Greetings WotC community,
I've done a search for the 3.5 super adventure: "Expedition to Castle Ravenloft" in the forums and I didn't find this posted anywhere, though I'm sure many people are interested. See, I'm wanting to run the adventure as a one off super adventure in 4th edition with a group of four players. Infact I've wanted to run it for a few years now. The rest of this post assumes you know the adventure, and have read the DMG II.
After thoroughly reading through the book, I've come to realize that it's not going to be a simple task. Because the encounters and nature of the plot is such that it was designed with a 3.5 edition mindset. I can't just remake or replace to monsters to 4th edition varients. Because I will end up with static stand and fight encounters instead of dynamic move and fight encounters.
I've sectioned the adventure in to smaller units so I can work on it more efficiently. Starting with ACT I: The zombie infestation. So I'm primarily focusing on that right now, and just writing notes on the other two sections. I'm using the alternative rewards system from the Dungeon Master's Guide II which will completely replace magic items. I'm also using the escalation pacing model for combat encounters, in adition with the concept of group storytelling also from the Dungeon Master's Guide II and using Simpler Experience Points from the Dungeon Master's Guide; Taking note of the sections under Super Adventures, Building Adventures, and Starting at Higher Level.
I'm using the Strahd Von Zarovich monster stats from Open Grave: Secrets of Undead. And I'm considering using the Von Zarovich Family Sword artifact from the same source, though changing the name to "Zarovich Family Sword" because "Von" means "Of" (lol). The super adventure will begin at 15th level, and finish at 21st level (at the moment they kill Strahd). I'm going to give them a level after they successfully deal with the zombie infestation. So they will get two counts of divine boon or grand master training, or one of each. In addition to lots of monetary treasure such as gold, gems, and artwork.
I'm using Strahd's primary goal; Brook no Rival, and the first story hook Smuggler's Den. Other than that, I want to keep the plot flexible, and not define much beyond the first level of play. I've read through the 3.5 edition supplement Heroes of Horror, and I want to create a mood of internal struggle in adition with basic horror elements such as a suspenseful build up, and dread encounters. I've easily adapted the rules of horror from heroes of horror to 4th edition in the form of simple skill checks and gaining phobias of what killed you; after being restored to life. I've also adopted the concept of taint, and evil being a corrupting force - however, I'm not using the taint rules per se. Instead I want to primarily role play the effects of taint. I have created my own diseases that use the taint concepts of corruption and depravity, including disorders - which are diseases that attack will and require insight checks instead of endurance checks.
The purpose these disorders serve is to turn a character against the party (with the player's consent ofcourse). The party will begin good aligned, and through an internal struggle within that character's background; he or she will turn against the party during the course of the adventure, and become a significant villain, that player will then have to create a new character to balance the party. I think this is even a more terrifying threat than character death, because usually, characters can be returned to life. But if your character becomes irredeemably evil. Not only will the character become a villain against the party, the character is gone for good. 
The adventure is starting in the Mortal Plane where the characters travel to Barovia and become trapped in Ravenloft the Domain of Dread in the shadowfell, because it is infact, a shadowcrossing. I want to create this super adventure as organized and as professionally as I can. Most of my adventures tend to scrawled on first inspiration as insane ramblings on scrap paper which make for terrifying hand outs but poor references. Is there some tried and true, step-by-step instructions for putting together a page by page professional looking adventure, like something you might buy from WotC?
I notice they all have some similar design patterns, which I've taken notes on. Perhaps you've already recreated this adventure in 4th edition. If so, how did you do it?
Do you want to help me create this adventure?
if so, do you have any ideas on encounter objectives for the zombie infestation? -I don't want to give the characters an extended rest until they have secured the town of Barovia. Instead, I want to give them lots of easy encounters, and have the final encounter be a long encounter.
What if the characters fail? -how should I progess the overall plot. I plan on running the PC betrayal somewhere in the middle of the adventure.
Thanks for reading,
Runescribed
Even within editions, specific techniques have changed. Bottom line: Type the module so that someone other than the writer can run it. Include all maps at the appropriate spots; either include monster/trap stat blocks or give page numbers. When explaining things, be concise; when describing things, be evocative but not wordy.
If you are using the OG Strahd, you may need to start at a higher level or make the adventure longer.
I'm involved in a very similar project to yours, but I've decided to remake most of it, keeping only the basic story and map of Barovia in tact. I find sticking too closely to the module is more work, plus I want to add areas like a sunken ship, etc.
The main points of the zombie incursion are:
- zombie popping! Make lots of minions; give every zombie Strahd's Dread Zombie self-reviving ability.
- feeling confined & overrun Steal some building layouts from the module and try expanding on them to create winding, narrow halls for the zombies to trap the players, as well as windows thru which players or zombies can break. While minions go down easily, you need just a few nasty things to get the PCs scared and push them from the streets into the houses. I recommend something that stuns to help the minions get in more hits. During combat, allow these monsters to switch places with an adjacent minion as a move action so they can wade thru the crowds. Put some stairs and second storeys in if desired.
The entire incursion needn't last more than 3 large encounters but experiment:
- Get swarmed, don't die. This encounter has limited enemies or could last until X number of turns are up, whereupon some help arrives to clear the zombies from behind.
- You meet the last sane/alive Barovian priest; protect him as you make your way to the town square. Only he knows the prayer to ring the bell there and repel the zombies. He has it written on a scroll he carries should he perish, but this encounter is an "arrive at a point" encounter, so the enemies could be endless.
- Find a ladder and climb the bell tower in the center of town to ring it (throw in some flying enemies); the blessing put on the bell of old should repel the swarm from the barricade walls long enough for the villagers to repair it. Once rung, the bell cracks, its magic gone. This should get the PCs moving on a way to break the curse.
I'm expanding the area under the church to be a mini dungeon (lab-themed) with strange things breaking out of tanks, electrical traps, and oozes. Maybe 10 rooms.
Thanks for the reply, I plan on the adventuring taking 6 levels. Those are some interesting ideas you have. I'm considering moving all of Barovia into the shadowdark. Putting his castle in a hanging stalactite over a vast subterrainian sea with the shadowfell city gloomwrought floating on the surface. I could have the forrest fane be a fungi forest or something such. I should be able to pull off the isolated and claustrophobia feelings of the zombie infestation. Instead of an infection, I might make the city a temporary darkland from the manual of the planes. The domains of dread change to reflect their dark lord's mood. Something could be triggering his dark mood, and the whole city is overun with zombies. The PCs then have to perform a ritual of some kind in a holy place to restore the city to "normal".
I'm completely stumped on plot though. Strahd's primary goal is Ireena. So perhaps the PCs could meet her in a village above ground *one that Strahd is scrying on*, and through his sinister plot; the PCs might be tricked into taking her with them into a deep cave of sorts in the Mortal World that acts as a shadow crossing into the shadowdark domain of dread. Finding themselves trapped, with no way to go but deeper into the cold darkness of the shadowdepths (maybe change shadowdark to shadowdeep or shadowdepths). Brining Ireena directly to Strahd will make the PCs feel horrible when they discover his true intentions.
But making this all work in a plot, and including the coven of witches and vistani... well, it just makes it more confusing... Why would the PCs take her into a dark cave anyway? "I can live with being a pawn if the game makes sence"- Freespace II (lol).
Edit: I don't know why it made that text bold, It's not in the code...
EtCR was written with the "greater mobility" idea in mind, according to one of the authors, so it's not quite as difficult to get 4E movement working in it as you might think. (They cited the castle library encounter as an example of this, with several creatures (one being an innocent) in nearby rooms, arranged in such a way that there was a reasonable chance of the battle spilling into all of them.) The streets are generally open enough to allow individuals to slip past others, and including some ranged enemies (corruption corpses, etc) gives the players a reason to want to do so. If that isn't enough, you can easily add internal doorways between the rooms that the map normally considers to be separate so that PCs and creatures can circle around through those.
The PCs didn't bring Ashlyn with them to the church, but one of them is a psion (Dragon preview) and was in occasional communication with her via that sending-type power, so the party knew that time was not on their side. (They'd rebuilt and reinforced the barricades while there, but the attacks were growing more intense as time went on.)
I did want to avoid overly complicated battles to start since the players were still getting used to their characters and they haven't had nearly as much 4E experience as I have. Now that the zombie plague is dealt with, the wilderness and the castle are open to them. They've already had the card reading, which turned out to be interesting: the artifacts were both in town, and one of them needs to be woken at the crypt of Ravenovia - where the Tome also rests.
The wilderness encounters are fairly wide open by their nature, so they won't need much map work, but I'll certainly be revising the creatures and possibly adding or removing some. I've also established motivations for some NPCs that will give the PCs reason to venture to areas that might not otherwise seem relevant. For example, Bildrath wasn't always a miser - he was embittered when his sister and her family were killed by the Svalich werewolves while traveling the road; Parriwimple was the sole survivor. Since the cards placed the Sunsword in his shop, he might be willing to part with it in return for vengeance rather than money - and bringing closure to that tragedy might soften his manner, which would help them (and the village) in other ways. Since there's no other reason for the PCs to need to go out that way, this gives them a hook to do so - one that they don't *need* to take to complete their main objectives, but it may help them in the long run if they do so.
I haven't looked at the castle too closely yet, but I can think of a few places where larger-scale encounters would be suitable. Given Strahd's secondary motive, the castle's occupants aren't going to be fully mobilized against the PCs at the outset, so some of those encounters might not even result in fights - yet.
Hey,
That thought actually crossed my mind, that the adventure was very ahead of it's time and all I had to do with the encounters was replace/add monsters and objectives. I have a new player, and a player with low-ish experience in my group, the latter of which decided she really wants to play a Tiefling Psion, so I'm interested in how it goes in your adventure.
It's true that it's a heroic tier setting; A village. But I decided I'd use strahd's stat block from open grave which is level 20! -wow. How does that make sence? -It doesn't even include his bonuses from connections to the land, or the dayheart (which is basically rendered pointless in this setting since all vampires except the most basic of vampire spawn are fine in sunlight). The are so many breaks story wise, I don't even know where to begin.
To adapt the paragon tier flavour, Strahd can't just have control of a village, he needs power over an army. By 20th level, it's fair to say that strahd has an army of undead or such in the world. And why is he in the world anyway? -since ravenloft is a domain of dread, and it was moved in to the shadowfell with 4th edition. Plus, a lot of the way people speak in the setting, and a lot of the way flavour text is written assumes that heroes are common place. They do truly talk like characters from the Greyhawk setting.
It probably seems like I'm looking way too deep into this but, I simply hate players who undermine my plot and find inconsistencies in it. It makes the whole world fall apart. A 20th level character could probably easily deal with the mists of Ravenloft also, argh. Maybe it's best suited for starting at level 1 -I could custom create all the monsters...it would make it easier on the new players. But damn, that's a lot of work to do...
Why-oh-why did they make a clearly heroic threat (He only threatens the village and the PCs lives) level 20 for christ sake... an upper paragon threat? I mean, lol, he's almost epic tier. He's no threat to anyone outside of Barovia, because he's bound there. Or did they assume that he just flies around the world, eating people? and the PCs have to stop him? lol. How on earth could he be an epic tier threat? if you add the bonuses he gets, he should be level 25. That means he can threaten the Mortal World itself... that's just nuts. I think they wanted to make him cooler, so they increased his level... seriously... I propose a new system of monster stat blocks.
Instead of assigning an arbitrary level to monsters. Instead divide them into Heroic, Paragon, and Epic depending on which tier their powers are suited to, and the threats they pose (not unlike artifacts). Instead of writing attacks as "+13 vs AC;" write them as "Level+3 vs AC;". That way we don't have to worry about a monster being too high or too low for use in our campaigns. Include the system for building monsters into the monsters themselves. What do you think?
I'm basically left with two choices, heroic or paragon. If I want to make it a paragon adventure, I've got to up the stakes, make it a city. Paragon characters don't fear for their lives the way heroic characters do. Plus, paragon tier characters can have whole armys at their disposition. Infact, if you think of it in terms of story, I think paragon tier characters would find being trapped in Barovia a minor inconvenience and not really worth their time; -why would they worry about a single village when there are other threats in the world that threaten entire cities? they would probably use a ritual to portal out, since there are no more dark powers to stop them.
What do you think about making it a level 1-6 super adventure? ;with Strahd being level 6 solo controller leader with lots of allies on hand? The encounter level would start at 9th level, and it would drop by 1 for each fane the PCs destroy, removing a related fane spirit from the encounter. And removing vampire spawn between the PCs and the final encounter when the Day Heart is destroyed.
The PCs would move through a shadow crossing to come to Barovia, and when Strahd is killed, Barovia would become a normal place in the world again -because it's his curse that's keeping the location as a domain of dread in the shadowfell.
This would only require minor modifications to the plot, and I could use all the maps. I would just have to create monsters, encounter objectives, alt. rewards, and artifacts. Do you think that this is better or worse than my original plan?
Likewise, the Demiplane of Dread/Shadowfell material is ignored for the purpose of this adventure. EtCR is based on the original I6: Ravenloft from 1st edition, in which Barovia was just a remote valley in the normal world, and EtCR uses that same premise. The "Demiplane of Dread" concept was a much later invention of 2nd edition, and is largely incompatible with I6 and EtCR.
I think that the Dayheart is still relevant. In my plans, the Dayheart protects him from Radiant damage, as well as negating any ill effects of sunlight, which both reduces the effectiveness of undead-killing Radiant spells and also provides him with insurance against the Sunsword and Holy Symbol. Hence, removing it from the equation is still very much in the PCs' interest.
In a campaign I've been running since Second Edition, through Third and Edition, and now building the sequel in Fourth Edidtion, the plot was simple...
Second Edition:
Barovia exists in a real world called Tarn Solvaney where the player's characters lived. Almost 300 years ago Strahd was pulled into Ravenloft and trapped there, the Demiplane created a duplicate Barovia in which to imprison him.
There were multiple plots going on at the same time, the first plot was the queen's sister getting kidnapped by an evil mage, Mogoroth from the adventure A Light in the Belfry, and both were pulled into Ravenloft. One of the heroes was a champion of the king and was requested to go and save the queen's sister Aurora. Another hero was an evil warlock who had a flaw that he must always keep a promise and he once promised Aurora that no harm would ever come to her. It was the only way to get the two characters to work together to save Aurora. Investigating the kidnapping soon sent them to Ravenloft to deal with Morgoroth.
During the rescue mission the king's champion, Sir Stewart, learned that if Aurora lived the queen would die... the other player character, Corwin, talked Stewart out of killing Aurora by coming up with a plan to save the queen. When they returned home they also found that a year had passed.
The second plot was a cult that was amassing power to one day take over the Castle in Barovia and rule over Tarn Solvaney. A year after Corwin and Stewart went into Ravenloft the cult sent an assassin to kill the king and queen, the assassin only succeeded in killing the queen. In the year that passed the cult had built itself into a small army and was hidden in base up in the far north.
Third Edition:
Same characters were updated to the new rules and the campaign continued. Until the end when Sir Stewart finally moved towards an evil alignment and became a blackguard. Corwin was proud of himself for converting the knight. The characters were 20th/21st level in the final battle where the cult leader and the player characters were pulled into ravenloft and never seen again.
I went back in time to run Expedition to Castle Ravenloft with the same players but new characters and at the end of the adventure is when Strahd and Barovia were pulled into the domain of Ravenloft.
Fourth Edition:
I'm still playing with the plot lines, but they're going to be pretty simple. When the cult invaded the castle they also invaded many cities by using portals so that they could take over a city from the inside.
The new campaign will start 3 to 6 months after the previous campaign where Stewart and Corwin vanished. Tarn Solvaney is held together by a thread and one major city, Avonleigh where Aurora used to live, that is building up its defenses in preparation for an attack. This is where the new players will be located.
I want to have the new players pulled into Ravenloft a couple times and learn that it's Ravenloft's way of testing heroes. In previous published Ravenloft adventures there was an event called the Grand Conjunction that joined Ravenloft to the material plane and allowed some of the Darklords to escape. I might use this as the main plot focus the players will learn of and attempt to stop... would make sense that Ravenloft is testing them to see if they have what it takes to stop the event from happening.
The cult army is the first plot focus, someone has taken control of the army and is regrouping and moving forces toward Avonleigh. I want the players to focus on who the leader is and taking them out first, then the army will fall much quicker.
Plots:
So I don't thik plots have to be fool proof, I can find all kinds of flaws in my campaign. A number of times players have said that something doesn't make sense and usually in discussing it they come up with a better idea that makes sense to them. I then take their idea, which could be small and we move on, or it could be a big idea that requires me to change some things.
Example:
Above in the Second Edition portion of the campaign I mentioned that the queen was going to be assassinated, this wasn't my idea. The idea came from Corwin's player and it was brilliant, have the noble knight make a choice... either choice caused someone to die and Stewart would be responsible either way. It made for a great story and I went with it.
Back to Plots:
You have a great idea of having Strahd and Barovia in the Shadowfell and when I first started reading the rules I figured that's where it should be. I think somewhere in the Planes book it says Demiplanes are set apart, but that doesn't mean you need to change it, for now I would go with what you have unless it absolutely doesn't work.
I think the level is unimportant as long as there's a reason the players can't leave. If you have the reason before adventuring begins and the clues to give to the players as they investigate, then when someone tries to leave and can't it won't be such a shock.
Strahd's goal will be important, and he could have more than one. Somewhere intertwined with his main goal is the underlying truth that he wants to escape Shadowfell and he's taking all of Barovia with him.
Expedition to Castle Ravenloft:
Barovia... I think with a few changes to the encounters you can give the village the feel you're after. I think I made shadowy creatures flying in the rainy fog that the village was in. I changed the rain fall once in while so that visibility wasn't constant. If someone went off exploring on their own then shadowy creatures would soon fly in their direction. The players wound up making a base camp at the Burgomaster's house, they boarded it up and patrolled the hallways and rooms every night... I have a drawing of the house I can upload in case you think you'd need it.
I hope some of this helps.
Instead of assigning an arbitrary level to monsters. Instead divide them into Heroic, Paragon, and Epic depending on which tier their powers are suited to, and the threats they pose (not unlike artifacts). Instead of writing attacks as "+13 vs AC;" write them as "Level+3 vs AC;". That way we don't have to worry about a monster being too high or too low for use in our campaigns. Include the system for building monsters into the monsters themselves. What do you think?
If the damage is right for a whole tier, or if they can neatly scale that, then that is a very good idea.
Strahd's a brooder and has an army not for arms but for eyes, and those are most inhabitants of Barovia. The 3e module reached into early paragon, and if you assume Strahd will be higher level than the party for a climactic encounter, it only needs a little work. I'd suggest either adjusting Strahd's level (a Lv14 Strahd's within reach of a hearty Lv12 party) or expand the campaign (because my group likes Castlevania, I'm adding extra areas such as a wrecked ship, a taxidermy museum, and expanding the garden and forest thru the magic of OG monsters and a random dungeon map generator).
The 3e module may contain ideas for expanding the adventure, but some of mine are:
- Ireena is kidnapped by a third party; perhaps Strahd's brother crawled his way up from the jaws of hell and is just as nasty as his sibling. The players can let Strahd take care of him directly or not, but Ireena is still in very bad hands meanwhile.
- The saintly relics have been stolen and hidden/lost before Starhd's spies caught the thieves, OR the fane/relic deal requires an additional ingredient (things belonging to the saint in life, perhaps).
- Strahd's castle or his hiding place within is actually (A) sealed by a spell whose scattered pieces need to be found or (B) riddle-like prophecy conditions must be fulfilled before the doors can open.
Strahd's a brooder and has an army not for arms but for eyes, and those are most inhabitants of Barovia. The 3e module reached into early paragon, and if you assume Strahd will be higher level than the party for a climactic encounter, it only needs a little work. I'd suggest either adjusting Strahd's level (a Lv14 Strahd's within reach of a hearty Lv12 party) or expand the campaign (because my group likes Castlevania, I'm adding extra areas such as a wrecked ship, a taxidermy museum, and expanding the garden and forest thru the magic of OG monsters and a random dungeon map generator).
Strahd is already in the Adventure Tools Monster Builder, in there he can be copied and saved as different levels so that he could be used for any level the PC's might encounter him. Monster Builder would definitey make it easier to scale monsters up and down. You can drag powers from one monster and place it in another and re-write the wording and change damage fairly quickly. It's helped me generate new monsters in minutes.
One other thing that I plan to nab for my version of Strahd is the note from the 3E adventure about action points - PCs now get extra actions by spending APs, and if that extra action fails, Strahd regains a spent AP. (He'll still only start with 1 (elite) or 2 (solo) rather than five though - five would be excessive in 4E.)