Curse of Strahd (Part 0 Intro/Death House/Journey to Barovia)

June 2025 Update: Dragnacarta has completed version 1 of CoS Reloaded! I am now going back and updating everything I've prepped so far to match. Once the updates are complete, I will continue on to the rest of the campaign! I've also created two separate versions, a Dragnacarta version that will follow Reloaded as closely as possible, and an Advent version with several tweaks that will continue to be expanded on in the future. Not only that, but I've also created a collapsible version to help make navigating the document even easier! It took quite a bit of work to update and put all this together, but I hope it helps you run the best version of CoS possible! Please let me know what you think and if there are any improvements I can make in the comments below!

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The time has finally come for the very first, fully prepped, full-length campaign: Curse of Strahd! This level 1-10 Campaign will have your players whisked away to unknown lands where they'll encounter Strahd von Zarovich and have to unravel the mysteries of Barovia if they hope to get out alive.

In the very first session, your players will be on the hunt for the mysterious Death House, although it seems the house may be hunting them because they'll be transported through the mists to its front steps. It'll be up to them to investigate this mansion and do their best not to be driven mad...or through the floor by Animated Armor...

The second session will have your players discover the secret entrance to the basement and do their best to survive the tragedies below. The basement of Death House is where the true threats begin. Be sure to gauge how your players are handling encounters and adjust accordingly. I've included several notes for encounters that can be removed if your players are struggling.

The Final session of Death House is where your players will make their thrilling escape, and once free and clear, they will have more troubles to deal with as they venture further into Barovia and finally to The Village of Barovia itself!

In the release of Curse of Strahd Reloaded 2.0 I've completely redone my notes for Death House, changing it back from a stand-alone into a prelude to Curse of Strahd as well as integrating the new changes Dragnacarta has come up with. If you don't know who he is, he's one of the biggest names when it comes to Curse of Strahd, he's been working on improving it for years, and has done an Amazing job! His work is free, but he deserves all the support he can get!

If you've used my previous notes, you'll know that I do all the difficult and time-consuming book-to-session conversions so you don't have to! I do my best to include Ambiance for every scene, custom battle maps, handouts when needed, spell sheets, encounter sheets, and more!

My prep for Curse of Strahd will be a multiphased process, starting with integrating CoS Reloaded as closely as possible with an alternative version that incorporates some minor changes that I think both my players and yours will enjoy. Once that is completed, I'll move on to integrating different One-Shots and additions along with Mandymods' improvements to make this the definitive version of CoS!!! Don't worry, though you'll be able to run CoS at any point using my notes and are guaranteed to have an Amazing session!

For those of you who are new and even for the more experienced DMs out there, I think it's important to reiterate:

• Read the Campaign: I know surprising, but it can be extremely confusing when you don't know where everything leads to. This goes extra for this one. There are so many moving parts, and while my notes are extensive, they don't dive into all the lore and reasoning for things; you'll need the book for that. You should also read CoS Reloaded because I will be using the changes detailed in there. Dragnacarta goes into great detail and reasoning for all the changes and includes a deep dive into the lore!

• Consider the needs of your group: As you've heard or are about to hear a million times, every table is different. You may have to make tweaks here and there.

• These notes aren't meant to be the end-all-be-all: Tweak to your heart's content, and don't consider any of what's written to be set in stone. For me, having notes like this helps give me the confidence to go off the rails and follow along with what my players want. It helps me understand where things are meant to go and why. Having that understanding allows me to guide the players and create other new and interesting stories. These are all things that will come with experience, though, so don't freak out and enjoy the journey!

June 2025 Update: Dragnacarta has completed version 1 of CoS Reloaded! I am now going back and updating everything I've prepped so far to match. Once the updates are complete, I will continue on to the rest of the campaign! I've also created two separate versions, a Dragnacarta version that will follow Reloaded as closely as possible, and an Advent version with several tweaks that will continue to be expanded on in the future. Not only that, but I've also created a collapsible version to help make navigating the document even easier! It took quite a bit of work to update and put all this together, but I hope it helps you run the best version of CoS possible! Please let me know what you think and if there are any improvements I can make in the comments below!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The time has finally come for the very first, fully prepped, full-length campaign: Curse of Strahd! This level 1-10 Campaign will have your players whisked away to unknown lands where they'll encounter Strahd von Zarovich and have to unravel the mysteries of Barovia if they hope to get out alive.

In the very first session, your players will be on the hunt for the mysterious Death House, although it seems the house may be hunting them because they'll be transported through the mists to its front steps. It'll be up to them to investigate this mansion and do their best not to be driven mad...or through the floor by Animated Armor...

The second session will have your players discover the secret entrance to the basement and do their best to survive the tragedies below. The basement of Death House is where the true threats begin. Be sure to gauge how your players are handling encounters and adjust accordingly. I've included several notes for encounters that can be removed if your players are struggling.

The Final session of Death House is where your players will make their thrilling escape, and once free and clear, they will have more troubles to deal with as they venture further into Barovia and finally to The Village of Barovia itself!

In the release of Curse of Strahd Reloaded 2.0 I've completely redone my notes for Death House, changing it back from a stand-alone into a prelude to Curse of Strahd as well as integrating the new changes Dragnacarta has come up with. If you don't know who he is, he's one of the biggest names when it comes to Curse of Strahd, he's been working on improving it for years, and has done an Amazing job! His work is free, but he deserves all the support he can get!

If you've used my previous notes, you'll know that I do all the difficult and time-consuming book-to-session conversions so you don't have to! I do my best to include Ambiance for every scene, custom battle maps, handouts when needed, spell sheets, encounter sheets, and more!

My prep for Curse of Strahd will be a multiphased process, starting with integrating CoS Reloaded as closely as possible with an alternative version that incorporates some minor changes that I think both my players and yours will enjoy. Once that is completed, I'll move on to integrating different One-Shots and additions along with Mandymods' improvements to make this the definitive version of CoS!!! Don't worry, though you'll be able to run CoS at any point using my notes and are guaranteed to have an Amazing session!

For those of you who are new and even for the more experienced DMs out there, I think it's important to reiterate:

• Read the Campaign: I know surprising, but it can be extremely confusing when you don't know where everything leads to. This goes extra for this one. There are so many moving parts, and while my notes are extensive, they don't dive into all the lore and reasoning for things; you'll need the book for that. You should also read CoS Reloaded because I will be using the changes detailed in there. Dragnacarta goes into great detail and reasoning for all the changes and includes a deep dive into the lore!

• Consider the needs of your group: As you've heard or are about to hear a million times, every table is different. You may have to make tweaks here and there.

• These notes aren't meant to be the end-all-be-all: Tweak to your heart's content, and don't consider any of what's written to be set in stone. For me, having notes like this helps give me the confidence to go off the rails and follow along with what my players want. It helps me understand where things are meant to go and why. Having that understanding allows me to guide the players and create other new and interesting stories. These are all things that will come with experience, though, so don't freak out and enjoy the journey!

Without further ado:

• Link to: The AAA Collection

• Link to: Death House Playlist

• Link to: CoS Reloaded

Included in The AAA Collection is:

• Downloadable copy of DM Notes, including links to music tracks for ambiance and fights

• DragnaCarta Version that follows Reloaded as closely as possible

• Advent Version with several tweaks that will continue to be expanded on in the future

• Collapsible Word Doc to make navigating things easier

• A folder with notes separated into parts based on different escape routes

• Special PDF for all encounters. This includes the enemy stat blocks organized neatly, along with an initiative tracker and a spot to mark HP

• Handouts for all Letters and Spell Scrolls

• Maps for Death House + Shinebright's Tower (Credits: Winghorn Press, The Dungeon Madames)

Index:
Curse of Strahd:

• Part 0 - Intro + Death House

• Part 1a - The Village of Barovia

• Part 1b - The Village of Barovia Church

• Part 2 - River Ivlis Crossroad

• Part 3 - Tser Pool

• Part 4 - Journey to Vallaki 

• Part 5a - The Village of Vallaki (Tower Gates and Blue Water Inn) (Coming Soon)

• Part 5b - The Village of Vallaki (Coming Soon)

Additional Info:

You'll notice in the Advent version that I bring the players to Shinebright Tower before fully diving into things. That's because this is quite an intense campaign, and you want to be sure your players mesh well together. Running a One-Shot prior to jumping in is a great way to test that. And adding a small Easter Egg like this can make the world feel more like a living, breathing place! You can find The Wild Sheep Chase fully prepped here if you'd like to warm up with it!

It's recommended to start your players at level 2 for both versions. Alternatively, you can level them up when they reach Rose and Thorn, possibly healing them to full if they've sustained heavy damage

As always, please let me know if you see anything you think I can improve, add, change, etc., especially for this one. Curse of Strahd is massive and has many moving parts, and I want to do my best to make your sessions as smooth as possible!

Cheers,
Advent

Credits: Art + Campaign: Wizards of the Coast
CoS Reloaded: DragnaCarta

*Revision 3 (6/29/25)