Running Castle Ravenloft - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Running Castle Ravenloft

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
zombiegleemax
Sep 05, 2004 15:45:12 Well, I started running the good old Ravenloft adventure. I was wondering if anyone else had run this adventure and could give me some tips on how to make the player's skin REALLY crawl. Any advice would be welcome.
#2
Mortepierre
Sep 06, 2004 12:26:37 That depends a bit on the version you're using, the level of your players and if you play Strahd as a "simple" vampire-wizard or as a full darklord.
#3
zombiegleemax
Sep 07, 2004 20:04:45 Well like all RL mods you have to walk that line of letting PCs control their own actions while making them feel like fate is moving against them.

Generally the longer you can oppress them/toy with them without tipping Strahds hand directly the better off you are. Its generally good when things happen "off camera" - like doors & gates that close and lock themselves behind the PCs. IME its better to do this after the party has gone elsewhere rather than just on their heels. Things aren't as they were left - and the PCs can never fully quantify down to the stats what they're facing. For example I know of one table where the party's paladin got KO'd in a nasty fight. For reasons not clear to me they had to leave him alone in a room for a few minutes while they did something. They came back and found him cleaned up & laid out neatly as if for burial with his sword laid on top of his his chest. Otherwise he was fine. The party spent part of the rest of the adventure trying to decide if something had been done to their friend and whether or not he was some kind of dominated "time bomb".

It had the secondary effect of "disquieting" the paladin. His experience ultimately was creepier than strahd just gacking his PC - being manipulated by a vampire while he was while helpless. It made him feel helpless w/o taking away options from his PC. And he wasn't 100% sure he wasn't a time bomb of some kind either.

One of the ways the DM caused this distrust between the players was to take the paladin away and talk to him alone. Nothing of import was actually said to that PC but the rest of the party didn't know if he was being given secret orders or whatnot. Secret notes can also do the same thing if its not feasible to leave the table.

Hope something there helps.

-Eric Gorman
#4
zombiegleemax
Sep 08, 2004 8:21:00 I've ran the original several times with different groups. I agree with HvF up there wholeheartedly. Its so much fun watching them run around scared to death. Three more additions that I've tried to much sucess:

1. In the graveyard scene, when each midnight the souls rise up and march towards the castle, I tossed a few friends of the PCs in them, or fellow adventurers (People known to be tougher than them) and that has always scared them. It, at least, gives them a personal stake in going to the castle.

2. I've have had Strahd try to befriend the party (when he believed that it was something he could gain from them, the black pearl) and claim to want to help them root out the "real" evil of the castle. I did this in two ways, once it was Strahd disguised as someone else, the other time it was Strahd as himself. Both times it tossed everyone for a loop.

3. I had a friend (fellow adventurer from a different group) of the party become turned into a vampire, then join with the party to attack Strahd. This happened in three different ways. Once the vampire wanted to join Strahd and learn from him, So Strahd set him to kill the party to prove himself. Once it was that the vampire wanted to take over Strahd's powerbase (that one was messy). The Third was was when Strahd had turned the man himself, which is how he found out about the party to lure them up to Ravenloft.

All of these I've found to be useful.
#5
zombiegleemax
Sep 09, 2004 4:51:04 Yes! Kelliach!! We think on the same wavelength methinks!

I've often questioned "Skeletons seem to be made up of generic undead. What kind of life did these remains animated from the graves have prior to death?"

I've often thought of the idea of running a campaign where PCs are animated remains of some sort(s), and they begin to get a trace of their old memories returning, and set out on a quest to find out who they really were.

How would a living person react to having a skeleton or zombie show up on their doorstep handing them a note saying "I think I'm your great-great-great Uncle Zulko. I just need someone to jog my memory."

Wow. Can you imagine running the original RL adventure with PCs as the risen dead, buried in the cemetery around the castle, and they have to find out who they were and how they got there?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Sep 05, 2004 15:45:12	Well, I started running the good old Ravenloft adventure. I was wondering if anyone else had run this adventure and could give me some tips on how to make the player's skin REALLY crawl. Any advice would be welcome.
#2 Mortepierre Sep 06, 2004 12:26:37	That depends a bit on the version you're using, the level of your players and if you play Strahd as a "simple" vampire-wizard or as a full darklord.
#3 zombiegleemax Sep 07, 2004 20:04:45	Well like all RL mods you have to walk that line of letting PCs control their own actions while making them feel like fate is moving against them. Generally the longer you can oppress them/toy with them without tipping Strahds hand directly the better off you are. Its generally good when things happen "off camera" - like doors & gates that close and lock themselves behind the PCs. IME its better to do this after the party has gone elsewhere rather than just on their heels. Things aren't as they were left - and the PCs can never fully quantify down to the stats what they're facing. For example I know of one table where the party's paladin got KO'd in a nasty fight. For reasons not clear to me they had to leave him alone in a room for a few minutes while they did something. They came back and found him cleaned up & laid out neatly as if for burial with his sword laid on top of his his chest. Otherwise he was fine. The party spent part of the rest of the adventure trying to decide if something had been done to their friend and whether or not he was some kind of dominated "time bomb". It had the secondary effect of "disquieting" the paladin. His experience ultimately was creepier than strahd just gacking his PC - being manipulated by a vampire while he was while helpless. It made him feel helpless w/o taking away options from his PC. And he wasn't 100% sure he wasn't a time bomb of some kind either. One of the ways the DM caused this distrust between the players was to take the paladin away and talk to him alone. Nothing of import was actually said to that PC but the rest of the party didn't know if he was being given secret orders or whatnot. Secret notes can also do the same thing if its not feasible to leave the table. Hope something there helps. -Eric Gorman
#4 zombiegleemax Sep 08, 2004 8:21:00	I've ran the original several times with different groups. I agree with HvF up there wholeheartedly. Its so much fun watching them run around scared to death. Three more additions that I've tried to much sucess: 1. In the graveyard scene, when each midnight the souls rise up and march towards the castle, I tossed a few friends of the PCs in them, or fellow adventurers (People known to be tougher than them) and that has always scared them. It, at least, gives them a personal stake in going to the castle. 2. I've have had Strahd try to befriend the party (when he believed that it was something he could gain from them, the black pearl) and claim to want to help them root out the "real" evil of the castle. I did this in two ways, once it was Strahd disguised as someone else, the other time it was Strahd as himself. Both times it tossed everyone for a loop. 3. I had a friend (fellow adventurer from a different group) of the party become turned into a vampire, then join with the party to attack Strahd. This happened in three different ways. Once the vampire wanted to join Strahd and learn from him, So Strahd set him to kill the party to prove himself. Once it was that the vampire wanted to take over Strahd's powerbase (that one was messy). The Third was was when Strahd had turned the man himself, which is how he found out about the party to lure them up to Ravenloft. All of these I've found to be useful.
#5 zombiegleemax Sep 09, 2004 4:51:04	Yes! Kelliach!! We think on the same wavelength methinks! I've often questioned "Skeletons seem to be made up of generic undead. What kind of life did these remains animated from the graves have prior to death?" I've often thought of the idea of running a campaign where PCs are animated remains of some sort(s), and they begin to get a trace of their old memories returning, and set out on a quest to find out who they really were. How would a living person react to having a skeleton or zombie show up on their doorstep handing them a note saying "I think I'm your great-great-great Uncle Zulko. I just need someone to jog my memory." Wow. Can you imagine running the original RL adventure with PCs as the risen dead, buried in the cemetery around the castle, and they have to find out who they were and how they got there?