Curse of Strahd: Opinions?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Indeed, no matter what one might think about the particulars of CoS, success is the best indicator of an untapped market.

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

While I did order and receive CoS my copy was badly misprinted so I returned it for a refund, I plan to get it again at a later date though. I have heard many mixed opinions on the book, but I did like the Tarokka deck that was released and am very glad I ordered that. I means that when I run another RL campaign i won't have to worry about my poor old decks that are now truly ancient

[alhoon]

Misprinted CoS? That's bad. It could lower reviews not because of content but because of low quality printing.

[Guardian of Twilight]

While I did order and receive CoS my copy was badly misprinted so I returned it for a refund, I plan to get it again at a later date though. I have heard many mixed opinions on the book, but I did like the Tarokka deck that was released and am very glad I ordered that. I means that when I run another RL campaign i won't have to worry about my poor old decks that are now truly ancient

Mind if I ask how it was misprinted? Faded type, or something else?

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

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No one else going to mention that the Mad Mage is Mordenkainien?

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

While I did order and receive CoS my copy was badly misprinted so I returned it for a refund, I plan to get it again at a later date though. I have heard many mixed opinions on the book, but I did like the Tarokka deck that was released and am very glad I ordered that. I means that when I run another RL campaign i won't have to worry about my poor old decks that are now truly ancient

Mind if I ask how it was misprinted? Faded type, or something else?

It had the first 20 pages repeated 2 more times instead of pages 21-60

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

It had the first 20 pages repeated 2 more times instead of pages 21-60

Ugh... I had a "Guide to Transylvania" like that once.

[Zilfer]

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No one else going to mention that the Mad Mage is Mordenkainien?

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I don't really know who that is, except apparently he knows Elminister....xD

[alhoon]

My take on it from skimming it:
Objectively speaking, it's a solid, nice adventure. Not as good in my opinion as Out of the Abyss although close enough. Out of the Abyss was more "epic" in scope with exploring huge swaths of the underdark and staving off world-shattering disaster than hunting a self-centered vampire lord that taints and corrupts everything in a 3000 people valley and bringing a measure of peace and justice. And, truth be told, I6 has been reprinted many times already. Although this one is a great adventure that plays better than I6, is more "solid" and IMO has more memorable encounters and adventures.
TL;DR: Both are good, I think OotA was better. Curse of Strahd if seen objectively, is in my opinion a great improvement over I6.

Personal take, as in NOT seen objectively: Personally, I find some things too far from my comfort zone. The whole adventure is about Strahd. Strahd is literally everywhere. Same could be said for I6 but it was shorter and his "presence" was less pronounced.
Personally, I don't like darklords meddling too much. Another thing beyond my comfort zone was the child-killing hags; I can't stomach it. If I ever ran this part, I'll change it to "outlanders" or "people with bright future" or even "blond-people". But it won't be kids. Too far Hickmans. Too far.
I am also not comfortable with the new not-that-much-cursed Strahd. I prefer aesthetically the old Strahd (like the one in the Gaz) appearance and I prefer by leaps and bounds the "I, Strahd" character.
The Amber temple. Noooope. A nice place guarded by a big naga + the home of the arcanoloth Inajira, his phylactery being able to grant those "boons" sounds OK. In any case, the adventure has too many outsiders and fiends IMO.
Barovia seems too... small also. 3000 people? Sure, it works. But... it would work with 15000 people too (although you would need more stuff to kill people).
Adding personal preferences to the "objective" view, and you can see that I like this adventure but I prefer OotA.
TL;DR: I didn't like all the changes and additions and some things were too harsh for my sensitivies. I liked the majority of the changes and additions though and I can't see myself running I6 with updated stats when I have this baby.

Art: I believe CoS has the best art I've seen in D&D. Sorry Talon and Elmore.

[Dreamakuma]

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Mordenkainen is a classic Greyhawk character. Being a fan of Greyhawk, Oerth, and all the Flaness I'm happy to see him back. Perhaps WotC can have an adventure there instead of misplacing the temple of elemental evil.

I've read through a lot of CoS, as an adventure it reminds me a lot of X1: The Isle of dread meets I6. A sandbox that isn't afraid to punish the players. The adventure part I dig and will gleefully run it in the fall. Some of the flavorful changes made in the fluff irk me and I'm going to change. Strahd seems much more like a straight villain than a tragic man who lost his humanity in his obsessions. Why explain the dark powers and the reincarnation? There's a lot of explaining stuff that I feel is unnecessary to both longtime fans and newcomers to the setting.

[Guardian of Twilight]

While I did order and receive CoS my copy was badly misprinted so I returned it for a refund, I plan to get it again at a later date though. I have heard many mixed opinions on the book, but I did like the Tarokka deck that was released and am very glad I ordered that. I means that when I run another RL campaign i won't have to worry about my poor old decks that are now truly ancient

Mind if I ask how it was misprinted? Faded type, or something else?

It had the first 20 pages repeated 2 more times instead of pages 21-60

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

[Bluebomber4evr]

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No one else going to mention that the Mad Mage is Mordenkainien?

I thought that was pretty cool, and perhaps a hint of the next campaign setting to come back.

[Skyrock]

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Having Mordenkainen randomly pop up seemed to me like some lazy, pointless namedropping. If you use such an iconic character, at least give him the dignity of a custom stat block, not the one of every archmage everywhere.
I'd probably replace him with a generic mage of my own devising.

[dead]

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No one else going to mention that the Mad Mage is Mordenkainien?

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735 BC would equate to about 584 CY so Mordy would be pretty powerful around that time. Maybe a better choice would have been Bucknard - apparently he goes missing in 579 CY.

[alhoon]

Mordenkainen?! In Ravenloft?
Where??
How does he get out? He's the most important character of Grayhawk...

To those that don't know Mordenkainen: He's the mage behind Mordenkainen's disjunction, Mordenkainen's magnificent mansion and Mordenkainen's sword (That 7th lvl spell that finally becomes decent in 5th edition)