Campaign: Travels in Barovia

Joe is planning to host a campaign set in Barovia, a land lost in time, currently under the stewardship of one Count Strahd von Zarovich. Strahd has quite a history in the worlds of D&D, some of what the players may have heard is likely true, other portions may turn out to be myths.  This posting is intended to share some links intended to be useful for the campaign and do a bit of a level set, especially to provide guidance for character creation and setting of some expectations. 

The campaign setting is reasonably described as dark Gothic horror rather than a more typical heroic fantasy setting. To quote from Wikipedia:

Gothic fiction, which is largely known by the subgenre of Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature and film that combines fiction and horror, death, and at times romance. ... Another well known novel in this genre, dating from the late Victorian era, is Bram Stoker's Dracula

Campaign Links & Resources

• House Rules (to be reviewed/updated during session 0): Version 3.0
• Session Notes and Group Treasure: Travels in Barovia -- Player Notes
• Session 0 Notes
  

The player notes document requires permission to access.  Please request that, if you are a player in the game, which will give you edit authority to the file. 

 Following subject to further revision as of 12/11/2020

Campaign Level Setting

Barovia is not a vanilla D&D setting, certain important aspects of it will only be discovered over time, but I think it is important that the players -- not the characters -- have a baseline understanding before starting the game.

• Most inhabitants of the realm are human and xenophobic,
• PCs are generally from the area of Faerûn near Waterdeep/Dessarian Valley,
• PCs do not start as heroic adventurers, though they likely have potential,
• Barovia is a harsh land, poor decisions or even bad luck can lead quickly to death,
  
• Mature themes are part of the setting (suicide, infanticide, drug addiction, slavery, rape, etc.), 
• Certain NPCs are pivotal to the story, 
• Time flows differently in Barovia than Faerûn,
• Sandbox structure allows players freedom, freedom to make good or bad choices.
  

 

Character Creation & Background

Because the game is planned to be played with four players and the module is designed for 4 to 6, initial stats should be set with the improved array from the house rules: 17-15-13-13-11-9 or 33 point buy, with no more than one stat over 15.

Some other important tidbits:

1. Characters do not need to start with any bonds between them, in fact I would rather if they all begin as strangers to each other.  
2. While I would like to use the I Know a Guy rule from my house rules, it is not relevant in this setting, as the players know no one native to this land. 
3. Multi-Classing requires a trainer or mentor, which may not be available.
4. The Haunted One campaign specific background is available.
5. Character concepts focused on expected opponents are fine.
   

I'd like the players to build their characters in consultation only with the DM to the degree feasible.  I would like the opportunity to supply input on character concepts and appropriateness for the setting.

Background

Normally I love reading well crafted backstories on characters in my games. The prose really gives a character a former life that can matter in a campaign.  Because this game will rip the characters from everything they have known and its deadly nature, I think we are well served to avoid big text backstory documents for this game.  Instead, I ask for short answers to what is basically a checklist, so that I have information on:

• Name
• Race
• Gender
  
• Height
• Weight
• Hair Style/Color
• Eye Color
• Skin Color/Description
  
• Identifying Marks (Tattoos, Birthmarks, etc) 
• Family Situation (parents, siblings, orphan, what have you)
  
• Hometown (where the character considers themselves to be from -- Faerûn locations)
• Profession/Background (before heading to Barovia)
• Faith (gods of Faerûn venerated, if any)
  
• Attitude toward alcohol, drink(s) of choice
• Traits/Ideals/Bonds/Flaws (standard 5E type things, though feel free to improvise)

I imagine other things may be useful, but that seems like the minimum I'd want to be known without making an out-sized investment in developing a long backstory for characters who really have never been on an adventure. 

Starting Gear

Characters will start with standard gear typical of the specific character's class.  I suggest just using a predefined bundle, but if you want to buy items, or do a few swaps, feel free.  Let me know if you have a family heirloom or some such in mind and I can help define how that works in Barovia.

Anticipated Game Startup and Flow

I am hoping that we can have a session 0 via Discord to review house rules, talk a bit about some of the themes of this dark setting to make sure we are mutually aware of limitations the participants would like to have on the game.

How often we play, how long, and in what format needs to be discussed. I think the campaign might work as a hybrid of Roll20, Discord with Video, and most importantly Face to Face.  Roll play is absolutely essential to this setting, to me that requires being able to see faces and reactions.  There are portions that would benefit from Roll20's ability to give limited vision and handle large encounters.  That leaves me wanting to be able to use both styles dependent on likely content for the week.  

After Session 0, I want to run a series of individual sessions 1's.  Each player will have a short adventure, really more of a meeting and some role play (with no anticipated combat) that will bridge the character from their starting situation to where the campaign proper begins.  This can actually happen before the character is fully defined, allowing a player to form some details during a private session. 

Meta Game Knowledge

Ravenloft is a classic D&D setting.  As such, it is not surprising for players to have some meta-knowledge about it.  I'm hoping to explore any preexisting understanding during the private session 1's so that I can build the world appropriately.  This may include asking the player to careful exclude meta-knowledge from character actions. 

During play there will be times where one or more character is not aware of happenings that would be off camera to them.  I anticipate allowing associated players to quietly listen in on those events to avoid what could be extended times in a cone of silence, and then managing this meta-knowledge away from their charater.  At some points, where hidden knowledge is particularly impactful, I may choose to impose a cone of silence.

Magic in Barovia

Barovia is a unique place.  A place where some things are different than what party members are accustomed to.  This may manifest in multiple ways.

One significant one is that some magic works differently, cosmetically, or perhaps functionally.  Those differences will need to be discovered.  For now, I just want players to be aware that there are differences.

Flora and Fauna of Barovia

The land known of Barovia is relatively small and sheltered from the Realms.  As such, the range of creatures and plants is somewhat limited.  What those limits is something that will need to be investigated to be understood.  This limited variety will affect some aspects of the game.  As examples, the following may be affected:

• Shapechangers -- Taking the form of a creature never seen is difficult at best, obvious at worst, 
• Polymorphs -- Obtaining familiarity with creatures may be challenging, 
• Summonings -- Creatures that don't exist in an area may not be summonable, 
• Familiars -- Same as summonings.

The variety of plants will also be limited.  Their effect on the game may largely be cosmetic, but it will exist.

 

Scaling of the Challenges

 The world presented in Curse of Strahd has distinct elements of a sandbox.  There are portions (e.g. the start) that are railroading, but largely players have choices.  That isn't to say that all of the choices are feasible, as the difficulty of encounters largely do not scale with the level of the party. It is incumbent on the players to pay attention and take calculated not foolhardy risks; gather information and then set a course that they think might be successful.

That said, I believe it is incumbent on the DM to adjust the difficulty of the campaign to the group's size and composition.  I ask that the players don't try to over optimize their characters.  I'm looking for interesting characters who will fit into the world of Barovia with appropriate abilities but without a min-max focus.