Curse of Strahd: Opinions?

[alhoon]

Well, if only sword coast is out from the FR, I doubt we would soon Ravenloft soon. After all, WotC sells 3E material now. Why re-invent the wheel when they can for a few years sell the old Ravenloft we know and love?

[Skyrock]

I'm now through most of the book but the last side locale and the lvl1-3 intro adventure and am very pleasantly surprised.
There is a surprising amount of Ravenloft material like Vallaki, Lake Zarovich or Van Richten. While the latter might be a paradox with the timeline as others have noted, CoS still gives more love to us RL grognards than EtCR did.

The locales fit the mood and themes of Ravenloft and have a good amount of ghastly happenings, like

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the Vistani girl being sacrificed to the Lake by the drunken fisherman, or the abducted children in the werewolf camp being forced to fight each other to death to determine the fittest soon-to-be werewolf.

The racial diversity has been done pretty hamfisted (except for the dusk elfs), but it should be easy enough to write up a rationale. Or to ignore, as it only affects a few minor character images and isn't relevant to the plot.

Overall a worthy remake and extension of original I6 that should provide many sessions of sandbox goodness.

[Hell_Born]

Uh, I have to ask; what racial diversity? As far as I can tell, apart from a mere handful of dusk elves and vistani, there's no other races in Barovia apart from the human natives.

[Five]

Well, if only sword coast is out from the FR, I doubt we would soon Ravenloft soon. After all, WotC sells 3E material now. Why re-invent the wheel when they can for a few years sell the old Ravenloft we know and love?

For sure. And scout/recon the future through DMsGuild...

[Skyrock]

Uh, I have to ask; what racial diversity? As far as I can tell, apart from a mere handful of dusk elves and vistani, there's no other races in Barovia apart from the human natives.

The captive werewolf in the castle, his wife in the werewolf cave and the Krezkovs ruling Krezk are depicted as black in their illustrations.

[alhoon]

Could they be from Valachan?

[Skyrock]

The Krezkovs are described as being tied to Krezk for generations.

The werewolves

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regularly move to FR to grab children to turn them into werewolves

so this one could be very easy to rationalize as someone originally originating from a more diverse place outside Barovia.

[Five]

Bah.

It just means that Strahd's wine cellar is stocked with some imports, that's all. Perfectly normal, given his nature.


Btw, Art Prints of Strahd if anybody is interested: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/daarken/curse-of-strahd/

[dead]

Does Curse of Strahd mention a Barovian Calendar year it is set in?

If not, I was thinking, maybe Ravenloft has gone through it's own "Sundering" like the Forgotten Realms. ie. there is a time of upheaval (say the Time of Unparalleled Darkness). Heroes thwart the worst effects of it but the fall out is that all the domains are fractured and set a drift in the Shadowfell. Then things return back to the status quo for all the domains. Maybe that explains why Van Ritchen is kicking around in Barovia – he just happened to be in that domain when it was sundered from the rest.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Does Curse of Strahd mention a Barovian Calendar year it is set in?

Hmm, yes, actually, in a sidebar, it explicitly says it's 735... So it seems we were a bit hasty. It's not Van Richten that's out of place in time, it's Ireena and the other I6 characters, who've been moved up from 528.

[Zilfer]

Or more a direct cycle of being reborn.... <.< since most of the souls are reborn over and over.... >.>

[eldritch]

I bought it on the release date. I am about half way through my leisurely read through. So far so good. Not sure about Van Richten so far, he is my favorite and I am leery of his disguise description/story but i'll be patient and see where they take it. Seems like it is the 9th version and the 8th "redo" by my count of the basic Ravenloft adventure.

Someone needs to do a detailed analysis and comparison with:
I6 Ravenloft adventure, I10 Ravenloft II the house on griffon Hill adventure, Master of Ravenloft gamebook adventure, Realm of Terror Black Box, Vampire of the Mists, Van Richten's guide to Vampires, House of Strahd adventure, I Strahd, Ravenloft: Strahd's possession videogame adventure, Ravenloft red box campaign setting, Domains of Dread, I Strahd: the War against Azalin, Silver Anniversary Ravenloft adventure, Ravenloft gazeteer vol I, Expedition to Castle Ravenloft adventure, Castle Ravenloft boardgame adventure, etc. did I miss any obvious Strahd/Barovia cross references?

Did you see this?
http://www.gf9-dnd.com/gameAcc.aspx


Does anyone happen to know if the artwork for the Tarrokka cards in the book is the same as the planned release deck from galeforcenine? I was seriously irked that they were not available at the same time and worried that they will be limited instore distribution or numbers like the various spellbook cards available for the 5th ed. player classes.

[alhoon]

Does Curse of Strahd mention a Barovian Calendar year it is set in?

Hmm, yes, actually, in a sidebar, it explicitly says it's 735... So it seems we were a bit hasty. It's not Van Richten that's out of place in time, it's Ireena and the other I6 characters, who've been moved up from 528.

Wait, what? It's in 735 BC?
Well, then we can just assume that I6 didn't happen in mid-500s and is happening 5 years before the Grand Conjuction. Gundar is still around next door and all. Weird that Madam Eva would be around 3 centuries after the pact with Strahd to allow Vistani in.
Does the adventure say if she is the one that made the pact or not?

Aside of Madam Evan, is there anything in the adventure that contradicts the canon if the adventurers-attack-Strahd happens in 735?

Are there mentions on Strahd's false personalities? Like Strahd XI etc?

[Ken of Ghastria]

Bah.

It just means that Strahd's wine cellar is stocked with some imports, that's all. Perfectly normal, given his nature.

I LIKE THIS.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Does anyone happen to know if the artwork for the Tarrokka cards in the book is the same as the planned release deck from galeforcenine?

Yes, we've been told that's the case. (Wouldn't make sense otherwise, since we've also been told that making a full deck of art is a huge undertaking. No reason to do that twice for the same product line.)