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I've been on a kick lately as a challenge to push my GM skills towards a genre I've never tried before. So after listening to Puffin Forests Curse of Strahd replay, seeing endless TikToks pertaining to Strahd/CoS, and investing in the Gothic Horror campaign Compendium (Legendary Games has such great stuff), I'm ready to start crafting my dark campaign.
There's a few beats I want to hit in writing this campaign out. I've got a ton of side quests/miniventures, but I was lacking a central theme or overarching bad guy, which was solved somewhat by the story of Strahd von Zarovich.
The beats I want to hit (irrelevant of Curse of Strahd)
-exploring Ustalav and its various counties.
-Bastardhall (I have a megadungeon map I intend to flesh out that I bought from DrivethruRPG, and I intend to use the summaries and notes from Rule of Fear and F. Wesley Schneider to fill in what has already been done)
-The dramatic difference between Caliphas' "sophistication" and the rurals superstitious nature.
Based on what I've gotten from reading about Curse of Strahd, there's several elements I'd love to bring in. Waiting on the actual book to come in so I can browse it myself.
-The near constant presence of Strahd (or our stand in Strahd) making the party completely and utterly hating the guy.
-The various "oh crap" moments of realizations (Strahd walking upon the sacred grounds of the church, realizing the scrying effect upon saying his name, etc).
-The "no win" decisions where the party is trying to mitigate harm as much as possible.
So far here's what I've got. I am trying to minimize the alterations to pre-established Golarion lore
-Strahd von Zarovich is going to be replaced by Cayderris Arudora and Bastardhall will serve as my Castle Ravenloft. While the original Arudora who was granted the Castle may have been a paladin, his family and descendants would not necessarily be. I'm thinking Cayderris is the original paladins son, and turned to dark powers (Zon-Kuthon seems fitting, as does Urgathoa), and he has been bound to Castle Arudora since.
-The brides are going to be more plentiful, with different backgrounds and themes to separate them in terms of powers, abilities, and feel. Some of them will be from the various Black Coaches that emerge from Bastardhall every 25 years (a change from the 100 in the book).
-Speaking of the Black Coaches, those are sent out to get the current incarnation of Tatiana, plus 6 other people of interest to Cayderris (for brides, servants, thralls, or whatever else strikes his fancy; at worst those will be the hooks to get the party to go to Bastardhall).
-To keep the idea of the reincarnated souls, I'm ruling that Samsarans are virtually indistinguishable from regular humans and Irena/Tatiana is one of them each time.
-The villages can port over easy enough.
-The Vistani port over really well with Varisian nomads, so little changes needed there.
However, there's four MAJOR hiccups I'm running into.
1. Strahd was very much into everyones business in Barovia; everyone knows him, and is rightly terrified of him. Cayderris does not have that benefit. At most, logically, he's only been on the loose for 100 years since the death of Aroden "weakened" the hold on what was binding him physically to Bastardhall. Now he's free to roam. But how to build up that same level of terrifying reputation where the various Counts and nobility haven't just tried to burn down Bastardhall again? How have the locals across Ustalav not heard of him?
2. Location. Bastardhall and Maiserene are on the furthest southeastern corner of Ustalav. I could move it, but again, I like keeping things as written as much as possible. Something about it being so close to Numeria and the River Kingdoms just...doesn't strike me as a good fit. However, one of the key components and motivations of Curse of Strahd is getting out of Barovia; it's just a quick jaunt and poof, they're out of Ustalav.
3. Which brings us to the next issue I have; the Mists of Ravenloft. I do not want to use the Dark Powers/Mists of Ravenloft. Ancient curses/pissed off gods are fine; Aroden "locking" the evil Cayderris in Bastardhall is fine with me, but the Dark Powers don't fit (as far as I can tell). And the Mists of Ravenloft only work really as either a railroad or on a demi-plane (which I'm running this on the prime material, so that's out). Without escape as a motivation, it needs to be personal for the party.
4. Curse of Strahd is built around the repeated cycle of Strahd pursuing Tatianas soul to wed her and SOMETHING always sabotaging that (presumably at the behest of the Dark Powers). I don't quite know how to get around this particular issue. When its time to sabotage Strahd, the Dark Powers bring in adventurers and let them run their course, rinse and repeat. I'm drawing a blank on how Cayderris can keep getting thwarted at least 12 times from wedding Tatianas new soul. Also- Strahds curse is that he can never marry Tatiana; doing so breaks the curse and turns him loose (IIRC, outside of Barovia). If Cayderris manages to wed his "Tatiana", what will happen?
I'm looking for ideas, critiques, and solutions.
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I've been diving into research on how to run this style of campaign; the bigger thing I need help with is getting the lore to work within a logical step.
I'm wondering if I should make Cayderris' goals multiply; he doesn't just want Tatiana. He's after something else- either aiding/destroying the Whispering Way (as one of the vampires who resisted Tar-Barphons influence? I'd have to double check the timeline).
But the query goes to what could these goals be? The classic vampire trope of "blocking out the sun" to turn the vampire plagues loose comes to mind. The Hungering of Shadows ritual happening from Bastardhall would serve this purpose on a threatening scale to not only Ustalav, but the River Kingdoms (ill-equipped to defend against it) Razmiran (also ill-equipped), The Worldwound/Mendev (as if they further issues), and Numeria (could be interesting to draw them into it, but they'd likely keep their distance), and campaign-wise creates a chase for 6 ioun stones as McGuffins between the party and Cayderris.
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I'm not worried about the statistical conversion. That's easy enough to handle on my own with Hero Lab and whatever twists I plan to throw (Cayderris isn't a wizard for example; he's an oracle with the Shadow mystery).
What I need help is building Cayderris' LORE to fill the Strahd role. I'm thinking Cayderris can move across Ustalav, but being so far from Bastardhall weakens him (he's a cursed lord from HA, so even killing him in this state is useless) and he'll just return to Bastardhall.
After rattling it around in my brain for the day, here's what I have as an outline.
Arodens prophecy;
Upon the day the lost heir returns, he shall bring forth an age of anarchy and the rise of fear.
When the mountains move and the rivers shiver, the rain will fall to the heavens.
It shall be on that day that myth becomes truth, the dark one shall mark a new unity and an end to hunger.
The Corrupted of the Incorruptible, when the son entwines two souls in matrimony, will the Daughter walk free.
Eragyl, the original patriarch of the Arudora family, was a well known paladin of Shelyn was the original guardian of Castle Arudora. Eragyl was the paragon of everything a paladin of Shelyn would idolize; kind, caring, loving, handsome, powerful. The humble envy of all, Eragyl, after a lifetime of strife and battle, has a romantic run-in during his later years with a beautiful woman. The woman turned out to be Urgathoa in disguise.
Eragyl returned to his families castle with the infant child, requesting access to the library. The scullery maid, noting that it appeared to be Eragyl, let the traveler in.
Eragyl, not knowing what devastation his daughter could be capable of, had panicked and knew the child could not make it to adulthood. But he couldn't bring himself to harm his daughter. So he dug out the ancient rituals and spells, and managed to beseech Aroden to lock his daughter in stasis in Castle Arudora. Aroden granted this request, hiding them in the depths away from scrying eyes, and he warded it intensely.
However, Eragyl and Aroden, in their haste to act, did not factor in Eragyls son, Cayderris. Cayderris, a handsome and brilliant youth himself, had his own secret. He craved a life of excess, and the Whispering Way along with Urgathoa were all to happy to use the troubled youth and empower him. That same day, the woman he had been romantically pursuing (Tatiana had fallen into the lake outside Maiserene off the bridge and died. Urgathoa, in her rage at Arodens stasis answer to her daughter, turned Cayderris into a vampire, forever marking him as her agent. Cayderris led the slaughter of the people of Maiserene (who had mocked him in life for Tatianas unrequited affections). Aroden cursed Cayderris, binding him to the surrounding area around the Castle.
Cayderris, in turn, sent the Black Coaches out to retrieve the closest blood relatives available. He spent his nights pouring ove the thousands of tomes in the Library, and eventually reached two conclusions; his beloved Tatiana would be reborn as a fresh body giving him another chance to claim her. And he would serve to punish the unjust world by helping to unleash the Whispering Tyrant again.
Cayderris left a simulacrum of himself while he entered the stasis field with his father and sister to act in his stead. The field protected them when the Castle had been destroyed, and it would keep the vampire from needing to feed. The simulacrum continued over the years gathering relatives and turning them to vampirism, storing their lifeblood, and in general sustaining the castle until the original awoke.
When Aroden died, the stasis field was removed. Free, Cayderris began immediately feeding his sister what they had acquired over the years. He sent the coaches out again in search of new brides. Cayderris sensed the limits of his curse was weakened as well. Cayderris immediately began integrating himself to the modern nobility.
Cayderris is housing what is effectively a vampiric army underneath Bastardhall. Using magic and enslaved chattel, he's able to keep his army effectively in stasis and sustained. His ultimate goals are to block out the sun using an *eldritch plot machine*, and wed his stand in-Tatiana. Vampires from across Ustalav and especially those hiding under Caliphas will be able to directly help in taking over.
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I'm looking for ideas, critiques, and solutions.
Personally I'd start with something small, like an one-shot. There I could try to invoke the feeling, test my players' reactions and adapt. If it works out well enough, I'd go for the campaign, otherwise I'd try the next small step.
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an alternative is to Magic Jar a suitable host (or clone){employ a magic item for 1/d renew of the spell} then put your original body in stasis. This leave your 'soul' free to make decisions while freeing your body from the need to feed on blood. However, curses being what they are tend to follow the soul and at some point the current host may turn vampiric...
another method is a magic item that grants Possession.
Soulbound Doll or Mannequin using Tatiana as the source (or her mother)? Certainly he'll have gathered tokens(personal items) of the Tatianas over the years... voodoo dolls? Scrying to find her current soul (clearly an obsession).as undead vampire Moroi don't age - it's really just a matter of having a source of negative energy to feed upon and for general renewal.
items of interest
Osirian Spirit Jar, none, $26250.
Thrum of the Hidden Soul, none, $32000.
Pallid Crystal, neck, $3300.
Collar of Unliving Servitude, neck, $14000. {vassal}
Urgathoa's Gluttony
I had just learned that the Moroi and the other vampires are not from the negative energy plane like I figured, but rather the plane of shadow, which works really well. I love the idea of gathering the items over the years. The blood feeding can be handled through spells and careful use of the captured every X years.
I'm looking for ideas, critiques, and solutions.Personally I'd start with something small, like an one-shot. There I could try to invoke the feeling, test my players' reactions and adapt. If it works out well enough, I'd go for the campaign, otherwise I'd try the next small step.
I've mentioned the theme of the campaign I'm looking for to them and they seem interested. Currently we're running a fast tracked Wrath of the Righteous and once that's complete this will begin hopefully (one of my players is active military and just got placed on orders to leave very shortly despite him supposed to be sticking around the area until retirement, so we may lose him and his wife). I've done the research on how to run this kind of game and its various pitfalls.
My biggest concern is more lore and logic; I can handle stats, builds, etc. easily enough. I utterly disdain the IDEA of the demi-planes of dread that make up Ravenloft, but I like the idea of a Strahd-esque villain and the story associated with him. One of my players dabbles in 5e, and is familiar with Curse of Strahd.
I'm curious what aspects of the domains in Ravenloft you dislike? There have been some mechanical and lore shifts in the current incarnation, even between 2e and 3e there were some noteworthy shifts.
Specifically, I dislike the Dark Powers involvement, the mists of Ravenloft, the demiplane of Dread concept, the limited area to travel of just Barovia. On its own, it's fine I suppose. As a GM, and one specializing in the Golarion setting, it strikes me as "bleh" to have an obvious gothic horror area like Ustalav available and not use the most regarded gothic horror campaign (Curse of Strahd) together. I get there's some retweaking of stats (easy) and lore (not so easy, hence my call for help) that has to be done, but in reality, I want my cake and to eat it too. And if someone else can benefit from my efforts, cool.
as I said before, it's just a heavy handed GM method to create the backdrop for the campaign... it just has to just be believable enough. The only thing that made sense is the dark powers toyed with its denizens and tortured them for amusement, I'd rather think of it as some plane of depressing purgatory or minor hell (aka - the evil GM). The sad part is you need a clever GM with a sense of drama or the dramatic to make it work.
One of the often used plot tropes is asking, "What's the worst that can happen?" then categorize those by desired emotional outcome and use that. You want to tweak different emotions and not do the same thing repeatedly. Shakespeare's & classic Greek tragedies are often mined.
I get what you're saying Azathoth, and this is my polite rebuttal.
I think of heavy handed GM's, I think of the ones who railroad completely and utterly to achieve their "ideal" imagery for their campaign to move the plot in such a way that they desire.
As a preparation-focused GM, I do not like railroading unless the group themselves want that guidance (our Wrath of the Righteous campaign we have compared to Diablo in that sense; they go to X, destroy demons and cultists with a brutal efficiency that would make the KGB envious, return to base and get the next destination, check on story, rinse and repeat) for that particular campaign.
To me, in order to create an organic story, we need a good understanding of the motivations, background, and history of those involved. This includes the PC's. NPC's are important to understand how they'll react and adjust to PC shenanigans. It's impossible to try to plan for every action the party and players may come up with, so the ability to fall back on improvising with a set of integral guidelines (X character is trying to achieve A, but for N reason would choose Y route even though Z Z method is more practical) when PC's do PC things.
By having the past established, I can adjust to situations as we go.
As far as the drama trope of worst case scenario situations, that is very much a staple of Curse of Strahd and Ravenloft in general. It makes those victories that much sweeter when you can get them, even the small victories.
A partial answer to some of your original requests. Good Gothic horror is all about motivation, motivation to the point where what seems like good actions lead to temptation to extremes and there-in opening the door to evil. The twist is that the consequences that flow from giving in to temptation represent karma and fuel the tragedy. If you aren't using the Dark Powers to act as the arbiters of karma and temptation, clarity on who /what is filling that role can help. Maybe someone or something involved in the Whispering Way or even Tar-Baphon himself was the original curser after Cayderris' obsession lead to him getting distracted and messing up some grander scheme?
I would also suggest that you write campaign traits, so you can give the PCs some choice, but also help build in connections and motivations to Cayderris brides and depredations. I wouldn't necessarily map out all 12 incarnations, but a few more recent ones can help you establish both the basis of those traits and even why other nobles are terrified. Things like murdering a bunch of nobles who declined the wedding invitation and the new 'Tatiana' taking her life in horror would be one example.
Oooo...Gallowspire is a bit far out from Bastardhall, but I do like the idea of Tar-Barphon using some degree of influence as well; lore/stat wise the Tyrant could still feasibly screw with someones day even still imprisoned.
If we were going to have a "replacement" set of dark powers to at least pull and influence, then logically we need contrast between them.
Tar-Barphon (wants out of Gallowspire)
Urgathoa (her daughter is there, and she is always down to promote excess)
Nadiri (hopeless romance and tragic suicide; she's bound to take an eye in this, even potentially being )
And for a fourth, I'm thinking a fey of some sort twisted by the Tyrants influence on Ustalav (we're close enough to the River Kingdoms to justify it).
We could also throw in a Great Old One brought by a piece of the flying stuff in Numeria, or a rogue demon from the Worldwound.
Campaign traits aren't a bad idea. During session 0 I planned on doing a questionnaire of sorts to build team history and cohesion. A few of those questions may get rolled into events linked to Cayderris, the Black Coaches, and even Tatiana, and I should be able to find some other campaign traits to cannibalize for mechanics and refluff.
I do like the idea of Tatiana almost always succumbing to self-deletion in some way despite Cayderris' best efforts. The wedding idea is great, I will be pocketing that idea for the most recent incarnation (24-25 years ago as of campaign start date).
The brides themselves I'm thinking are more likely women who managed to catch his eye through some manner (mostly adventurers who happened through Ustalav at the wrong time), and were turned; he views them as playthings rather than his true affection. They also can work as adequate "sub bosses" to showcase the flair of different areas across Golarion. I've got ideas for some that include a Mwangi summoner focused on dogs (including a Cerberus like eidolon), an Aldori swordlord, a halfling rogue or bard from Varisia, and maybe a proper necromancer of some sort from the Whispering Way who's fallen under his sway who also serves to keep the others in line.
The brides could also open up a potential PC tie-in or two and once or twice they may have been responsible for sabotaging past Tatiana's. Jealousy would be one motivation, but a love triangle of sorts would be another.
I like you. My players may not, but that's okay.