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I love everything you're doing. I'm going to run a heavily modified (modernized among other things) CoS campaign and one thing I'm gonna do, which I don't expect many to agree with me, is to keep Baby Walter alive. You have Elisabeth praying for immortality. It tracks to me that Walter acting as the catalyst of the curse would make him actually immortal as long as he is trapped within the flesh mound. In fact, I'd say that as long as he's in that thing, he can't die and neither can the ghouls. They would all act like they're wearing a Ring of Regeneration until Walter is removed from the flesh mound, at which point they turn to dust. The reason I'm doing this is to screw with the players' emotions, mostly. You want to excite a group of adventurers, put them in a nightmare land full of monsters. You want to scare a group of adventurers, put them in a nightmare land full of monsters while they're responsible for the well-being of a 1hp little need-machine. I also think it would be cool if Walter was the emotional anchor for a couple of ghost kids.
one thing that bothered me was the portrayal of mr durst. I believe he is apathetic to the cult and is thus complicit, allowing it to go on in his own home. When he discovers what his wife did, instead of immediately killing himself, he writes a suicide not and sends a letter to his brother to get the children. He lets the children out of the attic, but locks the door to the basement. He says his final goodbyes, then locks himself in his study to kill himself. the brother comes, but falls victim to the house, also becoming a ghast as he partook of human flesh during the famine, unknowingly or knowingly. The children try to leave, but the mists won't let them, the dark power keeping them trapped. they THEN die of starvation in the same place the players find them. I think this makes more sense, as why would the father who seems to have some care for his children not care about where they are?
I would also add, if the players agree to spend the night, that you take a page from the actual Dracula encounter with the brides. While the players are sleeping, the three brides come into the room. They discuss among themselves which one to eat first. As they move forward, suddenly Strahd appears, burning anger in his eyes. He berates the brides, saying the players are under his protection for the night, and he will NOT have them harmed while in the castle. The brides pout, but Strahd promises them that his protections end as soon as the players are outside the castle gates. He then hands them a sack, which contains some poor soul he’s just kidnapped. This satisfies the brides for the time being. If the players are still asleep, he taunts them a little before leaving. If the players have woken up, he apologizes for the brides’ rude behavior and bids them goodnight.
Not the only resource, but possibly the best I've found. Damn good stuff.
This would be the PERFECT opportunity to try out the D&D cookbook! Make a replica meal that could possibly be served at the castle!
Absolutely love this however I disagree with one point. Lancelot would've absolutely eaten everything on the table.
Nah he’s a good dog! Plus, y’know… tiny legs.
@@LunchBreakHeroes very good point! Guess I'm just too used to my dog trying to eat rocks 😂
What made you fabricate the half sister story and come up with using the tower to attack the players? I feel like I never read that in the adventure and these awesome tips could have totally been integrated in the book with a side bar
A mix of my own and others’ creativity!
How would you approach using AI art in your Patreon creations and adventures?
I use it. Not because I love it or feel it's superior to human created work, but because my release schedule is so tight that there's no way for a commissioned artist to create the imagery I'd like to showcase. Whereas multi-employee publishers like MCDM work on a timeline where their stuff is planned and worked on months ahead of release, me myself and I are turning things around by the seat of my pants in a matter of weeks or days. That being said, for printed releases like Librus Nocturnum (and future published books whose timeline is measured in months/years), AI artwork is removed and replaced with commissioned artwork.
@@LunchBreakHeroes thank you for the insight. Makes sense as I’ve been exploring different kinds of options. I agree with bigger releases like Kickstarter projects have the time and capital for it. How’s the recent Kickstarter project going?
MAKE THIS A BG3 MOD NOW
I'm going to be running COS soon, but I'm a new DM (yikes!). Question. If someone casts detect magic on the pies, will they show up as magical? And thanks for the idea. I have one player who I know is going to try a pie. She eats everything in every game.
I would say yes, but I don’t know what school they would show up as off the top of my head. The fact that they immediately get temp HP would hopefully put them at ease if someone does try some pie after detecting magic.
@@LunchBreakHeroes Thanks so much for your reply! I appreciate it. Starting my game tonight. I made meat pies last night so hopefully we make it to that point! So excited about this.
This seems dangerous with a paladin in the party
When I DM we always try to end on a sleep/rest, and if people can't join the next session I ususally have a short session where I progress the night where they sleep with the NPCs etc do things, nothing too advanced, but things that can alter the plot a bit!
Azalin Rex is easily my favorite DnD antagonist of all time
I managed to steal strahd's spellbooks from his study. I'm a grubby little wizard and want to steal all his abilities.
I love these videos but there’s something about the laptop mic you’re using that makes it really hard to hear enunciations.
Then you're gonna love the later ones where I got my crap together and moved into a home studio.
I ignore the souls issue. I find that sometimes after a table figured out that a lot of people don’t even have souls, the murder-hobo-ing gets turned up to 11 because there’s little moral repercussions.
why is there a picture of you with wings in the background?
is this great video, upto date with all the new legal policies?
Should be!
I chuckled about the Ireena bit, who at WoTC thought that it was better for her to just ‘die’ and no longer be relevant to the campaign?
Honestly I would love to see someone turn the Berzerkers into their own distinct faction that operates near Tzolenka Pass. Maybe a tribe chief and elders or really just anything at all. Add some undead Paladins looking to prevent anyone else from entering the area and a bride of Strahd himself operating here and you certainly have an interesting set of choices for your party to make as to how they want to proceed to the Amber Temple
12:04 no, I very specifically want Strahd to look like a creepy old pedo. I have party members who keep calling Strahd "Zaddy Strahd" and I need that to stop XD
Doesn't adding a clothier conflict with the "Something Borrowed" event?
Im planning on running strahd as my first campaign as dm in a month or so. One of my players asked if they can play a vistani. I was like "c'mon, im not an idiot. I see what youre trying to do." Should i circle back and maybe hear them out?
My players are in the middle of wave echo cave and will soon adventure to Thundertree, thank you for this advice, but their plan is to I presume kill it, if Venomfang gets low enough should I divert them to the young white dragon living on icespire peak? or should I save that for another adventure?
I like skill challenges, and this is pretty on point with how I run them. It's of the few mechanics my group liked from 4e, so we kept them as we moved back to 3.5 and into 5th. Each of us who DMs runs then differently, but we kept the core idea. One of the best decisions my group ever made. It helps us to avoid getting caught in combat ruts, besides being really easy to improvise. Another tip: let your spellcasters cook on these. If they have a spell that is an action or less, could be useful, and they are willing to blow a slot, let them do it for a success.
Death House was good but Durst Manor is incredible!
Someone has probably commented this already, but I'll say it just in case. One problem with the druids wanting the wereraven power to transform is that they could just check in with the nearby werewolves for that power to transform. I imagine the werewolves would not be particularly picky about it. But if the druids wanted flight, I suppose it could still be a thing. Also wouldnt it be a bit conflicting if they wanted to be wereravens when Baba Lysaga wants to kill all ravens? Otherwise, these are interesting ideas It gives a lot to think about. Thank you.
Hey! This is no place for your logic and narrative consistency. 😄
@@LunchBreakHeroes 😅
I could have used a bit more intro at the start to maybe explain why we need/want this and what it has to do with TTRPGs?
I love the idea! I am starting my CoS campaign soon. We plan to play with the Stress system. I plan to make Dream Pastry lower the stress level to zero. This way, players can treat it like a free jail card for a short time. Until addiction and the truth about baked goods drive them crazy.
Sinister. I like it.
I am going to run this, with one amendment, i will substitute the vampire spawn with Strahd. Yes, multiple Strahd, like multiverse of madness, each representing a version of Strahd that was killed by previous adventurers. This implies there were several iterations of adventurers who defeated him and subsequently fell to Vampyr or simply left Barovia, allowing the curse to continue. I will use Strahd's stats, but not his legendary actions. My party is a group of 8 level 10 characters with all three artifacts, I'm sure they will be fine >:)
Question for the creators, for Amber: 1. If the character fails to read the stanza because of the choking effect, does that mean the ritual fails and everyone dies?
Pretty much. But if you feel that’s too much or unfair, tweak as you see fit.
You mention a +14 Stealth check - but I don't see where Strahd's stat block is that you use. There are so many varieties when I search the nets.
Another speech disorder is using a w sound instead of an r sound, or s instead of sh. Have both that I went to speech therapy for. Also, if you do a character with those quirks and they've been working on fixing it, it's not unusual to hear them mix up the sounds. For example, pronounce white as right or sea as "she". When talking without thinking, it's very easy for our brains to go "no s only sh" or something similar
What a _brilliant_ fucking idea to have the dinner scene while your play group actually eats dinner.
During my dinner, strahd will give each player a present matching their playstyle. For example a ring giving an additional wildshape, or plate armor for the fighter. During the finale, those Items will work against the party. The armor turns animated or damages the player via spikes, the wild shape goes out of controll etc... think this will be very fun :D
You're a gaht damn evil *genius* and I'm 100% stealing this idea
@@WhizzerdSupreme You also can give each item a little story... an old armor of his days as a soldier, the ring he got from a druid grove he had to destroy or something like this.
I hate the notion that talking to yourself is crazy. Especially since talking to yourself actually is healthy and largely beneficial. Edit: Not talking to yourself in a multi-personality disorder kind of way but more like an, “ahh i better run before the store closes.” Type of way.
I disagree with the persuasion rule because the “auto success” is based on the player’s persuasiveness and not the character’s. I think a better approach would be to just use the player’s argument to flavor the success or failure of the persuasion
Advantage gives an average of +3 to the roll. 1d20 averages 10.5 where Advantage averages 13.825
Rudolph Van Richten is also heavily inspired by Abraham Van Helsing from Dracula. There's a fantastic audiobook of Dracula where the narrator gives him a musical Dutch accent to fit the character. I try to incorporate that: light and whimsical when he's in disguise as Rictavio, dark and withdrawn when he's Van Richten.
You are not correct: you don't raise or lower your pitch by raising or lowering your larynx, but by closing and stretching your vocal chords or the opposite. Raising or lowering your larynx can help you both with your high or low pitch in different ways, but not necessarily its "height".
This is divine. I LOVE this take!! Much more fun 💜
Don't put the dragon skull in the swamp. It's a poor idea. The heist for the Argynvost skull from Ravenloft is a brilliant mission that both my parties loved. So what if there is a giant skull in the swamp? Not one player even asked, they were too busy trying to stay alive.
So, I need advice. is Strahd still showing up and assisting the druids when the player arrive at yester hill or would that be too challenging for the players
When my party first came to Vallaky i had just introduced Vasili Von Holtz, so while they did their downtime, Strahd just went on dates with Ireena behind the party's back
For goblin voices, I try and replicate that bit from the Korn song where he’s basically skatting like in jazz, but with a metal ‘push’ to it from the arytenoids
The module itself has the invitation but ZERO comments about what the dinner is like or why players would go or what happens if they don't go. It feels like the players will simply say "um, no" and not go until they are ready to kill Strahd. It is about the worst "let's get on some tracks" after letting the players go sandbox on every single other part of the campaign.
I'm using the march of the dead as a Chekov's gun for a siege of Ravenloft at the end of the campaign. I'm running the fanes and binding of Vampyr (Making my Eva the forest fey) as options towards a good ending where the party actually kills Strahd and frees Barovia permanently. If they do all that, Strahd being the general he is, will realize he's vulnerable now and shore up his defenses/rally his forces. The party will need to find a way to orchestrate a siege of Ravenloft with all their accumulated allies over the campaign to even get into the castle proper, and Mordy's contribution (So his power doesn't overshadow the PC's, but he still get's to flex who he is) will be using Wish and exhausting himself in the process to give the march physical form and their will back, so they can become an army of the dead for the siege, RotK style.
Oh hell naw they turned Der Freischütz from Lobotomy Corporation into a patron. In all seriousness I'm super excited for the campaign setting to be fully released. I've been a fan of your stuff for a while and a patron for around a year now, and this setting sounds like one I've been legitimately wanting to do for my next campaign for a while now. The one I'm making took place primarily in the Underdark, and I might link the two settings in my campaign once Lothburgh comes out.
Well, this is certainly an unexpected surprise! :-D I had no idea you were working on such a thing. Have you made subclasses before in the past that I missed? Good luck with this endeavor, sir. How long have you been working on these with your group; is your group using a mix of WotC subclasses with these or exclusively using these setting-subclasses now?
They’re play testing, so they are exclusively using Lothburgh-specific subclasses and backgrounds. The latter will be released at a future date along with more goodies!
Hot damm these are nice sound fun as heck.
They really are!
Hi brasilian love u work tks.