One of the most important things I needed to do for myself to simplify Curse of Strahd (COS) is related to the book's presentation. It's presented as a sandbox campaign, with a full-sized hex-crawl wilderness map (the Valley of Barovia), a full-sized dungeon (Castle Ravenloft), and then 12 other adventure sites comprising villages, smaller dungeons, or wilderness sites. The issue I've found is there's a lot of text in the book, making it too easy to overlook critical information that acts as connective tissue between locales - ie, the plot hooks. I see that as the #1 job of a sandbox referee - making sure the players have opportunities to learn things about the game world so they can make meaningful decisions about what to do.
I broke COS down two ways - the first was by settlement, what are the most important nuggets of information they'll learn at each location that could lead to further adventures. I also organized the plot hooks by adventure site, to identify what are the ways characters can get pointed at a particular locale.
Here's an example: one of the locations is a werewolf den far to the west. Players could stumble upon it if they crawl hex by hex. The werewolves kidnap children in the valley, make them fight each other, and adopt the survivors into their werewolf clan to become werewolves. There's been a recent power struggle between leaders in the clan (with the former leader now imprisoned beneath Castle Ravenloft). Unless the players stumble upon the werewolf den, there are scant plot hooks that point to it. They could meet Emil, the deposed leader, while exploring the prisons beneath Castle Ravenloft... although by the time they're exploring the castle, they're probably out to kill Strahd and not interested in a werewolf side quest. The only other clue pointing to the den is if they have a random encounter with a werewolf in the wilds and are able to interrogate it.
The werewolf den shows up in the "tarroka readings" the referee can use to scatter various helpful items around Barovia and randomize the campaign. In the original I6, everything is contained within the castle, but in Curse of Strahd, helpful items (including a potential ally) are split between the wilds and the castle. One of the werewolves appears as a potential ally against Strahd (the enemy of my enemy...) and the werewolf den appears as a location where a quest item can be placed.
It wasn't obvious on first read-through that the touchpoints leading out to the remote werewolf den are so tenuous, or dependent on random chance. If the referee wants to ensure the players learn about its existence, they may need to add an explicit plot hook to a location. Perhaps the wolf hunters in the tavern of one of the towns (Vallaki) could be a good option for rumors about a vicious werewolf clan in the western wilds.
Anyway, I'm sure you get the point, dear reader - until I went through the book and organized the plot hooks, I wouldn't have noticed how prevalent or scarce are some of them. The information pattern creates a likely "flow" through the campaign. Here are my notes organized by site on plot hooks that are over and above the ones from Madame Eva's tarroka reading.
BAROVIA
- Death House
- Learn about the Durst Windmill (now Old Bonegrinder)
- Tavern
- Madame Eva's camp
- Vallaki is a safe city (Ismark and Ireena)
- Wizard of Wines (wine is scarce - added by me)
- Church
- Krezk Abbey is safe and holy
- Mad Mary
- Daughter is in Castle Ravenloft
- Night Hag Peddler (Morgantha)
- Strahd has a secret at Amber Temple
- He has an enemy at Argynvostholt
- Madame Eva has a Vistani camp
- She and her sisters are at the Durst Windmill (Old Bonegrinder)
- Strahd
- Invitation to Castle Ravenloft
VALLAKI
- Tavern
- Wine is scarce - visit Wizard of Wines
- Possibly cross paths with Rictavio (Van Richten's tower)
- Wolf Hunters may be aware of the werewolf den (added by me)
- Kasimir
- Quest to visit Amber Temple
- Luvash
- Needs wine - visit Wizard of Wines
- Town Rumor
- The ruins of Argynvostholt
KREZK
- Needs wine from Wizard of Wines Winery
WIZARD OF WINES
- Can learn two additional quests, Yester Hill and the ruined village of Berez
ARGYNVOSTHOLT
- Learn about the Amber Temple
- Quest to Castle Ravenloft to retrieve the dragon skull
WANDERERS
- A revenant can reveal Argynvostholt
- A werewolf can reveal the werewolf den
There is a lot more information in the book and additional side quests and smaller incidental sites to investigate, but the items above represent the major ones. If you want to make sure your players hear about the Amber Temple, for instance, as it's one of the more important dungeons, the people who know about it are the night hag in Barovia (or at Old Bonegrinder), Kasimir the elf outside Vallaki, or talking to the ghost of the dead dragon at Argynvostholt. I find this kind of "cheat sheet" helpful to ensure I don't overlook critical information about the sandbox.
The general flow of the adventure I've perceived is characters get many future plot hooks during their start in the village of Barovia, with one the most accessible and reasonable things being to get out of town and go to Vallaki; the next most likely destination after Vallaki is the besieged Wizard of Wines winery, where they can learn about two additional quests involving Yester Hill or the ruins of Berez. There are plenty of side quests between Barovia and Vallaki, including visiting Madame Eva, Old Bonegrinder, getting caught up with the mayor of Vallaki's madness, fighting off vampire attacks in Vallaki, traveling with Ireena in tow and keeping her safe from Strahd,etc. Some of these are best represented as events - having a list of events off to the side to "keep the world in motion" is the next cheat sheet to build.
One thing my players do to stay organized is they use a shared Google sheet for posting marching orders, party treasure, game notes, screen captures of handouts, and plot hooks. I like their approach and it should work well keeping track of all the things they can do during their "Holiday in Barovia".
All of this advice is system neutral; Curse of Strahd was published for 5E, I'm converting it to Shadowdark, and it seems like you could do the same for any OSR game. Shadowdark and 5E have similar wealth expectations, making that piece of the conversion easier. We did our pre-Christmas game last night so next post I'll log our adventures in Barovia to date.
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