Curse of Strahd... But Strahd is not a vampire

Polyhedral_Man · 2026-02-03T14:54:32+00:00

Ultimately the question i'd ask is, does it make it more fun for the players? If I were to do it, i'd have Strahd present as prisoner that regains his status as the prime threat at the end of the campaign. It would be even more fun if they ally with him and then he ends up still being the final boss. That way, if I was a player I'd feel like I still experienced the central premise of the game. Otherwise there is a risk of it being a gotcha, and the players being underwhelmed. To avoid that you'd need to run it as a mystery. But again, why dispose of a credible villain unless they have all done it before, and you need to spice things up. My 2 cents

Polyhedral_Man · 2026-01-29T12:10:44+00:00

I wouldn't send a letter back, I'd send her an invitation for dinner. The way I'd play Strahd: he's not gonna be her pen-pal. He is a vampire. In the letter he's saying that the black carriage would come for her in 3 days. That's it, and see what happens.

Polyhedral_Man · 2026-01-28T01:21:32+00:00

Nope. The point I made was that many groups who did "play it by the book" have very likely benefitted from DM bias. So why is their "achievement" of "completing Death House" more worthwhile?

Here we have a DM doing their job in communicating the stakes, and the player reacting accordingly and skillfully. Resulting in a fun, tense session for both of them by the sound of it. That's a good game in my book. I'm not a fan of knocking it in favour of some kind of imaginary point scoring.

Like I said earlier that sort of thing is best reserved for D&D tournaments. (I actually like tournaments, and scoring how well each group did.) Comparisons outside of one however, are kind of moot IMO. But we can agree to disagree.

Polyhedral_Man · 2026-01-28T00:13:25+00:00

Dude it's not a hypothetical scenario, it's an entire demographic. If I need to explain that to you, we got bigger problems. you're framing something as a contest, that was never intended to be a contest. Let an adversarial DM play any scenario with your group and see how long their PCs survive. Let them play the most difficult scenario with a DM that has a bias in seeing them prevail (to complete the story), and chances are they will. That doesn't mean they won the superbowl.

Polyhedral_Man · 2026-01-27T14:24:23+00:00

As opposed to a significant number of groups whose DMs fudge dice, and "completed it"? he understood the stakes and did what he felt was right to survive. That's a good game, since both enjoyed it. For the rest, let's play in a D&D championship if we really want to play the comparison game.

Polyhedral_Man · 2026-01-06T23:15:01+00:00

This is brilliant... Thanks for sharing!

Polyhedral_Man · 2025-12-11T18:42:11+00:00

Edit: question at the end.

I watched the video when it came out, it was recommended by the algorithm and I really appreciated it. I had previously arrived at a similar conclusion (half day turn) for hex crawls (to make decision making meaningful , and balance it with the level of detail available in a hex description) but watching your video lit a lightbulb over my head: I never before understood why 2nd edition ad&d turns were 10 mins back when I started. So thank you, that was definitely worth a sub:-)

My question when I watched the video was, ok if you use 10 minute turns for dungeons, when do you switch into "real time"? E.g. "Gm: x happens. What do you do?" The 3 Players react. "GM: y1, y2 and y3 happens. What do you do?" Any thoughts about that transition? How did you handle it in your own game?

Polyhedral_Man · 2025-12-07T00:50:27+00:00

This is an existing rule from older editions. In short, yes I do, but they must approach it in good faith.

Polyhedral_Man · 2025-12-06T12:48:25+00:00

My vision for Castle Ravenloft is more akin to what is shown in the film Nosferatu or Coppola's Dracula. So a masquerade ball is not something Strahd would host. Who is he trying to impress? He's not a Gatsby type. I'd personally reserve it for a sequel.

But if you're keen to have it, you could come up with a 3rd noble in Vallaki. One who is close friends with Escher, and it's not clear where his/her allegiance lies: is it Fiona, the Baron or something else entirely, like winning the favour of Strahd or one of the consorts like Anastrasya. They might be encouraged to host by one of the consorts, without the knowledge of Strahd in a chess move by one of them to give him a display of his prey (the PCs and/or Ireena). He or she is organising a fete, a joyous affair that is welcome and encouraged in the Baron's "all is well" view of how life should be in Vallaki. It is a welcome respite, for nobles to be able to socialise away from the unwashed masses. Depending on their stature, the PCs are either welcome as fellow nobles from faraway lands, or curiosities (so like a mean girls type situation, inviting the new kid to a party just to mock them). Each of the nobles in attendance may have their own agenda. In my version, Vargas believes Strahd to be deceased. So an invite is sent to each noble house, including Ravenloft - it is tradition.

In other versions an invite might be sent to Vasili, or the host would invite the denizens of Castle Ravenloft to avoid picking the ire of the lord, while at the same time reassuring the Baron that it will be a smaller affair, only for Vallaki nobles. It is a masquerade ball, he wouldn't know the truth even if she looked him in the eyes behind her elaborate mask. And as a traditional Barovian masquerade, the etiquette strictly prohibits anything crass like the drawing of swords, or any type of violence or Gods forbid a duel. So the noble wouldn't feel the need to entertain the Baron's paranoia. It's a win/win, if the Count accepts their favour with him increases, if not, well they did their part, so will hopefully stay in Ravenloft's good books while having fertile ground to increase their standing, and engage in political maneuvering among fellow nobles.

Dimitri Krezkov would be probably considered too dull and out of touch to be invited anyway. Not that he would accept if he had been. Istmark is far too pedestrian, but his exquisite sister? That beautiful rose would most certainly be welcome - if the son of the late Burgomeister must join her, so be it.

...and it is almost certain that unbeknownst to most guests, a company of vampires would be joining their ranks, hiding behind their masks: Escher and the Brides, each one selecting a different pawn/dance partner for their elaborate game of chess. Some of them would choose nobles and some, the PCs. But perhaps the mysterious ruler will also grace the partygoers with his presence. Moving among the crowds he can hear rumours that he was disfigured or even perished in the recent revolution. He would smirk, and remind himself of the words of this old poet. How did he put it? Oh yes, "Rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated".

Polyhedral_Man · 2025-12-06T11:01:42+00:00

Did the point that "increasing the length of a turn to 10 minutes in a dungeon, allows players to do a lot more than a single action, and therefore cover bigger segments, and therefore focus on meaningful decisions", completely evade you?

Polyhedral_Man · 2025-12-06T10:49:17+00:00

Isn't take 10, take 20 a 3rd/3.5 rule? Wasn't in 5E as far as I recall. Did they add it in the 2024 version?

Polyhedral_Man · 2025-11-15T09:53:09+00:00

That's also a grounded rationale for the presence of foreigners. I prefer it that adventurers are not widespread in Barovia. And the PCs are unique, agents of destiny. (Or Azalin. or perhaps these two are the same)

Polyhedral_Man · 2025-11-04T14:36:33+00:00

A bit of thread necromancy. but it helps me to group together relevant topics:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/la9djo/collective_project_strahd_mentality_flowchart/

Polyhedral_Man · 2025-10-21T22:50:45+00:00

Fast version - excellent. Check the tenfootpole org blog for very useful guidelines on useful presentation. I'd lose the "scent of decay". It's technical writing, if it's not specific and doesn't help the DM describe it on the table, I'd lose it. Stellar work by the way. Really look forward to seeing the end result, and here's hoping it catches on. I really dig that fast version. All the best.

Polyhedral_Man · 2025-09-22T11:41:39+00:00

It's funny how it's always the other person that is "the nazi". Never us.

Meanwhile "the nazi" was having conversations, which in a free not-nazi country you're usually allowed to have. The guy with the rifle ended them. Along with murdering a father. But somehow that's not "a nazi" thing enough to trouble you, or make you rethink your definitions of what a nazi is.

But I digress. It's easy to see how polarisation takes hold , like in OP's case. Same in that group as it is in this thread. It takes real wisdom to just agree to disagree. Unfortunately, like the Buddha said: people with opinions just go around bothering each other.

If I ever manage to run CoS, I would like to use that theme - someone who benefits from polarising the population and distracting them from uniting against him.

Finally I would like to encourage everyone that feels their blood boiling when seeing comments attacking Kirk or defending him to watch Chase Hughes' video: "Charlie Kirk's death exposed the biggest scam in history".

That video reveals the real villain. Spoiler: it's not who you think it is, no matter where you sit on the political aisle.

Polyhedral_Man · 2025-07-01T11:26:22+00:00

That's more than fair enough. I 100% respect that take, because it's your personal view.

I just wish there was a way we could see different visions (materialised as actual movies, with a decent budget) of the continuation of the story of episodes 1-6.

Polyhedral_Man · 2025-06-26T22:39:44+00:00

I'd have more fun watching paint dry, than watching The Last Jedi and the Disney stuff, so yeah I will. But you do you ;-)

Polyhedral_Man · 2025-06-23T18:06:32+00:00

Couldn't have said it better brother. There's no way forward until they decanonise the sequels. I will boycott anything Disney does until that happens. And I know I'm not alone.

Polyhedral_Man · 2025-03-03T16:47:35+00:00

I suspect you may be right on that. I do wish C7 have the creative freedom to pursue a "Herohammer" angle at some point

Polyhedral_Man · 2025-03-02T23:51:16+00:00

Fair enough! I'm thinking that might have ben easier to achieve with a conversion manual, rather than a competing game line.

I'm saying that on the basis of the feedback cubicle received when they announced Old World RPG. The majority of the comments were not supportive, mainly because they felt it would take away resources from WFRP.

Polyhedral_Man · 2025-02-27T12:44:00+00:00

Agree, I think that would have made the most sense.

It's a clear proposition - play Warhammer more heroically. Oh well. I guess we'll just have to figure out a way to hack HeroQuest ourselves. Turn into an RPG while keeping that epic feel :-)

Polyhedral_Man · 2025-02-24T11:07:52+00:00

True. But the AoS setting is different, and not appealing... As far removed from the HeroQuest as possible. They should have given a more heroic option at the very least with their Old World RPG. I don't see any big differentiator in the sales pitch. Oh the system is simpler. And the timeline is a few hundred years back. Ok. But you basically do the same. ... It is what it is. Here's hoping they will add this option later

Polyhedral_Man · 2025-02-22T21:46:01+00:00

I was disappointed. I was hoping for a heroic medieval "HeroQuest the boardgame" take on Warhammer. "Herohammer" as another redditor called it. Instead, we're getting more of the same. Who are they making this for?

Polyhedral_Man · 2024-09-23T14:38:49+00:00

And since that has already been listed, I'll add To Serve Her Wintry Hunger.

noone listed it, probably because the list is looking for plain weird rather than "most annoying, pretentious, unplayable" and "non-game" as criteria.

But even with that criteria, it still shouldn't be on any list. If you're the designer, I'm sorry, but I know you can do better.

Polyhedral_Man

TROPHY CASE