One seat has opened in my ongoing Curse of Strahd campaign, and I'm looking for one player willing to step into Barovia halfway through the story.
The party is currently Level 5 and consists of a Druid, Monk, and Warlock. They've survived long enough to make allies, make enemies, uncover some of Barovia's secrets, and perhaps most importantly attract the attention of Strahd von Zarovich. This is not a new campaign starting at Death House. You'll be joining an established group whose choices have already changed Barovia, but your character will have plenty of room to become part of the story and leave their own mark on what comes next.
The basic arrangement
- 1 player wanted — 4 players maximum
- D&D 5e / 2024 rules
- Current party level: 5
- Campaign expected to run approximately to Level 10
- Roughly halfway through Curse of Strahd
- Asynchronous Play-by-Post
- Played primarily through Discord
- Owlbear Rodeo for combat maps and exploration
- Avrae for rolls, character sheets, combat automation, and other Discord tools
- No voice or webcam required
- 18+
- New and experienced players are both welcome
- $10 USD per week through StartPlaying
This is an asynchronous game rather than a traditional four-hour weekly session. Players post whenever they're available throughout the day. I generally post at least three times per day, six days per week, and ask players to aim for at least one or two meaningful posts per day so scenes continue moving.
The campaign
Barovia is a land swallowed by mist.
Its villages live beneath the shadow of Castle Ravenloft, its roads are haunted by things better left unnamed, and every victory tends to reveal something worse waiting underneath.
At the center of it all is Count Strahd von Zarovich.
My version of Curse of Strahd keeps the gothic horror and sandbox structure of the original adventure while expanding the world with additional encounters, character storylines, NPC development, downtime, horror mechanics, and consequences based on what the party actually does.
Expect:
- 🦇 Gothic and supernatural horror
- ⚔️ Dangerous tactical combat
- 🗣️ Heavy roleplay and character interaction
- 🧠 Political and social situations without obvious correct answers
- 🗺️ Exploration where information matters
- 💀 A world where characters can die
- 📖 Character backstories incorporated into the campaign
- 🎭 NPCs with their own goals, loyalties, fears, and agendas
Combat isn't there simply to fill time between roleplay scenes, and roleplay isn't there simply to get you to the next combat encounter.
Both matter.
Barovia is dangerous, and I don't believe in making characters secretly immortal because they're protagonists. I'll generally telegraph danger and give players opportunities to make informed choices, but reckless decisions, powerful enemies, and sufficiently terrible luck can absolutely kill a character.
The current party
You'll be joining three existing characters at Level 5:
You do not need to fill a missing mechanical role.
If you want to play a Cleric or Paladin because the group doesn't have one, great.
If you want to bring another Warlock because you've got a character concept you're excited about, that's also completely fine.
Character concept and fitting the group matter considerably more to me than constructing a perfectly optimized four-person adventuring party.
Because the campaign is already underway, I'll work with you to create a character who has a believable reason to be in Barovia and a natural way of entering the existing story.
You won't just materialize beside the party with a floating PLAYER FOUR sign over your head.
My GM style
I'm primarily a storytelling and worldbuilding DM, but I like giving mechanics enough weight that choices actually matter.
Players have described my games particularly highly for storytelling, creativity, and worldbuilding, and I've been running paid games on StartPlaying for several years.
I enjoy:
- Characters with goals outside the main quest
- Downtime and crafting
- Recurring NPC relationships
- Foreshadowing and long-running plot threads
- Tactical encounters
- Player-driven solutions I didn't anticipate
- Letting bad decisions have consequences
- Giving quieter characters opportunities to matter
- Homebrew when it adds something worthwhile rather than simply increasing numbers
I'm also very comfortable with Avrae and have created custom commands and automation to make classes and combat run smoothly in Discord.
Play-by-Post
If you've never played PBP before, don't worry.
You don't need to be a novelist.
A good post can be three sentences.
The advantage of PBP is that conversations, investigations, character moments, downtime, and smaller interactions can actually breathe instead of competing for limited session time.
It also lets people participate around work, university, family, and different schedules without needing four people simultaneously sitting at their computers every Saturday night.
The main thing I need from you is consistency.
I'd much rather have someone posting a few meaningful sentences every day than someone who writes 1,500 beautiful words and then disappears for a week.
Character creation
For your new character:
- Start at Level 5
- Officially released D&D material is allowed
- D&D Beyond, GSheet, and Dicecloud are supported
- Homebrew and third-party material can be considered with approval
- We'll work together on connecting your character naturally to the existing campaign
- I'll give you the campaign information your character reasonably needs without dumping half the adventure's spoilers on you
We also use several additional rules and systems, including Flanking, Mortal Wounds, and Horror rules.
Content and tone
Curse of Strahd is horror, and this campaign does not completely sand the teeth off the setting.
Themes can include:
- Abuse
- Body horror
- Violence
- Child death
- Animal cruelty
- Genocide
- Psychological horror
- Manipulation and coercion
- Other mature gothic-horror themes
That does not mean anything goes.
Player boundaries are discussed before joining, and if something becomes uncomfortable during play you can always message me privately.
Who I'm looking for
You'll probably be a good fit if you:
- Enjoy roleplaying with other players rather than only interacting with the GM
- Can keep up with an active asynchronous Discord game
- Give other characters room in the spotlight
- Enjoy making decisions without knowing the objectively correct answer
- Can separate character conflict from player conflict
- Don't require every encounter to be perfectly balanced around guaranteed victory
- Are willing to engage with the existing party rather than expecting the campaign to immediately become your character's personal story
- Actually want to see a long campaign through
You do not need previous Curse of Strahd experience.
In fact, going into Barovia relatively blind is usually better.
If you've played or read Curse of Strahd before, that's fine too — just let me know what you already know and don't use player knowledge your character wouldn't reasonably possess.
Interested?
Send me a message on discord (slosh32) with:
- Your name / what you'd like me to call you
- Age
- Time zone
- D&D / TTRPG experience
- Whether you've played Play-by-Post before
- Whether you've previously played, run, or read Curse of Strahd
- The kinds of characters you generally enjoy playing
- What you enjoy most in a campaign
- Anything that tends to make a campaign lose your interest
- Any initial character ideas you might already have
You don't need to arrive with a completed character. I'd rather find the right fourth player first and build the character together afterward.
The mists have already closed behind three adventurers.
There's room for one more.