I’m prepping to run CoS, and while reading the book I’ve been listening to “Haunting Pipe Organ Music” on Spotify. It feels perfect, at least for Castle Ravenloft. I’ll probably look for some other music/background sounds to fit different areas, but I think this will also work well for a few of the other places like Barovia village, the amber temple, and Argenvostholt It feels like it could be the soundtrack to an old silent vampire movie like Nosferatu

For the Third Gem, I combined it with Argynvost's heart to be the the actual ingredients for the Heart of Sorrow... Destroying it frees the gem, and allows the party to celebrate in style

Top Ten Tips for Tomb of Annihilation: "Throw out half the adventure.", apparently lol

I remember Axel, the NPC.

I remember the first time getting this ( I was 8 or 9) and playing the solo tutorial, my mind was blown and my imagination was running rampant.

I know im a lil late but thank you for covering Zakhara! I just discovered this setting and im chomping at the bit for content i can find on it!

Strahd's Baneful Attractor is super underated, and I feel is possibly one of the more PC friendly of the bunch.

I'm surprised you didn't mention the philosophy of the Temple of the Ten Thousand Gods. I love that there is a whole group of clerics who basically thumb their noses at the Pantheist Leagues ideas by saying that all gods are part of the larger truth. That the Pantheists outlaw them, but can't manage to keep them out of the League because they simply blend in with the local religions when visiting is hilarious.

really cool video man, thanks! Very helpful indeed!

I love this set.I wish we would have played more of it

Better read Giantcraft than rely on Bestiary...

Fantastic synopsis! I hope you develop some more traditional Ravenloft content. Also, possibly going through old Planescape, or even 2nd Ed. Forgotten Realms Netheril.

why the fuck would anybody run this module in 5e ?

lovely introduction, very informative and easy to digest.

Very useful. Thanks.

I had Wakanga O'tamu to sponsor the expedition, but he asked for half of the magic items the party found.

I ran a few graywall sessions. I'm amping up for more. Thanks for your video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/ombWen18or6nqK8si=A9Mpkz0z7d3W9vgk

The biggest change I made to the rules for Tomb of Annihilation was to change the travel rules. Players can move 2 hexes in a day, 3 hexes if rushing, 1 hex if sneaking. Players also cannot benefit from a Long Rest unless they're sleeping somewhere safe (a cleared, named location, inside a tiny hut, etc)

Minor tetch on the Death's head tree; the floaty heads are not undead, as I recall; they're still all plant matter.

Not really important, but the Deadlands setting has the Boneless, too. 2 minions from one corpse. Cost effective.

Great vid, really liked it.

What a great video, thank you.

My personal favorite Domain is Lamordia, both because I am a big fan of the original Frankenstein, and its various film adaptations (even though they are quite different from the book), and because it allows for plenty of sci-fi and indistrial elements to come imto play in an otherwise rennaisance or dark age setting. The 5e book... completely tried to retcon Dr. Victor Mordenheim and Adam, (something I am still sore at WotC for), BUT, their industrial revolution-style setting updates, plot hooks, and descriptors are something I like. I use the AD&D Domains of Dread book for my primary source, and just take the parts from the 5e Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft that I like and use them in my games (reconciling tech differences or plot changes as just time advancement, I usually start my game in the 760-780s BC, after the Grand Conjunction) (I also just ignore WotC's Viktra Modenheim and Elise in favor of the original. I still have no idea why they tried to retcon lore as important as a darklord like that, given its relative consistancy for Decades across Edition, Splats, and Novels).

I like to come back to this channel (in October especially) to refresh myself on fun Ravenloft info, and many of these spells are fantastic and fun!

Great stuff, lots of actually useful tips. Thanks for the work!

I have a Reborn race player that is powered by the 3rd seed and doesn't know it. lol. Can't wait for him to get near one of the others.

I had my players all from the sword coast all from various factions that sent them to investigate. I had the death curse start and stop a for a period of time before it begins in full when they reach the port. I also had their ship be destroyed in a battle between the dragonturtle and a young kraken. They washed up on shore of a village. That was being targeted by zehntharim sent by one of the merchant princes whose leader was the father of another of the merchant princes

Another great soundtrack for the game is Wolfman suite by Danny Elfman, from the movie

I've had a scenario where Strahd finds out very early on that the party has the tome, but instead of just forcing them to hand it over or killing them, he decides that a) This is a great chance to spread the truth of his story (ie that he is the victim), and he has confidence that his ciphers regarding the more sensitive information could never be broken (they can, with RvR's help), b) He can use this is a chance to turn the party against one another, making secret deals with each of them (or just one) to return the book to him in return for a "reward"

Would love to read the adventure you wrote on the third gem 😊

appreciate the video and information and all that, and it may have been just me, but DAMN this dude smacks his lips ALOT!

Thank you so much for the background and the video. Wonderful pacing wonderful cadence. Excellent information

I had pass the parcel quest for the third gem. A thief stole it, traded it to the hags for dream bread, who traded it to the burgomaster for a fat kid, who traded it to the vistani to break a curse who then traded it to the warewolves to track down a traitor and finally got traded to "some mad mage" that used it to pay a theif to steal from the winery again... The theif had it the whole time. We found him at the hags again. Fight ensued.

6:40 I am planning to have the Champagne du la Stomp gem as Vasilka the flesh golem bride of Strahd’s heart. The party must make a choice to tear out her heart and give it back to the Martikovs or have a powerful ally against evil

If you play with dnd 5e travel rules, then you are a bad storyteller and a bad DM

Are the rules in the Black Box different from BECMI or was it basically just a repackaging?

Freaking ridiculous number of commercials

Throwing out Syndra alone removes the timer. Having the death curse active from the start is a good reason for players to want to.goto chult. They need to want to do that anways. It's kind of weird of the death curse. The whole reason for the campaign. To be circumstantial, as if it just happened to be emanating from where the party was. I found a way to work the deathcurse into each players backstory motivation. That way while.solving the death curse, they're also accomplishing something personal for themselves. Kind of hook them in on both ends.

If the death curse isn’t active at the start, why would the party have any incentive to go there?

This was my first experience with D&D. My friend got this box and DM’d for us. I loved breaking out of jail at the beginning of the adventure. Such a great way to start.

I ran an abbreviated Curse of Strahd campaign as part of a re-write of the Pathfinder Reign of Winter Adventure Path - the group is searching for one of the keys to Baba Yaga's prison (in the form of a matryoshka doll) and her betrayer daughter has scattered the keys to her enemies across the worlds she uses her Hut to travel to. In this world I had her play the role of 'Mother Night' who sealed the realm off at Strahd's behest after Ireena killed herself rather than be his - he wanted her spirit trapped there and himself made immortal so that he could find her in every lifetime she lived. Baba Yaga agreed and Strahd helped her overthrow the Morninglord, in part by killing the Silver Dragon who led the Knighthood (the dragon is now an undead creature who sends the spirit of slain knights every night to assault their remaining brothers until he has collected them all). Anyway, I have a whole series of events that will lead the group on a not-so-merry chase to find Van Richten, save the Knighthood and eventually face and defeat Strahd in order to earn the key they need. I put together a fantastic 'foretelling' that they experience early on which lays out the path for them, though they have to figure it out: Seek you the Hidden, the Lost, the Found, the Last, the Next, the Soul unbound. Seek you the House of Foreign Blood, it’s Master lost, but gone? Hunter now seeks a younger brood, that Knight be claimed by Pawn. Seek you the House of Chaos Moon, by tracks of twos and fours; alone, He wept, then lost Himself amidst those misty moors Seek you the House of Darkened Wood where Daughter of Night resides; Howling wolves and darker things dare not where she abides. Seek you the House of Empty Smiles, where love is naught but a dance, its tune no more than memory held; If released, perhaps a chance. Seek you the House of Orphaned Brothers, counted once as starlit sky; Yet night claims all and none remain, Save the One to help them die. Seek you the House of Ancient Blood To see the night undone; Still the Heart, release the Soul, and gain what shall be One. Seek you the Hidden, the Lost, the Found, the Last, the Next, the Soul unbound.

This is cool. It's rare I have to slow a video down to take in the info, you are very concise and pack a ton in. Will definitely be watching this again when my players are getting closer to these mysteries.

Thanks for the good advice! Would you kindly align your video chapters to each tip and/or put the table of contents in the description/doobly-doo?

I am running a chult inspired campaign (using what I want in my own setting) that the party will be visiting the dread realms and I put Mezro and the Eschowe in one of the dread realms as punishment from Ubtao.

Hey your Tomb of Annihilation tips video and this one it's self are so helpful. I am running ToA as my first major campaign.

Great video, thousand thanks for the information and a big smile from Iceland!

Awesome video. Only criticism is be mindful of your lip smacking. I had to go back and relisten to parts because it was all I could focus on. Not an attack, just a suggestion. Again, nice video!

A combination of werewolf, spider and gargoyle can "drain levels"? Which one of those 3 has that ability?

On the death curse: I raised the time it takes for people to die. Ppl lose 1 maxhp/week instead of 1/day. This multiplier set a good balance between a ticking clock while still allowing for sidequests.

Great! I ran my own intro for Strahd, starting in Mordent, but I want to do another adventure in Mordent prior to heading to Barovia so I picked this up in DMs Guild to run in two weeks.