Continued from part IV. It might be a bit redundant.... but worth reading if you're going to run CoS.
If you like the idea of taking Barovia before defeating Strahd, here is one way to do that. I discussed this on reddit before and another user added some great ideas (check the link!).
The entire land of Barovia feels evil, as the PCs arrive. The whole land is thrown into despair. The very air feels heavy. You would leave... but the feeling is even worse when you get closer to the mists.
The reason for this is that the land is cursed.
Every notable location lays upon an important arcane intersection, like nodes on a web.
In the middle of the web, lies Castle Ravenloft. Strahd (and the dark powers) walk over the web like spiders.
The sites are Barovia, Vallaki, Krezk, the Amber Temple, Argynvostholt, Wizard of Wines Winery, Yester Hill, Berez. Let's leave the other sites for now and keep these nine for now.
As you can see from the book, all of these places are in a bad shape - but things could become even worse. For simplicity's sake, let's call them "neutral" if they are bad but do not belong to Strahd's allies, "taken" if they do, and "free" if they are, well, free from Strahd's grasp.
An empty place is neutral. Kill all the mosnters in Berez, for example, and the place becomes neutral. A place filled with hopeful enemies of Strahd is free.
To turn a place from neutral to "taken", all the PCs have to do is... nothing. They are the good guys. If they choose to do nothing, things will naturally (and gradually) become worse.
To "free" a place, you'd have to destroy Strahd's allies... but occasionally you'll need YOUR allies to stay there for a while. That's why they don't accompany you all the time - you NEED Ismark to rule Barovia or it will fall into despair.
Remember - not all barovians have souls, and certainly many are not fit to be leaders.
But it gets worse. Maybe you need LEGITIMATE leaders to rule the inhabited parts of the land. You need to convince Dmitri Krezkov to turn things around in Krezk. You need a Vallakovich to rule Vallaki (or the Wachters will) - the villagers will not resist Strahd under a foreigner, elf, innkeeper, etc. Unless... you give them enough reason to trust you. Find a missing child, deliver a dress, clean a desecrated church or reason with a crazy abbot.
Ultimately, you have to restore HOPE to the valley. How do you do that? Here are some ideas:
- Barovia - save Ireena so that Izmark can rule in peace. If you cannot do that, maaybe helpíng the priest and defeating the nearby witches will restore hope so a new leader might emerge.
- Vallaki - convince Vallakovich to stop his insanity. Defeat him if you need, but you'll also need to defeat the Wachters or the city will turn from neutral to taken. Calling Vallakovich to reason will take a lot of effort, maybe a few errands. Maybe his wife or son could do a better job.
- Krezk - help the burgomaster with his family. Do what the abbot says - calling him to reason is nearly impossible. Maybe defeat nearby werewolves (or at least the current pro-Strahd leader).
- The Amber Temple - this is a complex one, probably deserving of an entire post.
- Argynvostholt - return the dragon's skull to its former place... and do not destroy the ghosts who opposed Strahd.
- Wizard of Wines Winery - give them back to the owners and restore the three gemstones (one of them is missing from the module... put it where you want).
- Yester Hill - defeat the druids and the Gulthias tree. On a second thought, combine this one with Wizard of the Wines.
- Berez - defeat the witch.
Violence?
As you can see, pure violence is only a viable answers against places completely taken by monsters. Causing carnage in any village will not restore hope - on the contrary. Cause chaos, and Strahd will only laugh... and wait. Desperate villagers will soon turn to another tyrant for protection.
Hope?
The characters should be able to perceive that something has changed if they "liberate" a place. Maybe the mists open, allowing the sun in... making things even harder for the vampires. Maybe the leaves seems brighter and stronger, the people hopeful, and so on.
Conversely, if they fail, it will be obvious the next time they arrive. People are desperate, trees are twisted, etc.
Blowback?
Strahd will not sit idly after a few places are taken. He does not care enough that if a couple of places are liberated - he knows they'll fall back into despair eventually. However, if the "integrity of the web" is compromised, he will take action. This is a subject for another post.
A dark twist?
It occurs to me that if you want your campaign to be really dark, some "liberations" might require a dark twist to work properly. Suffice to say some crimes cannot be forgiven, some people cannot be reasoned with, and occasionally you need justice (or even injustice) before peace. For example, maybe some good-aligned ghosts must be destroyed to "clean" a place. In Barovia, some souls are too far gone.
I don't think I will pursue this line of thinking right now, or recommend it; the module is dark enough as it is. But it is somethign to consider.
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