New Ravenloft DM - advice requested

[DM Van Helsing]

I am excited to say that I am going to be running a group through a Ravenloft campaign. It's a Play by Post game. We are currently in character creation and board set up stages. I am planning on running the group through "Expedition to Castle Ravenloft". But I would like to run something else first. Something to set up the rules of the setting, how things work, the various additional saves, the changes to spellcasting, etc. before they get pulled into the Baron's plans.

Any suggestions? I am sure that I am not the first to have this issue, so if there has been a discussion about this before, please just point me in the right direction. I am not afraid to do the research on my own. I just need a little purpose to my reading up on Ravenloft on the 'net.

[Joël of the FoS]

There is the classic Barovian adventure Effigy of Ivan Szimin, in one of the Kargatane's BoS netbooks?

It will update you with Barovian politics, as well as giving you a good monster hunt.

Joël

[DM Van Helsing]

That looks absolutely perfect! Thanks so much.

Lon

[alhoon]

Right... Someone asks for help and Gotten gives the fitting answer in the first post so we don't have the time to speak up and the matter is resolved.

Anyway... I would have recomended the NotWD adventure.

[Joël of the FoS]

Well I was thinking for Barovia, since he going to EtCR.

But there are other cool 1st level hooks, and you mention one.

Joël

[DM Van Helsing]

Right... Someone asks for help and Gotten gives the fitting answer in the first post so we don't have the time to speak up and the matter is resolved.

Anyway... I would have recomended the NotWD adventure.

I am all for having multiple good answers! What is this "NotWD" you speak of?

[alhoon]

Ahem, you're right. Sorry.

"Night of the Walking Dead" an adventure set in Sournage. Part of the Grand Conjuction adventures although it can easily be used as a stand alone. It is for 2nd edition D&D but adaptable, since it doesn't weight heavily on combat.

[Luke Fleeman]

If you want more, go find the thread about the best modules; some good suggestions in there, too.

[Le Noir Faineant]

Hi DM van Helsing, you might want to check the Ravenloft Dungeon Master's Guide for details on Krofberg, a small village in Barovia that might have a little werebeast problem in the very immediate future... Apart from that, if you happen to stumble over the old netbook "Haunted Sites", there was a spledid campaign hook about "The Haunted of Valcon Forest", describing an enchanted wood near Castle Ravenloft.

Mods, would it be okay to offer that I could send him the corresponding excerpt of the book? (I mean, of course, sending entire copyrighted PDFs would be illegal, but short excerpts?)

[Joël of the FoS]

Haunted site isn't copyrighted, AFAIK. It's that it was done with WotC so it was removed from the K site when they closed.

And for your question, you can provide small quotes here, as long as you are not quoting a large portion of the whole book I trust your judgment.

I mean, that's what we do here when we discuss ideas on these boards.

Joël

[Le Noir Faineant]

Thank you for the info, Joel.

Then I'll gladly share my info:

Here's some teaser on that article I was referring to:

Filled with sadness, anger and desire for vengeance,
Velsar cursed Strahd. “From this night on, you shall
never be able to set foot within this forest. All who serve
you who come here will perish. What treasure lies
within this keep shall never be yours Strahd. If my
people could not live in peace in our forest, neither shall
those seeking to dwell or travel through these woods.”
At that moment, Velsar’s separated head sailed over
the battlement edge, falling to the ground below.
Strahd at once found himself under attack from the
recently departed angry dead spirits of the Givilis. The
force of their attack was so great, the vampire almost lost
his mind in a whirlwind of insanity. He tried to call on
his undead servant, but was shocked to find they no
longer obeyed his commands. Zombies and skeletons
climbed the walls of the keep in all directions, attempting
to attack Strahd with their weapons.
Strahd’s female vampires, being far less powerful,
met gruesome ends. Their bodies were ripped apart
under the assault of the dead. Using all his strength,
Strahd fought them off, flying away from the keep, not
stopping until he cleared the edge of Valcon Forest.
There he found his undead patrols waiting for him,
awaiting his orders. Those outside Valcon Forest were
still his. Strahd angrily cursed the Givilis leader’s last
words. The land had evidently listened. For several days
Strahd was forced to lie in the ground outside Valcon
Forest recovering from his wounds.
Over the past several decades, Strahd has tried to reenter
Valcon Forest to search the keep but to no avail.
Every undead he sends to the forest he loses control over.
And the few parties he slyly has sent have never been
heard from again.
All that is known of Valcon Forest is the
superstitions which have grown up around the haunted
forest.

I am currently toying with the idea of possibly continuing the campaign I started on Kalloween with *The Nine of Hearts* there.

One of the most promissing Barovian locations I've read of so far.

[Ail]

If you want more, go find the thread about the best modules; some good suggestions in there, too.

Something else that is freely available is Rebirth, an adventure by Stuart Turner in the Forgotten Children Kargatane netbook (iirc). That's also low level and has the PCs trying to stop a different kind of hunting.

There's little combat involved and can be fitted anywhere.

Also, there used to be somewhere around a free preview of Van Richten's Guide to Werebeast featuring a Werecat. I don't know if the associated adventure was free, but it was low-level too, I think, and can also be fitted anywhere.

also, if you need a 3E conversion for the Effigy of Ivan Szimin, ask me. I've done one for my own campaign.

Alex

[Ail]

Hi DM van Helsing, you might want to check the Ravenloft Dungeon Master's Guide for details on Krofberg, a small village in Barovia that might have a little werebeast problem in the very immediate future... Apart from that, if you happen to stumble over the old netbook "Haunted Sites", there was a spledid campaign hook about "The Haunted of Valcon Forest", describing an enchanted wood near Castle Ravenloft.

Mods, would it be okay to offer that I could send him the corresponding excerpt of the book? (I mean, of course, sending entire copyrighted PDFs would be illegal, but short excerpts?)

The problem with The Haunted of Valcon Forest is that it suggests a very high CR challenge for me.

Alex

[Le Noir Faineant]

I play Ravenloft under nWoD rules, so I have no real problem with that.

...But of course, this might have to be condensed before one can really use it for low-level parties.

[Malus Black]

Hi DM van Helsing, you might want to check the Ravenloft Dungeon Master's Guide for details on Krofberg, a small village in Barovia that might have a little werebeast problem in the very immediate future... Apart from that, if you happen to stumble over the old netbook "Haunted Sites", there was a spledid campaign hook about "The Haunted of Valcon Forest", describing an enchanted wood near Castle Ravenloft.

Mods, would it be okay to offer that I could send him the corresponding excerpt of the book? (I mean, of course, sending entire copyrighted PDFs would be illegal, but short excerpts?)

The problem with The Haunted of Valcon Forest is that it suggests a very high CR challenge for me.

Not necessarily. The primary antagonists appear to be skeletons and zombies, mixed with a variety of forest creatures, possibly corrupted, with the main villain either the ghost of Velsar or the keep itself as a phantasmagoria.

Also, Expedition to Castle Ravenloft starts at level 5-7, and the PCs shouldn't be too far from that point by the beginning of the campaign.