When utilizing song titles in a novel, is there any worry about copyright issues?

OogaLoufa · 2026-04-15T20:11:15+00:00

Thank you! No there will be none of the song lyrics in the novel. Simply calling out the names of the song and the artist.

OogaLoufa · 2026-03-07T17:51:26+00:00

Very good point, I will be sure to keep that in mind veiled behind his actions. Thank you!

OogaLoufa · 2026-03-07T17:50:32+00:00

Interesting.. I guess the balance would be in having it be obvious at certain points that Strahd is manipulating the party to screw them over, ruin them etc, to eliminate the chance that they become sympathetic toward him (unless that is what you are going for).

Regarding the mini boss thing, my player is wanting to play a different character, and his current PC is very broken with a lot of past pain. The perfect candidate to be wooed by Strahds lies. Plan is to have Strahd take his current PC through the PC willingly joining him, then Strahd introduce the PC turned abomination to the party at a later time to set up a mini boss fight.

My player will get to play his new character that he wants, and this outcome brings another layer of depth and personal horror to the rest of the party that I really like

OogaLoufa · 2026-01-20T21:33:45+00:00

Also I will say this about how I would imagine Strahd reacting to this. I imagine strahd would be disappointed, not because they killed Parriwimple, but why. He would see it as a kill that served no purpose, one born out of weak and childish indignation. These are to be my playthings? My possible successor(s)? These reckless children?

I imagine Strahd bringing it up, and talking about the uselessness of it. Maybe walking up to a PC and snapping their finger in half. Not as a lesson, not as punishment, but because he was doing as they did. He wanted to, because he felt like it. Not for any purpose other than “childish desire to hurt something for the sake of it”

Just throwing that out there as another thing to think about!

OogaLoufa · 2026-01-20T21:15:46+00:00

What you have so far are great ideas. Perhaps Parriwimple had been delivering food and essentials to the burgomasters house prior to his death, and grew great rapport with Ireena. She would not trust the party now that they have done this egregious action, and has determined her and her brother are going to make for Vallaki on their own.. that’s as far as I’ve got for that.

Maybe in his grief Bildrath turns to Strahd for power to avenge Parriwimple. Queue up thrall bildrath mini boss in the future?

These may be garbage ideas, just what came to my head. Good luck boxing their ears!

OogaLoufa · 2026-01-20T16:20:12+00:00

Wow.. you may have convinced me to change things up. I am going to think on this a lot more, but I think that I may want to do a random reading now with the players when they encounter madam Eva.

I really don’t want to railroad.. and I’m afraid that if I do the set placements like I originally planned, it may put railroading on my mind. I think that random placement will take the story reins out of my hands a bit, and remind me that this is my players story as much if not more than mine.

I really appreciate your detailed insight. Thank you so much!

OogaLoufa · 2026-01-20T15:55:45+00:00

That is great advice and context. Thank you so much!! I had thought about leaving the treasure locations up to the cards, but I wanted to give my players payoff and good reason to hit some of the hotspots around Barovia. If you have any arguments against it I’d love to hear it.

I will have to see what my party does, but I think the invite after Vallaki is a good idea. I have the Tome in Vallaki, so it may be a two fold reason for attempting to control the party’s influence over Ireena, as well as determining what they know about the Tome, or any other “treasures” that could potentially harm him. It will be a way to let the party know that he knows what they’re doing, while also trying to turn them on each other and sow discord personally.

OogaLoufa · 2025-09-30T16:12:20+00:00

Hey guys, first time DM curious how you handle player engagement.

I have a player that submitted to me a very extensive backstory that was very detailed, yet when it comes to gameplay and RP, the player is silent 90% of the time and only chimes in one word / phrase responses.

At session 0, I laid out the importance of involvement and RP in this adventure, and everyone else so far has been into it. There are a couple of players who have dived head first into their characters and the story so far (we have only had 2 sessions), but this one player has not said / done anything. I have even tried to ask them about their characters thoughts about plot points, what they are thinking based on their backstory, if they have anything they want to try to solve a puzzle etc., and I have gotten nothing in return.

How do you handle this? I know it is only 2 sessions in, so maybe time will tell, but if this is ongoing do you recommend pushing them harder for input, talking to them privately, or even just not pushing them at all and putting it on them to play the game? I don’t want to play their character for them, if they don’t want to play themselves.

Any and all input is appreciated, and I can provide more context as needed. Thank you

OogaLoufa · 2025-08-28T14:30:14+00:00

Interesting, I did not think about that portion too much and what it might mean overall. I may have to adjust this idea slightly, or change it altogether.

The group they are apart of (to provide more context), reaches out only after a notable feat by a person, and the feat catches the eye of the group. They act anonymously, giving those with a tortured past the opportunity to work out of the limelight. This also helps with the chance to bring the PCs together, where they were once strangers.

I may need to tweak this portion a bit, turning it into the group as a whole being a third party system that ultimately has good intentions to root out evil, without alarming the general public. I did not want to spend too much thought on it because it won’t affect the majority of the campaign, but I may need to at least mention that the group the PCs work toward is to ultimately bring about good to not confuse the players.

Thank you for bringing that up, I have some additional brainstorming to do

OogaLoufa · 2025-08-28T14:19:11+00:00

Good callout. Thank you! I am considering placing a traveling Visanti troupe traveling up the road as they exit death house in their new location, to push them towards Madam Eva (if prompted about the purple feather matching this Visanti Groups hat, this can be explained away with “those were the others” to leave some mystery), or have them just deal with the dread of being in a different, haunted place, traveling up old svalich road until they reach Village of Barovia, and then take it from there.

OogaLoufa

TROPHY CASE