This was insane. For that price tag we should have AT LEAST a hardcover version of the book, and separate handouts for the game. Nothing is revamped its just pc cleaned which is... fine I guess? We could have used maybe a new monster statblock that DMs could use for an encounter, maybe a new sidequest in the book? Heck for 100$ a set of ravenloft specific dice would have been cool. Maybe miniatures? Heck they could have used the ones from the castle ravenloft boardgame. The DM screen is actually pretty good but aside from that its kind of asinine.
I was super interested in the box set untill I saw the soft cover. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely prefer softcovers over hardcovers, and I would always 100% of the times buy my adventure books softcover if they released them as such... But softcovers are normally like half the price of a hardcover. This box set shoulda cost 50, at most.
Thanks for the honest review. No Dice set included? Really? Like you said "For $100?" Strahd specific dice would've been great. I'm gonna pass on the purchase since I already own the book, DM screen and Tarokka deck.
good review. judging by tyranny of dragons, when they say revamped or improved, they mean better organized/edited. i do agree it's a good value for people who don't own it. at least they made some cool new miniatures for the rest of us
As someone who's just getting back into the hobby over 15 years after I stopped playing 2/3/3.5, I really think it's aimed at someone like me and my group who don't already own the original version. I can't imagine they ever expected too many people who already own the hardcover to fork out for this! That being said I think I'm more interested in the Icewind Dale hardcover campaign that came out in 2020, it looks fun.
I haven't played it but the moment I saw two handouts combined into one sheet, I thought "well how the fuck is the gm supposed to manage that?" C'mon wizards, you know that handouts are meant to be distributed one at a time...
Most of the things in this box I made at home for less money and made better versions of it, it just took a little time. You can make a Tarokka deck for very little money as well as handouts that are better organized and more functional. I'm thinking I should've made a bunch and sold em on etsy or ebay lol.
Honestly I wouldn't even buy this if it cost as much as the Hard Cover, because this doesn't even have a hard cover. For 100 bucks they really should have gone all out on little knickknacks for GM props. They could have had GF9 make some special cards for the monsters/NPCs for the module, included some dice (not even custom ones just some black or red ones), and a sheet of tokens to use for the unique monsters.
Its just a bundle really. The tarokka deck, and dm screen were already available (albeit not that size for the cards or art for the screen). The art and hands are just fluff with their inclusion. If you dont have the module and would buy it all separately this isnt horrible. But if you just want the module and tarokka deck hard pass.
i feel like you're missing the point on the tarokka deck. why would you sleeve and protect it? in terms of game emersion tarokka cards are used daily on the regular and should not look or feel new. also the small 10 dollar cards are looking flimsy if you're doing a reading at the table.
I’m having a hard time deciding to get this or not… I see it’s just $50 now on Amazon. I’ve heard this adventure is great, and I don’t own any piece of it so far. I do wish the book was hardbound. I’m not so sure what makes the paperback book a “perfect-bound”.
I almost bought this as It’s on sale at Amazon for $69, but considering I can create my own materials with the book better than what this offers , I wouldn’t pay that either. Thanks for the unboxing and review, and saving me money.
Man, I just can't even get over the fact that for a premium product priced at a hundred bucks, WotC doesn't even include a hardcover book. Takes away any notion of being 'premium'. You'd seriously be better of just buying the regular book at half the price and then getting one of the Galeforce Nine Tarokka decks.
@@vraymar yeah... But I'm guessing none of the previous box sets have ever cost a hundred bucks before either... Like I said, at that price point, I expect a premium and a softcover book just isn't that.
@@TheSmuey great to bringing that point. I do Agree that boxed set is no sooooo premium, bue let's see: My PHB from 1994 has a price tag of 20 USD, my Ravenloft Boxed Set was 30 USD (33% up). My f5e PHB it's priced 49.90 usd (more than double from 1994) and CoS Revamped is yet 100% up from that cost (100 usd). It is quite expensive in comparision , true -and it was not JUST one adventure, but. campaing world-. Still, this new boxed set is much much premium; in size, in dutrability, production, industrial design, print, inks, extras (handouts, map plastified, DM's screen ultra high quality, tarokka with metalic ink, etc.). In the end, I think is not a bad price, but certanly not for everyone, but collectors. Same as in movies or videogames.
Watching this late. Still, I hate the thinking WOTC did on this. I have an amputation, and I am more insulted by them changing the lost leg storyline, which is more accurate to life. I do not agree with the world thinking from this angle. The offense is letting yourself be offended. I believe people only complain to start hyper issues and for no other reason. Just to do it.
Just hearing about the “revamped” changes was enough to dissuade me from buying it. I was considering swallowing the fact that it’s $100 for a SOFT COVER, but instead we get a PC-fied rendition of the book. I couldmve ad-libbed those in myself if I felt that the Vistani were offensive. Hell I’d go so far as to argue about this product being founded on deception. Hell you could’ve added in a free Roll20 code to encourage people who might want to play this online to buy it. Can’t use those fancy maps and handouts if everything is online. It would’ve also added a lot of value to product because of how versatile it could be applied. But nah, this is a nostalgia grab. You’ll get more value out of buying a tarot bundle for $40 and save money. Hell, that bundle and a bookshelf would be more valuable than this. The only thing you’re missing out on is the DM screen, which you can probably find used on Ebay.
Revamp my a$$. They didn't even "fix" the hag encounter. Even the author of the adventure, Chris Perkins himself, does not run that encounter that way lol.
Just purchased this on amazon for 69 bucks. Was bummed that the book was softcover and the bonegrinder post cards gave a massive spoiler on them! Why would u send out a spoiler to a new player!? Also the doubled up handouts are lame. I agree however that the monster manual and DM screen are great. I would say for 69 dollars kinda worth it especially since I had no strahd stuff but for 100 is a rip off.
Thank you for opening this and reviewing it. A poorly made splat book rather than the hardback coupled with a deck of so-so cards from a company that got famous making card games for $100 dollars is insipid. As I said when I first saw this idea put forward it seems like a shameless money grab hinged under eye-roll worthy fake self-consciousness concerning the Vistani. Its exploitative profiteering wreathed in the vagaries of "wokeness" and nostalgia, which is about all I think of WotC now as a rule.
@@thepapillonwarrior1159 Woke in this discussion is the small, but noisome group that believes itself uniquely enlightened to view history and denounce others views on the basis that their present certainty is the objective truth. In this case WotC is pretending to parade the presumptively enlightened modern values of pro-LGBT+ and anti-racism, smearing them as a thin veneer of cynical, corporate camouflages over any actions they take to win reactionary "woke" people to their cause, be it buying their new book AGAIN, or gobbling up their current license clause.
@@jeremygriffin620 so you're saying the new revamped book is just to appeal to LGBT crap cause now people look favorable on disabilities in the adventure?
@@thepapillonwarrior1159 Not the LGBT+ in this case: Ravenloft has a long history with a group of people called the Vistani. They are meant to be a nod toward Stoker's servants of Dracula, which is itself a nod to the Romani. The woke proclaimed it racist against the Romani. Fascinatingly, many of the reddit threads and online spaces denouncing the "racism" freely used words like "Gypsy." For the record, Romani people are not a race to themselves, they are nomadic sub group of a much larger Indo-European people - making the decried "racism" neither accurate nor even sensible given that it is at best a literary nod, to a literary nod, to a man with somewhat patronizing view, of its time for a small culturally unique group. They were advertising it as for "cultural sensitivity," with a lean on people's fomo for a "new box set." To me its cynical rambling to sell more boxes of badly edited, already printed material. A low cost for them in terms of creativity, assets, and publishing for a high profit.
My first thoughts on curse of strahd revampt was it's Curse of strahd but redone! It's not that at all you're getting no different Adventures no other hooks no other Back stories. Maybe if they include a player option of being a vampire sure but none of that. My impression is that you can just buy the book and have a good time running it that way you don't need to spend the extra money for all this extra stuff unless you really enjoy running this adventure for different groups. However what I came to realize is that it's only redone for all the booty tickled people that wrote reviews on it found these people to be racist found this person to be Emo and depressed giving a bad inclination for those who are handicapped and play the game. Like I said it's literally did we offend you let's rewrite the entire book it's kind of dumb in my opinion but I totally love curse of strahd and would run it again don't get me wrong.
Honestly I really have not question why they'd even bother with the politically correct stuff. The entire Strahd theme is a bunch of tropes and stereotypes. You've ally with not-Van-Helsing to fight not-Dracula who lives in not-Transyvania. The fact there's a version of the classic gypsy fortune teller fits right in. If they should have removed anything, honestly it should be the appearance of Mordenkainen, he just never fit with the whole theme of the module. It's just weird running into him.
the box looks amazing somenoce things in set but a 100 bucks no way. If it had a mini fig a set of die yep100 all day but when the essential set has screen and dice and is 20 bucks. nope
I didn't know revamped means woke. They should've just put that on the cover so people know what they're getting. Where's my hardback Hydro cover of CoS?! Including THAT would be worth the $100.
Lol that is what the revamped means??? Malarkey. Woke BS. I'd be depressed if I lost my leg and as a person with gypsy ancestry I give zero Fs about stereotypes. WoTC is starting to lose me
I agree that at the time it came out, especially if you already owned curse of strahd, the $100 price tag was excessive to say the least. But i just picked it up on ebay for $60 free shipping brand new and i never had the first curse of strahd so for me it was AWESOME... Quick edit/sidebar: Anything revised or removed for political correctness can be put right back in. It is the amazing freedom that TTRPGs have givin us since they dawned on our dining room tables decades ago. It's too bad Wizards feels that someone who is depressed because they lost a leg is disparaging BECAUSE that in of itself is DISPARAGING... The lady isn't terrible for being depressed. It's her reality ALBEIT INSIDE A FANTASY GAME OF PRETEND.... DUUUUUHHHHHHHHHH 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
I have the original hardback book, the Gale Force 9 Tarokka deck, and the DM Screen. I keep looking at this thinking, "Ooh, shiny!" but I can't justify spending that sort of money on something just for a coffin-shaped box. The changes made to the text are pretty minimal as it is and I know what they are. Plus, despite the "Revamped" pun, not much has changed. This is definitely a pass. Now, if I can keep my inner collector gene under control, that would be great.
I just decided to purchase one and started looking around for the opinion of others on this box. I feel it is more beneficial for DMs who do not posess the current book etc yet. Where I live I managed to buy a box for 70 euros. Seeing as the book itself would run me about 40-45 euros and a tarokka deck generally goes for about 15 euros I feel the slightly higher price of this set really adds a lot to it.
I ordered mine from Amazon for just under $60. I usually go out and support my local business but the asking price was just ridiculous as is. I was also disappointed about the misleading re vamp. They could've added a few things to the adventure as least within the adventure league things.
I totally loath that #WotC constantly make these beautiful maps that I'd love to share with the players...but I can't cause they put DM location markers on them! WHY?!? As a DM I could care less using a big map. I'd rather share those with the players. Such a frustration and waste.
I was mislead into this as well I was told it had the hard cover book included in this set (by word of mouth at the hobby shop)but I was totally disappointed in the soft cover version the only thing that I was fortunate for was I didn’t pay the full $100 price
How do people still not understand if cards dont feel nice to hold in hand dont make them. This isnt some new item never been made, over sized cards have been done many times and every time they have been hated
I was out of d & d for like ten years when I came back my guys were like I've been wanting to play this for so long so the box set is what got them to pull the trigger. Now I'm running it
Thanks for the review. The unboxing helped me a lot. It would have been nice if they had just made supplemental material to he original book; i.e. lots of big maps, player handouts, etc, instead of this garbage.
So right now you can Revamped for about 70 euro. I personally think if you don't own CoS already that it is actually a decent deal with the softcover the only thing being worse about it. I think it adds a lot to the immersion in general. However, for 10 euro cheaper you can get the hardcover CoS, the smaller sized Tarokka deck and the CoS DM screen
Thank you for the review. Just checked amazon and its at $60 already. This seems lazy and rushed and simply put out to appease a small crowd. Pure Cash grab. Easy pass even at $60
Heres a counter opinion: The module is $65.95, the Tarokka deck is $12.99 and the DM Screen WAS $19.95 but its out of print and often runs $25-$30. Just off of MSRP, thats $98.89. Once you take into account the fact: the DM Screen is out of print and costs more, the map insert is now better quality, the bestiary and appendices are easy to access while running the adventure, and you have the handouts now on better paper, this is definitely worth the $100 if you dont own the originals already, which most new players don't.
That is only patially true. Yes, most new players do not own the original - but as it came out in 2016 many of the newer players might actually do have it. I will agree with you on the fact that if you do not own anything provided in this set, that it actually becomes a viable option. BUT - and this is a pretty big but (the joke is definetely intended) - for anyone that either owns the original, liked the original descriptions or just wants better Hand-Outs/Maps/Tarokka cards it is just terrible. You are way better of when you just purchase the Beadle and Grimm set - it may be 4 times as expensive but also includes everything one would actually need to run the module. To add to this the original module is hardcover which adds a lot of value to the book and also makes it feel much better. Speaking of inclusions: The postcards are unusable, as they are so spoilery that no player in their right mind would go into the DEATHHOUSE or the OLD BONEGRINDER. Also it is actually not a nice prop to send out to your players (The Beadle and Grimm version for example has 5 envelopes with 5 pieces of high quality paper and some stick on wax seals plus a prewritten letter from Strahd - and that is just for the out of game props to invite your players) it is nice to give to them to remember the campaign after it ended but this seems kinda useless. The next thing that really bugs me are the changes. The changes made do not only hurt the module, they are also extremely incosequential - somebody that feels offended by stereotypes and "ableist" stuff like that will still feel offended by them. In my opinion they hurt the game because the Vistani now stand out as weird - not to the PCs but to the players. Everyone gets drunk and feels miserable in Barovia, everyone but the Vistani i guess! They move freely, don't drink, are happy and serve their dark overlord - this is just weird. They removed a sentence which incuded a line that stated that they only SEEM terrible to outsiders and that they are actually nice but morally grey people and that not all of them serve Strahd, so by editing this sentence out, just because the first part was about all these stereotypes made the book more racist (And in this case actually racist). The funny thing is that the Vistani were originally called Roma in the first module ever released, back in the 70s but this was changed do to the cultural insensitivity - they are not Roma, they are Vistani so they can clearly be stereotypes - a theme that fits perfectly in this module (You already have a Frankenstein, Dracula, Mummy, Werewolf, Ghost, Zombie, Hunchback, creepy Butler and Van Helsing - why not include the morally grey servants of the Vampire with some good and some bad sides to them?). The other change in my opinion is even more hurtful to the module. Ezmeralda being ashamed of her leg is a big personality trait that makes her character interesting and understandable and gives room for some pretty nice character developement. Imagine a young woman, desperate to learn something from a legendary Vampire-Hunter (that has a pretty awful personality btw) that always secretly fears she is not able to be as great as he is and then looses a leg, forever confirming her fear and scarring her permanently. Of course she is ashamed of that! Because she was not good enough in battle she will never achieve what she aspired to be (well not the level she wants to be on) and is also cosmetically flawed. Now she shambles a bit, probably has to deal with nasty infections due to the bad medical practises of the local healers and the hygiene standards back in the day and also lives in f*cking Barovia were the weak will always suffer the most. In my campaign the PCs actually had the option to convince her to be not ashamed of that - making her a close friend of the group - and actually had the possibility later on to re-grow her leg. This made some great character developement for her and the party. Van Richten being a total racist made this so much better - she trained, overcame her weaknesses, was actually better than the parties ranger and then gets rejected just because of her race - this and many other interactions with him made the PCs actually overthink the choice of siding with him and eventually led them to joining Strahd and freeing Barovia of its curse! Taking away these two parts hurts the module tremendously. But the saddest thing is what they did with the artwork! I love the DM-Screen, don't get me wrong, but it is the exact same art as on the Post cards, how cheap is that? They should have made different artwork for the cards and a better Tarokka Deck - it is not completely foil stamped as advertisement led to believe, it just has some foil coverings on the back making it impossible to cut straight leaving us with these nasty pieces of cardstock and foil that, when removed, make the cards unsymetrical and more prone to damage. So yeah, if you dont care for all of that, buy it. - Greetings from Germany
I feel like the term "Vampire" could be offensive to the blood drinking community. They will now be called "life challenged fang persons." Also villains are no longer allowed, now the module ends with Strahd sharing lemonade with the party.
Obviously you reviewed this products assuming everybody already had the original CoS. Perhaps the real mistake was to believe it was something else. I had not the original CoS (always wanted to), but when I knew of this it was clear to me that this was the version I should get. Yes, I think if someone already have the original book, this one is just for exhibit and nothing more (nothing bad about that, but not for everyone). I really think there is no misleading at all from WotC; but sure thing there are misinformed people. This product was deeply covered months before it came out. Anyway, yes, I do agree with some points though. Postcards, no so much Ravenloft vibe, castle map somewhat useless in that format, but not so that it is a total waste or worse the experience (you can run the game exactly as the original book without it). Anyways, for a total revamp, you can get the 400 usd Legendary Edition from Bradley & Grimm’s which is the exactly same adventure reparted in MORE soft covered booklets, but with a lot of (actually useful) battlegrid maps, some props and even a few new encounters.
This was insane. For that price tag we should have AT LEAST a hardcover version of the book, and separate handouts for the game. Nothing is revamped its just pc cleaned which is... fine I guess? We could have used maybe a new monster statblock that DMs could use for an encounter, maybe a new sidequest in the book? Heck for 100$ a set of ravenloft specific dice would have been cool. Maybe miniatures? Heck they could have used the ones from the castle ravenloft boardgame. The DM screen is actually pretty good but aside from that its kind of asinine.
I was super interested in the box set untill I saw the soft cover.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely prefer softcovers over hardcovers, and I would always 100% of the times buy my adventure books softcover if they released them as such... But softcovers are normally like half the price of a hardcover. This box set shoulda cost 50, at most.
Thanks for the honest review. No Dice set included? Really? Like you said "For $100?" Strahd specific dice would've been great. I'm gonna pass on the purchase since I already own the book, DM screen and Tarokka deck.
Thanks for the honesty. I will never buy this set.
Its down to $55 on Amazon.
I got it for less than 60 USD
I am glad i saw this review before buying it i didn't realize they put a slimmed down softcover book in the set that is unbelievable
good review. judging by tyranny of dragons, when they say revamped or improved, they mean better organized/edited. i do agree it's a good value for people who don't own it. at least they made some cool new miniatures for the rest of us
As someone who's just getting back into the hobby over 15 years after I stopped playing 2/3/3.5, I really think it's aimed at someone like me and my group who don't already own the original version. I can't imagine they ever expected too many people who already own the hardcover to fork out for this!
That being said I think I'm more interested in the Icewind Dale hardcover campaign that came out in 2020, it looks fun.
But the original Curse of Strahd. Cheaper and probably the best 5th edition adventure. No pc crap
@@thunderforge2363 What pc stuff is in it?
The moment you see all the letters and maps on a single or combined piece. It's very obvious that the designers of this product did not play CoS...
I haven't played it but the moment I saw two handouts combined into one sheet, I thought "well how the fuck is the gm supposed to manage that?" C'mon wizards, you know that handouts are meant to be distributed one at a time...
The saddest part is the designer of this actually created CoS...this just shows you how much of a cash grab it is
They really should have given us some real spice for this price tag
Most of the things in this box I made at home for less money and made better versions of it, it just took a little time. You can make a Tarokka deck for very little money as well as handouts that are better organized and more functional. I'm thinking I should've made a bunch and sold em on etsy or ebay lol.
Could literally buy the tarokka card deck for like 10 bucks
I would never drop that coin for that degree of changes 😂
Honestly I wouldn't even buy this if it cost as much as the Hard Cover, because this doesn't even have a hard cover. For 100 bucks they really should have gone all out on little knickknacks for GM props. They could have had GF9 make some special cards for the monsters/NPCs for the module, included some dice (not even custom ones just some black or red ones), and a sheet of tokens to use for the unique monsters.
Its just a bundle really. The tarokka deck, and dm screen were already available (albeit not that size for the cards or art for the screen). The art and hands are just fluff with their inclusion. If you dont have the module and would buy it all separately this isnt horrible. But if you just want the module and tarokka deck hard pass.
i feel like you're missing the point on the tarokka deck. why would you sleeve and protect it? in terms of game emersion tarokka cards are used daily on the regular and should not look or feel new. also the small 10 dollar cards are looking flimsy if you're doing a reading at the table.
I’m having a hard time deciding to get this or not… I see it’s just $50 now on Amazon. I’ve heard this adventure is great, and I don’t own any piece of it so far. I do wish the book was hardbound. I’m not so sure what makes the paperback book a “perfect-bound”.
I almost bought this as It’s on sale at Amazon for $69, but considering I can create my own materials with the book better than what this offers , I wouldn’t pay that either. Thanks for the unboxing and review, and saving me money.
I feel like all we really needed was a big hardcover with all this in it.
Can you tap the box a few hundred more times? I feel you didn't tap it enough. Thanks! (jkjkjkjk, great review)
Amazon has it for 60 bucks
So i saw this in a store yesterday and having seen this video... Im SO glad i didnt buy it!!! This is stramin hoy doodoo
Got it for $60. Like what it has in it except for the fact that letters/maps aren't separate. That's really annoying.
Man, I just can't even get over the fact that for a premium product priced at a hundred bucks, WotC doesn't even include a hardcover book. Takes away any notion of being 'premium'. You'd seriously be better of just buying the regular book at half the price and then getting one of the Galeforce Nine Tarokka decks.
No boxset un DnD history has had a hardcover book. That’s what is the box for.
@@vraymar yeah... But I'm guessing none of the previous box sets have ever cost a hundred bucks before either... Like I said, at that price point, I expect a premium and a softcover book just isn't that.
@@TheSmuey actually they cost more than $100 and you only got softcovers
@@TheSmuey great to bringing that point. I do Agree that boxed set is no sooooo premium, bue let's see:
My PHB from 1994 has a price tag of 20 USD, my Ravenloft Boxed Set was 30 USD (33% up). My f5e PHB it's priced 49.90 usd (more than double from 1994) and CoS Revamped is yet 100% up from that cost (100 usd). It is quite expensive in comparision , true -and it was not JUST one adventure, but. campaing world-. Still, this new boxed set is much much premium; in size, in dutrability, production, industrial design, print, inks, extras (handouts, map plastified, DM's screen ultra high quality, tarokka with metalic ink, etc.). In the end, I think is not a bad price, but certanly not for everyone, but collectors. Same as in movies or videogames.
The Curse of Strahd - Recashed. Softcover book? Wtf?!
Watching this late. Still, I hate the thinking WOTC did on this. I have an amputation, and I am more insulted by them changing the lost leg storyline, which is more accurate to life. I do not agree with the world thinking from this angle. The offense is letting yourself be offended. I believe people only complain to start hyper issues and for no other reason. Just to do it.
Just hearing about the “revamped” changes was enough to dissuade me from buying it. I was considering swallowing the fact that it’s $100 for a SOFT COVER, but instead we get a PC-fied rendition of the book. I couldmve ad-libbed those in myself if I felt that the Vistani were offensive. Hell I’d go so far as to argue about this product being founded on deception.
Hell you could’ve added in a free Roll20 code to encourage people who might want to play this online to buy it. Can’t use those fancy maps and handouts if everything is online. It would’ve also added a lot of value to product because of how versatile it could be applied.
But nah, this is a nostalgia grab. You’ll get more value out of buying a tarot bundle for $40 and save money. Hell, that bundle and a bookshelf would be more valuable than this. The only thing you’re missing out on is the DM screen, which you can probably find used on Ebay.
Revamp my a$$. They didn't even "fix" the hag encounter. Even the author of the adventure, Chris Perkins himself, does not run that encounter that way lol.
SOFT COVER!? WTF!?
Just purchased this on amazon for 69 bucks. Was bummed that the book was softcover and the bonegrinder post cards gave a massive spoiler on them! Why would u send out a spoiler to a new player!? Also the doubled up handouts are lame. I agree however that the monster manual and DM screen are great. I would say for 69 dollars kinda worth it especially since I had no strahd stuff but for 100 is a rip off.
Thank you for opening this and reviewing it. A poorly made splat book rather than the hardback coupled with a deck of so-so cards from a company that got famous making card games for $100 dollars is insipid. As I said when I first saw this idea put forward it seems like a shameless money grab hinged under eye-roll worthy fake self-consciousness concerning the Vistani. Its exploitative profiteering wreathed in the vagaries of "wokeness" and nostalgia, which is about all I think of WotC now as a rule.
wdym by wokeness
@@thepapillonwarrior1159 Woke in this discussion is the small, but noisome group that believes itself uniquely enlightened to view history and denounce others views on the basis that their present certainty is the objective truth. In this case WotC is pretending to parade the presumptively enlightened modern values of pro-LGBT+ and anti-racism, smearing them as a thin veneer of cynical, corporate camouflages over any actions they take to win reactionary "woke" people to their cause, be it buying their new book AGAIN, or gobbling up their current license clause.
@@jeremygriffin620 so you're saying the new revamped book is just to appeal to LGBT crap cause now people look favorable on disabilities in the adventure?
@@thepapillonwarrior1159 Not the LGBT+ in this case: Ravenloft has a long history with a group of people called the Vistani. They are meant to be a nod toward Stoker's servants of Dracula, which is itself a nod to the Romani. The woke proclaimed it racist against the Romani. Fascinatingly, many of the reddit threads and online spaces denouncing the "racism" freely used words like "Gypsy." For the record, Romani people are not a race to themselves, they are nomadic sub group of a much larger Indo-European people - making the decried "racism" neither accurate nor even sensible given that it is at best a literary nod, to a literary nod, to a man with somewhat patronizing view, of its time for a small culturally unique group. They were advertising it as for "cultural sensitivity," with a lean on people's fomo for a "new box set." To me its cynical rambling to sell more boxes of badly edited, already printed material. A low cost for them in terms of creativity, assets, and publishing for a high profit.
@@jeremygriffin620 so the revamped edition changed it from the original?
My first thoughts on curse of strahd revampt was it's Curse of strahd but redone! It's not that at all you're getting no different Adventures no other hooks no other Back stories. Maybe if they include a player option of being a vampire sure but none of that. My impression is that you can just buy the book and have a good time running it that way you don't need to spend the extra money for all this extra stuff unless you really enjoy running this adventure for different groups. However what I came to realize is that it's only redone for all the booty tickled people that wrote reviews on it found these people to be racist found this person to be Emo and depressed giving a bad inclination for those who are handicapped and play the game. Like I said it's literally did we offend you let's rewrite the entire book it's kind of dumb in my opinion but I totally love curse of strahd and would run it again don't get me wrong.
So, they made it politically correct? and that's about it..?? F that shit.. Other than that , good review.
100$ and not even a hardcover for the book???
might aswell look for the digital copy and just buy the 10$ card set
Honestly I really have not question why they'd even bother with the politically correct stuff. The entire Strahd theme is a bunch of tropes and stereotypes. You've ally with not-Van-Helsing to fight not-Dracula who lives in not-Transyvania. The fact there's a version of the classic gypsy fortune teller fits right in. If they should have removed anything, honestly it should be the appearance of Mordenkainen, he just never fit with the whole theme of the module. It's just weird running into him.
the box looks amazing somenoce things in set but a 100 bucks no way. If it had a mini fig a set of die yep100 all day but when the essential set has screen and dice and is 20 bucks. nope
no harcover is such a dealbreaker
I have the old 2e box set.. This new 1 doesnt look like the bomb to me.. I'll keep my 100$
Huzzah,, solid review
Soft cover makes me limp.
04:43 - Funny how you could not fold the map properly.
I'm sure that was just on-screen jitters. 😆 He can probably fold a map with his eyes closed if the camera wasn't on.
This is a lousy campaign. I rewrote everything about this campaign to make this better.
Hell yea
Overcharging for a soft cover while trying to appeal to a demographic, which is basically non-existent.
Not worth it my ass. I love mine.
It isn't revamped in a useful way it just has removed "racism"
Racism? You mean stereotyping, there is a difference
@@DrVagax yes
I don't think this is that bad, this is kind of poggers. I'm thinking about getting this, but I doubt I'll play irl in the future
It kinda sadens me to say that the content is pure crap
Don’t use real tarot cards
Curse of Strahd
Extra Woke Edition🙄
I didn't know revamped means woke. They should've just put that on the cover so people know what they're getting.
Where's my hardback Hydro cover of CoS?! Including THAT would be worth the $100.
Lol that is what the revamped means??? Malarkey. Woke BS. I'd be depressed if I lost my leg and as a person with gypsy ancestry I give zero Fs about stereotypes. WoTC is starting to lose me
Frustrating that they doubled the price of the module then put multiple handouts on the same sheet of paper. Just pathetic.
This had so much potential....
Personally, I love how they split up the books and the DM screen is beautiful as well.
I agree that at the time it came out, especially if you already owned curse of strahd, the $100 price tag was excessive to say the least. But i just picked it up on ebay for $60 free shipping brand new and i never had the first curse of strahd so for me it was AWESOME...
Quick edit/sidebar:
Anything revised or removed for political correctness can be put right back in. It is the amazing freedom that TTRPGs have givin us since they dawned on our dining room tables decades ago. It's too bad Wizards feels that someone who is depressed because they lost a leg is disparaging BECAUSE that in of itself is DISPARAGING... The lady isn't terrible for being depressed. It's her reality ALBEIT INSIDE A FANTASY GAME OF PRETEND.... DUUUUUHHHHHHHHHH
🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
I have the original hardback book, the Gale Force 9 Tarokka deck, and the DM Screen.
I keep looking at this thinking, "Ooh, shiny!" but I can't justify spending that sort of money on something just for a coffin-shaped box. The changes made to the text are pretty minimal as it is and I know what they are. Plus, despite the "Revamped" pun, not much has changed.
This is definitely a pass. Now, if I can keep my inner collector gene under control, that would be great.
I just decided to purchase one and started looking around for the opinion of others on this box. I feel it is more beneficial for DMs who do not posess the current book etc yet. Where I live I managed to buy a box for 70 euros. Seeing as the book itself would run me about 40-45 euros and a tarokka deck generally goes for about 15 euros I feel the slightly higher price of this set really adds a lot to it.
Unfortunately, its an oddly made square splat book from the looks of it. The original for a quite a few bucks less is hardbound.
I ordered mine from Amazon for just under $60. I usually go out and support my local business but the asking price was just ridiculous as is. I was also disappointed about the misleading re vamp. They could've added a few things to the adventure as least within the adventure league things.
I wanted to go to my local store, but when I saw it at $54 on Amazon…it was a no-contest.
I totally loath that #WotC constantly make these beautiful maps that I'd love to share with the players...but I can't cause they put DM location markers on them! WHY?!? As a DM I could care less using a big map. I'd rather share those with the players. Such a frustration and waste.
Nope
Great module. Crap box set
Thanks for the warning! I’ll probably save money and buy the original book
I was mislead into this as well I was told it had the hard cover book included in this set (by word of mouth at the hobby shop)but I was totally disappointed in the soft cover version the only thing that I was fortunate for was I didn’t pay the full $100 price
How do people still not understand if cards dont feel nice to hold in hand dont make them. This isnt some new item never been made, over sized cards have been done many times and every time they have been hated
I was out of d & d for like ten years when I came back my guys were like I've been wanting to play this for so long so the box set is what got them to pull the trigger. Now I'm running it
Thanks for the review. The unboxing helped me a lot. It would have been nice if they had just made supplemental material to he original book; i.e. lots of big maps, player handouts, etc, instead of this garbage.
So right now you can Revamped for about 70 euro. I personally think if you don't own CoS already that it is actually a decent deal with the softcover the only thing being worse about it. I think it adds a lot to the immersion in general.
However, for 10 euro cheaper you can get the hardcover CoS, the smaller sized Tarokka deck and the CoS DM screen
Thank you for the review. Just checked amazon and its at $60 already. This seems lazy and rushed and simply put out to appease a small crowd. Pure Cash grab. Easy pass even at $60
Heres a counter opinion: The module is $65.95, the Tarokka deck is $12.99 and the DM Screen WAS $19.95 but its out of print and often runs $25-$30. Just off of MSRP, thats $98.89. Once you take into account the fact: the DM Screen is out of print and costs more, the map insert is now better quality, the bestiary and appendices are easy to access while running the adventure, and you have the handouts now on better paper, this is definitely worth the $100 if you dont own the originals already, which most new players don't.
That is only patially true. Yes, most new players do not own the original - but as it came out in 2016 many of the newer players might actually do have it. I will agree with you on the fact that if you do not own anything provided in this set, that it actually becomes a viable option. BUT - and this is a pretty big but (the joke is definetely intended) - for anyone that either owns the original, liked the original descriptions or just wants better Hand-Outs/Maps/Tarokka cards it is just terrible. You are way better of when you just purchase the Beadle and Grimm set - it may be 4 times as expensive but also includes everything one would actually need to run the module. To add to this the original module is hardcover which adds a lot of value to the book and also makes it feel much better. Speaking of inclusions: The postcards are unusable, as they are so spoilery that no player in their right mind would go into the DEATHHOUSE or the OLD BONEGRINDER. Also it is actually not a nice prop to send out to your players (The Beadle and Grimm version for example has 5 envelopes with 5 pieces of high quality paper and some stick on wax seals plus a prewritten letter from Strahd - and that is just for the out of game props to invite your players) it is nice to give to them to remember the campaign after it ended but this seems kinda useless. The next thing that really bugs me are the changes. The changes made do not only hurt the module, they are also extremely incosequential - somebody that feels offended by stereotypes and "ableist" stuff like that will still feel offended by them. In my opinion they hurt the game because the Vistani now stand out as weird - not to the PCs but to the players. Everyone gets drunk and feels miserable in Barovia, everyone but the Vistani i guess! They move freely, don't drink, are happy and serve their dark overlord - this is just weird. They removed a sentence which incuded a line that stated that they only SEEM terrible to outsiders and that they are actually nice but morally grey people and that not all of them serve Strahd, so by editing this sentence out, just because the first part was about all these stereotypes made the book more racist (And in this case actually racist). The funny thing is that the Vistani were originally called Roma in the first module ever released, back in the 70s but this was changed do to the cultural insensitivity - they are not Roma, they are Vistani so they can clearly be stereotypes - a theme that fits perfectly in this module (You already have a Frankenstein, Dracula, Mummy, Werewolf, Ghost, Zombie, Hunchback, creepy Butler and Van Helsing - why not include the morally grey servants of the Vampire with some good and some bad sides to them?). The other change in my opinion is even more hurtful to the module. Ezmeralda being ashamed of her leg is a big personality trait that makes her character interesting and understandable and gives room for some pretty nice character developement. Imagine a young woman, desperate to learn something from a legendary Vampire-Hunter (that has a pretty awful personality btw) that always secretly fears she is not able to be as great as he is and then looses a leg, forever confirming her fear and scarring her permanently. Of course she is ashamed of that! Because she was not good enough in battle she will never achieve what she aspired to be (well not the level she wants to be on) and is also cosmetically flawed. Now she shambles a bit, probably has to deal with nasty infections due to the bad medical practises of the local healers and the hygiene standards back in the day and also lives in f*cking Barovia were the weak will always suffer the most. In my campaign the PCs actually had the option to convince her to be not ashamed of that - making her a close friend of the group - and actually had the possibility later on to re-grow her leg. This made some great character developement for her and the party. Van Richten being a total racist made this so much better - she trained, overcame her weaknesses, was actually better than the parties ranger and then gets rejected just because of her race - this and many other interactions with him made the PCs actually overthink the choice of siding with him and eventually led them to joining Strahd and freeing Barovia of its curse! Taking away these two parts hurts the module tremendously.
But the saddest thing is what they did with the artwork! I love the DM-Screen, don't get me wrong, but it is the exact same art as on the Post cards, how cheap is that?
They should have made different artwork for the cards and a better Tarokka Deck - it is not completely foil stamped as advertisement led to believe, it just has some foil coverings on the back making it impossible to cut straight leaving us with these nasty pieces of cardstock and foil that, when removed, make the cards unsymetrical and more prone to damage. So yeah, if you dont care for all of that, buy it.
- Greetings from Germany
I feel like the term "Vampire" could be offensive to the blood drinking community. They will now be called "life challenged fang persons." Also villains are no longer allowed, now the module ends with Strahd sharing lemonade with the party.
HA!
Obviously you reviewed this products assuming everybody already had the original CoS. Perhaps the real mistake was to believe it was something else.
I had not the original CoS (always wanted to), but when I knew of this it was clear to me that this was the version I should get. Yes, I think if someone already have the original book, this one is just for exhibit and nothing more (nothing bad about that, but not for everyone).
I really think there is no misleading at all from WotC; but sure thing there are misinformed people. This product was deeply covered months before it came out.
Anyway, yes, I do agree with some points though. Postcards, no so much Ravenloft vibe, castle map somewhat useless in that format, but not so that it is a total waste or worse the experience (you can run the game exactly as the original book without it).
Anyways, for a total revamp, you can get the 400 usd Legendary Edition from Bradley & Grimm’s which is the exactly same adventure reparted in MORE soft covered booklets, but with a lot of (actually useful) battlegrid maps, some props and even a few new encounters.