![]() The fortune-teller offered to take you in her carriage to the castle in exchange for having your fortunes read. Madam Eva, the old, hunched Vistani woman with piercing eyes and a strange smile, sits in the carriage with you. Many have tried before you, but none have triumphed. To free Barovia and its people from the clutches of monster and mist, Strahd von Zarovich must die. A lone wolf howls in the night as you swallow back your vomit and think of the task before you. You’ve been preparing for this assault for some time and still your stomach churns in knots of fear. Your black carriage rockets through the chilly night air, wild horses speeding you through the woods toward your final destination – Castle Ravenloft. When you’re ready to start playing, read or paraphrase the following text. Step 3! Start the Adventure on the Way to Castle Ravenloft Remember to have them tie their backgrounds together since you’ll be jumping right into the action. Let your players have fun with the ideas. Yet another adventurer could have been born in Barovia and after a life of being terrorized by Strahd, the character is ready to stand up to the monster. Another could have specifically come to hunt the vampire and has finally amassed a team strong enough to take out the villain. Maybe one is an adventurer who got taken by the mists long ago and just figured out the only way to leave Barovia is by slaying Strahd. The big twist is to ask your players to make characters who have lived in Barovia for at least a few months. Considering how thoroughly Wizards of the Coast seems to playtest these adventures, I trust this is the appropriate level for characters to not get slaughtered wholesale in the castle, but also keeps the encounters challenging. Why? That’s level the adventure recommends PCs be before they enter Castle Ravenloft. Have your players make level 9 characters. Step 2! Begin at Level 9 with Barovian Backstories The best way to do that is pure, uncut Castle Ravenloft right in your RPG brain. You are missing out on some other sweet stuff in the adventure (more on that below), but you are also playing the most important part of the story! This is about getting a quick Strahd fix. In this one shot version you will only visit Castle Ravenloft. It’s also by far the longest chapter in the book so it allows you as the DM to mine the most game meat. ![]() ![]() Castle Ravenloft isn’t just a location, it’s Strahd’s partner in crime. There’s a reason the first adventure was simply called Ravenloft. The crawl through the namesake castle captures the heart of the story. If you’re going to play only part of Curse of Strahd (which is what you need to do if you want to play it as a one shot), then play the most iconic part. You should read the rest of the adventure too because it’s a great read, but get familiar with this chapter in particular. Step 1! Review Chapter 4 – Castle Ravenloft All you need is some friends for about 4 – 12 hours on a single day and you can get a quicky vamp fix. Read on friends and I will show you how to run Curse of Strahd as a one shot. If only there was a way to get my fix in a one shot adventure session… Turns out there is. ![]() I could easily wait to play Curse of Strahd, but I don’t want to. They don’t want to take a 6-month break to play another adventure. There is no way I have time for a fifth consistently and my other groups are invested in the stories they’re currently playing through. I already run about four games on and off. I want to stake vamps, silver-stab werewolves, and flap with the wereravens. When I read through Curse of Strahd, it gave me all sorts of D&D hankerings for gothic horror. I imagine they might both try to run Curse of Strahd this coming Halloween as a one shot. When I reviewed the classic adventure on The Tome Show, the amazing Jeff Greiner said he does the same. Every year he runs a group through the adventure in an afternoon. Mike isn’t the only person who runs Ravenloft as a one shot during Halloween. This most recent Halloween had me sitting at a table playing a fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons conversion of the original I6 Ravenloft module DMed by the one and only Mike Shea. The release of Curse of Strahd has me thinking about all the awesome things that happen during the season. Yeah, I know I’m about seven months too early.
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