Adventure Hooks for Curse of Strahd (DM Guide)

[@Chase-qb8zh]

From Montana. Love your videos they have helped me a great deal in DMing for my first time. Hope all is well

[@HowtoRPG]

Thanks. I am just stressed at work and tired. I will be back :)

[@MCjabmad]

Hey fellow Montanan

[@lukefrederiks5906]

My hook for the story was that the players are all given a vignette that acts as their final moments as assassins slay them all in their sleep. They all wake up inside of coffins underground and have to claw their way to the surface to survive. Once they get their bearings, they hear the music drifting from the Vistani camp inside of Barovia. Creeped out the entire table

[@HowtoRPG]

I am not surprised. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[@gstokker]

My hook is that I just went straight to the fog… they’re in a caravan (players get to choose how and why they’re in a caravan). The caravan comes out at a great tree… they try to leave through the fog again but keep coming back to the tree. But each time they come out there are the bodies of others from the caravan hanging from the tree until it’s only the PCs left. To borrow from something like the series From

[@HowtoRPG]

@@gstokker Thanks for sharing your experience.

[@dutch6857]

RE: the plea for help hook. I agree that this is the thinnest plot, one that your players might reject, but they basically HAD to pitch it as it was the hook for the original AD&D Ravenloft I6 module. Also reading about the corpse with the real letter when i was prepping it in the 80's sent a genuine shiver down my spine. Gave me a feeling that this was not going to be funhouse.

[@HowtoRPG]

Yep. Agreed.

[@dutch6857]

@@HowtoRPG thanks bro, cheers from Canada. Keep up the great content.

[@rickmiller3735]

Love the idea of the Duchess hook because it gets the Vastani involved early and allows for some good role play at the beginning of the campaign. I've considered using this hook but when the characters agree to go with the Vastani to Barovia they hop on their wagons and then wake up alone with the Vastani nowhere in sight. This makes it so the players are on foot and creates a level of difficulty I think challenges low level players.

[@HowtoRPG]

Great. Curse of Strahd challenges everyone at all levels of play.

[@kday6340]

🤣🤣🤣 that meme at the beginning of this video had me in tears! Soo true! Great video, after I composed myself from the attempt on my life.

[@HowtoRPG]

Thanks. I am glad you enjoyed the video and meme :)

[@dungeonscronics3191]

Great video ✌️

[@HowtoRPG]

Thank you 😊

[@BarbraYaga]

That first meme hit my right in my private parts

[@HowtoRPG]

I am so sorry. Did it hurt much? ;)

[@bishopcruz]

I had the idea that Players don't know that it is werewolves but that there are missing children with rumors of wolves in the area.

[@HowtoRPG]

I like it. That gives it more mystery. The only hassle is the characters will not have silvered weapons.

[@AgoodITguy]

I love ❤Curse of Strahd 🦇, i was thinking on a mini adventure lv 1 to lv 3 on Waterdeep with a plot conected to the dream pastries. Evil Vistani travel to Waterdeep Deep to sell the pastries to a black market seller. The pastries are the drug that increase the criminal activities on Waterdeep, so the adventures must find who is selling and arrest or eliminate all criminal elements.

[@Inoka01]

I'm DMing for the first time, for a bunch of first timers. I myself have played through both Curse of Strahd (party wiped at the end, of course >.

[@HowtoRPG]

Thanks for sharing. This is just my opinion. I don't think LMoP transitions very well into CoS. CoS is better played as a stand alone campaign in my opinion. I made a video called what "the next adventure after LMoP", you might find it helpful. I cover lots of better options and discuss CoS. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gKnWaqCio6hqbsU

[@daviddaspit4166]

I'm considering a couple of homebrew hooks based on werewolves and also just the mists of ravenloft. I'm still working it out though :-)

[@HowtoRPG]

My players really liked the Werewolves hook.

[@paulcoy9060]

I have an idea for my players. They are doing "Lost Mine" right now, but at the end, what if there is some kind of magical explosion next to the Forge of Spells? Maybe Nezznar, the Black Spider, tries to fireball the PCs, and the next thing they know, they wake up at night, in some dark and scary woods. They wander around, and suddenly realize that they are not in the Forgotten Realms anymore. No hooks needed, but a Session Zero might still be in order.

[@HowtoRPG]

Session zero for Curse of Strahd is vital, unless you like problems. Create your own hook or do it as you want :)

[@TheMILFproject]

Ooooh I love that! We are nearing the end of the Lost Mine as well and this is gonna be the next module. How did it go for you?

[@morrigandm1858]

I dont understand one thing, How would Strahd's messenger leave borovia to contact the PC's?

[@HowtoRPG]

Strahd has a potion that his minions can drink, that allow them to leave Barovia.

[@morrigandm1858]

Oh, thanks, I think I may have missed it somehow

[@TheMsjonus]

@@morrigandm1858 actually vistiani can leave Barovia at will, its in the module

[@camman945]

I wrote my own version for this since one of our characters is half werewolf.

[@HowtoRPG]

That sounds interesting and complex ;)

[@michaelh7532]

New hook. Death House is a lure. It's a road house wherever they are. They find the children. Once inside, the fog rolls in and a storm hits. At the end, in the basement, Strahd appears and invited them to his castle... When they are ready. When they leave the house, they may notice they aren't in the same location. If they look back at all, they will notice the house is gone.

[@HowtoRPG]

Thanks for sharing your suggestion Michael.

[@jonwooldridge3766]

Great video! Thank you for your insight and tips.

[@HowtoRPG]

Thanks. All the best with your campaign. I have a video on Death House and Curse of Strahd Adventure Hooks, you might like.

[@nyloh4924]

I dont get the 'plee for help'. Why would starhd bring the players into barovia only for them to try and rescue Ireena straight away?

[@HowtoRPG]

Then don't use it.

[@Shalloworldmx]

I have a question, if I run the madam Eva hook, then how can I return the party back to Barovia to run the deadhouse scenario?

[@HowtoRPG]

Madam Eva is in Barovia. The mist rolls in and they are back in Barovia. Check my video on the Mist. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rHSYZpicl7KEpK8

[@cosmic-oceans]

I'm a baby DM about to use Curse of Strahd as my first campain. This was helpful. I'll check out the rest of your channel. Thank you! Question: are there details on how to run the werewolf hook/resolve the questline?

[@HowtoRPG]

Thanks. Not yet.

[@carlosnieve1225]

As with all things in roleplay, I think everyone is entitled to their opinions, but I disagree with your thoughts on the first hook. Experienced roleplayers will sense it's a trap and be wary to follow, but that sort of logic isn't conducive to horror roleplay. It is a trope of the horror genre, but it is true: the observer is wiser than the participant. As cathartic as it may be to say “don’t go in there!”, the players will do little in Barovia if they decide to act purely logically and avoid the danger. Horror roleplaying necessitates some level of “my character is stupid enough to go into the scary house”. Otherwise, there’s no adventure. The letter is a little basic, but it provides player with some basic “hero” stakes. It’s probably worth modifying to draw more on the individual characters desires and goals, but I think it’s valuable in that it immediately establishes a convention of the genre.

[@20storiesunder]

Good stuff.

[@HowtoRPG]

Thanks. Have a good day.

[@timkramar9729]

I don't like factions.

[@HowtoRPG]

Can you please explain a bit more? Is this related to the topic of the video.

[@timkramar9729]

@@HowtoRPG you mention to use factions as an adventure hook. Specifically in the video, you invoke the Harpers. Using factions never appealed to me. As a matter of fact, the DM used the one hook that you didn't care for. And that seemed perfectly acceptable. Motivation for starting an adventure never needed to be more than, "hop in, we're playing D&D. " I never needed more of a push than that. It was surprising that the letter was not actually written by the burgomeister when that was revealed to us.

[@HowtoRPG]

@@timkramar9729 OK got it. I used all the hooks in the end in some way. You can have your opinion, just like I can. My Player's told me which hook they liked the most. My video's are lists of opinions usually, take what you want and leave the rest.

[@timkramar9729]

@@HowtoRPG that's great. I'm not necessarily opposed to your solution, just that it doesn't really work for me. Happy gaming!

[@HowtoRPG]

@@timkramar9729 I will. Thank you for taking the time to explain.