Hnnngg, the desperate struggle of having to decide between "yeah, one of the Brides carrying out St Andral's Feast makes so much more sense re: everything about the Ireena situation" logic and "I have this really cool image in my head of all hell broken loose in the city and the party bursting into the church too late as Strahd stands on the altar, holding St Andral's desecrated skull in one hand á la Hamlet and lifting the lifeless priest up like a ragdoll with the other" impulse

I'm really disappointed you didn't end the video with the words: "All will be well."

"Lets face it, that quest is a cakewalk" My party that opened the crates on the second floor: que?

@levipoulin9268

3 жыл бұрын

My party went into the centre of the room and cast thaumaturgy to open all the crates at once.

@dominiceast8114

3 жыл бұрын

@@levipoulin9268 F

@spklvr12

3 жыл бұрын

We were a party of five. During this particular session, one of the players couldn't make it to the game, and returned the next session to find that only my character (a true neutral shadow monk who jumped the fuck out of the window) was left alive.

@isaacworrall8004

2 жыл бұрын

u guys do know... that was sarcasm right?

@Qwerty95ish

2 жыл бұрын

First time I ran it they failed that quest and then ran away leaving the city to burn and sacrificing Ismark all in the same move. Not a very heroic party.

This is like thinking that Skyrim is a great, fleshed out game and then being introduced to modding.

Swear to god EVERY time you bring out a video it's a week before I'm running that place, you, sir, are a gift of Strahd in disguise

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

If I were a gift from Strahd, my advice would be cursed and your party would be dead. :-P Although maybe that ends up being the case!

@DarklordofBarovia

4 жыл бұрын

@@LunchBreakHeroes I sense a dark and grim future for my players >:)

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

@@DarklordofBarovia As it should be!

@jaxxmathew7620

2 жыл бұрын

Instablaster...

Timestamps because I'm definitely coming back to this later: 1 - Read - 1:20 2 - Lists (a - Locations) - 1:35 b - Events - 2:25 c - NPCs - 2:55 3 - Who's Who - 3:14 a - Primary - 3:55 b - Secondary - 4:12 c - Tertiary - 4:32 4 - Shops - 5:25 5 - Orphanage - 7:30 6 - Vasili - 11:07 7 - The Feast - 14:05

@LunchBreakHeroes

3 жыл бұрын

You da real MVP. I've updated the video description with your timestamps. :-)

Cake-walk you say? My players took Milivoj on his word that he didn't know where the bones were, and left him be. It's one day to St. Andral's...

An idea for the weaponsmith: The weapons he sells are ordinary and worn, but players have a 10% chance of purchasing a cursed item without realizing it until it's too late.

@MrDavidKord

2 жыл бұрын

Dirty. I like it.

I used Mandy's orphanage maps, but I didn't really like the demon subplot. Since the PCs had just run from Old Bonegrinder after meeting two hags, I actually put the third hag in the orphanage, disguised as the headmistress, who is actually dead in the attic. The hag was planning to take all the children on a "Field trip" to the windmill during the Blazing Sun Festival. She also has the bones of Andral in the attic, and the children are all sedated by dream pies. The PCs ended up fighting her in the attic, but she used magic to escape. I let Ricatvio, instead, feed them clues about the coffin shop. The PCs did reinstall the bones in the church, giving them a great amount of relief, but things went so sideways during the revolution and buildings burning and ultimately Lady Wachter wants them DEAD or a sacrifice to Strahd that they're afraid to go back there. But that's ok, we had 8 or 9 sessions of heavy roleplaying in Vallaki, I need a break from it.

@OfficialPizza

3 жыл бұрын

Putting a hag in the orphanage is absolutely devious, I love it. I wasn't going to include the orphanage at all until I read your comment, now I think I have to!

@Masterkeyblade01

2 жыл бұрын

I love this idea. thank you so much. Much better than the demon.

@JasonHauser125

2 жыл бұрын

@@Masterkeyblade01 you're welcome. I wrote that 9 months ago, and the PCs have just returned to Vallaki at 7th level and killed Fiona Wachter and are trying to take over the town. I changed the cultists in the basement to worshipping one of those weird amber shards from the Amber Temple, which I felt tied it into the story better. I also added one of one Strahd's brides, and she lived all of two rounds.

Blinsky? Secondary character? The nerve! Joking, I love the running gag of Blinsky toys throughout the realm. I'm so happy my Tarroka reading got the Artifact one for fated ally. I'm looking forward to my players thinking Blinsky is some master wizard in disguise until they figure out who the reading is actually about.

"you'll have some players who are cunning and suspect vasili right away" you would THINK SO WOULDN'T YOU 😂 my players literally let this charming handsome man take ireena off to a second location without a thought. i'm having the time of my life

This Video is released at the perfect point in my CoS campaign. My players just arrived at vallaki and have thus far uncovered that the bones beneath the church were stolen by the coffin maker. On their way back they met blinsky the toy maker. We ended last session with them arriving at the town square only to see itzek arrive with his goons. I am looking forward to use your ideas to make vallaki even more memorable. Thank you so much! This is my very first pnp campaign ever, and your videos have helped me immensely!

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

I'm so glad that I could help! Definitely come back and let me know how things go for you and your players

As a new DM and running CoS as my first module for two different groups, I have found your videos to be extremely helpful. This is an amazing module with so much going on and I was struggling to wrap my head around it all, but not only does your content help put everything in perspective, you add such wonderful modifications. Thank you so much for this! This girl is now one of your newest patrons.

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for your support!

i ended up rolling an protector aasimar sorcerer with angel wings. not knowing vallaki was a really really religious town. i was kind of a beacon for the town which was awesome. as a party we ended up finding the bones of the church saving the church strahd killed the baron, watcher took over we killed the watchers still saving ireena, while strahd abducted ismark. and destroyed the evil in the stockyard. basically the church is standing strong and protected as well as ireena, and all the evil has been removed from the town before we even left. im really enjoying the campaign and i like what we have been doing as a party. this module feels really rewarding in an emotional sense.

Another amazing video. Thank you for your hard work! My campaign has officially started proper; we finished our fourth session. Using your suggestions or at least compiled suggestions for Dream Pasteries and some Death House stuff we've had a lot of fun. The last session ended with them meeting Ireena, so we'll probably be off to Vallaki soon. I had them pull a block from the Jenga tower for every fail they had during the Death House skill challenge (which was seven) and it absolutely terrified them. Also, literally EVERYONE has eaten the Dream Pastries; the druid even fed them to her pet animal and Lancelot the dog. It's gonna be a shit show.

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

"You turn around and see a collection of small teeth in your stool. Pull a piece out of the tower and roll a wisdom save."

One addition I made to the shops is that one the merchants owns a small collection of magic items that he's managed to scavenge off of previous dead adventurers. Robe of Useful Items, Wand of Magic Missile, Keoghum(?) Ointment. If you've read I, Strahd, I even included a Baal Verzi dagger. Which also tied into the change I made to Izek Strazni...he's the reincarnation of Leo Dilisnya (read I, Strahd!)

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Oh, I've read it. And The War Against Azalin. Good books!

Your videos are lifesavers in running CoS and one of the things I'm returning often to in CoS community! Thank you so much for the work you put in those and inspiration you're providing for GMs! CoS is my first big module and I feel much more "secure" after watching your videos on lunch breaks :D My players are going to Vallaki right now and I was scared of this chapter so much, ever since they started in Durst Manor, but now I hope to prepare them tons of fun activities

@LunchBreakHeroes

2 жыл бұрын

I’m happy to hear I could help!

Here's an idea for the orphanage that just popped into my head - Felix is being targeted as a Champion by a Dark Power with the feeding pattern of victims of suicide. That would track with its actions, and would mesh well with the general tone of hopelessness and child abuse that Vallaki has less of than other parts of the setting. Just an idea.

yay new video! unfortunetely I let vallaki fall into ruin last session (session 12) since my pc's talked to fiona wachter for a bit and decided to murder izek strazni before heading straight to argynvostholt lol

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Vallaki burning to the ground is a time-honored tradition. But if that's all that happened during your session, then I think you're still on track for a trip to New Wachterstadt (formerly known as Vallaki).

Great video, as always. I feel they could have taken this chapter and broken it down into two. There is all kinds of things happening in Vallaki that didn't even made into your video, for example: Rictavio stayin at the Blue Water Inn, Fiona Wachter and all her intrigue, the Dusk Elves, etc. I have been dreading this prep, but your video has been very helpful.

Sooooo happy I found this channel. I was overwhelmed by volume of information to take in. These video were great for breaking it down and shading in the details. Wish I could subscribe ten times over. Thanks for taking the time to do these!

@LunchBreakHeroes

3 жыл бұрын

You are so welcome!

This is great stuff. My players too, have just arrived in Vallaki. They have spoken with the priest, deposited Ireena in his care, and have interrogated Millavoj briefly before heading to the Blue Water. Slowing things down is great advice. There’s so much going on. I am curious about how your campaign played out, and how much of your video content is afterthought. Terrific and invaluable. Keep it up.

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you for watching! There's definitely some afterthought here and there--my Village of Barovia expansion, for example, is entirely afterthought. This video reflects exactly how I ran Vallaki, however.

All of your videos are incredibly helpful for me as a first time DM. Thank you so much!

@LunchBreakHeroes

3 жыл бұрын

You’re quite welcome!

Lunch Break heroes might be small now, but it'll get bigger, and it's like Vargas always said, "all will be well."

Keep up the good work! Your videos have really inspired me to run what I considered an intimidating module. Hoping to see more soon!

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you! I'll definitely be making more!

Nice set up tips. Looking forward to planning and ultimately running this.

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Best of luck to you! Lemme know how it goes!

Man this helped me so much. Thank you so much.

@LunchBreakHeroes

3 жыл бұрын

You're welcome!

These are some awesome ideas! Thank you for the time and effort of putting this together!

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Not a problem. I'm glad you enjoyed them!

I would have loved to put the feast out more, unfortunately my paladin used his divine sense and knew the church wasn't safe.. so he immediately starts asking questions.. weeeeelp, guess I'm going to make more festivals for the Baron to put on until they decide to talk to Lady Wachter and Vargo.. my party never ceases to throw those curveballs at me 😅

The first group I ran this for got to Vallaki, visited a certain wagon and after opening it skipped the rest of the town and wanted nothing further to do with it. It was a huge amount of my prep work so I closed the book and said, okay we'll end it here and I'll prepare more for next time. All my prep for that session was for Vallaki because there's so much going on. I thought they would spend at least a few sessions there. They ended up quitting after the next session because they couldn't get into Krezk and things didn't go so well for them at the winery. I wasn't enjoying running this module for them and they weren't enjoying their constant failure. I'm running this for another group now (teenagers this time) and they are having much more fun and so am I. Thanks for the videos. I bought your Icewind Dale stuff before, that was really cool too but I found my own way of doing things with that. I don't always agree with your suggestions, but it still helps my prep because reading about it is one thing, but hearing someone talk about it really helps me remember what I need to more.

The Felix storyline amuses me since I'm vastly overwriting Strahd to fit into the Ptolus campaign setting, and there's a nigh-identical pocketwatch already in the Ptolus canon... except the one in Ptolus created a weakness-less vampire out of its host instead of just tormenting children.

Hell yes I've been waiting for this thank you!

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

You're very welcome! Thank you for watching!

Extremely grateful for these videos. I learn something everytime.

@LunchBreakHeroes

3 жыл бұрын

Glad to hear it!

Started running curse of strahd for my party a month ago. We're playing online due to the current situation (social distancing) your videos have helped me develop Barovia soo much and I'm externally thankful. Keep up the great work! Can't wait for more.

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Stay tuned tomorrow at 8am Pacific!

I cannot tell you how helpful this was! Thank you!

@LunchBreakHeroes

2 жыл бұрын

Happy to help!

Thank you. My party should be there in a couple of sessions. Great Tips. Always enjoy your vids.

@LunchBreakHeroes

3 жыл бұрын

Best of luck to you and your party!

Loved the video and all the other ones about strahd! Thank you so much! I've to translate everything to german and your videos make it more simple for me to give my translated mess a structure xD I love the add ons and i'm hyped to play them with my players! >:3

@LunchBreakHeroes

3 жыл бұрын

Glad I could help!

This helped me SO MUCH in prepping for my campaign and was a total life saver. I had such a hard time figuring out how to organize everything but this gave me a great roadmap to chart everything out. Have you ever thought about doing something like this for Out of the Abyss or Storm Kings Thunder?

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

I've considered it, but Descent into Avernus will be next.

Your content and presentation are awesome. Keep making the great content!

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

I have watched this a ridiculous amount of times 😅

Ok, off to make some tea and read it through. I love these videos - I have my PCs thoroughly addicted to dream pastries and they have no idea what is going on. On of them offended the owners of the Blood on the Vine and got curses, "If it's wine you wish, let it fill your belly from every drink" everything he drinks turns to wine in his mouth (not sure how best to manage this made up curse). Also, one PC is being targeted by Strahd to be his 'successor' which is fun. I took all there stuff from everyone at the beginning and after the Death House only gave the 'successor' his stuff back with a nice note from Strahd included, I just happened to have strahd target the player who touched the crystal orb in the basement :) Thank you for all the ideas, if you have any comments on the wine curse I would love to hear them.

@LunchBreakHeroes

3 жыл бұрын

You could work in some homebrew intoxication rules to handle whatever that PC drinks. Have an upside and a downside, like increased HP with disadvantage on Wisdom checks or something.

I love the way you think. Can you show us more of your in-character Abbot roleplaying? Your Abbot is just. Spooky.

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you! Maybe he'll make an appearance in a Castle Ravenloft video. 😁

So my party ended up quitting the campaign after 10 sessions. They were in Vallaki for quite some time. I ran into this video just now and watched it to see what I got wrong. And it turns out I did nothing wrong. I followed these exact steps without having to watch this video. Then my problem was that I wasn't able to paint a good enough picture for them to understand the whole dynamic of the campaign. All will not be well. I'm very disappointed because I was enjoying DMing this.

@LunchBreakHeroes

Жыл бұрын

That’s too bad. Sorry bud

Good to hear from you again sir.

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Good to be heard from!

My party are too suspicious. They walked into the church and the paladin immediately was like "I check to see if its consecrated ground".

I've been running your supplementals, my players LOVE them.

@LunchBreakHeroes

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you like them!

Awesome break down thank you

@LunchBreakHeroes

2 жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

I was rewatching this to help with an upcoming session, and I realized I messed up my vallaki timeline 😂, hey as long as my players don’t find out it’ll be okay!

Thanks for this My players have just left Tser pools And I was dreading prepping

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Glad it could help!

Excellent break down! I was wondering since the Feast of Saint Andral is usually the first time the players meet Strahd, and you have replaced strahd with anastraya. So idealy, where would you put the parties first encounter with strahd?

thanks for the great work as always. I want to throw in a tidbit I included; The burgomiester keeps the Wolves heads from the jambories up until the day before the festival of the blazing sun. Comment on the bad smell and its steadily growing over the days. It creates an opressive atmosphere for the player and shows how poorly thought through the festivals are

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Excellent idea!

Great video Sir! My group has just made it to the Tser Pools and I've been trying to prep Vallaki events for weeks now. I like to incorporate my PC's backstories into the story and I have some great ideas. Izek Strazni will be an orphaned brother that one of the PC's is looking for. Maybe he lost his arm to the werewolves as a child. Fiona Wachter will be a Warlock with the same Patron as my PC Warlock. I need more reason for him to want to help her out. Another PC is attempting to save every priest, pastor, cleric, or paladin in Strahd's domain and has a big task to handle. The Order of the Silver Dragon will most likely be his greater moment. The last character is simply a hunter and wants to kill monsters. I got plenty of those up my sleeves (group of Grung and a Banderhobb up next demanding payment to cross a bridge). Anyways, thanks for the tips. I will definitely add in the orphanage and maybe play this Vasili as some direct competition to the group's ally (Strahd's enemy, Esmerelda). Keep up the good work. I look forward to the next video.

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Sounds like you've got this well in hand!

So I did something on the return trip that the characters are PISSED about, I may or may not have burnt down the orphanage which also had the dog from the Death House in it…yeah they aren’t too happy about that 😂

I've seen a lot of great ideas on things to do with Vasili. I'd have liked to bring him in from the beginning, but I wasn't the DM at the time, and by now I feel like it's kind of too late - there have been no hints or signs of his existence aside from the letter at the Durst House, and I would've liked to at least foreshadow him a bit, for example when the party was finding out about the political situation at Vallaki. I do have one idea, though, because my players got discouraged from the idea of bringing the Mad Mage to Viktor after he refused to join him in the all-out fight against Strahd (I was hoping for them to do a "well at least can you come with us and tell this kid his teleportation circle is never gonna work" but their takeaway was "Well he doesn't want to help us with the most important thing there is, why would he say yes to talking to this random moody teenager?")... So Strahd found out about Viktor and his teleportation circle, and went and paid him a visit during one of the festivals. If the party talks to Viktor again now, he'll tell them he doesn't need them anymore because Vasili is teaching him magic. If they continue to ignore Viktor for too long, Vasili will convince him that Strahd is an a-ok guy, actually, and convince him to go to the castle. Gertruda and her mother died on the night of the dinner, and the party found the both of them in the graveyard of Barovia, having been tossed down the cliff from the castle. They're livid and crushed by guilt. If they find out Strahd has another delusional kid in his grip, it's probably going to be war. And they're going to find out... because they have a spy on the inside.

How I'm running Vasili is as a gentlemen of the old ways so he doesn't go into buildings because it is just plain rude to enter without invitation, what he says to the party constantly. Cause i'm running Strahd as a abusive man, his plan is to remove every save place ireena can fall back to so she will come to him as castle Ravenloft is the only safe place for her. Since my players have the habit of escaliting situations and make things more dangerously fot themselves, he just let them be as Strahd but sometimes pops up as Vasili to spread misinformation and court Ireena as a romantic but sweet fool. Sorry, English is not my native language

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Sounds a lot like how I ran things! And no worries about your English--it was perfectly understandable!

Im pretty fond of yor Strahd impresion

@LunchBreakHeroes

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Brand new DM, my friends bribed me to run CoS by buying me the sourcebook. Your videos have been invaluable man.

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Joe! Hit me up if you ever have any questions.

Love it. Love it. Love it.

How did i miss this Nice vid man

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Better late than never!

these videos are great i actually used your deathouse storyline my players will reach valaki soon

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

I'm glad that I could be of service!

Did MandyMod have a particular location of the orphanage? i know i could throw it anyway, just wondering if there was a strtegic location for it... Thanks for the great Vids!!

@LunchBreakHeroes

3 жыл бұрын

I believe it was next to or across from the church.

Been busy at work and didn’t have time to prepare. Session starts in 10 minutes so this will be my preparation haha.

@ZMshout

3 жыл бұрын

how did the session go?

@BrutusMaximusAurelius

3 жыл бұрын

@@ZMshout actually pretty well. What helped was that I was honest with my players and told them I had minimal preparation and that the session might go a bit slower due to me looking up things.

How do you think Vasili would react to Izek taking Irena away? Izek just appeared in the campaign and my party has been with Vasili for a while, so this is a real possibility. I'm honestly not sure what he'd do. Maybe use this as an example to show the party that the Baron is bad and maybe Fiona Wachter would be a better ruler? PS your videos are gold and I wouldn't be running my campaign if not for these. I used a lot of your suggestions running LMoP as well! Thank you!

@LunchBreakHeroes

3 жыл бұрын

I imagine Vasili would keep a very close eye on Ireena/Izek, and would intervene as necessary. If Izek took Ireena away and meant her harm, don't be surprised if the party finds him nailed to a tree and beaten with his own arm.

Hey! I'm running this campaign now and really enjoying your videos so far. Do you have any advice on where players could obtain the silver you mentioned for the smith in Vallaki to coat their weapons? Silver's clearly in short supply in Barovia. In my game, I planned to have the Vistani willing to silver their weapons, at an extreme markup, of course. But I like the idea of a smith in Vallaki too. Just don't want to send them on what sounds at first like it could be a less interesting fetch quest.

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

I concocted an apothecary that had some powdered silver, along with some various odds and ends. He's a part of the written edition of the guide!

@plaidpirate

4 жыл бұрын

@@LunchBreakHeroes oh ok, cool. I just didn't pick up on the connection, that makes sense though. Thanks!

Your dedication to replying to comments is very commendable when you have over 3000 subs! Sorry for a long one, but I'm struggling. I'm literally just about to set my players on the road to Vallaki. I'm really overwhelmed trying to think what I want to do. What do you think are some good events to get them acquainted with the place, but also what's a good quest to get them to leave and come back later as well? I want to wait for the Rictavio = van Richten reveal for a while, because he's one of the players' rivals, but he also wants their help in eventually defeating Strahd. They got card readings that will lead them to 1 Mage's Tower - 2 Ezmerelda - 3 Argynvostholt and finally 4 Amber Temple, but I want to pepper in things like Krezk (no idea how to make them go there or what to do there) and the Winery and Yester Hill and Berez, to make sure they see all the places and get all the level-ups and story. I'm just struggling with working out how to lead them from one to the next. Once they're at a location there's usually plenty to do, but it's the breadcrumb trail I'm struggling with of getting them to go from place to place.

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

The Festival of the Blazing Sun is a great way to get the party acclimated to the town. Prior to that, they could have a meal with the Baron or Lady Wachter. If your party doesn't return the bones of St. Andral to the church, Krezk is a great red herring in regards to Ireena's safety. My players picked up a rumor that the Abbey and The Abbot might be host to hallowed ground. If you can get them to Krezk, then you can use the locked doors to get them to either the winery (bring booze) or the werewolf den (kill the wolves!), in order to gain entry. Overall, just drop some breadcrumbs and rumors, and see what your players latch onto.

@AshleyTheSwift

4 жыл бұрын

@@LunchBreakHeroes - thank you so much for your response! I will keep those things in mind! You've already helped my campaign so much with your great videos, keep up the excellent work. :)

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

@@AshleyTheSwift will do!

I love your content it is so good. In the Google Docs the part about the drown temple is gone what was it suppose to be

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

That's an area that DragnaCarta hasn't really fleshed out for some reason.

@ziopliukas7666

4 жыл бұрын

It is supposed to link to a location made by another user in our Discord server, here is a link docs.google.com/document/d/1h61wUXwx0NIuYCML8wVxWplqQQ0TbnTFNhfI55Z-x6M/edit?usp=drivesdk There's maps and additional discussions on it in our Discord server

Hi, your videos are great help and inspiration! A silly question: do you know how Strahd disguise himself as Vasili? I cant find any specifics in the books, and I cant find anything within the magics he can cast. All over the internet people post that he use magics like disguise self that arent in the Strahd sheet. What is your opinion about this? Thanks!

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

The spells on his sheet are just the ones he has prepared. Strahd has access to all the level appropriate spells in the book!

@HurinThalion12

4 жыл бұрын

​@@LunchBreakHeroes Oh, I didnt catch that when i read the book, time to read again (again) lol. Thanks for the reply!

@jackhartford521

Жыл бұрын

Strahd was first a wizard, then a vampire. And the procession of spirits that come from the town of Barovia and goes to the castle, there’s like 100 of them. That’s 100 previous adventurers That have come to Barovia, and been defeated by Strahd. If each average sized adventuring party is five people, and there is a wizard in each of those groups, that is 20 different wizards. 20 different spell books. Strahd has access in my game, to ALL wizard spells up to level five. You just have to pick and choose which ones he has prepared at any given time. And for some strange reason, he always has the right spells prepared,……. Muhahahahahahahahaha!!!

Do the shops you added sell their products at regular price, or is there still a markup like with the General Store

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Definitely marked up, but not as much as Bildrath's mercantile.

My party is enjoying Vallaki a lot, but a few of the fighters are itching for more combat. This is a little tricky since they’re not murder hobos and killing a bunch of guards isn’t something I want to force them to do. Right now they’re infiltrating the Wachterhaus to find the Tome of a Strahd inside. They’ve left Ireena at the Church. Izek has been rubbing them the wrong and has been suspicious of them since they came to town. So here’s what I’m doing: Next time they go to check on Ireena, they’re going to find a burned and bloodied Vasili (already introduced a few times) who valiantly tried to stop Izek, but failed as Izek stole Ireena from the Church. As the party gives chase, they follow a trail of blood (vasili’s handiwork) to an inconspicuous spot in the town wall. They find a secret port in the wall that leads to the woods NW of town. A heavy rain has begun by now, but a small concealed path leads them to a small cottage a mile into the woods. The windows have been bricked up, and the door is reinforced with an iron bar from the outside. However, it is unlocked... Inside the party (5 level 4s) finds Izek, a werewolf, and Ireena ties up on the bed in the corner surrounded by dolls in her likeness. Izek will give a speech about murdering children as he grew up, being the real boss of the town, and how he plans to keep his sister with him forever. Plenty of reason to not hold back. This gives the party a unique combat experience within the 7-10 days of Vallaki politics and doesn’t really subvert the rest of the plot. It also offers them an encounter with a werewolf before they know remove curse themselves. Wereravens will come to their aid if it’s too hard of a fight and Rictavio or the mad mage are possible ways for them to cure a PC lycanthrope before the Curse takes full effect. This also solidifies Vasili as a trustworthy ally :D My one qualm is I don’t want to paint Ireena as someone who always needs saving, but I think A) if freed she can help with the battle and B) this can be a turning point for her has a character in which she decides for herself never to need rescue again. Cue rocky Iv montage.

I decided to have Bluto suggest a fishing holiday “The Day of the BIG Catch”. He said that if the whole town went fishing, someone was bound to finally catch a fish in Lake Zarovich. The Burgomaster agrees to this idea declaring the wolf head jamboree was such a success that the wolf numbers are in a less dangerous number. Bluto (having recently kidnapped Arabelle) was instructed by Lady Fiona Wachter to both kidnap the girl and suggest the holiday, saying that those involved in the sacrifice will be the only ones to catch fish that day. This would help convince her followers that what she offers is true magic and could also end poorly for the Burgomaster of wolves were to attack. If Vasilli is Present (which he definitely should be) he manages to catch the largest fishy, much to Bluto’s dismay. This gives the kidnapping/sacrifice a time window that’s rather flexible, “The Day of the BIG Catch” could either be the first celebration the party experiences in Vallaki or it could happen later on. Whether or not the cultists are successful in their sacrifice and what it may yield is up to DM discretion, as well as whether or not wolves descend upon the “holiday” turning it into a bloodbath.

My players are returning to Vallaki after running on Wizard of Wines, but there's a problem. By the time they arrive in Vallaki the Feast will be triggered. And Ireena and Izmark are in the town, inside the church. How do I run this part? What should I do?

Nice vid bro. I would suggest you animate names and places into your video, like a subtitle. It can be a little confusing and hard to follow :) Thanks

My Vallaki went well my party ended up meeting strahd at the feast and after that the towns people razed the manor and killed vallakovich. They left soon after and fiona took charge. Izek fled and the players are none the wiser to Vasili’s true intentions who they left in Vallaki.

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Sounds like fun! The villagers killed the Baron and his wife in my game, the players killed lady Wachter, and Urwin was elected as leader against his will.

@evilducklings9279

4 жыл бұрын

In the session after this they went to Yester Hill because the Sunsword was there. They fought Strahd there and after that they found that he had gotten the Sunsword. By this point I had the abbot give them Strahds invitation and now they are going to the dinner with Strahd where I will give them two options. One: leave the castle and come back later, Two: they explore the castle and try to find the sunsword(which is in Sergei’s tomb) while Strahd toys with them. If they leave then the Watchers will become a bigger problem.

Can someone help me out. All of this sounds great as my party is about to reach Vallaki but I don’t see anything in the module about Vasilli or his house or an orphanage

@LunchBreakHeroes

3 жыл бұрын

Hi there! These are references to guides that you'll find on Reddit, in the r/CurseofStrahd subreddit. The orphanage is from MandyMod's guide, and Vasili's house is from DragnaCarta's guide. I recommend you seek those out for more details.

@Spbloomquist

3 жыл бұрын

@@LunchBreakHeroes thanks. I’m checking them out right now, I was confused because I swear I read about the orphanage and more about Vasili in the printed module but couldn’t find them after watching your video

also how do they fight the demon if it's inside a locket

I find it funny that Gregor Stefanovich dies in the village of Barovia and then returns in Valaki as a scamming apothecary :p I guess I'll change a name around

13:28 I run pathfinder, which has linguistics as a skill, i'd require a high linguistics roll from them to recognize the handwriting, cause Strahd is far from dumb, im sure he'll have changed his handwriting at least a bit, when he's acting as Vasili.

Sooooo my Warlock just assassinated the Baron and stole his clothes and face and is now the Baron of Valaaki, also the party is split up fighter ran into Rictavio and is chillin with him in the tavern, my sorcerer is cursed to all hell, and addicted 😈 we last left him in his room in the tavern tripping balls and being hella weird by himself, my last player is a vampire and wasnt invited into the tavern, so hes just wandering around the city this is where we left off lmao

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

The song Yakkety Sax comes to mind. 😄

@firelordsinger9666

4 жыл бұрын

@@LunchBreakHeroes hahahaa pretty much... Chaos has insued

Something I plan on doing for my second run of CoS is have lady Wachter be the new reigning Burgomaster of Vallaki after she seized political control via a public vote of no confidence in (and a little bit of blackmailing) the previous Burgomaster who has now taken to locking himself in his old mansion with his family while lady Wachter decides their fates. This gives the party a dilemma to ponder once they find out the truth of what lady Wachter is doing. Do they try and convince the people of Vallaki that lady Wachter is conducting dark rituals and therefore is unfit to rule, thereby leaving people to suffer the miserable consequences of Baron Vallakovich’s lifeless festivals and tyrannical approach to those who oppose him? Or do they let Wachter continue ruling over the town and condemn the Vallakovich family to their fates, thereby condemning the citizens to abide by the laws of a fear mongering noblewoman in league with Strahd? Both are equally terrible fates, but which one will they choose?

Before the players reach vallaki shouldnt they also have already had several letters from strahd? So couldnt they recognize it from there?

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

They could, if you provide them with letters from Strahd. Some games implement them, such as the fake letter from the burgomaster, while other games don't. Recognizing handwriting is a tricky thing that I don't think players will really think about unless the DM hints at it, or unless they've got physical copies of the letters that they can look at. So it's very possible that, even if they do get letters, the handwriting recognition never comes up.

so what would ya'll do if the burgomaster dies? I have ideas but you got any extra suggestions

@LunchBreakHeroes

3 жыл бұрын

If he's killed in a coup, then a popular replacement is the bartender.

I call it Vah-la-key.. someone said it was Val-la-kai I am really happy someone else called it Vah-la-key

@LunchBreakHeroes

3 жыл бұрын

The other person is wrong and they should feel bad. J/k

So the paladin detected magic in the Inn and detected the vials in the raven's nest. The rogue decided to steal in there, was attacked by the ravens, successfully got the loot. Thing is, I placed a wereravrn in there who alerted Unwin. The rogue made his way back to the room as Unwin and another rushed up the stairs to confront the pcs. Pcs fled out the window but not before chucking alchemist fire to block their escape. They had not yet worked out that this was the raven's nest of their tarroka reading for the Tome. They flee vallaki to the vistani camp and get the Arabelle mission. In death House they had found bag of tricks. Using the giant badger they concoct a plan to disguise themselves and reenter vallaki using the badger to follow arabelles scent. Aware they are probably wanted, the elf hides his ears with a bandana, the rogue casts alter self (arcane trickster) to appear as a corpse on a hand cart pushed by the elf, wanting entry to the town to Bury the body. I ask about the badger.... Their plan is to put it on a lead to which I reply.... "so we have Axl Rose pushing a handcart with a body on it and you want to turn up with a badger on a lead...?" to which the rogue character suggests making it invisible. To which I reply.... "so Axl Rose is pushing a handcart with a body on it and attached to the cart is a seemingly empty lead that seemingly bobs along with an invisible giant badger. Yeah?" It took us 15 minutes of suffocating laughter before they decided that an alternate plan may be better. We are about to Commence play for the next session. I'm amazed none of us vomited we were laughing so much at such a ridiculously piss poor plan. The laughter was cut when the rogue player looked up from his notes and went.... "ahhhhh balls, I think that was the raven's nest we screwed up"

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Lol, that sounds like an extremely entertaining session!

@deanfletcher4962

4 жыл бұрын

So in the follow up session, they stole themselves in to vallaki, successfully completed the orphanage, befriended the headmistress (who inadvertently informed the pcs Unwin was the biggest supporter and charitable benefactor of the orphanage... Just to make them feel guilty for torching their room at the Inn per above) AND managed to get to the lake where they saved Arabelle. Back at the vistani camp they got their reward which they decided to sent to the headmistress to help fund the orphanage and they gave a few hundred GP to Unwin to try and repair relations with him after torching one of the rooms as they escaped from the previous session. Their reputation now repaired in Vallaki there's no further need for crap disguises.

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

@@deanfletcher4962 all's well that ends well. Now throw some vampire spawn their way and destroy everything they hold dear.

My main issue with the bones mission is... why haven't they been disposed of? Why hasn't someone, even a human ally (willing or not) put them in a weighted box and thrown them into lake zarovich? They already did the hard part so why hasn't someone, anyone, taken the next step and disposed of those bones thus far. Izek: So I had an idea reading up on this sociopath and been tinkering with it. First off, I think we can agree that a Vestige has granted him a dark gift. So my idea is a two parter: One, he is being studied by Ludmilla in her disguise persona in the city (I made her the apothecary, hehe) but she can't get close and would like the players help. Two, he does have a soul... and is the reincarnation of Sergei. DUN DUN DUN

Like my players I come back to this video time and time again

@LunchBreakHeroes

2 жыл бұрын

Welcome back! And wtf are your players doing here?!

@andrewmartin409

2 жыл бұрын

@@LunchBreakHeroes, well my friend, they bulldozed through it the first go and just straight up booked it to the winery after dropping of Ireena and Ismark. They also did almost everything there was to do in Krezk. So now that we have some time and Strahd has had some good time with the two npcs, we're hopefully gonna try and get through the feast of st andral (following your instructions on that), the orphanage, and maybe give them a good reason to either A go after the werewolves or B the hags of old bone grinder tonight. Also have to get them into an somehow attic to retrieve the lightsaber...I mean sunsword. If they can stop the feast, shouldn't be too hard since everyone is gonna want to meet the heroes who brought back wine and stopped a slaughter. Butttt, players will be players... And one of which is already treating Strahd as her sugar daddy... She's a bard of course XD

How and why would a character be introduced to Lady Wachter?

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Fiona Wachter's a smart lady. She's got her ears to the ground and her eyes about town. When strangers show up, she knows about it. She also knows that the Baron has an interest in them, especially if they're accompanying Ireena. Rather than let these powerful strangers fall into the ranks of the Baron, she's going to try to turn them to her side and use them to her advantage. To that end, she sends Ernst Larnak out to invite them to her house for a meal, where she can sway them to her cause.

Damn it I accidently let the players discover too soon the bones are missing since they are supposed to be in Lady Watcher possession who also has the tome of Strahd, I manage to end the session before Millovj confessed by having a chasing sequence, but I don't know how I will play it, the festival will occur in a few days. I so much f-ked up. Any advice? Edit: To play safe, the priest told the players that the protection will last for a while but will eventually fade and only the bones can restore it.

I have an idea. Stella Wachter, N4n, page 113, is Fiona Wachter's young daughter. As written, Fiona tried to get Stella to marry Victor Vallakovich, son of the Baron, and Victor said something and drove her mad, perhaps a spell, and now she thinks she's a cat. But What If ..... Victor tried a new version of his teleportation circle diagram and spell, and showed it off to Stella using a small black cat as a test subject. The spell worked like the movie "Freaky Friday", and switched their souls. (You can argue about animals having souls in your own D&D setting, but in mine it's like they don't have individual souls, but all animals of that type share a little bit of a larger Prime Soul. All dogs have a soul shard which comes from the Prime Dog, Canis Majoris, who lives in The Beastlands, sometimes chasing the Prime Cat, Felix Occultatum, who gives a soul shard to all cats. Stella can still talk because that's not affected by whether you have a soul, that's her brain. And the cat, having previously only had a tiny fragment of a larger soul available, now has a full-sized human soul, so basically it's like a Turbo Cat. [footnote 1] It doesn't have to be logical ...... it's religion.) Now, back to Victor. Maybe the switch is subtle, and takes time to get a foothold. Nothing obvious happens, so Stella leaves and the cat escapes when she opens the door. Victor is mad about the cat and yells at Stella, she cries and runs away, and that's what the house staff recall when she starts acting weird. Or, the change is quick, Stella attacks and scratches Victor, because he hurt the cat when he captured it, Victor flips out and nails her with a spell, and that's what the house staff recall later. The cat gets scared and runs away. Or, Stella grabs the cat because she's not stupid, she knows magic is real, and wants to get back home and have her mom fix it. But on the way, the cat jumps out of her arms, and is lost. How does this affect gameplay? Well, the lost cat may start attaching itself to the party's Wizard, because it can sense a magic-user, and wants everything back to normal. It still has a cat brain, but it's powered by a human soul. Maybe a party has a Druid or Ranger who can sense that something is wrong with this cat. Can the cat warn the party, by scratching a message somewhere? Unknown -- it's your game, though. For my part, I trust that my players will come up with something I haven't thought of to solve the dilemma. Probably involving that circle in Victor's room, but I'm not going to let just a simple Restoration spell do the job. [footnote 1. Remember in "Supernatural" when Castiel said that souls were like nuclear reactors, or maybe it was Crowley, but anyway using a soul as a power source can re-write reality, which is what Cross Road Demons do. This cat with a human soul can certainly think faster than a normal cat.] predictions: my players will take the cat as a familiar, and screw Stella .... Or, they will make Stella eat the cat, and solve everything.

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

I don't watch Supernatural, so that bit is lost on me. But that's a pretty neat idea! Very much akin to The Fly. :-D

@paulcoy9060

4 жыл бұрын

@@LunchBreakHeroes I was going to use The Fly in my analogy, but to my mind that's an example of Cronenberg Body Horror, and I wanted this little Side Quest to have a lighter, funny tone, hence the Disney body swap movie instead.

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

@@paulcoy9060 alright, Freaky Friday it is.

God im so happy I ran into your channel.

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

Me too! Welcome aboard.

I'm scared by the size of this campaign. My group moves really slow. Just step1 of Vallaki would take many sessions for my group. And players will lose sight of the overall vibe and main quest if they spend ages on side quests.

@figrollin

3 жыл бұрын

I have similar difficulties. So, I've had Strahd make himself known in order to push things along a little.

What I dislike about COS is the combination of main quest deadlines and side-quests. The urgency and gloom built up by the main quest deadline is ruined when you go on a fetch quest. How do you make something like Vasily's fetch quest feel relevant to players - and not just a chance to get loot?

@InLiquidColor

3 жыл бұрын

Perhaps put it on the road to the Wizard of Wines or Krezk so they can do it at the same time.

Why would anastrasya out vasili?

@LunchBreakHeroes

3 жыл бұрын

The consorts have minds of their own, and thus motivations of their own. She's extremely jealous of Ireena, and so foils Strahd's attempts in this regard. Or maybe she doesn't, in your case.

I love these videos! Extremely helpful, very consistently good stuff. If I might suggest, however, that you move sliiiiightly farther away from the camera. Each video, I feel myself shifting back to try to compensate, cause it keeps triggering the personal space feeling. Like you are about to kiss me. And hey, I really do like the content, just not enough to want to kiss over it. ;)

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

I'll bear that in mind! 😘😘😘😘

@paulcoy9060

4 жыл бұрын

@@LunchBreakHeroes Honestly, I appreciate your closeness to the screen. It's more like we are sitting at the same table, talking like normal friends. Also, if you are farther away, would you start talking louder, so the mic will pick up your voice? I like your normal voice. Sometimes, I just run your whole catalog of Strahd as background "music" as I write dialog for the NPCs ahead of a session.

@LunchBreakHeroes

4 жыл бұрын

@@paulcoy9060 well, I'm a bit further from the camera in my new studio, but I'm using a lapel mic that's even CLOSER to my mouth!

I can barely hear you

@LunchBreakHeroes

Жыл бұрын

Turn your volume up?

@Fredcetious

Жыл бұрын

@@LunchBreakHeroes it's cranked!