Curse of Strahd [D&D 5e; Closed]

[nomadsoul]

CURSE OF STRAHD


Beware.  He who dares to venture, where angels fear to tread.

Barovia, a shadowy realm of mists and dark enchantment; many a tale has been spoken of this storied land, yet few seem to know how to reach it.  Few, except perhaps the gypsy Vistani who often spread these tales, claiming it to be home.  The songs of the Vistani paint it as an idyllic valley where the stain of civilization is almost unknown, a land where beauty and secrets slumber, a place where man and woman may go to find a renewed appreciation of life once they cross the gated threshold of Barovia, watched over by twin statues of great heroes.  Over it all, the Vistani are always lavish in their stories of their tragic, yet enduring prince, who's rule has never been disturbed by rebellion or unrest that is the province of lesser men.  It is a telling that makes for a good tale, more so as the Vistani are free with their drink and food and lusty zest for life, wheeling in dance and music around roaring bonfires that may tumble into other arenas of passion.

It has proven a pleasant enough break from the dreary monotony of the road to travel with these ribald folk, and, so, when you awaken in chilly morning to find the colorful caravans gone and the fires burned out to cold ashes with only a few companions of the road in sight, it is a jarring sight.  Were the woods around you always so dark and foreboding?  What of this pervasive mist?  Why have your hosts abandoned you?  There are no answers to be had, only the low rumble of thunder from the heavy storm clouds that roil above.  In the far distance, you can see immense stone buttresses in which massive iron gates are set, flanked on either side by twin statues of heroic proportion.  Behind you, an ominous fog conceals the road back like some unnatural wall that towers from the ground into unseen heights above as though it would touch the sky.


INTRODUCTION
Hello and thanks for looking in to my first contribution to Elliquiy!  For those who haven't already deduced it, this idea is based on the D&D adventure module of the same name, which is a dark fantasy setting, though I have made a few adaptations to the story and mythology of the world.  That said, players don't need to be familiar with the setting.

Summary: In a nutshell, the PCs have been accompanying a Vistani caravan (together or individually) as group travel helps avoid bandits along a long stretch of wilderness road.  The gypsies have been warm and friendly (with the general mood of their company described above), but after going to sleep one night, everyone wakes up in the morning to find the caravan gone or vanished, and they themselves in a strange, unknown land.  The PCs need to band together to survive and figure out how to escape from this dark land.

Setting: By way of OOC information, the entirety of the adventure takes place within the confines of the shadow-cursed lands of Barovia, which is, in truth, a demi-plane of its own.  It's a broad valley (approx. 12 x 18 miles), consisting largely of hills and woodland, with three lakes and three major settlements.  A deadly fog surrounds the lands and keeps everything and everyone imprisoned within.  The population of Barovia is overwhelmingly human dominant (though ethnicities are curiously varied), though the locals are somewhat familiar with nonhumans by way of the occasional transients that come through or by gossip.  Undead of various sorts frequently plague the realm, as do aggressive packs of wolves.  Werewolves are known to exist here as well.  The castle of Ravenloft and its master, Strahd von Zarovich, dominates virtually every aspect of this dread realm.

GM Style: For myself, I consider myself a GM who focuses on storytelling and character development, rather than an adversarial style of play.  I don't intend this game to be 'combat heavy', though PCs will be fighting for their lives on a few occasions as the plot demands (rather than room-crunching through a dungeon or random encounters).  I tend to reward perceptive, intelligent, and/or creative playing styles, and going through the lore of the setting and making friends and allies will rarely go unrewarded.  That said, I'm a big believer in consequence, so being overly careless is a good way to stack the odds against PCs.  I tend to prefer realistic characters to hyper-optimized ones.  Also of note, whilst not my first time in the GM's seat, it will be my first time GMing via forum, so I can only counsel a little patience (and will gladly accept pointers) whilst I adjust.

Players: I'm looking for about 3-4 players who are there to enjoy a good story as well as the rewards of awesome camaraderie with fellow adventurers.  Players (not necessarily their characters) should be cooperative in their efforts during the game.  Stealing from, antagonizing, sabotaging, or killing other PCs is strictly forbidden.  Friendly brawls or horseplay is okay.  The game is LGBT friendly.  At the end of the day, please respect the limits and comfort zones of others.

Source Material: Players are free to use material from the Player's Handbook, Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, Xanathar's Guide to Everything,  Volo's Guide to Monsters, and Elemental Evil Player's Companion except where mentioned below.

Sexual Activity: Smut won't be plot-central, though I'll hardly object to it's presence, however much or little.  Certainly, I will make Barovia more 'accessible' than the standard adventure module for Curse of Strahd indicates, and players can look to my O/Os to see what I'd be willing to indulge in or not.  At the end of the day, all I ask is that players not let it interfere with the progression of the game itself.  Likewise, if PCs are so engaged, I can take a hint and won't cut it short unless there's a story-critical reason why I need to interrupt.

Post Rate: I'm hoping for 2 posts per player per week (more works too), but at least once a week at a minimum.


CHARACTERS
Still interested?  Awesome!  Then it's safe to assume that we can proceed to sketching out the character at this point.  In addition to the below, just provide some history and a bit about the character's personality.  If you feel creative enough, you can feel free to come up with up to two character concepts.  This will not be a first come, first served basis, so I'll give things a couple of days (maybe a week) before making a selection.

Starting Level: 3rd.  The PC may have had a minor adventure or two in their time, but nothing remarkable.

Ability Scores: Points buy, with 32 points to spend.

Alignment: Any.  But I would like to stress cooperation.

Race: Any detailed in the PHB.  Aasimar and Firblog from Volo's Guide.  Some cosmetic changes are detailed below.

• Aasimar. These celestial descendants basically look like humanoids (the base of which could be human, elf, half-elf, etc...) until they activate their radiant consumption/soul or necrotic shroud ability, which gives them an eerie, eldritch appearance.
• Dragonborn. These are the dragon-blooded descendants of humanoids (again, the base of which could be any humanoid as above).  They effect the appearance of their base race, but with draconic features.  Common people can rarely tell the difference between dragonborn and tieflings, and frequently lump them with the latter.  Anyone proficient in Intelligence [Arcana] can spot the subtle differences straight away.
• Firblog. In this setting, Firblogs are primeval elves, frequently called sylvan elves.  Elven in appearance, they are taller, closer to nature, have antlers or horns almost without exception, and their men are capable of growing beards.
• Human. Players can use either the standard or variant human as suits their preference.
• Tieflings. Rather than the standardized devilish appearance of 5e, tieflings have a wider variety of appearance, as per their 3.5 and Pathfinder counterparts.  Like aasimars, tieflings can be born to any race, though most are from human stock.

Class & Specializations: Any from the PHB, Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, and Xanathar's Guide to Everything.  Clerics and religious sorts should use the Forgotten Realms pantheon, though it should be noted that in Barovia proper, religion is a simplistic affair divided between the defunct Morninglord (roughly approximating Lathander) and Mother Night (a night deity without modern analogue), though only the latter is considered active.  Magic users may occasionally find their magic fluctuating in strange ways in Barovia.

Backgrounds: All backgrounds from the PHB, Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, and Curse of Strahd module accepted.

Starting Equipment: Characters begin with maximum wealth available to their starting class (e.g. 80 gp for a barbarian, 200 for a bard, etc...) and buy their equipment from there rather than those gained from background and class.



If there are any questions or clarification required, feel free to voice them!  Thanks for checking this out!

[ererruz]

Very interested! :) Probably a divine caster of some kind (paladin/sorcerer, cleric or divine soul sorcerer).

[nomadsoul]

Velcome Welcome ererruz!  No complaints from me there; I'll just look forward to seeing what you come up with :-)

[Totoro]

I'm definitely interested.

Odd combo as I'm having my first foray into forum DM'ing at the same time, and also running Curse irl at the same time.

I'm thinking of a frontline Barbarian, probably a half orc if Goliath's not an option.

[nomadsoul]

Howdy Sun!  I tend to find myself doing more preparation work for this than on the table, lol.  Still, I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out and hope it won't be a bust.

[Totoro]

Howdy Sun!  I tend to find myself doing more preparation work for this than on the table, lol.  Still, I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out and hope it won't be a bust.

My game on here's homebrew so most of the world/prep's in my own brain. Worldbuilding thread's pushing 20k words though I think, so that's where the effort goes there.

If you want to chat about anything from the CoS side or DM'ing side let me know. I've had a couple of cool experiences so far running it via some interesting things you can add in. Also you can't spoiler me so there's no issues there. Hence thinking Barbarian, he's not going to be smart enough to use any knowledge I might have.

[iridum248]

Oooh, I'm very, very interested in this too. I'm more familiar with older editions, but I'd love to play a female Fighter or Paladin, with the appropriately Gothic-Horror-ish look.

[Chulanowa]

You've got my interest. i'll try to not let my knowledge of the adventure gaiend htrough watching the Waffle crew bleed over though  ;D

[nomadsoul]

Hello iridum248 and Chulanowa, thanks for looking in!  Feel free to submit your concepts and I'll give them a look-see :-)

With regards to existing knowledge, I wouldn't worry too much about it as I've made some modifications to the module so all will not be as it seems. ;)

[Revelation]

Of definite interest! I've been having an itch to play a Paladin or a Hexblade as of late so i'd love to give it a go here.

[nomadsoul]

Awesomeness!  I look forward to seeing what you up with ;D

[Zaer Darkwail]

I voice interest, playing either ranger, paladin or cleric of war domain perhaps.

[Muse]

*pounce!* 

May I play? 

I'd love to bring in either a Wizard (Bladesinger) or a Cleric of Lathander?  I could offer something else if it would help the group, though.  :) 

[Roleplay Frog]

But, will it be classic Curse of Strahd?

Or Senor Strahd?

Or what about

NSFW Lady Strahd?

Just saying, so many possibilities!

[Revelation]

Do you want sheets to go with background/character information immediately, or would you prefer to hold off on sheets until you pick the characters for the game?

[Chulanowa]

Kinda eyeballing the arcane casters; Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard, maybe Bard.

[RedPhoenix]

I'm tagging this thread for interest but I won't be able to get a character up within the next week due to RL stuff so if it goes longer than that or you need a replacement down the road I want to get noticed so consider this a post for that reason! :)

[nomadsoul]

Welcome all!  Everyone is free to submit characters as they please, up to a maximum of two per person as noted in the opening post.  At the end of the week or so, I'll probably make decisions from there.  I do not see an immediate need to stat out a sheet (unless you wish to do so), but possibly let everyone know your ability scores, in addition to background/personality and what other information you feel is of significance to the identity of your PC.

This version of Curse of Strahd will be familiar enough to those versed in the module, but I suspect different enough that anticipation of things won't be an easy matter.

[Roleplay Frog]

This version of Curse of Strahd will be familiar enough to those versed in the module, but I suspect different enough that anticipation of things won't be an easy matter.

I like the sound of that. Not that I ever finished the whole thing.. but I had a CN character that tried to romance one of Strahds brides. Mixed success?

In my humble opinion, one gets the greatest enjoyment out of Ravenloft by playing genuine heroic heroes, with a realistic edge to them that is. I'll do some pondering, see if I come up with an adequate concept.

[Zaer Darkwail]

Indeed, classic heroes with edge makes most sense. My own concept shifts between these ideas;

-Doctor House inspired personality hammered into war priest/cleric (human)
-A Donald Duck personality inspired ranger (duck as is not a race so closest would be a shifter)
-A bitter half-elf prince paladin who was set on a impossible heroic quest prove himself to be worthy being a king in his homeland (all because asshole oracle had told prophecy of such in his birth while in truth said oracle abuses it's position far too much)

[Roleplay Frog]

I help you narrow down one of yours, you help me narrow down one of mine? ^^ I think the doctor house could be both interesting and helpful, but Can't really see the duck.. ranger?

I'm pondering on either a swording Bard, loyal servant to a beloved mercenary leader, who lost the same to evil trickery.. and then went too far in avenging. Rolls: Party face, secondary attacker.

Or a Paladin, once hopeful noble, now disillusioned at the things their own sibling did, to ensure the right to the throne.

Also, if the rebels thing one day allows me enough time, definitly ought to run a Ravenloft thing here, looking at the interest. ^^

[Florence]

I've been itching for 5e, so I'm absolutely down.

I've been wanting to play a monk, so yeah... I'll have something written up ASAP!

[Zaer Darkwail]

Well, Donald Duck references mostly short tempered ranger who explodes into frenzy when someone disturps him in his forest. Shifter totem he presents more closely a honey badger. But overall good guy otherwise and likes simple joys of life. But indeed doctor House cleric would be interesting (and helpful as despite being war domain he does know heal skill and healing spells).

From your ideas swording bard is bit, well, vanilla on being tragic avenger. I would had aimed more to Monte Cristo routine in sense the revenge has not yet been complete (he was in goal pursuing it but Ravenloft business interupts it, unless unintentionally he wounds up facing nemesis in Ravenloft). But overall favoring more the paladin as paladin fits Ravenloft story very well (and interesting that they are redeeming themselves for things their sibling had done).

[Roleplay Frog]

Paladin idea it is. *hammering noises*

Oh I can give everything a twist, but the thing is, one problem you do not want in a ravenloft setting is a big reason to want to get out.. that comes all on it's own. :P

[Revelation]

I'm highly leaning toward a Hexblade/Pact of the blade warlock myself. I like the idea of someone who willingly made a choice to work with a power he didn't quite understand to help others. Friends or family in danger - and obviously, despite being saved he either is guided by his Patron toward Barovia, or feels that by staying home, he's inviting further danger. Someone who is a good person at heart, but with the ambiguity of his patron, perhaps finds himself conflicted between what he wants to do and what the pact might want him to do as well. Given that the hexblade has connections to The Raven Queen - a being notoriously against undead, I could see a pilgrimage to Barovia leaving him plenty to do.

Thinking he may have either been the son of a priest/preacher, an undertaker, or perhaps his family had a history of being executioners, something like that. Just sorta spitballing thoughts.