Curse of Strahd: DMs Guide- Chapter 3 Village of Barovia

[@navarrjenkinz]

When I run Doru I run him with four levels of exhaustion to represent his state of hunger and malnutrition.

[@NyoGR]

That is a great idea!

[@echo6693]

I was going through and prepping the village, and for some reason I’m so interested into the church scene, it’s such a depressing thought. Having a father have to hear his sons cries for over a year. And what I was going to do is that if they kill doru, his father falls from faith into a pit of despair. The only thing keeping him even remotely sane was the dream of his son one day becoming normal again. That night, donavich hangs himself on the church bell, with one last ding ringing out for what feels like forever

[@NoFunAllowed]

a truly defining scene in this depressing world!

[@glennadair883]

My group went through the church, one of them purposely cut their hand to free the boy...no one realized it...but donavich had been bitten in the chaos and they let him to suicide. That decision is going to... haunt them lmao

[@jimicapone]

What a great idea. I'm stealing it!

[@delicioustrimil]

33:33 adding fun to this horror campaign: What I did during a road journey , the party was ambushed by vampire bats and and a swarm of bats. A couple players were bit and asked to roll CON saves. The one player failed completely lost control of his bowels (he crapped his pants). The amount of laughter in the room was deafening. Here everyone was stressed about bats and then the bard shat himself.

[@Noob_DnD_Dad]

Wo. That's heavy

[@nunyabidness5712]

So my 12-yr old wanted to try DnD, with me being the DM. Brushing up on DM'ing could have been brutal. Most KZbin vids are less than helpful...or poorly presented. You, Sir, knock it out of the park. The perfect amount of detail, spread within clear and concise presentation. Thanks, man.

[@NoFunAllowed]

thank you so much!

[@marinomele4575]

First of all: This series is AMAZING for DMs. The best I've found on YT. Thanks, really. But I can't get over how people are constantly saying CoS should be modernized. As some topics should not be allowed in this day and age. Gertruda is surely underaged, but having intimacy of that kind with underaged girls has been the norm until less than two cenruries ago. And this adds to the medieval-theme CoS has. Furthermore, the campaign never treats this as something that should be done - it's a villanous act and you feel immensely sorry for the poor kid. Not to mention the Hag eaiting kids. That's such a classic of the European folklore, Hansel and Gretel is the first thing that comes to my mind. Granted, if any of the players have some specific trauma, by all means take that into account! But if it's just a "oops, this is not allowed anymore" you sould really just leave it as it is. Otherwise, you'de be robbing CoS of the harsh medieval feeling it's based on. Wich makes Barovia alien even for characters from the Forgotten Realms. I understand each country has its own story, and its own perception of what's normal and what's not. But lately - and I speak from a European POV so bare with me - I really got sick to see everything needs to pass under the US scrutiny to be either approved or dismissed as inappropriate. Imagine us in EU pretending slavery never happened in US because it's a bad thing... What good can this do to anyone? None, just makes us feel like we're standing tall on a pedestal. I'd truly recommend to leave CoS as harsh as it should. Gertruda being an underaged girl abducted by the local noble, the Vistani being hated by barovians just because they're "immigrants", superstition getting the best of even righteous men and women, child mortality being so common adults are accostumed to it, diseases, and yes - straight up racism against non-human party members. And if your Lv1-3 group just can't resist the urge to turn a D&D game into a politics debate, honestly just run Lost Mine of Phandelver. It's truly a great campaign.

[@JasonBroaddus]

I really appreciate you going over how to add fun to this campaign, it does say that Strahd should be camping and horror, in general, is often very funny. Amazing guide especially for me as a VERY new DM.

[@NoFunAllowed]

thank you so much!

[@amberthut]

This was a great refresher, thank you. Also, with the number of times you said "go ahead" I'm convinced you have worked in customer service for a good chunk of time. :)

[@NoFunAllowed]

haha i swear i got better about not saying it later in the series!

[@amberthut]

@@NoFunAllowed I find myself doing it quite a bit as well and I think it's from my customer service intensive call center days. So I'm not just poking fun, I felt it to the core, myself. :P

[@Sparxcwg54]

I'm having some of the villagers mobbing Ireena because someone saw a bite mark on her from Strahd's visit the night before. When questioned they don't seem to know why they're angry, save a couple who have been leading it (the few with souls that aren't named). Strahd pushes the PCs to save Ireena, first through appealing to pity (what if she was your sister/mother/daughter/loved one), then through threats (save her or I wipe the village) if they don't move on their own.

[@NoFunAllowed]

awesome stuff!

[@nunyabidness5712]

Far above any other detailed tutorial for DM'ing Strahd. Thanks for your hard work! Assuming our party survives the shambling mound in DH, your recommendations for the Village of Barovia are up next!

[@NoFunAllowed]

haha awesome, thank you!

[@davecam4863]

2 died in my group to the mound. It basically just steamrolled them.

[@Soudrah]

Love you so much for all these various videos, honestly a blessing for anyone seeing impaired or simply working on the run!

[@NoFunAllowed]

thank you so much!

[@ADayintheLifeoftheTw]

My party is hauling around Doru in a sealed coffin looking for someone who is strong enough to cast resurrection on him. For whatever reason, my party really imprinted on Father Donvaich and didn't want to kill his son.

[@NoFunAllowed]

haha thats awesome!

[@TheRoboticFerret]

this video was so helpful!! I'm a new DM and I'm going to run CoS for my friends, the info in this is presented so well. Can't wait to check out your other videos

[@NoFunAllowed]

thank you so much!

[@bongio79]

Thanks dude, I really appreciate your great job. Your Dragon Heist videos really helped me a lot, now I'm about to run CoS and I'll definitely watch these videos too.

[@howardibleinc.7317]

I am running CoS right now and I had Ireena being not of age for Strahd. Strahd wants the Tatyana he fell in love with and Ireena's birthday is coming up at which time Strahd plans to turn her.

[@NoFunAllowed]

hopefully it gives enough time for the party to save the day haha!

[@GardensAndGames]

That is a really good idea

[@bschneidez]

That is bloody genius. Explains everything... I was thinking of having a former adventurer that magically reinforced the mansion years in the past, a barrier which strahd was right on the cusp of breaking through when the players arrived... the issue with that is he could just bop everybody and scoop her the moment they leave the house

[@helgaratbone1691]

This backstory may be too dark for some but in my game one of the players started as a mother that is following the trail of the Vistani who kidnapped her child. The hunt leads into the mists. Let’s just say she didn’t make it to the bone grinder in time! Of all the beginning story hooks I came up with my players thought that one was the most chilling and effective. But... prob too dark for some.

[@NoFunAllowed]

haha for sure, but if you have a group that can handle it, it can be a great incentive for the campaign!

[@Zalied]

i love that everyone changes gertrudas age or even changes her location and meaning because of all the horror and terrible things going on thats the one everyone is like ehhhhhhhh nooo

[@NoFunAllowed]

haha theres a difference between horror and creepy

[@rainingcomplete3018]

What other ideas have you seen used for her? I’d love to use them.

[@Zalied]

its been 2 years so i dont remember what the video did but i was a big fan of making her secretly a hag, or just a run away rather than have her run to strahd use her as a way to link in the fortune teller people, since its easy for a lost kid to end up ion a traveling group of people like that.@@rainingcomplete3018

[@Zalied]

using her as the third hag which i think is what the video used is a good one, run away children ending up with teh gypsy people can be a good way to get the party over there especially if you havnt done the card reading yet. leaving her out isnt to bad either. her whole point of running away and being at strahds only really matters if you need a reason to go visit strahd else she doesnt really do all that much story wise. My party i just had her be one of the children taken by the hags to be eaten and my party ....did not do well in that encounter so she just became a dream pastry@@rainingcomplete3018

[@maoriwargamer]

Excellent video! My group just completed Death House so doing my prep for the Village and other adventures. Thanks :)

[@NoFunAllowed]

thank you and no problem!

[@acent7731]

So helpful! I really appreciate your reading and explanation of the town. It's the night before my session 1 and it's a great refresher for tomorrow!

[@NoFunAllowed]

thank you! i'm just aiming to help people out with these lengthy modules!

[@peteonretreat2023]

Great video and I’m pretty sure I’ll be watching this entire series of yours. Getting ready to run CoS in a couple months.

[@NoFunAllowed]

heck yeah! its a great module to run!

[@RBraunDPlaza]

Horrified my part witg doru and father. Had his pained screams for food interrupt the players in the middle of their questions, the father begged them not to kill him as he was all he had left. They agreed to leave him and aftet the funeral the left to hear the father sobbing through prayers as doru continued to beg to be freed. Was so fun

[@charlietownsend2826]

As far as Ireena and Strahd are concerned, the way I tried to rationalize this is that Strahd is taking his time, thinking he can genuinely charm Ireena. Once the players meet her and potentially bury her father, the paranoid Strahd, fearing that he will once again lose her to someone else like he did Tatyana to his brother, speeds things up and decides to take her.

[@Brightp546]

What about making Morgantha a nun, and the old bone grinder an " Orphanage". She sells pie to raise funds for the children, and those who can't afford to take care of their kids are taken in by the nuns

[@NoFunAllowed]

I dig it! subverting expectations and making the place different is great!

[@pirateninjaunicorn666]

That's genius and I'm gonna steal that

[@Klint_Izwudd]

I would say don't bump up Gertrudas age, specifically I said she's 15. It made the players immediately go "I'm gonna kill Strahd." Also I had her make up a story why it's called the ol' bone grinder, that in the old days people mixed in bonemeal with the flour to rip people off.

[@macchannell1582]

Subscribed. I needed this a lot my dude

[@NoFunAllowed]

thank you! plenty more in the series to watch!

[@miketokles9451]

I subscribed because thisnis the best in depth look into the campaign i am about to run. Tha k you for this

[@NoFunAllowed]

thank you thank you!

[@Wndrlnd9]

Wow, this video is excellent. How does it not have more views and 👍's?

[@NoFunAllowed]

The YT algorithm prefers creators to focus on a single module, and unfortunately I cover many different modules. Every like, comment, subscribe, and share goes an extremely long way though!

[@michaelritzen8138]

You said, make this not as dark and depressing.... But this is my yearly Halloween session, it needs to be dark and depressing 😂

[@NoFunAllowed]

Haha fair enough!

[@michaelritzen8138]

@@NoFunAllowed My players can have fun and whimsical in my normal "based in reality" campaign, all full of rascism (dwarves that dislike tieflings and elves, or people that dislike sorcery or something like that), complex moral dilemma's and a few whimsical characters. Once per year is my chance to go all 40k grimdark on my players 😂

[@mattahearn5117]

I plan on using the mysterious visitors hook which leads the players straight to Madam Eva. What do you think would be the best way to nudge the players back to the Village of Barovia?

[@FifisFables]

I'm going to go ahead and run this module starting this week. Go ahead!

[@NoFunAllowed]

take a shot everytime i say that haha! I swear i got better about it!

[@FifisFables]

@ ​​⁠ I swear I wasn’t trying to be mean lol. I’m enjoying these videos so much! I’m feeling so much more confident about starting CoS later this week!

[@NoFunAllowed]

heck yeah! CoS is a blast to run and play!

[@DMTuefel]

Ireena will always be played by a PC at my table. At least Tatyanas’ soul will be in one of my PCs. Just makes her so much important to protect when Strahd starts his business.

[@pirateninjaunicorn666]

I did a twist on that, because one of the players started CoS before and wanted to play a barovian that was a childhood friend of Ireena's. They will find out that they're Sergei's reincarnation.

[@rolebo1]

My players ignored half of the cool stuff in this town, regardless this was a good guide.

[@NoFunAllowed]

they may always return, whether its on their own terms, or being dragged back there haha thank you!

[@sharkur]

What DM Tool is that? the interactive map would be super helpful for running this campaign. Thanks for the nice Guide!

[@NoFunAllowed]

this is Roll20! you can buy the module and all the maps and token are done for you!

[@sharkur]

@@NoFunAllowed thank you. thats makes it so much easier to run!

[@loadnlock357]

I have a question maybe im overlooking the answer. strahd wants Ireena so why does he keep going back and forth tormenting her? Why doesn't he just take her? Nothing is stopping him.

[@Christopher-vv8kn]

Thanks man! This is great!

[@NoFunAllowed]

thank you! plenty more of the series coming soon!

[@arminobuna7443]

Amazing job!

[@NoFunAllowed]

thank you! I have plenty more from the CoS module to dive into as well!

[@JackJester21]

I described my morgantha as "sexy aunt Jemima" also switched her name to Morgan cause barovia names are insane

[@NoFunAllowed]

Haha fair enough

[@chriskirby9408]

Dont change Gertrudas age, its supposed to be creepy, Strahd is evil, his retinue is evil.

[@kristijanmehun2382]

Fully second that 👍

[@NEObellamy]

New DM here, sorry, what is the tool/software you are using here? Amazing video!

[@NoFunAllowed]

this is on Roll20!

[@ArchonPook]

I am very confused by something I keep hearing. Everyone talks about 2-4 hour sessions like that's the norm. When I plan a session I set aside a day for game, half a day for my players. I plan to start shortly after noon, so I have time for morning setup. Game runs from about 2pm (after allowing for players visiting, catching up with each other, and getting their props ready). After that a short session ends at 8pm. A long session ends at 11pm. Though to accomodate this I also only run every other week. I don't expect my players to give up an entire day EVERY week. We also have meals and refreshments pre-arranged. But a 2-4 hour session? 2 hours is about what I've seen most players need to really get settled into their characters. By hour 4 we're hitting a good stride in the session. I did run Death House in a single session, which was rough, and everyone was tired after. I only did that because one of my players insisted we power through Death House as quickly as possible. After the session their response was "I didn't mean power through like that!" I was pleased with everyone's reception of that part of the module however. Especially since, as they're all laying on the ground outside the house, tending to their wounds, saying goodbye to one of their few scrolls of resurrection after the death of a party member (I gave them 2 scrolls out the gate), they're actually talking about going back in for more loot. I mean more loot beyond their lives. To be fair, I'm an older player. I grudgingly moved on from 3.5 to 5e specifically for this adventure. Before that I played AD&D. I cut my teeth on old school D&D. So my views on running a session are... Well, you needed the extra time for the rules. 5e is surprisingly streamlined.

[@stevenstone307]

Awesome video :)

[@NoFunAllowed]

thank you!

[@nistolar8627]

Thank you so much! I’m started this tomorrow and it’s super helpful! I don’t see a chapter 4 though, am I missing it or did it get taken down?

[@NoFunAllowed]

nope, chapter 4 is castle ravenloft and that is near the end of the series haha! it was quite the handfull!

[@nistolar8627]

@@NoFunAllowed oh I bet it is thank you for all this! You’ve definitely helped me I felt so overwhelmed with the info before you explained it!

[@faequeenluna5739]

i had my last session for the year today and had straud attack after she burryed her father but i had him toy with the party and hurt them but did not kill them

[@NoFunAllowed]

haha spicy!

[@matteowildauer9602]

Can anybody tell me which tool he is using ?

[@NoFunAllowed]

i am using Roll20! It has both free and paid options!

[@cmdmd]

Which software is that?

[@rainingcomplete3018]

Roll20, you can buy campaigns like CoS through them and get all assets and maps. Problem is if you already own the module, you are buying it again. Great system though, been using it for years

[@tvrdy3]

Thanks man :)

[@NoFunAllowed]

thank you!

[@darcygaylard8231]

My players fed the priest to doru then burned down the church with doru inside

[@rellsw02]

I ended up changing the name of the village from borovia to strahdivka. It sounded Russian-like and removes confusion

[@cmdmd]

Btw, I plan on running this really Stephen King, 100%. Age? No matter, it needs to be creepy, unsettling and completely messed up. Commit.

[@P.oliver]

Honestly everyone who can't handle 2+hours of horror probably haven't played dead space.

[@mavrickindigo]

Isn't creepy a good thing in a horror campaign

[@NoFunAllowed]

Haha not everyone's down for the creepy!

[@TheMuteAWN]

Will you be doing a video for chapter 4?

[@NoFunAllowed]

Not one video, many haha. The castle is massive!

[@TheMuteAWN]

Looking forward to it!

[@NoFunAllowed]

@@TheMuteAWN mind you, there is an insane amount to go over haha

[@ademiranda2]

Nah, I'll keep it creepy with Gertruda. I am trying to really creep out the players.

[@NoFunAllowed]

very creepy!

[@master11213]

My party killed the merchant cause I made him a scammer and mary cause she was saying strahd told her they come. 😂

[@OlympusPublicAffairs]

Players pulled Ismark as the fated ally, and Sergei's Tomb as Strahd's location. I thought it was cool, so I change Ismark to be a reincarnation of Sergei.

[@momqabt]

Again, returning, sry to be commenting so sporadically. On the matter of Gertruda's age: remember this is a near medieval setting. A teenager doing "modern era sensitive stuff" is normal in these times. Esp thinking of the life expectancy of the locals they need to rabbit it up.

[@NoFunAllowed]

true, but its still pretty gross haha

[@momqabt]

@@NoFunAllowed also, I'd just like to get your input on this idea. I'm still gonna do it but hear me out: Lunch break heroes suggested poisoning the well with strahdbies...how about I replace a few strahdbies with say...Spawns of kyuss?🤣

[@NoFunAllowed]

@@momqabt itll certainly add a unique spin!

[@thedisappointedoptimist6916]

Everyone shits on death house. Look, it's actually a really interesting dungeon and it DOES tie into the town rather well. It's just not a good introduction.

[@NoFunAllowed]

haha i like it as an intro

[@therockontheshelf]

God im so sick of this silly need to modernize everything and make it all "comfortable". Gertruda is a teenager, an adult suddenly running away also doesnt make much sense. This is all dark medieval themed so young brides, (15-16) isnt even that young in historical terms, isnt that unusual. Plus it opens up ways to both increase or decrease the players hatred of Strahd. Maybe he has been biting her and its kinda cringe if you want the players to hate him more toward the end fight. Maybe it was one of his spawn he let bite her instead. Maybe that spawn was younger too and its actually a sweet romance story sub plot, maybe the spawn is even someone Gertruda used to know from the village. Maybe it was a spawn but not a younger one maybe Strahd took her in but forbade anyone from touching her until she was of age (hes not that kind of monster necessarily) one bit her without being told to and Strahd killed them for it, another way to make Strahd a bit more sympathetic if thats what your going for. Tons of possibilities to change it up if someone in your group is for whatever reason uncomfortable with the original.

[@JamesSimpson-kw7og]

Stop saying 'go ahead' it sounds weird