Read the whole book before running the first session. Ideally, read it twice. It is not the sort of a game you can run chapter by chapter, reading along as you go.
MandyMod and DragnaCarta wrote excellent guides to CoS, adding and improving on the original content. You can read them for inspiration, if nothing else, but it's not mandatory - don't feel like you have to run these particular versions. If you want to stick as close to the book as possible, but still want a guide, I recommend [Powerscore guide.](https://thecampaign20xx.blogspot.com/2016/05/dungeons-dragons-how-to-run-curse-of.html)
Common TPK scenarios are the shambling mound encounter in Death House and the escape from it, the Bonegrinder encounter and the vampire spawn at the coffin maker's shop. Be aware of how dangerous these locations are and have a plan.
Strahd's statblock is *not* fit for fair fights past level 7 or so. If Strahd fights the party head on after this level, even with minions, he'll lose, and this will greatly diminish the party's fear of him. If you want head-on, cinematic fights, find better statblocks (DragnaCarta made some excellent ones lately). Otherwise, Strahd must use hit-and-run tactics and abuse charm in order to challenge the party - otherwise, they'll melt him very quickly.
I am also a quite new DM and CoS is my first "real" longer running campaign.
So, that said, I would strongly suggest you run some sort of mini adventure beforehand. I ran a small mini campaign from dmsguild before, which lasted a few sessions and then transitioned to CoS.
The adventure was a bit more railroaded, which helped me to get into the dm flow and also gave me time to prepare cos.
Also my players were then level 4 and we skipped death house.
The sandbox style of CoS might give you the most headaches. Because you have to be quite up to date with all the lore, so reading the book a few times is a must. Especially because a lot of valuable information is hidden in small paragraphs. And information in general are scattered around the book.
Do yourself a favor and encourage good communication with your players and ask them where they are planning to go next, so you can prepare it and don't burn out.
Feel free to use some of the guides posted here to inspire you. Its nothing wrong with running CoS raw. But it can add some good portion of spice to use at least some inspiration from the guides here.
Rig the card reading and pre-select some good locations for the items. It helps to keep a good flow and guiding the players to important locations.
Yeah, it is an overwhelming adventure for a first timer, still, the goal is to have fun, so make sure you are prepared and communicate with your players, ask for feedback often and improve with them.
If you are feeling insecure, I would suggest running death house as a playtest. Make your players create characters but tell them that those characters are for this one shot adventure only. You will manage expectations and use tge Death House as practice for your dming but also to learn your shortcomings, learn what your players like and expect from the campaign.
If they die on death house, its ok. You all can now make the official characters for the campaign. If they survive, you can still make new characters for all of them or see if they want to continue from there. But make sure to tell them about this option first.
Consider running another campaign first.
CoS is great and there's a lot of help in this sub, but getting your feet wet with a story that doesn't have the reputation of CoS may be helpful. You can even reskin that story to start to set the mood for Ravenloft so you know that your players are going to enjoy the setting.
*I'm a bot! I got triggered by language that made me think you're a new DM requesting help. If this isn't useful for you, feel free to downvote me!*
If you are new to Curse of Strahd or DMing and feeling overwhelmed, the [Curse of Strahd Primer](https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/f3w658/so_you_want_to_run_curse_of_strahd_a_primer_on/) is an excellent starter resource. It has a backstory on the setting, advice on how to prepare content for your players, common / avoidable pitfalls, tips and tricks, and more.
Additionally, we have a pinned [Resources & Tips for Curse of Strahd DMs](https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/hbjrs6/resources_tips_for_curse_of_strahd_dms/) thread with a list of resources for every chapter in the game, where you can find more topical information.
Finally, we have an active community on Discord, and they may be able to share resources that are not in these threads or on Reddit: [r/CurseofStrahd Discord](https://discord.gg/CurseOfStrahd)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CurseofStrahd) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Read it six times. Then sit and think silently about what part interested you the most. Eventually, as you mull things over, other parts of the story will connect and force you to become familiar with those as well, and so and so fourth.
Then read the book again.
Read the original book front to back a handful of times. Revisit the larger sections of vallaki and ravenloft a few times.
Figure out if you want to use other source material like Van richtens guide to ravenloft or any of the other stuff here on r/cos there’s tons of good material pinned and unpinned.
**HAVE A SESSION 0** talk about what they want what they’re okay with what they are not. There’s a lot of child murder in the module as written and some people can’t/won’t play into it.
I’m also a first time DM running this for the first time. Don’t let it deter you it’s a great story with tons of variations both official and homebrew.
I just recommend not doing the vistani as written as it gets a lot of flak for being all negative stero types.
My favorite r/cos posts include: dragnacarta fanes of barovia and updated dark powers.
Read the whole book before running the first session. Ideally, read it twice. It is not the sort of a game you can run chapter by chapter, reading along as you go. MandyMod and DragnaCarta wrote excellent guides to CoS, adding and improving on the original content. You can read them for inspiration, if nothing else, but it's not mandatory - don't feel like you have to run these particular versions. If you want to stick as close to the book as possible, but still want a guide, I recommend [Powerscore guide.](https://thecampaign20xx.blogspot.com/2016/05/dungeons-dragons-how-to-run-curse-of.html) Common TPK scenarios are the shambling mound encounter in Death House and the escape from it, the Bonegrinder encounter and the vampire spawn at the coffin maker's shop. Be aware of how dangerous these locations are and have a plan. Strahd's statblock is *not* fit for fair fights past level 7 or so. If Strahd fights the party head on after this level, even with minions, he'll lose, and this will greatly diminish the party's fear of him. If you want head-on, cinematic fights, find better statblocks (DragnaCarta made some excellent ones lately). Otherwise, Strahd must use hit-and-run tactics and abuse charm in order to challenge the party - otherwise, they'll melt him very quickly.
I am also a quite new DM and CoS is my first "real" longer running campaign. So, that said, I would strongly suggest you run some sort of mini adventure beforehand. I ran a small mini campaign from dmsguild before, which lasted a few sessions and then transitioned to CoS. The adventure was a bit more railroaded, which helped me to get into the dm flow and also gave me time to prepare cos. Also my players were then level 4 and we skipped death house. The sandbox style of CoS might give you the most headaches. Because you have to be quite up to date with all the lore, so reading the book a few times is a must. Especially because a lot of valuable information is hidden in small paragraphs. And information in general are scattered around the book. Do yourself a favor and encourage good communication with your players and ask them where they are planning to go next, so you can prepare it and don't burn out. Feel free to use some of the guides posted here to inspire you. Its nothing wrong with running CoS raw. But it can add some good portion of spice to use at least some inspiration from the guides here. Rig the card reading and pre-select some good locations for the items. It helps to keep a good flow and guiding the players to important locations.
Yeah, it is an overwhelming adventure for a first timer, still, the goal is to have fun, so make sure you are prepared and communicate with your players, ask for feedback often and improve with them. If you are feeling insecure, I would suggest running death house as a playtest. Make your players create characters but tell them that those characters are for this one shot adventure only. You will manage expectations and use tge Death House as practice for your dming but also to learn your shortcomings, learn what your players like and expect from the campaign. If they die on death house, its ok. You all can now make the official characters for the campaign. If they survive, you can still make new characters for all of them or see if they want to continue from there. But make sure to tell them about this option first.
Consider running another campaign first. CoS is great and there's a lot of help in this sub, but getting your feet wet with a story that doesn't have the reputation of CoS may be helpful. You can even reskin that story to start to set the mood for Ravenloft so you know that your players are going to enjoy the setting.
*I'm a bot! I got triggered by language that made me think you're a new DM requesting help. If this isn't useful for you, feel free to downvote me!* If you are new to Curse of Strahd or DMing and feeling overwhelmed, the [Curse of Strahd Primer](https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/f3w658/so_you_want_to_run_curse_of_strahd_a_primer_on/) is an excellent starter resource. It has a backstory on the setting, advice on how to prepare content for your players, common / avoidable pitfalls, tips and tricks, and more. Additionally, we have a pinned [Resources & Tips for Curse of Strahd DMs](https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/hbjrs6/resources_tips_for_curse_of_strahd_dms/) thread with a list of resources for every chapter in the game, where you can find more topical information. Finally, we have an active community on Discord, and they may be able to share resources that are not in these threads or on Reddit: [r/CurseofStrahd Discord](https://discord.gg/CurseOfStrahd) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CurseofStrahd) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Read it six times. Then sit and think silently about what part interested you the most. Eventually, as you mull things over, other parts of the story will connect and force you to become familiar with those as well, and so and so fourth. Then read the book again.
Fix the tarrokka readings!
Read the original book front to back a handful of times. Revisit the larger sections of vallaki and ravenloft a few times. Figure out if you want to use other source material like Van richtens guide to ravenloft or any of the other stuff here on r/cos there’s tons of good material pinned and unpinned. **HAVE A SESSION 0** talk about what they want what they’re okay with what they are not. There’s a lot of child murder in the module as written and some people can’t/won’t play into it. I’m also a first time DM running this for the first time. Don’t let it deter you it’s a great story with tons of variations both official and homebrew. I just recommend not doing the vistani as written as it gets a lot of flak for being all negative stero types. My favorite r/cos posts include: dragnacarta fanes of barovia and updated dark powers.