He played the Bounty Hunter and had a career altering mark to collect in the lands of Barovia. My friend Tom was driving about six hours to attend the tabletop session so I decided to make his character the de facto leader of the group. I also used the character images from Darkest Dungeon to make table name cards for the players. After tweaking their backgrounds a bit I had a cadre of gothic characters fit for a night of Ravenloft. Using the 5E ruleset I created a Bounty Hunter (ranger), Grave Robber (rogue), Mortician (rogue/wizard), Exorcist (fighter/cleric), Leper (fighter), and Plague Doctor (cleric). I have enjoyed the game Darkest Dungeon and thought the character types in the game were a great source of inspiration. First I wanted to design some dark and gothic characters for the players to pick from. My twist this year included this motivation as part of my story. He wants Ireena to love him willingly rather than by force.
Strahd hopes that the rescue will turn Ireena's heart to him. When they attack, Strahd will swoop down and save her from the PCs. One of the published motivations of Strahd in I6 is: Strahd will attempt to charm all of the PCs, and make them attack Ireena. Traditionally the player characters are drawn into this adventure when they arrive in Barovia and learn Ireena has been bitten twice by a vampire. Strahd in the madness of his undead curse still loves Tatyana and wants Ireena to be her. Hundreds of years later in the small town of Barovia dwells a woman named Ireena Kolyana, who is basically a reincarnation of Tatyana. On Sergei and Tatyana's wedding day Strahd murdered his brother and the grieving Tatyana jumped from the walls of Ravenloft to her death.
For background Strahd once loved a woman named Tatyana, who rejected him in favor of his younger brother Sergei. This makes it absolutely perfect as a Halloween one shot every year.Īlways wanting to mix things up, I created a situation this year which was a mash-up an existing motivation and something new. Additionally, castle Ravenloft itself is so voluminous it’s impossible to explore in one game session. As a vampire who is hundreds of years old his motivations can be different every time you play the adventure. The main villain, Count Strahd von Zarovich has the classic yet tragic story of a fall from grace. Every October I run the adventure because it has such wonderful replay value. I6: Ravenloft is gothic horror classic and my favorite of all the early AD&D published modules. With Halloween still upon us I thought this post may be helpful for those planning their own Ravenloft excursion this month.