First Levels Dungeons

25 Jan 2021

The Problem With The First Level

I’ve played many OSR games, a lot of them never went past trough the first levels so that means I have a good experience with low level play and bad experience with higher tiers. I also played with various players, some more used to OSR play than others. There is one key problem that frustrates a lot of people, both old and new and it’s the low starting HP. Yes sure, deadly games are part of the OSR mythos and players aren’t supposed to fight, they’re supposed to survive and find clever solutions to combat, but sometimes dungeon is just inevitable and I would like to spend a few lines talking about how to optimize the first rooms of every dungeon.

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Make Them Draw

24 Jan 2021

Why should you make your players draw their maps

One core principle in my games is that I insist on making my players draw their own maps with me just describing them. Am I a sadist? Probably, but that’s besides the point. Map drawing should be present in every game and here’s why:

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The Ruins Of Berez

13 Jan 2019

Overview

The ruins of Berez are home to Baba Lysaga. An ancient woman that believes to be Strahd’s natural mother. She’s a hermit that spends most of the time trying to kill the ravens of the Keepers Of The Feather.

As for the backstory of the town itself: a woman named Marina lived here, she resembled Tatyana and once Strahd met her, he became obsessed by her. He almost turned her into a vampire but before he could do that, the burgomaster managed to kill her, saving her soul. Enraged, Strahd used his powers to flood the village forcing the residents to flee.

The area has the hut of Baba Lysaga, a mansion with the ghost of Ulrich: the ex-burgomaster of Berez, a monument to Marina and an ancient ring of menhirs.

Approaching the Area

The area, similarly to Yester Hill, is very huge and the characters will need a lot of time to search all of the buildings. They will most likely approach from the north, where the road gradually turns into a swamp.

Because of the heavy mist very little of the area will be visible at once.

There are also several scarecrows in the marsh, that appear nonmagical but are actually controlled by Baba Lysaga

Areas Of Berez

Abandoned Cottages

Nothing of value is in here, and those are mostly to waste your players’ time while they explore them

Ulrich Mansion

The ghost of Lazlo Ulrich haunts the mansion. It’s a very secondary character and I wouldn’t bother running it if he’s not your party’s ally. To put his soul to rest he has to see Ireea in the flesh, but he can’t leave the mansion. He knows the tale of the city but is pretty much useless otherwhise.

Goat Pen

Cute little area that has some goats that will act as a lure for inexperienced players. If the players try to free the goats then the skull on the fence will scream as an alarm.

Baba Lysaga’s Hut

More on it later.

Marina’s Monument

A monument that Strahd erected in honor of Marina. It’s a monument hidden in the marsh and hard to find, Ulrich knows its location. There’s nothing interesting here but it adds some depth and flavor to this area’s backstory.

Standing Stones

A wereraven named Muriel Vinshaw is present here as she’s spying on Baba Lysaga. She knows some information about her and will tell it to the players. She also won’t tell the players she works for the Wereravens, preferring to leave that as a secret.

In this place there’s an ancient ring of menhirs. It’s up to your discretion what you wanna do with them, for example you could link them to fanes. A druid entering the circle will feel a connection with ancient gods, and if wildshape is used in here then the druid will get the maximum amount of HP that that form can have.

Baba Lysaga’s Hut

Remember that there are ravens (or wereravens if you want) trapped in cages outside so she won’t hear anyone approaching (unless one of her alarms had been triggered).

There’s a giant scull outside of the hut she will use if a fight starts.

In her hut there’s a crib that holds an illusory baby (Strahd), and a bath full of blood she bathes in to prevent aging. There’s also a cavity in the floor where the gem that animates the house is (the one stolen from the winery), but the players should’t notice it unless the house starts moving.

If Baba Lysaga gets attacked she will command the house to react. The hut will follow her instructions and will fight until destroyed or until the gem is removed, something Lysaga will try to prevent.

Baba Lysaga

Baba Lysaga is the “second mother” of Strahd. She didn’t gave birth to him (even though she belives so), but she cast spells on him and placed the spark of magic on him, making him a spellcaster.

Once Queen Ravenovia discovered this morbid attachment to his son she decided to banish Lysaga from the kingdom. She couldn’t see Strahd again but followed him everywhere he’d go, witnessing all of his triumphs.

She wished the death of Queen Ravenovia and is desperate because she knows Strahd won’t accept her as her mother, so she lives in perpetual denial.

Lysaga hates the wereravens because they try to harm Strahd and put an end to his domain.

If the players confront her she will stay neutral to them, unless she learns that they’re here to defeat Strahd or take her gem. She won’t try to kill them on the spot but she won’t divulge any information with the party either. If the party shows interest in the wereravens, the gems or in Strahd she will become very cautious and will animate the house at the first sign of danger.

If attacked she will use power word: stun on the nearest attacker and will try to get into her flying skull (that gives her three-quarters of cover). She will then try to target ranged casters that are mostly a threat to her, while the hut takes care of the melee fighters. She also has polymorph, so assuming your characters are not properly prepared this will be a really tough fight.

Once the hut is active someone can jump in and take the gem out of the hut. This is a difficult feat as both the hut and Lysaga will try to contrast it.

Special Event: Lost Battlefield

This is another lore-heavy event that happens as your players leave the ruins and could tie them to Argynvostholt. The characters see and hear an illusory battle that happened in the marsh. This is a battle between Argynvostholt’s order and Strahd’s army.

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Yester Hill

09 Jan 2019

Overview

Yester Hill is a combat heavy zone that holds some interactions with Strahd and some magical items. Remember the place is huge and run your combat accordingly. Your players will arrive here most likely to find the gem; what they don’t know is that the druids are preparing a ritual to summon Wintersplinter and asault the winery.

It’s a short area that shouldn’t be a big problem to run.

The Ritual

The druids are waiting for Strahd’s blessing to start the ritual, when he arrives they’re ready to proceed.

If ran as written the ritual takes one minute to complete, where at all times there must be at least one druid chanting.

Once completed a tree blight erupts from the statue present in the middle hill and starts traveling north, creating a path in the woods.

The blight is made with a gem from the winery, if you want to reward your players for creative thinking you can allow them to recover the gem from the moving tree (it shouldn’t be easy though!)

The players can stop the ritual by killing all the druids in time, if they decide to do so you must underline that the stress factor is important, but you shouldn’t tell them how much time they have exactly. If they come close but not enough to disrupt the ritual consider giving them extra time.

When the ritual starts is up to you, but I wouldn’t wait more than the first druid death. If the druids are actually threatened then Strahd appears and they start the ritual.

You can also start it as soon as the players arrive at the hill, let them discuss their course of action and if they don’t act fast enough let the ritual be completed.

Wintersplinter is summoned!

This shouldn’t be a defeat for the party, but rather a new challenge, and depending on your party’s level it might be a hard one (if the druids are not dead!). Consider making two separate encounters if needed: first the druids and then the tree, that at first simply travels towards the winery and doesn’t attack unless attacked first.

This could make for an interesting chase scene, where the players have to defeat the druids while actually running behind the tree to catch him later and not let him destroy the winery.

Areas of the Hill

As usual, I’ll address only the important ones without going too much in detail

Druids’ Circle

If Wintersplinter isn’t summoned the players will find the gem inside the Wooden Statue. Remember that players can be struck by lightning (makes for a good comedic relief) and that there are hidden druids almost everywhere.

Gulthias Tree

An interesting thing to have in Barovia, especially if players know what it is. Other than that it’s mostly useless if not for lore flavor. There are blights protecting it and a magical axe stuck in it.

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The Wizard Of Wines Winery

05 Jan 2019

Overview

The Wizard Of Wines is a winery that stopped producing wine and it’s up to the players to figure out why. The winery originally had three gems that helped the grapes grow.

The first one was stolen by an unknown party, the second one has been stolen by Baba Lysaga (from Berez) and the last one has been stolen by the druids from Yester Hill. Now the building is occupied by blights and druids.

The winery is led by the Martikov family, a group of wereravens. It’s not clear where they live now, but I told the players that they’re now “in a secret place they don’t want to divulge with others for their own safety”

The characters can go into the vinery and get rid of all the blights, only then Davian Martikov trust them enough to tell them about the stones and ask the players to retrieve them. Without the gems, the wine production will eventually stop.

Most of this location will be combat, so be ready for a fight that is a couple hours long.

Approaching the Winery and Davian

Once the players approach they will se a cloaked figure near the edge of the trees that flank the road. If they approach the figure they will learn that the man is actually Davian Martikov, the elder of the Martikov family. He will tell them about the fate of the winery, but being highly suspicious he won’t divulge anything about the gems. Davian will tell the party that there are still a couple of barrels left in the building if they want to try and reclaim them.

If the players ignore the man and go straight for the winery they’re in for a big surprise. Once they’re halfway trough a group of thirty needle blights will emerge from behind them, preventing a retreat.

The Combat

This is going to be a long fight. The characters can stay outside and fight, but they will probably run inside the house trying to barricade themselves in. The characters are 1 round away from the winery, the blights are 2 rounds away from the players. Remember that if the players stay outside and fight additional reinforcements will come from the house at turns 3,4 and 5.

If the players go inside they will be greeted with more druids and blights, but at least they will be a bit more manageable, with choke points etc.

Remember to use the two floors for a more dynamic combat. The druids will know the layout of the house so they will cast spells from the second floor and use the ramps to get behind the players’ backs.

Also one of the druids has a Ghultias Staff. If it’s destroyed all the Blights in a 300ft radius will die. You should allow one player to make a check to understand the connection between the staff and the blights (without telling him explicitly the effects)

Areas of the Winery

I’ll go over only the important ones.

Fermentation Vats

Remember that the blights are hidden in the cask if ran as written. It really doesn’t make sense to me since it’s not guaranteed that the druids know of the character’s arrival (they don’t if they move fast and silently). So make the blights be hidden only if the players made a lot of noise.

The druid is in the process of poisoning the vats. If the players approach silently let them see the scene. If the players haven’t seen this scene, and after the combat is over they decide to taste the wine then let the CON check be hidden.

Wine Cellar

This location holds a secret door, but it’s purely a RP one. There’s no reason to draw particular attention to it, unless the players want to somehow use the brown mold in combat against the druid and the blights.

Also before entering the combat let the players see all the bottles and make the druid say something among the lines of “Witness my thunder power. I will shatter you all like I’d do with these glass bottles!” so they can react and save some more bottles to bring back.

I think it makes for a fun moment.

Master Bedroom

Some generic treasure is present in the room but I think this room as well makes for some good RP. The players will eventually find the shipping records and they will try to figure out what the acronyms are (maybe learning about a place they don’t know yet, like Krezk)

Aftermath

Once the winery is clear of druids Davian will be much more friendly to the characters. He will tell them about the magical stones and urge to recover them. He knows that one is at Yester Hill and the second one is in Berez. He knows nothing about the third one.

Once this question is settled he will be more than happy to help the players arrange the shipment of some vine for the group. They can decide where to bring the cart:

• To the Vistani, in exchange for a treasure from the treasure cart
• To the Blue Water Inn in exchange for more gold and gratitude from the wereravens
• To Krezk to gain safe access to the city

You also might decide that there’s enough wine to do multiple of those things.

Wintersplinter

According to the book if the players return to the winery after clearing it but before going to Yester Hill then they’ll find themselves dealing with Wintersplinter, an enormous tree blight controlled by the druids.

I’m not sure about that, especially since they party might recover the gem from Baba Lysaga first and then decide to bring it to the Martikov family. This would trigger the event, even if the characters are doing their best.

I would change the attack to happen only if a lot of time passes between the two visits, like a week or so. You could also urge the players to visit Yester Hill first since it’s the closest location to the winery and the druids might strike back as an act of vengeance.

The Third Gem

One unresolved question in the book is the location of the third gem. It’s not clear who stole it, nor I think it should be. Not all the questions need an answer and the fact there’s no third gem makes the world feel more real.

The players are used to quests, they’re used to go into the dungeon to find stuff, and they’re used to finding it there. The lack of a third gem makes it for a good change of pace.

If you want to place the gem somewhere anyways though you can place it in the Abbey of Saint Markovia. Since the Abbot had trouble creating a soul he could’ve used the gem for some aid in the process (maybe he used it to give life to Vasilka?)

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The Town Of Vallaki

04 Jan 2019

Overview

First of all, don’t panic. Vallaki is huge and messy but I’ll do my best to keep it simple. Be careful though, your players will spend a lot of their time in the city so be sure to prepare it as best as you can.

Also I suggest reading “Curse of Strahd Reloaded: A Campaign Guide by /u/DragnaCarta - The Town of Vallaki” which delves more deeply into the town and into some homebrew elements.

Dramatis Personae (in order of appearance)

Father Lucian Petrovich and Milivoj

Those two NPCs will be important for the special event “Feast of St. Andral” and your party will meet them, especially if they’ve been prompted to go to th Vallaki’s church. Lucian is a religous but intelligent man, Milivoj is a hotheaded teenager that wants to protect his siblings. More details will be discussed in “The Feast Of St. Andral” section.

Urwin Martikov and the Keepers of the Feather

Urwin Martikov is a wereraven and a high-ranking member of the Keepers of the Feather, a secret society of wereravens that opposes Strahd. The members of the society have a hideout in the Blue Water Inn and they’re friendly to the characters. Urwin Martikov is fierce and likes to fight. He is the son of Davian Martikov, the owner of the winery “The Wizard Of The Wines” (but he won’t mention that to the players since he and his father are not on good terms). This is why he asks the players to check why the winery isn’t delivering the wine anymore instead of checking by himself.

Szoldar Szoldarovich and Yevgeni Krushkin

Those are two minor characters that can be present at the Inn. They’re wolf hunters and know the layout of the zone. They can accompany the players for a fee but they won’t go out at night.

Wachter Brothers (Nikolai and Karl)

The two brothers are sons of Fiona Wachter (more on her later) and they’re of noble upbringing. Always drunk and always looking for trouble they could hint to the players about the Tyger, Tyger event.

Rictavio

Rictavio is a vampire hunter in disguise. He has a cunning tongue, likes to be sarcastic and doesn’t trust people easily. He lives in a wagon on the west side of the town. Get some stories ready for him as he likes to tell them to entertain people (some of them can be found in his journal). He is at the Inn to gather information on the Keepers of the Feather and about the Vistani.

Baron Vargas Vallakovich

The baron is the current ruler of the city. His catchprase is “All will be well!” and he likes repeating it over and over. He likes organizing festivals in the city and he thinks (wrongly) that those are what keeps Strahd away from Vallaki. He doesn’t like those who oppose him and if someone insults his town he’ll be sure to throw them in jail for a “reformation”. He has two mastiffs that follow him everywhere. He will ask the players to keep an eye on Fiona Wachter since he thinks she is trying to execute a plan to kill him and become the leader of Vallaki.

Lydia Petrovna

Lydia is Vargas’ wife. She hasn’t the sharpest mind and laughs at pretty much every comment or question. She won’t delve into political matters and will try her best to avoid such questions while redirecting them at Vargas. Her only interest is making tea and parties while talking with people that tolerate her just because of the free food.

Victor Vallakovich

Victor is Vargas’ son. He’s teaching himself magic and he is responsible for the disappearance of one of the members of the baron’s household staff.

Izek Strazni

Izek is the baron’s henchman. He is the brother of Ireena Kolyana and they’ve been separated when they were young so no one of them knows that. He is a sociopath and a killer and he also had grown a fiendish hand thanks to the Dark Powers. He collects dolls made by Blinksy in the shape of Ireena because he keeps dreaming about her.

If Izek sees Ireena he will do everything he can to reunite with her. Here you basically have two options, the first one is to play an evil Izek: he will try to capture Ireena and lock her up, while killing everyone that opposes him. The second one is the good Izek: once he learns that Ireena is hunted by Strahd he will do his best to protect her, joining the party and sacrificing his life for her if needed.

One cool idea is to make Izek the brother of someone’s character, basically replacing him with Ireena.

Lady Fiona Wachter

Fiona is a Vallaki’s noble. She is loyal to Strahd and seeks to supplant Baron Vallakovich as the town burgomaster. She is mostly evil but smart and she will try to use the party if she sees they can be an advantage to her plan. She tried to marry her daughter Stella to Victor, but she drove her mad, probably using magic.

Fiona started a cult in Vallaki and she plans to use that cult to seize the town by force. She also sleeps with the corpse of her husband she keeps intact with the help of magic.

Lady Wachter will invite the party for lunch and will openly tell them about her plan, purposefully leaving out some of the details (like the cult).

Henrik van der Voort

Henrik is the town’s carpenter and he makes coffins for a living. He is lonely and doesn’t like visitors. His shop is currently the home of some vampire spawns that are part of the “Feast Of St. Andral” event.

Gadof Blinsky

Blinsky makes toys for everyone in Barovia, and your players have probably already found some of his toys. He is creepy and a bit crazy and he does’t recognize the fact that his toys aren’t exactly the most appropriate, he rather finds them very amusing. He also has a pet monkey, given to him by Rictavio in exchange for a Vistana doll.

Lately he has been doing a lot of Ireena dolls for Izek.

Kasimir Velikov

The leader of the dusk elves is one of the greatest sources of information for the party. He will happily tell them all that he knows. His most valued information is the know-how of Strahd’s power so he can direct the players to the Amber Temple.

He also has been having dreams regarding his dead sister so he will accompany the characters to the temple if he can, and he will insist on that.

Arrigal

This Vistana is a known face for the party if you used the “Plea For Help” adventure hook. If questioned he will tell them that he was just a messenger and didn’t know anything about the contents of the letter. He is loyal to Strahd and will do his best to stop the characters if he learns they’re scheming something dangerous.

Luvash

Luvash is violent but he has nothing against the players. He spends most of the time drunk but now that he has little to no wine to drink he is unhappy. Also his daughter has vanished so almost every Vistana in the camp is searching for her. Little does he know that Annabelle has been kidnapped by Bruto, a drunkard, and has been brought to the middle of lake Zarovich to be drowned.

Locations Overview

St. Andral’s Church

This is an important place for the “St.Andral’s Feast” event. If the players come here Father Lucian will ask them to find the vanished bones of St.Andral. If the bones are not found the vampires will attack the church in a couple of days.

Blue Water Inn

The inn is full of people and you don’t have to run them all, at least not all at once. Introduce few NPCs at a time, this will also help the inn feel alive.

Urwin Martikov will ask the players to get some wine from the winery and he will tell them a bit about Vallaki.

Most of the groups won’t explore the inn but remember that some of the rooms are locked and contain valuable information, and also there’s a secret attic.

Burgomaster’s Mansion

If Ireena is with the party she will suggest they go and see the Baron of Vallaki. His mansion is busy most of the day. If the party ask to see the Baron they will be invited inside.

The party will be “asked” to participate in the next festival and maybe even prompted to help.

Vargas will also tell them about Fiona Wachter and request some help in that regard. He wants the party to spy on her and report on any suspicious activity on her behalf.

He will also mention the disappearance of some of his staff, as he thinks this is connected to Fiona.

Also, the baron might propose a marriage between Ireena and his son Viktor

If the party decides to investigate the mansion (a hard task given that it’s full of people and guards) they can also learn about Izek, about the “reformation” the baron likes to do on people and about the secrets of the baron’s son Viktor.

Viktor is a bit crazy and he is trying to learn magic (with little luck). He especially tried to create a teleportation circle, but it doesn’t work. He used some servants to test it, and they have been torn apart in front of his very own eyes. That is the reason behind the servant’s disappearance.

Wachterhaus

This is the home of Lady Fiona. She will probably invite the players to lunch (NPCs love inviting people to eat in barovia) once they make themselves known in Vallaki.

It’s a good idea to invite the party the next day after they’ve talked with the Baron so they have to make a choice on whom to side with. Vargas is mentally unstable and violent, but Fiona is Strahd’s ally.

Once the party has been invited she will serve them a fine meal while talking about her plans and about the fact that Vargas isn’t capapble of ruling over Vallaki. She will then ask the party to help her overthrow him.

If the party explore Wacherhaus they will encounter lots of things, but most of them will be hidden:

• Stella’s room, which is locked, holds Stella in it. She is a prisoner of both the room and her own madness.
• Some clues about the cult Fiona has created
• The Cult Headquarters themselves, full of cultists
• The dead husband of Fiona, under the effect of the gentle repose spell

Arasek Stockyard and Rictavio’s Vagon

The stockyard is just a general store, and outside of it there’s Rictavio’s Wagon. The wagon is trapped but if the characters stick long enough they could hear some roars coming from inside. Those come from a tiger Rictavio keeps locked in. He is planning to unleash it to kill the Vistani.

Coffin Maker’s Shop

The shop is closed and Henrik won’t open it to the players since he fears being discovered. He agreed to keep some vampire spawns in his shop in exchange for wealth. If the players knock on the door he will simply yell “It’s closed, come back tomorrow”.

If the characters decide to break in anyways he won’t make resistance and will tell them everything he knows.

Blinsky Toys

The toy shop is full of strange toys, and among them the party can find some dolls that resemble Ireena (or one of the players if you made him Izek’s brother)

Blinksy will try to sell some toys to the party. He also won’t hide anything from them and will promptly tell them everything he knows.

He also has a quest for the party: to go to Strahd’s castle and recover a clockwork man hidden somewhere in it.

Town Square

The town square is the main place where festivities are held. One has just ended and there are already ongoing preparations for the next one.

There are men and women trapped in cages in the square, for “malicious unhappiness”. Izek carries the keys and freeing them is a crime.

Vistani Camp

The camp is outside of Vallaki and is the home of both the Vistani and the Dusk Elves. When the party arrives most of the inhabitants of the camp are out searching for Annabelle but your players can still talk with Luvash or Arrigal.

The Vistani will ask them to find Annabelle and to discover what happened at the Wizards Of the Wines Winery.

If they talk to Kazimir and the Dusk Elves they can learn more about Barovia and Strahd, but if they ask about Strahd too much the Vistani will start to become a bit hostile to them.

Timeline

The following timeline has been taken from Curse of Strahd: Reloaded and is a good way of traking time and events even if the players don’t intervene. Remember, Vallaki is a living city and events will happen even if the players don’t participate in them.

• 29th of Eleint: PCs Arrive in Vallaki; Father Lucian Discovers the Theft
• 1st of Manoth: Bluto Drowns Arabelle
• 2nd of Manoth: The Feast of St. Andral
• 3rd of Manoth: Bluto is Captured; Baron Vallakovich Holds Court at the Reformation Center
• 4th of Manoth: The Festival of the Blazing Sun

Once the players arrive in Vallaki they have 3 days to prevent the Feast Of St.Andral and 1 day to save Arabelle.

Quests

The main quests of Vallaki are the following:

• Recover the bones to prevent the Feast Of St.Andral
• Side either with the Baron or Fiona and decide the fate of Vallaki’s politics
• Find Arabelle
• Find out what happened to the Wizard Of The Wines and deliver some wine to the Vistani and to the Blue Water Inn

St.Andral’s Feast

This is the main event that will happen in Vallaki so you want to be prepared. The players can prevent it by recovering the bones and bringing them back to the church or by destroying the vampire spawns in the Coffin Maker’s shop.

Millivoj has stolen the bones and brought them to Henrik in return for money. Henrik then took the bones and hid them in his wardrobe.

If the players don’t prevent the feast then on the third night the vampires will begin the attack. Some of the vampires will attack the church and others will be attacking other important places in the town (such as the Burgomaster’s Mansion).

The baron’s wife gets killed this night, and if the characters don’t intervene so does Father Lucian.

After creating some chaos all the vampires will go to the church where Strahd will be waiting. After everyone’s there he will kill Father Lucian.

If the party comes to the church with Ireena, Strahd will do his best to take her with him.

The Aftermath

The attack demoralizes the town. The townsfolk will burn the baron’s mansion and will drag Vargas and Izek to the town square. There Fiona will be wating to take this opportunity and hang the baron while delivering a speech for the people.

Fiona becomes the new burgomaster and the city becomes heavily guarded and militarized. For a few days there will be revolts and protests. Many people will lose their home because of the fires. Supposed supporters of Vargas will be killed right on the streets and the atmosphere of the city will become grim. Of course no more festivals will be held.

Other Events

Festival of the Blazing Sun

If the feast is prevented then the Baron will hold the festival. During the festival Lady Fiona will try to start a revolt and seize control of the town. Big crowds of people will start running on the streets and Vallaki will become a dangerous place for the PCs.

The outcome of the rebellion depends on whom the characters side with. If they decide to do nothing instead then it’s your choice depending on how you want the story to go.

Tyger, Tyger

I found this event to be unnecessary (especially if Rictavio is not the party’s ally) and confusing but you might want to run it anywas.

Basically Nikolai and Karl will free Rictavio’s tiger that will roam on he streets causing fear and confusion. Once the tiger is captured the Baron will learn its provenience and will exile Rictavio from the city.

Strahd’s Invitation

Once the feast is over, if the players had any role in it Strahd will want to invite the players for dinner. He will ask Ernst Larnak (Fiona’s servant) to deliver a letter to the party. In it there will be an invitation to Castle Ravenloft. For more information check Elven Tower’s Strahd Invitation, or my guide once it’s released.

General Overview and Final Considerations

Vallaki is a long chapter and a very important one. Don’t be afraid of running it and try not to show everything at once to your players. It’s better to leave something out rather than filling your party with information they will forget shortly after.

I found out that some NPCs, like Rictavio or the Wachter Brothers, aren’t really important if your PCs don’t have any ties with them so I usually leave them out or mention them briefly.

Your party won’t see everything in Vallaki and that’s ok. One of my groups didn’t even go to the church before the feast.

Try to have one major event and a couple of minor ones each day, not more than that. Don’t introduce both the Baron and Lady Fiona on the same day for example.

Don’t railroad the players and let them do whatever they want. Just remember that Vallaki is a living place and events happens even if the players doesn’t know about them. You could of course postpone some of the crucial ones (like the feast) if the players are not in town, but I prefer to let the story go as planned.

This is how a Vallaki session might go:

• The players arrive from the East Gate and check the Stockyard and Rictavio’s Wagon.
• Then they go to the Blue Water Inn and get some quests and learn a bit more about the city
• In the evening they’re invited to dinner by the Baron and learn about lady Fiona
• On the next day they have some spare time so they explore the city
• Or they just go straight to Wachterhaus
• If they didn’t go to Wachterhaus then they recieve an invitation from Lady Fiona itself and they get the quest to help her
• On the third day they’re free to explore and do whatever they want. They might learn about the bones if they haven’t yet, they might check the Vistani camp and try to save Annabelle or they might go to the Winery
• At night, if not prevented, the feast happens
• Then the story branches depending on your player’s actions

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Tser Pool Encampment

31 Dec 2018

Areas of the Tser Pool Encampment

There’s nothing much in this area but your players will pass here eventually. The Vistani will be friendly with the characters and invite them to have some food and some drinks around the campfire.

Prepare some Vistani names beforehand, at least one for the Vistana that will greet them. Remember, they’re based on Romani so make them look similar.

They’re a nomadic population but aren’t planning to move anytime soon, even if the encampment might look precarious. The Vistani will try to sell them the bottles to escape from the mist and if the lie is discovered they will just shrug it off saying “No one’s ever came back to complain. I thought they worked”

Some players might want to purchase or steal the horses to travel faster. The Vistani would never separate from their horse (as the horse is almost a Vistana’s family member) and they don’t have any to spare, but if the players are crazy enough to rob them during the night let them do it.

If the characters are friendly, the Vistani will suggest them a Tarot Reading by Madam Eva, they will also invite them to stay overnight to witness the traditional Vistana dances in front of the fire. If the party’s ally is the Mad Mage be sure to insist on this last part so you can tell The Vistana’s Tale to your group.

The Vistani from this encampment know about the ones south of Vallaki, but they’re two separate groups and don’t have much to do with each other. This ones are also more friendly to the party.

Madame Eva’s Reading

This is a great opportunity for you as a DM to tell a cool story. Madam Eva is an old woman that knows more than she shows. Try to anticipate your player’s phrases and end them by yourselves. She will know the names of your player’s characters and will tell some little prophecy to each one of them. This is the perfect moment to hint something about the hidden backstories you prepared (if any).

Other than that you can now take your cards deck. Any will do, but be sure you prepared it in advance. For more scene you can wrap it in a piece of black cloth and slowly unravel it in front of the players.

If you don’t want, you don’t have to fake the reading. Just draw the cards and either invent something on the spot or consult the manual (but this will probably break the atmosphere).

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The Old Bonegrider

31 Dec 2018

Overview

After they leave Tser Pool Encampment your players will most certainly encounter the Old Bonegrinder: a massive and spooky windmill in the middle of some misty fields.

This is a high level area and I’m pretty sure did this intentionally. The party will be around level 4 here and they won’t be able to kill three hags if they anger them.

I really like the Old Bonegrinder. It’s probably my favourite zone in all of Barovia. It’s full of mystery, tension and danger if ran correctly, so don’t waste such an opportunity.

Deadly Premonitions

One way of steering this players away from this area is making use of the crow. Crows are always seen as bad omens, so if you describe one of them circling and croaking above their heads they will be cautious.

But other than that I wouldn’t stress too much on this, you don’t want to give away immediately the dark secret of the Bonegrider.

The Hags

The hags aren’t really chaotic evil, or rather, they won’t kill the characters on sight. They will invite the players inside, make them sit in front of the fireplace and tell them some stories of Barovia while asking questions and trying to gather as much information as they can.

They will present themselves as poor old grannies trying to survive in Barovia by making and selling pastries. If asked what’s inside they will tell that they have multiple types: meat ones (made from chickens), vegetable ones (made from vegetables bought in Vallaki) and empty ones.

They will then try to sell some pastries to the players, but not without giving them a free sample. Try to keep this as natural as possible and don’t force it on the players.

If the players ask to go upstairs the hag will tell them that her sister is walking and doesn’t like to be bothered. And also that “Mommy isn’t home, you should ask her. She will be back in an hour”. This phrase is a reference to Morgantha which is out selling pastries.

Fighting the Evil

If there’s a paladin in the party they might notice an aura of evil coming from the windmill. The hags will justify it by saying that “an old witch once cast a spell on this windmill preventing it from working thanks to the wind. Now we have to manually rotate the shovels. Have you seen our humps? Oh, poor us”

But if a fight starts anyways remember that your goal isn’t to kill your party but to tell a story.

The hags won’t fight back unless it’s really necessary. They will drop down on their knees, calling the party “murderers, and awful people for going after an old granny like this”.

After a couple of turns Morgantha comes home, and after seeing the scene tries to strike a deal with the party. Hags are known for offering deals to people and this ones are no exception.

She will promise some spell, a powerful item, or some secret if the characters stop fighting and do something for her.

An example of such a request could be to go and sell some pastries to Vallaki, a place where they didn’t have yet the chance to expand the market. Or to go and save a boy from the woods and bring him back to Barovia, little the party knows is that the boy is actually a werefolf and will kill most of the inhabitants of the village once he transforms.

Try to challenge the morality of the players and make them do deeds that at first seem innocuous but turn out to be evil

If not even a deal satisfies the players then make the hags disappear using their magical artifacts. Let the players explore the bonegrider and free the children and leave safely.

The hags will be perfect for a recurrent villain ;)

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