I am surprised this hasn't been posted here by now, it was put up on Enworld the other day that the new 5E adventure book will be the Curse of Strahd. Here is link and the info blurb.
Unravel the mysteries of Ravenloft® in this dread adventure for the world’s greatest roleplaying game
Under raging storm clouds, the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich stands silhouetted against the ancient walls of Castle Ravenloft. Rumbling thunder pounds the castle spires. The wind’s howling increases as he turns his gaze down toward the village of Barovia. Far below, yet not beyond his keen eyesight, a party of adventurers has just entered his domain. Strahd’s face forms the barest hint of a smile as his dark plan unfolds. He knew they were coming, and he knows why they came — all according to his plan. A lightning flash rips through the darkness, but Strahd is gone. Only the howling of the wind fills the midnight air. The master of Castle Ravenloft is having guests for dinner. And you are invited.
No confirmation one way or another whether this will be set on the actual Demiplane of Dread or if they intend to plop Barovia down somewhere in Faerun. I know I for one will be extremely disappointed if they go with the latter. Probably wont happen, but I would absolutely love for a Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft sourcebook in the vein of the SCAG to go along with this.
Hope its better than Expedition to Castle Ravenloft.. That was a real groaner.
Cool. Thanks for that.
I'd been wondering what was coming next. Glad they're testing the waters of other campaign settings. :)
The AP is probably set in Ravenloft, but maybe they'll set in the Forgotten Realms because that is where WotC is making its adventures now. Or they just won't say where it is exactly.
This is the third adventure set in Ravenlost Castle, the fourth with Strahd. So far, WotC's AP offering has been reashing old stuff, not innovating. A campaign setting would have been more interesting.
Meh.
The AP is probably set in Ravenloft, but maybe they'll set in the Forgotten Realms because that is where WotC is making its adventures now. Or they just won't say where it is exactly.
This is the third adventure set in Ravenlost Castle, the fourth with Strahd. So far, WotC's AP offering has been reashing old stuff, not innovating.
I'm all for revisiting older themes (none of the 5E APs have really been rehashes - at least not like the "Return to X" series they did in 3.5).
Most of my favourite Paizo APs are similarly throwbacks to the early stuff.
I6-Ravenloft (AD&D)
House of Strahd (AD&D 2ndEd)
Expedition to Castle Ravenloft (3.5)
I6 has enough pedigree it seems to get an iteration every other edition or so- but Ravenloft as a setting has been gone since Arthaus stopped their D20 line for it (shame, 'cause it was largely good stuff).
Interestingly, the Arthaus material might be a stumbling block to a full relaunch of the 'Loft- Pure blind speculation here, not sure how the rights shake out, but any new material or innovation they sank into the setting might not be something WotC can use...
I'm sure it will take place in Faerun, or at least at the beginning. You'll end up having to travel to the Shadowfell which will take you to Ravenloft where you confront Strahd at the end. That's my prediction. I doubt it will go completely Ravenloft. I am thinking the first 25-33% of the adventure takes place on Faerun.
I'm sure it will take place in Faerun, or at least at the beginning. You'll end up having to travel to the Shadowfell which will take you to Ravenloft where you confront Strahd at the end. That's my prediction. I doubt it will go completely Ravenloft. I am thinking the first 25-33% of the adventure takes place on Faerun.
From what was gleen of a now deleted web page on WotC's site, it is a tarokka reading that sends the PC to Castle Ravenloft and/or Ravenloft the setting.
There are many questions and we should know more today. WotC is doing a big media blitz.
Info is out. Seems the adventure starts in the FR and you are drawned into Barovia.
Heroes from the Forgotten Realms and other D&D worlds can easily be drawn into Strahd’s cursed land. Once there, they must contend with the horrors of Barovia.
The adventure sounds a lot like the original. http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?3164-CURSE-OF-STRAHD-Here-s-The-Of ficial-Announcement!#.Vp0giSrhDIU
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I just hope this where the Mystic class makes its appearance.
I must say this is the most exciting news I have had in a long time. I've been itching for a campaign that I can port over some of the monster hunting ideas I've seen in Witcher 3. Barovia sounds like a great option.
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I just hope this where the Mystic class makes its appearance.
Or maybe some interesting warlock pacts, like the Dark Powers, Tarokka Deck (that might make a better boon), and maybe some new cantrips, spells, and invocations that "resemble" PF's witch's hexes.
Maybe they will have a psychic magic or psionic heavy AP, like something dealing with gith and mindflayers and other astral sea shenanigans or Dark Sun, with new sub-races ("Mul" dwarves, desert elves, cannibal halflings) and backgrounds (gladiator, desert trader, escaped slave), bard colleges (college of poisin), cleric domains (elemental air, earth, fire, and water), druid circles (circle of the sun? circle of the wyrm?), fighters (pugilist, gladiator), paladin oaths (Templars), new draconic bloodlines, and arcane traditions (preservers, defilers).
I just hope this where the Mystic class makes its appearance.
Ravenloft isn't really known for psionics, much the opposite really as traditionally it tends to be pretty low magic across the board. Dark Sun is much more likely to be where psionics makes its reappearance.
Okay, but I'm not going to hope it's included in a supplement/adventure path WotC hasn't announced yet, you see?
Eh, no better or worse than making the six millionth Dracula movie.
And why reinvent the wheel if it's really just a 5E retread of I-6?
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They brought Tracy Hickman (the original author) in and they discussed all of this. It seems that they are widening the mists a bit and exploring more of Barovia. They have also created a random element that allows each run through to be different. It also has a shorter level gain for the PCs, going from 1-10, instead of the usual 1-15.
I am excited to see what they have done with this...
It seems that they are widening the mists a bit and exploring more of Barovia.
Translation: "Using the rest of the material we'd already created over the course of Ravenloft's run."
They have also created a random element that allows each run through to be different.
Translation: "That cool thing we did with House of Strahd is back."
I mean, and AD&D 1st/2nd ed conversion to 5E is no small undertaking, but...
I don't really have much interest in the campaign (I've never been impressed by vampire villains), but I am interested in whether it will be a true remake or whether they'll continue their approach of revisiting a classic theme but telling a quite different story.
I wonder whether the Icons of the Realms set that's about to release is going to have many Ravenloft figures? One would presume so, based on WotC's apparent 5E strategy.
Considering how many Ravenloft characters originally came from someplace else, a crossover is fairly easy.Partly because TSR made a point of obsessively cramming in references to their other campaign settings to point out the the Mists could reach anywhere...
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Sorry Cole, I do not share your pessimism. :) I like that they collaborated with the original creator/s and worked on expanding it into a mini-campaign.
Honestly, I never played House of Strahd, but I like the idea of giving the DM a variety of tools to run a coherent story a bunch of different ways, such that it can be an entirely different experience. If they can truly pull it off, great!
Honestly, I have approached their APs much the same way that I approached Paizo's. I use them for inspiration, but I won't run it until I have a way to make it mine. So far, it took a couple years and I am now ready to run Hoard of the Dragon Queen, so to be sure it may be a little while until I get to Strahd...
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I personally thought rage of demons was an excellent product and if house of strand is half as good I will be happy. One of my groups has only done one taster of 5e and I will probably run this for them. The combination of new system and not knowing what the monsters do should definitely up the fear factor!
Incidentally if you look at the vampire stat block in MM no longer does a vampire need to be a wizard to work. They can be murder machines of their own accord with the legendary rules.
The freeform nature of 5e and the amendments to channelng and favoured enemy make it better too. Those two things make undead heavy campaigns laughable.
The freeform nature of 5e and the amendments to channelng and favoured enemy make it better too. Those two things make undead heavy campaigns laughable.
How so?
5E Turn Undead mostly works on relatively low-level undead. It's really great against a horde of zombies, but it isn't going to faze a vampire lord.
Which is good, from a narrative perspective.
In a campaign which is 50%+ one type of enemy the favoured enemy bonus is substantial. +6 at 10th level and even +4 at 5th is a huge advantage in a game that uses d20 rolls to randomise chance.
In 5E favoured enemy doesn't increase to hit rolls as I understand it. It's more about information, tracking and interaction.
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I just picked this up and have been reading through it. The Castle from 1e is still there with what seems to be the usual and familiar trappings.
Strahd is detailed in the appendix, naturally.
Mike Schley, the cartographer for the product, is offering DM and player friendly digital maps on his site. However, BIG CAUTION HERE... his bundle does NOT include the maps for Castle Ravenloft itself. Those maps appear to have been recreated once again in isometric style and placed in the book throughout the chapter detailing the castle. I was hoping to run this online. But without overhead 2d maps to use for the castle, I'll have to make my own. So, points off there. Get with the program, Wizards!
Card-driven goals, treasure locations, helpful NPCs, etc. are still there.
There are also plenty of other quest locations to get PCs from level 1 to 10.
I don't know how well the adventure compares to Return to Castle Ravenloft from 3.5, but the 1e Ravenloft adventure is mostly fully included.
So far I've had a few quibbles about how certain evocative phrases were worded as I recall them from the 1e days. They sound more conversational in the 5e version, which threw me off from a reading enjoyment standpoint.
Mine arrives on Tuesday
Very excited
So my players got me this book for my birthday. Since one of my players has specifically requested for us to never play a Ravenloft adventure, we've decided to play it on the sessions that he can't make it.
My biggest question, however, is: should I run the game or play the game? My players have given me the option of being a player this time, and I'm not sure if I want to.
Knowing how the adventure plays out, would you rather run it or play in it?
(I'm asking this before I've cracked the book open or read any of the above posts).
Is the book grounded in the Forgotten Realms world or how is it written for world encompassment? Is it available in stores now? How does the plot mesh with previous Ravenloft/Strahd products? Does it assume that Expedition to Castle Ravenloft was never written? Does it assume that PCs destroyed Strahd in that adventure and somehow now he is back?
Is the book grounded in the Forgotten Realms world or how is it written for world encompassment? Is it available in stores now? How does the plot mesh with previous Ravenloft/Strahd products? Does it assume that Expedition to Castle Ravenloft was never written? Does it assume that PCs destroyed Strahd in that adventure and somehow now he is back?
I don't have the book, but from what I've read so far, it's a rewrite of the original module. They got the original author to help revisite and expand the module based on it's personal experience running the module, and adding ideas that came up after it was published.
So, short answer, everything that came after I6, is not taken in considaration.
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bookrat, I would play. It sounds like a fun romp, if you like horror tropes, and the ephemerality of it might suit the one time go of it. However, I would say that you should run it if you want to absorb any horror elements that you might incorporate into Out of the Abyss, say, though that could also be absorbed through play rather than GMing, so its your choice.
Really though, as an inveterate GM, playing is something that we tend to neglect. Go for it!
Yeah, give yourself a break from DMing and let someone else stretch their DM muscles. Should be a fun change of pace. :-D
It is substantially bigger than the 1st Ed module with Barovia expanded a lot. Mine arrived off amazon today. The full colour map is simply stunning. The poster maps are one of those things I think Wizards have always done really well.
From what I have read so far, it is dark, very dark. As one would expect from Ravenloft!
Thanks guys! I'll be playing this one. My players have decided that they don't want to play Out of the Abyss on the sessions that Brin misses, so we'll play Strahd instead. I'm making a nobleman gnome beastmaster ranger. Cicero will be the GM, and the other two players will be a fey blade warlock and a wild Mage. I have no more information on the other characters, and no idea when we'll start, because our first session won't be until Brin misses another session of OotA.
(If you're curious as to who these people are, check out my campaign log for Out of the Abyss).
Mine arrived too
Loving it so far
Its been an excellent read so far. Though I fail to understand why various people did not like the Expedition to Ravenloft beyond the layout of the book.
Though I fail to understand why various people did not like the Expedition to Ravenloft beyond the layout of the book.
Three big reasons, one of which has nothing to do with the actual content of the adventure...
1. It was a retread that changed a great many things seemingly for the hell of it (Half-Elf? Eyepatch? For why?)
2. It was very much mired in the 3.5 aesthetic ethos, and that made it one of the less "on-tone" I-6 retreads.
and the "unfair" one:
3. By publishing it, WotC effectively pulled the license from Arthaus, who had been producing generally excellent (Champions of Darkness and Heroes of Light were both pretty bad, but otherwise...) Ravenloft setting material, which was infinitely preferable, to most fans of Ravenloft, to yet another I-6 version.
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Started this on Monday. Had to print my own tarokka deck.
All very good thus far
Plays as well as it reads
For ref. KM by far my favourite paizo AP
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Its been an excellent read so far. Though I fail to understand why various people did not like the Expedition to Ravenloft beyond the layout of the book.
Two words... "Madam Eva". What in the name of the Nine Hells was that change about. I guess I should think myself lucky Strahd wasn't a Halfling or Gnome in that version. I can see it now "I vant to suck your knees".
My group now in there 5th session in CoS
They shot at some ravens, not knowing what some of them were
They then drew 2 raven based cards in the tarokka, and met vistani who told them to be nice to the ravens. They are now paranoid and feel they are doomed
Had hilarious time at the bonegrinder mill, turned into half a combat with some very entertaining play
So am trying to keep things as light as possible before slowly building up some dark tension
Very very good
No. WotC don't make any of their current releases available in PDF.. They only do that for products that are several years old.
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PDFs, as we all know, are the work of the devil.
They clearly don't have anything against PDFs per se, they're just not selling the print version concurrently with the electronic.