DM Tools: How to Start Curse of Strahd

There are two ways of starting the Dungeons & Dragons 5e Curse of Strahd, which are simply informing the players that the next campaign is Curse of Strahd or pull a Predator.

The first approach is great for experienced players that will not meta-game or power-game to the extreme. They will maturely create characters that they want to play and not ones purpose-built to kill vampires. Although, having a paladin or cleric in the group would not be a bad thing. This is also a good approach for discussing as a group about the dark nature of the campaign and making sure everyone is good with adventuring in Barovia.

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The other way is to pull a Predator. You might be asking what is pulling a Predator? This is taken from the 1987 Arnold Schwarzeneggar film of the same name. In case you haven’t seen it, Arny and his crew are hired to save a foreign cabinet minister and his aide who are being held by rebels. Slowly hints are introduced that the true enemy is not the rebels but something else that is hunting them in the jungle.

I unintentionally started my Curse of Strahd campaign like Predator. The adventure started because my daughters wanted to play D&D (something we had not done as a family in many years). I thought it was a bit of nostalgia on their part so I ran a quick 1st level adventure from 2nd Edition. Soon my youngest daughter’s friends also wanted to play. We went from a party of three to six in no time. I decided we had better convert to the latest version of the game and that I should start thinking about a more cohesive and serious campaign. I did a bit of research and found out that Curse of Strahd was the highest-regarded campaign at the time, so I decided to buy it and check it out. It did not take long for me to realize that there was a good reason that the campaign was so highly regarded.

Soon the players were finding their characters tripping through a mist-shrouded forest that led straight to Barovia. Their characters were not made to be in Barovia and it gave them a fish out of water feel that really added to the campaign.

You can build out some of the Adventure Hooks provided in the book to create this situation. Mysterious Visitors and Werewolves in the Mist both work well. I would even create a quick adventure to put more meat on the bones of these hooks, which will be necessary to conduct a meaningful session zero.

I have created some Player’s Guides based around the idea of surprising the players with a Curse of Strahd campaign. They are Werewolves in the Mist and Mysterious Visitors. Feel free to download the PDFs and use them as you see fit. Neither make mention of Strahd or Barovia and only hint at the idea that something darker lurks around the corner.

Let me know how you started your Curse of Strahd campaign in the comments below.