Barovia Reimagined: Dark Powers Call | Curse of Strahd lvl 3–11

Creating your character

We'll go over the finer details of character creation during Session 0, including how your character fits into Barovia, what brought them to the mists, and how they fit into the party. Here are the important details to know beforehand: - Starting Level: 3 - Multiclassing: Allowed - Sources: All officially published D&D content is allowed. Unearthed Arcana and homebrew options require prior DM approval. - Ability Scores: You may choose either Standard Array, Point Buy, or rolled stats. - Rolling Stats: We'll roll 4d6, rerolling 1s, and drop the lowest die. Rolls will be made openly through Discord or Roll20 during Session 0. If your final ability-score total is below 72, you may reroll. - Character Concepts: Bring a character you’re excited to play! Your character doesn't need to know anything about Barovia before the campaign begins. In fact, discovering the land and its secrets alongside your character is encouraged. Backstories are welcome and encouraged. Give me something I can work with: a person your character cares about, something they fear, a goal they're pursuing, a mistake they regret, or something they desperately want. Your character's history and choices may become relevant during the campaign. Barovia has a way of finding the things people try to hide - The Dark Powers One of the unique elements of this campaign is the possibility of becoming connected to a Dark Power. These entities can offer characters extraordinary gifts, but those gifts are never entirely free. Your character's relationship with a Dark Power may develop throughout the campaign, with its influence, gifts, and demands changing over time. Exactly what that looks like will depend on your character and the choices you make. You don't need to build your character around this system or know anything about it beforehand. Just bring a character you want to see tested. I'll work with you during Session 0 to make sure your character fits naturally into the setting and has a reason to adventure with the party.

Preparing for the session

You'll need: 1. A Roll20 account to access the virtual tabletop. 2. A Discord account for voice chat and campaign communication. 3. A character sheet of your choice. Roll20, D&D Beyond, a digital sheet, or even a physical character sheet are all fine. As long as you can share your character information when needed, use whatever works best for you. Before the Campaign You do NOT need to read Curse of Strahd before joining. (Please don't) If you've played the adventure before, that's completely fine, but please treat this campaign as its own experience. Familiar locations, characters, and story elements may appear differently than you remember. For new players, I'll explain what you need to know as we go. Before Session 0, come with a rough character concept if you have one. You don't need a complete backstory or perfectly optimized character. We'll build the details together.

What Marco "Polo" Ricci brings to the table

I want Barovia to feel like a living, dangerous place, not a series of encounters or just a published module. You can expect: - A reactive world: Your choices can affect NPCs, locations, relationships, and future events. - Character-driven storytelling: Your character's personality, goals, fears, and backstory can become part of the story. - Meaningful consequences: Not every decision has an immediate consequence, and not every consequence is obvious when you make the choice. - Tactical and cinematic combat: When violence is unavoidable, encounters are designed to be dangerous, interesting, and rewarding for creative thinking. - Custom character arcs: The campaign includes personalized material designed around the characters at the table. - A reworked Strahd and court: Strahd and his consorts have been given additional attention, personalities, and roles beyond simply waiting for the final confrontation. - Custom Dark Power storylines: Characters may be tempted, empowered, and changed by supernatural forces throughout the campaign. - Preparation with flexibility: I'll come to each session with a direction in mind, but the story ultimately follows the choices of the players. - A range of emotions: Horror and tension are important, but there will also be room for humor, friendship, triumph, and moments of genuine absurdity. My goal is for your character to feel like they experienced their own story in Barovia, rather than simply completing a published adventure.

Homebrew rules

All of these house rules can be discussed and adjusted during Session 0. My goal is to make the game fun, cinematic, and fair; not to surprise anyone with rules they weren't expecting. - Rule of Cool: Creative ideas and characterful descriptions can make a difference! Depending on the situation, describing how your character attempts something may grant advantage, lower the DC, or open up an option that isn't covered explicitly by the rules. - Encumbrance: We won't track encumbrance. However, we'll still use common sense, your character can't reasonably carry a giant statue, boulder, or other obviously excessive object just because the rules don't give it a weight limit. - Standing from Prone: Getting up from prone costs a maximum of 15 feet of movement. If you have less than 15 feet of movement available, you can still stand by spending what you have remaining. - Passive Perception: Your passive Perception is the minimum result you can roll on a Perception check. Other passive skills do not work this way. Advantage adds +5 to a passive score, while disadvantage subtracts 5. - Potions: Drinking a healing potion yourself is a bonus action. Giving a potion to another creature, or drinking any other type of potion, requires an action. - Reroll 1s: Whenever you roll a 1 for hit points (such as when gaining a level or rolling Hit Dice) you reroll it. This also applies to healing potions: any 1s rolled on their healing dice are rerolled. - Exhaustion: We use the 2024 rules for exhaustion. - Flanking: Flanking only applies when the creature being flanked is no more than one size category larger than the flanking characters. For example, two Medium creatures can flank a Large creature, but not a Huge creature. - Inspiration: Inspiration can stack up to 3 points. However, you can only carry 1 point of Inspiration between sessions. Any additional points remaining at the end of a session are lost. This encourages everyone to use Inspiration rather than hoarding it indefinitely. - Crunchy/“Perkins” Critical Hits: When you score a critical hit, roll your normal damage dice and then add the maximum possible result of those dice. For example, a critical hit with a 1d6 + 2 attack deals 1d6 + 6 + 2 damage. This makes critical hits feel appropriately devastating and exciting!

How Marco "Polo" Ricci creates a safe table

Player safety and comfort are a priority throughout the campaign. Curse of Strahd is a gothic horror campaign exploring themes including death, violence, undead creatures, supernatural corruption, manipulation, body horror, and loss of control. The goal is to create tension and fear for the characters, not discomfort or distress for the players. - Session 0 & Lines / Veils Before the campaign begins, each player will receive a Lines & Veils survey to privately identify topics they do not want included (Lines) and topics they are comfortable with only off-screen or without graphic detail (Veils). I'll compile the responses into an anonymized document so everyone understands the table's boundaries without anyone needing to disclose which limits belong to them. During Session 0, we'll review our Lines & Veils, discuss the campaign's tone and expectations, and go over our safety tools. Players can also contact me privately about any concerns or boundaries. - Safety Tools During Play Safety tools are available during every session. On Roll20, I'll provide digital X, N, and O cards. Players may also use them verbally or through chat. - X card, Stop: Something about the current content is not comfortable. We immediately stop, skip, or change the scene without requiring an explanation. - = card (N), Slow Down: Something is approaching a boundary or becoming uncomfortable. I will adjust the scene, tone, or description. - I card (O), Okay: A check-in that indicates the current content is comfortable and we can continue. We also have an Open Door policy. Anyone may step away from the game at any time, for any reason, without needing to justify themselves. - Dark Powers & Player Boundaries This campaign includes supernatural entities that may tempt, manipulate, empower, or corrupt characters. These effects are part of the fiction, never a way to pressure players into content they're uncomfortable with. Your character can be frightened, tempted, manipulated, or changed without you being expected to tolerate something that crosses your boundaries. If a Dark Power storyline approaches a player's Line or Veil, we'll adjust it while preserving the spirit of the story whenever possible. In-character corruption is never a requirement for out-of-character discomfort. - Ongoing Communication & Aftercare Lines and Veils can be added or changed at any point during the campaign. After each session, I'll leave time for a brief check-in where players can share what worked, what didn't, or anything they'd like handled differently. I'm also available privately between sessions for concerns or adjustments. The characters can be scared, stressed, corrupted, and in danger without the players ever feeling that they have to be.