The Editioning, AD&D 1st Edition, Part 2

So Charming

He turned up at our door. The lord of the realm, Count Strahd von Zarovich, just appeared at our door on our first night in Barovia. We were expecting maybe wolves? Nope. The great vampyr himself paid us a visit in person. I’ll be honest, we were at something of a loss for how to deal with this. There was a silence around the table (video call.) And then, Warder Jon Blackhall, my paladin, gallant protector, answered the door. He’s not that smart, but also, he believes in good manners. Actually, his lack of smarts drastically compounded the situation moments later. The Count cast Charm Person on him, and just like that, they were best buds.

Charm Person in AD&D 1st Edition is a potentially ruinous spell. There are a few of these low level spells that really punch above their weight. Hold Person is another one. They feel powerful in a satisfying way, whether they are used on you or by you. Strahd cast Charm person on Jon and he was ready to invite the master vampire inside. I had fun roleplaying this and the whole scene was great because the other players had to work hard to convince Jon he was being manipulated. They eventually succeeded and the door was closed. But that didn’t change the fact that he could still under the Count’s sway for at least another week! Lucky old Jon, he’d be allowed another saving throw at that point. This sounds punitive when you look at it through a modern D&D lens. We weren’t even in combat and an element of my PC’s independence was hijacked. And there was nothing we could do.

My other PC, Merryn, the elven Magic User had attempted to learn Dispel Magic during character creation, which would have been enough to remove the charm, but she had failed, and, according to the rules of AD&D 1st Edition, she simply cannot ever learn it now(! This, too, feels rough, at the time.) But, what I found, at the table, was a fantastic prompt for role-play. I think, when player’s complain about their characters’ losing agency, it is often because the game does not go the way they had planned in their head that it should go. But, just like a GM starting a game with an exact idea of what will happen in it, this approach will lead only to frustration and dissatisfaction. This way of thinking presupposes that everyone else at the table is not only ok with your ideas for how your character’s story will go, but also that they are willing to sacrifice their own fun to make that happen for you. Instead, if you go into it with a few major personality traits and ideas for how the PC might act in a given situation, and then roll with the punches, you are far more likely to have a freewheeling good time. For me, Jon getting charmed felt like a pivotal moment for him. Either he would remain charmed for the rest of the game, potentially, and act in Strahd’s best interests when he otherwise wouldn’t, or he would get the spell lifted and this whole adventure would suddenly become much more personal. Read on, dear reader, to discover which way that went!

Night in Barovia

If you haven’t read the first part of our adventure, dear reader, and you want to catch up, please go here. If you think you might want to be a player in Ravenloft, someday, turn back now! There will be SPOILERS!

My paladin, Warder Jon, upon hearing of the missing village girl, Gertrude, felt it important that they make an effort to find her. He thought perhaps she might have run off into the forest, and having found the messenger killed by wolves in the woods, he was worried for her life. I wish I hadn’t pushed this now, actually. I do think this is how Jon would react to hearing about the missing girl, but Isaac had already told us there was nothing more to find around her house. No clues, no tracks. I think it is fairly obvious that we’re supposed to think she might be found in the castle. All roads lead there, after all. Anyway, we wasted a bit of the session doing that.

Afterwards, we still had some daylight so we bought some supplies and returned the Burgomaster’s house to help repair it. We boarded up windows, reinforced doors, patched up holes in the walls, that sort of thing. And then we waited. Merryn went looking for spell books, and found none. Endrei went up to the top floor and looked out over the cemetery with Ireena, the Burgomaster’s daughter who had been bitten by Strahd. Together they witnessed the mass exodus of the ghostly adventurers who had met their end in the castle. They rose, silvery and ethereal, from their graves and progressed up the hill to the castle. Ireena said they did that every night.

And then Strahd came a-knocking. I outlined the upshot of that above. We sent him packing but not before Jon got enchanted. He went to bed thinking the vampire was his best friend. And so, when an aspect of the Count appeared at his boarded up window in the dark of the night, he welcomed it. He was in the shape of a bat, and I’m not sure if this was just a dream or if it was real. Either way, Strahd asked a reasonable favour of Jon. He wanted to know if one of our number possessed a sword that had been broken in two at some stage. Jon thought this might refer to the fighter, Caldan, whose sword had seemed to pull him through the gates into Barovia the previous day. He promised he would get the sword for his new undead mate.

The following day, we visited Madame Eva, accompanied by both Ireena and her brother, Ismark. She was to be found at a camp with the rest of her people, along the river. Merryn was very excited to witness what she insisted on referring to as “human magic.” Eva drew the cards for those of the party who entered her tent. For this, Isaac was able to use the Tarokka deck that I had recently procured. It is the official one made for the recent 5.5E version of Ravenloft, but one Tarokka deck is as good as the next, I assume. Anyway, since we were playing online, Isaac drew all the cards himself, and then read out the readings from the adventure. These gave us a lot of clues! I believe they also have a concrete effect on events within the adventure itself, although I’m not sure exactly how since I haven’t read it yet. We discovered something of the location of a “protector of good,” discovered that knowing the history of the place would help us, that the object of our search could be found where a prince is buried, that there is a weapon of light in the hands of darkness, and that all of this would be cast in a dark shadow.

Once the reading was done, the group asked Eva to remove the magic laid upon Warder Jon. She did so in exchange from a promise that we would bring her the two parts of the sword that was broken! We didn’t reveal to her that part of that might be in Caldan’s possession but we did promise we would bring it to her. So, she dispelled the Charm Person and Jon was freed! Of course, he swore an oath to kill the Strahd for the ignominy of ensorcelling him.

From the camp, we made out way back along the road and took the other fork in the crossroads. Up we climbed until we discovered an unmanned black carriage and set of ebon horses, all beautifully appointed and apparently waiting for us to climb board. Only three of us took the ride, including Merryn and our resident gnome assassin, Celfi. The rest refused on principle and, instead, got soaked to the skin as the weather worsened. Eventually we all reached the castle, and it was introduced with some very evocative read-aloud text from the adventure, which, I think, assumed that the whole party would take the carriage.

The front door of the keep stood open, braziers flickered in the hall and it seemed warm and welcoming. We rejected it despite Celfi’s insistence that going in the front door would be the last thing the Count would expect! Instead we investigated the northern side of the courtyard where we found a gate. We easily opened that and found ourselves in another open yard. This one played host to the coach house which was, eerily, filled with the carriage which had just transported some of us there, despite the fact we had just left it on the road out front moments before. Also in this yard, surrounded by high walls was a gate into a neglected garden right at the back of the keep. Our assassin picked the lock for us and we investigated. The garden itself was a sorry affair but right at the back was another gate leading out to the overlook. This promontory jutted out from the pillar of rock the castle was built upon, and allowed an unparalleled vista of the count’s domain. From here, we were also able to line of windows below us, set into the rock face, glowing slightly with a feint light.

We returned to the yard once again to try the back door. This was the only door into the keep other than the front door, so we thought we should enter this way. Inside, we discovered a small, cold chamber. There was a pair of armoured skeletons slumped on either side of a stairway leading down from the room. Upon investigation it became obvious that they were not undead, merely decorative. The room also had a table and on that table rested an ancient book. It was half filled with names, all illegible. Some of us signed the tome, Merryn signed the pseudonym she said she used for her novels, Theodore Woolyfoot. Another member of the team signed it, Count Strahd von Zarovich! Anyway, it then occurred to us that this book could contain the names of all those adventurers who are forced to return to the castle at nigh as ghosts. If that were the case, perhaps destroying it would free them! We took it out to the overlook where there were a pair of bare stone structures sheltered from he wind and the rain. Just as we were about to set it alight, we heard a voice from the shadows behind us, welcoming us to his castle. The Count had come to greet us. Jon prepared to fulfil his oath! Time to roll for initiative!

Conclusion

What I have described above were the events of two sessions. Both were a little short, about two hours each. So, after three sessions, we have not had to interact with the mechanics of the game too much. I get the impression that’s about to change. I recently read the Player’s Handbook cover to cover so I’m pretty well prepared for it, I think, though I am still a little unsure how to factor ⁣segments into a combat round. Thankfully, I’m not the DM so Isaac will have to figure that part out!

I’m very excited to finally be in the castle and exploring. And encountering the antagonist himself, not once, but twice in the course of the adventure so far has been very cool. It makes me feel like he is a real personality and not just a bag of XP and treasure. How will the fight go? Badly, I expect. Let’s find out next time!