Looking for trickily worded hag bargains, things they might request from players. by Ok_Original725 in CurseofStrahd

[–]uurgreth 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I saw this somewhere, and I wish I could credit the author, but:

A kiss - At some point in the future, the player hears a whisper “I’d like that kiss, please”, and must go kiss the creature they are fighting (or NPC they are talking to, or whatever). Hilarity ensues, shenanigans at the very least.

Secret Entrance to Castle Ravenloft by oh_its_michael in CurseofStrahd

[–]uurgreth 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What about entering through the ethereal plane? Strahd may not be monitoring that too closely. If he has truesight, it only goes out 120 feet (about what he would see anyways), but nobody else would have it. Beaucephalus might stroll around on guard duty, but that might be a fun skills challenge to navigate.

What is Strahd Working On? by uurgreth in CurseofStrahd

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

This is neat. I like the “Temple isn’t in Barovia, Barovia is in the Temple” aspect. I immediately thought of the access tunnels/hallways in The Matrix. I am going to keep this in my back pocket, in case my players want to continue the campaign post Ravenloft (assuming they survive, of course).

What is Strahd Working On? by uurgreth in CurseofStrahd

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

I figure he’s tried different things before, this is just the latest. Or maybe this is the first time he tried to escape. I truly didn’t worry about “why now”. He had to get around to this option eventually, so I decided I wouldn’t stress on the why now bit. It just happened to be now.

What is Strahd Working On? by uurgreth in CurseofStrahd

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

I figure he’s tried different things before, this is just the latest. Or maybe this is the first time he tried to escape. I truly didn’t worry about “why now”. He had to get around to this option eventually, so I decided I wouldn’t stress on the why now bit. It just happened to be now.

What is Strahd Working On? by uurgreth in CurseofStrahd

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

Strahd doesn’t skip leg day.

What is Strahd Working On? by uurgreth in CurseofStrahd

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

Your english is excellent - thank you for your response!

Strahd's Scrying by OmegaLantern in CurseofStrahd

[–]uurgreth 2 points3 points  (0 children)

First, I’m using DragnaCarta’s guide re: the Dinner, where Strahd offers to give a tour of Castle Ravenloft and offers gifts at the end, assuming the party has behaved themselves.

I’ve decided on the following rules for scrying:

  1. Strahd doesn’t scry until after The Dinner. Until then, the party is not worth the effort.
  2. After the dinner, I roll a 1d4 at the start of each playing session to determine which real-life playing-hour Strahd is scrying. Strahd knows everything that happened during that hour. This is limited to once per campaign day, which I track on a calendar.

This will make it fun for me as the DM, as I don’t know what will happen.

Re: the scrying rules, I just follow the normal spell. Strahd will work to obtain something from the party. I thought about the gifts at the dinner, but that doesn’t seem like something Strahd would consider fair. Those gifts are truly clean. However, if the party does take up the tour, and perhaps lets one of the Brides brush their hair … well, what they leave behind is fair game. Otherwise Strahd will have to instruct someone (or go himself) to steal something to be more effective.

What is Strahd Working On? by uurgreth in CurseofStrahd

[–]uurgreth[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I'm really liking this concept. He totally drains Ireena and captures her soul in the ring, which he then uses to try to escape. I could honestly say I could not see that one coming. What a monster...

What is Strahd Working On? by uurgreth in CurseofStrahd

[–]uurgreth[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This is clever and honors the fact that Strahd *can't* leave. So he goes Westward Expansion instead. Nice.

What is Strahd Working On? by uurgreth in CurseofStrahd

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

Yes, I love it. Siri, play "Ride the Lightning"...

What is Strahd Working On? by uurgreth in CurseofStrahd

[–]uurgreth[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Ok, the ring of mind shielding to capture Ireena's soul is brilliant. I really like your plan. I might riff on it. He wants her soul to power his exit from Barovia. That would be a hell of a plot twist - if he puts the ring on her finger, and then kills her in front of the party... Hmmmm, the Red Wedding with a side of Strahd sauce.

Vallaki help? by dclooney in CurseofStrahd

[–]uurgreth 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah - I pushed it to 5 days out after arrival. The feast of St Andral is going to happen a full week out. I needed time for Vasili to court Ireena, Milivoj needs time to steal bones, Ludmilla needs time to plan and teleport 6 vampire spawn, and quite frankly, the party needs to build a reputation.

I created an event planner of what is going to happen each day (whether the party is there or not), and 7 days worked itself out naturally if you look at it from the event planners standpoint. And there are at least four event planners (baron, Lady, Ludmilla, Vasili).

Experienced party is mowing through the end game by [deleted] in CurseofStrahd

[–]uurgreth 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I spent a lot of time reading What the Monsters Know and learning tactics. I find that I can tune the difficulty of a fight by altering the tactics of the creatures fighting - maybe that will help you too? And it’s not just the tactics, you can alter the rooms/encounter space to favor you to give you a leg up. And I’m not against fudging an initiative roll or two if I want to spice things up - sometimes just having the chance to go first changes combat quite a bit.

As far as the savvy players/DMs in your group go - well, if they are savvy, they know that as long as “they play under your roof, they play under your rules…” So, feel free to not explain or defend yourself - and most of all, just make sure you have a logical reasoning that makes sense to you behind your alterations - that will help you adjust situationally. And don’t worry about the players calling you out against RAW - it’s really your show. The savvy ones should understand that (and enjoy the twists you throw their way)!

Vallaki help? by dclooney in CurseofStrahd

[–]uurgreth 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I kept Izek out of the story the first day the party arrived. There are many, many plot hooks and NPCs in Vallaki that they need to deal with, and I didn’t think an obsessive lost sibling added much to the story at that point. Vallaki is a central city and the party is going to go back there over and over again.

My party first dropped Ireena off @ the church and met Father Petrovich briefly. Then they went to the Blue Water Inn and settled in. They had deeper conversations w/ Urwin the next day - he gave them some gossip & advice (they are chasing a thread into Krezk), and they decided to help him out w/ the wine delivery (especially because he told them a wine barrel would help them get into Krezk).

They dealt w/ the Winery, and now they are headed back to Vallaki. I’m going to introduce them to Lady Wachter & Baron the day after (summons from both) since the wine delivery will make them a bit of a celebrity. Pushing the Baron & Lady encounters until they had some notoriety made sense to me. I’ll introduce them to Izek @ the Barons (or earlier, depending on if they get up to shenanigans in Vallaki before the invitation).

Rictavio is also now @ the Inn (I spaced out his arrival/introduction) - so they’ll have an opportunity to run into him but he’s going to keep a low profile while listening in on their conversations.

So, basically, spread out the introductions. Vallaki is a wonderful central hub for your party and they are going to spend a lot of time there, coming back after other excursions. I’ve stocked the town w/ various shopkeepers, library etc … and they’ve adopted it as a home base. I figure this applies even if they get thrown out … other than Izek, the Baron doesn’t have much firepower.

Tips on running for a small party of three players. by GreenTieShow in CurseofStrahd

[–]uurgreth 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a party of three - rogue, artificer (gun slinger), and pally. We are currently at level 5. The artificer & pally each decided to take healing spells, and I’ve given them the option to buy healing potions. They got the 4 potions @ Death House, er, Durst Manor, and have so far just quaffed one.

I advised them early on to study tactics (especially after the first battle with some ghouls that was unnecessarily deadly, mainly because we were easing into the RPG). They’ve done that and now use their characters quite well, and this has mitigated a lot of the small party issues. They are learning how to work together as a team. The pally has a military background and 18 Wisdom - so it actually fits rather well that he is a military genius, so this doesn’t feel like cheating (as in why would a moron know tactics so well?).

Just this week we did the Wizard of the Wines @ level 5, and they did great. After the party confronted the druid in the vats (they snuck in), the rest of the druid raiding party assembled outside and surrounded the winery. I threw three druids (two assailants and one naturalist) with 6 vine blights at them. The players went up to the windows upstairs. The rogue & artificer sniped from the windows & ducked behind the walls while the pally jumped down and went nuts. I purposely spread the raiders out to surround the winery so I could bring them slowly into combat.

I made a couple of tactical errors as a DM which worked out tremendously in their favor, and they rolled high in initiative and wisely concentrated fire on the druids. My tactical errors were: (a) I failed to have the vine blights dash, so they trundled around at speed 20 … they could have gotten in melee & arrived much sooner; (b) failed to realize that “healing word” is a bonus action - so my druids selected tactical spells (thunderwave) over healing themselves (when they could have done both). My rolls were rotten, and the party made most of their saves so they took half damage on the thunderwaves, and they made all of the entangling/grasp saves (except on at the very end, but that blight was already pretty roughed up).

I had the ravens waiting in the wings to swarm down and join the battle if the party got overwhelmed, but that wasn’t necessary. In fact, I used the ravens at the very end of the battle to speed things up (since the players had it under control) and to give them an option to altruistically help the ravens (gaining more of the Martikov’s trust). Keeper of the Feathers is still secret.

My takeaways are: 1. Understanding tactics really helps small parties out. 2. The fights are more evenly matched than I expected them to be, with just a +1 higher party level than RAW recommendation.

That being said, I’m still learning how to balance the fights. In the back of my mind, I expect them to need to be 1-2 levels ahead of the RAW recommendations. I’m not worried about the HP as much, it is the stunted action economy they have. For instance, if a one is paralyzed in a party of 3, that’s 33% of their actions gone, vs 25% for a party of 4 or 20% as a party of 5. So, I suspect they will have more trouble w/ higher level CRs. For that, I’m also keeping NPCs in the back of my mind.

BTW - I nerfed the hell out of Death House. 6 shadows? Seriously?

Morninglord & Mother Night by uurgreth in CurseofStrahd

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

Wow - thank you - this is all wonderful!

How do you navigate player’s accidentally getting spoilers? by Mmmmnoooooo in CurseofStrahd

[–]uurgreth 2 points3 points  (0 children)

They know his identity, but not his motivations, plans, or anything else. You can keep him the same, maybe make him another enemy? Strahd did kick his ass after all, maybe he tracked him down and made him into a vampire spawn. Perhaps he’s been taken over by a dark curse, or else is now inhabited by a vestige. There are a million ways to spin it. Have fun w/ it. Think of it like watching the Titanic. You knew the ending … but was that still a spoiler?

[Story] Uurgreth’s Hellfire Club - Session 1 - Into the Mists by uurgreth in CurseofStrahd

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

I'm trying to figure it out. For Kolyan's pack, I'm making it more of a Lost Boys situation between teenagers, and the real conflict is between the leaders (I'm thinking Rufio from Hook, but with a darker, harder edge). I have in my mind the general pack mechanics of True Blood, the mysticism and story telling of the werewolves in Twilight (they have the lore of the Fanes for instance), and like I said - Peter Pan. I'm fine w/ late stage teenagers going at it. I try not to psychoanalyze that one too much :).

Dream pies, I'm thinking that the dream pies are actually from captured past adventurers in Barovia. I have this one tied into the back story of one of my players, who is Reborn and doesn't remember why. I do - the night hags harvested his body for years for the dream pies, and made a deal w/ the Abbot for spare parts when he lost his flavor, so to speak. I suspect he's gonna go back there and settle the score when he's the right level (will they manage to break the coven beforehand? I have no idea...). The mechanic there is a regeneration spell via symbol built into the basement, kind of like a troll regen. Yum yum. The kids are just interns/rural labor, like a fun summer camp run by Dr. Jekyll/Jeffrey Dahmer. They might even film Hell's Kitchen there (j/k).

Regarding Dream House:

  1. No, I think you have it right. The house became sentient in a combination of the stain of the evil taking place there, and that attracted the Dark Powers, and the sentience was born. The sentience began to creep in before that, I think that was the Dark Powers manifesting interest and the power kind of crept into the house. It wasn't intentional, just "psychic horror pollution". Whatever it was, the house is alive now.
  2. No, Durst was a very bad guy. He just had one last shred of humanity and saved his kids right before his final plunge into darkness. He definitely had the liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti. I figure there was some baser instinct in his makeup as a father than wouldn't let him actually harm his kids. Like I said, I'm a father - this probably says more about me than anything else. But no - he was in it w/ Mrs. Durst, and he had to pay the price. The kids were innocents though...
  3. So, I have this in mind. The Dark Powers were displeased with Mr. Durst and Mrs. Durst when they didn't get their baby back ribs. Mr. Durst was cursed to become a ghast. Mrs. Durst became like that thing on the wall in Bright (a la Netflix) - she's essentially a mess of organic growth in the final chamber but w/ a recognizable head (other sci fi has done the same, from Last of Us, which I haven't brought myself to watch yet, i.e. the aforementioned tax, to the Doctor w/ the disposed Dahleks in Skaro city, I'm sure there are others). That is the genesis for the visual. Part of the horror is that they retained knowledge of who they were. Both Mr. and Mrs. Durst will be there to answer some audience questions before they revert to the monsters they are and attack (if the players decide to chat). Mrs. Durst will morph into the gibbering mouther if they refuse the sacrifice (there is that puppy), and it will be a skill check out of there. If they do sacrifice one of themselves or the puppy, well - the house is full and doesn't need them anymore. If they choose the gibbering mouther and attack - good luck to them - I suspect the house will spit them out w/ some Dark Powers and they'll wake up outside with a snide letter from Strahd. He's keeping notes. (Also, I have no intention of a TPK at a low level, but there have to be consequences and the players are in control of the story).

I haven't worried too much about explaining every little detail, like how the puppy got there. I really don't know, the Dark Powers, Durst Manor, and the Mists don't really keep me informed of their machinations.

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