Curse of Strahd: Reloaded

A Campaign Guide by /u/DragnaCarta

Chapter 0: Adventure Hooks
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Table of Contents
Chapter 0: Adventure Hooks
An Analysis of Curse of Strahd Hooks
Designing a New Adventure Hook
Adventure Hook: Secrets of the Tarokka
Crafting a Backstory
Madam Eva’s Promise
Getting the Group Together
The Road to Barovia
Tarokka Readings & Beyond

Chapter 0: Adventure Hooks

An Analysis of Curse of Strahd Hooks
While perfectly serviceable as generic openings to the Curse of Strahd campaign, each of the
four adventure hooks presented in the original module leave much to be desired if the DM and
players are looking for a more narrative- and character-driven experience.

● Plea For Help serves only as a trap to lure the PCs into Barovia, leaving the thrust of the
campaign feeling hollow, as if their very presence in Barovia is a foolish accident - an
adventure to be regretted, rather than relish.
● Mysterious Visitors is perhaps the most useful of the hooks, drawing the PCs into the
grander narrative of Strahd’s corruption and the curse upon Barovia, and presenting
them with the campaign-long task of defeating Strahd and laying his troubled soul to
rest. However, it is neither personalized nor grounded, leaving the PCs as generic
participants in a cookie-cutter campaign and introducing the players to the adventure
while within a wholly irrelevant setting (Daggerford).
● Werewolves in the Mist fails as a hook for two reasons. First, it fails to tie the PCs into
any meaningful grand narrative (as the Werewolf Den is the location in Barovia most
divorced from Strahd’s curse and storyline). Second, while it is not a bad idea to involve
some element from a PC’s backstory in the hook (the factions), the fact that the factions
will never come up again (and that the werewolves have very likely never heard of the
Harpers or Zhentarim) can leave the entire experience feeling hollow.
● Creeping Fog, while admirable in its simplicity, utterly fails to invest the PCs in the
adventure they are about to undertake.

Of these, Plea For Help, Werewolves in the Mist, and Creeping Fog are clearly intended to
serve as traps for the PCs - once the PCs willingly (or unwillingly) enter Barovia, they will soon
find that there is no way out without slaying Strahd. As a result, each of these three hooks sets
“survival horror” as the tone of Curse of Strahd, whether or not you meant to run it that way.

Moreover, Plea for Help, Mysterious Visitors, and Werewolves in the Mist seem to assume that
the PCs have already been travelling together for some time - and in the case of Mysterious
Visitors, already accomplished some notable task for the Duchess of Daggerford. A long-term
campaign can easily begin with a three-session attack on a horde of goblin bandits outside of
Daggerford, and cleanly segue into a short “arc” thereafter. However, the Curse of Strahd
module is far too long to serve as a brief “arc” in a broader adventure, leaving any earlier
adventures (like one in Daggerford) dangling off into irrelevance like a vestigial limb.

Designing a New Adventure Hook

Given all this, it is our goal to design an adventure hook that meets the following criteria:
1. Solidifies Curse of Strahd as a self-contained campaign from level 1 (or 3) to 10, without
any need to refer back to previous adventures;
2. Gives the PCs a “true” reason to enter Barovia, in order to preserve their agency and
make them feel that they chose to begin this campaign of their own volition and with full
knowledge of the potential consequences;
3. Invokes the backstories and desires of the PCs in order to allow the players to drive the
campaign by developing their characters and accomplishing long-term goals;
4. Promotes the “gothic opera” tone of Curse of Strahd, encouraging the PCs to
emotionally invest in the narrative and questlines of the campaign; and
5. Creates a beginning-to-end throughline across the entire module to give the players a
sense of accomplishment and fulfillment upon completing the finale of the campaign.

Adventure Hook: Secrets of the Tarokka

This scenario works to incorporate each of the above design goals by giving each PC a
personal goal that they can achieve while in Barovia, shaped and foretold by Madam Eva’s
predictions and promises. Over the course of their adventure, the PCs grow to rely on one
another, helping each other in their individual quests and, ultimately, accepting their destinies to
defeat Strahd and lift the curse upon Barovia.

Crafting a Backstory
As you work independently with your players to create their characters, encourage them to
develop hidden tragedies, impossible goals, and regrets into their characters’ pasts. Your PCs
don’t need to be “dark and edgy,” but they should have some great desire informed by past
mistakes, losses, or failures. These will likely fall into one or more of three broad categories:
● This PC is a broken creature searching for healing or redemption.
● This PC is a lost soul searching for kinship or purpose.
● This PC has lost or been abandoned by someone or something important to them, and
are attempting to regain it.
Your players may be tempted to create traditional Dungeons & Dragons PCs - a bard whose
ultimate goal is the seduction of every creature he meets; a wizard whose only goal is the
acquisition of power for power’s sake; or a rogue who steals from others in order to become
wealthy. While these are perfectly fine for low-investment parties, they will actively detract from
any group that aims to create a high-investment, narrative-driven experience. Barovia, at its
core, is a dark and broken land that attracts dark and broken people.

Some of the traditional character archetypes can be tweaked to better fit this mold (e.g., Caleb
Widogast of Critical Role), but your overall goal should be to help your player craft a backstory
whose driving goal can only be fulfilled within the borders of Barovia. See below for some
sample PC goals:

● A draconic sorcerer has forsaken his home and his people, and is searching for a means
of understanding his ancestry and finding a new land to settle in.
● A dragonborn cleric was abandoned by his tribe at birth, and hopes to one day find them
and rejoin his people.
● An aasimar paladin destroyed her church in a fit of zealous rage and hubris and Fell
from grace; now, she searches for a way to redeem herself in the eyes of her god and
sire.
● A tiefling rogue was orphaned as a child, and desperately longs to find a family that they
can love and trust.
● An elven ranger watched her forest suffer and die to a dark, creeping corruption, and
longs to gain revenge against the evil that created it.
● A human monk was forced to abandon his adventuring party when a great injury waylaid
him for a year and a day; now, he longs to rejoin his friends and ensure their safety.
● A halfling wizard was abandoned by his mentor many years ago, and hopes to find them
and prove his worth.

Notably, while the player will not know this explicitly until informed by Madam Eva, each of these
goals can be tied to a specific location, quest, or character within Barovia:

● The draconic sorcerer is a descendant of Argynvost, and is tasked by the dragon’s spirit
with sanctifying the memory of the Order of the Silver Dragon before founding the Order
anew.
● The dragonborn cleric finds a small collection of other dragonborn amongst the
berserker tribes on Mount Ghakis - the first of his kind that he has ever seen - and is
welcomed into their tents with open arms.
● The aasimar paladin learns that she must recover the holy symbol of Tasha Petrovna as
an exercise of penance; upon completion of this task, her wings will be restored to her.
● The tiefling rogue was whisked away at birth by a caravan of Vistani after the death of
their parents; in truth, their trueborn sibling still lives in Vallaki - Izek Strazni.
● The corruption that destroyed the elven ranger’s forest blossomed from a seed of the
Gulthias Tree, empowered by the blood of Strahd von Zarovich before it was carried into
the world beyond the mists by the werewolf pack.
 ● The human monk learns that his adventuring party was swallowed up by Barovia’s mists
soon after his injury; by following their trail through Barovia, he can discover their fate
and rescue his sole living companion.
● The halfling wizard’s mentor is Dr. Rudolph van Richten, famed vampire hunter, who
abandoned the halfling for fear that his curse would strike his pupil down, and so fled to
hunt Strahd von Zarovich instead.

Some other potential hooks might involve the werewolf pack, the Abbot at the Abbey of St.
Markovia, the Ladies of the Fanes, or Strahd himself. As with the dragonborn barbarian and the
human monk, don’t be afraid of adding in small elements of your PCs’ backstories into the RAW
setting. Modules are built to be personalized, and your players will be thrilled to see their
backstories transform the world that you run.

Madam Eva’s Promise

As the campaign begins, the PCs are wholly ignorant of one another - or, if their personal
quests overlap, they may be already travelling together in pairs. Two weeks before your
adventure begins, each PC receives a mysterious dream sent by a strange crone clad in red
robes: Madam Eva. Eva invites each PC to visit her in order to have their fortune read,
promising to each PC in turn that she alone can show them how to achieve their goal. For each
of our sample PCs, Eva promises the following:

● Draconic Sorcerer: “Find me at the crossroads of Tser Pool, and I will share with you
path to uncovering the power of your bloodline - and the true nature of your heritage.”
● Dragonborn Cleric: “Come to my tent, and I will guide you to the hearth of your people.”
● Aasimar Paladin: “Journey through the mists of Barovia, and I will whisper to you the key
to regaining your honor - and the favor of your god.”
● Tiefling Rogue: “You are not alone in this world. I can tell you the name of the one that
shares your blood - but only if you travel to my fire and speak my name.”
● Elven Ranger: “You hunger for vengeance, but your eyes are blind. Journey past the
mists, and I will help your eyes to see your enemy.”
● Human Monk: “The ones that you love have wandered astray, and their lives may hang
in the balance. Find me, and I will show you to them.”
● Halfling Wizard: “The teacher you love is not as far as you fear - travel to the
encampment at Tser Pool, and I will show you the place where he hides.”

In each of these instances, Madam Eva speaks the truth. She does so, however, for ulterior
motives - through her Inner Eye, she has looked out into the world to find individuals whose
potential for power and goodness is great, and who may be easily lured to Barovia of their own
will. She sees through her foresight that they may accomplish their goals if brought into Strahd’s
realm - and, if guided properly, may accomplish her own goals as well.

For more ideas on potential quests your PCs can have, see the Personal Readings & Quests
section here.
Getting the Group Together
It would be easy for any person to dismiss such a vision as a hollow dream. However, the
experience is vivid enough to leave the PC shaken, and each PC should be desperate or lost
enough to grab for Madam Eva’s promises with gusto. To solidify her promise, and to make it
clear that these dreams were true dreams, each PC then awakes with a single Tarokka card in
their lap.

Each Tarokka card should be personalized to each PC, and is preferably different from the
cards that you plan to use for the Tarokka reading proper. This card can reflect the PCs’
background, stature, weaknesses, or abilities. Madam Eva then describes to each PC that cards
that the others hold, as well as their “signs” - one or two identifying features that help each
character stand out in a crowd.

In these dreams, Madam Eva directs the PCs to travel to an inn in Daggerford called the
Nightmare’s Stable; there, she promises, they will meet their companions and find directions to
Stanimir, a “man of many colors” who can guide them to her. A PC’s full dream may look like
this:

For the past moon, you have suffered strange dreams of a woman, her voice rasping behind
a darkened veil. In each dream, she speaks of secrets of your past - knowledge buried so
deep that not a single other soul could know. She speaks of answers to your questions, and
the fulfillment of your fate. She speaks of inheritance and magic, and promises both - and
more. She speaks in riddles, and whispers in tongues.

In the final dream, she spoke thusly:

"Seek the Thief, the Soldier, and the Monk," she told you. "You will know them by their signs -
the Devil's horns; the blinded eyes; and the setting sun's scales. You will find them in the
home of night's steed, behind the walls of the dagger's ford.

"Once you have found these companions, seek out the travelling man of many colors. His
song will guide you to me."

When you awoke, the moon still high in the night's sky, you waited for the dream to fade from
your mind. Instead, you felt the visions solidify, clarify - and felt a weight in your lap. When
you looked down, you saw a single playing card resting there: the Beggar.

The next morning, you packed your possessions and prepared for the journey. After
consulting a map, you decided your destination: the Nightmare's Stable, in the town called
Daggerford.

The road lay before you, and your past lay behind. As the sun rose above your head, you
steeled your will, cleared your mind, and let fate guide your step.
In this particular example, the Thief is the tiefling rogue, the Soldier the aasimar paladin, and
the Monk the dragonborn cleric. This dream is relayed to the dragonborn sorcerer, the Beggar,
whose sign is “the dragon’s mark.”

Upon arriving in Daggerford, the PCs soon find each other to be the only other inhabitants of the
Nightmare’s Stable, and can easily detect their companions by their signs. The barkeep, a sour
man named Kelrick, can inform them that a troupe of Vistani recently arrived in town to perform
and share stories in their encampment, a fact that is advertised on a flyer just beside the bar.

Inform your players ahead of time that you encourage them to keep their personal quests and
backstories private until such a time as they become directly relevant to the story. It is a
common temptation for many new players to introduce their characters by revealing their true
appearance (“My arms are secretly covered in dragon scales”), their hidden motives (“I’m the
lost heir of a great kingdom, and I want to reclaim my throne”), and their personal tragedies (“I
got my entire platoon killed in battle. I regret it every day”). Do your best to keep your players
from doing this. Their personal quests are much more enriching and interesting to the other
players and NPCs if they are revealed piecemeal, with each delicious hint and secret dropped
bit-by-bit over the course of the first two-thirds of the campaign, rather than dumped on the table
all at once.

The Road to Barovia

Upon arrival at Stanimir’s camp, the PCs are greeted warmly by Stanimir’s children, as if the
party’s arrival has been expected. After introducing himself, Stanimir invites the PCs to sit by his
fire and share a story or experience “that can make a man laugh, or make a man weep.” Vistani
trade in stories, not money ,and this is an ages-old custom for guests invited to sit around a
Vistani fire. As a roleplaying exercise, each PC may then relay a personal tale of joy or sorrow,
keeping it as brief and vague as desired.

When each PC has delivered their tale, Stanimir then relays his own story of Barovia’s “dark
prince,” as depicted in the Mysterious Visitors hook of the original module. Notably, however, he
does not ask the PCs to defeat Strahd or break his curse; rather, he changes the story to subtly
draw comparisons to the PCs’ own hidden backstories, and concludes by informing the PCs that
Madam Eva has seen their destinies intertwined with Strahd’s own.

The PCs are welcome to sleep overnight at the Vistani camp. The following morning, the Vistani
pack up and guide the party to Barovia through the misty woods beyond Daggerford. After a full
day of travel, it becomes evident to the party that they have “shifted” en route to a different
forest entirely, slipping into the space between planes. Stanimir leaves the PCs at Barovia’s
gates, confessing that Madam Eva has banished his caravan from Barovia for some offense
many years ago, and that his service in transporting the PCs is part of the payment for his
transgression. He bids them luck, and tells them to stay on the path, and to beware of dangers
that may far overpower them.
Tarokka Readings & Beyond
When the PCs arrive at Madam Eva’s tent, they are presented with two readings: their individual
readings (as described here), and the standard reading involving the three artifacts and ally.
After completing the personal readings, Madam Eva informs the PCs: “Your fates are
intertwined, and your hands will be those that free this land from darkness,” and proceeds
directly to the standard reading.

As your PCs make their way throughout Barovia, accomplishing each task in turn (e.g., restoring
Argynvost’s skull, reclaiming Petrovna’s holy symbol, or bringing down the Gulthias Tree),
consider bestowing them some boon or charm as a reward for achieving this milestone. For
example, the draconic sorcerer may receive a gift of flight from Argynvost’s spirit; the aasimar
paladin may be allowed to shift her subrace from fallen to protector; or the elven ranger may
receive limited power over plantlife from a thankful Lady of the Fanes. While you should take
care to keep these boons from being overpowered, you should also enjoy the experience of
tailoring them to your players and their sense of fun. Curse of Strahd has few true moments of
accomplishment, and this is a rare opportunity to truly reward your PCs for their deeds.