Curse of Strahd: How to Run the Campaign – Practical DM Guide

Why Curse of Strahd Needs Different Prep (and How I Learned)

After spending two years running two parallel Curse of Strahd campaigns (one in-person, one on Roll20), I learned fast that you can’t run this module like a normal D&D adventure. The book is brilliant, but it’s also a maze: scattered NPC info, sidequests buried in boxed text, and “random” elements that can derail your pacing if you leave them to chance.

The breakthrough came when I stopped treating CoS as a pure sandbox and started treating it like a horror TV season: tightly outlined in advance, with clear recurring characters, preplanned twists, and deliberate reveals. The tips below are exactly what I wish I’d done from day one-tested across two full campaigns with very different groups.

Step 1: Build a Barovia Binder (or Digital Index) Before Session 1

The single most important thing I did, especially when juggling two groups, was building a dedicated “Barovia Bible.” The book’s layout will fight you during play unless you externalize the important stuff.

What finally worked was splitting my notes into four sections:

• NPC Cards – One card (or page) per NPC: goals, secrets, where they appear, voice/quirks, who they hate, who they owe.
• Location One-Pagers – A single summary sheet per major area (Village of Barovia, Vallaki, Krezk, Argynvostholt, Castle Ravenloft).
• Quest Hooks – Each hook on its own card with: giver, reward, where it leads, and what changes if the party ignores it.
• Running Timeline – A chronological log of what the PCs did each session and how Strahd/NPCs reacted.

At the table, this meant that when my group walked into Vallaki, I grabbed the “Vallaki” one-pager and the stack of Vallaki NPC cards (Fiona, the Vallakoviches, the coffin maker, Izek, etc.) instead of flipping 30 pages back and forth.

Common mistake I made: Early on, I trusted the book’s organization. By the third session in Vallaki, I was stalling mid-scene while hunting for tiny details like “what does Ernst want right now?” Don’t do that to yourself. Pull those details out into your binder before players ever set foot in town.

If you’re running digitally, do the same thing with folders and handouts. On Roll20 I used:

• A “Vallaki” folder with handouts for each NPC.
• A “Strahd Reactions” handout I updated after every session.
• Quick-reference notes pinned to the current map.

Step 2: Pre-Rig the Tarokka and Dark Gifts

The module sells the Tarokka reading as wonderfully random. In practice, fully random results can shove players toward locations that don’t fit your pacing or their interests.

After one chaotic “pure random” run, I now always preselect the Tarokka results and then perform the reading theatrically as if it’s fate.

My process before session 2 (the first reading) now looks like this:

• Decide which underused locations I want to showcase (e.g. Argynvostholt, the Amber Temple).
• Place the three artifacts (Tome, Sunsword, Holy Symbol) in those areas in a way that makes narrative sense.
• Pick the ally based on the party’s vibe-someone they’ll actually care about protecting.
• Choose Strahd’s final lair to match your desired finale style (more on that later).

Then I stack the Tarokka deck or simply pull the “correct” cards from a digital deck. The players still get the eerie fortune-telling experience, but I’m not at the mercy of a bad draw that sends them to the Amber Temple at level 5.

Do the same with Dark Gifts and vestiges from the Amber Temple and related material. For each PC, I pick one or two specific temptations that match their flaws and backstory. That lets me foreshadow those gifts in dreams, whispered voices, or Strahd’s taunts long before they reach the Temple.

This turns the Amber Temple from “weird side dungeon” into “the payoff for a season-long corruption arc,” and you’re not scrambling mid-session to pick a random vestige that might not land.

Step 3: Make NPCs and Quests Actually Manageable

Curse of Strahd lives or dies on its NPCs. Vallaki alone has enough personalities to fill a whole campaign, and it’s easy to lose track of who promised what to whom.

What finally saved my sanity was treating NPCs and quests like a mini-CRM system:

• Color-coding NPC cards: I used different colors for “Allies”, “Neutral”, “Enemies”, and “Secretly Something Else.” When Strahd turned someone or when loyalties changed, I physically moved or flipped the card.
• Tagging NPCs by location: “Vallaki”, “Castle Ravenloft”, “Traveling”, so I could pull the right stack when the party moved.
• Quest status stamps: On each quest card, I’d mark “Offered / In Progress / Resolved / Failed” and the session number.

Example: In one game my group accidentally triggered three competing factions in Vallaki in the same session. Without my cards, I would have forgotten that one NPC had already promised to sabotage another. Because it was all on the card, I could effortlessly play out the double-cross without pausing.

Tip: At the end of every session, spend 10 minutes updating your NPC cards and timeline. Write down how they feel about the party now on a scale from -2 (hates them) to +2 (devoted ally). Future you will be very grateful.

Step 4: Use Van Richten’s Guide, MandyMod, and Reloaded (Without Drowning)

On my first run, I tried to run CoS “pure.” On the second, I embraced community resources and it was a night-and-day difference-for both prep and story depth.

Here’s how I used them without turning prep into a full-time job:

• Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft: I cherry-picked monsters and organizations. The Priests of Osybus became a shadowy presence in Vallaki and Krezk, giving me consistent cult NPCs instead of one-off weirdos. I also let players use a few thematically appropriate subclasses; that alone sold the horror vibe.
• MandyMod (Reddit): I treated this as a “director’s commentary” on each chapter. Before running a location, I’d skim MandyMod’s notes, highlight two or three ideas I liked (often better hooks or tightened timelines), and ignore the rest. No need to use everything.
• Curse of Strahd: Reloaded (DragnaCarta): I used Reloaded for structural fixes and a handful of encounters, especially around the Amber Temple and Castle Ravenloft. It helped me stitch locations into a more coherent emotional arc.

Compatibility warning from experience: If you pull ideas from both MandyMod and Reloaded, decide which one “wins” for any given subplot (e.g. how Vallaki collapses, what’s really happening at the Abbey). Trying to run both versions at once creates plot holes.

Step 5: Use Props and Tools to Turn Horror Up to 11

This is where Curse of Strahd shines. A few physical or digital props created some of the most memorable moments I’ve ever had at a table.

• Tarokka deck: I used a physical deck and did the whole card-reading ritual—low lighting, slow reveal, laying the cards in a cross. Even though I’d preselected the results, my players hung on every draw.
• Sunsword / Holy Symbol props: When the Sunsword turned up, I stopped mid-description and said, “It looks… something like this,” and pulled a 3D-printed hilt out of my bag. The table exploded. That moment will live in their memories longer than any stat block.
• Handwritten letters and maps: Strahd’s letters, invitations, and even scribbled notes from mad NPCs were all printed or handwritten and slid across the table. Players treated those differently than plain spoken text.
• Roll20 fog-of-war and lighting: For my online group, careful use of dynamic lighting in Castle Ravenloft was huge. Tense corridors feel different when the paladin can only see 30 feet into the darkness.

You don’t need an expensive prop box. Even simple touches—tea-staining paper for a letter, dimming the lights when Strahd appears, using a single recurring music track for Castle Ravenloft—do a ton of work for immersion.

Step 6: Make Strahd a Constant, Varied Presence (Without Overusing Him)

The module tells you to use Strahd often. In my first run, I didn’t. He turned into a distant legend until the final fight. In the second run, I aimed for 4–5 meaningful appearances before the finale, and he became unforgettable.

Patterns that worked best:

• Early encounter (levels 3–4): Strahd appears atop a carriage or a rooftop, amused and curious. He’s not threatened at all. Maybe he dominates an NPC ally for a scene to show off his charm power, then leaves.
• Mid-campaign test (around Vallaki / Krezk): He attacks on his terms, with wolves or swarms and a retreat plan. This is where players realize, “We can’t beat him yet.”
• Personal taunt: Use scrying and charm to make it clear he knows their secrets. I had him send a dream to the cleric offering to “free you from that burden” if they’d just abandon the party.
• One heartbreaking scene: Have him be almost sympathetic. Talk about Tatyana, about his curse, about how he genuinely believes he and a PC are alike. It complicates the hatred in a good way.

I also made a point of giving him distinct emotional modes: amused, bored, furious, wistful. Not just “evil vampire 24/7.” That contrast makes the final rage much scarier.

Don’t make my mistake: In one game I overused Strahd as a jump-scare cameo—bat on a windowsill here, ominous laugh there. It diluted him. When he shows up, something must change: an NPC dies, the castle shifts, a bargain is offered.

Step 7: Tune Difficulty and Pacing for Your Table

Curse of Strahd can be swingy. My online group (optimized min-maxers) chewed through early encounters; my in-person group nearly TPK’d on wolves. You should absolutely adjust things.

Things I now do as standard:

• Trim random fights after level 6: Instead of every random encounter, I replace half of them with unsettling set pieces—distant children laughing, a skeletal rider who passes by without speaking, a gallows vision that only one PC sees. Same horror, less combat fatigue.
• Scale Strahd quietly: If the party is very strong, I give him a bit more HP, tweak his spell list to counter their best tricks, and lean hard on legendary actions. If they’re struggling, I change his goals—he toys with them and retreats instead of fighting to the death.
• Use phases and movement in the final fight: Don’t let the last battle be “we stand in one room and hit him.” Have Strahd shift lairs, call minions, climb walls, turn into mist and reappear at emotional choke points (the heart, the crypt of someone they care about, etc.).
• Let charm and fear matter: In my best finale, Strahd charmed the party’s face early. The rest of the group had to choose between killing their friend or burning precious resources to free them. It was brutal and unforgettable.

The key is to decide your approach before the fight. In my notes, I outline Strahd’s three main “phases,” how he reacts at 75%, 50%, and 25% HP, and what triggers his retreats. That keeps the battle dynamic without turning into DM fiat.

Common Pitfalls I Hit (So You Don’t Have To)

• Trusting the book’s layout instead of building my own reference system.
• Letting the Tarokka results be totally random and then regretting the pacing.
• Underusing Strahd early, then overcompensating with too many small cameos.
• Running every random encounter as written and burning my players out.
• Trying to use every idea from MandyMod and Reloaded at once.
• Not updating NPC loyalties and quest status after each session.

Wrapping Up: Make Barovia Yours

Curse of Strahd is turning 10, and it’s still the campaign my players talk about the most. Not because I followed the book perfectly, but because I treated it like raw material for a tightly run horror story: preplanned Tarokka results, disciplined NPC and quest notes, carefully chosen community tweaks, and a Strahd who felt like a real, terrible person watching them from the dark.

If you put in a few hours of smart prep up front—building your Barovia binder, rigging the reading, choosing your mods, and deciding how Strahd behaves—you’ll save yourself dozens of hours of scrambling later. And more importantly, you’ll give your table a version of Barovia that feels coherent, oppressive, and unforgettable.

If I could run two simultaneous campaigns without burning out, you can absolutely run one great one. Start with the structure here, then twist it to match your group’s tastes—and let Strahd do the rest.