Curse of Strahd
has been out for a couple of
days. However, the adventure Death House (click
here for the PDF) was
released in Dragon+ and I thought it would be a good thing to talk
about it. I do plan to review Curse of Strahd
later, but for now I'll just do Death House.
Being freely available, it presents a great way to try out part of
Curse of Strahd.
Overall Structure
This is one big adventure aimed at level one characters and takes
them to level 3. Leveling up is included in the adventure and takes
place after specific objectives are met. If you decide you like what
you see and would like to play the rest of Curse of Strahd, it
looks like it would be easy to do so (the introduction makes it seem
like it would easily fit into the adventure, it puts them into the
correct location and also to the correct level).
Problems
This adventure is quite solid in my opinion and by far my favourite
released on Dragon+ so far. The main problem comes from some of the
rooms. Most don't have a part to be read to the players. This means
that the Dungeon Master will either need to make it up on the spot or
come up with their own vignettes. That being said, the descriptions
provided make it quite easy for more experienced Dungeon
Masters and also fairly easy for inexperienced Dungeon Masters with
some preparation time.
The other problem has to be with the mists. It gives a reference to
an effect from that the mists cause but it is not included in the
adventure (it's in Curse of Strahd). This isn't the end of the
world, but it does make running the adventure a bit harder,
especially since it seems like the fog is meant to make sure the
players have to take refuge in the house.
What Can Be Scavenged
The entire adventure is easy to drop into any campaign. There are a
couple of Curse of Strahd details that will need to be changed
but they are trivial to do. The biggest one is location, but the main
way to get players into the house can be the exact same regardless of
setting. The fog may be a bit hard to alter, though. This adventure
is best and most easily salvaged as one whole. That being said,
certain details, rooms or even entire floors can be taken and used by
the Dungeon Master if they so need. The options for salvaging parts
of this adventure are quite vast. The maps can be reused. The
adventure can be reuse. Rooms and room description can be reused.
Some plot points can be reused and fit into another adventure. Even
if you don't run it, I'd recommend the read (it's pretty quick). It
also makes for a good one-shot adventure (I've already run it as such
and had a blast). I'd use it to get first time tabletop role-players
hooked instead of Monster Slayers in a heartbeat.
Overall Opinion
Overall, I've already mentioned that I view it as the best adventure
released in Dragon+ so far. It's one of those adventures where
atmosphere plays a big role. It also provides plenty of opportunity
for role-play (the kids make this easy) and problem solving. I'd also
say it isn't that hard to run for a new Dungeon Master, though I'd
recommend a read through first. That said, it's more evocative than
some other adventures I've read that are fully ready to go and that
can just be played through without reading a head of time.
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