[LFP][Paid][Cypher] Curse of Strahd: Broken Survival

   Start Playing Page This game encourages payment of the Game Master at a rate of $20 through start playing com linked above. Roll20 is not responsible for any payment transactions and cannot enforce any private arrangements. Many assume Strahd is just a fictional being, written to criticize local rulers. Even you believed that growing up. Yet here you are, wandering through deep mists, gasping on cold and dense air, as you stumble further into the darkness. All because you were sent a letter by one Strahd Van Zarovich, who requests your assistance in assisting him and his people from with defending against ancient curse.  The letter offered no vast reward or treasure or renown, only a promise that your kin would not be chosen instead. You found this threat hollow, until someone in your close circles, friends or family, grow deathly ill. No doctor or healer could manage to break the fevers or stop the rot within. No matter how insane this all feels, you had little choice.  You will soon come upon an abandoned mansion, surrounded by forest and damp grounds. You will meet others like you, threatened to arrive in the lands of Barovia and you will have to learn to work together and trust another's talents to survive, The Curse of Strahd.

Every few days I plan to bump this post with a little bit of lore and behind the scenes knowledge, so that you guys can feel confident who your trusting with your games. If I may be blunt, I find there is just as much greatness as there is mediocrity in the original 5e curse of strahd publication. Its an issue with most modules from the original 5e era, where the book acts as A LOT of tools and info, and not a very solid guide to get you and the players from point a to be. For many, it's easier to just go your own direction and simply pluck ideas from the book, rather than running anything as written, which is a shame cause there is good content here. Good news tho? I THRIVE in that chaos. The book AS WELL as fan suppliments; what with cos reloaded and lots of other great works by Molandymod, I have twice now run year long Campaigns to completion, to the point my players still bring up how much fun they had. I am confident in being able to take the heart of Strahd (heh) as originally written, and insert great ideas from other sources, Including my own spin.  So if your looking for the drama, the horror, the scares of the infamous module, but you also want the ability to thrive and struggle, then do not fret, I will be prepared.

Let's talk a little about Cypher as a whole. While this game is using the second edition rules, the Core experience is very similar to 1st edition. Unlike most d20 systems where you learn the difficulty and then roll to hit above or below, this system is about actively changing the difficulty once its been declared and thus keeping a consistency in challenge. An example here, in dnd, you might have to roll above a 12 or 15 to knock down a door, thus using your strength and maybe an athletics skill. Mid game you'd be looking normally at a d20+3 or 4 meaning you have top at least hit a 8 or 9. That's fine and dandy, but we have all had those sessions where we cant roll above a 5 and there is little we can do besides have someone give us advantage on the roll. Cypher does it this way. You need to knock over the bolted door, and it is level 5 difficulty to do so. 5 times 3 is 15, so you need to hit a 15 on a d20 to it. Very similar. Now a player can check if they have athletics as a skill, and if they do then the difficulty goes from level 5 to level 4, so now a 12 on a d20. If they player wants to invoke the mechanic of effort and burn some of their might stat points, they can lower it to now level 3 and if someone is helping them knock the door down, then you mad it level 2. So we made a 15 on a d20 down to a 6 on a d20. This makes it so that the game is always player facing, that the player gets to choose how much or badly they wanna succeed or if its better to suffer damage or a failure now to succeed later. you have stamina essentially between Might Speed and Intellect so you cant just breeze through every situation, instead you have to manage your resources and your teams resources to always have an answer, and when you don't, its time to run or take a well needed rest.

Minor update to peak you alls interest. I actually struggled with how best to promote this particular game for a sec. I personally love the story of hero's thriving even if it costs them so much. BUT i also dont want it to be too vanilla of sorts? "hero man for being hero" is very dull imo and ive had it before....it doesn't go anywhere. so what we need is a temptation to come to a land of horrors and a challenge to do what is good and right. I think ive managed to land on a premise that makes sense why you all come to barovia and enthralls you guys to stay without being too simple.