One Post from the Grave: Curse of Strahd with a Master of Dread!
The mists close in. Barovia calls. Will you survive its darkness—or become part of it? A gothic horror tale, one post at a time.
About the adventure
💥 Enter a grimdark world, where darkness pervades and survival against evil comes at the highest price. ⚔️ Enjoy creative and challenging combat scenarios. In this world, the things that go bump in the night know what they are doing. 🛠️ Adventure in a world filled with high Role-Play and complex characters like those seen on Critical Role! 🧠 Navigate complex political and personal social encounters in the original Gothic Horror campaign world. ============== This is a play-by-post campaign to be held asynchronously over Discord. The beauty of this format is that participants can contribute whenever they have the time, making it perfect for those with busy schedules or living in different time zones. Each player adds to the story at their own pace, giving themselves time to think on their character's actions and reactions. As your Dungeon Master, I will commit to post at least twice per day, 6 days a week; and encourage you as a player to post at least once per day.
Game style
Play By Post
Roleplay Heavy
Theater of the Mind
Game themes
$14.49
/ Session
Details
Weekly / Wednesday – 4:00 AM UTC
Jul 15 / Session 7
1 Hour Duration
1 / 8 Seats Filled
GAME MASTER
DM StoryMaster
he/him
5.0
(51)
Schedule
Each player will be charged when a session starts.
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(51)
4 years on StartPlaying
424 games hosted
Highly rated for: Storytelling, Creativity, Sets the Mood
Average response time: 9 hours
Response rate: 100%
About me
It started with a few friends, a pile of crayons, and some six-sided dice. Hunched over a bedroom floor in the late ‘80s, we crafted adventures with reckless abandon—dungeons sketched in frantic lines, monsters marked up with battle wounds, and Parcheesi tokens standing in for heroes. Rules? Who needed them? The thrill of the story was all that mattered. Even before I owned my first D&D set, I was hooked on the magic of tabletop roleplaying. Decades later, that same passion still fuels every game I run. Years of playing across countless systems have taught me that while mechanics shape the way we tell stories, it’s the stories themselves that truly matter. I take the best of these experiences and weave them into my games, crafting epic campaigns that blend rich storytelling, strategic challenges, and moments that make players feel like heroes—fully immersed in the emotion of the adventure. Storytelling is my wheelhouse, character arcs are my passion, and I love crafting encounters that get hearts racing. More than just running a game, I aim to create experiences—where choices matter, characters evolve, and the dice feel like fate unfolding. Whether you're a seasoned player or brand new to the adventure, I’m here to craft a story you’ll be talking about for years. So, grab your character sheet—let’s roll the dice and make something unforgettable.
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
Starting level is Level 1 for this campaign. Stats can either be 5e standard point buy or you can roll for them in the discord dice channel (Dice rolls are 4d6-drop lowest 7 times). Characters will be created in D&D Beyond. Please avoid reading any of the Curse of Strahd content available in official or unofficial sources. Let this story be revealed naturally so you get to enjoy the surprises!
This is a play-by-post game, billed weekly. It is played asynchronously (throughout the week). The GM will post *at least* twice/day 6 days per week. Players are asked to post at least 1/day 6 days per week. Please reach out to me at any time over Discord or email if you have any questions.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
A basic computer that can access Discord and Chrome or a similar browser are all you will need! We will go over house rules, character creation, etc. together in chat.
What DM StoryMaster brings to the table
💖 Most importantly, you will always be guaranteed a safe place to be who you are. Everyone of every stripe is welcome at my table and I will not put up with any personal attacks or derogatory language toward any real-world person. It's a horror game, and bad things happen *in-game* but it will never be allowed to flow out of the game. 🧠 Experience. I've run this campaign many times already. I have researched it exhaustively, and I know what it needs for an epic story to be told. ⚰️ Significant homebrew improvements and changes to the story. Even if you've played this adventure before, I will likely bring quite a bit of new material to the story for you. 🎼 Professional quality soundscapes and music through VTT. 🎨 GORGEOUS map and token assets, many created/kit-bashed together specifically for this campaign 🎭 Passionate and Descriptive story-telling. As a theater geek and writer, I will bring my A-game to our table and do my utmost to tell this story as immersively as possible. 👨👨👦👦 A Discord Community for campaign tracking, In character and out of character chat, and making new RPG friends 📚 Full access to every official WOTC D&D book catalog published for 5th edition character creation 💎 Premium accounts on both the VTT and DNDBeyond ⚔️ Creative and challenging combat scenarios. In this world, the things that go bump in the night know what they are doing. 👂 An open line of communication with me as the DM. Feel free to reach out to me any time via Discord direct message and I will get back to you as soon as possible. I am always happy to talk shop, character ideas, answer questions, and discuss any concerns that come up during the game.
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Platforms used
Safety
How DM StoryMaster creates a safe table
Session Zero will be handled asynchronously via Discord Chat, though I am available for a voice session if that will help you with any decision making challenges that arise. Character creation and updates will be handled via D&DBeyond, using my Master Account, which includes access to 17 official Character Creation books. A number of homebrew rules will be discussed and agreed upon before being added to the campaign. Each rule has been curated to drive home the horror aspects of this adventure and allow for the heroic rules of basic D&D 5e to morph in to something befitting the greatest Vampiric Horror Story of any RPG!