Curse of Strahd (DND 5e) (Beginner and LGBTQ+ friendly) (I mean, Strahd is pan, so duh)
$15.00
/ Session
Details
Bi-weekly / Saturday - 4:00 PM UTC
Session Duration / 2–4 hours
3 / 6 Seats Filled
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Schedule
Meet your party members
3/6
About the adventure
“The bell tolls for all, child. Even the greatest mountain must eventually succumb to Time’s inevitable march. But there is one thing that does not heed the bell. One presence, that stains Barovia like an inkblot over poetry, endures the ages. He has lived so long, and seen so much, that to call him a husk would be an insult to snakeskin. He is a spectre, a demon, a dragon - something worse than all three combined. His name is Strahd von Zarovich, and his reign will never end.” Welcome, lovers of the Gothic, of winding tales, of high stakes and vicious consequences, welcome to ‘Curse of Strahd’, a D&D 5E adventure that draws heavily on Gothic tropes, folklore and fear to create a terrifying story for you, yes you, to enjoy! The adventure will take the form of a long campaign, wherein you will brave the misty borders of Barovia and explore its every rotten, reeking nook and cranny, all in aid of discovering more about the mysterious Count, whose sinister influence spreads like an infection across his domain. Some key, non-flowery info: I’ve played through ‘Curse of Strahd’ as a player, and, as a lover of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, as well as several other pieces of Gothic fiction, I’m excited to DM it! The adventure will begin at Level 3, and pregenerated characters will be available for new players to get you all into the game :)) Anyone who would like to create their own character - please, go ham! The campaign and setting support heavy and light roleplay, so feel free to go as in-depth as you please; it will genuinely give me the greatest pleasure to engage with your characters’ backstory, traits and ties to create an immersive experience! We will have a Session 0, in which we’ll discuss the tone and boundaries we’d like to operate by as a group - the campaign will form itself around the needs of whatever players decide to join, so, for example, if you’re up for spooks, but not gore or the like, then come along and get your voice heard! We will also be assigning pregen characters or building them together, whichever suits you. The session will establish your party’s links with each other, as well as providing a space where anyone can get clarification on any questions they might have about D&D or the adventure. The game will occur over collective video chat (and DM-to-individual video chat) with the addition of Roll20 for battlemaps and "ambient" art, and Discord bots for ambient music. And, on a final note, thank you so much for reading this pitch! If you have any questions, please DM me, and I will get back to you as soon as I can. I’m excited to meet you all, and run a game that I hope you’ll enjoy. Oh, and of course… Protect your pretty necks, little ones…there are vampires about…Mwahahahahah!
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(18)
2 years on StartPlaying
209 games hosted
Highly rated for: Voices, Creativity, Storytelling
About me
"In oceans of time, and worlds of space, what chance, what happy coincidence that we two might meet. What greater joy that we meet as friends. What unbearable agony that we shall someday part." Welcome! I love roleplaying games: playing, running, watching, talking about - you could say it's something of an unhealthy obsession. But rpgs and more specifically D&D have given me the best parts of my life, like amazing friends, brilliant memories and a sense of self that I wouldn't otherwise have. It would be my deepest pleasure to give other people that sort of joy. I'm a DM with about 6 years of experience, and about 9 years of rpg experience overall, and by throwing myself into the deep end, I've run several campaigns for lots of different people, many at the same time. It's inspired in me a love of fiction and collaborative storytelling, so whilst I write my little passion-project fantasy novel, I'm bound to also be knee-deep in fiddling with homebrew monsters and items, designing challenging and interesting encounters and constructing worlds of imagination that I just can't wait to share. Any fans of the "Throne of Glass" novels, the Grisha trilogy (and the "Six of Crows" books), Rick Riordan, "Dragonology"/"Monsterology", Garth Nix's "The Old Kingdom" novels or Skulduggery Pleasant (or Saga, or the Cthulhu mythos, or The Adventure Zone, or etc.), please prepare to have your ear talked off and to spot abundant references, inspirations and themes that betray just how deeply my childhood reading program marked me. I would be overjoyed to have you share your interests with me as well - it's my aim to not just run games, but to make friends, and it'd be an honour to have you take a seat at the (virtual) table.
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
As previously mentioned, we will be starting at level 3 and there will be pregenerated characters available for anyone to pick up if they would like. However, I am extremely glad to see anyone building their own characters, and would love to see and discuss them before the campaign begins. I would advise you to use D&D Beyond, as this will allow me to share homebrew and official purchased content with each of your characters - if you're unfamiliar with D&D Beyond, let me know, and we can go through it together.
Blood tells stories, long after it's dried. Stories of ambition and loss, of envy and folly - in short, tales of an eldest sibling. But what other tales curl about this land? What dark veins run beneath its pale skin, what secrets throb like a pulse beneath sharpened teeth? What power might be gleaned from its rotting facade? What sins, once committed, might arise again? It will be up to you, brave adventurers, to answer these questions - uncover what was forgotten and undo what was done. Only then may the horrors end. Just be sure not to let history repeat itself…
What to expect
Preparing for the session
There is no need to have a webcam, but please feel free too. Since we will be playing over Discord, you will need a mic however. A basic grasp of the concept of D&D would be good to have, but I am very experienced at coaching new players, so I'm always happy to explain rules, concepts or the ever popular "woah, woah, what the hell just happened?". As previously discussed, D&D Beyond and Roll20 are my preferred platforms for character building and battlemaps respectively, but these are both free websites so you won't need to buy anything. You may roll dice online or by yourself, and I will be installing a dice bot into our Discord server to give that as an option too. If you create your character on D&D Beyond, you will have the ability to turn it into a PDF or keep it as an interactable web page.
What Ned brings to the table
I will be providing shared access to all published sourcebooks, and pregenerated characters for player use. I will also be using Roll20 to generate and share interactable battlemaps for combat.
Platforms used
Safety
How Ned creates a safe table
This is a horror campaign, and the original campaign includes a lot of triggering content. Thanks to the folks on Reddit, as well as WotC updating the module, a lot of the more problematic and presented-as-unavoidable content has been readjusted for a more equitable and accessible gaming experience, but triggers remain. It's my greatest priority that everyone feels safe when playing, and I have been exploring a lot of new safety tools and discussions about the module online to make sure that I'll be doing my part there - ANY part of this campaign can and will be altered to make space for you, if you want to play. That's a promise. Before Session 0, I will be sending everyone a Monte Cook RPG Consent checklist (which is free online if you'd like to take a look by yourself). Once those are returned to me, I will begin to plan out our Session 0 with the aim of paying extra attention to themes highlighted by any of the players. Session 0 will start by getting to know each other a little bit, before moving on to focus around establishing our Lines and Veils, as well as explaining and reinforcing the Luxton Technique Discussion and establishing an Open Door policy. I'll go into a little more detail on the tone and content I expect the campaign to have and work out a routine for aftercare and debriefing that suits everyone. Once that's all been established, I'm open to answering any questions about D&D or the campaign, and I'll also be making time to either go through a couple of pregenerated characters or help anyone who needs a hand with character generation.
Content warnings
Safety tools used