tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422181426312081107.post4316107494664907050..comments2024-03-23T05:46:31.832-07:00Comments on Power Score: Dungeons & Dragons - Curse of StrahdSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07263753821685936593noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422181426312081107.post-22888992220710091112020-02-14T07:27:48.863-08:002020-02-14T07:27:48.863-08:00Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog a...Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon. <a href="https://miniaturehub.com.au/blogs/news/the-dnd-dice-cometh-an-accessory-to-dice-part-2" rel="nofollow">dm screen</a>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06344159280573907231noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422181426312081107.post-31736979240767812682016-11-08T06:42:47.996-08:002016-11-08T06:42:47.996-08:00Got a question to you Folks:
My Group now met Ezm...Got a question to you Folks:<br /><br />My Group now met Ezmeralda shortly after finishing the old wizards Tower where they found van Richtens Journal pages in Ezmeraldas wagon. They have already met Rictavio and now concluded that the half-elf and van Richten are one Person. Leveraging the material from van Richtens Journal they believe that Ezmeralda might not be Good with him due to their common history. And here is the Dilemma:<br /><br />- Ezmeralda „was deeply moved“ by van Richtens act of mercy to spare her tribe (p. 230) – so she became his apprentice<br />- However, van Richten, as he wrote in his Journal, was everything else than merciful with the Vistani tribe: he unleashed a Horde of Zombies on them ans sees everybody killed (see his journal)<br />- In Addition he also has the strange behaviour to Keep severed Vistani heads for his Collection – a fact that Ezmeralda must be Aware of as she has searched the Tower room<br /><br />So how can Ezmeralda be Good with van Richten knowing that he was responsible for so many deaths of her relatives (even if she does not treasure deep Feelings for her familiy) – she is chaotic-good, the Zombie Story must be not compatible with her world view?<br /><br />For now, I think, that once whe will learn van Richtens identy (the Players have not uncovered this fact to her as suspicious as they are) she will eventually try to kill him…<br /><br />Would be great to read your thoughts on this.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422181426312081107.post-58395354325309255502016-09-27T14:43:30.631-07:002016-09-27T14:43:30.631-07:00My particular structure is like this:
Prologue: En...My particular structure is like this:<br />Prologue: Entering the lands of Barovia and going through Death House.<br /><br />Act I: Encountering Ismark and Ireena, escaping from Barovia, stumbling into the Tser Pool encampment and having their fortunes read. This sets the stage for what they're going to do.<br /><br />Act II: They try to take Ireena to Vallakia, but realize it's not a safe place. (my players wandered into the Toy Store early on, and realized Izek was looking for her). They want to go to Krezk now, which had also been suggested by Father Donovan in Barovia, but Krezk is barred unless they have wine. After some trevails with the Winery and Druids of Yester Hill, the group is allowed into Krezk, Ireena is called to the pool, and she is freed from her captivity*. Strahd swears revenge, and now the pressure is on to defeat him. He was content to toy with them before, but now he really wants to hurt them.<br /><br />Act III: All the various side-quests to gather the three items and the ally.<br /><br />Act IV: Now, finally having some kind of hope of a slim chance of beating him **, the party ventures into Castle Ravenloft for the final showdown. (And spends half a dozen game sessions exploring that dungeon). They defeat him.....or do they?<br /><br />This is just the particular angle that I ended up taking with this game, but the book refuses to give you even this much suggestion as an option. That's why so many DMs are confused about what to do.<br /><br />My analogy is that this is like trying to be an editor taking over a movie project when the director went out and filmed over 6 hours of footage. You'll have to trim, but what do you keep? Do you make this a taut 90 minute thriller, a 2-hour standard film, or a Peter Jackson style 3-hour epic? (I advise not making a 6-hour movie). In addition, a lot of the footage isn't that well linked together, so you'll have to come up with even more on your own to make this into a cohesive story.<br /><br />*The way that "Something Blue" is set up is actually kind of crappy. The authors set up a nice climactic way to resolve the Ireena story-line, but do it in such a way that the PCs will likely try to interfere thinking that it's a trick. This is also the only way the book really resolves Ireena's storyline, so the DM may be confused about what to do if the PCs stop her from going to Sergei. I suspected that something like this would happen, so set her going to the pool when there were only 2 of the PCs there, and they still interfered thinking it was a trap. I ended up setting up additional plotline to get back there.<br /><br />** Actually, Strahd is pretty easy for a level 10 party from a pure stat-perspective. Can't imagine if PCs did everything and got to level 15 or something.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06814184681512457287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422181426312081107.post-65745105220621954132016-09-27T14:43:22.030-07:002016-09-27T14:43:22.030-07:00There's a whole flawed design philosophy in th...There's a whole flawed design philosophy in this book, where it seems the authors *hate* to repeat anything, and you'd best reread multiple times, writes notes, and/or scramble around trying to find the one place where you saw something important. For example, some of the most important information about the Abbey in Krezk is found in the appendices under the description of the Deva, like what he is, why he's doing what he's doing, and why the mongrel-folk exist. So much cross-referencing!<br /><br />I think there are multiple, multiple ways to run this adventure, and it would have been helpful had the authors made a few suggestions. For one, I think the huge abundance of areas is to provides options and choices to the DM/PCs, NOT to use every single one of them, as I think the game would quickly lose momentum, as it would take a year to even START Castle Ravenloft. <br /><br />So, the adventure could ask some questions of the DM like:<br />1. Are you interested in having the players entering and leaving Castle Ravenloft multiple times? If not, skip something like Argenvystholt (sp?). If yes, be careful about how you present Strahd "inviting" them as he comes off as weak if the PCs simply come and go from his home at whim. (side note, having a minor NPC (Mad Mary's daughter) in Castle Ravenloft resolve a plotline set from the beginning of the game seems really odd and anti-climactic).<br />2. Are your players/characters bent more towards RP or Action? If the former, plan more around Vallakia, if the latter, focus more on hooks in Vallakia to the various areas outside of it.<br />3. About how long do you want to run this game? That will determine which areas to focus on or where to "trim".<br /><br />Yada, yada, yada. It's like the designers were so afraid to come off as railroading that they gave minimal advice or structure. <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06814184681512457287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422181426312081107.post-44071261740569249352016-07-04T20:07:56.962-07:002016-07-04T20:07:56.962-07:00You post on enworld don't you? I like to see t...You post on enworld don't you? I like to see the same people around. There is an improved index Iprinted oout andkeep in the back of my phb/dmg. At least the mmonster manual index is good!<br /><br />also, neuronphaser did a good screen for CoS, he put an NPC index in there i Iove. jerry247https://www.blogger.com/profile/17903215097301707141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422181426312081107.post-69284399946691259712016-07-04T15:44:23.998-07:002016-07-04T15:44:23.998-07:00Coffeemate: I agree that they should just put what...Coffeemate: I agree that they should just put what the charm does right in the text. They ask you to flip pages so much, and then they don't give you page numbers. It can really hurt a session! They really need a "how to run this" page in these! I think they are getting better, but I get the feeling they aren't going to shift away from the way they organize these adventure books. If I remember right, one of their surveys said that most DMs like sandboxes, so I think they're trying to accommodate those people. Thanks!Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07263753821685936593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422181426312081107.post-19943607387850918512016-07-02T07:33:17.115-07:002016-07-02T07:33:17.115-07:00I know this is months later since you posted your ...I know this is months later since you posted your review, but I just wanted to add how I think your criticisms are spot-on. One of the things we’ve all noticed is that these campaign books have been getting progressively better during the life of 5e, especially when they are handled by D&D’s in-house design team. However, there are still many ways in which these mega-adventures trip up. To be sure, the authors — and especially Chris Perkins — knows how to write an adventure, but when it comes to creating the *product* itself, the design team has a ways to go.<br /><br />Like yourself, I cannot tell you how many times I have complained to my play group about how the referencing is organized in the Players Handbook and DM’s Guide. The indices are an abomination. Instead of providing a page number for the thing you’re looking for, instead, you are directed to have to look up something else. While this isn’t an exact example of the referencing problems in CoS, it does show a lack of attention to how a book works in practice. A DM should always reach the answer he’s looking for on the first attempt to find it. If there is a cross-reference, it is better to simply write the mechanics into the adventure. To your argument: who cares if the Charm of Heroism behaves exactly like the potion? If a DM doesn’t find out what it is after he’s had to stop and look it up, then what harm is there in writing the mechanics into the original text? The authors aren’t saving any text space.<br /><br />Additionally, there have been organizational problems with how the chapters are ordered. Why bury the intro adventure, Death House, toward the back? Why is Castle Ravenloft so much farther toward the front of the book, when it is logical that players will not be of sufficient level (or have the collected magic resources that serves as the backbone of the campaign) until the end? The previous two adventure books also fell down in this way, and it only creates more of a barrier for DMs to familiarize themselves with the content before they can begin running it.<br /><br />Sandbox adventures are tough to write, and even tougher to explain to readers on how they should be properly run. Sandbox campaigns are even more difficult to write properly, and need to be carefully constructed when they make it into book form. A two-page “How to Run This Campaign” section in the beginning would have been extremely helpful.<br /><br />My last gripe — and I swear, I love this product as much as the next person, it’s a huge leap forward in my opinion — has to do with the map. The isometric castle side is utterly useless. There was NO lightbulb that lit up when planning that out. What in the world is a DM going to do with a map where everything is revealed to the players? It should have been an unkeyed map for the players to see so that they can follow their progress into the castle. These maps should be for in-game use, not for the private eyes of the DM. When running each portion, a piece of the map can be printed inside the book that is properly keyed so that the DM knows where things are. We’ve seen this lack of understanding what purpose the map serves before. In Halls of Undermountain (4e), one side of the pull-out was a map of the tavern that leads to the dungeon itself. Why do players or DMs need that? Nothing happens there! It seems like the basic question isn’t being asked, “How is this visual going to be used by players and DMs? What purpose does it serve?”<br /><br />With as few products being released for D&D, I would expect these types of issues to be addressed. I am sure that the D&D team is impossibly small at this point. And I’m sure there is an editing phase that happens somewhere along the line… but if they put as much attention into crafting the product as they did the story, we’d be singing nothing but praises.Coffeematehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03058067527499895714noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422181426312081107.post-53188222023073368262016-05-08T21:25:49.521-07:002016-05-08T21:25:49.521-07:00jerry247: That's a great point about Ireena an...jerry247: That's a great point about Ireena and Vallaki. I was piecing together how a campaign would go and a number of those issues came up. I also agree about the order of chapters, it's kind of bizarre that they're not in order of character level. Castle Ravenloft is in chapter 4. I don't get that. It's not a big thing but coupled with the other organizational hiccups it adds up to a sort of disorienting experience. Hope you game is going well. Thanks!Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07263753821685936593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422181426312081107.post-73530080046626920302016-05-08T17:24:45.926-07:002016-05-08T17:24:45.926-07:00Haha, charm of heroism is how I feel every time I ...Haha, charm of heroism is how I feel every time I use a 5e index; see blah takes up more space than the page number!<br /><br />I've unfolded the map twice now, once to look at it about a week after I finished reading it and once to count hexes along all the roads!<br /><br />My big complaint comes from running it in AL. The lack of specified XP and magic weapons are hard things to deal with. Since AL is now able to be played at home, I see no reason to not play it that way when running mods so it seems strange to make most of the XP milestone as opposed to writing a number at the end of a section.<br /><br />I also found it weird the location order and levels. If the players escort ireena to vallaki why would they stop along the way? It's a 4 hour trip and is ismark hates the vistani. <br /><br />Other than those logistical issues I really am enjoying it! Thanks for all your insight into this mod.jerry247https://www.blogger.com/profile/17903215097301707141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422181426312081107.post-49036585587006215742016-05-03T23:27:43.595-07:002016-05-03T23:27:43.595-07:00TeamRocket Grunt: I have thought about writing an ...TeamRocket Grunt: I have thought about writing an article like that before, I guess it is time to do it. Thanks for the idea! Writing notes can be a real pain but for me it's essential, as I retain the information really well that way.Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07263753821685936593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422181426312081107.post-49310496763852750832016-05-03T11:37:16.076-07:002016-05-03T11:37:16.076-07:00Hello! I am a huge fan and this blog does such a h...Hello! I am a huge fan and this blog does such a huge service for the community, it really does. I wanted to ask...could you make a article about your note taking style? You seem to condensed entire campaigns into perfect notes and while I'll write out pages of info, you do the same in a short paragraph while containing the same information.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01341335913001585197noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422181426312081107.post-41227698069737797722016-05-03T11:36:30.404-07:002016-05-03T11:36:30.404-07:00Hello! I am a huge fan and this blog does such a h...Hello! I am a huge fan and this blog does such a huge service for the community, it really does. I wanted to ask...could you make a article about your note taking style? You seem to condensed entire campaigns into perfect notes and while I'll write out pages of info, you do the same in a short paragraph while containing the same information.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01341335913001585197noreply@blogger.com