#curse of strahd liveblog

[ludinusdalesbian]

CoS prep liveblog part 3!

Finals have been killing me, but i got the chance to go back to the 2 players that sent backstories for their PCs so far! I have a few modifications I suggested, and im taking notes of what i can incorporate.

it’s shaping up to look like this will be a pretty heavily modified CoS, between the Vistani Reccommendations rewrites i’ll be using (by @ilananight13 on twitter/x, link here), other story cuts for PC/DM comfort, and my own added rewrites & additional modules. I’m very excited with the idea i have for what’s going to happen.

Non-spoilery: I’m going to be using fear mechanics based on ‘seeds of fear’ (VanRichten’s Guide), which should add some fun aspects to roleplay. I’ll also be using madness effects, (at the request of my PCs! yippee!) to emphasize the eldritch & otherworldy atmosphere that would really take a toll on the characters’ psyches.

Now to the larger story elements I’ve been plotting about… Spoilers below, if you’re somehow one of my PCs TURN BACK! Or if you don’t want CoS spoilers in general, though most of it is my own ideas for what I’ll do in this campaign specifically :)

I am taking the suggestion of the Vistani Rewrite to make a spell casting class within Barovia that uses the curse mechanics from the book. Probably will end up making my own curses/modding the ones given because… kinda yikes! But i am excited about the idea of a spell casting class/cult specific to Barovia because….

Strahd is trafficking souls. He shares with these mages a shred of dark power, and in return they can leave Barovia to capture people & bring them back, then do some spooky ass rituals to bind their souls to Barovia so Strahd has more playthings to rule over & torment for eternity. (I’m gonna make a cool soul binding location, I just haven’t gotten to it yet).

The PCs, you ask? Well, one of them told me their entire village was massacred. Oh, was that the evil Strahd mages who took the entire village to go bind their souls to eternal torment in Barovia? Huh, imagine that. That would be so crazy….

2 other PCs are playing siblings, a paladin & cleric, who bargained with the Raven Queen for their lives after a catastrophe. (Since this is a home game and I can do what I want, i’m creating my own Raven Queen who’s an amalgam of the Shadowfell diety, the Matron from the Exandria universe, and Norse myth).

The Queen’s plan is to send these two in as her unwitting emissaries, to get agents inside Barovia so she can dismantle it from the inside. Because the Raven Queen is Not happy that Strahd not only has control over some dead souls which SHOULD be hers but instead continue the warped reincarnation in Barovia, but on top of that, his mages are stealing more from her! The 2 PCs do not know that this is her intention for them, or even that she orchestrates their entry into the Mists.

#curse of strahd #curse of strahd liveblog #dnd #dm #forever dm #ttrpg

[vancekilo]

Curse of Strahd liveblog #2

I will refrain from making an Electric Boogaloo joke.

And then there were four... We had someone drop out. I'm pretty bummed about it but we were able to pick up two new players so that's cool! Our lineup for this session (June 30th) was...

Aspen the ??? Ranger

Ignacia the Aasimar Hexadin (aka me!)

Nadja the ??? Artificer

Stranger the ??? Rogue

We spent the night with the Vistani again. After being told a story by one of the men, we decided to check out what he'd told us. Basically, Strahd had a big fight with a wizard and the wizard fell into the Tser Falls and disappeared afterwards, leaving no trace of himself or a body beyond some residue from his spells. We spent a WONDERFUL amount of time deciding whether to approach the falls from the top or bottom before one of us realized the horses we bought would be hard pressed to climb the falls either way lol. So we ended up going to the bottom of the waterfall. Stranger rolled well and was able to swim to the bottom of the river and found some broken goggles, described as the kind that protect your eyes from sunlight sensitivity, but they are broken. I'm confused if these are supposed to be the wizard's? A wizard vampire? Wizire?

After that we decided to head to Valaki. On the way we heard a ton of wolves howling, and while we ended up bypassing them with a frankly appalling group stealth roll (I got a Nat 1 which put us at a measly 10), DM revealed that she'd rolled a *17*! to determine how many wolves. Wolves have pack tactics. I almost TPK'd us with a stealth roll. You're welcome, friends :)

After that we found a windmill that we were warned by a wereraven contained hags that people brought their children to in exchange for pies. Now, I might be in the minority, but that sounds like the pies are the children.

Also Aspen refused to not shoot the raven when she was a raven and I had to use my laying on of hands to heal her so she wouldn't, like, drop dead while explaining to us about the hags. Thanks, ASPEN.

After that we headed into Valaki proper. We talked our way in after noting more wolves, but in the form of heads on pikes outside the walls (pikes more like yikes am I right fellow teens?)

This is where it gets funnier because there is just a certain type of NPC that I love to be a dick to. It's a curse, honestly, but I can't help it. We ended up going to the Baron's house after seeing fliers his men were putting up, advertising different festivals. The wolf's head on a pike festival and the blazing sun festival.

So the Baron's been throwing festivals daily? weekly? hourly? in an attempt to get his people to lift their spirits and to bring back "the light". I just... Or rather, Ignacia, just could not wrap her mind around this. She kept trying to get him to build a school. I know I was annoying my fellow party members but I couldn't let it go. You know what makes kids happy? FOOD AND EDUCATION. I'm not sorry!!

Like, yes, he wants to help the "mist-touched" among his people but like, if they don't have souls I don't think fried dough is gonna do anything.

Anyway we wrapped back around to the pies and the Baron brought us two. Ignacia went to take a nibble to see if it was human flesh. Or child flesh, as she said, which made Nadja question 1. Why does Ignacia know what human flesh tastes like and 2. Is there a difference between adult and child? Shush. You don't know what Ignacia's done in her life >:(

Anyway Ignacia is now addicted to dream pies, Stranger pinged as "really fuckin' weird" when Aspen used her primeval awareness to check the town for undead, and the second pie is in Aspen's bag... calling to Ignacia... eat me...

And that's all for session 2! Next week we'll be intro'ing two new party members. I'm excited to see what they bring to the table!

Have a lovely 4th of July if you don't celebrate it, and have a terrible one if you do.

#curse of strahd #strahd the meow meow #cos #curse of strahd liveblog #ask to tag #long post

[sapphim]

Hey, I hope you're doing well. Just checking in. I hope you remember to take care of yourself, too. :)

this is very sweet, thank you!

I've been avoiding spending any more time than necessary at my desktop in the unnecessarily hot computer room, which I think is extremely self care of me. so I haven't had anything mod-related to post about. would you believe we've had 30+ days over 100 degrees this summer, even into september. man was not meant for such misery 😩 wake me up when etc.

idk I won't be like actively liveblogging my curse of strahd campaign but I have been reblogging spoopy shitposts (and the occasional overt spoiler-heavy fanart) over at @baroviavagueblog bc my players are only 6 sessions in and if I can't post them to the group chat then I have to put them somewhere so ig like that's there

so yeah I'm not dead lol ❤️ but I am flopped bonelessly on the floor directly under the ceiling fan, crying so I can achieve evaporative cooling thru my salty tears, because I am the world's biggest baby during the summertime

[wastelandcrown]

Mandatory Pinned Post.

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I'm Wil [He/Him or They/Them]. I've got a whole vampire thing going on, but I mainly reblog:

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-> Various D&D actual play podcasts (JRWI, WBN, D20, TAZ)

-> The Magnus Archives & Assorted Horror

-> Things related to vampires or wizards

-> Miscellaneous posts & pieces of art I enjoy

-> Interactive Fiction games

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I'm endeavouring to use Tumblr properly, so my rambling tag is "vampire rambles", and my liveblogging tag will be "[insert media] with wil". I might also post some art if I feel inclined.

#deliverance (d&d) is for my dungeons and dragons character

#Kiss of Strahd (d&d) is for my horror regency Curse of Strahd mini-campaign I run

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Feel free to send asks or interact. I do not bite! Despite the whole, y'know, fangs thing. 

#pinned post

[oh-atlas]

not ireena putting her bloodstained hands on ophelia's cheeks staining her mask red while thanking her for her intervening and saving her life 😭😳🥰

#liveblogging #ch: ophelia #game: curse of strahd

[estelanel]

did I fucking Charm Person my way out of a boss battle for the second campaign in a row?

sure did.

#Nane liveblogs life #pnp stuff #was it an infamous NPC in the Curse of Strahd module this time? #you bet your ass #Charm Person is such a good spell #tricky for the DM for sure #but paired with a high CHA character like; say #a bard (last time) or a warlock (this time) #it is *chef's kiss*

[aymerictheblue]

FUCKER TOOK MY BONES CAN’T HAVE SHIT IN BAROVIA

#eli.txt #dnd stuff #dnd liveblog #curse of strahd

[lesbian-tsumugi]

sooo apparantly our paladin is a woman

I did not see that twist coming

#moa liveblogs dnd #curse of strahd

[thicc-anxieties]

Honestly currently playing curse of strahd and then witnessing the lead developer play a character thats like elmo on crack is some major whiplash

#cr spoilers #critical role spoilers #cr liveblog #chris perkins #curse of strahd

[ludinusdalesbian]

curse of strahd prep part 2: i outlined a hook specifically tailored to my party (since i didn’t like the book ones, lol), and i started outlining the death house encounters! gonna mod them so i don’t TPK them for my first time players

#curse of strahd liveblog #curse of strahd

[ludinusdalesbian]

started prepping my curse of strahd module today byyyyy um literally making a leveled list and then starting to read my PCs backstories. anyways welcome to episode one of running curse of strahd with rewrite/additions (ya know, for the racism parts mostly, and also to incorporate PC backstory). more to come

#curse of strahd liveblog #curse of strahd

[vancekilo]

Curse of Strahd Liveblog #3

Strahd Tree! The one with a tree!

Aspen the ??? Ranger

Ignacia the Aasimar Hexadin (aka me!)

Nadja the ??? Artificer

Stranger the ??? Rogue

NIGHTSKY the ??? Druid!

Yes, we have a new party member! She's played by a good friend of mine and I'm happy to see her. Unfortunately the other person who was going to join was unable to but 5 is an even number. I think.

Anyway.

The party decide to go to Blinsky's to check out the weird doll. I think my assumptions for this were way off?? I thought it was Strahd's main squeeze who was the doll but turns out, Izek, the Baron's righthand man is the one requesting the dolls. We all tried very hard to avoid calling him a pedophile and mostly succeeded.

After that, we went to the inn and saw our wereraven friend Miriel and a brand new very tall very cool lady, NIGHTSKY. You gotta type it in all caps. Stranger is kind of obsessed with becoming a Were and I got to have a very fun moment pointing out that since she has no memories of her past, she has no idea if she's already a wereraven.

Cue existential crisis over bad wine and decent soup.

Ignacia makes a big deal out of getting a bath, to the point of paying the innkeeper a whole gold piece for it. Time will tell if like my other characters, Ignacia is a bit of an exhibitionist. (My lawyer told me I have to state this is a joke).

The group, along with NIGHTSKY, decide to head back to the Baron's house. Stranger wants to Mission Impossible her way into the upper floors, so NIGHTSKY and Aspen stand watch in the trees outside (told ya) and Nadja and Ignacia distract Izek by asking about the pies.

Well, beyond finding a man in a loincloth chained up in the Baron's house, Stranger finds something very interesting: our first combat encounter! We kicked ass! The Baron, 2 mastiffs and Izek down for the count. But not the Count. I think?

The majority of this session was the intro of NIGHTSKY, a lengthy discussion on whether the Baron is gay, and the combat. But tune in next time where something else is likely to happen!

#curse of strahd liveblog #cos spoilers #curse of strahd spoilers #strahd the meow meow #cos

[vancekilo]

Curse of Strahd Liveblog #1

We had our session 0 tonight (June 23rd) for Curse of Strahd. We're all going in blind and DM is changing some stuff so it might not be 1:1 what's in the module.

 The cast are, so far, in alphabetical order, as follows:

Aspen the ??? Ranger

Ignacia the Aasimar Hexadin (aka me!)

Nadja the ??? Artificer

Stranger the ??? Rogue

and Xi the Shifter Monk!

A few of us are a bit more secretive with our backstories so I'll update with races as they are revealed :) we are level 3.

So far the vibe is definitely "surly assholes who secretly are intrigued by one another". Stranger and Nadja are friends and possibly?? lovers.

We did the fairly standard CoS intro. Finding the Vistani and crossing the mists into Barovia. I get the feeling from this group we'll be getting into trouble less as murder hobos and more because of a cat-like curiosity. We broke into a woman's house because she was wailing and it was audible all over the Barovian village. Her daughter was taken by Strahd (lady Strahd in this case), and she gave us a doll that belonged to her daughter. Doll's got long auburn hair (HMMM).

After that it was pretty much: go see Madame Eva and get our fortune. I don't know enough about CoS to piece together all the characters the reading is sending us towards, but the first one is the Enchanter, and for that we're going west to find the "Master of the Marsh."

I'm excited to see more of Barovia and do some Gothic horror shit.

I've read Vampire of the Mists and both I, Strahd novels multiple times as well as a few other novels set in the Demiplane of Dread so I know some backstory stuff but nothing really about the module itself. I'm excited to keep playing! Next liveblog will have more story stuff since this was very much a foundation session.

#curse of strahd #cos #curse of strahd liveblog #strahd the meow meow #dungeons and dragons #dnd #So far Ignacia kind of reminds me of my Trickery Cleric but less focused on lying and more focused on her goals

[ludinusdalesbian]

CoS planning liveblog coming soon. too tired rn but just had a nice planning sesh. i’ll write up what i did soon!

#curse of strahd liveblog #curse of strahd

[oh-atlas]

ophelia got her hero moment intro in combat and unfortunately 😭😭😭 missed her attack 😭😭😭however the way my dm described her rite of the dawn chainwhip was SO sexy so i can't even be mad

#liveblogging #game: curse of strahd

[oh-atlas]

i did give my dm a rocket launcher of backstory lore but i did not expect to hear the disembodied voice of the dead rogue of ophelia's former 'party' speak from the mouth of an evil babushka saying "ophelia we fought once together, save me" but neither i or ophelia are taking it well

#ch: ophelia #game: curse of strahd #liveblogging