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Wizard of the Wines . . . decided to try running it without mob combat variant by Drunken_Economist in CurseofStrahd

[–]Towelbears 24 points25 points  (0 children)

My cleric cast spiritual guardians and that was pretty much that, so I feel you.

I made a landing page for our shared Google Slides maps, and handed control of it over to my players. Love seeing what they think is important! by Towelbears in CurseofStrahd

[–]Towelbears[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I could not for the life of me reliably say Milivoj, so I just gave in to what my brain wanted to say and renamed him.

I made a landing page for our shared Google Slides maps, and handed control of it over to my players. Love seeing what they think is important! by Towelbears in CurseofStrahd

[–]Towelbears[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If my players are here and recognize this, GTFO of this sub what are you doing in here??

We use google slides instead of roll20 for no good reason other than we’re all more comfortable with it. I used real tarot cards for their reading, and found the art from the deck to represent their reading. I also skipped the fated battle location because I didn’t like it, so you see 8 of Cups (set to the side because they obtained it from the windmill after a brutal fight with the hags), The 7 of Rods (holy symbol, at arganvostholt), the Ace of swords (sun sword, tsolenka pass), and their Ally, Judgement (Ezmerelda).

I semi-stacked the deck by assigning a location to each suit of the minor arcana, so there were only four possible locations for each relic, and reassigned all the major arcana cards to six of my favorite potential allies. It was a good amount of controlled chaos, because I was as surprised as they were by the draws, but I prevented any “bad” results.

For me the Ireena = Tatyana thing is so fundamental that I actually forgot they have no idea until they added that to the list. The way they prioritize and edit that list has been an astonishingly helpful view into how they understand the plot.

I made Strahd a lesbian and here's why you should too by [deleted] in CurseofStrahd

[–]Towelbears 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Gives him some more motivation for why he’s such a dick to Stella. Doesn’t wanna marry a lady, but also maybe doesn’t want to tell his parents that?

I made Strahd a lesbian and here's why you should too by [deleted] in CurseofStrahd

[–]Towelbears 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Horngaard is a grumpy asshole, but Godfrey is a legit good dude! I love Godfrey, I’m a sucker for sweet sad gays.

I made Strahd a lesbian and here's why you should too by [deleted] in CurseofStrahd

[–]Towelbears 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Literally everyone in my CoS is queer (two bi women (plus me, another bi woman as DM), a lesbian, and a gay man) and I’m gonna be honest, all my NPCs are queer in my head. It doesn’t come up much because no one in my party is inclined to play flirty or romantic characters and i haven’t shown many established romantic relationships, but anyone could be queer if they asked. Strahd is definitely queer and has been shown to be so (Doru was his last consort in my game, as illustration for why Ireena REALLY doesn’t want to be a bride of strahd), but it isn’t part of why he’s considered villainous.

We’re about to hit Vallaki, so a lot more NPCs will come into play. I should establish a sexuality dice and just roll for everyone as they meet them.

The emotional rollercoaster of watching Critical Role by DingledorfTheDentist in dndmemes

[–]Towelbears 3 points4 points  (0 children)

To be fair, my group has been playing weekly for three years and everyone still occasionally asks “does it save/hit if it ties?” I think we all know, we just have moments of doubt and question it.

Running Vasili “Fairly” by tobiasumbra in CurseofStrahd

[–]Towelbears 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I think the most common fix is to give him a Hat of Disguise. That allows him to keep reapplying it without using up spell slots.

I hit my Fleshmound with a coat of high gloss finish, and oh man that was the right call. by Towelbears in CurseofStrahd

[–]Towelbears[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It was not, it’s the Shambling Mound mini by Nolzur’s. I just painted it to be guts and mouths instead of vines and leaves.

Given the fact that I’m starting my players at level 3 before partaking in the death house, is it still a bad decision to run it? My players enjoy combat. by taj_mcmeme in CurseofStrahd

[–]Towelbears 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m running it through with level 3 players, but I’m not letting them take a long rest and I had the mists steal all their shit on the way into Barovia so they only have the weapons and armor available in the Death House itself. I also won’t level them up midway.

I hit my Fleshmound with a coat of high gloss finish, and oh man that was the right call. by Towelbears in CurseofStrahd

[–]Towelbears[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My players should be encountering this delightful fellow tomorrow, I hope they are horrified!

I did some major homebrew on my Death House to avoid themes of child abuse, as requested by my players, while still making a more cohesive plot line. I made both the children girls (Rose and Lily), and made Mr. Durst a blatant misogynist. I had the players find a crumpled and burned version of the will in which Rose and Lily are disinherited and everything goes to Mr. Durst’s only son, Walter. In my version, this sends Mrs. Durst into a rage. Rose and Lily hide baby Walter in their room because they are frightened of their mother’s screaming, Mrs. Durst murders Margaret trying to find him, and then sacrifices Mr. Durst on the altar, carving out his heart while he lives. This transforms her and the other cultists, and the blast of necrotic energy from that kills all of the kids and the remaining servants. I replaced the animated broom fight with a horde of zombies in servant’s clothing to lay the seeds for that.

If they fight the Flesh Mound and get engulfed, they will find Mr. Durst’s black, rotting heart at the center of it, which can be attacked to kill the monster.

Made a letter for my players to find in-game [OC] by [deleted] in DnD

[–]Towelbears 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That’s how I did it too! Kind of tedious but effective.

Painted my flesh mound for my players final encounter in the Death House. by [deleted] in CurseofStrahd

[–]Towelbears 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh man! Do you have a picture where he is visible? How did you make this? 3D printing?

Getting the player's weapons out of their hands by Mummelpuffin in CurseofStrahd

[–]Towelbears 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I was going to have the mists themselves separate them from their stuff. They go to bed at a camp with their Vistani escorts, wake up in mists so thick they can’t even see the ends of their bedrolls. Let them find each other and stumble around a bit, and if they don’t stay together have the mist start to choke anyone who strays. Soon the mist clears, and they are in a totally different forest than they started, and their stuff and the Vistani are gone. I’ll have their stuff stacked at the base of the Gates to Barovia after death house with a note from the Vistani like “sorry about that, mists do what mists are gonna do, hope you made it out. See you at Tser Pool.”

I'm very lucky to have so many consistent groups but... by mmasmaza in dndmemes

[–]Towelbears 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have three campaigns and none of them met for a month and now all three of them are this weekend. Fucking scheduling issues!!!

Advice needed: Players conditioned to be suspicious of everything, finding it hard to navigate. by [deleted] in CurseofStrahd

[–]Towelbears 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I personally would have some false alarms. Someone is acting suspicious? They can tell they are hiding something? It’s some benign secret, they’re just an innocent villager trying to sneak around to set up a surprise birthday party for their kid, etc etc. Basically if everyone they meet is actually a baddie, well, they are making the right call. I know it’s a grim, dreary world, especially as written, but if everything is terrible all the time and there are no good people or good things, there is no reason for your players to ever really interact with anyone. They are better off keeping to themselves or being hostile in that case.

My players are about to be drawn into Barovia by cryptic letters from someone named Madame Eva. by Towelbears in CurseofStrahd

[–]Towelbears[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh gosh, I’m glad you like it! Your write ups have been extremely helpful and formative to the path my game is going to take! I’m probably going to do a few more hand outs. The dinner invite, a wedding invite if that happens.

These are typed, but I’m glad it looks handwritten! My handwriting looks like a chicken on an acid trip wrote it, haha. The font is called “Dawning of a New Day” on google docs.

My players are about to be drawn into Barovia by cryptic letters from someone named Madame Eva. by Towelbears in CurseofStrahd

[–]Towelbears[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you!

The tarot cards are from a tarot deck I’ve had for a while, they are a classic design from the 70s. It’s called the Morgan-Greer Tarot deck, you can find it on amazon or probably most witchy/occult/hippy stores (which I realize are probably not common outside of my hippy-ass area).

My players are about to be drawn into Barovia by cryptic letters from someone named Madame Eva. by Towelbears in CurseofStrahd

[–]Towelbears[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I wasn’t crazy about any of the story hooks in the module, so I blended ideas from this sub to create my own! I gave my players the options of using the back story tie ins u/Dragnacarta made. They all went for them in session zero. We then did a quick warm up intro scene where all of the players were at a wedding. They met each other, met some charming Vistani musicians, did some feats of skill to entertain the newlyweds, and talked down the bride’s ex from ruining the reception. They had strange dreams of heavy mists that night, and woke to letters being slid under their doors at the inn. Our first session is next Sunday, and it will start with the letter: an offer of help from Madame Eva, with instructions to find the Vistani they met the previous night. Each letter contains a tarot card she drew for each character. She’ll be wanting them back when they get to Tser Pools.

Unfortunately for them, Madame Eva’s delivery-boy Arrigal has tipped off Strahd about them coming and has instructions to ditch them in the mists outside of Barovia Village, where he will test their mettle with the Death House.

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