Darklords Shrine.- Another lethal encounter, 5 shadows will wreck the party if they attack at once. There, in the attic of the model, were 4 dolls: each depicting the various party members. (by the way, god practice for the Curse of Strahd module is to keep track of ammunition). Heading further up Mount Ghakis, it is also freezing cold at night. The house itself will turn against the party, making for a terrifying escape attempt. This subreddit serves as a helpful place for anyone running the Curse of Strahd module for D&D 5e. That said, Death House can be a brutal experience. Your email address will not be published. Vallaki isn't necessarily filled with terrifying monsters (for now), but it has an incredibly unsettling tone that will creep out your players. Far from the villages and towns of the valley, there is not much safety around this location. The Count's Crypt. 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. Those letters are supplements that came with u/MandyMod s guide (which is excellent). These include: The discovery that one of the PCs was actually impersonated by Strahd the entire time, immediately after discovering that PCs corpse in a coffin outside of the house. The Amber Temple is one of the most dangerous locations in Barovia. Well look over those now. Chef Feat in D&D 5e Explained | Useful or Pie in the Sky? This prompted him to investigate the mirror, revealing the passage up. Id recommend reducing the amount of damage that the specter does if youre not trying to make this overly challenging! You can have Rosavalda point that out, that they want to be where their parents are. If you started at level 1, this is a good point to have everyone level up. They will have no other choice (Hop on the railroad car). The PCs have the hallways width to their favor, as its a natural funnel. You are also setting the scene for a probably unwinnable fight. Maybe as a specter, she now desires vengeance more than anything else and mourns for her son. Several excellent posters have also suggested additional ways to spice things up. Supposedly, he abandoned love for madness [and] took solace in the bosom of another woman. What of the nursemaids point of view? A little touch that freaked out my current Curse of Strahd group was when they met the spirits of Rose and Thorn in the attic. I provided their flaws through PM, and both had a blast roleplaying it. Its the Durst Mansion or, if the kids are talking, our home. Nobodys going to eagerly go rushing into something called the Death House. These two made invaluable contributions to the session. Moreover, there are a lot of things that the party can miss (e.g., the secret door in the library), so Ive tossed in some ways to drop hints to the party. Not all of them need to be visited, your group might skip some parts of the house or the dungeon. Please enable JavaScript to get the best experience from this site. We also replace the shambling mound with a Blood Hulk! Hey dude, where are letter 2 and 3 in death house? Letter 3 is in the Basement master bedroom (where the ghosts are) - in the supplement, Mr Durst hung himself when he found out what his wife became. After using one of the adventure hooks (page 18), you have successfully steered the party to Barovia. A sizable treasure for a level 1 party. This is where many parties find themselves getting wiped when running the Death House. Now, railroading isnt a bad thing, especially for a newer group. Pretty spoopy. Free D&D Adventure: Fight as Dragons and Explore a Crystal Dragon's Lair! Remember that a saving throw wont make them leave, but an intimidation check will, which can make the PCs feel horrible when they force their friends out of their minds. Castle Ravenloft is the home of Strahd Von Zarovich and is quite a terrifying location. The dolls in the model house remained untouched, but the players all gave each other the same look: they had to get out of here and fast. Theres no shortage of fantastic adventure modules available for D&D 5e. The nature of D&D 5e is that it is almost hilariously easier to die at lower levels than it is at higher levels even as tougher enemies appear. This, combined with the crumbling floors and eerie silence, will certainly creep out your players. Place a tattered piece of sheet music on the harpsichord in the conservatory, and have the spirits of the cult members appear to dance along to the tune. People either absolutely love it or hate it! As the enormous thing crawls towards you, you see bodily remains of humans buried in its putrid body.. Would love to revisit Death House some day and not mistakenly murder my friends instantly. Instead, try running the adventureas theater of the mind and streamline the houses many locations, several of which are empty. Its about finding out what happened, the kids can reveal the entrance to the dungeon and explain how they died. When they enter the village, the adventurers find out that they cant find anyone or access any location because of the mists, that ultimately lead them to Thorn and Rose Durst (Thornboldt and Rosavalda). They will be tempted by corrupting, evil, dark gifts that twist and mess with the characters. Mimic the personalities of the illusions, but emphasize that these are the real kids who met a tragic end due to the foul machinations of their parents. 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. joining the sa forums will remove this big ad, the annoying underlined ads, and stupid interstitial ads!! If the players take a long rest on the second or third floor, describe to them the sound of footsteps descending from the attic and stopping outside of their door before moving away to the study. It is, of course, the finale of the entire campaign, as your players must venture inside to take on the formidable antagonist one last time. Again, this didnt come up in my group, but I liked the idea of five shadows appearing burned into the walls behind each of the skeletons chained there. The way this adventure works. When I ran the adventure in October 2018 for Halloween, I quickly found my anxiety spiking as my unsuspecting group of 1st-leveladventurers proceeded to nearly get massacred at least five times in a row. Rose and Thorns parents would surely be happy to pay the party for saving them! But, this is Strahd's home, and the battle will not be easy. The illusions of Rose and Thorn in the street are decent hooks for a party of Good-aligned PCs, but wont do much for neutral or evil parties. We ran this as a Halloween one shot a few years ago. Be brave, dear reader, as you enter the haunted Durst Mansion. As adventurers reach the top of the attic, they will find themselves in an aggressive place, they house is trying to kill them (page 220). Ideally, everyone is happy to assist the children and play the game. Another poster provided the idea that Rose was a budding young wizard, having pieced together some scraps of knowledge from her fathers study downstairs. I'm always a little disappointed that one of the family members isn't named Frederick. Not every spooky thing needs to have an explanation. Three of my players were able to get boosts up to the attic from the balcony outside of the master bedroom, but the fourth, a firbolg, was too big to make it up. Once theyve explored the first, second, and third floors (plus the attic if they find how to get there! Death House rebuilds itself if burned down. PCs can find a Cloak of Protection as treasure, plus a spellbook. Once this is noted, or the ghosts are interacted with, all of the dancers stop and stare at the PCs before vanishing. 5 Tips for Running the Death House One-Shot From Curse of Strahd, make thecombat encounter more interesting, Strahd Must Die Tonight! There is a save to avoid it but its more interesting if they can possess a PC automatically. You can find the Death House adventure here for free from Wizards of the Coast. This site works best with JavaScript enabled. Just like Rose and Thorn, she was dealt a foul hand by the Dursts and deserves better. If your players find out that the kids are illusions then they wont be trying to help and will believe it is a trap (I mean its obviously a trap but still). Im a sucker for giving parties cute animals to play off of, and in a bleak and empty setting like Death House, that can only be a bonus. THANK YOU SO MUCH. Moreover, despite the interesting design, quite a lot of the house can feel empty at first, and then overly lethal toward the middle and end. You made Rose and Thorn like Bianca and Nico DiAngelo! Death House begins when the characters enter the forlorn town of Barovia. Did you like this guide? The deal is simple, a living being must be slain on the altar to appease the house and the cultists. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Argynvostholt is a castle-like manor full of corruption and despair. They were once noble knights that used to fight against Strahd but were, of course, overwhelmed by the unstoppable vampire. You can really play on this unease to build up tension within the party, building it up until they are constantly on edge. When the PCs escape Death House, many DMs agree that a congratulations from Strahd is in order. If the PCs comply and a living being is killed off on the altar, the house is appeased and they will be able to leave peacefully and level up. Thick tendrils of waste wriggle from it, reaching for nearby surfaces. Luke also has a board game obsession, plays a bunch of D&D, and makes silly videos on YouTube. The Death House has become something of a modern classic for 5e players. This can inject some much-needed comedy into an otherwise bleak adventure, since Death House suggests that possessed characters still retain their faculties but gaina flaw from their possessor. Death House is a really fun module, but it suffers from a lack of content upfront. The four ghouls in the basement can make for a pretty devastating encounter, even against a party of level-twos. Thunk me later! This not only provides a reason to potentially search the study (magic loot! A way to warn the party is the smell. https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDBehindTheScreen/comments/7hmosm/lessons_from_running_curse_of_strahd_the_feast_of/, Place a tattered piece of sheet music on the harpsichord in the conservatory, another DMs idea to let them see a woman shrouded in black standing beside the crib, her back to the door, only attack those that approached the crib or threatened her baby, the image of the (human) nursemaid appeared in the glass, describe it as feeling like a childs hands, searching desperately for a warm embrace.. Or just go to r/curseofstrahd (unless you are my players). Cult Leaders Quarters.- Gustav and Elisabeth Durst are here, they are ghasts. Barovia becomes a tomb for all who end up there. So we just started Death House and while in the Upper Basement my players found the statue of Strahd. Also theres a will bequeathing these properties to the Durst children. 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