We're going to do three things here:
- Talk about the impact Curse of Strahd had on me
- Review the product, look for changes in the text.
- Look at the many complaints found on amazon reviews and see if they have any merit.
When you first open the box, which is shaped like a coffin, you see an insert that looks like this:
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| by Mike "Daarken" Lim |
Tremendous! On the flip side of this giant, coffin-shaped card, is Strahd's stat block.
Curse of Strahd & Power Score RPG
Curse of Strahd did a lot for me, personally. When the adventure first came out, I was in a good zone - mentally ready to dig in to a Chris Perkins adventure and really peel it apart.
While I personally wasn't that thrilled with the idea of yet another remake of the original Ravenloft adventure, I was 100% up for writing about it. I wrote articles that I now have no recollection of writing whatsoever. Ridiculous, massive articles about running Strahd, the Strahd prequels, and a Guide to Strahd.
Chris Perkins started running a Curse of Strahd campaign online, which I covered on this blog. Those articles led to a number of opportunities, and ultimately got me a contract with wizards of the coast to work on some web-related stuff. I was now getting paid for writing about D&D!
Once that contract finished, wizards started sending me free products for my blog reviews. To this day, they still send stuff to me. Heck, I even got a Christmas card from them! I am a lucky guy.
With their support, and especially the support of all of you who to this day buy my stuff on the DMs Guild in great amounts, my literal job in life is to write about D&D.
Wizards doesn't send me all of their products, though. I don't get the big, weird stuff. I don't get minis, I don't get the Beadle and Grimm mega-deluxe products. I didn't get the Stranger Things box.
And they did not send me Curse of Strahd Revamped.
I thought about it for a few days, and I realized that I needed to buy this thing. Plunk down my hard-earned money!
Curse of Strahd did so much for me, how could I not review this thing? Where would I be without Curse of Strahd?! I should buy two of them!
It's $70 on amazon, which is a lot of money, but not too outrageous. I sort of feel like buying one copy is the least I could do, after all that wizards (and you) did for me.
Negative Reviews? While gazing at the amazon entry, I read the reviews. I was taken aback at the negativity. People seemed to be pretty angry about this boxed set.
Is this just another case of internet over-reaction? Is this product really bad?
I noticed that while I wrote a pretty glowing review of Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, people on reddit seem to hate that book. I mean.. they really hate it.
It made me wonder if I'm out of touch. Am I wrong? Is there something about Tasha's that I missed?
I understand that most of the content was already public as a playtest, so there weren't many surprises in the book, but that doesn't make it a bad book, does it?
I actually liked the player stuff in that book, and usually I don't care about player stuff at all. The magic tattoos alone made the book worth it to me, alongside the depictions of Tasha's life.
So yeah, I needed to buy this box and see. Is Curse of Strahd Revamped a flimsy cash grab? Is wizards trying to fleece you and I by putting out the same product with one tiny little change, like when Malibu Stacy got a new hat?
Let's find out.
Curse of Strahd Revamped Review
I'm sorry everybody, I only had a potato to take product photos with.
First off. This box is huge. I mean... look at it. That's Tasha's Cauldron of Everything next to it, for scale.
Unreal. The box is so huge. I am already loving this thing.
Tarokka Deck: We get a tarokka deck. I already have one, but look at the size difference. This new deck is massive!
Postcards: The postcards are meant to be used to invite your friends to play, I guess. I know that Chris Perkins sent out invites for his game, but they came in wax-sealed envelopes. That would have been a much cooler way to go, I think, but probably not feasible.
Handouts: The 4 handouts are on really nice, heavy cardstock. The handwriting is a bit hard to read, but maybe that's just me. Also, giving players a huge handout at the table... I don't know, that's a lot of reading. And if one of them is reading the handout and everybody else is playing, now you've lost the attention of a player.
I do see one issue here. Kolyan's Letter and Strahd's Invitation are on the same page. They should have each been on their own page.
Poster Map: The poster map paper is heavier and very glossy. One side has the map of Barovia, and the other has that isometric map of Castle Ravenloft. My problem with this map in the original product was that the castle map showed the secret doors, which means that you can't even show this thing to the players (though that would be hard to do anyway, without revealing the whole castle to them). Yup, the secret doors are still there in the revamped version.
This is still a nice map. You can absolutely lay the Barovia map down on the table. Looks great, very useful. I do stagger back in horror at the idea of a player spilling a drink on it, though.
DM Screen: Super Thick, super-smooth. New art! The piece depicting Castle Ravenloft is really great. There's a panel with art of the Death House. I really wish they'd get rid of Death House as the introductory adventure to Curse of Strahd. It's not bad, but it has pretty much nothing to do with the actual story.
The flip side of the screen has a lot of the same stuff in the other DM Screens - Conditions, mostly. But there's also some Barovian random encounter charts, a quick rundown on how a tarokka reading works, the Barovian calender, Barovian names (very handy), and common features in Barovia (opening doors?, Secret Doors, Picking/Smashing a lock, and webs).
Webs? What an odd set of things to include. Webs? Here's the webs entry: "Characters can pass through ordinary webs, including thick cobwebs, without fear of being restrained or slowed down. A character can clear away the cobwebs from a 10-foot square as an action. Webs woven by giant spiders are a different matter, see "Dungeon Hazards" in the Dungeon Master's Guide for rules on giant spider webs."
There is also a few paragraphs on the Mists of Ravenloft, very cool.
As far as the screen goes, I declare that this DM screen kicks ass. I love the artwork. It's unique and amazing in its own way.
Tarokka Deck Book: This is literally Appendix E from the original book, placed in its own separate booklet.
This booklet actually kind of freaks me out, in that it feels like how a 5e "module/pamphlet" (like the 1st edition adventures) would be presented - softcover, just a few pages. I want the Necropolis of Ythryn from Rime of the Frostmaiden printed in a booklet like this.
Wait. Actually, I want the Lost Laboratory of Kwalish published in a booklet like this. But I want a full color cover and more art inside. As time has rolled on, I have slowly come to the conclusion that the Lost Laboratory of Kwalish may actually be my favorite 5e adventure.
It's not perfect! Some of the stuff in there is confusing and could be trimmed down/re-worded. But I think that adventure most encapsulates what I want 5e adventures to be.
Anyway, what's in this tarokka book? The first two pages contain a dense description of the deck and what each card represents. after that, we get... pictures of the cards.
This feels like a waste. Pictures of the cards? We already have the cards. I'd have preferred it if they gave as a magic version of the deck, a mini-adventure involving the deck, or, best of all, a new introductory adventure to run.
Do any of you remember that old Dungeon Magazine adventure where there was a thieves guild or something, and each door was infused with the magic of a card from the Deck of Many Things? They could have made an intro adventure like that.
Creatures of Horror: They put the monsters in their own book, so the DM doesn't have to do so much flipping. Very nice!
The paper is a bit too glossy - I prefer the grittier paper, like the stuff they used in Rise of Tiamat. That said, the art looks much, much, much better on this paper.
I've written a lot about how the art comes out too dark in most D&D books, but here, we get great bright versions of everything. It looks absolutely fantastic. The very first page shows us Vasilka and the Abbot, and we can make out every detail.
Then we get to one of my favorite 5e monsters: the Barovian Witch! She's got AC 10 HP 16, and she can cast some very debilitating spells like sleep and Tasha's hideous laughter.
I think there is new art of the wereravens, too.
Are there any changes to the text?Let's find out. Keep in mind that wizards has released errata, which has been incorporated into later printings of this adventure.
In the errata, it says that, in Ezemerelda's NPC entry, "Ezmerelda's Secret" has been changed to "Ezmerelda's Prosthetic." Here in revamped, it's "Ezmerelda's Prosthesis."
It further says that "She has since adapted well to the false appendage."
In the Broom of Animated Attack entry, the original book says: "...half the weight that a broom of flying can (see chapter 7, "Treasure," of the Dungeon Master's Guide)."
In Revamped, it says: "...half the weight that a broom of flying can (see the Dungeon Master's Guide)."
Looking through the revamped, I see that this is a universal change. For example, in the Old Bonegrinder there is a mention of cackle fever. In the original book, we're told to see "Diseases" in chapter 8, "Running the Game," of the Dungeon Master's Guide. In revamped, it says see "Diseases" in the Dungeon Master's Guide.
Curse of Strahd Revamped Adventure Book: This book is softcover. It's flipping and flopping all over the place, and I gotta say that I'd rather that it was either a hardcover book, or that this cover was a bit thicker.
The paper inside is nice - shiny but my fingers don't smudge it.
I am very interested in seeing if they made changes to a few things, particularly:
- The night hags in the Old Bonegrinder.
- The elevator trap in Castle Ravenloft.
Hags: The hags in the Bonegrinder were very powerful. Chris himself changed them to green hags when he ran it.
Checking.. nope. They are still night hags in revamped.
Megaliths: Looking real quick at the Megalith entry. In Rime of the Frostmaiden, it was revealed what the megaliths do. Nope. No changes to the entry in revamped.
Who is Ceithlenn? This isn't a change, but sticks out now to me: "...an offering to the entity they worship, the wicked archfey Ceithlenn of the Crooked Teeth."
I don't think I've ever head of Ceithlenn before. Some googling reveals that she is based on Ceithlion Chaisfhiaclach, a figure in Irish legend. Someone on reddit gives details.
Elevator: Now let's check out the elevator in the castle: I just didn't understand it no matter how much I read it. Let's go to the Larders of Ill Omen (great name), pg 74 of Revamped, K61. Elevator trap.
Nope! No changes at all! Same exact text, as far as I can tell.
Vestiges: Looking at the Amber temple, I want to see if anything has been added/changed to the vestiges. Nope.
I'd really love to see someone make a list of the vestiges, and detail which ones are brand new and which ones were in old products. I recognize a few: Tenebrous (from Dead Gods), Shami Amourae (from Savage Tide, among others), and Taar Haak (I think Taar is a 4e primordial).
But there's others like Seriach the Hell Hound Whisperer and "Vaund the Evasive." Who are they? What did they do before ending up as a vestige?
Changes? So to summarize... there are almost no changes at all. Revamped is basically a reprint of Curse of Strahd.
Amazon Reviews
OK, now let's check out some of these amazon comments. I'll put their comment in italics, and my response will be below them.
"If you have not DMed before this will equip you decently, but hardly has everything you would want to run the game in person."
I don't quite get this comment. What do you want? Dice? That would have been cool, actually, to include Strahd dice.
You need the core books. You need dice. And you need character sheets (actually, special character sheets would have been a great addition to this box, too).
I'm not sure what this commenter is missing. The box gives you the tarokka deck and a DM screen. All sorts of stuff.
"The postcards are... neat? But not useful for running the adventure, there are things I would rather have had."
I agree that the postcards didn't add much.
"The book is a softcover which some people don't like for the money this costs."
I actually agree with this, too. In my opinion, this should have been a hardcover with new cover art. Heck, they could have used the special art of Strahd in the coffin as the cover.
"All in all, this is a box set, NOT a revamp. The book is not really any different than that of the original Curse of Strahd, just filled in with a handful of edits made to clean it up and clarify a few things."
True! It is in no way a "revamp." I definitely expected that the adventure would be tweaked in places, and it was not.
"This is a box set. If it was sold as a box set, it would be fine. But it is misleading to sell it as a revamp when it really is just a Curse of Strahd Box set. I was extremely disappointed."
I get it. It is a boxed set. I am not really disappointed though.
"Past that is a book that I really don't understand the purpose of at all. It's an 8-page, saddle stitched booklet entitled "Tarokka Deck." It contains a generic description of what the various suits mean on a Tarokka deck, as well as thumbnail images of every card. What it does not offer, however, is an explanation of what each card means within the context of the adventure itself. I find that to be a real missed opportunity, and this book likely will see little use from me."
Valid! The tarokka book is just a reprint of Appendix E. Not very useful or exciting.
"Since some of the cards contain two different handouts on them, and since I can't imagine anyone wanting to actually cut the cards in half, they will have to be photocopied before use anyway. So these seem largely un-useful to me."
Also true! Each handout sheet should have just had one note/letter on it. I'm not going to take scissors and cut these things out, that's crazy talk.
"....it is just a paperback slightly modified reprint with stats in a separate booklet, map, lower quality DM screen, tarroka deck, cute postcards, etc. and a lot of empty space. There's no real reason to buy this unless you're a collector."
Whoa, there. Lower quality DM Screen? The DM screen is fantastic! The tarokka deck is fantastic. This obviously is a collector's item, but it is very useful for those who are actually going to run the adventure, too. Splitting the monsters into their own book is extremely helpful.
Overall
I love this box. If you're expecting a re-worked adventure, don't bother with it. But if you want to run Curse of Strahd and you have some money lying around, this is a no-brainer. It's such an impressive product. And while it retails for $100, you can get it for $70 on amazon.
At $100, I'm not sure I'd recommend it, but at $70 this is a very easy thumbs up from me.
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