u/Torm_Tavesh

So, this is a very loose, not thought out idea yet. My idea is that the Curse of Strahd, Strahds Curse. Is the fact that the story of *spoiler warning* how he murdered his brother so that he could be with Tatyana, and then the events after the murder (Tatyana committing suicide) are all fabricated, illusions, the type of thing that, the Dark Powers put into each Barovians head. The truth? Strahd and Tatyana really were in love, but SERGEI was the Jealous one, and HE murdered Tatyana, and in Turn Strahd killed Sergei. After killing Sergei, Strahd made a deal with the dark powers. 1 to bring Tatyana back to life, and to grant both him and Tatyana Immortality. They agreed, but the dark powers being little conniving asshats, turned Strahd into what everyone considered a monster (a vampire) and giving Tatyana immortality through reincarnation (immortality with extra Steps) the big part of the curse however is that the dark powers twisted history and twisted the memories of everyone the moment Strahd struck the deal which is why we get the version of the story that we get and now Strahd is stucm in an endless cycle of the same monotony, and heartbreak, never knowing when the next reincarnation of tatyana will be born, and always failing to win her heart, because of what the dork powers planted in everyones head. Its a horrible cycle, and basically a living hell for the poor man. The only person who knows the truth is Strahd, but its been so many years (literally 100's) and by now Strahd doesnt know what to believe and has truly turned into a heart broken villain, who now will stop at nothing to have Tatyana again because what is the point of trying to be good if everyone is going to think and "know" you are a "devil" anyways?

Again this is a very loose idea and I hope what im trying to say comes across, I just figure playing strahd as a heartbroken man whos love of his life TRULY was stolen from him, and fate and the dark powers tricked him, and turned him into a depressed, misunderstood monster, might make for a more interesting, sad, twist rather than playing him as a sadistic, narcissistic man who has to put in a performance to not be outed as a monster.

In short his curse is that everything he loved was taken from him, he was tricked by the dark powers, and now lives as a monster in everyone's eyes. Even if he knows the truth, what is the point?

Thoughts? Tips on how youd do this? Any suggestions?

***1. Team Building***

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** What is the one thing you love most about tabletop RPG's?**

 Daz:

 Ben:

 Ghost:

 Vamp:

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**What Aspect of the game are you most looking forward to? Combat, Exploration, Puzzles, or

Roleplay, Multiple answers are welcome!**

 Daz:

 Ben:

 Ghost:

 Vamp

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**As a Player what is one strength you bring to the group? If you cant think of a strength, your

friends can encourage you, and name some of your strengths!**

 Daz:

 Ben:

 Ghost:

 Vamp:

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**As a Player what is one weakness you feel that you have that you would like to improve when it comes to playing a TTRPG and is there anything that I, as the DM, can do to help you improve?**

 Daz:

 Ben:

 Ghost:

 Vamp:

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***2. Scheduling***

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 What day of the week can everyone commit to, to play?

 How often does everyone want to play?

 How long should sessions to last?

 What should we do under the event that a player is unable to play at a session?

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*** 3. My Table Expectations***

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 **Alcohol and Drug use during Game:** Please refrain from doing any sort of Drug or drinking alcohol during the game, I want my

players to be present, and be able to pay attention and not be all loopy.

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 **Disagreements between player and DM:** If there is a disagreement in a ruling I have made, i will allow 2 minutes for the disagreeing

party to state their case, as to why they believe I should change my mind. After that, I will

make a final decision where that will be the end of the discussion during the game. If you still

believe I made the wrong call, we can discuss it out of game, after the session.

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 **Meta Gaming:** No Meta Gaming! Meta gaming happens when a player uses information they know outside of

game, and outside of their characters perspective. They do this in order to influence in

character decisions and development using out of game knowledge that their character doesn't

know in game. Examples of this include:

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 Knowing a troll's regeneration is blocked by fire damage and telling your party to use

fire attacks. Even if your character has never encountered or researched a Troll.

 Reading a module ahead of me and avoiding traps you know are there.

 Acting on a "feeling" or assumption about an NPC's Identity without in-game clues.

 Saying you want to make a Perception Check to hear a conversation you were unaware

of that 2 other party members are having in Secret, that they didn't tell anyone else

they were having.

 If your character is in one room it is strongly discouraged that you have them for no

reason move to another room after, learning out of game that something interesting

or relevant is happening in another room. Your character would not know this was

happening, unless another character told them. (This is why we don't split the party)

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 **How much Narrative control do the players have? **I allow my players to have a lot of Narrative

control, specially over their own character, if they have an idea, or a suggestion that they believe could

enhance the vibe, the mood, the ambience, or the suspense I am all ears so long as it isn't game breaking.

Now specifically over their own character they have full Narrative Control, I will never tell you how your

character feels in a given moment, or what they are doing (Unless they are being charmed, or Forced to

do so by an outside force, such as a spell, Intimidation, or Persuasion)

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** What is the General tone of the Game?** The general Tone of the game is Horror, Suspense,

Mystery, Dark, Gothic, Think Bloodborne, Dark souls, Demon Souls. Now, that doesn't mean

there wont be light hearted moments, or happy moments! We create our own happiness, and I

believe that you all will become the light in the Darkness that is Barovia!

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 **When can a Situation be Retconned, or taken back?** Almost Never. Actions have consequences.

Greed is Punished. Think, before you do. If I ask you "Are you sure" and you say yes, and you do not like

the result of your ac on that is on you, not me. I believe big actions, have big consequences. I believe High

risk, High reward. I believe in the butterfly effect. Actions from session 1 can, and will effect sessions down

the road, in ways you may, or may not ever figure out. An example of this Below:

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Party: sent on a quest to retrieve a cursed item of misfortune.

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Rogue: Stumbles upon an ornate box covered in chains, Holy symbols, and Sealed with defensive wards, and locked tight with a golden lock, sitting atop the box is a note that reads "Do not Open, Evil Inside"

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Fighter: Watching over Silvers characters shoulder.

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Rogue: Dispels the wards, Breaks the Chains and Unlocks the lock, and Opens the box, without thinking because he wants what is inside.

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Fighter: Snatches up the item inside as soon as Silvers character opens the box, without thinking

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ME the DM: Fightet are you sure you want to do that, Silvers Character was going to take the Item

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Fighter: Yes Im sure.

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me the DM: Ok "As your hand grasps around the Black stone that was sealed in the box, you feel a searing pain melt through your gauntlet, and into the flesh of your Palm, You turn your hand over and see that the stone has embedded itself into your melted flesh, Black tendrils and necrotic energy emanate, and pulse from the stone, tainting your body with dark necrotic energy..... with each pulse you are overcome with worry... and feel as though anything...and everything can... and will go wrong...." Out of game, you receive a permanent -1 to all skill checks, and you have disadvantage on all attack rolls made using a weapon wielded by the hand that has the stone embedded within it.

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Fighter: That's fucking bullshit dude what the fuck, you just ruined my character...

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me the DM: No your actions resulted in a consequence.

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** Is Player vs Player Conflict/Combat ok?** Yes Player vs Player conflict and combat is allowed. If it

is something your character would truly do. Then do it. (So long as it doesn't go against any of

the other players Triggers/Topics/Phobias)

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 **What are some of my pet peeves as a Dungeon Master?**

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 Talking while I am trying to describe a scene.

 Talking over each other.

 Not paying attention/

 Not being prepared for your turn in combat, while the others are taking their turn, you

should be thinking of your next move, or planning with your party. (If you are UNSURE of what to do, this can be a roleplay opportunity, Ask in character what your party thinks you should do and it can result in a good RP moment!)

 Not knowing what your character does. *I am willing to help when needed or to clarify

a question about a spell, feature or trait, but I shouldn't have to tell you 20 times, how

to roll to attack*

 Keep track of your own inventory specifically Ammunition, Consumables, and Weight.

 Keep track of your own Spell Slots, health Points, Temporary Hit Points, Hit Dice, and

Dice Pools.

 Trampling scenes, if players or a player is having a special scene or moment, do not

insert yourself into that scene just to try to take away the spotlight, I want everyone to

have moments to shine. For example, If a character is in a completely different room,

and he or she has found a very special item or something very meaningful, do not say

"OH I GO INTO THE ROOM TOO" after just learning that something interesting is

happening. That is metagaming, and the metagaming Pidgeon goes CooCoo.

This ruins scenes and can be disheartening for players.

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***4. Campaign Framework***

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 **What is the Accessibility of Magic and General level of Technology?** Magic is very accessible in

barovia, it is a magical land cursed by dark powers, Technology is similar to that of a Medieval

society. Guns, and firearms are VERY RARE in barovia, by the book, and accurate to the lore,

there is only ever men on of a single firearm in all of Barovia, i will not tell you where it is, for

that would be a spoiler!

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 **What is the Starting level?** We are staring at level 3, that means you as a character have

already done some adventuring in your day, you aren't a noob when it comes to combat and

you have had a taste of action. That also means that as an adventuring party, your party has

leveled up and traveled together for some me, keep that in mind when creating your

characters backstories, and figuring out why your characters are together in a party!

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***5. House Rules***

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 **Generating Character Stats:** At my table, we roll 4d6and drop the lowest roll. Rerolling any 1's

you roll. I prefer it if the stats are rolled in front of me, or on Camera that way I can see that no

shenanigans are being put in place. Daz and Ben have already rolled their stats in front of me.

Alternatively, I can roll your stats for you without bias, and i can tell you what I rolled, and you

can distribute them to your liking.

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 **Leveling Up:** I decide when you level up, mostly it will be tied to big moments and milestones

such as defeating a major Antagonist, Completing a quest arc or Surviving an extremely

dangerous dungeon. However since y'all are level 3, it will probably be a few sessions before

you guys level up again.

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 **Alignment:** You can play any alignment you want, but keep in mind if you play an evil

character, there may be consequences, or on the flip side, if you play a good character who

refuses to kill the big bad, and allows him to escape, that could also have huge consequences.

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 **Natural 20 Crits and Natural 1's:** Rolling a Natural 20 does not guarantee you success.

however if you DO succeed, there will be benefits. On the flip side, rolling a Natural 1 does not

guarantee failure. However with a Natural 1 there will almost always be some sort of bad

thing happen.

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** Rolling with Emphasis or as I call it "Odds or Evens": **If there is something you REALLY want to

try, that could either go AMAZINGLY well, or HORRIBLY wrong, sometimes I will allow you to

roll "Odds or Evens" where you will either roll, a Natural 20, or a Natural 1, there is no in

between. The rules of this are on a case by case basis, and I wont always allow players to roll

odds or evens. There will also be times where I will have you roll with Disadvantage, where

you will be required to roll 2 dice and the resulting rolls have to BOTH be Odd, or Even,

depending on what you called. Other times, I will say you have advantage, where you may roll

2 dice, and you will only be required to roll 1, odd or even, depending on whichever you

called.

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 **Heroic Inspiration:** Players can earn heroic Inspiration during sessions by performing well, or

doing something Epic! Heroic Inspiration allows you to turn back time, and re roll an attack,

Saving Throw, or Skill check. This allows you to possibly succeed where you previously failed.

Players can have 1 Heroic Inspiration at a time.

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 **Character Death and Regeneration:** Character Death is most of the time permanent.

Up until you meet certain people in Barovia. Barovia is almost Baron and Diamonds are few

and far between. However there are other means of Resurrecting dead allies that hopefully

you wont ever find out about. Death, Reincarnation, and Resurrection work differently in barovia. If

you do manage to resurrect an ally, and 24 hours has past they will suffer from Resurrection

Madness. To Determine the Madness I will roll on the Indefinite Madness table in the DMG.

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** Death Saves:** Deaths Saves will be rolled by me, in Secret. Additionally. Death Saves do not reset after battle,

when you regain HP, or when you are stabilized. They reset by taking a Long rest or by succeeding 3 Death Saves. Whenever you start your turn with 0 Hit

Points, I will begin making your Death Saving Throws to determine whether you creep closer to death or hang on to life.

Unlike other saving throws, this one isn’t tied to an ability score. You’re in the hands of fate now.

Three Successes/Failures. Roll 1d20. If the roll is 10 or higher, you succeed. Otherwise, you fail. A success or failure has no effect by itself.

On your third success, you become Stable and your Failed Death Saves reset. On your third failure however, you die.

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I Understand that this is High stakes, so to combat it a little bit, rolling a Natural 1 on a Death save will NO LONGER result in 2 Failed Death Saving throws and rolling a Natural 20 will still result in 2 successes

Damage at 0 Hit Points. If you take any damage while you have 0 Hit Points, you suffer a Death Saving Throw failure. Even if the damage is a from a crit, you will still only gain 1 failed death saving throw. You can only gain 1 failed death saving throw in this way between your death saving throw roles.

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 **Is Homebrew allowed?** YES Homebrew is allowed, I will be happy to make Homebrew spells,

Items, Feats, Traits, Races, backgrounds, or anything else you can think of, so long as it is not

Game breaking! To do this, i will probably get with you 1 on 1, and talk about what you are wanting, and I will create something that I feel is balanced, and accurate to what you are asking for. If I feel like an idea or something would be too Over powered or game changing, I will let you know.

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 **Using Consumables:** Consumables that would normally require a full action to use, now only cost a bonus action to use. However you have the option of using a full action, in order to gain the full effect of the consumable without rolling any dice, you just automatically gain the maximum value. (Administering a consumable to another creature still takes a full action, and you would still roll any dice you would normally roll)

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 **Casting Multiple Spells in a Single Turn:** If you have the Resoarces, you may cast multiple spells during your turn. For example if you as a sorcerer wanted to cast a 1st level Expeditious retreat as a bonus action, and then cast Chromatic Orb as a 1st level Spell as an Action you could. So long as you have the spell slots, and the actions available. (This is something new I'm trying, and if I deem it too overpowered, reserve the right to remove it)