We had our June Curse of Strahd session among summer thunderstorms, which was great for ambience! The group continues searching through Castle Ravenloft, only to encounter a familiar foe.

In these session prep posts, I go over what I did to prepare for my monthly Curse of Strahd sessions. I also talk a bit about what happened and what I need to prep for next time!

What I prepped:

  • Recap

Short recap this time, I mostly summarized where in Castle Ravenloft the party had explored and some remaining items they wanted to act on—their missing allies and the areas yet unexplored. The party leveled up at the end of the session, so Kara the bard came in with a nifty new spell called locate creature.

  • Location of allied NPCs—Ismark, Korina, and Ireena

I zeroed in on where exactly in Castle Ravenloft the party could find their missing allies. I briefly sketched out for myself (in one or two sentences) the situation the NPC was in. For example, Ismark Kolyanovich was trapped in the dilapidated torture chamber with the hostile vampire spawn, Sir Alexander. Kara’s locate creature spell allowed them to find him, but it also lead them into a combat encounter with the vampire bard and six zombies.

  • Random encounter—group of Barovian commoners

Right at the end of the last session, the group entered an unoccupied area of the castle. I rolled for a random encounter per adventure rules, the result was a group of four Barovian commoners. These people had had enough of Strahd and decided to storm the castle. I prepared a brief idea of their goals and personalities, which helped me roleplay the interaction between them and the party.

What I improvised:

  • Running the dungeon area

The hallway connecting the dungeon and the torture chamber has a few traps in the floor. These traps have a chance to be triggered by someone putting weight on them. But the way it’s written requires a bit of math, because there is a 5% chance the trap will activate for every 10 pounds placed on it.

Most of the time, I don’t worry too much about canonical weights for my character, so I was pleasantly surprised when my players had answers when I said, “Okay, weird question, how much do your characters weigh?” and waited while I math’d it out. (For example, a character weighing 120 pounds has a 60% chance to activate the trap, so a roll of 60 or lower on a d100 would activate it)

The dungeon area is supposed to have an NPC in it who connects back to a plotline connected to the werewolves. I decided to change this NPC and “fast forward” the timeline for him being trapped in the cell, so he’s not there anymore. This helped keep the party focused on their initial goal—finding their NPC friend—and allows me to introduce him at a better moment.

  • The result of Lolth’s favor

Last session, Sirya’s calls to “whatever deity is listening” were finally answered—by the spider goddess of the drow, Lolth. Lolth offered Sirya a sort of “get out of danger free” favor (one time use) in exchange for something of equal value once Sirya escaped from Barovia. Sirya accepted the offer. In this session, they got into a bad situation when they freed Ismark. The vampire spawn, Sir Alexander, appeared with a group of six zombies. The party wasn’t at full strength to begin with, so Kara was knocked unconscious and, in the suffered two failed death saves from a vampire bite.

Sirya used the favor, and I improvised where that favor would transport them to. They had just explored Sergei von Zarovich’s tomb earlier in the session. The book describes it as unusually calm and peaceful, so it could function as a temporary safe place, I decided.

What I’ll prep for next time:

  • Rough timeline of other NPC and villain actions in the castle

The party is staying in Castle Ravenloft, so I’ll need to sketch out what happens for Ireena and Korina in the meantime. I’ll also need to hash out what Strahd and other enemies of the party will do.

  • Reread rules for followers and update Ismark’s stats

Ismark doesn’t have his usual equipment with him, so I’ll need to make a handout of his updated stats. This makes it so our existing handout for him doesn’t cause confusion.

And now that the party has an NPC follower with them again, I’ll need to brush up on their mechanics per MCDM’s Strongholds & Followers.

Thanks for reading! And don’t forget that even if the news cycle/social media trends have started to move on, the fight against police brutality and systemic racism continues—the protests haven’t stopped! I’ve gathered some resources here for ways to help and learn.