After about seven months of weekly play, typically with 3-hour sessions, my Wednesday group finished Curse of Strahd last night. They found the last of the artefacts at the end of the previous session, and – having already found Strahd – they began the session by confronting him in his lair. Two rounds and one action later, he was dead. It turns out that a … Continue reading Running Curse of Strahd: Endings
I love published adventures. Investigating them has proved some of the most rewarding times I have spent with Dungeons & Dragons. However, I recognised that running published D&D adventures is not to everyone’s taste, or possibly even ability. There are distinct differences between running an adventure written by someone else and one you design, and you should choose the path you enjoy more! However, even … Continue reading On Running Published Adventures
On my birthday, we began a new campaign. The adventure? Curse of Strahd. It is the third time I have run the adventure. As I have expressed on Twitter, I delight in adventures that I run more than once – the experience of a role-playing game is something that changes whenever you get a new group. Different things are explored and emphasised. My conception of … Continue reading Another Visit to Curse of Strahd
Blinsky’s Toyshop is an adventure for level 3 to 7 characters set in the land of Barovia. As it is centred around a somewhat cursed toy shop, I see no difficulty in playing this adventure in most settings, except perhaps Dark Sun. It might feel too light-hearted for there! The basic idea is that the characters visit Blinsky’s Toyshop, one of the more memorable locations … Continue reading 5E Review: Blinsky’s Toyshop
One of the challenges in any Organised Play system is to see how series of adventures work after the rules change… In 2018, the D&D Adventurers League moved from awarding Experience Points (XP) to awarding Advancement Checkpoints. For older adventures, each hour played gives 1 ACP (to the maximum playing time). The Curse of Strahd season is particularly challenging to run, because all the adventures … Continue reading Running the Curse of Strahd season under Season 8 DDAL rules
The Dark Lord is the final instalment of the D&D Adventurers League adventures set in Barovia. Written by Greg Marks, this 43-page adventure for level 5-10 characters is meant to be played in 4 hours, although I think most groups will struggle to do so. There’s a lot of material to cover. The beginning of the adventure features the ritual to find the overall villain … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Dark Lord
The Horseman is the penultimate adventure of the Curse of Strahd season of the Adventurers League. It is a two-hour adventure, and it is a relief to return to the main storyline after the diversion of the last two adventures. The story begins with the adventurers learning from Ixusaxa what is going on in the series. They learn that Esmae, the chief villain, is obsessed … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Horseman
The Raven is the twelfth part of Misty Fortunes and Absent Hearts, the fourth season of the D&D Adventurers League adventures. By this stage in the campaign, we’re getting towards the end. The Big Bad is getting ready to implement her plan, and the adventurers need all the help they can get, because – at this stage – they don’t know where she is! The … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Raven
The Donjon is the eleventh adventure of the Curse of Strahd season of the D&D Adventurers League. A four-hour adventure for character levels 5-10 written by Ash Law, it has the adventurers rescuing the leader of an orc tribe from a slither of yuan ti serving a dracolich. If you were wondering what this has to do with the ongoing storyline for Curse of Strahd, … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Donjon
During my second Curse of Strahd campaign, one of the characters was a ranger. Along the way, he befriended a raven, using speak with animals to talk with it and learn interesting things about Barovia. We named the raven Francis. It’s dangerous giving me control over “intelligent” animals. I’ve got a whimsical streak, and it came out in full force with Francis. And the ravens … Continue reading Whimsical DMing: Francis the Raven
