Curse of Strahd (Part 0a Intro and Death House Upper Floors)

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...

*Note it's recommended to start your players at level 2 for this version. Alternatively, you can level them up when they reach Rose and Thorn; possibly healing them to full if they've sustained heavy damage

With 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'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!

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.

• 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:

• Google Docs Notes for Part 0a Intro + Death House Upper Floors: DM Notes

• Link to: Death House Playlist

• Download The AAA Collection below!

Included in The AAA Collection is:

• A Word document with all my notes, including links to music tracks for ambiance and fights

• 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 1 - The Village of Barovia

• Part 2 - River Ivlis Crossroad

• Part 3 - Tser Pool

• Part 4a - Journey to Vallaki

• Part 4b - The Town of Vallaki (Coming Soon)

• Part 5 - Coming Soon

Additional Info:

You'll notice 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 little 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!

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

P.S. Expect this post to be updated with more info and for another post to be released that compiles the entirety of Death House together when it's completed!

Credits: Art: Arlen Nielsen
Campaign: Wizards of the Coast
CoS Reloaded: DragnaCarta

*Revision 2 (4/20/24)