🦇 Curse of Strahd: Masquerade of Darkness 🦇

Creating your character

We will be using the 2024 D&D ruleset as our primary system. Legacy content from 2014 remains available as long as it has not yet been updated. Characters start at level 1 and will be created together during Session 0. If you prefer to prepare your character beforehand, feel free to do so. You may roll for stats using the methods outlined on the Discord server, or choose point buy or the standard array. All official books are permitted. Third-party or partnered content may be approved on a case-by-case basis. Characters built with the 2014 ruleset gain a bonus feat at level 1 from their background unless that background already provides a feat or extra spells. Along with your starting equipment, each character begins the campaign with one potion of healing. If you have any questions or need assistance, I’ll be available on Discord prior to the session.

Preparing for the session

Please have a working microphone, stable internet connection and head full of ideas. My favorite kind of player is a happy player. That is why the supply of water and a cup of your favorite tea and comfy place to play would be good preparation. Playing with camera on would be appreciated, but is not obligatory.

What Uriel brings to the table

➣ Forge/Foundry VTT with: - custom maps and tokens, - character sheets with pre-generated characters, - ambient music + sound effects ➣ Playing with the camera on helps everyone at the table feel each others emotion and feel the mood of the scene and also being scared by my unhuman facial expressions. ;) ➣ I use a good quality microphone to make sure that everyone would “enjoy” every single meeting with variety of next monsters, lunatics and abominations. ➣ About sticking to the rulebooks… I am a huge fan of my players’ characters and I like following their awesome and creative ways of dealing with the monstrosity of my worlds. As much as I love letting them shine and have their epic moments, I also admire bringing to them hard consequences of living in this particular universe full of cruel and horrible things.

Homebrew rules

Healing potions can be drunk or administered to another creature as a Magic action. Doing so restores the maximum amount of HP that potion can restore. (2024 specific) Rolling a Natural 1 on a d20 test restores a character’s Heroic Inspiration. If you already have Inspiration you may give it to a party member who doesn't, otherwise it is lost. Magical items can be attuned instantly. Breaking an attunement still requires a short rest.

How Uriel creates a safe table

A typical session begins with each of you stepping into the tools — D&D Beyond, Discord, and the Foundry VTT. Once gathered, once the static hush of Discord settles, we plunge directly into the mists. In this campaign, exploration and role-play are as vital as combat, for every corner of Barovia whispers, conspires, or hungers for you. The tone is steeped in gothic dread. Sometimes serious, sometimes eerily quiet, sometimes unnervingly strange — never safe. Each place you visit is fully realized: twisting forests, dying towns, candlelit manors, and crypts that echo with old grief, all supported by detailed maps and unsettling narration. Barovia is alive. And it watches. Every NPC you meet will feel like a soul caught in this cursed land. I bring them to life with distinct voices, accents, mannerisms, and when needed, unnatural vocal distortions… the kind that suggest something inside them is not entirely human. Or not entirely living. Death here is not theoretical — it is a constant, patient presence. Especially at early levels, the land itself can kill you as easily as its monsters. I do not soften blows, nor shield you from the consequences of your choices. The dice fall as they must, just as fate does in Barovia. Some threats are trivial; others are hopeless. Knowing when to flee is not cowardice — it is survival. My aim is to make the danger feel visceral, the tension real, and the mists thick enough that you almost feel them on your skin. This is a realm where courage matters, fear matters… and where Strahd von Zarovich may already know your name long before you speak his. Before Session 0, I will ask each of you to send me a private message outlining any themes, topics, or content you are uncomfortable with, or would prefer to keep behind the curtain. These boundaries will be integrated into our BHS safety framework, and we will discuss them collectively during the session without identifying which player set which limit. You may update or add new boundaries at any point during the campaign — your comfort and safety always come first, especially in a story steeped in fear, intensity, and gothic horror.