Delcaration of Intent

I haven't bought a published adventure in a long, long time. I'm not sure what made me buy the new version of Expedition to Castle Ravenloft. I read a few reviews, and it sounded like it might be worth while. So I bought it, and read it, and I had a sudden desire to run it. This blog is where I'll post actual play reports about the campaign's progress. There are likely to be spoilers, so be warned.

We've finally gotten the group together, the characters rolled up, and the game started. The play roster includes the usual suspects: Amy, my wife; Adam, my brother-in-law; Alex, rule master; and Mike, insane genius. We've also got a new player, a fellow named Jeff, that I know from work. Jeff plays in the D&D game I managed to get started at my workplace, which is how I drafted him into this game.

The adventure gives several options for getting characters involved, but after reading them I decided to make my own pitch to the gang. My idea? To have the players be members of a traveling group of minstrels that wind up playing a gig in the village of Barovia.

As players often do, they had ideas of their own. Instead of minstrels, they decided to be members of a traveling carnival, instead. So, in addition to the PCs, we've got an entourage of sorts that travels with them.

So far, the PC group includes:

Vaor, a tiefling monk (the carnival freak, played by Adam);
Jelani, a human cleric/rogue (the tattooed lady, played by Amy);
Norm, a human sorcerer (special effects and working the audience, played by Mike);
Benson, a human paladin (the faith healer, played by Alex);
and Drezz, a half-orc barbarian (the strongman, played by Jeff).

In the future, I'll post profiles for the rest of the carnival personalities. That way, when they die horribly, you'll at least know who I'm talking about.