Curse of Strahd: Reloaded

First on the list is my personal favorite and it’s also free! This is a guide to the entire campaign with additional content provided. Dragnacarta has a Patreon if you feel so inclined to support his work that benefits so many of us by clicking here. This began as a project on Reddit and expanded with contributions from many other posters, culminating in the professional looking website that you can find today. This thing is packed so deep with additional content it’s unreal. Must have, even if you only use 5% of it. It has something for every Strahd game. Plots, stat blocks, entire story arcs, and so much more. It delves into new mysteries and fleshes out every area of the campaign nearly whole cloth. Its dedication to expanding every nook and cranny in Barovia puts it at the very top of my list.

The guide: https://www.strahdreloaded.com/Introduction/A+DM's+Guide+to+Curse+of+Strahd 

Also of note, the creator GM’d a wildly impressive vanilla actual play of Curse of Strahd with other GMs from r/curseofstrahd called Twice Bitten. This playthrough is anything but vanilla, however. It delivers even the most mundane of encounters with powerful narration and masterful acting from the players. Strongly consider adding this to your library to listen to if you are going to run Strahd, as this production is amongst the best online - even more impressive by virtue that it is intentionally run as a RAW experience. Dragnacarta demonstrates with masterful skill how much juice you can squeeze from the source material while the players put on some of the best character roleplay you’ve ever heard.

She Is The Ancient

This supplement really is a classic for me for a number of reasons, but especially that it develops alternatives for many of the most problematic elements in Curse of Strahd. It removes much of the ableism, racism, and sexism that would be uncomfortable for players at your table to experience. Horror has a long-standing history of cribbing queer, immigrant, indigenous and disabled stories before twisting them into bigoted attacks against these groups. As pro GMs we should be mindful of what a barrier this presents for people and allies of these groups to having fun at the table, especially in unfamiliar settings with players who are usually strangers at the start of a campaign.

In many ways, marginalized people built the house of horror through their Othering in our history and their portrayal in our media. The least we can do is responsibly tell these stories with empathy for our fellow humans by acknowledging how some of these tropes can be harmful. Beth did a bang up job and there’s a reason why you see this supplement often on SPG - it works - players love femme Strahd and the changes provided.

Notably this supplement includes many player handouts and token art for all of the major NPCs! If for no other reason, it’s worth buying to have a singular art style for tokens during your campaign.

Full disclosure: I am a contributor to this supplement (I wrote the revisions for Strahd’s partners based on how I run them), but I receive no royalties from sales. I had been using SitA passionately for over a year before I contributed to v2 of the supplement.

Lunch Break Heroes

Lunch Break Heroes stands out as the best Strahd YouTuber when it comes to content for your Barovia. All of his video guides are free and if you want to support his work via his Patreon, you will receive a complete PDF supplement that details each of his recommendations. This includes stat blocks, plot, lore, and more. One of the more interesting offers is his unique “mega boss” for the hardcore tactical combat parties, for an even tougher challenge post-Strahd! Perfect if your party wants to have that “let’s kill god” anime moment. And he’s just a great YouTuber to listen yap while you’re prepping to see if you can glean little nuggets. Killer inspiration!

Additional Art Packs

JamesRPGArt

A complete collection of theater of the mind maps for every location in Barovia. Low file size and high quality. Can’t beat it.

Free NPC Art

Strahd’s consorts - If you want something different in the same art style as the original book.

Most major NPCs - If you want to go with something a bit more cartoon for the cast.

Maps

Beneos Battlemaps

This product speaks for itself as the best maps available if you have the systems to support its immense resource requirements. These are animated Unreal engine maps top down maps with theater of the mind versions and also include a 4k world hex map of the demiplane. You gain access to every location in Barovia and a few additional custom places, such as a Magnificent Mansion that you can move a particular mage to. Did I mention that each map has sound fx built into them for FoundryVTT? Yeah. It’s that good.

‍Aonbarr Cartography

If you are not running FoundryVTT, then you are probably going to want 2D maps without animation. Well, Aonbarr has you covered. This will get you from when your party first enters the mists to their final confrontation with the vampire with an impressive 88 maps. Locations only found in CoS: Reloaded and MandyMods’ guides are included here, as well. If you wish to support this creator for their generous work, you can do so on their KoFi here.

Music & Sound FX

Travis Savoie

This Canadian has won my heart with his gothic horror albums in addition to his collection for Rime. You can listen to the samples of the two Barovia albums he’s produced before you buy either on youtube or on bandcamp. I think you’ll agree it’s worth it! Click here for Into The Mists and Beyond The Mists.

Epidemic Sound

Never to be underestimated by any pro GM for any campaign, the library on ES in classical music is immense. The horror tracks available I draw from for all of my games because of their quality. The sound effects are the most complete of any collection at the professional level. The monthly fee is affordable and if you stream your game or make YouTube videos, you receive a license granting you permission to use it on air. And yes, you can download the library so you don’t have to worry about losing access in the future.

In Conclusion

Due to the legalities of selling Wizards of the Coast’s campaign material, most of the goodies that you need to get started are free with tip jars or just a link to their platform. Consider supporting the creators who helped you run an outstanding paid campaign by clicking on their names in this article. Running a great Curse of Strahd game costs you little to nothing unless you want particular premium assets. Armed with the wisdom of thousands of GMs before you via YouTube, Reddit, and even here on StartPlaying Games, you too can run an awesome gothic horror adventure. Practice your voices, set up dramatic confrontations, and excrete as much darkness into your mic as possible.

Friday Strout is a pro GM, game designer and podcast host whose work can be found on her website along with a podcast and blog here: https://dollarsanddragons.com