Curse of Strahd Makes Me Never Want to Play D&d Again

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If you've been thinking about playing Dungeons & Dragons then you've probably noticed that in that location's a lot of textile to choose from. At that place are no fewer than three current starter sets, more a one-half-dozen rock-solid published adventures, and an entire market of fan-created content. Simply one campaign is regularly recommended ahead of all the others — especially for beginners. It's called Curse of Strahd, and information technology might just be the most welcoming and adaptable way into the original role-playing game.

Considering of its popularity, there are currently iii excellent options for buying Curse of Strahd. They run the gamut from old-school do-it-yourself storytelling to a luxurious collectors' set with loftier production values. I'll assist you figure out which one is correct for you.

But start, a footling backstory to whet the appetite.

Why this vampire?

Back in the 1970s, when D&D was young, the game focused mainly on exploration, gainsay, and loot. Rolling dice with your friends meant crawling around a subterranean dungeon, killing weird monsters, and making off with some magical items. And then, in 1983, the Ravenloft module was published. Written by Tracy Hickman and Laura Hickman, it added a rich sense of storytelling to D&D. The clandestine was a charismatic vampire named Strahd von Zarovich.

Ravenloft was the showtime D&D adventure that truly felt like a complete narrative, and information technology centered on Strahd, a complex villain with motivations of his ain. Rather than but describing the action from a distance, Strahd allows the Dungeon Chief (DM) to personally engage with the cloth and with the players at the tabular array through both combat and noncombat encounters. Published in 2016, Curse of Strahd modernizes those mechanics and expands them from a meager 32 pages to a hefty 256. Its version of Strahd is equally equally menacing every bit the original, and much more fun to play.

Vintage art of Strahd von Varovich shows him lurking amidst the towers of Castle Ravenloft.

Image: Wizards of the Coast

Why is Strahd such a nifty villain? Not to requite too much away, only the payoff of his personal arc is definitely worth the fourth dimension spent playing against him. He's more than only your average B-movie bloodsucker. Strahd is a fully realized graphic symbol with a Shakespearean backstory and plenty guile and cunning to stand up to whatsoever party of adventurers.

Where Curse of Strahd differentiates itself from the original, in my opinion, is in fleshing out its setting. The action takes place in a sinister pocket dimension known every bit the valley of Barovia, which ways you can enter or exit the campaign from anywhere in the D&D multiverse. The valley itself is constructed very much like a mod open-world video game. Players are able to explore the environment at their leisure, perusing its numerous side quests. All the while, the specter of Strahd volition haunt them — at times literally — serving equally a beacon to irrevocably pull them back to the primary questline.

In that location's fifty-fifty a mini-chance bundled in with the entrada, designed to apace level up new characters and go players used to the mechanics of modern D&D. But put, Curse of Strahd is the complete package.

So, now that I've sold you on it, permit'southward talk most three different ways to actually buy the affair.

The basics

Expletive of Strahd was first published as a hardcover volume, and the most basic version of that book is notwithstanding in print. You can find i easily at your friendly local game store or online at places like Amazon. Contained booksellers that carry D&D will likely have a re-create, equally will larger retailers like Barnes & Noble.

There are several digital options for D&D books now, and the version you want to go depends very much on your platform of choice. The best option for newcomers will be D&D Beyond, which sells the campaign and as well gives players access to an online character builder. In that location'south also virtual tabletops (VTTs) like Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds, which offer more than options for interim out the game'southward combat encounters with virtual miniatures and dice. VTTs tin tend to slow the action down for newcomers, so accept care to learn the toolset before yous gather your party.

Of course, you lot'll besides need the three other books that class the core of D&D: the Player's Handbook, the Dungeon Master'south Guide, and the Monster Manual. All three are also available on D&D Beyond.

Level up

Expletive of Strahd is now also being sold every bit a boxed set up titled Curse of Strahd: Revamped Premium Edition. Get-go published in Oct 2020, it has a hefty listing price of $99.99, and given what's included in the box, information technology's difficult to recommend it at that price. Thankfully, you can now notice it for sale online at places like Amazon for quite a bit less.

The box itself is actually pretty clever. It'due south shaped like a coffin, and the set includes a full-colour portrait of Strahd then that yous tin leave him resting fitfully inside for your players to detect. Some other perk of the Premium Edition is that it includes a more robust version of the campaign'south double-sided map (the aforementioned one that comes with the bones hardcover book).

The opposite side of Strahd'southward portrait includes the stat block needed to run him at the table.

Photo: Charlie Hall/Polygon

The downside, however, is that the campaign book in this boxed set is a paperback, non a hardcover like the original.

My favorite part of the boxed set is a handy set of in-fiction tarot cards chosen Tarokka cards. The oversized foil-stamped deck will come in handy for a major plot indicate in the campaign. Of grade, you can also pick up a ready of Tarokka cards — a regular-sized, non-foil-stamped version — separately for just $10.

Clockwise from the pinnacle yous've got an oversized Tarokka deck, a map, a prepare of postcards, handouts written in Strahd's hand, and a four-panel DM screen.

Photo: Charlie Hall/Polygon

What the Premium Edition is truly defective, in my opinion, is a proper ii-dimensional map of Castle Ravenloft, Strahd's lair and the setting for the entrada's final showdown. There'south a 3D isometric version of the floor plan included on one side of the entrada map (which, yous'll recall, comes with both the original hardcover book and the Premium Edition). But it's upwardly to DMs to plot that floor program in second for their players at the table. That requires pen and paper, and can tend to dull down gameplay significantly.

If you're using a VTT solution, plotting out the map of Castle Ravenloft can as well exist a real hassle. Thankfully, the Roll20 version of the campaign comes with 30 pre-rendered boxing maps — including a 2d floor plan of the entire castle.

At that place'due south as well a tremendously well executed set of 2d Castle Ravenloft maps available on the Dungeon Master's Guild. For just $x, you go everything you need to print that floor programme out as multiple big maps at a commercial printer, or on dozens of regular sheets of paper at dwelling. There'south even a version of the maps formatted for use with VTT software like Fantasy Grounds.

For my habitation campaign, I printed out every inch of Castle Ravenloft in black and white, and then mounted the tiles to blackness foam core. Afterwards just a few nights of piece of work with a glue stick and a box cutter, I had the entirety of Strahd's lair stacked upward and stored inside a paper grocery purse.

High-level play

For those seeking the most luxurious way to feel Curse of Strahd, look no further than Beadle & Grimm's. The company makes licensed deluxe editions of many of the official D&D campaigns, and its accept on the valley of Barovia is extraordinary. Called The Legendary Edition of Expletive of Strahd, it runs $399 and is at present in its second printing.

What makes The Legendary Edition so special — aside from the full-color prints of the entire Castle Ravenloft and many other primal battlefields in the game — are the ephemera. Not just does it come with extremely well made paper handouts, including weathered letters from Strahd himself, information technology also includes lots of mixed-media objects to pass around the table. There's a scattering of faux wax seals with Strahd's personal signet; a set of in-fiction labels to apply to real wine bottles; several coins of the realm emblazoned with Strahd's profile; and even a ready of in-fiction toy finger puppets.

Absolutely, a $399 price tag may seem extravagant. But having run the campaign myself over the course of an entire year, I tin't tell you how much time and energy The Legendary Edition would accept saved me.

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Source: https://www.polygon.com/tabletop-games/22745128/dungeons-dragons-best-campaign-curse-of-strahd-horror-beginners

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