"Death House" will run your player characters through levels 1-3 if they survive. Maybe as a specter, she now desires vengeance more than anything else and mourns for her son. Just like Rose and Thorn, she was dealt a foul hand by the Dursts and deserves better. It's a horrific truth that will send a shiver down your party's spines. A way to warn the party is the smell. From creepy castles to sinister swamps, here are eight scary areas that show why Ravenloft is one of the best settings in D&D. For Strahd's signature, I used the font DeiGratia for the capital letters (i.e. As written, the plot hook is simply that there is a monster in the house. Death House comes with a beautiful map, but for a quick Halloween game, its faster to avoid all of the deliberations that occur whenever players see a selection of rooms for them to explore. They starved to death after their parents locked them in their room. Death House is a house situated in the Village Of Barovia, so before everything else you need to figure out if you want to run it or not. register a sa forums account here! As written, the nursemaid is not only a lethal character who could potentially destroy a 1st- or 2nd-level adventurer with fewhit points with her Life Drain ability, but shes also a horror trope the cast aside, wronged woman who returns as a vengeful ghost. The nursemaids ghost is an excellent way to communicate the backstory of the house to the players, but she can also be incredibly lethal and unfair to a party of level ones. Created by the house to lure in victims, the illusions drop vague hints about a monster in the basement and the sins of their parents. There might be some who have managed to mostly keep out of trouble, but they are very few in these lands. If you started at level 1, this is a good point to have everyone level up. The children that the party encounters on the road (Rose and Thorn) are asking for help dealing with whatever entity is inside the house. Heading further up Mount Ghakis, it is also freezing cold at night. Required fields are marked *. The Death House is actually a very challenging dungeon. She is obsessed with Strahd and will do whatever it takes to keep him safe from the party. (If youre feeling generous, or really want your players to see the entirety of the house in a quick Halloween night of gaming, you could even run it at 3rd level.). Make sure you follow the rest of this Curse of Strahd DM Guide. Nothing will prepare your players for what lurks inside. The mists will dictate the places the party can visit. Either way Count Strahd is satisfied, since playing with good or evil aligned subjects is entertaining for him all the same. 12. As written, its a fun and challenging (almost too challenging!) Very useful against some Barovian creatures. Den of Wolves.- There are two cabinets that can be lock picked, one of them contains a heavy crossbow, a light crossbow and 20 bolts. Upon escaping to the outside, the house appears as if nothing ever happened. Help me get funding and enjoy hi resolution version of all my work. By the end of the Death House, there are three themes that should be firmly established in the players minds. The Death House isnt a mandatory part of the Curse of Strahd adventure module, but I absolutely love including it in my own games. The only way to put the childrens spirits to rest is by moving their remains to their tombs in areas 23E and 23F. Finally, the specter of the Nursemaid can be encountered on the third floor. Your players will not leave this location quite the same as when they arrived. Absolutely do not show the party the image of the children in the book. ! You will be sure to terrify your party with this location, especially when they hear that horrible shriek of that feathered fiend and have nowhere to run. Beware, for massive spoilers await! Balcony.- The animated armor can be challenging if PCs dont react properly. Two ghosts can easily kill a level 1 party, however they are not aggressive and even if a fight starts, the two children are more likely to flee than to attack. Honestly, the story behind the adventure is incredibly grim and might be off-putting to some groups. Free D&D Adventure: Fight as Dragons and Explore a Crystal Dragon's Lair! You are correct about how death works in Curse of Strahd. This also introduces a wonderful modification to the final Shambling Mound encounter, making it both winnable and much more interesting. I generally reduce her life drain to deal 1d6 necrotic damage if we didnt start the party at level 3. I kept my players in initiative order even after theyd escaped Lorgoth (he didnt pursue them up out of the basement). Here, the children seize full control over their hosts bodies. Ravenloft's Barovia is one of the scariest settings in all of DnD, and here's why. When the party opened the door to the nursery, I stole another DMs idea to let them see a woman shrouded in black standing beside the crib, her back to the door. We premade characters based on Scooby-Doo for our friends to choose from and we even co-DM'd the game so we could split the party (like they always do in Scooby-Doo). Full Guide to Warlock Pact Boons in D&D 5e, The Legend of the Peasant Railgun in D&D 5e, Attack of Opportunity in D&D 5e Explained, Best Druid Spells By Level: A Top 10 List, I Had an AI Make a D&D Character (and it got really weird! Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The house is not at all that dangerous if your players pick the right choices. Master Suite.- Theres a jewelry box with jewels worth 900 gp. Im a big fan of running it in my Curse of Strahd games. However, there is enough information provided to add your own spins to the Death House. Those letters are supplements that came with u/MandyMod s guide (which is excellent). Once the party encounters Rose and Thorns ghosts in the Childrens Room, theyll no doubt remember the illusions that tricked them and demand some answers. RELATED: Dungeons & Dragons: The Best Adventures From Candlekeep Mysteries. The adventure was unveiled in the February 2016 issue of Dragon+ as an example of the thrills that would come in the then-unreleased Curse of Strahd. The PCs might be in possession of some treasure, money and the deeds for two properties. Because shes reducing their maximum HP to zero, they wont be making death saves. Shadowrun: Astral Ways (Sixth World Setting Book), Star Trek Adventures MISSION PDF 022 Eight Layers Deep, BattleTech: Recognition Guide: ilClan Vol. They will be tempted by corrupting, evil, dark gifts that twist and mess with the characters. A big boss fight is coming up and you want the party to expend some resources, but still have some fight in them for the boss encounter! Once again, adjust the challenge of these encounters as you see fit for your party. The GUIDE index for Curse of Strahd and other related articles can be found here ! Childrens Room .- The remains of Rose and Thorn are here. Add some emotion to the childrens request. We also replace the shambling mound with a Blood Hulk! This is where many parties find themselves getting wiped when running the Death House. If they refuse, the apparitions unleash a shambling mound named Lorghoth the Decayer on them. Copyright What this means is that anyone can use them, share them or modify them. Not only that, but the key ingredient in Morgantha's addictive pies is children! So theres a certain level of are we going to play D&D? here. Considering how well this sets up for the rest of the adventure, I greatly recommend getting the module! Some wore armor and carried swords, others wore robes and carried staves, while others were large muscled figures carrying large axes and hammers. This is a list of important bits of information, important locations and specific advice to run the different locations in the Death House. The true horror of this location comes from a specific event that can take place if the players are not careful. There is no escape, not without first defeating the seemingly unstoppable vampire Strahd Von Zarovich. Tsolenka Pass is relatively isolated from the rest of Barovia, making it quite an unsettling, lonely path for the party to travel down. Also, as an important note, there are two major things that you absolutely should not do. A level 2party which has had no long rests and several tough fights will not win this fight without losing some PCs. Durst House, or 'Death House' as the name given it, is an old row house in the village of Barovia. Be brave, dear reader, as you enter the haunted Durst Mansion. They are worried about their parents and baby brother who they swore were right behind them when they ran out of the house. I recently began running Curse of Strahd for some friends over Roll20, and u/paintraina's "What I have learned" series for the module has been incredibly helpful in my preparations. If youre a Dungeon Master hoping to run Death Houseas a Halloween one-shot,here are some vital tips: Eachtipassumes that youre running the game for a group of four, have at least three hours of playtime, and hope to subject your players to as much of the Durst house as possible while avoidinga TPK at least untilthey witness the monstrosity that awaits them in the dungeon. Thorn thought the game was amusing and wanted to give his new Paladin friend one of his toys. Your email address will not be published. Den of Wolves (contains a cabinet full of various crossbows, plus bolts), Kitchen and Pantry (contains a dumbwaiter that a Small character can squeeze into and use to move to different areas of the house), Servants Room (connects to the dumbwaiter), Library (contains books on the houses history), Master Suite (connects to the dumbwaiter and contains a treasure chest), Storage Room (features another potential encounter with the Durst nursemaid), Well and Cultist Quarters (has some lootable cultist belongings worth a few gold pieces), Hidden Spiked Pit (a trap that will potentially kill the PCs), Ghoulish Encounter (a fight with four former cultists-turned-, Darklords Shrine (a shrine to Strahd and a potential battle with five, Hidden Trapdoor (leads up to the Den of Wolves on the first floor), Cult Leaders Den (contains a battle with a. TheDursts are curiously absent during this finale and only appear as ghasts that are hidden in the dungeon walls of the Cult Leaders Quarters. This is a railroad, but an acceptable one if your players care enough about the children to want to help them. If they arent seizing the chance to be heroes, appeal to their love of coin and youll have all the hook you need. If you do this, have the party level up once theyve escaped. If they kill any creature on the altar, the cult is appeased and the characters can leave the house freely. Give the party a chance to rest and level up (if they started at level 1) before they work their way to the Dungeon Level.if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'tabletopjoab_com-leader-1','ezslot_12',135,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-tabletopjoab_com-leader-1-0'); In the Dungeon Level, the party will encounter a Grick and several undead. Locals give the building a wide berth for fear of antagonizing the evil spirits believed to haunt it. Its not exactly an adventure for new D&D players, but it often ends up being experienced that way thanks to Curse of Strahdbeingone of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons' premiereadventures. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'tabletopjoab_com-leader-4','ezslot_24',145,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-tabletopjoab_com-leader-4-0');Opening the large toy chest, the Paladin saw seemingly hundreds of small wooden figures just like the ones currently in the model home. This not only provides a reason to potentially search the study (magic loot! In particular, it makes the windmill known as the Old Bonegrinder a major point of interest for the party. Not every spooky thing needs to have an explanation. Immediately afterward, a grinding noise (the sound of the secret passage) can be heard from the attic. In fact, the more good something is, the more it must be corrupted. 8 Real-Life Skills Youll Develop By Playing D&D, 12 Monsters That Will Instantly Kill Characters, 7 Types of D&D Players You Will Have In Your Group, 9 Powerful Tips to Engage Players in Your D&D Game. If you start at level 2, Id say have them level up to 3 before they proceed into the Dungeon Level. Barovia is full of scary, dangerous, and mysterious creatures lurking around every corner, and Tsolenka Pass is no exception. That said, Death House can be a brutal experience. Oh, Death House. Since then, he's never looked back and loves roleplaying games for the chance to tell the tales that have been swirling in his head since childhood. Thunk me later! Since I've warned you already about spoilers, I'll state it up front: to avoid the house turning against the PCs, a creature has to die at the sanctum in the basement. For inspiration, consider Gustav Dursts reasoning for the affair in a letter from Strahd that can be found in the Secret Room. Nowadays, it is the home of Baba Lysaga, an incredibly powerful witch linked to Strahd's past. Running Curse of Strahd. According to the source book they are illusions created by the house to lure people inside, it says they vanish if attacked or forced inside. Honestly, even if the party is level 3, this can be a very tough fight! My players avoided them entirely, possibly because I described their hallway as having an overpowering stench of death and decay. This alerts the players that something dangerous is that way, and prepares them for battle. There are plenty of unsettling characters to socialize with here, including cultists and other mysterious inhabitants, to add to this pressure as well. Looking over the dolls by the handful, each one showed an expression of pain and fear. You want this to be fun, scary, and challenging. All this can be achieved in 6-10 hours of playing. You can really play on this unease to build up tension within the party, building it up until they are constantly on edge. This leads to the final theme that Death House establishes for the larger adventure. If/when the PCs try to leave, the children will try to possess them, not out of aggression but out of fear of abandonment. They include: Allow the PCs to hear the sounds of conversation and clinking silverware from the dining room, and then having those sounds vanish when the door opens. Honestly, few spooky things should have an explanation. The party will attack them. The main Curse of Strahd module encompasses levels 3-10. Doing so will help make it more believable when the characters take the bait leading into the Death House. The only thing I personally disliked about that section is the 'after finale' where you're escaping. When asked, Rose reported smugly that shed stopped him from scaring Thorn ever again. Kitchen and Pantry.- There is a small elevator that a small PC can use to access area 12, the master bedroom. Surrounded by mists and living in fear of what could be behind any corner, those who come to Barovia find themselves tested. The Best Books That EVERY DM NEEDS To Read! Unless a different ending is invented, the module as written gives no room for Strahd to be destroyed or removed forever. Death House is a meat grinder meant to kill low-level players. This kept them panicked, tense, and on their toes. I'm hosting my second ever session tonight and my party will be heading into the dungeonhave I missed something? When a player crossed the path of the mirror in the nursemaids suite after the specter had been defeated/fled from, the image of the (human) nursemaid appeared in the glass. Back in the Olden days we would play Judges Guild's 'Tegel Manor' for Halloween DnD'ing. Castle Ravenloft is the home of Strahd Von Zarovich and is quite a terrifying location. 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