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Curse of Strahd: Overkill

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A DM's guide to preparing for a truly excessive and immersive Curse of Strahd adventuring campaign

I've waited more than 30 years to run a Ravenloft camapign, and in 2021, I got my chance.  

9 players.  Many in different states.  All playing via VTT.  

How, then, to attract and keep their attention?  How to use in-game artifacts to satisfy real-life curiosity?  How to make Barovia seem, feel, and function fundamentally differently from how even the ultra-experienced players in the group might expect?

How do I terrify the PLAYERS, and not merely the CHARACTERS?

Some have called my approach to running Curse of Strahd "insane", "crazy", or "unhinged".

Me?  I call it Overkill.

Contained in this over-the-top guide to DMs preparing for a Curse of Strahd campaign are the following:

  • New rules, including the Intelligence (Ravenloft) skill, Sanity Checks, and Insanity
  • A complete multi-page checklist guiding your preparation for the ultimate Curse of Strahd campaign
  • 60 letters and handouts, each intended to invoke atmosphere, extend characterization, describe lore, subvert the party, and/or drive the PCs to action
  • 76 magic items: coins, pendants, vials, and necklaces, intended as in-game artifacts that will delight and surprise even the most jaded and experienced of players
  • Multiple treasure tables to drive discovery of the new custom magic items
  • Rules for a complete overhaul of the economy of Barovia
  • Snippets that extend existing COS content such as making the processing of ghostly adventurers even more terrifying
  • An Excel file that catalogs everything in the document, including suggestions for background music taken from the Castlevania video games.
  • A PowerPoint file that catalogs each and every new magic item with visuals, intended for both players and DMs to reference.
  • Individual PDFs for each and every one of the 60 letters, ready to print and use in your game.
  • Microsoft Word files for Letter and A4 format versions of the 60+ letters, so you can easily adapt them to your own campaign.
  • Much, much more!

In-Game_Artifacts.png

Letter_Example.png

Letters_Sample.png

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Reviews (2)
Discussions (1)
Customer avatar
Kimberly K January 04, 2023 4:04 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hi, I just bought and read this. Love all the Work you put in there. My only Problem is that the Fonts you used for the Letters are not in the Word file. When i open the letters there are almost all in Calibri. Any chance to get the letters with the fonts embedded with the word file?
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Customer avatar
J. E January 04, 2023 4:19 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hi Kimberly--Great call! Calibri must be an eyesore for subject matter such as this :)

While sharing the fonts I used falls well beyond the aim here, I have generated a PDF which contains all 94 pages of the letters involved, and have added it to the listing. You can download that file immediately for free.

Onward!
Reply
Customer avatar
Kimberly K January 04, 2023 5:01 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thanks, i will try to research the fonts from the PDF. Where can i download the Power Point File that was mentioned on DMs Guild are only PDF Excel and Word files
Reply
Customer avatar
Kaellie C January 18, 2024 1:40 am UTC
PURCHASER
Adding a tab in the spreadsheet of which font is for which NPC and maybe a link to a good place to get it would be helpful too. I was able to find them all for free on font sites, but it did take a little digging on a few of them.
Thanks for putting this out there. It's good work.
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148
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IGS-COS-OK-5E
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Original electronic Click for more information
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File Last Updated:
January 04, 2023
This title was added to our catalog on August 06, 2021.