u/LordMistborn-16

I posted this about a year ago, and a little less than a year ago before that. Goddamn does time fly.

Anyway...

I love Ikoria. I spent quite a long time absolutely obsessed with the set. I've collected every card (including cards set on Ikoria from other sets) and memorized them all. I've written fanfictions, though in retrospect they were all very mediocre. I've made a bunch of D&D content, though I ended up mistplacing most of it. And I've made a massive map made up of dozens of small maps which, when put next to one another, make a map of the plane. It's a pretty overlooked set, but it fascinated me. My goal was to know more about the plane than anyone else on the planet. While I doubt I succeeded in that regard, I'd like to think I got pretty damn close. So ask me anything.

It might take me a while to respond to some of you, but I'll try my best.

Hopefully the repetition of this post is appreciated rather than annoying.

This might be just me, but I find that the least convenient part of the campaign is travel, or at least that's how it was the last time I ran it.

As far as I can tell, whenever the party sets out from any location, you first need to establish the time of day they leave, their travel speed, their marching order (despite this only being relevant to one random encounter), and whether or not they're using light sources (which only matters for two encounters).

You need to measure the road lengths of each stretch of road in Barovia so you can figure out the mileage of each and determine how long it takes (I think there are 29 segments of road but there may be more). If they're traveling in the wilderness then you just have to guess.

Then, for every 30 minutes of travel, you have to roll a d20, so that's a bunch of rolling, and then depending on what you roll, you have to roll again and then run an encounter. You need to track time for each 30 minute interval to figure out if it's night or day. You also need to prepare for all 25 encounters, most of which you will never run.

You also need to pause after each roll to let the party switch their speed or marching order or use of torches, or to set up camp or go hunting/foraging.

Anyway, the point is I find the whole thing very grindy and tedious, especially with tracking the time of day. Am I just stupid? Or do others agree that this system is tricky? If you agree, are there any tricks or tips to do this in a more convenient manner that doesn't stray too far from the established system?

Thank you

The book suggests that “When it seems as though the characters have everything under control, you can have a gust of wind suddenly blow out their torches, plunging them into darkness.” I took this to heart, and devised a list of ways to mess with my party if they’re feeling too comfortable in combat. Some have mechanical implications, while others are purely to freak them out.

I have one idea for each location that I might use if the party is getting the upper hand and feeling confident during a combat. If that happens and something better pops into mind, I’ll simply run with that, but if not, I’ll just defer to what I have written here.

I'm looking for feedback and suggestions.

Wilderness — A swarm of bats (50%) or swarm of ravens (50%) flies past. The area is heavily obscured until the start of the next round. There’s a 5% chance that Strahd von Zarovich or a wereraven, respectively, is amongst the swarm, appearing after the swarm flies past.

Village of Barovia — A defenseless commoner enters the combat, caught by surprise. If they’re killed, especially if the party hasn’t made a good reputation for themselves in the village, the townsfolk’s suspicion of them is greatly heightened when they discover the commoner’s death.

Castle Ravenloft — A strong wind blows through any area(s) the party members are in, snuffing any torches in those area(s).

Vallaki — A defenseless commoner enters the combat, caught by surprise. If they’re killed and their death is discovered (or if they’re injured and it was the party’s fault), the Baron, if he’s still in power, arrests the party if they aren’t his allies. If the Baron isn’t in power and the commoner is killed, especially if the party hasn’t made a good reputation for themselves in town, the townsfolk’s suspicion of them is greatly heightened when they discover the commoner’s death.

Old Bonegrinder — The windmill’s turbine rotates for 1d4+1 rounds, creaking very loudly as it does and rattling the windmill.

Argynvostholt — A chill travels through any area(s) the party members are currently in.

Krezk — A defenseless commoner (or mongrelfolk) enters the combat, caught by surprise. If a commoner is killed, especially if the party hasn’t made a good reputation for themselves in the village, the townsfolk’s suspicion of them is greatly heightened when the commoner’s death is discovered. If a mongrelfolk is killed, the Abbot asks the party to leave the Abbey if he’s alive. If he’s dead, Clovin Belview will need convincing, or else he’ll do the same if he discovers the death. If both are dead, the other mongrelfolk are too afraid to say anything, and besides Otto and Zygfrek, they will collectively avoid the party if possible.

Tsolenka Pass — A cold air settles over the pass, which becomes affected by extreme cold for the next 1d4 hours.

Berez — Fog from the swamp floats through the area, or flows into the window of Baba Lysaga’s hut, rendering the area heavily obscured until the start of the next round.

Van Richten’s Tower — If they’re fighting the golems, one golem at random goes berserk and/or begins to harmlessly melt. If they’re not fighting the golems, nothing occurs; let them have a break.

Wizard of Wines — Red liquid drips from between the wooden planks of the ceiling (even if they’re on the top floor), at first a few drops, then like rain for just a second, and then it stops. Though it looks like blood, it lands in or near at least one character’s mouth, and they can identify it as wine.

Amber Temple — A howling, warped scream comes from the direction of the vaults (or from another vault if the party is already in one). The screaming persists and intensifies over a few seconds until initiative count 20 of the next round, at which point a roaring wind tears through any area(s) the party members are in, snuffing any torches they have. Each creature in those area(s) takes 2d6 necrotic damage and must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. The sound and wind continue on into the next room or into the wall and then ceases.

Yester Hill — The party hears howling off in the distance. In that direction, they can see 1d4 dire wolves standing at the treeline, watching them. At the end of combat, the wolves are suddenly gone, having snuck back into the woods, though none of the party saw them do so.

Werewolf Den — The party hears howls coming from whichever direction they just came from.

The book suggests that, if you're using milestone leveling, you should award the party with a new level whenever they “accomplish story goals,” but are very vague about what this entails, listing only three examples, and stating immediately after that the adventure is “exceedingly open-ended,” which is generally a positive. But since it was so vague, I figured I'd make a list of various “story goals” which could be accomplished and lead to the characters leveling up.

There are a lot here, so I'll have to use my discretion. If the task proved easier than expected or the party just leveled up last session, or perhaps the completion of two goals occur as part of the same event, or something of that sort, I may decide not to reward the players for accomplishing one of these, especially if completing the task comes with its own inherent reward. Additionally, simpler tasks may only lead to leveling up of the party is a lower level, and a higher level party may not level up for, for example, rescuing Arabelle.

I've attached the list below. What am I missing? What should I remove? I'm probably going to remove the goals marked with asterisks, mostly due to redundancy or simplicity.

• Finding any of the three treasures
• Returning Arabelle to Luvash
• Returning Gertruda to Mad Mary*
• Dealing with Doru and burying Kolyan Indirovich*
• Defeating Rahadin*
• Destroying the Heart of Sorrow
• Escorting Ireena to Vallaki or Krezk*
• Reconnecting Izek and Ireena*
• Preventing the “St. Andral's Feast” special event, or surviving it*
• Overthrowing the Baron of Vallaki
• Helping Kasimir Reanimate Patrina
• Defeating the coven at Old Bonegrinder
• Lighting the beacon at Argynvostholt
• Defeating the Abbot, or helping him find a dress for Vasilka*
• Forming an alliance with Ezmerelda d'Avenir*
• Defeating Baba Lysaga
• Defeating the druids and blights at the Wizard of Wines Winery
• Return the two gems to the Wizard of Wines Winery*
• Clearing the Amber Temple
• Destroying the Gulthias Tree atop Yester Hill
• Thwarting the druids’ ritual atop Yester Hill*
• Clearing the Werewolf Den

Since I'm going to run CoS for my highschool club this coming schoolyear, I figured it would be a good time to reread the book. As I did so, I kept my notebook open to jot down my various thoughts and ideas, as well as to make lists of the different stat blocks and images I'd have to print.

Many of the thoughts I wrote down were pretty boring. Mostly they were ideas for edits and things I might do to help prepare. Some of them, though, were fairly interesting, at least to me. I figured I'd compile and share them. For the most part they're exactly as written, with some edits, if anyone cares.

• Remember, Strahd's minions never attack Ireena. Luvash might hurt her on accident though, forgetting Strahd's orders, maybe slapping her if she attacks him. Strahd could appear and kill him.
• At the River Ivlis crossroads, if the card reading suggested the presence of a treasure, there's a cumulative 10% chance of finding it in each grave they dig up. This feels like a momentum killer, so the reason why is because there's also a cumulative 5% chance of finding a skeleton and a boneless which crawl from the grave and peel apart from one another before attacking.
• If the party is arrested in Vallaki for “malicious unhappiness,” Strahd will appear, demand they get a trial, and insist on serving as judge.
• I want to give Ireena a stronger role in the story. Her character isn't problematic. Ireena can defend herself perfectly well. But she's still a Damsel in Distress. I think giving Ireena a love interest would be very interesting. not some man to fall in love with her and protect her but someone for her to fall in love with, this endangering them. Whomever I choose would be in danger from Strahd. It would be even more interesting if Ireena's romantic interest turned her down like Tatyana did to Strahd, even falling for Ismark instead. I could have this be Strahd's doing but I think i like it more if it's natural. Perhaps Ireena and Ismark are with the party when they encounter Ezmerelda, Kasimir or Arabelle (a reference to another note where I consider changing Arrabelle's story, including making her older), and this occurs.

I've got a few other ideas I could share if you found this interesting. I didn't want this post to be too long.

Thoughts on these? Normally I make lots of adjustments to pre-made campaigns, but this one's so good that I didn't expect i would do this. But it's also my second time running it so I'd like to keep things fresh.

Are any of these any good? Or should I just stick to the book?

I'm going to run Strahd for the second time with my high school club this coming school year. I love Strahd. Idk if this is a hot take or not but I think it's the best 5e pre-made campaign, and it's not even close. Literally everything about it feels perfect to me (I'm sure there are issues...)

With the exception of the Adventure Hooks that is. I chose to run Werewolves in the Mist, because Plea for Help and Mysterious Visitors both have long stretches of pre-written description, and i don't like having to look down all the time while giving descriptions. The faction focus in Werewolves is unnecessary and never connected back to. The hook itself was boring and very cliche, or maybe my standards are too high, considering the campaign I'm comparing it to. I ran it as part of my first Strahd playthrough a few years ago and I thought it was alright. My players enjoyed iy but such is the nature of DMing at times. I'll find dozens of issues with my performance and nobody notices.

Anyways, I'm curious, what are some alternative hooks you've used in the past, or can come up with right now? I've got a few ideas but I don't like any of them very much, and I figured the worst that can happen if I ask on here is that none of your suggestions speak to me. Or am I sleeping on the hook? Is it better than I think and maybe I had a bad experience with it?

TLDR: I don't like the Adventure Hooks. What are some alternatives you'd suggest?

Excited to hear your thoughts. Thx for reading.

If I cast [[Dashed Hopes]] while I have [[Baral, Chief of Compliance]] on field, and my opponent pays the 5 life and Dashed Hopes is countered, does that trigger Baral? Did I control the effect that did the countering?

What are some of your favorite songs that aren't metal but are total headbangers or have metal elements? Or metal songs by non-metal artists?

Let me know. I'll try to listen to these, because I'm trying to expand my music taste beyond metal and militant feminist pop/punk and this seems like a good way to do so. I'll let you know what I think.

For me, it's Flash Mountain by Djo (aka Steve from Stranger Things) and Ptolomaea by Ethel Cain.

This might seem kind of random but what are some songs by other artists that sound to you that they could be Pantera songs? They don't need to match vocally, but just in overall vibes. Or maybe in some other way.

I ask because earlier today Dig by Mudvayne came on and at first I thought it was Drag the Waters because I'm dumb. But as it carried on it occurred to me that Dig really does sound like a Pantera song, through and through.

Also, the song Davidian by Machine Head has Pantera-esque vibes, but the video of them playing Davidian at Dynamo 1995 is very Domination at Moscow. At least in my eyes.

Do you agree or disagree with my assessments? What are some other examples of this?

Just a few days ago, my friend suggested I listen to Ethel Cain, specifically the album Preacher’s Daughter. I expected it to be a good listen but nothing outstanding. I was wrong. I really loved this album, and I’m really excited to listen to the rest of her work and become more familiar with the Cain story.

My friend did give me a summary of the story, and I think that without that, I wouldn’t have understood all of it as well. I’m sure there are still things I missed or misinterpreted, so I’m excited to learn more.

Anyways, here are my first impressions of the album, song by song.

Family Tree (Intro) - 5/5 - My favorite song on the album easily. This is going on my horror writing playlist, it's just so good.

American Teenager - 4/5 - The intro to this song is really good. Overall it reminds me of another song but I can't place it. It captures a nostalgic feeling really well. It’s really quite catchy.

House in Nebraska - 3/5 - This song didn’t resonate with me at first, but I listened to it again on a speaker and I could hear the backing vocals a lot more clearly than I could on my headphones. It's catchy but definitely not my favorite track on the album.

Western Nights - 1/5 - I'll be honest: I really don't like this song. It's musically meh, and that's okay, but the lyrics are so so bad. I don't know if she's trying to send the message of "He's such a troublemaker I love that" but that's what I got from it and I hate that. I've had a bad personal experience with that particular view, which puts personal bias on top of general distaste but yeah, not a fan.

Family Tree - 3/5 - Not as good as the Intro version, but still pretty good. The parts that use the structure from Intro are still the best. I just wish she'd gone all in on the Intro structure because it was so good.

Hard Times - 3/5 - I feel like this might be an unpopular song bc it's very weirdly composed, but I like it. Still not an outstanding song, though.

Thoroughfare - 3/5 - The song where the plot really starts, but it feels more like "there just for the plot" than a musical piece. The lyrics are good, instrumentals are alright. Nothing special.

Gibson Girl - 5/5 - Lyrically fantastic. I just absolutely adore this song, and so it’s my third favorite track on the album. It does such a good job of communicating the normalized torture that many women face in bed. One thing that is strange is that she talks about being “immoral in a stranger’s lap,” but I’d hardly say that the man Ethel’s been traveling with counts as a stranger. Maybe there’s something I’m missing here? Overall, I love this song. It sounds like a conversation I would have with myself, which a scary thing to consider, but it just shows how cooked my mental health is.

Ptolomaea - 5/5 - I love this song. The masc voice in the intro is amazing, but easily the best part of the song is the repetitive begging to stop, stop, stop, culminating in that wonderful, bloodcurdling scream. I’d bet that this when Ethel is killed, but I might be wrong about that. The track is just so creepy, and my fourth favorite track on the album.

August Underground - 4/5 - Wonderful instrumental track and quite creepy. Not much to say here.

Televangelism - 4/5 - Not as good as the previous track but still a nice instrumental piece. The bent notes at the end are really nice.

Sun-Bleached Flies - 4/5 - Reminiscent of House in Nebraska. A bit repetitive but the writing is very strong. Again not much to say.

Strangers - 5/5 - My second favorite song on the album. If you hadn't told me she been killed, I wouldn't have figured it out until her. The cannibalistic lyrics are sweet and raw and well-written and I love it. "Funny, I never considered myself tough" is the second best line in the album after "Swinging by my neck from the family tree." This is the kind of song my best friend will love, so I have a very special significance to me already. The intensely arousing nature of it was a bit distracting but that’s just a testament to Hayden’s prowess as a songwriter.

Overall, this was just a wonderful, 5/5 album. I’m really excited to have a new artist to follow since a lot of my favorite artists aren’t doing much right now.

It’s also really inspiring to see a fellow autistic transgender artist doing so successfully.

I imagine that you all will disagree with me on some of my opinions, and that’s alright. I hope you all found this interesting.

I just can't stand when experienced players frame D&D as some horrible game ridden with war crimes and trauma, or frame DMs as someone who wants their players to suffer.

In the past few weeks I've been running a small D&D game for some of the other participants during a summer abroad course (shoutout to the CIEE program, btw, which has been wonderful). Some of the players were experienced, and some were brand-new.

Just last night, one of the experienced players was saying that the DM's role is to make the players suffer, and I could see one of the new players get a little discomforted by that. I reminded them all that no, that's not what I want. I want to facilitate fun and tell a collaborative story. Another experienced player responded by saying that this was simply the wrong answer. They were joking, I'd assume, but their tone was still half-serious.

This isn't just an issue with this group. Honestly, this is one of the better groups I've played with. I can't count how often people either in person or online talk about war crimes in the game, despite rarely or never committing them.

Another issue is joking that things in the game are traumatic or have given them PTSD. This partially stems from a wider cultural issue of using these terms freely, such that when people are genuinely talking about trauma, they will sometimes be ignored, others assuming they're just joking. But that's beside the point.

As a DM, I've certainly messed with my players before. But not out of a genuine desire to see them suffer. And yes, I've seen players commit horrible, unthinkable acts in my games. But I've also seen players cry, not because I made them suffer, but because they were sad that the campaign was over. I've seen players laugh. I've seen friendships form, and contrary to what players like these would have you think, I've never seen a friendship ruined over this silly little game. I love this game, and if you genuinely think it's this unfun, please stop showing up to my sessions.

TLDR: The point is that experienced players frame this game, sometimes, as something terribly unfun, which it simply isn't. This can scare off new players, and it can even make the game actually unfun for people like me who genuinely believe in this game being a way to facilitate enjoyment.

Also I'm sorry about what I'm realizing was a very click-baitey title.

P.S. A belated happy Pride to you all!