DragnaCarta

Curse of Strahd Reloaded Update: Ascending Mount Ghakis

Apologies for the delay in updates! I sadly don't have Arc R: Trials of the Mountain fully finished yet—at 30,000 words in length and 85% of the way to completion, it's looking to be one of my longest arcs yet. Even so, I've made a good amount of progress since my last update, which you can find be...

I'm now offering DM skills mentoring sessions!

(this is not a curse of strahd: reloaded-related email; i apologize deeply to anyone who subscribed only for reloaded updates and doesn't want to see random marketing schlock in their inbox. i will try to keep it to a minimum. ty for your patience 🙏)

2024-10-15 12:17:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Curse of Strahd Reloaded Update: Into Tsolenka Pass

I'm trying to keep to a reasonably regular schedule for these; let's see how long I can keep it up!

But first—for those who aren't aware: Kaiya, the voice of Lilissen on Curse of Strahd: Twice Bitten, a brilliant storyteller, and a dear friend, has launched a Kickstarter for her...

Dragna's Blog: Tsolenka Pass, Travel Encounters, and the Reference Frames of Chult

As you may (or may not) already know, I’m in the process of planning a Tomb of Annihilation-inspired campaign for my players. The players of my first-ever Curse of Strahd campaign gave me the module as a gift when we finished it, and I’ve been in love with Chult as a setting ever since. There’s ju...

Curse of Strahd Reloaded Update: Trials of the Mountain Begins

It’s been eighty-four years since my last Reloaded update newsletter—or at least a solid month—so please accept my sincerest apologies for the radio silence! Have an update.

I. Reloaded Update

I’ve officially broken ground on Arc R: Trials of the Mountain, which combines the pla...

New Reloaded Working Document + Full Campaign Outline

I've officially begun work on Arc R: Trials of the Mountain! You can follow my work in the new Working Document (linked in the Bronze Masterpost), or by following my updates on the @Reloaded Drafts ping in the Patreon...

New DMG Reloaded Handout: Verbs

I'm excited to release the next handout in the Dungeon Master's Guide: Reloaded series on game and narrative design: Verbs!

This handout is easily the most theoretical/academic/pseudo-mathem...

Dragna's Blog: Method Dungeons

In my home game, I’m currently running my players through (a heavily remixed version of) A Deep & Creeping Darkness from Candlekeep Mysteries. For those who haven’t read it, the adventure is about investigating an abandoned mine and eliminating the nest of meenlocks that still haunts it.

A...

HIRING: Curse of Strahd: Reloaded Editor

UPDATE: I am no longer accepting new applications. Thank you to all who applied!

Every new Reloaded release includes two parts: (1) a new arc; and (2) updates and fixes to old arcs. While #1 is usually what most people are waiting for, #2 is important for the host of newer campaigns steadily wo...

Curse of Strahd: Reloaded’s guide to lighting Argynvost’s beacon, redeeming the Abbot, and defeating Kiril is now available!

I’m excited to share the ninth public installment of my revised Curse of Strahd guide, Curse of Strahd: Reloaded. This new release contains 2024-08-29 11:35:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Dragna's Blog: Inverting the Polarity (of the Dramatic Question)

Recently, I played Call of Cthulhu for the first time.

The first session, aside from an assortment of introductions to NPCs and other PCs, largely consisted of exploring rooms in a mostly empty mansion, trying to uncover secrets and identify any clues that might trigger further developments in the (only so...

Curse of Strahd Reloaded Update: Arc Q is Imminent

Good news: We're officially on-track to finish this thing - hopefully by Halloween. I've written nearly twelve thousand words since I started work on v2.0.9 on July 26, and Arc Q: A Shining Beacon is pretty much complete, including (1) the players' return from the heist, (2) the players' confron...

Poll: Would you back a trio of horror one-shots?

I'm currently pondering teaming up with two other writers to publish three one-shot horror adventures; they would write two, while I would write the third and edit/lead development on all three. The goal would be to create modules that, like Reloaded, are zero-prep, ready-to-run, and chock-full of good narrative and game desi...

Dragna's Blog: The Madam Eva Problem

In my previous developer blog, I discussed my proposed replacement for Reloaded's then-current plot hook to Tser Pool (and the Tarokka reading). The previous hook went as follows: On the players' first night in Barovia, Madam Eva appe...

DMG Reloaded: Chapter 6 (Gameplay) Now Available

I've published Chapter 5: Gameplay of the Dungeon Master's Guide: Reloaded on the Bronze Masterpost! This chapter discusses goal-oriented design, the process of creating meaningful gameplay for your players, and ...

Curse of Strahd Reloaded Update: Arc P: Ravenloft Heist is now available

I'm excited to share the eighth public installment of my revised Curse of Strahd guide, Curse of Strahd: Reloaded. This new release contains 2024-07-19 16:53:16 +0000 UTC View Post

Meet Challenge Rated: A Balanced Encounter-Building Calculator

Challenge Rated is the webtool version (built by open-source contributors) of my Challenge Ratings 2.0 encounter-building system. It uses a custom algorithm, ...

Curse of Strahd Reloaded Update: Oops, I Rewrote Arc B

Good news: Arc P: Ravenloft Heist is complete!

Bad news: To fix an issue with the Tarokka reading, I wound up rewriting almost the entirety of Arc B: Welcome to Barovia. (Yes, I know the Tarokka reading is in Arc C. TL;DR: In order to provide a clear inciting inci...

Dragna's Blog: Meenlocks, Sergei & Goal-Oriented Design

A Deep and Creeping Darkness is a short 5th Edition adventure for 4th-level characters by Michele Carter and Sarah Madsen from the Candlekeep Mysteries anthology. In it, the players are tasked by a mining company with investigating the abandoned mining town of Vermeillon and the nearby platinum min...