Dungeons & Dragons Returns to Ravenloft in Curse of Strahd

StewShearerOld

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Jan 5, 2013
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Dungeons & Dragons Returns to Ravenloft in Curse of Strahd

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The new Curse of Strahd adventure and supplement book will release on March 15th and cost $49.95.

In 1983, the <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/dungeons%20and%20dragons>Dungeons & Dragons module Ravenloft was published. Following players through the gothic Castle <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/tabletop/columns/thegauntlett/12894-Ravenloft-The-Horror-Version-of-Dungeons-Dragons>Ravenloft, it's considered by many tabletop gamers to be one of the essential classic D&D adventures. It should serve as no surprise, in turn, that Wizards of the Coast would want to revisit the setting with their highly successful Dungeon & Dragons 5th edition.

In an announcement <a href=http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/news/return-ravenloft>on Monday, the game company unveiled Curse of Strahd, a campaign and setting supplement releasing on March 15th. The new adventure will return players to Castle Ravenloft and the surrounding countryside of Barovia where they'll have to "contend with the horrors" of Strahd's "evil will." Their only hope will be a fortune-teller named Madam Eva who, drawing random cards from her tarroka deck, will guide the players on adventures to serve Strahd and delay their inevitable deaths "for his amusement."

Curse of Strahd will be co-written by Tracy and Laura Hickman, the creators of the original Ravenloft adventure module. Speaking about the campaign, WotC story designer Chris Perkins expressed enthusiasm about the adventure and working with the Hickmans. "Tracy and Laura Hickman created a timeless villain whose faults reflect the darkest traits of humanity," he said. "I can't begin to describe what it's like to walk through the halls of Castle Ravenloft with its creators as your guides."

Curse of Strahd has been designed for players levels 1-10 and will include a variety of supplemental information for fans interested in the lands of Barovia. The book itself is currently available <a href=http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/curse-strahd>for pre-order and will cost 49.95. According to Wizards of the Coast, the company's partners at Gale Force 9 will also be producing a purchasable Tarokka deck for players interested in adding some physical flair to their adventures in the horror-laden lands of Strahd.

Source: <a href=http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/news/return-ravenloft>Dungeons & Dragons


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COMaestro

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May 24, 2010
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Funny, I recently repurchased the old Forbidden Lore boxed set for AD&D 2nd Ed, which had a Tarokka deck (to replace the one I had that was stolen last year). Not that I've really ever used the accessory in the past decade or more, but it was mine and I did like having it.
 

Cowabungaa

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And I will continue to ignore these kind of pre-made adventures and run my own stuff. Because screw cliches and constraints.

Does that sound really hipster? I don't know man, I never got the appeal of these kind of adventures. And I haven't even been GMing that long. Even as a player, when I know that a pre-made adventure is being made my first instinct is to somehow break it, though not as a boring murder-hobo.
 

SupahEwok

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Cowabungaa said:
Does that sound really hipster? I don't know man, I never got the appeal of these kind of adventures. And I haven't even been GMing that long. Even as a player, when I know that a pre-made adventure is being made my first instinct is to somehow break it, though not as a boring murder-hobo.
Time. Time is the appeal. When you're playing with 1 DM and 6 players, and the DM is in his 4th year of studying astrophysics, you'll realize how valuable having a pre-made adventure to cut most of the DM's prep time with is.

You might say that the solution is to get somebody else to DM but we're all busy in our own ways and he's the only one who really loves it anyway. Having your own world and adventures is nice but so much work, unless you're basically playing the improv game, which I personally don't think works very well for D&D thematically and anyway not everyone is capable of doing it.
 

go-10

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Cowabungaa said:
it's not hipster of you at all to think that, I was the same way when I first started DMing, but as the years gone by I started picking up some of these premade campaigns just to get ideas and the books look cool. To be honest there's a lot of interesting lore and the way they're built is very user friendly enough that you can inject hundreds of your own quest and story lines into the module

I'd suggest you at least give them a read and see how it works, it's DND being close minded is not a good idea :p
 

VoidWanderer

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Sep 17, 2011
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Cowabungaa said:
And I will continue to ignore these kind of pre-made adventures and run my own stuff. Because screw cliches and constraints.

Does that sound really hipster? I don't know man, I never got the appeal of these kind of adventures. And I haven't even been GMing that long. Even as a player, when I know that a pre-made adventure is being made my first instinct is to somehow break it, though not as a boring murder-hobo.
Personally I quite enjoy pre-made adventures because you can use it to get used the new mechanics of the game. I ran my group through the first part of the Dragon Queen adventure path, just to get everyone used to the system, and we loved it, despite the truly terrible treasure sections.

But after reading the 'Out of the Abyss' adventure where they have decent treasure this time, I think it will go over well. Besides there is no reason why you can't intersperse custom adventures in the middle of a book. If the fights are too easy max out monster HP and add more if required.

And my favourite hint to DMs, don't forget that Legendary actions are seperate to normal actions.
 

Rebel_Raven

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Jul 24, 2011
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I might wait until there's more out there. As much as I love ravenloft, I never really got to play the campaigns so much as I read the supplements,and absorbed the lore. If it has enough lore of the world in it, I'll probably look to pick it up, though. See where's where, and what's what, and who's who. I'd like to know what they brought over from before. I know it has some, but I'd like to go beyond what it says it has.
 

2xDouble

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Mar 15, 2010
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Fun coincidence: Magic: the Gathering, also from Wizards of the Coast, is releasing a new set around the same time, entitled Shadows over Innistrad. Innistrad, for those who aren't aware, is Magic's spooky, Gothic horror world, loaded with "traditional" zombies, werewolves, and vampires (among other classic media monsters).

Rather interesting that DnD returns to Ravenloft around the same time Magic returns to its own gothic horror world... innit, Strahd?
 

Willinium

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Jun 2, 2011
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Welp. . . *pulls out worn copy of " I,Strahd" * guess its time for me to not play any of the campaigns again.
 

JimB

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Apr 1, 2012
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It's weird that these kinds of products can make me nostalgic for products I never had any familiarity of, like the original Ravenloft material.