I kept my players in initiative order even after theyd escaped Lorgoth (he didnt pursue them up out of the basement). It is also included in the Curse of Strahd adventure module on page 211 under Appendix B. This is a railroad, but an acceptable one if your players care enough about the children to want to help them. You can see the tendrils grip on the walls tighten with crushing force. If the PCs comply and a living being is killed off on the altar, the house is appeased and they will be able to leave peacefully and level up. Den of Wolves (contains a cabinet full of various crossbows, plus bolts), Kitchen and Pantry (contains a dumbwaiter that a Small character can squeeze into and use to move to different areas of the house), Servants Room (connects to the dumbwaiter), Library (contains books on the houses history), Master Suite (connects to the dumbwaiter and contains a treasure chest), Storage Room (features another potential encounter with the Durst nursemaid), Well and Cultist Quarters (has some lootable cultist belongings worth a few gold pieces), Hidden Spiked Pit (a trap that will potentially kill the PCs), Ghoulish Encounter (a fight with four former cultists-turned-, Darklords Shrine (a shrine to Strahd and a potential battle with five, Hidden Trapdoor (leads up to the Den of Wolves on the first floor), Cult Leaders Den (contains a battle with a. Throughout, the PC received a sense of quiet pride from Rose. The GUIDE index for Curse of Strahd and other related articles can be found here ! Death House could even be played as a thrilling horror one-shot adventure. If an entire army of Knights could not defeat Strahd, what hope does your party have? Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Also PCs will find the houses deed and a deed to the mill near Vallaki. The most important is the silvered shortsword in 25E (page 218). And then level 3 after escaping the house. Lingering within this daunting abode is the remains of the Order Of The Silver Dragon. ), its a good stopping point for your first session. The Essential Books EVERY Game Master Should Read, Immersive Theatre Techniques for Game Masters, Turn & Destroy Undead in D&D 5e Explained, The Ultimate Guide to Warlock Patrons in D&D 5e. Make sure you follow the rest of this Curse of Strahd DM Guide. Theres no shortage of fantastic adventure modules available for D&D 5e. Emphasize the sections of the house that reveal the eerie lore of the Dursts, and simplify all else. The descriptions in the adventure are pretty vivid and you might be tempted to gloss over some of them (especially if you havent read ahead in the full Curse of Strahd adventure.). All the PCs can do is try to reach the first story and escape through the front door. As written, its a fun and challenging (almost too challenging!) It is described in this subheading under "Alterations to Magic" on p. 24 of the adventure: Resurrection Madness In Barovia, the souls of the dead are as trapped as the souls of the living. The link to MandyMods guide is above or right here: https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/8sfpkn/fleshing_out_curse_of_strahd_part_2_entering/. All the latest gaming news, game reviews and trailers. The house is not at all that dangerous if your players pick the right choices. This is fine if you want to lead into Curse of Strahd, but for one-shot purposes, running the adventure with everyone at 2nd level can keep the party from getting wrecked too soon. The PCs could hear her making gentle cooing sounds, and see her rocking the crib gently. Would love your thoughts, please comment. What has been your experience with the Death House? Your group might choose to fight it and risk death. I added some handwriting font, put them on a parchment background, and they all came up well. As written, the plot hook is simply that there is a monster in the house. The party will attack them. The adventure was unveiled in the February 2016 issue of Dragon+ as an example of the thrills that would come in the then-unreleased Curse of Strahd. Would love to revisit Death House some day and not mistakenly murder my friends instantly. Cult Leaders Quarters.- Gustav and Elisabeth Durst are here, they are ghasts. Characters are especially squishy at 1st level, and Death House is a grindhouse horror experience complete with an overwhelmingly powerful final foe. Argynvostholt is a castle-like manor full of corruption and despair. ), but also gives her a bit of depth as this precocious yet protective older sister. People either absolutely love it or hate it! Most likely there will be no sacrifice, which will anger the illusory cultists. Created by the house to lure in victims, the illusions drop vague hints about a monster in the basement and the sins of their parents. Set in the realm of Barovia, a Domain Of Dread within Ravenloft, your players find themselves transported here and trapped. 12. Their ghosts are here. Or jump from a balcony. As a new DM don't worry about getting things wrong. Be careful when you use these, though. NEXT: Dungeons & Dragons: The Best Online Tools For DMs. There is lots of foreshadowing for the story to come. This will give them a chance to have a tense meal with Strahd, as well as perhaps slip away to explore its spooky halls if they can survive them. However, this is more a set of skill challenges than combat. I never thought of that. In reality it doesnt matter what or who dies on the altar. All the maps in this website are registered under the Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial CC BY-NC. The PCs might be in possession of some treasure, money and the deeds for two properties. This makes the encounter with a coven of hags all the more imposing. 9. This video discusses the death house dungeon encounter disasters that you want to avoid in the curse of strahd adventure for dungeons & dragons 5e. Required fields are marked *. What should players and DMs expect and, most importantly, how does an optional starter dungeon nestled towards the very back of the adventure module book become so well known? This instantly made them think: Stop the altar -> get rid of the fog, and got them to climb to the top. If/when the PCs try to leave, the children will try to possess them, not out of aggression but out of fear of abandonment. Death House is a modern Dungeons & Dragons horror classic. The Death House is actually a very challenging dungeon. Dungeons & Dragons: The 8 Scariest Locations In Curse Of Strahd, Dungeons & Dragons: The Best Adventures From Candlekeep Mysteries, why Ravenloft is one of the best settings in D&D, just how unsettling the domains of dread can be, Story Hooks In D&D You Always See And Why They Work, Dungeons & Dragons: Ideas For Running A One-Shot, Dungeons & Dragons: The Best Online Tools For DMs. Thunk me later! You cant just go ahead and say Its a Shambling Mound. 15-18. Its not exactly an adventure for new D&D players, but it often ends up being experienced that way thanks to Curse of Strahdbeingone of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons' premiereadventures. Barovia becomes a tomb for all who end up there. This is better because you never say the monster name, avoiding metagame knowledge. Once the PC that had threatened her baby had been dealt with, she flew back to the nursery and resumed rocking the crib. And they wont find something quite like that anytime soon. The second encounter is with a broom of animated attack. Two ghosts can easily kill a level 1 party, however they are not aggressive and even if a fight starts, the two children are more likely to flee than to attack. Give them your quest hook and get them into Barovia. Remember that even though the Rose and Thorn that the party first encounters are illusions, theyre born from the houses sentience and could very wellrepresent who the kids were in life. A level 2party which has had no long rests and several tough fights will not win this fight without losing some PCs. Perhaps she legitimately loved Gustav and hoped to free him from the cults influence. Thank you! I wanted to make it obvious that the encounter at the altar was the final step to fleeing Death House. They starved to death after their parents locked them in their room. PCs will recognize the children. 3. 5 Tips for Running the Death House One-Shot From Curse of Strahd, make thecombat encounter more interesting, Strahd Must Die Tonight! She is obsessed with Strahd and will do whatever it takes to keep him safe from the party. Looking over the dolls by the handful, each one showed an expression of pain and fear. Consider also reducing the number of ghouls and/or shadows in the Dungeon Level. Oh, Death House. Even just traveling around Barovia can be a spooky experience. Either way Count Strahd is satisfied, since playing with good or evil aligned subjects is entertaining for him all the same. Master Suite.- Theres a jewelry box with jewels worth 900 gp. joining the sa forums will remove this big ad, the annoying underlined ads, and stupid interstitial ads!! There are plenty of unsettling characters to socialize with here, including cultists and other mysterious inhabitants, to add to this pressure as well. Both DeiGratia and Abuget can be downloaded over at www.dafont.com. Thank you for this. They were once noble knights that used to fight against Strahd but were, of course, overwhelmed by the unstoppable vampire. However if you wish to start from level 1, the attached dungeon crawl Death House is a great tool to level the party up, set the tone of the campaign and introduce a few clues and facts about the realm. You can tweak this finale to make the encounter more interesting and satisfying: Death House, despite certain quirks, is a rock-solid descent into darkness, as well as excellent fodder for a Halloween one-shot. Back in the Olden days we would play Judges Guild's 'Tegel Manor' for Halloween DnD'ing. Darklords Shrine.- Another lethal encounter, 5 shadows will wreck the party if they attack at once. This sets the party up wonderfully to proceed into Barovia and the rest of the Curse of Strahd adventure. Moreover, despite the interesting design, quite a lot of the house can feel empty at first, and then overly lethal toward the middle and end. Childrens Room .- The remains of Rose and Thorn are here. So theres a certain level of are we going to play D&D? here. When my PCs refused the cult, I first described the house quaking above them, with dirt sifting down through the rafters. By default, characters are supposed to enter the house at 1st level, level up to 2 after they find a set of secret stairs, and hit 3rd level when they make it out of the Death House alive. Set in the realm of Barovia, a Domain Of Dread within Ravenloft, your players find themselves transported here and trapped. Which makes for a really fast way to level up from level 1 to 3. Did you like this guide? The party is expected to take them at face value and enter the house as soon as possible. Death House says the children know theyre dead, so run with that concept. 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