Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 chairman7w Mar 26, 2005 9:57:37	After seeeing a thread somewhere about all time favorite Modules, I noticed Ravenloft (the original adventure) is on many, many lists. I figure, I gotta run my party through this! I'm playing in a fairly standard 3.5 D&D campaign (sorta piratey) and I'm going to have them hit some fog while on a trip on their ship and end up in Ravenloft to run the original adventure. I've bought the original on RPGNow and I was wondering, does anybody have a 3.0 or 3.5 conversion of it? Anybody have a write up of Strahd as a 3.5 character? Is it a violation of the rules to post it? If not, can you share? Additionally, would appreciate any tips or helpful hints about running it in 3.5 and converting it. Thanks in advance, Ed
#2 Mortepierre Mar 27, 2005 1:26:45	Dragon mag. issue #315 (Paizo Publishing) has not only the original map of the castle but also the 3.5E stats of Strahd at various points of his nefarious career. That's the 'low price' option. The 'high price' option is to buy the Ravenloft Gazetteer I (from Sword & Sorcery) which gives you the rundown of Barovia for 3.0E (but converting it to 3.5E is a breeze). Copy/pasting it here would spell trouble in regard to copyright, I'm afraid. Good luck!
#3 zombiegleemax Mar 27, 2005 8:24:03	For the monster conversions, most will be found in the book Denizens of Darkness. Another book I found quite helpful is The Tome of Horrors - Necromancer Games. In it they have conversions for just about any 2e monster ever used in any adventures that wasn't converted in either of the two new monster manuals.
#4 chairman7w Mar 27, 2005 9:34:13	Thank You!
#5 chairman7w Apr 01, 2005 12:38:50	What do you think would be a good Level to have the PCs be at, in order to run the Original Ravenloft adventure? (I'm hoping 6th or 7th level works out).
#6 zombiegleemax Apr 05, 2005 6:46:44	Interesting question -that depends firstly on how powerful and numerous your PC's are in relation to say a typical adventuring party (the character level tables in DMG can give you some idea) and secondly and most importantly how you play strahd, his minions and his goals. He is typically capable of eliminating all opposition if played to his most deadly extent. You could pick up the 2nd edition 'House of Strahd' for some additional ideas but you can run the game typically in two fashions. Straight from the box or tailored to your party. Straight from the box can be deadly especially if you play Strahd to his limits. Howerver theres also some daft bits like the dozen of crypts and tombs and randomly hidden powerful spells -which no character in my campaign could use. My preffered approach is to tailor it to your party. Im my campaign I expanded the wilderness a lot more and made the approach a lot more eerie. and introduced some new but low powered creatures into the castle (typically from the ravenloft denizens of dread). While the characters unknowingly picked Strahds motivation I ensured that it could be integrated into the overall campaign and made sure that one of two items they found would be of some use in the next adventure. As a couple of random tips: To add atmosphere get hold of Bachs organ music and play it as they enter the castle. A copy of the tarrokka will help add atmosphere to the card reading in the gypsy camp. Hope that helps!
#7 ivid Apr 05, 2005 11:32:54	I recently purchased *House of Strahd* and so started a similar thread on the FoS - site. It's been often recommended to me to use I10 (freely downloadable at the WotC site) as a kind of Introduction to the Barovian story arc. As I10 is supposed to be done by characters of lvl 8 to 10, I'd recommend using EL 10 to 14 with I6. After all, to kill a darklord, should give the players the feeling of an *epic* adventure, and not just be an episode in their campaign log...
#8 chairman7w Apr 05, 2005 11:44:42	Thaks for the info. I looked up Strahd at my FLGS in a 3.5 Ravenloft book and he is TOUGH!!! I think if my guys are like 10th level, that'd be just fine. I'll have to find some way to bump up some of the encoutneres inside the castle. (I COULD just increase HD of course). I really like the idea of working with the outdoor encounters too. What are some of the things you did?
#9 ivid Apr 06, 2005 2:17:37	Since I personally did never play or DM the I modules until now, I can only give you some hints... [SPOILER*************************************************] As Strahd is supposed to be killed at the end of the adventure, you might even want the game to be set elsewhere than RL. I personally plan to use it as a part of Gothic Earth, with the Help of *cha-chan!* Nicky Rea's famous Guide to Transylvania.
#10 The_Jester Apr 06, 2005 2:28:03	In the above mentioned Dragon article there are two versions of Strahd, one about the same level as the original I6 and one closer to how he was in 2E Ravenloft. Both are weaker than the current Strahd in GazI. I'd recomend that for a quick update opposed to a long-term campaign. I ran through a group of 4 characters (10, 10, 11 and 8) and they kicked Strahd's ass pretty hard (the weaker original-style version) although the vamp got some good shots in and managed to kill half the party. It was Sergi's sunsword and the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind that turned the tide though. Double wammyed him with that at close range. But of course he had contingency spells in place and lives to fight another day...
#11 rotipher Apr 06, 2005 20:57:59	Heh heh heh. One of my favorite I6 "war stories" from the good ol' days of 1E was about a paladin PC whom Strahd ambushed in the crypts beneath the castle. The vampire snuck up behind the paladin in mist-form, transformed to his humanoid shape, smacked the surprised PC repeatedly (draining his levels with every swat) until he was down to just a couple of levels ... and then turned into a bat and left, contemptuously leaving the paladin (now woefully under-powered for the module) to try to make his way out of the deadly castle alive. Sure, it was metagaming ... but talk about a villain with *attitude*! ;-D
#12 zombiegleemax Apr 11, 2005 12:56:42	I increased the size of barovia -so from the gates to the village it took 3 very long nights. Rather than random encouters. I set three additional encouters. these being: 1) I had them find an old tomb in the forest. Inside was wights and a set of armour which the paladin put on. Magical plate -unfortunatly Strahd had complete control it (being a von zarovich family heirloom) and froze it later on in a crucial combat..... 2) I also had them find a previous adventuring party - totally destroyed with Loup Garou tracks all around. When the sun set and the moon rose -they became the hunted. 3) Finally the night before they arrive at the village, the character of watch is seduced or attempted to be seduced by one of Strahds Brides.... He failed his save. Thought it was all a dream -until later on when charmed he tried to knock one of his companions off a parapet! Hope that gives you some wilderness ideas...
#13 chairman7w Apr 11, 2005 16:51:05	Thanks. Man - I really like the idea of having them come across that destoryed party, with Werewolf tracks all around. Then at night, the clouds part, and it's a full moon. heh... COOL idea! I'll definitely be doing that!
#14 zombiegleemax Apr 11, 2005 18:56:40	Man - I really like the idea of having them come across that destoryed party, with Werewolf tracks all around. Then at night, the clouds part, and it's a full moon. heh... COOL idea! I'll definitely be doing that! I'd save that idea for "Feast of Goblyns".