I ran the 5e version with friends a few years back and made a castle with all the different layers and maps for strahds castle. It took 10’s of hours but was so worth it when my players got to enjoy a 3D castle to run around in.
Utahn here is your ever here for skiing or passing through you need to stop at Alpine distillery to get a bottle of their Triple Oaked Bourbon. It’s awesome stuff
Thank you so much for the tip! I lived there in a suburb of Salt Lake City for about five years when my dad's work transferred us there, but I was a young kid and also back then, the idea of someone opening a distillery was completely foreign! I get the sense that the state is a bit more cosmopolitan than it was when I lived there back in the mid-80's!
@@daddyrolleda1 Utah was a big distillery state, most people have no idea about the history and just assume stuff. The church even owned several before WoW became a commandant (1921) as well as industry alcohol become a monopolized industry in big states and killing of most small state distilleries till the craft revival of sprites.
@@daddyrolleda1 Utah was a big distillery state, most people have no idea about the history and just assume stuff. The church even owned several before WoW became a commandant (1921) as well as industry alcohol become a monopolized industry in big states and killing of most small state distilleries till the craft revival of sprites.
The timing on this is nuts! I just finished running a one night one-shot of Ravenloft only about 2 days ago! Crazy timing. Almost kicking myself for not waiting to hear more advice like this!
Sorry it was late for you, but I'm really glad you watched, and thank you for commenting! I'm sure your game went really well! I'd love to hear about it!
Sounds like it was a great 50th birthday! Thanks for sharing your prep and story. Ravenloft/ Gothic horror is one of my favorite settings and genres. I ran a 2 year Curse of Strahd campaign, and I was very fortunate to have a great group that really leaned into the RP of the genre. Horror is not easy to run in D&D given the rules, tons of HP, magic spells, etc.
Prof DM from dungeon craft also gave me the inspiration to start playing with my kids. We’re currently going over character ideas, hopefully starting soon
On consistency in gaming: I ran a 3.5 gaming group from 2001 until 2017. The same core 8 players most of the time, though other players did come and go. We played mostly weekly, sometimes less when life was happening, but to my recollection, we never had a single month in all that time that we didn't play at least once. I met my wife through that group, and we're still together now, 23 years later. We had one player join when he was 16, and he was married with 3 children when the game ended. We had one player join the military, leave to serve for 3 years, and come back. 2 other member who were single when we started, were married with kids when we finished. We had 1 player die of old age (he was 83) and one player die of cancer. Point is, life happened, but somehow through everything, college, career changes, marriages, pregnancies and childbirths, and moves, life always aligned in such a way that we were able to continue gaming. It was the greatest period - gaming wise - in my whole life. I had never had such a consistent long term game prior, and haven't been able to cobble one together since. /sigh
What an amazing run you had! That's fantastic! I played on-and-off from 1981 - 1989 and then from 1989 to 2001, my "gaming" took the form of working on my campaign world, designer new 2E kits and non-weapon proficiencies, and talking about my game with my best friend who helped me design a lot of stuff. I've played pretty consistently since 2001 but definitely not every month. It helps that I have two games that I'm running plus I've played in at least 2 more during that time. Thanks for watching and commenting! I hope you enjoyed the video!
It's freaking awesome your kid wants to play right now. A couple of friends of mine got their kids interested too. With any luck they'll remember later in their lives. I'm hoping i can get my young niece and nephew into it.
Thank you very much - I'm very glad my daughter is into it, although as I've mentioned in a few of my other DM Advice videos about her campaign, she's really there for the social aspect of hanging out with her friends (and I'm fine with that). But like you said, I love the time I get to spend with her at the games because as she gets older, we've had less and less in common so it's nice to have a scheduled activity that's "our" thing. Good luck on getting a game going for your niece and nephew! I hope it works out and I'd love to hear about the game if you get one running. Cheers, and thanks for watching and commenting!
It's great to see a little behind the scenes look at setting up a special one shot like this. I'm currently working on one as a surprise for my boyfriend's birthday and your insights gave me some ideas on how to make it flow more smoothly. Thank you so much, and keep up the great work!
Always appreciate your content. I listen to it in the background, I grab screen shots of times to return to... I'm a notetaker. Some Patreon creators only offer early access to content, others offer useful materials. I think you might be surpised what folks are willing to pay for, and sometimes it's just better access to the creator with the Patreon messaging and content comments. It is a good way to screen out the "riff-raff."
I really appreciate you taking the time to post this comment and offer your insights! It's really helpful! I'm so glad you are enjoying the content and finding it helpful. Cheers!
I always learn something surprising in your videos. I didn't realize Otis Redding died so young and in a plane crash. Anyway, excellent breakdown of running Ravenloft as a one-shot. Thanks.
Thanks for sharing this. I'm hoping to run the same module with my board gaming group as a one night deal. You kind of touched on it in your video, but I think getting players comfortable with the mechanics early on is pretty helpful for getting people engaged and for a game running smoothly.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video and I really hope that it's helpful for your in running a one-shot for your board game group. Thank you for watching and commenting! I really appreciate it.
Sounds like a blast. I've been thinking of trying to run it as a one-shot as well. I like the way you organize the descriptions and encounters. I'd love to hear how the Tarocka reading went, and if the conclusion felt rushed?
Thank you so much for watching and commenting. I really appreciate it. The players began on the road to the Castle, as they had been encouraged to do so by the priest at the small church and also because they realized destroying Strahd was their only way out of the mists. They had been forewarned to avoid the "travelers" on the outskirts of town but the Thief player had a contact inside the village (part of a class ability I made that they always have a contact wherever they go, whether they know it or not). The contact suggested that the travelers were not really all that bad but rather just subjected to outdated stereotypes, and might have useful information. When they saw the wagons, they were welcomed and told that Madame Eva was expecting them. She greeted them all by name but asked the priest to stay outside the tent (her order doesn't trust the church; something that had been set up earlier in the session as one of the players had a wizard PC who also had been almost burned at the stake by the church). She asked them to "cross her palms" with silver and she would tell their fortunes. I got out the cards and began slowly shuffling, then said, "Tell me when to stop." They did, I put down five cards, then told them to chose in order and I made the reading from there. Of course, as I mentioned in the video, I had actually done this all beforehand to determine where each item was located, etc. so my "reading" really had nothing to do with what cards were pulled or in what order, but I did it in such a way that it LOOKED to the players like I was searching for which item matched which card, etc. The whole reading took maybe less than 10 minutes. For the conclusion... yes, I'd say it was a *little* rushed, but not really that bad. As with Professor Dungeon Master's version, I dispensed with all other monsters in the castle with the exception of the giant wolf guarding Strahd's crypt and the zombies in the dungeon. Other than that, it was just Strahd and his three "brides" (all vampires). There was a dramatic fight on the bridge leading to the tower, Strahd tried to get away and would have done so but the wizard player threw a fireball and rolled a Nat 20 on her casting roll, which in my system means max damage, doubled and she crisped him up beyond resurrection, since he didn't have time to turn to mist and go to his crypt and they had also destroyed an artifact in the tower that assisted with his resurrection (and absorbed the first 50 points of damage he takes). They had already destroyed two of the three brides by this time as well and I ruled that the last bride disappeared when Strahd died. She *could* still be around and were we to continue playing with these characters she could make an awesome recurring villain, but since it was a one-shot it was really irrelevant. Hope that helps!
Thanks for another great video. What an incredible birthday party! I haven’t been involved in a role playing group for a number of years due to time commitments, but your video has inspired me. I will see if I can get a few of my old role playing buddies together for a one shot. Just have to figure out what module to dust off.
I never played in the Ravenloft campaign but I did read the books. One of our DM's asked if we wanted to play our characters in the Ravenloft setting and we all said heck no! After that, any time we saw fog we panicked!
I do a lot of the same things you do while preppingfor a game session, ill practice NPC dialog while im working, driving, whatever. I try an find the voice and tone i want to convey to my players. Bullet points for quick reference, i often start in media res to grab peoples attention.
Amazing experience. From the tshirts to the beer selection to the adventure itself. A night to remember. I will try a similar approach to your notebook for my campaign journal. I'm guiding my players through a campaign in Mystara with classic B modules and the Gazeteers. Thanks for the inspiration ✌️
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the video, and I like where you went with the title! That song takes me back! Also, thank you so much for staying through the bonus content. I really appreciate it!
Awesome video. What're your thoughts on Mork Borg? Have you had a chance to play it yet? What did you pull from it to help with this one-shot, if anything?
I haven't had a chance to play it as a stand-alone game, but for this particular one-shot as well as for the campaign I'm running for my 14yo daughter and her friends, I've borrowed or been inspired by a few things: - The setting heavily influenced how I portrayed the world - My "Weird Character Traits" tables (on my blog, which I briefly talked about in this video) started as a way to help distinguish the Basic D&D Fighter class without adding mechanical changes, and over time as I made more and more Weird Character Traits tables for the other classes, I was inspired by a lot of the random tables and ideas in this book - My description of magic and how it works was partially inspired by how it works in this book That's off the top of my head, but I suspect if I got the book back off the shelf and looked at it, I'd find more things. Thank you so much for watching and commenting!
Ravenloft (not just the module, but also the campaign setting) always works best as a one-shot. We always used to compare it to The Twilight Zone. Running it as a campaign just never worked in my mind. After all, if every adventure is scary, then no adventure is scary. The moment when players realize things just aren't right is priceless as a GM. Another excellent episode. Well done.
I really appreciate you saying that! It means a lot. Just having you here commenting on my videos is such a thrill. I'm so glad we "met" on Twitter a few years ago! And I agree! I like the idea of players inadvertently ending up in Barovia (or whatever nation/culture in the demiplane of dread) but playing there long-term, as you said, doesn't seem like it was make a great campaign. Thanks again!
I really appreciate you watching and commenting, especially given your dislike of the source module. I once disliked the idea of the module as well, as I felt it focused too much on NPC interactions (with each other) at the expense of the players, but I think changing Tatyana and Sergei to be embodied by the PCs instead of random NPCs helped assuage that particular nitpick of mine.
I've seen the Ravenloft campaign at my local Half Priced Book store. I didn't get it because I'm assuming it will be very similar to the 5e Curse of Strahd, which I do have. I'm planning on running the 5e version in my daughters BECMI game once we get past the Caves of Chaos.
I went to a pick up game at a local hobby shop for a while which was running the Curse of Strahd and I actually hated it. I stopped playing D&D after that. Years later a buddy said it was probably the DM, but I think the campaign is designed to tell you a story in which your actions are completely meaningless. You just complete plot points and automatically level up.
@@TroyKnoell for me the story emerges from play and the choices the characters make or fail to make have meaningful consequences. You just generally advance as you gain experience and you deal with problems as you see fit.
@@TroyKnoell maybe I never thought about that. I like a campaign that has a theme to it or over all story. I just find it boring if you don't contribute anything of value to the story
Not in a way that would really make sense in a standard D&D context given that my system was made-up from bunch of different sources. In the video, I mention Professor Dungeon Master's Patreon where you can get his version, upon which mine was originally based. In 1981 B/X Terms, it would be something like: *Prime Requisite:* CON *HD:* D6 (assuming Fighters are D8; if Fighters are D10, then Bounty Hunter would be D8) *Armor & Weapons:* Leather or Chainmail (no Plate Mail), all weapons *Abilities:* Tracking (as Ranger; see Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy or use a modified version of the AD&D rules); if attacking an intelligent creature (referee determines what qualifies) and attacking to subdue instead of kill, gain +2 to subdual damage with a club (only) *Saves:* As Thief That's an approximation, but again mine is a bit different (I use Advantage/Disadvantage in this system so they get that with rope tying/etc., they have skill-like abilities, and some other stuff). But B/X is lighter so I focused on the main abilities.
@@daddyrolleda1 how do you distinguish between an anecdotal background element and an actual professional distinguishment? Like do you operate out of a town with a Fighters guild, a thief's guild, a temple, a wizard's college, and a bounty Hall? I ask because I think in a game like Call of Cthulhu - a PI and a Police Detective both do investigation but the background makes the character play out differently even if both characters have the same skill set, but often times in Basic D&D and 1st Edition AD&D a lot of classes outside of the core four seem like a niche of the core that doesn't really make them significantly different other then in name. Or maybe I'm missing something?
PDM inspired my delve back into B/X and be willing to hack it for the rules lite style, leading me to your channel, and his Ravenloft inspired me to rework modules. I redid the Caves of Chaos to Call of Cthulu, and now his style of Ravenloft for modern folks waking in the Inn stripped of modern weapons and gear. But I might go with your "frost giant" encounter that leads them through the mist!
@@daddyrolleda1when do you think it's better to say in this town the fighters guild is the town defence force appointed by the local earl, but in a bigger settlement the guild is an order of knights? Or in this town the Wizards are an Ice College and it only has these certain spells, but four towns over is the fire college and they only have fire spells. Then you get different flavours of fighters and magic users without having different professions? Or do you think because character creation is a big part of playing a character that players want the granularity up front and not in the world?
The mörk in Mörk Borg is pronounced pretty much like mirk in Mirkwood. Which makes sense as it's also the and word basically. Ah, there's the rougher R as well. 😅 Well done in any case. And the G at the end of Borg is pronounced as short ee as you did there.
Thank you so much for letting me know! Most people I've chatted with from that part of the world confirmed my pronunciation was at least close, but one person did say it's pronounced more like it's spelled phonetically here in the U.S. which I found surprising.
@@daddyrolleda1 It's very good as is and I'm sure the creators really appreciate people really trying to pronounce it. It's hard enough to speak another language, let alone speak without an accent. It must have been an interesting decision to go with that name onto international markets. I just find it fascinating that Mirkwood is pronounced so similarly. Ofc the old Saxon and old Scandinavian languages were very close and English took in especially place names from the Vikings.
I dont think anyone in this channel needs to hear this but just in case: if you're trying to run a one-night strahd scenario *in a system other than dungeons and dragons*, don't use the 5e version. Curse of Strahd's Castle Ravenloft is a very DND-specific scenario, converting everything is VERY time consuming, and you the DM will have a bad time. Converting off of i6 is faster, easier, and offers a better play experience.
Thanks! I haven't seen the 5E Version of Strahd (I'm aware of it but haven't checked it out as I don't play 5E). Thanks for watching and for the advice. Cheers!
@daddyrolleda1 a lot of fun if you run it as Collinsport and Dark Shadows. Instead of classical Vampire use the BECMI Mystara Nosferatu. Set the alignment to NG or Chaotic Good. The chaos and confusion of the players is priceless.
You said that spellcasters roll to cast spells - vs AC or DC 10. Do you use that normally in your OSR game or was that just for the one-shot? I'm experimenting with something similar in my OSR game. I found that it's okay at low levels (1-3), but it gets problematic at levels 4+.
I find it a little absurd that this a thing. its 32 pages, it can be done in a 1 shot. The "Thing" would be if the group wins or, does Strahd? Most of my play throughs in old 1 and 2 editions all ended up with a dead party, and Strhad won. I still remember all of those the best, and when I finally beat Strahd I sort of felt like the DM let us. Also a point id like to make is back when we were kids and this was new we would play DnD for like 12 hours straight, breaks for food and the like, but we would go for it. The first time i played this i lets just say hit the first trap in the game lol. We figured the damage was death without a roll.
I get what you are saying in that it's "only" 32 pages, but as an example, I ran Keep on the Borderlands (also 32 pages) for my 14yo daughter and her friends over the course of about 18 sessions. If you draw out the interactions in the town, if the players spend a lot of time investigating and going shopping for supplies, if you don't introduce a time limit so they have no incentive to go to the Castle right away... there are a lot of things that can be done to draw out the adventure. So I wanted to provide tips on how to recognize what parts could easily be cut or at least diminished in order to finish it in a single night. And at my age, a "single night" really means fewer than six hours. Experienced DMs could probably figure all this out on their own, but sometimes it helps to get started with ideas from someone who has them to share. Thank you for watching and commenting!
I wonder - if you did not want them to guess that it's Ravenloft module, did you "file off the "serial numbers"? I mean, renaming the castle, the vampire, the NPCs, all of the stuff?
Mörk Borg is pronounced closer to how you'd imagine it is, actually. But I have no idea how to explain the Swedish vowels using text. Free League has a YT channel where they talk to the guy who designed it and he pronounces it a few times. Not sure how much time you've spent in the Nordic RPG scene, but it's a blast. I'm from Connecticut, but I studied abroad there a while back during undergrad, joined a TTRPG club, and honestly have never looked at gaming the same since. Now I'm just pumped that we're getting this big wave of Nordic RPGs over here, at long last. Also Double Rye is amazing. It beats out a few bottles 3-4x its price that I've had. That and Willett Reserve Family Estate are my go-to's for rye. Love how affordable great rye is.
I ran the 5e version with friends a few years back and made a castle with all the different layers and maps for strahds castle. It took 10’s of hours but was so worth it when my players got to enjoy a 3D castle to run around in.
That sounds like so much fun! Thanks for sharing!
I ran Ravenloft in a single night! The party bee-lined for the crypts, promptly lost 2 members & decided to delve deeper. My very first TPK!
Oh man! Yeah, that would do it! Yikes!
TPK?
@@comradestannis Total party kill/killed.
Basically all of the players characters dying.
@@Syndicate_01 Damn!
That's the spirit bro. Get back again.
I have an autographed copy of Ravenloft by Tracy and Laura Hickman. I also built Castle Ravenloft in Valheim.
That is so awesome! What a cool thing to have!
Worth a fortune!
Thanks for the shout out!
Sure thing! Hope the Con is shaping up to your liking.
hell yeah!
The custom T-shirts and themed beers were very thoughtful
Thank you! I really wanted to make it special for such a milestone birthday!
agreed
Utahn here is your ever here for skiing or passing through you need to stop at Alpine distillery to get a bottle of their Triple Oaked Bourbon. It’s awesome stuff
Thank you so much for the tip! I lived there in a suburb of Salt Lake City for about five years when my dad's work transferred us there, but I was a young kid and also back then, the idea of someone opening a distillery was completely foreign! I get the sense that the state is a bit more cosmopolitan than it was when I lived there back in the mid-80's!
@@daddyrolleda1 Utah was a big distillery state, most people have no idea about the history and just assume stuff. The church even owned several before WoW became a commandant (1921) as well as industry alcohol become a monopolized industry in big states and killing of most small state distilleries till the craft revival of sprites.
@@daddyrolleda1 Utah was a big distillery state, most people have no idea about the history and just assume stuff. The church even owned several before WoW became a commandant (1921) as well as industry alcohol become a monopolized industry in big states and killing of most small state distilleries till the craft revival of sprites.
The timing on this is nuts! I just finished running a one night one-shot of Ravenloft only about 2 days ago! Crazy timing. Almost kicking myself for not waiting to hear more advice like this!
Sorry it was late for you, but I'm really glad you watched, and thank you for commenting!
I'm sure your game went really well! I'd love to hear about it!
Sounds like it was a great 50th birthday! Thanks for sharing your prep and story. Ravenloft/ Gothic horror is one of my favorite settings and genres. I ran a 2 year Curse of Strahd campaign, and I was very fortunate to have a great group that really leaned into the RP of the genre. Horror is not easy to run in D&D given the rules, tons of HP, magic spells, etc.
Prof DM from dungeon craft also gave me the inspiration to start playing with my kids. We’re currently going over character ideas, hopefully starting soon
So glad I stumbled across his "Caves of Carnage" series all those years ago!
Ecclesicon and Davecon! Awesome! I'll be there in spirit especially with the Ecclesicon!
On consistency in gaming: I ran a 3.5 gaming group from 2001 until 2017. The same core 8 players most of the time, though other players did come and go. We played mostly weekly, sometimes less when life was happening, but to my recollection, we never had a single month in all that time that we didn't play at least once.
I met my wife through that group, and we're still together now, 23 years later.
We had one player join when he was 16, and he was married with 3 children when the game ended.
We had one player join the military, leave to serve for 3 years, and come back.
2 other member who were single when we started, were married with kids when we finished.
We had 1 player die of old age (he was 83) and one player die of cancer.
Point is, life happened, but somehow through everything, college, career changes, marriages, pregnancies and childbirths, and moves, life always aligned in such a way that we were able to continue gaming.
It was the greatest period - gaming wise - in my whole life.
I had never had such a consistent long term game prior, and haven't been able to cobble one together since.
/sigh
What an amazing run you had! That's fantastic! I played on-and-off from 1981 - 1989 and then from 1989 to 2001, my "gaming" took the form of working on my campaign world, designer new 2E kits and non-weapon proficiencies, and talking about my game with my best friend who helped me design a lot of stuff.
I've played pretty consistently since 2001 but definitely not every month. It helps that I have two games that I'm running plus I've played in at least 2 more during that time.
Thanks for watching and commenting! I hope you enjoyed the video!
It's freaking awesome your kid wants to play right now. A couple of friends of mine got their kids interested too. With any luck they'll remember later in their lives. I'm hoping i can get my young niece and nephew into it.
Thank you very much - I'm very glad my daughter is into it, although as I've mentioned in a few of my other DM Advice videos about her campaign, she's really there for the social aspect of hanging out with her friends (and I'm fine with that). But like you said, I love the time I get to spend with her at the games because as she gets older, we've had less and less in common so it's nice to have a scheduled activity that's "our" thing.
Good luck on getting a game going for your niece and nephew! I hope it works out and I'd love to hear about the game if you get one running.
Cheers, and thanks for watching and commenting!
It's great to see a little behind the scenes look at setting up a special one shot like this. I'm currently working on one as a surprise for my boyfriend's birthday and your insights gave me some ideas on how to make it flow more smoothly. Thank you so much, and keep up the great work!
Sorry I couldn't get here sooner, this video looks awesome, I can't wait to watch it later tonight!!
No problem - thanks for leaving a comment and I really hope you enjoy the video when you have a chance to watch. Cheers!
Great game night. I bet your friend was stoked! Lots of good ideas to be recycled here. Thank you🖖
Always appreciate your content. I listen to it in the background, I grab screen shots of times to return to... I'm a notetaker.
Some Patreon creators only offer early access to content, others offer useful materials. I think you might be surpised what folks are willing to pay for, and sometimes it's just better access to the creator with the Patreon messaging and content comments. It is a good way to screen out the "riff-raff."
I really appreciate you taking the time to post this comment and offer your insights! It's really helpful! I'm so glad you are enjoying the content and finding it helpful. Cheers!
I always learn something surprising in your videos. I didn't realize Otis Redding died so young and in a plane crash.
Anyway, excellent breakdown of running Ravenloft as a one-shot. Thanks.
Thank you so much for watching all the way through to the bonus content. I really appreciate it, and I'm glad you find my videos informative. Cheers!
Thanks for sharing this. I'm hoping to run the same module with my board gaming group as a one night deal. You kind of touched on it in your video, but I think getting players comfortable with the mechanics early on is pretty helpful for getting people engaged and for a game running smoothly.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video and I really hope that it's helpful for your in running a one-shot for your board game group. Thank you for watching and commenting! I really appreciate it.
Sounds like a blast.
I've been thinking of trying to run it as a one-shot as well.
I like the way you organize the descriptions and encounters.
I'd love to hear how the Tarocka reading went, and if the conclusion felt rushed?
Thank you so much for watching and commenting. I really appreciate it.
The players began on the road to the Castle, as they had been encouraged to do so by the priest at the small church and also because they realized destroying Strahd was their only way out of the mists. They had been forewarned to avoid the "travelers" on the outskirts of town but the Thief player had a contact inside the village (part of a class ability I made that they always have a contact wherever they go, whether they know it or not). The contact suggested that the travelers were not really all that bad but rather just subjected to outdated stereotypes, and might have useful information.
When they saw the wagons, they were welcomed and told that Madame Eva was expecting them. She greeted them all by name but asked the priest to stay outside the tent (her order doesn't trust the church; something that had been set up earlier in the session as one of the players had a wizard PC who also had been almost burned at the stake by the church).
She asked them to "cross her palms" with silver and she would tell their fortunes. I got out the cards and began slowly shuffling, then said, "Tell me when to stop." They did, I put down five cards, then told them to chose in order and I made the reading from there. Of course, as I mentioned in the video, I had actually done this all beforehand to determine where each item was located, etc. so my "reading" really had nothing to do with what cards were pulled or in what order, but I did it in such a way that it LOOKED to the players like I was searching for which item matched which card, etc.
The whole reading took maybe less than 10 minutes.
For the conclusion... yes, I'd say it was a *little* rushed, but not really that bad. As with Professor Dungeon Master's version, I dispensed with all other monsters in the castle with the exception of the giant wolf guarding Strahd's crypt and the zombies in the dungeon. Other than that, it was just Strahd and his three "brides" (all vampires). There was a dramatic fight on the bridge leading to the tower, Strahd tried to get away and would have done so but the wizard player threw a fireball and rolled a Nat 20 on her casting roll, which in my system means max damage, doubled and she crisped him up beyond resurrection, since he didn't have time to turn to mist and go to his crypt and they had also destroyed an artifact in the tower that assisted with his resurrection (and absorbed the first 50 points of damage he takes). They had already destroyed two of the three brides by this time as well and I ruled that the last bride disappeared when Strahd died. She *could* still be around and were we to continue playing with these characters she could make an awesome recurring villain, but since it was a one-shot it was really irrelevant.
Hope that helps!
Thanks for another great video. What an incredible birthday party!
I haven’t been involved in a role playing group for a number of years due to time commitments, but your video has inspired me. I will see if I can get a few of my old role playing buddies together for a one shot. Just have to figure out what module to dust off.
Full marks for the level of preparation.
Thank you!
I never played in the Ravenloft campaign but I did read the books.
One of our DM's asked if we wanted to play our characters in the Ravenloft setting and we all said heck no! After that, any time we saw fog we panicked!
Sounds like Ravenloft was living in your characters' heads rent-free!
That's really funny, though! Thank you for sharing. Cheers!
I do a lot of the same things you do while preppingfor a game session, ill practice NPC dialog while im working, driving, whatever. I try an find the voice and tone i want to convey to my players. Bullet points for quick reference, i often start in media res to grab peoples attention.
Great minds think alike!
Thank you so much for watching and commenting. Cheers!
Amazing experience. From the tshirts to the beer selection to the adventure itself. A night to remember. I will try a similar approach to your notebook for my campaign journal. I'm guiding my players through a campaign in Mystara with classic B modules and the Gazeteers. Thanks for the inspiration ✌️
I got so many ideas from this. My brain keeps changing the title to One Night in Ravenloft.
Bonus comment: Otis & Rye. Too smooth to lose.
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the video, and I like where you went with the title! That song takes me back!
Also, thank you so much for staying through the bonus content. I really appreciate it!
I think one night in Raven's loft is closer to an adult themed film then a one shot.
I definitely want to start my own TTRPG game soon but with more modern TTRPG games.
Awesome video. What're your thoughts on Mork Borg? Have you had a chance to play it yet? What did you pull from it to help with this one-shot, if anything?
I haven't had a chance to play it as a stand-alone game, but for this particular one-shot as well as for the campaign I'm running for my 14yo daughter and her friends, I've borrowed or been inspired by a few things:
- The setting heavily influenced how I portrayed the world
- My "Weird Character Traits" tables (on my blog, which I briefly talked about in this video) started as a way to help distinguish the Basic D&D Fighter class without adding mechanical changes, and over time as I made more and more Weird Character Traits tables for the other classes, I was inspired by a lot of the random tables and ideas in this book
- My description of magic and how it works was partially inspired by how it works in this book
That's off the top of my head, but I suspect if I got the book back off the shelf and looked at it, I'd find more things.
Thank you so much for watching and commenting!
Ravenloft (not just the module, but also the campaign setting) always works best as a one-shot. We always used to compare it to The Twilight Zone. Running it as a campaign just never worked in my mind. After all, if every adventure is scary, then no adventure is scary. The moment when players realize things just aren't right is priceless as a GM. Another excellent episode. Well done.
I really appreciate you saying that! It means a lot. Just having you here commenting on my videos is such a thrill. I'm so glad we "met" on Twitter a few years ago!
And I agree! I like the idea of players inadvertently ending up in Barovia (or whatever nation/culture in the demiplane of dread) but playing there long-term, as you said, doesn't seem like it was make a great campaign.
Thanks again!
I very much dislike this module. But I really enjoy watching your thought process on gaming materials. Thank you for this.
I really appreciate you watching and commenting, especially given your dislike of the source module. I once disliked the idea of the module as well, as I felt it focused too much on NPC interactions (with each other) at the expense of the players, but I think changing Tatyana and Sergei to be embodied by the PCs instead of random NPCs helped assuage that particular nitpick of mine.
I've seen the Ravenloft campaign at my local Half Priced Book store. I didn't get it because I'm assuming it will be very similar to the 5e Curse of Strahd, which I do have. I'm planning on running the 5e version in my daughters BECMI game once we get past the Caves of Chaos.
I went to a pick up game at a local hobby shop for a while which was running the Curse of Strahd and I actually hated it. I stopped playing D&D after that. Years later a buddy said it was probably the DM, but I think the campaign is designed to tell you a story in which your actions are completely meaningless. You just complete plot points and automatically level up.
@@martinbowman1993 How is that different from any other campaign?
@@TroyKnoell for me the story emerges from play and the choices the characters make or fail to make have meaningful consequences. You just generally advance as you gain experience and you deal with problems as you see fit.
@@martinbowman1993 So you probably prefer custom campaigns over published campaigns. All the published campaigns I can think of are like Strahd.
@@TroyKnoell maybe I never thought about that. I like a campaign that has a theme to it or over all story. I just find it boring if you don't contribute anything of value to the story
The bounty hunter class sounds interesting. Do you have a write up on it?
Not in a way that would really make sense in a standard D&D context given that my system was made-up from bunch of different sources. In the video, I mention Professor Dungeon Master's Patreon where you can get his version, upon which mine was originally based.
In 1981 B/X Terms, it would be something like:
*Prime Requisite:* CON
*HD:* D6 (assuming Fighters are D8; if Fighters are D10, then Bounty Hunter would be D8)
*Armor & Weapons:* Leather or Chainmail (no Plate Mail), all weapons
*Abilities:* Tracking (as Ranger; see Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy or use a modified version of the AD&D rules); if attacking an intelligent creature (referee determines what qualifies) and attacking to subdue instead of kill, gain +2 to subdual damage with a club (only)
*Saves:* As Thief
That's an approximation, but again mine is a bit different (I use Advantage/Disadvantage in this system so they get that with rope tying/etc., they have skill-like abilities, and some other stuff). But B/X is lighter so I focused on the main abilities.
@@daddyrolleda1 how do you distinguish between an anecdotal background element and an actual professional distinguishment? Like do you operate out of a town with a Fighters guild, a thief's guild, a temple, a wizard's college, and a bounty Hall?
I ask because I think in a game like Call of Cthulhu - a PI and a Police Detective both do investigation but the background makes the character play out differently even if both characters have the same skill set, but often times in Basic D&D and 1st Edition AD&D a lot of classes outside of the core four seem like a niche of the core that doesn't really make them significantly different other then in name. Or maybe I'm missing something?
PDM inspired my delve back into B/X and be willing to hack it for the rules lite style, leading me to your channel, and his Ravenloft inspired me to rework modules. I redid the Caves of Chaos to Call of Cthulu, and now his style of Ravenloft for modern folks waking in the Inn stripped of modern weapons and gear. But I might go with your "frost giant" encounter that leads them through the mist!
@@michaelwest4325 awesome
@@daddyrolleda1when do you think it's better to say in this town the fighters guild is the town defence force appointed by the local earl, but in a bigger settlement the guild is an order of knights? Or in this town the Wizards are an Ice College and it only has these certain spells, but four towns over is the fire college and they only have fire spells. Then you get different flavours of fighters and magic users without having different professions? Or do you think because character creation is a big part of playing a character that players want the granularity up front and not in the world?
The mörk in Mörk Borg is pronounced pretty much like mirk in Mirkwood. Which makes sense as it's also the and word basically. Ah, there's the rougher R as well. 😅 Well done in any case. And the G at the end of Borg is pronounced as short ee as you did there.
Thank you so much for letting me know! Most people I've chatted with from that part of the world confirmed my pronunciation was at least close, but one person did say it's pronounced more like it's spelled phonetically here in the U.S. which I found surprising.
@@daddyrolleda1 It's very good as is and I'm sure the creators really appreciate people really trying to pronounce it. It's hard enough to speak another language, let alone speak without an accent.
It must have been an interesting decision to go with that name onto international markets. I just find it fascinating that Mirkwood is pronounced so similarly. Ofc the old Saxon and old Scandinavian languages were very close and English took in especially place names from the Vikings.
I dont think anyone in this channel needs to hear this but just in case: if you're trying to run a one-night strahd scenario *in a system other than dungeons and dragons*, don't use the 5e version. Curse of Strahd's Castle Ravenloft is a very DND-specific scenario, converting everything is VERY time consuming, and you the DM will have a bad time. Converting off of i6 is faster, easier, and offers a better play experience.
Thanks! I haven't seen the 5E Version of Strahd (I'm aware of it but haven't checked it out as I don't play 5E).
Thanks for watching and for the advice. Cheers!
Ah the creatures of the night
Interestingly enough, I've had this module in my collection since 1983, but I've never played nor run it before!
@daddyrolleda1 a lot of fun if you run it as Collinsport and Dark Shadows. Instead of classical Vampire use the BECMI Mystara Nosferatu. Set the alignment to NG or Chaotic Good. The chaos and confusion of the players is priceless.
Ooh, great ideas for next time. Thanks!
You said that spellcasters roll to cast spells - vs AC or DC 10. Do you use that normally in your OSR game or was that just for the one-shot? I'm experimenting with something similar in my OSR game. I found that it's okay at low levels (1-3), but it gets problematic at levels 4+.
I find it a little absurd that this a thing. its 32 pages, it can be done in a 1 shot.
The "Thing" would be if the group wins or, does Strahd?
Most of my play throughs in old 1 and 2 editions all ended up with a dead party, and Strhad won.
I still remember all of those the best, and when I finally beat Strahd I sort of felt like the DM let us.
Also a point id like to make is back when we were kids and this was new we would play DnD for like 12 hours straight, breaks for food and the like, but we would go for it.
The first time i played this i lets just say hit the first trap in the game lol.
We figured the damage was death without a roll.
I get what you are saying in that it's "only" 32 pages, but as an example, I ran Keep on the Borderlands (also 32 pages) for my 14yo daughter and her friends over the course of about 18 sessions.
If you draw out the interactions in the town, if the players spend a lot of time investigating and going shopping for supplies, if you don't introduce a time limit so they have no incentive to go to the Castle right away... there are a lot of things that can be done to draw out the adventure. So I wanted to provide tips on how to recognize what parts could easily be cut or at least diminished in order to finish it in a single night. And at my age, a "single night" really means fewer than six hours.
Experienced DMs could probably figure all this out on their own, but sometimes it helps to get started with ideas from someone who has them to share.
Thank you for watching and commenting!
This sounds like Dungeon Crawl Classics
I wonder - if you did not want them to guess that it's Ravenloft module, did you "file off the "serial numbers"? I mean, renaming the castle, the vampire, the NPCs, all of the stuff?
what's the details of this davecon? I may make that.
Mörk Borg is pronounced closer to how you'd imagine it is, actually. But I have no idea how to explain the Swedish vowels using text.
Free League has a YT channel where they talk to the guy who designed it and he pronounces it a few times.
Not sure how much time you've spent in the Nordic RPG scene, but it's a blast. I'm from Connecticut, but I studied abroad there a while back during undergrad, joined a TTRPG club, and honestly have never looked at gaming the same since.
Now I'm just pumped that we're getting this big wave of Nordic RPGs over here, at long last.
Also Double Rye is amazing. It beats out a few bottles 3-4x its price that I've had. That and Willett Reserve Family Estate are my go-to's for rye. Love how affordable great rye is.
Ravenloft in one night? Yeah, and I'm Bea Arthur.
Should I just skip the middle man and watch this other guys channel?