Strahd, Dead and Loving It? The 3 Wise DM’s Review of D&D 5E’s Curse of Strahd and DM Dave’s Campaign Through Ravenloft

3 Wise DMs

Ding dong, Strahd is dead! He was thrown down from a pillar and we smashed his head! And with that epic victory, the 3 Wise DMs are finally able to talk about their review of D&D 5E’s Curse of Strahd, including their thoughts on what worked, why and the adjustments DM Dave made.

It was a big group with 6 players, and Dave managed to connect each of them to the events in Ravenloft in some way. He talks with Thorin and Tony about how that worked, how the players and DM interacted to make the game what it was, and how he handled a group that pretty much refused to take Strahd seriously.

2:00 Strahd goes DOWN! The end of DM Dave’s Curse of Strahd campaign

5:00 The PCs and running a “serious” dark gothic campaign with characters who don’t take it that seriously

14:00 Tarokka Deck readings and how faith in randomness worked out

16:00 What brought us to Ravenloft and what DM Dave wanted to accomplish with it

18:00 Comparing 5E Curse of Strahd with previous editions of Ravenloft

21:00 The final battle and Dave’s version of Lord Strahd

26:00 Why Dave loved running this campaign and whether he accomplished his goals

29:00 Things Dave tweaked to make Ravenloft his own

35:00 How we set up the final battle in Castle Ravenloft

38:00 What is Strahd doing: Why he just didn’t kill everyone and why Dave played down the Ireena story

45:00 How Dave tied each player character into stories in Ravenloft

54:00 Story points where the party’s decisions caught the DM by surprise

58:00 One potentially triggering issue to run by players before Curse of Strahd: Violence against children

62:00 Final thoughts