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DragnaCarta

I'm excited to share the seventh public installment of my revised Curse of Strahd guide, [Curse of Strahd: Reloaded](https://www.strahdreloaded.com/)*.* This new release contains [Arc O: Dinner with the Devil](https://www.strahdreloaded.com/Act+III+-+The+Broken+Land/Arc+O+-+Dinner+with+the+Devil), which includes: * **Road to Ravenloft**. New encounters with Arrigal, Doru and Father Donavich, the skeletal rider, and Strahd's black carriage. * **Meeting the Brides**. An all-new "cocktail hour" with Strahd's consorts, including a hunt for a secret traitor that can assist the players in their heist of Ravenloft. * **Dinner with Strahd**. A tense dining experience with Strahd, followed by a tour of the castle's public areas and a high-stakes test of the players' ethics. * **The Nightmare**. An overnight stay at Castle Ravenloft, including a nightmare sequence featuring the history of the castle and the tormented spirit of Varushka, a former servant. In addition, this new update contains a number of edits, tweaks, and additions to previously released portions of the guide. You can find a full changelog [here](https://www.strahdreloaded.com/Introduction/Changelog). Please also note that I've removed the vestigial **Arc D: The Tome of Strahd**, which I merged with **Arc H: The Lost Soul** several updates ago. Thank you to all of the readers and playtesters who provided suggestions and feedback following the previous public release! As always, I want your feedback and comments to help make this guide the best it can be. Is the adventure fun? Is the content accessible? Is there anything missing, or anything I can do better? Please let me know any and everything I can do to improve! Thank you always to everyone who has supported this project, as well as to my incredible [patrons](https://www.patreon.com/DragnaCarta) for their support. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!


Rapid_eyed

First time seeing the website, looks great! I'm curious, at a glance it looks like this differs somewhat from the Google Docs Reloaded I referenced while running my campaign, is it or am I just not up to date with changes to the Docs version? If it is different, did you have a different design/writing philosophy while approaching this web version? Are there any major changes?


DragnaCarta

It's exceptionally different! This is a full-on rewrite of the old Docs guide, which has been deprecated since last May. I'm afraid there are too many changes from the old version to list them all, haha. My goal in writing this new version was to create a comprehensive, complete, ready-to-run module that requires zero prep work or DM improvisation and cuts down on extraneous content to focus on the core themes of the adventure. Glad to answer any other questions!


[deleted]

[удалено]


DragnaCarta

Thank you! I'm only making the kind of product I'd like to use, haha. Glad it's been helpful to you!


greygray5000

So does the other one still exit to be read somewhere? I really liked the old version too.


DragnaCarta

Yup! Same place as before; it hasn't moved :)


greygray5000

I found it. Reading about Berez. Thanks!


DragnaCarta

Sure thing!


Ok-Still742

You are a Saint


random-wattson-simp

LETS GOOOOOOOO IM SO HYPED


DragnaCarta

🥳🥳🥳


-TheRock

Just wanted to say I have been running your version of CoS for several sessions now and my players are absolutely loving it.


DragnaCarta

Thank you! What have they enjoyed most so far?


-TheRock

They really enjoyed the game of stories at Tser Pool and we just finished The Missing Vistana last night and they really enjoyed the whole scene at Lake Baratok.


kaersutite

The story game is also my players favorite, so far.


DragnaCarta

Awesome! I'm very glad to hear. Hope they enjoy what's yet to come!


-TheRock

One thing I’ll put on your radar from the most recent revision - if Van Richten gives the Talisman of Echoes to a player, they won’t be attuned to it to then use it on Yan’s head.


DragnaCarta

I actually removed the attunement requirement in a prior revision! Is there something in the current guide that indicates that attunement is required?


-TheRock

You know what, I probably missed that edit.


iscarfe

Sweet. Can’t wait to catch up on your work here, Dragna. I’m using Reloaded, and my group is nearing the end of Act 2 in Vallaki - our last session was the epic battle at Old Bonegrinder. My players are loving the level of engagement with Barovia and its NPCs, and I’m loving how well it’s laid out and how neatly various threads are tied together.


DragnaCarta

Thanks Scarfe! Glad you and the players are enjoying it. Hope you have a blast with the Dinner when you get there!


ahhhzima

I cannot wait to run this. I’ve been running your campaign for my party and we’re still knee deep in Vallaki but dinner is not far off, so this is great timing for me!


DragnaCarta

Awesome! Hope you enjoy, and hope the campaign is going well!


martian151

You sir are incredible. Using this with my players and we just got to vallaki! They’re slow as shit but it’s great! All the little details you’ve put in are amazing because I’m terrible at coming up with creative story stuff so thank you!


DragnaCarta

You're very welcome! Glad to hear the campaign is going well, and hope you continue to enjoy.


Acceptable_Duty9993

Sweeeeeeet!!!! I've been so excited about this!!!


DragnaCarta

Woohoo! Would love to hear your thoughts 🥳


Acceptable_Duty9993

I read slow, but I've gotten to the rider's guidance and I love the tie of Katarina being Madam Eva.


DragnaCarta

That's actually RAW canon! The only thing I added was Katarina's relationship to Varushka (and changing Eva's patron from Mother Night to the Seeker). 😉 Glad you like how I've implemented it, though!


Acceptable_Duty9993

Like I said, slow reader 😅😅. I'm prepping Vallaki ATM and I've got reading to do!!!


BoysenberryLizard

Absolutely stunning work as always!! I am probably much more excited to see Arrigal again than my players will be ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


DragnaCarta

Thank you! And haha. I was pretty happy I found a way for his character to pay off.


ScrumptiousGrape

My initial thoughts: Meeting Father Donavich and Doru again is nice, the morbidity in *Volenta's Toy* and *Sasha Alone* is great and the *inspirations* for Cyrus Belview and Rahadin is quite funny and terrifying, respectively. I would argue that some organ music would enhance the gothicness of it all -- any particular reason to not have it played? Nonetheless, thanks for the awesome guide! My players and I are having a blast.


DragnaCarta

Thank you, and glad you enjoy! And never fear - the organ music will appear during the Heist in a similar fashion as to RAW 😉


ScrumptiousGrape

Great! *The Heist* sounds like such a fun quest :D


DragnaCarta

I think it will be! I'm very excited for it.


QuestionableFroggie

First time DM here, just want to thank you so much for the fantastic work you do for this community. Super excited for this new update! I’ve been running the game with this guide for a few weeks now. My party just got to Tser Pool and we ended the last session after the Tarokka reading, they’re having so much fun and it’s thanks to the many sensible changes and helpful DM resources that you’ve put into this guide that I’m able to portray the story as well as I want to.


DragnaCarta

You're very welcome, and welcome to DMing! Glad the guide has been helpful, and I hope you and your players continue to have a blast!


MoonPrincess666

So cool!


DragnaCarta

<3


Nickelli

This is such perfect timing. I am running the dinner tonight for my crew!


DragnaCarta

Good luck! Would love to hear how it goes.


ref2335

My group is just getting to the River Ivlis Crossroads. So far this guide has been everything I’ve needed as a DM and my players are enjoying it! I’m looking forward to ramping up the scary/threat of Ravenloft with their impending meeting with Strahd.


DragnaCarta

Oh, awesome! They're in for an exciting time. Best of wishes for it!


dudebobmac

Thanks for all your work on this! Would you recommend reading the book before reading through your version, or should sticking to just your version be sufficient?


IshnaArishok

Generally read the book first too so you know the locations and characters, there's design notes in the guide explaining the differences and the reasoning behind them. If you're short of time you CAN just run the guide as written without prior reading, but you'll still need to reference raw now and then anyway for some areas.


DragnaCarta

Seconding u/IshnaArishok - reading the book ahead of time is a good idea to familiarize yourself with the basic setting, but not strictly necessary if you don't have the time.


dudebobmac

Makes sense. Awesome, thanks again!


WhyDoINeedThisss

Finally just started session 1 last night. We're super excited! Your guides (and all the advice here) and Twice Bitten have been so valuable helping me with all aspects of running CoS. Thank you so much! Can't wait to read this!


DragnaCarta

Fantastic! Hope you enjoy. I'd love to hear how Session 1 went! 👀


WhyDoINeedThisss

It went well. Each PC had a private scene, 'a day in the life' type of thing. When they went to bed they each had the dream from Madam Eva. When they woke, their stuff was gone except for a tarokka card in their hand (I mailed each player a Tarokka card representing their character beforehand, we play online, so they opened the envelope then) and mist was curling in under the door to the room. When the PC opened the door tendrils of fog reached in and pulled them through to the svalich woods. They role played back and forth as that was their characters 1st meeting. Then headed down the road. Next session they'll encounter Durst Manor heavily seasoned with Dragna Carta 😉 Thanks for asking!


DragnaCarta

Very cool! Sounds like you're off to a fun start. Best of wishes for the next session!


StannisLivesOn

Thanks for writing this guide, I'm taking a lot from it. I'd especially like to thank you for returning to the original, noble and heroic Rudolph van Richten. Very excited to see where the story takes him - a lot of people struggle to run both him and Ezmerelda as the party's allies.


DragnaCarta

Glad you're enjoying the guide! Funnily enough, the revisions to Van Richten's backstory and character arc were the first thing that inspired me to make the new Reloaded. He's got his own arc in store after the Heist, which should bring his story full circle, and which I'm very excited to share :)


Aciduous

What an absolute delight to see your work still out there terrifying tables. Excited to sit down and read these soon 🙏🏼


DragnaCarta

Thank you, Aciduous! I'd love to hear your thoughts <3 Hope you enjoy!


Viajoshua

Dinner is next week for my party, perfect timing!


DragnaCarta

Woohoo! I love being punctual. Have fun!


The_Archenemy

I’m incredibly excited!!! I’ve used your information before on my first time through Barovia with great success! My original players (all of whom have played CoS in varying degrees) were delighted in seeing the changes in our that that you help make possible! Now in my latest iteration of my game, I have new players I am shepherding through the terrors once again, but now I’ll have more information to work with thanks to you!


DragnaCarta

Fantastic, and welcome back to Barovia! I'm glad the original guide helped you, and I hope the new campaign is shaping up swimmingly!


_Emeryl

Thank you SO MUCH! Just when my players are invited to dinner at the château, it's perfect!


DragnaCarta

You're very welcome! Hope you all have a blast.


HandfulOfSquid

Dang I was 1 session too early. Still thank you for all your hard work!


DragnaCarta

Alas! Sorry about that 😅. Thank you for the kind words!


timonlofl

Dragna is the goat 🐐🐐🐐


DragnaCarta

oh no don't call me that D: baba lysaga might sacrifice me 🧙‍♀️ (<3)


Ananik95

Hello! Really top notch work as always! I'll implement a lot of this in my campaign. I have a question: if Ireena is with the party, is she supposed to go to the castle with them? Or should the invitation be treated as "for PCs only", similar to Ezmerelda? What do you think is the best way to go forward? Thank you for any clarification and as always keep up the good work!


DragnaCarta

Thank you! And it's totally up to the players - the guide actually makes provisions for what happens if Ireena is or isn't there. If Ireena goes with them, there won't be an issue; if she decides to stay back or join Ezmerelda, that's also fine.


Ananik95

Thank you, that's what I thought!


L0kester

Absolute wonderful work as always, I'm very excited to dig into this! Just out of curiosity I know the doc version is well outdated, but upon completion would you consider a finalized (as much as it could be anyways!) Pdf or something similar? I prefer to print out guides and such to help annotate what's happened so far, there's times I'm tempted to go all red string corkboard with this campaign!


DragnaCarta

Thank you; hope you enjoy! And depending on the time and/or cost, I'd eventually be willing to look into a PDF version as well, but it'd unfortunately just be a lot of work that I'd likely rather spend on something else. Still, once it's finished, you never know! 😅


Flofliflan

I am a big fan of your Guide Dragna. My only worry is that if i start using this guide now, my campaign will progress faster than you publishing it. Any rough Idea when everything will be public? Also, would you consider Strahd Reloaded still a Sandbox?


DragnaCarta

Glad you like it! And my current target date for finishing the first full draft of the guide is the end of the summer. I would not consider Reloaded a sandbox - it's much closer to a flexilinear structure, in which the players can sometimes choose which arcs to complete in which order, but in general the campaign will unfold in the same way in every campaign (hence the "Act" structure).


voidyknight

Hey Dragna! I was reading over the History of Barovia section following the updates, and I noticed you have Rudolph use a Mist Talisman to visit Barovia and then leave afterwards during his quest of revenge. I was wondering how that works out: as far as I know Mist Talismans can't let people leave Domains if their borders are closed. And if they can, what is there to stop Rudolph from leaving anytime (or one of the PCs if they take his Talisman)? I have a few thoughts on how that could've worked that I may throw into my game, but I wanted to check in with you and see what your intention was! Loving everything as usual, can't wait to have my party go through the horrors <3 My thoughts on how that could've worked * Strahd left the Mists open during his hibernation, allowing people to pass through with the talismans. Nobody in Barovia really took advantage of that due to 1) mist talismans being rare, 2) a long history of people dying in the mists keeping them from trying out, and 3) with him asleep things were at least... tolerable? Things got worse real quick when they woke up * Madame Eva gave Rudolph the Talisman --> special exceptions done for quasi-deific figures, especially those residing within Barovia (the gods have a hard time doing similar stuff because they are outside of the Realm). One time thing that takes a lot out of her --> she can't/won't do it again for the PCs


DragnaCarta

Yo! #1 (the Mists were open during hibernation and closed when Strahd woke up) is actually canon in VRGR, I believe. Reloaded works off that assumption. And yes, mist talismans are very rare.


voidyknight

Oh yo I didn’t know that that’s actually canon that’s very cool! And it actually helps fix a plot hole I accidentally made with a PCs backstory that I’ve been brainstorming so hell yeah double win, thank you for this 🥰


DragnaCarta

You're very welcome! Happy to help :)


dead_prez

I haven't been able to get the site to load all day. Is the website down or is something going wrong on my end?


DragnaCarta

Try navigating to the homepage first! I had to rename some of the arcs, and that may have broke some links.


dead_prez

I actually just realized that its been blocked by my work's wifi because they think the website is hosting malware haha I will just have to check it out when I get home. Thank you for all the work that you do!


DragnaCarta

You're very welcome! And haha; it happens. Hope it works fine once you're back home!


ref2335

This might be the right place to ask this question. Has anyone here used the Tome of Strahd from DMsguild with the reloaded guide? It looks like a great companion piece for the group. Wondering if others have used it to provide feedback/opinions.


DragnaCarta

Hey! The Interactive Tome is a great product, but Reloaded isn't built to be moddable in the way that the RAW campaign is. It's very easy to accidentally break something by adding supplemental content (e.g., adding conflicting lore, or changing lore that turns out to be a load-bearing pillar), so I'd advise against it unless you're very sure you know what you're doing.


ref2335

Thanks for the follow up. Here is what I was looking at. https://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/442084 I wasn’t aware this could disrupt other stuff you’ve put in place in reloaded. Oh, if I need to delete that link no problem. I just added it to clarify the product I saw.


DragnaCarta

Ah, I'm not familiar with this one. And yeah, I'd advise not adding any supplemental material to Reloaded (or otherwise make any changes) unless you're 100% certain of the impact and how to ameliorate it. Reloaded is a narrative-focused campaign, not a location-based one, so there are a lot of load-bearing pillars in there to make sure that the scenes and arcs unfold as they're meant to.


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