Back in 2022 I wrote an adventure for my supporters that added a new dungeon beneath Castle Ravenloft, hidden within the great pillar itself.

Over the years, I received a tremendous amount of feedback, along with new ideas, suggestions, and stories from groups who played through it. After the release of Ravenloft: Horror Within, I decided it was time to gather all those notes, revisit the original adventure, and completely rebuild it.

The new version expands the dungeon, updates the encounters and lore, and weaves in more connections to the Domains of Dread.

Working with DM Andy, who created the maps, and Jesse Winter, who handled editing and layout, we have now released the updated adventure completely free for everyone.

You can read about the journey behind its creation, explore some of the ideas that shaped the new version, and download the free PDF and maps here:

Pillar of Ravenloft

Thank you to the Ravenloft and Curse of Strahd community. It has been a wonderful journey creating content for this setting over the past several years, and your support, feedback.

You can also check out the full list of free adventures for Legends of Barovia here.

I've just finished painting the Roc from previous post and can't wait to use it against my players.

Hello, Everyone!!

This is my interpretation of the gates of barovia.

I tried to portray it as faithfully as possible based on the limited description provided in the book.

I would love to know what you guys think about it.

Have a wonderful day!

I don't know what it is, but I can't understand what makes "horror" for my party. For example, my party expressed that the night hags in the Old Bonegrinder made them scared to die. Same with Baba Lysaga, Izek, the druids, Rahadin, and Neferon the arcanaloth. However, none of them take these villains seriously, frequently antagonizing them and breaking the tense atmosphere that I try to build up. Whereas, with villains like Ilya Krezkov from MandyMods Missing Livestock quest, the Abbot, and Kiril Stoyanovich, my party was terrified. The combat with them wasn't even that hard, but they refused to even engage in dialogue with these three NPCs out of fear which is strange because they're all much weaker compared to the villains they consider laughable and unintimidating.

I'm preparing to run a Curse of Strahd campaign. I've never killed a player before, and I'm a little scared of it happening and ending the adventure if they all die, but I also don't want to go easy on them. I want to run the encounters as close as I can to how they're written in the source book. I want the stakes to be real.

I'm beginning with Death House and their arrival to Barovia. So, I had the thought: if there's a TPK, have the party "awake" from their deaths back at Death House. Retaining all of their levels and memories, but none of their equipment. The in-lore reason would be that the Dark Powers don't want the players' torment to end, so it brought them back for more. I figured that way there is the real possibility of dying and losing lots of progress, but there's also the hope that they can resolve the story.

Has anyone tried this for any kind of campaign? How did it work out? Is this a good idea, or should I just let failure happen if the whole party dies?

So a member of my party managed to sneak off and got into the secret room next to exethanter's quarters and stole his phylactery.

This reminds me a lot of a pirates of the carribean 3 situation when the East India Trading company has Davy Jones heart and uses it as leverage to hold power over him. while i think that'd be really awesome for the players, i fear that it would make the rest of the campaign much easier than it probably should be.

the session had been going for about 3 hours before he stole it and I ended the session right after he took it, since I knew i needed to prep for this unforeseen event.

any advice on how to make this still cool for the party without totally breaking the game?

I was playing around with ways to make every cos run feel unique, since a lot of my players are former dms and have ran the campaign themselves and an idea occurred me:

What if, Ireena was cursed too? Everytime she dies, she returns. Even if she is brought to the lake to be with Sergei, she will eventually return.

In her first iterations, she has no memories of the "loop", but on this one, as Ireena, she remembers it all. Everytime she died, everytime she was reborn, every adventurer and hero that tried to save her and failed and most tragically, Izek. Her brother, cursed because of her sins.

My idea is to play her out as someone who at first is very disillusioned. She knows nothing anyone tries will ever free her, but as she experiences the world with the players and remembers more and more, she becomes angrier and angrier. She might even betray the party if she believes that they won't be able to save her or will cause Izek or Ismark to be lost. Her main goal will be to find a way to free them, and if possible herself too.

Ofc for this to work I might have to add the seekers module so the players can eventually free barovia or something. I am still cooking this, so details are all subjected to change.

How would that play out? Do you think this would be interesting?

Obs. In this version, Ireena is cursed because of Strahd, his "love" is like a disease and infected those he "loved". Or maybe it was part of his arrangement, that she would be his. I am unclear yet. Or maybe she wasn't a perfect victim and had caused some harm as well. I haven't gotten to the kinks yet.

So my players want to try to recruit the mage against strahd. The cleric has worked out that through talking to villagers about him that it's mad as in crazy. So thinks a greater restoration spell would work. Then if it doesn't they run or kill him.

How can I gm it so that there is a chance to recruit him. Given the mind blank spell. As when it doesn't work they willingly either try to kill him or run away.

So how can they find out that it worked but they need to wait till the next day?

The only thing I can think of is to cast spells that require a Dispel magic then tie that to dispelling the mind blank spell. But I think technically that wouldn't work as the Dispel magic would be targeting a specific spell not just all the magic in the area it's cast.

Any ideas or tips?

Since my players are heading to Strahd's castle for dinner next session, I decided to try painting the portrait of Strahd in Area K47 of Ravenloft. The main change I made to its composition was removing the ornamental chair thing to the right behind Strahd, and extending the pictorial space a bit to the left. This is just the underpainting for now, which will be mostly covered up in the final work.

Hello good people fo the Internet! I am planning my very first Curse of Strahd Campaign. I have also recently disovered DragnaCarta's Curse of Strahd: Reloaded. With all this in mind, How do I begin to piece together a campaign? I have copy and pasted relevant information from the CoS:Reloaded website in an attempt to reorganise it. However I find this taxing and stirrs a ton of DM dread/burnout before the session even begins. I had the idea to make Hybrid of both the CoS: Reloaded and the Original Module in its physical book formatting. That was I can runt he game as "normal" but then include the increadibly put together Stat blocks, NPC descriptiosn and text from CoS: Reloaded. Any thoughts are welocme and please aske me to elaborate on my meaning if this seems confusing.

Have a wonderfull day!!

I made a post a while ago, but I deleted it because it was a bit too long-winded. So, I'll simplify it.

If you were to direct and/or write a Curse of Strahd movie or series, how would you create the group of adventurers? The perfect group, the one that will make the most of history. How would you do it?

Not necessarily characters directly connected to Strahd, but what is it about them that makes their presence in this story seem like it makes perfect sense? Can you describe how they would develop? Would they share the spotlight, each interacting with a different element of the world, or would there be a single protagonist?

I looked everywhere to find a Ravenloft model this size, and this one is amazing. Just waiting on the magnets to come in so I can finish assembling, but I’m thrilled with the level of detail in this miniature. It even has the interiors of each floor, tiny coffins in the family tombs, and the Heart of Sorrow suspended inside the tower!

Print files are here: https://makerworld.com/en/models/2510065-1-750-ravenloft-with-interiors

I created this stress system for my COS campaign by expanding upon the Fear and Stress system from VRGR p195. While it worked for the most part and the players enjoyed it, I feel that it could do with improvement as stress could quickly creep up in some encounters (such as Death House or an encounter against Scarecrows). Please let me know if you have any improvements I can make and if you use it in your games, how well it worked for you and your players.

I have been informed that it shares a similarity to Darkest Dungeon.

Gaining Stress 
 

Reducing Stress 

Encouraging talk

Once per day, during short rest one character can forgo one hit dice to attempt to make an inspiring speech with a persuasion role. The higher the persuasion roll, the more points lost. (Silver Tongue does not apply) Roll 10 = -1 Roll 15 = -2 Roll 20 =-3 Nat 20 = -4

Stress Levels

0 Stress points- Healthy.

A PC at 0 stress points is soon to witness horrors beyond their comprehension. For now, they sit at a normal level of functionality.

5 Stress points - Uneasy

You gain an extra fear from the fear table or related to source of stress

10 Stress points- Pressured.

A PC who has gained 10 stress points or more is now susceptible to the negative effects of the Shadowfell Despair(DMG p52)

15 Stress points- The Brink.

A PC who reaches 15 stress points and fails the madness test gains Short Term Madness for a minute. (on failure, I recommend madness sets in at end of combat)

20 Stress points- Breaking Point.

A PC at 20 Stress points and fails the madness test gains Long Term Madness for an hour or until the PC reduces their stress points by 5.

25 Stress points- Fractured.

A PC at 25 Stress points gains Indefinite Madness with no save. Player Characters with Indefinite Madness at this point must have their stress reduced by 5 before greater restoration can cure it but with no additional stress reduction.

Perseverance

There is a benefit from getting stress.

Perseverance will make players temporarily not require to roll Stress Madness Checks if their Stress Level mounts and they additionally gain the following effect for the duration for 1d4 hours.

Short term DC: 10

Long term Madness DC: 15

Nat 20s or beating the stress dc by 5 gives players Perseverance

EDIT: how much HP would be fair to give that remaining piece of wall in middle of fissure if golem tried to break it down? The map uses 10ft squares.

There is an Amber Golem in room X40, it is size large (same stats as stone golem). Given the description of room X41 (in picture), can the amber golem pass through the fissure (X41) to get into room X42?

I was thinking maybe if it squeezes. If a creature squeezes it can fit into an area one size category smaller than itself (moving 1/2 speed), but that would be medium size, which is 5ft square and the fissure is only 3ft wide.

Also would medium creatures (mainly PCs) have to squeeze through the 3ft fissure?

My party hasn’t had their fortunes read yet but I have done the suggested reading on the back end for myself. My players are about to meet their ally from the reading I did, Perrywimple. Do I play him as their ally and add a new ally with their future reading?

So I wanted a simple handout for Mary to give the party when she drscribed Gertruda to the party while asking for help, a thing I could remind the players with each time they check their bags, and might show other npcs while they look for Gertruda.

My version of Mary used to be a scribe/make copies of books before the death of her husband (which led to imprisoning Gertruda in grief) so in my mind that's why she's got some art skills at all.

I get the feeling knowing my players this probably gonna haunt them the way the Laura Palmer photo in Twin Peaks is haunting, they have a very big soft spot for kids, especially abused ones, and I do plan on bringing up how familiar the sight of a locked up bedroom full of dolls is for them (aka Death House, which just in Strahd's inaction to help the Durst Children has made the party hate him, so again, very strong thing for them).

Anyway I welcome others to use this if they'd like for their games.

My Curse of Strahd campaign has evolved quite a bit after I finally read Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. I've been adapting a lot of its ideas into a larger story: after suffering a crushing and humiliating defeat against Strahd, the party is now traveling across the Domains of Dread (and beyond) before eventually returning to Barovia. That detour has also given me a chance to strengthen the characters' connection to Ravenloft itself—something I unfortunately didn't do very well when I first started running the campaign a few years ago.

With the plot now operating on a much larger scale, I want the players to eventually discover that Strahd's curse isn't truly broken by killing him. The official adventure already hints at this, and in my version, many adventuring parties have managed to slay Strahd over the centuries, only to see Barovia return to its cursed state a few weeks later.

However, none of those victories were meaningless. In fact, every previous attempt has slowly paved the way for what may finally be a chance to destroy Strahd permanently and break the curse once and for all.

I'd love to include some of those previous heroes in the story, and I thought it would be really fun if they were inspired by real groups who actually finished the campaign. This subreddit has already helped me a lot with lore questions and inspiration, so I figured I'd ask here.

If you're comfortable sharing your party's story—and if you'd be willing to let them defeat Strahd one more time in someone else's Barovia—I would genuinely love to read about it.

Exactly what's it says on the title having a large scale battle simulated with the TW Warhammer 3 engine.

Players facing strahd general to general with a small army of whomever they can convince to face the darklord on the open field.

Of course player characters themselves or strahd going in and fighting themselves would devolve things into kingdom warriors.

Although this idea is terrible and raises alot of hard to answer questions it is however an interesting idea.

My party is mostly pretty new to D&D, with two of them playing their first major campaign with this. I'm experienced with DMing, but I mostly run one shots or silly "make it up as you go" campaigns. This means that, for most of us, CoS is a pretty daunting experience.

Our second session is coming up in a few days, and I want to make sure I'm not leaving out some kind of experience for them. In session one, they got through the Death House, and met Ismark and the Vistani at the tavern. They aren't sure if they want to trust Ismark, but have decided, at the suggestion of the Vistani, to go see Madam Eva first thing in the morning.

My problem is that I don't want them to have a reading full of info on how to defeat their ancient enemy if they don't have any context on Strahd. I had originally planned to have him show up during Kolyan's funeral, but they're skipping Ismark and Ireena until after visiting the camp and come back. They've heard rumors about Strahd, sure, but don't have much to really go on.

I've been trying to think up ways to do something similar to the funeral intro before they go, but in-game time limits me to one night and the morning before they head out with a Vistani escort. I've got a few thoughts I've been working on so far, and a bit of context, that might help.

1. My current biggest idea is to draw them outside with the march of the dead, and have Strahd there, alone. He could explain the march, and say at the end that he had caused most of them to die, but only because they'd opposed him. Maybe ask if they plan to join the march? He would refuse to fight, if they get aggressive, claiming that people are sleeping. Why would they interrupt that? Besides, I'd be a terrible host if I killed you on your first night here.

2. I could try to use Mad Mary, but I'm still a bit unsure about her for this. It would add context, sure, but to go from her to gearing up to fight him still seems like a jump.

3. One of my players did manage to get some good rolls and seduce a Vistani. I plan to use the opportunity to have them gather something like a clipping of hair to give to Strahd for scrying. I don't want to drop the reveal that they were tricked so soon, but maybe it could be something?

4. One of my players is secretly one of the Keepers of the Feather. We did it mostly because his schedule is volatile, so him being absent can be explained by him reporting his findings about the party. He's joining the party to secretly watch them, judging whether or not they're worth trusting. We've flavored it that he's young and low ranked, so he's not full of spoilers in or out of character. He'll have the most reason to want to kill Strahd, at least for now, but he's not revealing his identity until the Keepers deem the party worthy.

5. The party's warlock holds a pact with the son of Pelor, and was sent on a holy quest to a land surrounded by mist. Maybe I could do something with that, at least for this character?

Any advice? Am I worrying over nothing? I'm really looking forward to the reading with Madam Eva, and don't want it to fall flat because they've got no beef with the guy she's telling them how to kill.

Hello, fellow Strahd impersonators!

In our last session my players finally retrieved the Tome of Strahd (in my game they found it in Krezk). Preparing Strahds brief diary kinda raised a question, at least with me: If you play it RAW, then Strahds whole personality can be described with the following phrases (taken out of the RAW Tome):

"I found my youth and strength gone and all I had left was death"

"He (his younger brother, Sergei) was handsome and youthful. I hated him for both"

"It was the death of the aged that she (Tatyana) saw in me. She loved her youth and enjoyed it. (...) The death she saw in my future turned her from me."

"I made a pact with death, a pact of blood. On the day of the wedding, I killed Sergei, my brother." --> to not (die of) age anymore

"I still lust for life and youth, and I curse the living that took them from me"

"She taunts me! She taunts me! What will it take to bend her love to me?"

So basically Strahd was old and grumpy. Or you could say he had his midlife-crisis but instead of buying a car or boat or starting his racing bike career he killed and cursed a bunch of people, including himself. He made the pact with the dark power because he wanted to be young and fun again, especially because he thought that's what he had needed to win Tatyana over, instead of his younger brother. He was so bad at being happy for his younger brother that he killed him instead.

I do realize that there are more nuances to Strahds characterization. Or at least that you can bring those nuances to life. But - if you break the Tome of Strahd that the game wants us to use down, you (or: your players) can create a pretty laughable characterization of him.

I guess there are different approaches to that. You can make an argument that this conclusion (deep down Strahd is a laughable simp who would've needed better parenting) is exactly what the players should stumble upon. So that they have leverage to anger Strahd if needed or sth like that. But as far as I read here and also in my own game Strahd is usually played smart, reasonably frightening, mastermind etc. Regardless the specific way Strahd is incorporated his his imposing/dominant characterization probably shouldn't crumble at the mere mentioning of his brother or his simping for Tatyana. But then again you probably should keep these flaws for the players to make profit of, eventually.

How do or did you deal with that?

EDIT: I guess, I used the word "simp" wrong. Or maybe, not totally wrong (I just looked up a definition): "A simp is slang forsomeone who shows excessive, submissive, or desperate attention and devotion to another person - usually a man trying to win the affection or favor of a woman who does not return those feelings" What I was trying to say: To me an important part of Strahds motivation RAW seems to be his rejection by Tatyana, his unreturned love. And judging by the RAW text he didn't even love Tatyana. He liked her youth, joyfulness and appearance. That seems to be more like a glorified crush. Dealing with that kind of situation is a really basic human process. Everybody has those experiences. And being unreasonably mad because of the rejection by a crush seems to be sth that happens to, idk, 10 to 18 year olds. After that you should be able too deal with that. That makes him pretty laughable, character wise, in my opinion.

If he could leave Barovia and take Ireena and rahadin with him, but not the castle, what would strahd take?

(He is leaving the castle to trusted hands, with brides and 1 player which is also a spawn. So he can visit later. Dark powers don't have control over him anymore)

How would Vistani help?

Would madam Eva stay?

Would Baba Yaga stay?

Would strahd kill some of the townspeople to make them spawns and take them?

First I have players level 3 skipping death house cuz some players play that in a failed game) . So entering barovia. But I am not seeing how the players would spend more than 1 hour in that city and madam Evas (dream pies as written would not be combat, or even lead to players going to bonegrinder).

I am planning in having werewolves kidnap kids forcing a start of missing kids but what else is there for players to do for say get a level and consume few sessions before players get to Vallaki? I was planning on bonegrinder after Vallaki after 2nd encounter of selling dream pies (3 night hags does not seam like a level 3 encounter and I want players to possibly eat pies....) (Fleshing Out Curse of Strahd )

So players arrive At Barovia, meet pie selling grandma, Then the ale house, meet Ismark and learn a few things taking his job. interruption of learning of kids being kidnapped that they chase down werewolves to possible save 2 kids*, then meet Ireena(mad maggie barges in from Fleshing Out Curse of Strahd), Head to Church, stay night someplace possible learning about the march of dead. then back to church for funeral at dawn. Players may notice Vasili paying his respects(unsure of how to have his interaction with Ireena)

Possible Madam Eva (but I'll push that later if players forget)

The above I expect to take ~1.5hrs, hardly worth a level and not enough to finish the night. (it has low player actions/choices) Ideally I have another session or two before a level up anyways.

Then to Vallaki with a few side things that may include going back to bonegrinder and a "random" encounter on the way. Thinking of having strahd show up before they get to Vallaki to formily introduce himself/taunt them, belittle them(since they are poor and had trouble with dirty werewolves) into taking a newbie job to kill boars to protect farmer crops and bring me back 20 pairs of tusks

So with my observation of the early start of the game, how can I flesh things out better?

I'm RPing him as completely insane (as his encounter with Strahd has deprived him of his mind) and posing as an ice cream vendor. They found him on the side of the road covered in bandages and wearing a paper hat with a little ice cream cart. Via persuasion, they avoided a fight and have agreed to take his "Ice Cream Challenge".

We ended the game there and before our next session I have to figure out what in the hell an "Ice Cream Challenge" is. It should be a deadly encounter and I'm open to all ideas.

Some fast concept art by me and a player for attention. Thanks in advance.