If you’ve thought about playing Dungeons & Dragons, you’ve probably noticed that there is a ton of stuff to choose from. There are no fewer than three up-to-date starter sets, more than half a dozen rock-solid published adventures, and an entire marketplace of fan-created content. But especially for beginners, a campaign is regularly recommended before everyone else. It’s called Curse of Strahd, and it could be the most welcoming and adaptable way into the original RPG.
Because of its popularity, there are currently three excellent purchase options Curse of Strahd. They range from old-fashioned do-it-yourself storytelling to a luxury, high-production collectible set. I will help you find out which one is right for you.
But first a little backstory to whet your appetite.
Why this vampire?
In the 1970s, when D&D was young, the game was mostly focused on exploration, combat, and loot. Rolling the dice with your friends meant crawling around an underground dungeon, killing strange monsters, and getting away with some magical items. Then, in 1983, the Raven Loft Module has been published. Written by Tracy Hickman and Laura Hickman, it added a rich sense of storytelling to D&D. The secret was a charismatic vampire named Strahd von Zarovich.
Raven Loft was the first D&D adventure that really felt like a full narrative, and it revolved around Strahd, a complex villain with motivations of his own. Instead of just describing the plot from a distance, Strahd allows the Dungeon Master (DM) to deal with the material personally and with the players at the table through both combat and non-combat encounters. Published in 2016, Curse of Strahd modernizes these mechanisms and expands them from a meager 32 pages to a whopping 256 pages. His version of Strahd is just as menacing as the original and a lot more fun to play.
Why is Strahd such a great villain? Not to reveal too much, but the payout of his personal bow is definitely worth the time he spent playing against him. He’s more than just your average B-movie bloodsucker. Strahd is a fully realized character with a Shakespeare backstory and enough cunning and cunning to stand up to any group of adventurers.
Where Curse of Strahd differs from the original in my opinion in the elaboration of the setting. The action takes place in an eerie pocket dimension known as the Valley of Barovia, which means you can enter and exit the campaign from anywhere in the D&D Multiverse. The valley itself is very similar to a modern open world video game. Players are free to explore the area at will and go through their numerous side quests. Meanwhile, the ghost of Strahd will haunt them – literally at times – and serve as a beacon to draw them irrevocably back to the main quest line.
There’s even a mini-adventure bundled with the campaign to quickly level up new characters and get players used to the mechanics of modern D&D. Simply put, Curse of Strahd is the complete package.
Now that I’ve sold it to you, let’s talk about three different ways to actually buy this thing.
The basics
Curse of Strahd was first published as a hardcover book, and the simplest version of that book is still in print. You can easily find one with you friendly local game store or online in places like Amazon. Independent booksellers who carry D&D will likely have a copy, as will larger retailers like Barnes & Noble.
There are several digital options for D&D books now, and the version you want depends a lot on the platform of your choice. The best option for newbies is D&D Beyondwho sells the campaign and also gives players access to an online character creator. There are also virtual tabletops (VTTs) like Role20 and Fantasy terrainthat offer more opportunities to re-enact the game’s combat encounters with virtual miniatures and dice. VTTs can tend to slow down the action for newbies, so learn the toolset before putting your group together.
Of course, you also need the three other books that are at the heart of D&D: that Player manual, the Guide for Dungeon Masters, and the Monster manual. All three also give up D&D Beyond.
Level up
Curse of Strahd is now also available as a box set with the title Curse of Strahd: Revised Premium Edition. It was first released in October 2020 and has a proud list price of $ 99.99. Given the scope of delivery, it’s hard to recommend at this price point. Fortunately, you can now find it for sale online in places like Amazon for a little less.
The box itself is actually pretty clever. It’s in the shape of a coffin and the set includes a full color portrait of Strahd so you can restlessly rest him in it for your players to spot. Another benefit of the Premium Edition is that it includes a more robust version of the campaign’s double-sided card (the same one that comes with the basic hardcover book).
The downside, however, is that the campaign book in this box is a paperback and not a hardcover like the original.
My favorite part of the box set is a handy set of in-fiction tarot cards called tarokka cards. The oversized, foil-stamped deck will come in handy for a key plot point in the campaign. Of course, you can also pick up a set of tarokka cards – a full-size, non-foil-stamped version – separately for only $ 10.
What the Premium Edition really lacks in my opinion is a proper two-dimensional map of Castle Ravenloft, Strahd’s hiding place and the site of the campaign’s final showdown. On one side of the campaign map is a 3D isometric version of the floor plan (which, as you will remember, is included in both the original hardcover book and the Premium Edition). But it’s up to the DMs to draw this floor plan in 2D for their players at the table. This takes pen and paper and can slow down gameplay significantly.
If you are using a VTT solution, creating the map of Castle Ravenloft can be a real challenge as well. Fortunately that Role20 Campaign version includes 30 pre-rendered battle maps – including a 2D floor plan of the entire castle.
There are also an incredibly well executed set of 2D maps from Castle Ravenloft available from the Dungeon Master’s Guild. For just $ 10, you can get everything you need to print this floor plan out as multiple large maps on a commercial printer or on dozens of regular sheets of paper at home. There is even a version of the maps formatted for use with VTT software such as Fantasy Grounds.
For my home campaign, I printed out every inch of Castle Ravenloft in black and white and then mounted the tiles on a black foam core. After only a few nights of work with a glue stick and a box cutter, I had Strahd’s entire hiding place stacked and tucked in a paper bag.
High level game
For those looking for the most luxurious way to experience Curse of Strahd, look no further than Beadle & Grimm’s. The company makes licensed deluxe editions of many official D&D campaigns, and its views of the Barovia Valley are exceptional. Called The legendary edition of Curse of Strahd, it runs $ 399 and is now in the second edition.
What does The legendary edition so special – aside from the full color prints of the entire Castle Ravenloft and many other important battlefields in the game – are the ephemera. It not only contains extremely well-made paper handouts, including weathered letters from Strahd himself, but also lots of mixed-media objects that can be spread out on the table. There are a handful of fake wax seals with Strahd’s personal seal on them; a range of fictional labels to attach to real wine bottles; several coins of the empire were emblazoned with Strahd’s profile; and even a number of fictional toy finger puppets.
Granted, a price tag of $ 399 may seem extravagant. But since I ran the campaign myself for a whole year, I can’t tell you how much time and energy it takes The legendary edition would have saved me.
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