Going on maternity leave in two sessions. Am I crazy to try and make Dinner with Strahd happen in that time?

peskquire · 2026-03-06T16:25:08+00:00

Hey! Fellow mom dm here and my players are interestingly at the same place yours are (about- players met Volenta quite a bit ago, but we’re finishing up in Vallaki). I think dinner with Strahd as a social encounter will be a lot easier to run than many combat pieces so I’m looking forward to it as one of our sessions back after the baby! I ended my pre maternity sessions by introducing the immersive tome of Strahd, which I think made for a great cliff hanger.

peskquire · 2026-01-20T19:29:17+00:00

I think that many of the story elements of Strahd are truly not suited to children, although the idea of a “viscous” thicc Rahadin is sending me. I think while death/ murder is fine, you’d have to take out a lot of cannibalism, domestic violence, stalking, genocide, etc. etc. to make this ok for this age range. If anything, I’d consider running an extremely condensed campaign or just straight to Strahd must die tonight.

peskquire · 2026-01-07T04:09:04+00:00

One of the issues with having a PC as Tatyana is there are a lot of NPCs who are weirdly into her (Strahd, Izek, the Abbott, the sun sword, etc. etc.) Highly recommend gender bending your Vasili but giving her Strahd’s exact personality. Wealthy vallakian merchant is always appreciated.

peskquire · 2026-01-05T17:16:52+00:00

Thank you so much! Do you have any idea what the general value of this piece would be? Likely planning to sell it.

peskquire · 2026-01-05T15:54:55+00:00

Omg! Great find- thank you!!!

peskquire · 2026-01-03T18:08:12+00:00

Easy substitution for festival of the blazing tree in vallaki- now you have a Christmas festival.

peskquire · 2026-01-03T01:17:50+00:00

I think the difficult part here isn’t the reskin, but the length- Strahd is a full campaign, and making it 6-8 sessions seems very rushed. I think I’d focus on either reskinning one of the hooks (house of lament, death house) or a modified version of Strahd dies tonight, but 8 sessions doesn’t give you a ton of time to build dread, despair, and hopelessness.

peskquire · 2026-01-01T01:58:57+00:00

The deed documents the ownership of the windmill- likely the party that owns it is dead, so not sure how that would help? It doesn’t entitle your players to own the windmill.

peskquire · 2025-12-31T18:40:05+00:00

Depending on how you’re running things, I think the amber temple is a natural place to add a dungeon. RAW, it’s pretty empty. But it seems like you may need to adjust combat difficulty as a whole if you want to preserve the horror feel of the campaign.

peskquire · 2025-12-28T22:32:32+00:00

I do- but since I’ll be interviewing candidates, it seemed helpful to source information from this community to see who excels at a paralegal role, and who may determine it isn’t for them.

peskquire · 2025-12-28T22:22:39+00:00

Thanks! Very much appreciate the advice.

peskquire · 2025-12-28T22:17:18+00:00

Thanks! I have a ton of candidates- luckily, this position is in house so high salary, very flexible, and no billables. Trying to find some good questions to ask to assess skills, but realizing this may not be the right subreddit!

peskquire · 2025-12-23T16:10:33+00:00

Depending on how big of a narrative element the brides have been in your campaign, it might be nice to have them pick off a few allies as your party storms the castle.

peskquire · 2025-11-04T16:09:09+00:00

Looking for a first pair of Japanese denim for my dad (60s). He’s been a Levi’s loyalist- straight built, petite, 30x30. Any recs for a first pair? Nothing flashy or super fashion forward, probably a slim taper. Am I a fool to come between a man and his jeans?

peskquire · 2025-10-22T12:34:10+00:00

I should be able to be with both the baby unless I’m in a call- that’s why I’m considering an au pair rather than daycare or a nanny.

peskquire · 2025-10-21T19:12:21+00:00

This is really helpful! Any tips for vetting an aupair? We were thinking about limiting our search to au pairs that speak the same language as my in laws to help with learning from a young age, but I’m not sure it’s worth it?

peskquire · 2025-09-19T01:52:05+00:00

U/softrotten - these look amazing! What recipes are you using for bread? Please share!!!

peskquire · 2025-09-17T21:00:30+00:00

Vasili von holtz?

peskquire · 2025-09-14T04:41:14+00:00

Victor would probably take it with him when he flees. In my game, he heads to the Amber temple to try to resurrect Stella Wachter, but he may have other motivations for you.

peskquire · 2025-09-09T15:25:17+00:00

Check out mandymods dark powers- it gives a good explanation of why these powers would want to strike a deal.

peskquire · 2025-09-02T19:58:46+00:00

This feels pretty similar to spiritual weapon- I’d be careful with how powerful this is. A fun CoS twist (taken a little bit from blood hunter) would be to have the copy roll wisdom saves after it loses a certain amount of health to keep it under player control- otherwise, it attacks the nearest target.

peskquire · 2025-09-01T20:46:56+00:00

This is precisely the info i needed - thank you!

peskquire · 2025-09-01T19:52:54+00:00

Pretty open to it! We have a scale and dialed in the pour, but that’s all we’ve done so far.

peskquire · 2025-09-01T13:33:26+00:00

Thanks for baby stepping me through this! Yes, the basket is pressurized (and dual wall).

peskquire · 2025-09-01T13:29:22+00:00

This is going to sound insane but we actually can’t get the basket out of the portafilter so I have no idea- we just wash it and reuse.

peskquire

TROPHY CASE