I feel like you could be a scriptwriter or author or TV series showrunner. You touch upon a lot of impressive ideas. The idea that characters can "find" themselves in the darkness is one that really stood out to me. To me Dungeons and Dragons campaigns are usually not going to result in a complex interweaving of each PC's development arcs. But hearing your exposition on this module blew my mind, and expands my understanding of the possibilities of even a "hack and slash" ruleset like D&D.
@@jsl8461 absolutely! this module in particular can have a ton of time spent discovering your character and delve into the phsyce of people trying to get by and dealing with the darkness not only in the land, but in their own hearts!
Dragna was the DM for my very first D&D game, which was Curse of Strahd: Reloaded. After the ending, when we had brought the sun back to Barovia, he told us the true nature of RAW, and how it ended. I straight up told him, "Dude, if we had played that depressing, hopeless version, I would have quit before Krezek." Luckily, DC is an amazing DM, and an even better friend, so it all worked out.
My group has a group chat where we talk about the game and scheduling and the like. I like having Strahd joining the chat from time to time to mess with them from time to time.
I think the part of CoS I love the most is its replayability. The way you enter, the chaos of the reading, the tiny bits of information. There is so much your PCs may never interact with in a dozen games.
And you can play so many NPCs different ways. If Krezkov is visibly upset with red eyes and a sullen demeanor the game plays differently from if he's upset like a fed up Arthur Dent
Oh, as for Strahd, I run him way more as written. Everything is secondary to playing with whatever toys he may have in his domain. Ireena is a major concern for him, but the PCs are distracting him. And as for the ending, no the PCs would have to free Tatyana and Sergei, evict the Dark Powers, and bring Strahd to an afterlife outside of Barovia. It's so far from possible, this constantly plays out, and Strahd remains tormented. Tatyana is an idea, a carrot on a stick, he will never get it and even if he could sway one, she will soon be removed. This is his purgatory, and the only reason it isn't his hell is because he keeps fighting for distractions
Just left my CoS party on a cliffhanger, about to be completely surrounded by blights and druids, their stealth completely blown, and a sense of shear terror in the players when I said "and that's where we will leave off until next week"....DragnaCarta, thank you for giving me the inspiration to leave em on a cliffhanger!
ending on a cliffhanger leaves them wanting for next session, and then it avalanches. They get excited to play, you get excited to run, you get excited while playing, and it builds such awesome momentum!
@@NoFunAllowed as a rookie DM, I was floored by how effective this was! I’m easily gonna pepper this in, with cliff hangers every couple sessions. Immediate results....they asked me for my post-session write up 15 minutes after we wrapped....they were having a VC and needed clarification on something!
This was such a great video! It's my first time DMing, my PCs have just arrived at Vallaki and I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with the amount of plot hooks there, but listening to this helped me out by weeding and saving some of these for later sessions. Thanks so much for the insight, this is such a great campaign and all the community material makes my life so much easier.
for sure, the community really helps elevate this module to new heights! its a blast to go over, and whatever questions you may have about the campain, the people will help!
Big thanks to both you guys on this video! As a still fairly new DM (prolly just about 2 years now, with LMoP + Dragon of Icespire Peak, and some CP2020 under my belt), I found this module pretty overwhelming! Especially getting ready to go into Vallaki. Some really good advice in here that is helping me deal with managing that! Thanks again!
Great and insightful video, thanks! How can I telegraph the players the module expectations (they can't really change the world) at the beginning, without spoiling this possible end for them?
Definitely going to watch this! The first iterations of his work regarding COS inspired me to release my own (Hoaxness on the Reddit^^). Unfortunately with the whole covid we kinda stopped COS (I don't want to DM online), so kinda lost the motivation as well. But hopefully I'll come back and finish the rest of my series! Until then, I'll satiate myself with this video :)
Someone said( in our party of players/OOC) COS does not reward those who refuse to comprise their morals and rewards those who willingly compromise/trade their morals for power. BTW, we have been beaten up 70% of the time in our combats/actions in that regard, even though we have been patient and cautious. Example, My PC, toyed with taking a pact. When at the crypt in amber temple, said No thanks.(and paid the price for it/took back all the spells he gave and took more even had to roll an INT save TWICE to get new spells at Leveling!) One PC who did take a patron's pact , Starhd dusted him. Some others are doing that in their philosophy of "by any means necessary". Party is split right down the middle. ARGGG. A comedy of errors , but good drama none the less. Our motto, RUN AWAY AAAAA! LOL. A rude reminder that this is a horror themed, campaign. The theme song of this one is called "HOLIDAY IS BAROVIA(s spoof on Holiday in Cambodia by dead kennedys. IMHO. A tad bit frustrating.
@@NoFunAllowed and, we are missing dm's cues/ throwing us a bone because we are too patient and cautious.. also, I have avoided temptation to read ahead/ cheating. I would hate for anyone to do that while I Dmed a published game. Unaceptable. Delaying gratification is a good thing. Note added/ Just trying to understand mishaps
Returning, hey :) Stealing NPCs and/or the children of NPCs is a great idea! If(☝️) my characters form bonds I will use this! Also, using befriended NPCs to halt the blade of the group?! Delicious! *Chef's Kiss*
@@NoFunAllowed also, not wanting to add a new row of comments so I'm doing it here: pacing and time and where your players go and what they do... You can just offer them the info piecemeal. They get this info and find out that but this is more important so when they get back from this now they can do that and after oh look a new quest popped up where you have to go there where you'll do the new and suddenly two more pop up one is in the immediate area the other takes you back so you take care of the immediate then go back handle that now someone from a new area asks you to handle that annoying thing there...what's that?! That sounds like a promising lead for one of the tarots let's go there. Just be smart about it and you can put them on rails without them realising it. They might still want to do other stuff yaknow downtime, social that's ok you can introduce NPCs, thicken the plot but those aren't relevant yet cause they don't have hooks for it.
So I’m going to run this in a couple of months, but my players will be ~ level 5 when they start. Could you possibly post a video that discusses how to upscale this or slow roll their leveling ? I’d really like them to experience the whole module (even the deathhouse) and I don’t want to short change them.
I would simply tie Leveling up to achieving the tarokka cards, whether that be finding the items, recruiting the ally, and going to the place strahd will fight them!
It absolutely will. The difference between levels 1-3 and level 5 is a completely different game. Many challenges are incredibly trivialize when you have incredible magics and martial prowess and class features.
My group is full of murder hobos. Up until my friend joined the group, we consisted of two fighters and a cleric (me). What’s annoying is how I’m the most diplomatic person in my group and yet I’m the one who all of Barovia hates. Isn’t that ironic? Any thoughts as to why people would hate the diplomat?
from a "in game" perspective, it could be that the talker of the group is percieved as the face of a strange group of people who stir up trouble in the land. from a "out of game" perspective, it could be that the DM doesnt fully convey the hate to everyone equally.
@@NoFunAllowed True. My character has the noble background and is the charismatic and intelligent person in the group. She is also beautiful. Strahd and Rahadine especially hated me for some reason to the point where Rahadine killed my character and beat up her dead body. Lol 😂
4 - 6 weeks of content? What's that, 4 - 6 sessions if you do the standard 1 per week? I'm confused, is this guy saying CoS is supposed to last 4 - 6 sessions?
You're a nice guy and you have a lot of interesting stuff to say, but PLEASE let your guests do the talking! It feels like you're looking to your guest to give YOU content to talk about instead of interviewing and investigating THEIR thoughts. Sometimes that results in you repeating what they said through adamant agreement. Worse is when you passively disagree with them and don't give them a chance to respond- you just move on. I think your interviewing skills can be improved if you let your guests be the star.
Thank you so much for having me! It's always a pleasure to get a chance to geek out at length about CoS. :)
Haha for sure!
10/10 Would interview again haha
I feel like you could be a scriptwriter or author or TV series showrunner. You touch upon a lot of impressive ideas. The idea that characters can "find" themselves in the darkness is one that really stood out to me.
To me Dungeons and Dragons campaigns are usually not going to result in a complex interweaving of each PC's development arcs. But hearing your exposition on this module blew my mind, and expands my understanding of the possibilities of even a "hack and slash" ruleset like D&D.
@@jsl8461 absolutely! this module in particular can have a ton of time spent discovering your character and delve into the phsyce of people trying to get by and dealing with the darkness not only in the land, but in their own hearts!
You mentioned that you are still working on new content? Berez? What's this going to be?
Dragna was the DM for my very first D&D game, which was Curse of Strahd: Reloaded. After the ending, when we had brought the sun back to Barovia, he told us the true nature of RAW, and how it ended. I straight up told him, "Dude, if we had played that depressing, hopeless version, I would have quit before Krezek." Luckily, DC is an amazing DM, and an even better friend, so it all worked out.
heck yeah he is!
How does this video not have more views. This is a fantastic discussion on CoS. Thank you for putting this together
No problem! I plan on interviewing more and more people as well!
Honestly, this is one of the best discussions on CoS online. Thank you very much!
No problem! I hope to sit down with other people to talk more about this awesome module!
My group has a group chat where we talk about the game and scheduling and the like. I like having Strahd joining the chat from time to time to mess with them from time to time.
the true villain of all campaigns, scheduling haha!
I think the part of CoS I love the most is its replayability. The way you enter, the chaos of the reading, the tiny bits of information. There is so much your PCs may never interact with in a dozen games.
And you can play so many NPCs different ways. If Krezkov is visibly upset with red eyes and a sullen demeanor the game plays differently from if he's upset like a fed up Arthur Dent
heck yeah!
Oh, as for Strahd, I run him way more as written. Everything is secondary to playing with whatever toys he may have in his domain. Ireena is a major concern for him, but the PCs are distracting him.
And as for the ending, no the PCs would have to free Tatyana and Sergei, evict the Dark Powers, and bring Strahd to an afterlife outside of Barovia. It's so far from possible, this constantly plays out, and Strahd remains tormented. Tatyana is an idea, a carrot on a stick, he will never get it and even if he could sway one, she will soon be removed. This is his purgatory, and the only reason it isn't his hell is because he keeps fighting for distractions
Just left my CoS party on a cliffhanger, about to be completely surrounded by blights and druids, their stealth completely blown, and a sense of shear terror in the players when I said "and that's where we will leave off until next week"....DragnaCarta, thank you for giving me the inspiration to leave em on a cliffhanger!
ending on a cliffhanger leaves them wanting for next session, and then it avalanches. They get excited to play, you get excited to run, you get excited while playing, and it builds such awesome momentum!
@@NoFunAllowed as a rookie DM, I was floored by how effective this was! I’m easily gonna pepper this in, with cliff hangers every couple sessions. Immediate results....they asked me for my post-session write up 15 minutes after we wrapped....they were having a VC and needed clarification on something!
@@darthmayhem2523 haha thats an awesome feeling to have: engaged players that yearn for more! awesome stuff!
This was such a great video! It's my first time DMing, my PCs have just arrived at Vallaki and I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with the amount of plot hooks there, but listening to this helped me out by weeding and saving some of these for later sessions. Thanks so much for the insight, this is such a great campaign and all the community material makes my life so much easier.
for sure, the community really helps elevate this module to new heights! its a blast to go over, and whatever questions you may have about the campain, the people will help!
I really enjoyed this! Thank you both!
thank you!
Big thanks to both you guys on this video! As a still fairly new DM (prolly just about 2 years now, with LMoP + Dragon of Icespire Peak, and some CP2020 under my belt), I found this module pretty overwhelming! Especially getting ready to go into Vallaki. Some really good advice in here that is helping me deal with managing that!
Thanks again!
thank you! this module is daunting for sure, but thats what the community is for!
@@NoFunAllowed Yeah man. I've found a bunch of great resources. It's nice to see such a strong helpful community.
@@GeorgeCulbreth good to hear! I aim to add many resources to this community as well!
@@NoFunAllowed So Ive noticed. :) Already watched a few of your videos. Very helpful. Keep up the good work!
@@GeorgeCulbreth thank you and will do!
Holy shit this is so helpful. Thank you!
thank you and no problem!
Thank you for this Interview 👏👏👏👍👍👍
thank you for listening!
Great and insightful video, thanks! How can I telegraph the players the module expectations (they can't really change the world) at the beginning, without spoiling this possible end for them?
Definitely going to watch this! The first iterations of his work regarding COS inspired me to release my own (Hoaxness on the Reddit^^).
Unfortunately with the whole covid we kinda stopped COS (I don't want to DM online), so kinda lost the motivation as well. But hopefully I'll come back and finish the rest of my series!
Until then, I'll satiate myself with this video :)
haha thank you! theres lots of information to learn here, so feel free to dive on in!
Someone said( in our party of players/OOC) COS does not reward those who refuse to comprise their morals and rewards those who willingly compromise/trade their morals for power. BTW, we have been beaten up 70% of the time in our combats/actions in that regard, even though we have been patient and cautious. Example, My PC, toyed with taking a pact. When at the crypt in amber temple, said No thanks.(and paid the price for it/took back all the spells he gave and took more even had to roll an INT save TWICE to get new spells at Leveling!) One PC who did take a patron's pact , Starhd dusted him. Some others are doing that in their philosophy of "by any means necessary". Party is split right down the middle. ARGGG. A comedy of errors , but good drama none the less. Our motto, RUN AWAY AAAAA! LOL. A rude reminder that this is a horror themed, campaign. The theme song of this one is called "HOLIDAY IS BAROVIA(s spoof on Holiday in Cambodia by dead kennedys. IMHO. A tad bit frustrating.
haha experiences may differ!
@@NoFunAllowed and, we are missing dm's cues/ throwing us a bone because we are too patient and cautious.. also, I have avoided temptation to read ahead/ cheating. I would hate for anyone to do that while I Dmed a published game. Unaceptable. Delaying gratification is a good thing. Note added/ Just trying to understand mishaps
Returning, hey :)
Stealing NPCs and/or the children of NPCs is a great idea! If(☝️) my characters form bonds I will use this! Also, using befriended NPCs to halt the blade of the group?! Delicious! *Chef's Kiss*
haha those poor NPCs
@@NoFunAllowed also, not wanting to add a new row of comments so I'm doing it here: pacing and time and where your players go and what they do...
You can just offer them the info piecemeal.
They get this info and find out that but this is more important so when they get back from this now they can do that and after oh look a new quest popped up where you have to go there where you'll do the new and suddenly two more pop up one is in the immediate area the other takes you back so you take care of the immediate then go back handle that now someone from a new area asks you to handle that annoying thing there...what's that?! That sounds like a promising lead for one of the tarots let's go there.
Just be smart about it and you can put them on rails without them realising it.
They might still want to do other stuff yaknow downtime, social that's ok you can introduce NPCs, thicken the plot but those aren't relevant yet cause they don't have hooks for it.
So I’m going to run this in a couple of months, but my players will be ~ level 5 when they start.
Could you possibly post a video that discusses how to upscale this or slow roll their leveling ? I’d really like them to experience the whole module (even the deathhouse) and I don’t want to short change them.
I would simply tie Leveling up to achieving the tarokka cards, whether that be finding the items, recruiting the ally, and going to the place strahd will fight them!
@@NoFunAllowed wow, that’s simple enough… I like it. Do you think any of death house will be too easy for them?
It absolutely will. The difference between levels 1-3 and level 5 is a completely different game. Many challenges are incredibly trivialize when you have incredible magics and martial prowess and class features.
@@NoFunAllowed yeah, maybe I leave Rose and Thorn for another party
My group is full of murder hobos. Up until my friend joined the group, we consisted of two fighters and a cleric (me). What’s annoying is how I’m the most diplomatic person in my group and yet I’m the one who all of Barovia hates. Isn’t that ironic? Any thoughts as to why people would hate the diplomat?
from a "in game" perspective, it could be that the talker of the group is percieved as the face of a strange group of people who stir up trouble in the land. from a "out of game" perspective, it could be that the DM doesnt fully convey the hate to everyone equally.
@@NoFunAllowed True. My character has the noble background and is the charismatic and intelligent person in the group. She is also beautiful. Strahd and Rahadine especially hated me for some reason to the point where Rahadine killed my character and beat up her dead body. Lol 😂
I would like to add an underdark setting to the campaign ?
Any useful resources you guys recommend ?
Out of the Abyss has tons of great info and is already statted for 5e!
4 - 6 weeks of content? What's that, 4 - 6 sessions if you do the standard 1 per week? I'm confused, is this guy saying CoS is supposed to last 4 - 6 sessions?
Haha no no, 4 to 6 in game weeks!
@@NoFunAllowed Aaah well that makes more sense now.
You're a nice guy and you have a lot of interesting stuff to say, but PLEASE let your guests do the talking! It feels like you're looking to your guest to give YOU content to talk about instead of interviewing and investigating THEIR thoughts. Sometimes that results in you repeating what they said through adamant agreement. Worse is when you passively disagree with them and don't give them a chance to respond- you just move on. I think your interviewing skills can be improved if you let your guests be the star.
I ask questions and don't talk too much, and we go over some general questions beforehand. I'm sorry if it comes off as something bad here.