Curse of Strahd: Reloaded Update - Sword of Sunlight is Nearly Done!
Added 2025-03-10 03:05:29 +0000 UTCI'm excited to share that Arc S: A Sword of Sunlight is two-thirds fully edited, including everything outside of the sealed treasury, amber vault, lich's chambers, and archmage's library! Only ten thousand of thirty-four thousand words remain to be edited (largely focused on the arc finale—entering the amber vault, communing with the vestige of the Vampyr, fighting Patrina, and reigniting the Sunsword), and I'm aiming to have them all revised by this coming Saturday. From there, I'll take a few days to make some final tweaks, format everything for Obsidian, and do a final QA check before uploading sometime next week.
Given the sheer amount of words that I've revised or written since my last update, I'm not going to post update snippets tonight. Instead, I invite you to post (in the comments) any particular room, character, or scene you're interested in seeing a preview of, and I'll post a corresponding snippet in the comments. (I might not be able to reply to you until tomorrow night, but I'll do so as soon as I can!)
Thanks as always for your patience and support. I look forward to sharing more with you soon!
Cheers,
Dragna
Comments
You're very welcome, and thank you for the kind words! Hope your players enjoy their official entry into Barovia.
DragnaCarta
2025-03-14 00:33:38 +0000 UTCJust discovered your work shortly after starting my first DM experience with CoS. My players are just about to the end of Death House, but I’m already starting to switch over to Reloaded. Thanks for all the incredible work!
David Martinez
2025-03-12 23:59:52 +0000 UTCAlas; the third Tyrant's Trial isn't quite edited yet! My deepest apologies. I'm glad you liked the other two, though! I'm looking forward to sharing new developments in Strahd's relationship with the players :)
DragnaCarta
2025-03-10 22:13:23 +0000 UTCI'm so glad to hear your players are enjoying Arc A! I wish I could do more to make it easier for DMs to multitask between the guide and RAW book; let me know if there's anything you think I could do to make your life easier. Thank you very much for the kind words, and enjoy the rest of the campaign!
DragnaCarta
2025-03-10 22:12:44 +0000 UTCWoo! And ooh, that's fun. And the Amber Temple in Reloaded is a mini-Domain of Dread, meaning all spirits and souls get trapped there by default - you might have an easier time of working that in than you'd think! ;)
DragnaCarta
2025-03-10 22:12:34 +0000 UTCHuh; that's an interesting one! Can't say any vestiges come to mind. You should be able to swap out any of the minor vestiges, though, so long as you don't get rid of any whose amber shards the players have already encountered.
DragnaCarta
2025-03-10 22:11:54 +0000 UTCMore of strahds trials please :D They seem like fun ways he can harass the players as i liked the ball idea and was hoping you would have more of those!
CaptiveCreepa
2025-03-10 20:42:58 +0000 UTCI just started Arc A this Saturday. It's my first time running COS. My players loved it. There is so much depth. I am struggling a bit when I have to use the book for descriptions and when the webpage is enough. We play tabletop with minis, so I made handouts of all the letters from Death House. I just want to say thanks for the great work you are putting into this project.
Henrik Halle
2025-03-10 19:28:39 +0000 UTCI'm pumped for this! Especially since I was planning to homebrew a mage vault for my Wizard who is looking for his long lost brother, I plan to have his soul trapped somewhere in the Amber temple. Hopefully you have something in there I can modify a bit to put his brother trapped....haha!
GhostF15DM
2025-03-10 17:31:42 +0000 UTCI see, would gladly wait for the whole version:) But, if I may ask, will he have a boss fight of sort or will stay as untouchable entity?
BlackTeo
2025-03-10 13:47:24 +0000 UTCHave a PC who is a descendant of the original wizards that lived here. One of the vestiges gave him his desire of long life and power by basically making him a warforged. Any suggestions on which vestige that would be?
Sean Lowery
2025-03-10 12:32:57 +0000 UTCI do! Vampyr will stay as a vestige (and the origin of Strahd's vampirism), but he plays a key role in the hunt for the Sunsword. Stay tuned! ;)
DragnaCarta
2025-03-10 12:28:30 +0000 UTCAlways looking forward to see your updates! Do you intend to give Vampyr a big role or just let him stay as Vestige? Does he gave Strahd vampirism in your version? Or it's something unknown like in old lore?
BlackTeo
2025-03-10 11:46:29 +0000 UTCThat sounds great! Thanks for the heads up!
Zachary Beaupré
2025-03-10 03:54:42 +0000 UTCI think he'll eventually come to his senses, but the thought of doing the impossible and really bringing her back seems to be a tasty carrot to be dangled in front of them in attempts to corrupt them into accepting the full gift at the temple. Excited to see your take on all of the final gifts!
Nathan
2025-03-10 03:34:54 +0000 UTCSadly not written yet! :( Everything in the "main part" (i.e., non-hidden) part of the temple is fair game, though!
DragnaCarta
2025-03-10 03:30:58 +0000 UTCThat sounds rad! If you're interested, the Reloaded Amber Temple has a small focus on Khirad, the Star of Secrets - it's not (canonically) the god that the temple was devoted to, but perhaps you could repurpose it to those ends?
DragnaCarta
2025-03-10 03:30:22 +0000 UTCThank you! And sadly, I'm actually nerfing Zhudun's dark gift, so that it merely replicates the Rite of Stolen Life from Tomb of Annihilation (and therefore only mimics the corpse's original personality). However, that could, in turn, make for great material for an internal arc - perhaps the PC *wants* to resurrect his sister, but *needs* to deal with his grief and let her memory rest?
DragnaCarta
2025-03-10 03:29:29 +0000 UTCI think the canon gift of Zhudun is literally perfect for that. It gives the player the Resurection spell. You can take a look in the actual source book : it's one of the three main gifts
Zachary Beaupré
2025-03-10 03:18:03 +0000 UTCI also made it that their Amber Shard gave a more "positive energy" and radiated a gentle blue light, while others (Elisabeth's, for example) was redish and radiated a dark energy
Zachary Beaupré
2025-03-10 03:14:50 +0000 UTCI started my CoS campaign last thursday and it was a blast! I have a warlock in my group with a typical "I forgot my past" background and I pondered for a while as to what/who their patron could be. Since they decided to pick the Amber Shard as their relic, I really tried to come up with something from the amber temple. What I landed on is an add-on I plan to implement in the vault : the Sarcophagi of a long forgotten god of secrets, once that the group of mage that built the temple prayed to. They knew that their god was dying for XYZ reason and had to be sealed until they found a remedy or more followers to give the god strength. However, of course, the other evil saecophagi corrupted the wizards and they are no more. Yet, the god of secret prevails in their tomb. To link the PCs background and this god together, I thought about a rite of passage that requires you to leave all memories behind to discover the real truths and secrets of this world : think Shar-like, but more wholesome. I think the Amber Temple is a wonderful and inspiring location and I can't wait to see what you're written on it! I'd love to hear what other patrons homebrewed for this temple too!
Zachary Beaupré
2025-03-10 03:13:21 +0000 UTCCongrats on the progress! One of my PC's has an Amber Shard from his background, and is desperate to bring his long dead sister back to life. Is there any particular vestige in the temple that might appeal to him?
Nathan
2025-03-10 03:09:29 +0000 UTCWould love a snippet of the interaction with exethanter
TGray Art
2025-03-10 03:08:35 +0000 UTC
