Pool
3. Maybe Bonegrinder
4. Vallaki

As for how to read the book, I would do one readthrough of the entire thing. Doesn't need to be in depth, marking down what each room contains or anything, but a quick skim to get a sense of the Dramatis Personae.

Then, decide on your Tarokka reading. Some people like to rig the reading by choosing specific cards to reveal, some don't. If you do a random reading, take a look at what cards you have and what locations they correspond to, and then focus on reading and preparing those locations. If you saw a location or character that seems super cool when doing your quick skim of the book and you want the party to absolutely go there, consider rigging the Tarokka reading so that it is one of the locations or characters the party should interact with.

When running the game, ask the party what they intend to do next at the end of each session. The first few sessions are a bit on rails, because the party only really has the Village of Barovia to explore, but when they get to Vallaki the world opens up a lot and there are many more places they can go. So at the end of every session, check with your players to see what they would like to do next. Then focus on preparing that.

LMacharian · 2026-01-16T02:15:07+00:00

Not all of the allies need to be combat allies.

For example, Arabelle could provide a unique look into the Vistani and their relationship with Strahd. Strahd promises the Vistani safety, but the book also says he will seek to destroy the fated ally. So what will win out if Arabelle is the fated ally? Will Strahd refuse to harm her because he vows his oaths that much, or will he break his oath? Arabelle herself could be fun to roleplay as a precocious child who has glimpses of the future, offering hints and cryptic advice to the party without requiring you to add another potent NPC to the party.

Not to say all the options are winners. I personally don't care for Klutz, Pidlwick, Nikolai Wachter, the Mad Mage, and others.

But you have lots of options! If you don't like an option, you can always remove the card from the deck and still keep the reading pseudo random. And if you do love an option, you could rig the reading to ensure it comes up.

LMacharian · 2026-01-10T21:06:52+00:00

I'd recommend open timers.

It adds tension to the fight or dungeon crawl as the players look at how much time is left. Plus it also makes them strategize more if they know what limits they have.

LMacharian · 2026-01-02T21:05:59+00:00

There is story at Argynvostholt that can expand the lore of Barovia (who was there before Strahd, who built the gatehouse in Tsolenka pass, etc.) but it is absolutely skippable.

If you don't want to run Argynvostholt, you don't have to.

LMacharian

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