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Sadly, no (I'm the OP, just using my other reddit account).
While technically it can be shared, I'm including encounters and other stuff onto the map and so it's kinda tailored specifically to my game and not "generic" enough to be shared.
BUT... I'll tell you this, I've always been a fan of Miro (miro.com) and you can create a free account to create a board to make this in. If you own all of the official Strahd maps, you can recreate this yourself.
What I didn't share in my video above is that I also have some fog of war over top of key areas so that my players (originally) won't see the town/city/dungeon maps until they have logically explored the area, in which case I'll uncover them. It works out well.
I've been around the block with so many different VTT's and while many have more robust features, 3D dice rolling, etc, I'm finding the "single giant map" to be more rewarding and interesting than using other tools with glitzier features. To each their own, of course.
This should work
Personalized Logo Customized Wax Seal Stamp Set, Yoption Custom Made Your Own Design Logo Personalized Wedding Invitation Seal Wax Stamp Set, Ideal Gi https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CTHJP5T/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apap_xFuRCuLSdcHsT
>On top of this, the Conjure Animals spell by the book doesn't summon "beasts" it summons "fey spirits in the form of Beasts" so if Strahd did have control of all beasts in this version of Barovia, he still shouldn't be able to control these spirits.
They're actually both fey and beasts.
https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Conjure%20Animals#content
That said, I still think what the DM did is shitty.
Given the prevalence of hags in Barovia, you could easily slip in a sea hag or three. Maybe they're the last survivors of the fall of the castle who bargained away their souls for the ability to survive in the ruined castle.
Rather than use Gyazo, which is likely storing all those shots and gifs and shit on their own servers (like LightShot does), check out Greenshot.
If you care about your privacy or whatever, obviously.
The D&D Castle Ravenloft (original inspiration for CoS as noted in the Introduction) Board Game is my answer as well. Almost all ~40 miniatures can be used at one point in the CoS campaign, which works out to a fantastic price per mini ratio (a little over a dollar per).
The only downside is that the Strahd mini isn't EPIC enough, so I purchased a separate mini just for him.
Here is the music Strahd should be playing on the organ when the party arrives.
For ambient music throughout the castle, I highly recommend picking up the Vampyre album by Midnight Syndicate. I’ve gotten a ton of mileage out of this soundtrack. I especially enjoy the Graveyard and Winged Fury tracks.
Before heading into the castle, I highly recommend studying the maps closely, especially where the doors lead to between levels, and especially in the towers. It’s not always obvious at a glance where those stairways go to, and taking some time before the game to figure it out will save you a hassle at the table.
Finally, figure out what Strahd’s final monologue will be. Just as importantly, figure out what his strategy during combat will be. Remember, he can Disengage for free and run through walls.
Strahd doesn’t want to die, and he’s a brilliant tactician. Your players will have to be both smart and lucky if they hope to beat him in his lair.
Good luck!
Hi! My favorite person to go to for artwork of locations is Jamesrpgart. He's got a patreon, and provides high and low res options for most of the major places players will see (he's still working on some). For a higher tier, you can also get animated gifs of his locations as well.
As for the Death House paintings, I might consider generating some stuffy nobles using artbreeder.com. Since you can always regenerate, it will give you options with slight differentiation each time, so different people, but similar looking enough to be related to one another.
Hope that helps!
Strahd can technically cast Dream. Pick a player and have him fuck with them to no end in a dream. They get to watch their loved ones be burned alive, or follow Strahd as his spawn. Strahd can make them feel as though they've been trapped in his dungeon for years. The only limit is your creativity.
Absolutely!
RY King Battery Operated Flameless Candle Set of 9 Real Wax Pillar Decorative Led Fake Candles with Remote Control and Timer https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FDVVRRU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_WZNTZ39TRKEFA54Y4J9F?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
I got the remote control ones because I planned on having them all go out during Madam Eva’s card reading. But they don’t go all out at once for me. It was more like one candle every time I pressed the button.
Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft
Are you sure? According to this, it's only in their resting place (I don't have a Monster Manual at hand, I'm at work). I agree with the paralyze part though!
https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/The%20Planes%20of%20Existence#content
"The Ethereal Plane is a misty, fog--bound dimension that is sometimes described as a great ocean. Its shores, called the Border Ethereal, overlap the Material Plane and the Inner Planes, so that every location on those planes has a corresponding location on the Ethereal Plane. Certain creatures can see into the Border Ethereal, and the See Invisibility and True Seeing spell grant that ability. Some magical effects also extend from the Material Plane into the Border Ethereal, particularly effects that use force energy such as Forcecage and Wall of Force. "
I think u/throwthepearlaway was referring to the Sunbeam spell. It creates sunlight, triggering Strahd's hypersensitivity and stopping his regeneration.
As a few others have mentioned, as written, CoS is fairly light on the magic items, especially early game. I wanted to give my players a little boost to help them along the way as they were all relatively new and this module is tough, so I came up with a few things early on. Donavich, Ismark and the vistani are all people who you could potentially have as magic item givers
From my campaign I did a few things early on:
-I made up a +1 family longsword that Ismark owns, which he gave to our Paladin to keep Ireena safe, in hindsight I'm not sure if this was a bit generous.
I had the vistani at the Tser pool encampment gamble and bet items on a drinking contest too. The items up for grabs were:
-A rope of climbing, which is good for creative problem solving but isn't hugely game changing (sorry for the formatting, no idea how to do a hyperlink on mobile) https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Rope%20of%20Climbing#content
-A "haunted" doll (I made it an original blinksy) - I pinched this idea from the adventure zone podcast, essentially it gives the bearer an extra death saving throw but is destroyed in the process
-Silvered weapons - as someone mentioned, not strictly magic items but incredibly useful.
-Healing potions
But yeah, my advice would be to just go with little supplemental things that provide utility instead of weapons/armour early on.
From an RP perspective I think the best options for getting your players magic items are the Vistani early on, as they'll likely still be friendly, further down the line maybe the Baron or Lady Watcher in vallaki if you're party manages to stay in either of their good books (if your players are anything like mine thats doubtful haha), or possibly the wereravens
I'm a big fan of Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com/) - which is already built-in to Roll20 - and for Castle Ravenloft I planned to use "Defiled Temple". It's creepy AF... I also used it when my PCs discovered and read through the Tome when they first found it.
The Castle Ravenloft board game would be ideal.
It’s definitely pricey at around $50 but it comes with a good chunk of enemies that’d be in the campaign. Plus, it has Strahd (though it’s his pre-5e look).
Not everything the characters, including NPCs, do needs to be logical. If they always behaved logically, we wouldn't have drama.
I think Strahd is having a bit of fun, here. Keeping the bones with the coffin maker is a chance for him to have the bones reburied as someone else, someone anonymous, in the cemetery. He's giving the bones back, in a sense, just not in a way that would reconsecrate the church grounds.
If Strahd is successful, then he gets to have a fun time terrorizing the congregation and turning the priest into a vampire spawn. Which, for Strahd, might be poetic. Centuries ago, Father Lucian's ancestor Alexi Petrovich was a vampire hunter and priest of the Morninglord who tried to kill him. Or, at least he was in one story.
And if his plan fails, then he gets to congratulate the party for their job well done and invites them to dinner.
Thanks! In the tome itself or the journal? The journal has really good quality thick pages. Maybe 50. The interactive tome has maybe ten good excerpts to write in. And after each excerpt you'd essentially run a mini story quest. It's quite nice! Only thing that's tough is matching Strahd's handwriting from the handout from the module😅
In my campaign, one of my players is a stand-in for Ireena, and Ismark is a non-combatant, so I don't have minis for them. For Sir Godfrey, I used one of Nolzur's minis for a human cleric (the one on the top with a longsword in the picture):
I was just looking into this yesterday. One way you could do it is by printing the images from the CoS book on normal paper and cutting then gluing them to a normal deck of cards. It might not be pretty but the effect would work.
​
You could print the images onto nice card stock/ paperstock at a copy/printer place and cut everything to make your own deck.
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The other option I suggest is buying them off amazon for $10. Link https://www.amazon.com/Curse-Strahd-Tarokka-Wizards-Team/dp/0786966580/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3GBR4SPF73USA&keywords=tarroka+cards&qid=1563817910&s=gateway&sprefix=tarroka%2Caps%2C200&sr=8-2
​
Hope this helps
Of you are using Vasili as much as I did go ahead and draw up a stat-block for him. I used the Veteran as a template, and added the Parry Battle Master Maneuver as a Reaction (twice per encounter). He also had a fine silver rapier and a parrying dagger which he had from studying fencing - a noble pursuit his parents forced upon him. I never tracked his hp and he always rolled just high enough behind the screen to make his saves.
If they are new players then it takes a bit of time before they get comfortable with roleplay. So let them get more comfortable.
Some tips to encourage roleplay. As a DM roleplay yourself. Then you show that it is ok and that it could be fun.
Players are very vulnerable in the start of roleplay. Look so that other players don't bully the player that start and give inspiration to players that do. It encourages them to do so because they get something out of it.
Have random encounter while traveling that is not combat. Maybe a merchant that is traveling from one village to another. Roleplay that merchant and ask questions about the party.
My players like tavern minigames. Like musical chairs, and darts. This app has some good tavern games. Search for "tavern games" https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dungeondev.rpggenerator
I second the Castle Ravenloft board game for minis. Etsy has some CoS-like minis, too. I only have minis for major NPCs and each of the PCs. For everything else, we use different colored bingo chips (like these) that I got for cheap on Amazon. Having the different colors helps us figure out which enemy has been hit, say, if there is a pack of wolves. Wolf 1 can be the blue chip, wolf 2 the yellow, wolf 3 is green, etc. I know some groups use skittles or M and Ms for enemies and eat the candy when the monster dies. I like the idea, but we have a couple of diabetics in our group, so candy isn’t a good option for us.
>How do you solve the everlasting miniature problem?
Do you have any board games with pieces that you can use as a proxy?
I've cannibalized my army men from Risk (plenty of soldiers/archers, in multiple colors), used Checkers/Chess pieces, flat bottom beads (Mancala, Pente, etc), for all of my random single combat creatures like wolves, zombies, blights, etc.
For re-occuring combatants like some NPCs, I've got a bank of minis (https://www.amazon.com/Townsfolk-Fantasy-Figures-Fully-Paintable-Miniatures/dp/B08KRNNL5T) which I use a (colored) permanent marker on their base to denote them as being fancier.
And then because I suck at "theatre of the mind" I've got a tablet/mounted monitor/laptop which can pull up relevant art (that I've stolen from Pinterest et al)
I bought these sets from Amazon:
They're definitely bigger compared to the normal 25mm miniatures, but at around $0.25 per figure, they're good for the price.
I use these unlined travel journals which are fairly inexpensive and have sturdy enough binding that allows them to open flat but still close nicely afterwards. I find that writing everything down by hand is helpful for memorization.
If you read, https://www.amazon.com/Monsters-Know-What-Theyre-Doing/dp/1982122668
You would know that the only creatures a Deva actually wants to kill are Undead or Fiends (devils demons etc). Other than that they'll fight you until you're unconscious. But The Abbott is Lawful Evil.
Either way, there is room to maneuver, narratively, in a manner that does not result in a TPK. If you choose, I guess.
If the hole is folded up, a creature within the hole's extradimensional space can use an action to make a DC 10 Strength check. On a successful check, the creature forces its way out and appears within 5 feet of the portable hole or the creature carrying it.
Have his demon arm expand. Half of his entire body now looks like a Barbed Devil and he's gotten even more of it's powers. Just throw stuff from this stat block onto Izek's basically.
​
Fair enough. Don't forgot he can also shapeshift into beasts of any CR 10 or lower. That includes the T-Rex...
https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Tyrannosaurus%20Rex#content
I don't know if this is what you're looking for, but a link to free stockphotos: https://www.shutterstock.com/search/magic+table
Let me know how it went if you want to. I'm curious. Hopefully we can all play live again. Stay save 😁
So if your not dead set on minis and being 1/1 accurate I highly recommend Pathfinder Pawns instead. You get about 10x more content for the same cost and best of all they don't take up a whole wall of your living space.
Pathfinder Player Character Pawn Collection https://www.amazon.com/dp/1640782931/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_W3R0A7B2P6T2KM1Y3KD6
Pathfinder Bestiary Pawn Box https://www.amazon.com/dp/1640782117/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_EH2YMCYMBX169J4SR1FM
Some people chew on their damn shit, don't believe reviews all that much.
I would say they feel overly glossy. If you are concerned about them, get some card protectors and throw them inside, but for ten bucks... I would just not treat them like shit and they should last forever.
BTW - not sure if you know, Foundry in their upcoming v9 is making a card mechanic as part of the core system - which will certainly make the Tarokka deck mechanic better, than my way.
We used the diamond dust on the Wizard in the end.
I ended up doing research into downtime, and found the Recuperate option, where a player could just rest for 3 days of downtime, and then make a DC 15 CON Saving Throw to recover from the condition. Our DM even allowed another player who was proficient in Medicine Checks to spend those 3 downtime days "helping" - that way the player could get advantage on their CON saving throw.
this is always an option.
Also, my players chose to just break all the walls they needed to get out and fought a grand total of 5 or 6 swarms of rats with increasing prowess.
You should download GIMP (https://www.gimp.org) and load the image into there. Also, watch this video as a tutorial on how to print out battle maps so they always print to one inch grids: https://youtube.com/watch?v=-KuBYxpK5B8# using gimp.
Thanks! Most of the stuff was made from foam. The tower that has the heart in it is “The Tower” from Wizkids
Yeah, that was my Argynvost. After they brought the skull back to Argynvostholt I thought it would be fun for him to return with Vlad and Godfrey to help during the final fight.
It's a newer self hosted VTT called FoundryVTT. I highly recommend checking it out. One time purchase and then you own the software to do what you want. It has a VERY good and robust API and hundreds of very cool modules.
Rat Swarm: https://www.youmagine.com/designs/swarms-of-animals Swarm of Grubs(Centipedes): https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2932830
I did the grubs without supports. The rats took supports but they literally come right off immediately when removing the raft. I don't recall the exact support settings I used but they barely needed any and were easy to remove.
I used Siepie's profile for printing miniatures and Cura was my slicer.
I like to use some of the music from Darkest Dungeons OST for combat music.
For ravenloft exploration I just used a dark and haunting ambient track from Tabletop Audio.
I understand, that there's a third party supplement called, "Strongholds and Followers." I believe it provides the exact rule sets you are looking for in terms of managing armies and bases. Could give you an opportunity to make the plot about the PCs travelling from city to city gathering support for a campaign against Strahd while dealing with his agents.
http://anyflip.com/vftkf/cfen/basic
In terms of monsters, I'd say any Undead or Fiend type monsters are fair game. Remember that because of the bounded accuracy system, a lot of low level monsters are still threatening to high level players. Given that its a war style campaign, I'd definitely recommend giving Strahd some high level lieutenants who can serve as mini-bosses. Since you are doing a story where Strahd has taken command of the Dark Power Vestiges, you could say that he grants boons to those who pledge there loyalty, and either buff the existing characters from COS with new abilities or create some depending on who is still alive.
Finally you are probably going to want to do something about that pesky sun. One of the things that makes Strahd so threatening in Barovia is the fact that one of the biggest vampiric weaknesses is a non-factor. Maybe a magical dusk follows Strahd as he conquers the land so he protected in land's he's conquered. Maybe he and is agents are working on a way to bloat out the sun in all of the material plane while his armies wage war on the living. This also lets you add more high magic and the like to your campaign.
Hope this was helpful!
I use an app that allows for collapsable and cross-referenced bullets (https://dynalist.io/). This way I can just uncollapse bullets on a specific area, room, creature, plot hook, if necessary following a link to the referenced page, and look at very detailed information, all the while keeping it orderly. I make a new page for every session that is a couple of bullets, but is very very long if I uncollapse them.
There's a fairly simplistic game named Deblockle that might be appropriate for this situation. It's much faster than chess, easy to learn, and the pieces have a simplicity that makes it feel "old timey". If your players aren't already familiar with it, it will be easy to beat them in the first match.
https://www.amazon.com/Project-Genius-Deblockle/dp/B07JHVZN6V
Thanks. It comes with Curse of Strahd Revamped (the coffin-shaped box set). Curse of Strahd: Revamped Premium Edition (D&D Boxed Set) (Dungeons & Dragons) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786967153/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_9W3MTZDHW05T4R02WCDW
This game has 40 minis of monsters used pretty often in CoS, including a dracolich. It's not the cheapest, but at about a buck a mini, it's worth it for those alone. https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Castle-Ravenloft-Board/dp/0786955570
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As for fast prepping: check out the mega-thread, since a number of folks have their tips on prepping for sessions, and they have some fantastic advice on making things flow better and just plain make more sense. You can spend a little or a lot of time preparing for each session.
I love these.
I went with Fugglers, because I want everything in Barovia to just be wrong.
"Blinskys toys are all adorned with human teeth, living in some sort of waking nightmare on the edge of adorable."
There's a second box set with an additional 7 characters
The guys over at Last Podcast on the Left did a great series on The Donner Party but I always warn people that they are a comedy/horror podcast so they are not for everyone. If they aren’t for you I would check out of their research books, particularly The Indifferent Stars Above.
Amazon. It's the only Gale Force 9 collector series edition. It's got a bad rap for being brittle and a little malformed during the print. But with a little care and some patience, it was not that bad. The new edition and sculpt are on pre order right now! So a very much needed updated model will be out soon. They have this model though for about 25 dollars US on Amazon, still!
Strahd collectors series 2020 [pre order new version] ](https://online.gamekastle.com/index.php?m=product&pt=dd_miniatures_curse_of_strahd_strahd_on_foot_mounted_2_figs)
you might try and get a collected addition of the d&d comic "Shadows of the Vampire" from 2016 where Minsc and Boo get stuck in Ravenloft for a bit. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NGTLQUV/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 The previous run of the series actually did a bit of a time skip where a wild magic surge turned a statue of him in balders gate into the real him potentially after he had long since died.
It's actually really good -- highly recommended.
I actually picked up a used copy of this edition that has some footnotes; most were interesting and useful in one way or other, but there were also a bunch that were just great snark, for example
> The next instant, with a sinuous dive [Dracula] swept under Harker's arm, ere his blow could fall, and, grasping a handful of the money from the floor, dashed across the room, threw himself at the window.^1
> ...
> ^1 Satanic creature though he may be, in the real world Dracula is a pragmatist who knows the value of cash.
A good deal is the D&D Castle Ravenloft game on Amazon which is about $50 right now. I would say 75% of the minis included in the game (there are about 40 or so) are relevant to the campaign. https://www.amazon.com/Wizards-Coast-Dungeons-Dragons-Ravenloft/dp/0786955570
Do you mind if I ask what country you're from? You can get them off of Amazon in the UK. Not sure about other countries though, sorry.
Try amazon smile to donate to a charity of your choice automatically at no cost to you!
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While not for when they arrive for dinner, I found this for when the PCs choose to make their move and Strahd mocks them by playing the Conan theme on the organ.
In 3rd edition, there were five books called Ravenloft Gazetteer (I, II, III, IV, and V), which cover all the domains of Ravenloft in deep detail. They've been out of print for quite awhile, so they can be pricey (ebay is usually cheaper than amazon, if you want a physical copy). Gazetteer I covers Barovia, Hazlan, Forlorn, and Kartakass. II covers Darkon, Necropolis, Lamordia, and Falkovnia. III covers Dementlieu, Mordent, and Richemulot. IV covers Borca, Invidia, Verbrek, Valachan, and Sithicus. V covers Nova Vaasa, Tepest, Keening, and the Shadow Rift. They're the most in-depth guides to the domains of Ravenloft. However, they take place in 755-756 BC, twenty years after Curse of Strahd (735 BC), and the Domains of Dread have changed quite a bit since, but these are still wonderful guides.
I hope that helps! I've been a Ravenloft nerd for 20 years, so if you have other questions, feel free to hit me up.
Check out Van Richten's Guide to the Vistani if you can. There’s way more lore involved in the Vistani culture than is included in the CoS module. There is a post with some quick notes on one of the dnd subreddits too but I can’t find because the mobile app sucks.
Our next session is this Saturday. I think before the end of the session they should be at the Tser Pool for the card reading. I've purchased a tarot deck (https://www.amazon.ca/Golden-Tarot-Kat-Black/dp/1572814349) for the ready and have assigned meanings.
I'll be performing a card reading for immersion purposes but I have picked out the locations of the treasures. For the Ally, I've selected several interesting ones that will be chosen at random. I didn't really want the locations to be chosen at random. I much prefer a more thematic approach to the locations. I'm also considering for the "where you'll find Strahd" to just be a random location where they will definitely run into him during their adventure rather when the last battle will be.
I've decided to have them find the Tome at the winery, the Holy Symbol in Argynvostholt, and the Sunsword in the Amber Temple. I can't remember off the top of my head which of the cards I selected from the High deck to represent each place.. I think maybe Justice for Argynvostholt and Death for the Amber Temple?
I wanted them to find the Tome early on but have the more powerful items for later levels. I'm still debating whether or not I want the Holy Symbol in Argynvostholt or the Werewolves den though. I really want them to go to Agrynvostholt. If they don't, I'll likely come up with another reason for them to go then just for finding treasure.