Curse of Strahd

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Curse of Strahd is an adventure module for the 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons. It is yet another reprint/rewrite of the original I6: Ravenloft adventure module, which sees your party stumbling into Barovia and trying to take down Strahd von Zarovich, the Lord of Castle Ravenloft.

For some reason the writers added in a Staff of Power (an item capable of doing 320 damage in a single round, which is an odd choice, as Strahd himself only has 144 hitpoints, so even if he passes his saving throw, he can still die in one shot) on page 89 that was never in any of the previous versions, but have yet to put a single toilet in any of the buildings. That's the real horror of Ravenloft: the complete and utter lack of shitters.

Also so far has the great honor to being the single adventure in D&D history to be re-released in the same edition, with the SUPER MAJOR CHANGES being getting rid of "old depictions of the Vistani that portrayed them with the same, harmful stereotypes that people use to talk about the Romani" (read: changing a few mentions of "evil Vistani" to "Vistani servants of Strahd," which ultimately makes no difference at all, and making no attempt to rewrite how they're portrayed in the module at all). Which managed to piss off pretty much everyone as they turned that into a major release while we haven't gotten tons of classical setting splatbooks (while in the meantime both Magic: The Gathering and Critical Role got theirs). And the hypocrisy of the act (considering both Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro both have a pocket-dimension worth of running lawsuits involving workplace harassment and racism) wasn't lost on people.

So What's the Actual Adventure About?

The PCs meet in a tavern (or someplace) and are enjoying themselves when the doors burst open and a loud and brash individual rushes up to them and hands them a letter begging them to come to Barovia. After reading the letter and going "never heard of this Barovia place, but a job is a job," the PCs wander off into the woods where, very quickly, a thick fog descended on them, only (partially) dissipating once they reach the Gates of Barovia, a set of fuck huge gates flanked by equally big statues and a very sudden sense of unease. Very quickly the PCs figure out shit ain't right and soon get to the town of Barovia where it sets in they are now trapped in region for the foreseeable future.

In Barovia they get the general gist of what's up - Barovia is a land always just on the verge of death with lots of spooky shit in it, almost all of which stem from the ruler of the area, the vampire Strahd von Zarovich. For some reason or other he's taken a very sudden interest in one woman in town and is just on the verge of taking her as one of his wives when the PCs show up. Over the course of the next 8 or so levels, the PCs will have to run around the region and deal with werewolves, hags, ghosts, angry little tree monsters, a mad wizard (lots of insane people actually), and lots more in an attempt to find a number of magical artifacts to help end Strahd, as well as any allies as they can hope to get. All of this leads up to either a TPK or the eventual admission/breaking into Castle Ravenloft, a massive castle with even more weird shit in it.

The party then has their fortunes read, which determines the location of 3 magical items that'll help them in the final battle, a potential ally in Barovia and Strahd's location in the castle. This opens the lands of Barovia to be explored by the party, helping out where they can and destroying lesser evils within the realm before they feel confident to go face the BBEG himself.

If the characters manage to get through the castle of traps and terrors, they'll face down Strahd himself, possibly even twice if they aren't careful.

Needless to say this adventure is considered the best of all of 5e's adventures so far, the setting of Barovia being large enough to be interesting and filled with iconic NPCs, but still manageable enough a DM can let the party free-roam and be prepared to where they wind up on. though Strahd can be a little underwhelming unless the DM plays him intelligently (so most likely not). Still, it's pretty good, even with the rewrite and a near-perfect adventure with the right DMing and homebrew.