Why I Love and Hate Argynvostholt
I love many many parts of the Curse of Strahd module, and it's rightfully earned its place as one of the greats of 5e. However, in many ways it is like a barebones skeleton: you can glimpse so much potential in its framework, with lots of cool tidbits of what it could become strewn about in every chapter. Yet here's no real connective tissue provided between them: not enough NPCs with active motivations, not enough quests between locations, etc. It leaves so so much up to the DM's imagination to string these little bits and bobs together into a coherent narrative. On one hand, that means plenty of opportunity for homebrew, hence our thriving community dedicated to fanmade content. On the other hand, it's kind of ridiculous that an official WOTC module is missing all this support for new DMs. There is an astronomical difference between a thoroughly-homebrewed COS from an experienced DM, vs a by-the-book less experienced DM who thinks they have to read aloud the numerous wordy, meaningless filler room descriptions.
I'll use Argynvostholt as an example -- probably my absolute favorite concept in the entire module, but just so disappointing in its RAW form as a result of botched execution.
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First and foremost, let's be clear: the character at the emotional center of Argynvostholt is not Argynvost himself (who's more of a MacGuffin plot device than anything else), but Vladimir Horngaard.
There's no ifs, and, or buts about it -- Vladimir is the COS module's most patently obvious foil to Strahd, both being undead warrior-commanders trapped in a hell of their own making who are condemning their subordinates & subjects to the same hell. A hell that both are actually free to leave at any time, as long as they gave up on their obsession and accepted the light of love they originally had in the first place (for Vladimir that'd be romantic love in Godfrey, while for Strahd it'd be his familial love for Sergei).
Obviously, Vladimir has the moral high ground over Strahd in that a) Vladimir was a generally good person who was put through the wringer of, uh, involuntary circumstances in his death/undeath and b) Godfrey actually loved--and still loves--him back. Vladimir thus becomes an even deeper "redeemable mirror of Strahd": a man who was completely devastated by losing his (mutual) love and as a result, (involuntarily) transformed into an undead monster trapped in a fruitless obsession, who ends up taking his (initially understandable) pain out on others. Yet even in this horrible state, he has loved ones who understand the root of his suffering and see hope in him still (Godfrey and Argynvost). Through their love, the PCs are actually given the tools to redeem him, unlike Strahd!
Man, I just adore how the tragic love between Godfrey and Vladimir serves as an excellent foil to Strahd's one-sided ruinous obsession with Tatyana. (yep Strahd is canonically a habitual/repeat offender at destroying happy lover pairings...)
On that note, Godfrey is also a super fun character who helps bridge the historical past of Barovia to the present. It's just a delight to roleplay him as initially torn between his oaths to his love and order, devastated at the corruption of everything he holds dear, wracked by despair and festering in inertia. Then over time, he slowly recognizes the potential of the PCs to re-ignite the light of hope in this land, in his order, and in his love.
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Because of all this, it's just so fun to give Vladimir a Tarokka treasure, since now the PCs have an actual reason to encounter this tragic fallen hero. His encounter can be handled via either roleplay or combat, with equally interesting results both ways. Most DMs will choose to play him as totally fallen to madness and incapable of being swayed by anything except lighting the Beacon, which makes sense in canon. However, I imagine there is the occasional party that makes every single argument "correctly" in appealing to the remnants of Vladimir's honor/love (maybe using Godfrey's assistance) and/or also swears their own vow of vengeance to make Strahd suffer, and thus earns his Order's cooperation with the PCs!
And this whole storyline is capped by the dragon skull heist + Beacon of Argynvost as one of the very few actual nice rewards in this module!
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All that sounds fine and dandy, right? Great characters, including the actual biggest foil to the BBEG in the module. A potential story beat that truly drives home the whole campaign's themes of grief, obsession, love both lost and found, corruption and redemption.
So tell me: why the hell are Vlad and Godfrey glossed over as minor side characters and shoved into an entirely skippable, boring, empty ruin?
- No Tarokka reading treasure in Argynvostholt means the DM has to bend over backwards to try to hook PCs to this place. (Good luck rolling the 20 for the Revenant random encounter.)
- And then even if the PCs do come to this castle, >50% of the rooms are empty filler with handmade but meaningless descriptions. Even MandyMod recommends running Argynvostholt with Theater of the Mind, which just seems like a terrible waste of this beautiful map.
- The spooky/ruined atmosphere and scares that are provided in the module don't land. "Ooh your PC sees their own severed head staring back at them"... come on. Has this scared a single PC in the history of this module? I'm pretty sure most parties immediately start using the severed head as a soccer ball. "Ooh an ordinary bat flies out of the stove pot." This is what the writers chose to waste their limited word count on?
- The chapter just does NOT take advantage of the rich lore behind it. IMO the entire chapter would have been better off really driving in the tragedy of this place above all, with horror as the secondary ripple effect. Why do the revenants in the chapel attack on sight in RAW and not listen to any reason? "IDK." Hmm, maybe emphasize that they're perpetually stuck living out their final terrible moments trying to fight off Strahd's forces for all eternity? Just give us something to work with here.
- Even if you do fill the empty rooms of Argynvostholt with other treasures + NPCs (ex: DragnaCarta, Pyram King, Lunch Break Heroes), I unfortunately feel like most just end up being busy work detracting from the actual central themes of this place (see above).
- On that note, in RAW Vladimir and Godfrey literally just sit on their respective butts for eternity if undisturbed. Like, IIRC the RAW module doesn't even have Godfrey remember his love for Vladimir unless he's the destined ally. Heck the majority of campaigns probably do not run into him at all (especially since his room's door is closed...), and thus lose the extra dimension to both characters.
- Like yes that makes vague sense with the motivations given in the module, but it does NOT exactly make for a riveting campaign or living world for the players. It doesn't even give the PCs good motivation for the dragon skull quest!
- RAW, lighting the Beacon immediately makes the revenants all go to rest with nary a word. Like come on, not even a "thank you" or "best of luck" to the PCs from the knights or from Argynvost?
I've watched actual live plays of Argynvostholt and so many just sputter out here because the players are like "welp this place sucks and is boring, let's never come back." (even the excellent Twice Bitten!)
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Since I want to make Argynvostholt a more prominent part of my current campaign given its wonderful themes, that means I'm going to have to basically come up with a whole scenario from scratch, and basically toss the entire map in the module.
It especially sucks that I haven't even found a rework I totally love all aspects of. I like parts of certain reworks, such as how Reloaded and LBH have Vladimir engage the PCs in a last battle to stop the return of the dragon skull (this requires a bit of stretching of his RAW motivations but it at least makes for a climactic confrontation!). I do really like how Alone in the Dork's rework comes the closest at letting the PCs explore Argynvostholst's past and present, using the memory mirrors from the 2E Soth module Black Roses Bloom to have the PCs actually relive scenes from Vladimir's life. It does an excellent job at emphasizing a central throughline of oaths and honor; however, I do think it doesn't entirely capture the horror/tragedy aspect of Vladimir's vengeance-driven madness, so I'm still doing lots of tinkering of my own homebrew.
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What are y'all's thoughts on Argynvostholt? Were any of you able to truly make this place hit home in your campaigns?