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?
