great work! why i like to hand out "mission/quest" prompt cards based on clues/information they found or is given to them from npcs. This also makes thing easier for the DM.
This was really helpful! The idea of Barovia being an open world stresses me out. This was so much better than the general advice to just 'send your players to the places you like best'. I hope to run it one day!
I have been toying with the idea of dividing the sun sword into pieces, harking back to the part of the module that says that Strahd saw the sword as a threat and tried to destroy it, but couldn't fully dispel the magic of its creation. I would expand a bit on that, and say Strahd managed to destroy the original crystal blade but it was replaced with a blade of pure, burning light emerging from the hilt, so instead he broke the hilt up into quillons, tang and pommel pieces and kept them hidden in different parts of his castle. His subsequent battle with the arch wizard scattered the fragments across Barovia. The Party finds one piece courtesy of the tarot card divination, perhaps alongside another of the artefacts like the Talisman of Ravenloft, but they don't initially know what it is. perhaps by talking to someone like Van Richten or another knowledgeable character, they can learn that this is the first fragment of the legendary Sun Sword, and it might be possible to reassemble the blade into a weapon of devastating power against the Undead - que ominous threats from Strahd, perhaps delivered in dreams initially, against pursuing such a course. As the party adventures they find clues about the location of the other pieces, and as they find them Strahd takes ever greater steps to stop them reassembling the sword. Finally the Party finds the last piece alongside Strahd's journal, which details how he divided the weapon and reveals that there is a fourth component - the 'soul of light', nothing less than the soul of his murdered brother Sergei that the party must recover from its imprisonment within the Amber Temple. The journal also contains clues that a sufficiently knowledgeable NPC can use to determine how to perform the ritual required to reassemble and re-power the blade, with Strahd making a last ditch effort to stop the players, maybe even tying to kidnap an important NPC or a party member to force the party to surrender the sword. Given how potent the Sun Sword is against Strahd, I like the idea of making the players work hard to recover the single most powerful weapon in the module.
Very useful! I'm definitely a DM/player who likes to have some idea of where to go next, open world does make me feel very lost at times. Also, I'd been curious, about 3 weeks ago in your first video in quite some time, you'd posted a video that said in the introduction that if we want a life update, there should be a short coming out about the same time, but I didn't see any short on your channel. Was a bit confused what that meant. Either way, glad you're back, and hope things have been well over the past year!
Thank you! And I fully intended to release a short video on the update, but didn’t because I found myself unable to find the words to communicate exactly what has happened over the last year. I will try again this week and hope to post it soon!
@@HalflingHobbies Oh, no worries! Here I thought I was just being silly and unable to find it. I'm just glad you're back and am enjoying having your videos again :)
I think I remember talking with you about this a long time ago, but something I've always wanted to do is run a Strahd campaign but set it in Barovia before everything went wrong. In my opinion, the world of the Strahd campaign is such a downer, everything is awful and feels hopeless, but it is filled with a TON of cool lore that was all just sort of there before everything went wrong. Playing a game where the players are initially set in the calm before the storm, where there is something in the air so to speak. The players have the chance to try and meet the Order of the Silver Dragon or a younger Van Richten and Ezmerelda, just generally exploring the world before and possibly have a chance to change things.
great work! why i like to hand out "mission/quest" prompt cards based on clues/information they found or is given to them from npcs. This also makes thing easier for the DM.
Love to see you again!!
Thank you! 😊
This was really helpful! The idea of Barovia being an open world stresses me out.
This was so much better than the general advice to just 'send your players to the places you like best'.
I hope to run it one day!
I’m so glad you found it helpful!
It is great to see you making videos like this one, it is so helpful. I'm hoping to run a Ravenloft campaign soon, so this is very helpful.
I am so glad! Thank you!
Hi!! Good to see you. Great video, too.
Hi! Thank you! 😁
I have been toying with the idea of dividing the sun sword into pieces, harking back to the part of the module that says that Strahd saw the sword as a threat and tried to destroy it, but couldn't fully dispel the magic of its creation. I would expand a bit on that, and say Strahd managed to destroy the original crystal blade but it was replaced with a blade of pure, burning light emerging from the hilt, so instead he broke the hilt up into quillons, tang and pommel pieces and kept them hidden in different parts of his castle. His subsequent battle with the arch wizard scattered the fragments across Barovia.
The Party finds one piece courtesy of the tarot card divination, perhaps alongside another of the artefacts like the Talisman of Ravenloft, but they don't initially know what it is. perhaps by talking to someone like Van Richten or another knowledgeable character, they can learn that this is the first fragment of the legendary Sun Sword, and it might be possible to reassemble the blade into a weapon of devastating power against the Undead - que ominous threats from Strahd, perhaps delivered in dreams initially, against pursuing such a course.
As the party adventures they find clues about the location of the other pieces, and as they find them Strahd takes ever greater steps to stop them reassembling the sword. Finally the Party finds the last piece alongside Strahd's journal, which details how he divided the weapon and reveals that there is a fourth component - the 'soul of light', nothing less than the soul of his murdered brother Sergei that the party must recover from its imprisonment within the Amber Temple. The journal also contains clues that a sufficiently knowledgeable NPC can use to determine how to perform the ritual required to reassemble and re-power the blade, with Strahd making a last ditch effort to stop the players, maybe even tying to kidnap an important NPC or a party member to force the party to surrender the sword.
Given how potent the Sun Sword is against Strahd, I like the idea of making the players work hard to recover the single most powerful weapon in the module.
Love that!! Such a great idea!
love your content keep it up!
Thank you so much 😁
Very useful! I'm definitely a DM/player who likes to have some idea of where to go next, open world does make me feel very lost at times.
Also, I'd been curious, about 3 weeks ago in your first video in quite some time, you'd posted a video that said in the introduction that if we want a life update, there should be a short coming out about the same time, but I didn't see any short on your channel. Was a bit confused what that meant. Either way, glad you're back, and hope things have been well over the past year!
Thank you! And I fully intended to release a short video on the update, but didn’t because I found myself unable to find the words to communicate exactly what has happened over the last year. I will try again this week and hope to post it soon!
@@HalflingHobbies Oh, no worries! Here I thought I was just being silly and unable to find it. I'm just glad you're back and am enjoying having your videos again :)
I think I remember talking with you about this a long time ago, but something I've always wanted to do is run a Strahd campaign but set it in Barovia before everything went wrong. In my opinion, the world of the Strahd campaign is such a downer, everything is awful and feels hopeless, but it is filled with a TON of cool lore that was all just sort of there before everything went wrong.
Playing a game where the players are initially set in the calm before the storm, where there is something in the air so to speak. The players have the chance to try and meet the Order of the Silver Dragon or a younger Van Richten and Ezmerelda, just generally exploring the world before and possibly have a chance to change things.
Love love love that idea!
Great video!
Thank you!
Hey, welcome back
Thanks! 😁
Interesting take!! How do you deal with PC death and horror in your game?
🎶 Promo*SM