In Which Strahd Must Die!

 Last Halloween I ran Death House for my party and some guests, including offspring.  Went VERY well.  I enjoyed it.  The party enjoyed it.  The kids enjoyed it.  So to continue the theme, THIS season I'm gonna run Strahd as a one-shot.  There is a SLEW of info out there to assist and I don't like ANY of it.  But I do like a little of ALL of it.  So I'm taking all of what I found and throwing it into my candy bowl, mixing it up and coming up with a fun, playable one night timed adventure.  I'm writing this BEFORE the session because I have the opportunity to.  I'll add the recap in the morning.

So what are my sources?  Let's start with The Count, The Castle and The Curse.  Trims the size of the facility.  Provides a good map.  And some interesting mechanics.  Stress level is AWSOME.  The escalating encounters seem like a good idea.  Time will tell.  The ticking real-time clock is perfect.  Not a fan of the "escape" goal, the start up nor the encroaching vampirism mechanic.  Trinkets might work out too.  We'll see.

Back in the Before Times Tim Bannock wrote some great notes for Strahd as a One-Shot.His goal posts are good.  His Ireena story is solid and playable.  His tomb descriptions are spot on.  And his resource citations are as well.  

Playing Curse of Strahd as a One Shot via James Introcaso’s Worldbuilder.  Step 3 and Step 4 are good, although I'm skipping the placement of an ally.

James Haeck’s articles at D&D Beyond: Strahd Must Die Tonight! and Strahd Must Die Again (And Again And Again)  These are both quite helpful, including the info on how party size and level.

Sly Flourish touched on it both in a video and in writing.  His approach includes an interesting "game" for the life of Ireena.  

Also using the three-step Strahd from Reddit

11/5 - Remember, remember!  It's been a week.  A week of Halloween, scary movies, football and session prep.  But I promised session notes so here we go.  

The party comprised Dakora (Wizard 9), Serynah (Sorceress 6), Thorn (Bard 6), Kaj (Paladin 6) and Rudolph van Richeten (Ranger 9.)

We started with the reading of the Tarroka during the carriage ride.  Unfortunately all three artifacts were to be located in the catacombs.  Strahd delivered his speech at the gate and the party entered the castle, suitably cautious and dare I say frightened.  Stone gargoyle's accompanied by REAL ones in the foyer kept them cautious and alert.  Down to the mess hall, through the larder (sighting a black cat which put them off their feed for a bit,) and into the cauldron room to which they assigned great weight.  Sarynah took the pointy hat.  It WAS Halloween after all.

Back to the larder.  Then down to the torture chamber.  Much caution in the flooded rooms.  And an encounter with Strahd.  He displayed his power, setting the stage for how bad the final battle would be without the artifacts.  Jail cell examined but the gargoyle at the end of the hallway was skipped.  Back up the trough the mess hall and into the organ room.  Another sighting/confrontation with Strahd.  Tension builds as the realization they're being toyed with sets in.

To the chapel.  Strahd watches from the balcony.  Party realizes they have only a little over an hour left and they pick up the pace, triggering encounters and missing clues.  Audience chamber.  The balcony. Up to the reception hall.  The study - which was, especially since van Richten was being played by a DM who'd run the entire campaign and was tickled with how the one-shot was bringing the legends together.  Serynah was finally recognized as Ireenah.  Sergei's story was shaping up.  Strahd was now more than just the BBG.  He'd "done things" that were brought home to the party.  The defaced paintings.  The hanged woman.  The aging child was discovered and presented quite a conundrum as the party was becoming quite flustered and pressed for time.  

They realized they needed to go down so I cut out the Hall of Heroes and allowed them to find the long spiral staircase down to the crypt.  Wanted to run the 30+ catacombs but instead went with a small eight tomb offering.  They found the three artifacts with two minutes to go and dashed to the chapel (which is where they'd been told they'd find Strahd.  BEST decision they'd made was to approach from the balcony.

(Note: they kept wanting to go back to the cauldron room and I meta'd them out of it.)

The two spell-casters stayed up whil the other three went down the stairs to face Strahd.  Battle took over an hour.  Lots of close rolls.  Very good use of feats and spells.  Well-timed healing.  Using the three-part Strahd I was changing him every 1/4 of his HP: physical changes and varied attacks.  My only regret was when he wnet into his final quarter I  opted for him to retreat to his casket (with his three wives.)  I changed him into a bat and he damned near made it until Serynah cast Web and he failed his ST.  My error in not allowing him to auto-save.  He then changed into a wolf but was unable to flee before the Paladin sued the Sun Sword to deal the final blow.  

"How do you want to do this?"  

"As I stab the blade into his heart I think of Sergie and whisper .... 'Good morning.'"

Thought it would take 4 hours.  Took 5.  And everyone left happy.  Will DEFINITELY run it again next year.  Stricter.

Questions?

 

In which we count to three

 Hercules' third task was to catch the hind of Artemis.  In OUR setting the hind has been wounded.  She must still be caught .... and healed ... and the miscreants made to pay.  This task involves a skill check which is a pleasant change of pace.  Survival and Nature checks are used to track/locate the beast.  Once found Stealth might lead to a successful apprehension or calming.  Failure leads to the skill challenge of a chase: five successes needed before three failures.  Failure means you've lost the trail and need to start over the next day.  

PC's lose hp on a failure albeit not many considering their level, and before each new round of skill checks they must make a CON check or suffer a level of exhaustion.  This seems kinda silly.  IF we assume most parties will comprise 3-6 PCs that means there would be, at MOST two rounds and most of the time only one.  My party scored one success and three failures, then retired for the day.  They rolled HORRIBLY.  Next day they scored the three successes right off the bat and the task continued.  

They have a druid skilled with an herbalist kit who has done some potion concocting work.  This, combined with our cleric's knowledge of wild beasts, including the ettercap, gave them the insight they needed to make the potion.  They'd been studiously avoiding them during their pursuit of the hind but knew where to find them now that they needed them.  This woulda been a medium difficulty encounter but the ettercaps got lucky.  TWO of them managed to restrain two party members, making it a hard fight.  One of the E'caps was quickly put to flight making it a 3 on two combat for a couple rounds until the druid and wizard got free of the webs.  Two more rounds of combat vanquished the foe with the Battle Master being reduced 50%.

Poison sack harvested (on second try - the party has a new appreciation for their missing Ranger) and anti-venom salve prepared.  Trained falcon earned as a reward, as well as all living expenses for the month being covered.  Party returns to the real world next session but will revisit the village of Kalogeros in a month when another party member steps away from the table for a few weeks.

All in all the party is enjoying these diversions and appreciates the variety provided so far.  Next task is another combat pillar with a little social interaction.  Task #5 will present some outstanding problem solving opportunities.  Still recommend if you need an interesting drop-in or wanna play a dozen or so session campaign running from 5th to 8th level. 

The Cycle of Cerberus

In which we do a tribute to T Rex

The second labor is facing the Hydra of the lake of the Naiads. Open at the Lounge Ambrosia. Our elven

You've got the teeth of the hydra upon you

fighter peppered Chyron with odd questions - again. "What does your bed look like? Have you ever been ridden? Why no pants? Who does your hooves?" Fisherman complaining about problems at Lake Naiads. Chyron offers a reward and off they go. Syrena contacts the Nyads to get some clues - a portal to hell below the surface, guarded by a large anial. After a bunch more futzing about and over-planning they FINALLY "set sail" and encountered the hydra. Battle took one round. The beast never had a chance. By dint of luck the spellcasters were using fire-based spells and rolling REALLY well. Four heads destroyed by fire. Fifth one lopped off but body took enough damage to kill the beast before it could regenerate. Beast killed. Door to hell closed. Giant mudcrab avoided completely. And a nice little tchotchka for a reward. And enchanted hydra tooth that protects the wearer from poison AND allows trhem to breath a cloud of poison once per day. Thought we MIGHT get to the third labor: the Hind of Artemis. But the initial encounter with Aclippe took longer than I thought it would. Shoulda known better. But the hook has been set. And a nice reward awaits. A falcon for our cleric who's been learning the skill from our ranger, and advantage on the next 30 survival/nature checks.

In which we go Greek

 The actor in our group got cast in an October show so we've lost 1/3 of our party.  By agreement we put

Heracles and the Nemea Lion Pieter Paul Rubens

the campaign on hold and I offered the party something ... different.  Instead of waking up in the deep forest, where they WERE, they find themselves on a beautiful beach with Cyprus and Olive trees in the distance.

They're visiting the island of Kalogeros, home to both Mount Olympus and the Gates of Hades.  Cerberus has become problematic and the gods have sent the party to the stewards of the island to assist with the mayhem.  You can find the whole thing here, including maps, music and VTT tokens.  It's a railroad but for a short term somebody-couldn't-make-it drip in it fills the bill.  And can be revisited whenever necessary.  Note: not thrilled with the music but I found some good usable stuff here and even here.  Lot's of folks don't like THIS source but I got a sweet 1-year deal so I'm using it while I can.  Some good music here but might be too much waste for too much money.  Film at 11.

Anyway.  We got in a good three hour session.  LOTS of role-playing.  My party spent a LOT of time talking to Chyron.  A LOT.  About stuff that had next to nothing to do with the game.  One hour gone.  Second hour was spent tracking down the BBG along with all of the encounters therein.  Third hour was a reasonably interesting combat.  Number of opponents increased nearly every round which was interesting.  Party used their AOE spells to good effect when the numbers got big.  And the BBG failed an important ST which made it a little easier.

Nothing new from most characters, the exception being our Scribe Wizard who finally uncorked her Manifest Mind feature to good effect.  An interesting magic item was the reward.  Don't think they've caught on to the whole Hercules thing.  Yet.  One player has a decent knowledge of the mythology but she still hasn't made the connections.  She will.  Eventually.  

Figured the first session would be intro and one task.  Nailed it.  So I'm thinking two tasks for the next level.  And the hydra is a water/underwater fight which this party has never done.  But they DO use a lot of fire-based spells so it might be easier than expected.  Hopefully the giant mud crab will grapple the flame throwers.

In which we mess around with time.

 I've occasionally lamented that most campaigns are not sweeping enough or long enough or enough enough for the "aging" rules to come in to play.  I've considered throwing a Pendragon homebrew into my mix but am kinda afraid of player revolt so it always get put on my back burner.

And then my weekend reading flipped a switch.  I found this!  I read the whole thing.  I read it AGAIN.  I read the links.  I took notes.  And I pulled up my trusty Chatgpt.  And my next campaign began to take shape.

Here's the pitch.  First 5 levels are sandbox.  Following plot hooks.  Killing things.  Helping people.  Finding stuff.  Then in tier two the flow changes.  Characters follow a hook  to another plane.  Fey?  Shadow?  Who knows.  And when they come back they've all moved into the next age category.  From young adult to mature.  STR and WIS improve.  20-25 years have passed.  I can use ChatGPT to figure out some of the big picture changes.  That village they were from?  Grown to a town.  The local noble house they were serving.  Maybe now they're the ruling family in the realm.  Or vanished.  We play a level or so and then they're summoned by a higher power to another planer adventure.  Perhaps the four elemental planes?  Gets us to tier III.  And when they come back they're middle aged.  Maybe 50 years have passed this time.  The world is different.  They spend a level figuring things out.  And then called away again.  To another plane or three.  

Upon return the players are now old.  Death lurks around corners.  Maybe one or two have died.  Another level on the material plane and then the final summoning.  Upon this return they are venerable (if they survive the travel.)  And they play out their old age on the material plane.  

If a player dies they are replaced by descendant, a fan, a family member. To hold the thread.  

Think it'll work?  

In which we earn XP

 

Haven't rambled about this in a LONG while (if ever) and I feel bad there's been nothing here for a while AND I've seen a few discussions on the topic on the webs so I thought I'd ramble.  CavegirlPoems started me thinking over on Tumblr.  They do a nice job breaking down how a handful of games award XP and what that means for the game.  Early D&D was simple.  1 GP of treasure = 1 XP.  Delve.  Carry it out.  Improve.  Repeat.  Simple, but nailed it.  Encumbrance mattered, as did depth of penetration.  YOU THERE IN THE BACK!  STOP GIGGLING!  Vampire The Masquerade rewards you for being the kind of player the game wanted. AS CgP observes "It was the 90s, they were still working out how to be a narrative-driven game, but you can see where they were going with it."  Monsterhearts.  XP for engaging with a mechanic.  I need more study.  And finally they look at 5e.  There are two systems at play here.  First is combat.  Violence gets you XP.  Hence: Murder hobos.  Second is milestone.  You level up when the GM feels like it.  And the game becomes James Wood finding Peter's candy.  You're "rewarded for following the railroad and reaching pre-planned plot moments in a pre-scripted story. You either have no agency in the matter, or are rewarded for subsuming your agency to the will of the GM. (This pattern continues with inspiration rewards, which are given 'when the GM is entertained by you'.)"

Neither of those is satisfactory which is why we don't use them.  We use the now seven year old Unearthed Arcana Three Pillar Rule.  Pillar I:  Exploration.  1 XP for every new 20 mile hex you travel through on a road or trail.  5 XP through the wilderness.  And additional XP (10 - 40) for exploring important locations, whether tied to the "storyline" or not and for finding "big ticket" magic items.  Pillar II: Combat.  Based on CR of the opponent and level of the character.  Awarded for killing, defeating and occasionally bypassing a creature or group of creatures, or a trap or problematic encounter.  Pillar III: Social interactions.  Awarded for positive interaction with influential NPCs.  The Mayor of that small village that you schmoozed when you were 9th level?  5 XP.  Positively influencing an NPC with cosmic reach?  20 XP or more.  

So does this produce the game I want?  After every session I send an email detailing the XP's earned.  The party KNOWS that traveling from A to B along a trade rout for the first time will be worth 6 XP but nothing after that as they run back and forth.  Cut a new 4-hex path through the wilderness?  20 XP.  Decide to check out that haunted cemetery on the way to the Wizards Tower?  Maybe 10 XP.  Maybe nothing.  Maybe it's a training ground for the BBG Evil Necromancer's mooks which might have a major impact on the storyline in coming months and worth 20 XP or more.  And they've learned to talk to people.  Find out who's in charge (or at least authoritative) and chat them up.  

And that's kinda the game I want.  Look under the rocks.  Smell the flowers.  Slay the evil beasties.  Thoughts?

In which we wake "It" up.

 The following isn't session notes per se.  It's the Thought process that followed a specific action during a session, written out for two reasons.  First, so that I can follow it, add to it, and keep the world moving.  Second so the players can read about what REALLY happened when the campaign is over.  

I'm using Fronts from Dungeon World, with a little Night's Black Agents thrown in.  Players initially just wanted to be treasure/monster hunters but after about five levels of that they decided a little BBG action would help, so long as it wasn't too railroad-y.  So I set to work designing it.  And plopping it down in the world.  Realizing that nothing exists until the players brush up against it.  Which means I can add, delete, alter and amend to my heart's content until they're actually in media res.  Which is what I've done.  One over-arching BBG.  Four (was six) factions struggling for dominance.  I gave the PC's an artifact and some clues to figure out it's workings.  While they searched for that I brushed up the factions. LAST session they FINALLY figured it out and that sets the ball rolling.

The Five Great Prophecies.  Each foretells the rise and triumph on one of the factions.  

June 21.  A generic bard was contracted to journey with the party as the revisited an old battle field.  Our ranger had been hired to do away with some marauding bears, which he did.  Leaving the rotting carcasses of the large carnivores behind. Which attracted a LARGER carnivore.  A green dragon.  The dragon was soon dispatched.  The bard had his song.  AND knowledge of the artifact.  Five days journey found him back in the capitol city.  There he reached out to the House of Pellissi, patrons of entertainers known to pay for information.  A quick visit to the School of Illusion netted him a bit of a disguise to protect him from feared retribution.

House Pellissi ALWAYS seeks favor from House Lupine, and with the election only six months ago it was important to keep ties intact.  The School of Illusion took longer to pass on the news - always on the lookout for false news dontcha know. Eventually word filtered up to the Archmage.  It was going to be an interesting summer.

The Arcane Eye moved first.  Valen the Enchanter reached out to their contacts in the "knowledge" world: libraries, scholars, sages and artificers.  They were to be on the lookout for anyone seeking information regarding The Compass.  (Game-wise: this started the countdown clock to their first Grim Portent.  Time now became a growing issue for the party ,although they didn't know it yet.)

House Lupine sent word to Lady Elara who then presented it to the Counsel of Sovereigns.  The CoS is far reaching and slow moving.  Already mid-July and they have not yet reached a consensus on what action to take.  By the end of the month they will have opted to merely consolidate their holdings and grow:  More caravans.  More thieves.  Guildmaster Thaddeus and "The Whisperer" will have a busy summer.

The Circle of the Silver Moon has already made an unauthorized direct attack, sending an Invisible Stalker after Dakora the Enchantress of Fire & Ice.  And acid.  They need to SERIOUSLY re-evaluate.  

The Cult of the Shadow Moon is more circumspect, taking a "wait and see" attitude.

The party sits at July 13 just off the Southern Road, a few days from Crossroad #1.  Completely oblivious of ANY of this. 

Next Session:

gets us to July 15.  I've stripped out one of the factions.  No more Shadow Moon.  The Shadowmaster (an outlaw gang) has knowledge they'll pass on to The Whisperer.  And a stray half-elf ranger will pass word on to The Purple Rider.  Arcane Eye is seeking someone to obtain the prophesied grimoire.  Dawn's Nexus? They parties foil?  Circle of the Silver Moon changes their focus to Brethemney and the blight.  The Counsel begin placing new faces in ever higher places.

another few sessions have passed.  Today is June 19th, and it's July 25th in the game world.  Was NOT happy with the way things were flowing (and neither were the players.)  Prohecy's learned weren't sparking interest.  The "other stuff" was happening but PCs weren't learning about it since they've opted for a long (productive) trip in the wilderness.  So I've fallen back to another old source: "Creating Epic Campaigns" by Guy Sclanders.  Have stripped out another faction.  Currently have four: the BIG BBG and three "secondary" factions, two of which are functioning under/beside the BIG BBG and another which MAY turn out to be allies of the PC.  I've redesigned all of the factions to fit the CEC format.  Only one of the prophesies has been "learned" so I'm rewriting the rest to fit the CEC model.  Should be MUCH more actionable.  It's also helped to design the countdown clocks that will "run" the factions.  And taking a page from Gnome Stew to provide a war room for the party.  Need to design a polar area chart so the PCs can SEE the progress (at least graphically) and rework the countdown clock.  Every iteration makes things a bit clearer.