Donato’s Players Guide to Course of Strahd

All right my friends. 

We are set to embark on a very exciting, tense and fast-paced campaign. Based on classic horror tropes, I’m also set to include a true sandbox experience, providing you with the absolute freedom to explore and build. It is character driven, giving you characters the chance to shine and make their marks in the story this group tells. It is all about you.

I am using this blog to comunicate with you and share documents to have everything organized and in one place. Plus, it's fun for me! And you are going to be able to read it on you phones.

I know it is hard to schedule, given the nature of our lives and how busy we all are with work. If we can set aside one afternoon/night every two weeks would be amazing even though the ideal would be once a week, and the best day’s I think are either Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, depending on our schedule week by week, we will try to find the day. It could be at my place 1888 Starr Street, in Ridgewood/Bushwick, or anyone else can host as well and I’ll bring what I need.

What is the Course of Strahd?

Well, is a classic gothic horror story, set in a land based in medieval Romania. It’s a brutal, stressful, and alienating experience. Your character will be trapped in a bleak, gothic land. 

For a player who’s not expecting it, Curse of Strahd can suck. Really suck. Let me put it this way: if you want the freedom to engage in combat and exploration without worrying about the potential risks, this is very possibly not the campaign for you, your character will die in three seconds (and I will be blamed 😣). Likewise, if you are potentially triggered by gruesome depictions of horror or psychologically disturbing relationships, or if you prefer a D&D campaign that features only victories or setbacks (rather than the potential for outright defeat), we might want to try something a little more lighthearted. I am ok with that as well.

Now, I do believe this is a great campaign, because there are reasons to play this (excellent, engaging, incredibly memorable) campaign. I am actually in love with this campaign.

If, after reading this, you think Curse of Strahd may be the campaign for us, awesome! We are set in for a fantastic time. With that said, here are a few tips to succeeding in the course of this campaign:

• Intrepid adventurers and sadistic murderhobos don’t last long in Barovia. Don’t tread from the beaten path unless you have good reason to, and don’t alienate or antagonize NPCs if you can avoid it. Make more friends than enemies. Don’t go searching for treasure, fortune, or fame - because you will probably die a horrible death.

• Remember that you are not your character, and invest real time in developing their thoughts, personality, and motivation. Externalize failure, and use setbacks or defeat as an opportunity to explore your character’s perspective and personal growth. Give me a 7 page long PDF of backstory! hahaha

• Play smart. Many of the enemies in this adventure cannot be overcome easily in direct combat. Use guile, preparation, subterfuge, diplomacy, and research to achieve your goals.

• Spend time engaging with the other characters, even when not discussing plans, tactics, or objectives. Learn about their fears, their perspectives, and their experiences. Build meaningful relationships, not apathetic battle team.

• Try to remove yourself from the “XP and loot” model of progression in traditional campaigns and video games, and instead try to enjoy the narrative progression of winning allies, fulfilling objectives, and advancing the story of the campaign and player characters. We are actors, artists and storytellers.

• Don't try to play an apathetic or evil player character unless you are 100% sure that you can pull it off while being a supportive team player and engaging the story like a normal PC. Seriously. You'll make this adventure a lot more difficult and unenjoyable for me as a DM, and you'll be cheating yourself out of a fun experience. You don't need to play a knight in shining armor, but you definitely shouldn't play an evil murderer.

• Curse of Strahd, as-written, is full of disturbing and graphic content. If you are potentially triggered by elements of child abuse, murder, stalking, gaslighting, racism, torture, mind control, cannibalism, situations paralleling sexual assault, child death, references to stillbirth/miscarriage, abuse of those with disabilities or mental illness, animal cruelty, body horror, child abandonment, portrayals of alcoholism or drug abuse, potential incest, implied necrophilia, or suicide, speak up about potentially working around or entirely avoiding these elements.

Oh - and don’t Google anything related to the campaign.

The Web, after all, is dark, and full of spoilers.