🦇 Curse of Strahd: The Dark Beyond Ravenloft 🩸Levels 8-20
Beyond the mists lies Barovia: haunted, hungry, and twisted the Nug Gnome way — dark, weird, funny, and cruel. True dawn costs a monstrous price.
$20.00
/ Session
Details
Weekly / Sunday - 7:30 PM UTC
Oct 18 / Session 3
Session Duration / 3–4 hours
5 / 6 Seats Filled
Top Game Master
One of StartPlaying's top-rated GMs, a player favorite and highly recommended.
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Schedule
Meet your party members
5/6
About the adventure
Barovia is a cursed land of starving villages, haunted roads, old sins, and a vampire lord who has ruled for far too long. The mists do not simply trap people here — they change them. This is an expanded Curse of Strahd campaign running from level 8 to level 20, built for players who want gothic horror, strange magic, dangerous choices, and a version of Ravenloft that grows darker and weirder the longer you survive it. This is not a straight module run. I will be using Curse of Strahd as the foundation while expanding the campaign with original Nug Gnome material, deeper character arcs, custom encounters, altered villains, strange factions, and material from Ravenloft: The Horror Within. Barovia remains the heart of the story, but the mists may open paths to other Domains of Dread and stranger corners of Ravenloft, where different horrors, dark powers, and cursed rulers wait beyond Strahd’s shadow. The tone is dark gothic horror with flashes of grim humor, weird fantasy, brutal consequences, and occasional absurdity when the nightmare gets too ridiculous to stay solemn. You will face vampires, hags, werewolves, ghosts, cursed nobles, desperate villagers, dead gods, and things that should have stayed buried beneath Ravenloft. Combat will be dangerous, roleplay will matter, and your choices will reshape the land around you. This game is for players who enjoy long-form storytelling, character-driven drama, unsettling atmosphere, moral dilemmas, and a DM who enjoys rebuilding the adventure rather than keeping it safely on the rails. Bring someone with a reason to fight, a reason to fear the dark, and a secret Barovia can use against them.
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
4.9
(44)
2 years on StartPlaying
458 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Storytelling, Rule of Cool
Average response time: 3 hours
Response rate: 100%
About me
I'm currently a House DM at The Kobold Lounge, where I run 3 homebrew campaigns for adults, as well as an introductory game for kids and another for teens. I started with a weekly game at my house. Shortly after I learned to play, I had to move. To keep up with my new hobby, I found and joined ahome game that was posted online. It was a terrible experience. Nobody at the table was having fun except for the DM, who delighted in playing against his party. His players looked and sounded bored, almost miserable; I never went back. Instead, I decided to start my own game with one goal: to make sure everyone has fun! -- If money is an obstacle, please DM me. I care more about us having fun than making money. I put a lot of effort into becoming the DM I am today, I make immersive, creative content that literally over a hundred players have loved & that's why I'm here. I'd like to make a living doing this, but I care about my players & that's never going to change.--- I started running my first homebrew D&D campaign in 2016. Since then I've engaged in collaborative storytelling with a ton of amazing players. I enjoy being a Sandbox DM, and I love players with unique ideas they want to try. My tables, physical and virtual, are the place to try out that crazy character idea or homebrewed subclass. I want to DM on StartPlaying to reach a wide player base, bring people together to have a blast, and provide opportunities for players everywhere to participate in my games.
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
There will be time set aside for character creation during session 0. If you want to get started before that, we'll use rolled stats. Rolling 4d6, dropping the lowest and rerolling ALL 1's. We'll be starting at level 8. Any official or partnered content is fair game. I'll likely approve any balanced homebrew, I just need to look it over before signing off.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
Welcome! https://discord.gg/Bp92R2uqvm Pop into The Rusty Tankard channel and introduce yourself. Or just say "Hey" and ping @thenuggnome, or my mods @dan & @brinniemouse. We'll get you started and answer any questions you may have. Here's a link to the dndbeyond campaign we'll be using. https://www.dndbeyond.com/campaigns/join/78536063954815071
What DM Nug Gnome brings to the table
I bring a heavily customized, expanded version of Curse of Strahd designed for a long-form level 8–20 campaign. This is not a rigid module reading — I use the book as a foundation, then build outward with original encounters, altered villains, expanded locations, deeper faction play, and material from Ravenloft: The Horror Within. Barovia is the heart of the campaign, but the mists may open the way to other Domains of Dread and stranger corners of Ravenloft. As a GM, I focus on atmosphere, character choices, tactical danger, and memorable NPCs. Expect gothic horror, weird fantasy, grim humor, unsettling roleplay, and combats that feel dramatic without turning every session into a slog. I like when players surprise me, break the obvious path, make terrible deals, and force the world to respond. I provide a reliable weekly table, D&D Beyond access, maps, custom monsters, curated music and ambience when appropriate, character-focused story hooks, and a campaign that treats your backstory as ammunition. Ravenloft will not just sit there waiting for you to clear quests — it will notice you, tempt you, punish you, and change because of what you do.
Homebrew rules
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YpIO-GTrZSYB2FskTh4V2ANngNFcziey-E2t-AzllpY/edit?tab=t.0
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Computer
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How DM Nug Gnome creates a safe table
We'll go over safety tools in detail during session 0, but I utilize the X card system. I also strive to foster an inclusive, welcoming environment.
Content warnings
Safety tools used