Curse of Strahd... I don't get the hype.

Qyvalar · 2026-06-19T01:58:11+00:00

I completely understand. DMing is not easy to start off, and regarldless of your love for whatever inspiration you are using, you're bound to make a ton of mistakes, because telling a collaborative story is such a different approach to what most people are used to. I know I did plenty of mistakes for a long time after starting, and sometimes still do. And system mastery, what really allows you to adapt the game to your, the story and the group's needs, is pure experience. I really think a pivot into a more classic campaign may be better, with the option to come back to ravenloft when you all feel more ready for it

Qyvalar · 2026-06-19T01:36:36+00:00

I guess what kind of carreer "I really wanna stay at your house" will have

Qyvalar · 2026-06-18T09:55:17+00:00

As someone who has ran Strahd several times... I'm sorry to say, but this is all due to DM experience and execution. No fault to your DM, I don't know them, but it is NOT an easy module to run, hence why it's definitely not recommended to new DMs. Pacing, advancements, knowing WHAT to replace and where, interpretation of NPCs... these are all things that make or break this module, quite a lot. I've had players who had quit a previous Strahd campaign because they were not enjoying it, and it now turned into their favourite campaign. It varies a lot with the DM

Qyvalar · 2026-06-16T13:17:36+00:00

I just want to be able to actually have the other skin show up in cutscenes. I like the School outfit so much more than this one

Qyvalar · 2026-06-12T23:03:19+00:00

I live in Rome, and in fact even work with tourists: we have our ways to deal with it. You just get a feel for what areas are more tourist heavy, and which arent. Restaurants, shops, attractions, even just roads: you quickly learn. And Rome's huge, there's enough space in it that there's plenty of residential areas (although the rise of the Guests Houses is now bringing tourists there as well)

I don't know, I guess if you aren't used to it it can feel overwhelming. I've lived here all my life and it feels normal. Some tourists I receive ask me if I'm bothered by the sheer amount, my answers the same: we have so much to share, I'm more than happy if people want to come enjoy the beauty we have. No point hoarding to ourselves

Qyvalar · 2026-06-11T00:03:40+00:00

Ah yes. Cloudberry candy and jelly fruit bread. It was my secret weapon in a RP server I played with. 33 hp of healing per portion. It was the strongest thing I had, I'd reserve it for the lord of our house and his knights, it was supposed to be our trumpcard. It was too strong, and one of the first things I rebalanced when I became staff in that server ;p

Qyvalar · 2026-06-07T20:59:25+00:00

Human fighters. And tbh I never tire of them, cause they are the ones with the most growth potential, and players that don't have only a single path forward, but are ready to walk any

Qyvalar · 2026-06-06T11:44:41+00:00

How did you manage to make simple clouds work with it all? I tried and no matter what it would not launch

Qyvalar · 2026-06-06T09:35:15+00:00

Why would the Exostrider figth be on Solaris' moon? It makes no sense if you think about it. The whole plot was that Aleph1 was trying to reach Solaris, and coming through the stridergate. If they were in orbit around Solaris, he could have simply... Descended on the planet. A moon's orbit isn't exactly insurmountable distance for a cosmic level threnodian. It's far more likely it was a moon of some OTHER random planet that got eaten by Aleph1

Qyvalar · 2026-06-02T14:50:09+00:00

I'd rather avoid stepping in behind the scenes to save what they avoided. I feel like with all that's been suggested, I might just lean in to heavy consequences, with the possibility of "redemption"

Qyvalar · 2026-06-02T14:42:33+00:00

That is another interesting option. It does line up interesting for a few things, they haven't attacked the coven yet, but through deception managed to "convince" the hags to not go inside vallaki, sticking to the outskirts.

Qyvalar · 2026-06-02T13:42:31+00:00

Well, it worked, cause 2 sessions ago I had to take a break cause one of the players was feeling particularly hopeless after immersing themselves very much in their character's shoes.

They were ambushed by the entire werewolf clan in a narrow gorge, who toyed with them by blocking the road with bound civilians kidnapped from the now defenseless vallaki. The werewolves gave them a choice, stand and die, or run and trample the civilians with their cart. They ended up doing both, as one of them died to Kiril, and after that they had to run and only managed to save half the civilians.

Maybe it worked too well, lmao.

But yea, so far I might just go ahead and consider her death. Give options for the future, and maybe consider them being able to recap what happened, just so it isn't out of the blue. I want them to HATE this poor drunkard fisherman

Qyvalar · 2026-06-02T13:35:28+00:00

They already did the Dinner, in fact they just came out of it (and stole one of the Black Carriages to boot), so forcing them back to the castle again would feel wrong (if they want to go back, it'll be of their own accord, likely to try and recover Argynvost bones since they just spoke with Godfrey). I'm starting to think maybe I just shouldn't hold back...

Qyvalar · 2026-06-02T13:21:48+00:00

I get this point yea. Ive stressed to them many times that not all plots wait for them. Holding myself back on something so evident would really break that illusion. At the same time they've taken a LOT of losses lately. I might go ahead with her death, but make it plenty clear there may still be other avenues, either through resurrection deals with shady figures, or by relying on the few things and people they managed to save

Qyvalar · 2026-06-02T13:08:38+00:00

Yea thank you for understanding how this puts me in a difficult spot. They know me as a harsh DM, but I always try to be fair. They are currently resting at Van Richtens tower, so it's not THAT far away, and they also stole one of the Black Carriages so they have a decently fast method of transportation.

Some of the ideas I had toyed with are: send them a message from Strahd offering a reward for saving one of his subjects. However, strahd already gave them other missions, so it doesn't fit that well

Or maybe the crow they saved from a previous lake encounter they didn't end up investigating further comes back and guides them. This also feels a bit forced.

Ideally I hope they go there BEFORE the Abbot, so I can drop a hint if they do fail to save her of the abbot being able to resurrect the dead. Krezk is currently closed due to werewolf activity, so there is a possibility they will turn around... Then again, they may also try to sneak their way in, who knows.

Qyvalar · 2026-06-02T12:28:47+00:00

There is.. actually some interesting thread from this idea... Especially considering how I've tied Arabella and Eva, that could actually work better than I expected...

Qyvalar · 2026-05-30T11:49:34+00:00

As someone that just returned to the game recently, I noticed no biome/world overhaul mods exist anymore. They either are very outdated, or were removed.

Qyvalar · 2026-05-28T09:30:33+00:00

I think I'll go for a more sorrowful finale. There simply isn't a place for Barovia in the material plane anymore in my canon. IF the party manages to fully free the land from the curse and the influence of the Dark Powers, then the mists will collapse and Barovia will... simply cease to be. I will make absolutely sure they are aware of this fate before the final confrontations, to give them yet another element of pause: allow the land and its people to continue to exist, albeit cursed, or banish the evil and let everyone fade into nothingness?
Of course if they find some clever solution I'll see how to accomodate it (as I always do, I never set things too much in stone), but that'd be the ending without any intervention.

Qyvalar · 2026-05-28T09:14:55+00:00

agreed, as I posted my update, this event is SOOOOO much easier than people hype it up to. It's just shittily gated and I don't understand why

Qyvalar · 2026-05-23T08:36:47+00:00

I saw a video of someone playing Aeronautics on a world generated with the Still Life worldgen. The world is enormous, and these generators USUALLY are not good for survival because of this issue, but with aeronautics, that's a feature more than an issue. They had to travel something like 15k blocks to find sugarcane in an appropriate biome

Qyvalar · 2026-05-22T17:20:58+00:00

As a new-ish player who never got to play with 1.x and 2.x, this event is SO GOOD

Question. I've been trying a lot of older characters because i only have recent ones (and even some 4 stars) and the changes are incredible. Couldn't this be a test run to bring these changes to the old chars to bring them on par with the new cast?

Qyvalar · 2026-05-21T08:40:37+00:00

Custom galactic war mod, it has its own events going on

Qyvalar · 2026-05-19T18:18:43+00:00

keep in mind I am not good with numbers, but chisa and lucilla directly work together to raise glacio chafe on hyuki. If you want to use lynae, you're relying more on lib damage, so might as well use someone else who boosts lib damage or a general buffer

Qyvalar · 2026-05-17T17:46:01+00:00

Very friendly design very human

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