TABLE OF CONTENTS WELCOME TO STRAHD’S POSSESSION.......................1 What Comes with This Game? .........................................1 Using the Mouse .............................................................1 Getting Started Quickly ...................................................1 CORDIAL GREETINGS FROM STRAHD ........................2 HOW TO PLAY .................................................................3 The First Reading: Combat...............................................
1 2 CORDIAL GREETINGS FROM STRAHD Count Von Zarovich, Lord of Barovia, Welcomes You WELCOME TO STRAHD’S POSSESSION What Comes with This Game? Your game box should contain this rule book, a CD or game disks, and a data card. The rule book explains how to play and contains handy references on characters, monsters, and spells. To play, install your disks according to the instructions on the data card, which also shows how to start quickly with a pre-saved game.
4 BASIC TRAINING HOW TO PLAY The First Reading: Combat “Beware the beast in all its forms: the lurker in shadow, the creature of the forest, and the foul denizen of the castle hall. Your path crosses before it in a warlike quarrel; and, lo . . . you must learn to fight if you are to survive.” — Madame Eva of the Vistani Wandering out from the shifting walls of mist comes a worg wolf, one of the first beasts your party is likely to encounter.
5 Melee, thrown, and ranged weapons compose the three basic types of arms your characters employ. Left-click on the ready weapon and your character lunges to the attack. While it seems easy, keep some common sense rules in mind: ♦ Thrown weapons have to be retrieved after a fight and made “ready” again. ♦ Ranged weapons, such as bows and slings, require ammunition. Arrows are conveniently carried in your character’s quiver, while rocks for slings can be placed anywhere in inventory.
8 7 APPRENTICE INSTRUCTIONS You know your party is about to encounter more dangers; another worg wolf, a band of goblyns, or perhaps a zombie shuffling from the darkness, intent upon sinking its talons into living flesh. If the area is safe and fate has given you time enough to prepare, spells can be prayed for or memorized. To Spellcast, first determine if a mage or a priest (cleric) accompanies your party.
9 10 The Third Reading: Adventuring 3-D VIEW MOUSE POINTER (in combat mode) ITEMS COMPASS MESSAGE AREA ITEMS IN HAND HOLY SYMBOL CHARACTER PORTRAIT FRONT RANK HIT POINT BAR REAR RANK TURN LEFT MOVE LEFT “DOUBLETIME” MOVE FORWARD BACKWARD MOVE FORWARD MOVE RIGHT TURN RIGHT MOVEMENT BUTTONS “You must discipline your heart.
11 12 MOVE FORWARD TURN LEFT AND MOVE FORWARD TURN RIGHT AND MOVE FORWARD TURN RIGHT TURN LEFT MOVE RIGHT MOVE LEFT MOVE BACKWARD Adventure Screen On Screen Movement While holding the left mouse button down, move the cursor into the top third of the screen. The cursor becomes an arrow and your characters move in the direction it is pointing. Try moving the cursor to various areas on the screen and watch how the screen responds to that movement.
13 14 NON-PLAYER CHARACTER RESPONSE QUESTION Encounter Window NPC Dialogue Your party is close enough to converse with an NPC when placing the mouse cursor over the NPC results in a “talk bubble.” Left-click and a closeup of the NPC appears along with one or more questions your party may ask. Move the cursor to highlight the question of your choice, then left-click to set the response in motion. Several levels of continuing questions may follow the response.
15 Attack Opponent: As previously mentioned, launch your character’s attack by leftclicking on a weapon which is “in-hand” and “ready.” Once used, a weapon is shaded out until it is again made ready (perhaps by replenishing its supply of ammunition). Fighters, paladins, and rangers can carry and fight with a second weapon, but may suffer a penalty to their combat ability for doing so. Cast Mage and Priest Spells: After praying for or memorizing spells and then resting, spells are ready for use.
17 Pick Up and Drop Objects /Add Items to Inventory: In the vast, unearthly reaches of the RAVENLOFT game world exist many treasures: gold to be found, supplies to be plundered, armor, weapons, and keys to help the party on its way. By moving the cursor over such an item and left-clicking with the mouse, the object is picked up. Another left-click drops it. To keep the object and add it to one of your character’s inventories, pick up the object and move it to the character’s portrait.
19 Save, Load, Pause, and Quit SAVE To save your game, move the mouse cursor to the top of the adventure screen until the menu of options appears. Leftclick over the SAVE option. This displays a list of named, saved games. Click on an available slot, type in a name for the game you are saving, then press Enter to save it. Saving your game from time to time during play is a good idea.
21 outlined in white. By clicking on a blank slot the character is moved to that slot. Clicking on another character’s name causes the two to switch positions. Hit Point Bar: Hit points for each character are represented by a yellow bar at the right of the character’s portrait. As a character takes damage, the hit points bar descends to the bottom of the portrait square. When hit points are dangerously low, the bar turns red.
23 24 SCROLL MAP NORTH SCROLL MAP EAST QUILL PEN SCROLL MAP WEST SEVERAL SCROLLS ERASER TOGGLE MAP TEXT ON/OFF PRINT MAP SAVE MAP TO FILE MAPPING AREA SCROLL MAP SOUTH RETURN TO GAME Automap Screen Automapping As your party explores the many lairs and labyrinths of the RAVENLOFT game world, the last thing you want to do is map each step of the way with pencil and paper. We’ve made it easy by including a versatile automapping feature. The map is displayed from the adventure screen.
25 Save: By selecting this option you save the currently viewed map into a file in the “Automaps” subdirectory. They are in the format AUTOxxx.MAP (where xxx is the number of the map) and can be viewed in any text editor. Exit: Select EXIT to return to the adventure screen. Adventuring Strategy ATTACKING OPPONENTS Characters most often engage in “melee combat,” which is faceto-face battle with weapons such as swords and maces. Other options include casting spells and ranged combat using bows or slings.
27 HINTS Here are a few hints to help your character along the way. Carry Items with You You never know when your characters might need something they’ve found! To carry an item along for the adventure, pick it up and move it into an inventory slot. If there is no more room in your character’s inventory, find a safe and easily accessible location to stash items that can’t be carried. Keep Track of Buttons and Levers Some puzzles are activated in one part of the dungeon, yet affect other parts farther off.
29 30 CREATING YOUR PARTY OF CHARACTERS Prophecy of Strong Companions Character Class Selection Screen “By whatever gods you pray to, you have been blessed with loyal companions. I foresee their strength becoming as one with yours in times of need. They shall prove both boon and blessing on this difficult journey you have chosen to undertake.” — Madame Eva of the Vistani Generating Characters Character generation in STRAHD’S POSSESSION provides a unique and entertaining experience.
31 click on the “Foresee New Character” card in the lower right-hand corner. It returns you to the previous set of cards. After you select the gender of your character, the card chosen moves to the lower left of the screen, while six new cards are dealt across the table. These represent the races available to your character: human, half-elf, halfling, gnome, dwarf, and elf. Click over the appropriate card for the race of your choice.
33 To accept the attributes displayed, left-click in the center of the attributes card or hit Enter on your computer keyboard. The last two cards displayed are “Keep” or “Delete” this character. If you choose to keep the character generated, you are prompted to enter the character’s name on a card in the center of the screen. Left-click on the card or hit Enter to accept the name. The screen saves the character and moves on to the generation of a second character.
35 ♦ Elves Elves spend much of their time in the carefree company of nature, as far from cities and towns as possible. Because of this they are often thought to be haughty and cold, especially when forced into the company of others. The RAVENLOFT game world presents special challenges for elves, for in that evil land their resistance to spells may falter, and the forests and glens of the demi-plane often prove to be places of a dark, unholy nature.
37 CLASSES Some characters learn magic while others become experts in battle tactics. Some are masters of the arcane art of spell casting, while others are malcontents able to pick almost any lock. Each belongs to his own defined occupation, or class. While the members of some races may belong to more than a single class, the six basic choices are: ♦ Fighter ♦ Ranger ♦ Paladin ♦ Mage ♦ Cleric ♦ Thief Select the class of your characters with care.
39 ♦ Paladins Paladins radiate an aura of protection, a shield of sorts which causes their attackers to suffer a penalty even before these elite warriors have unsheathed their swords. In this and other magical abiliies, paladins prove themselves as more than mere fighters. Walking the most difficult path of any class, the paladin abides by the rules of lawful good and leads others by the example of his chaste and pious ways.
41 ABILITY SCORES These numbers are a summary of natural faculties and abilities. A character’s summary includes the following faculties: ♦ Strength (STR) ♦ Intelligence (INT) ♦ Wisdom (WIS) ♦ Dexterity (DEX) ♦ Constitution (CON) ♦ Charisma (CHA) The Edit and Keep commands allow you to make changes to these scores and then save them. Every character brings a different combination of strengths, weaknesses, talents, and abilities to the game.
43 provide some protection, when your character’s hit points reach zero, he or she is dead. At that point you will either have to replace the character with another one met by your party in its travels through the RAVENLOFT game world, or have your party’s cleric attempt a raise dead spell. Experience Points (EXP or XP) can be thought of as milestones in a character’s personal development.
45 46 SPELLS Spirits, spells, and perilous magic await those summoned by fate to journey within the misty realm. To survive in the RAVENLOFT game world, it is well to know magic, or to seek out a fellow traveler adept in the ancient art of spellcasting. Following are descriptions of spells your magic-wielding characters may use to fend off the dangers of the realm, or to conquer its greatest challenges.
47 48 Detect Magic RANGE: 0 SECOND-LEVEL PRIEST SPELLS DURATION: MEDIUM AREA OF EFFECT: CARRIED ITEMS This spell allows the caster to determine if any of the items being carried are magically enchanted. All magic items are indicated for a short period of time. High-level paladins can cast detect magic spells.
49 50 Hold Person RANGE: LONG THIRD-LEVEL PRIEST SPELLS DURATION: MEDIUM AREA OF EFFECT: UP TO FOUR CHARACTERS Hold person affects human, demi-human, or humanoid creatures. Creatures that are affected become rigid and unable to move or speak. Spell duration increases with the level of the caster. Slow Poison RANGE: TOUCH DURATION: LONG AREA OF EFFECT: CREATURE TOUCHED Some brigands are known to lace their blades with a deadly poison.
51 52 Remove Paralysis RANGE: 0 DURATION: PERMANENT FOURTH-LEVEL PRIEST SPELLS AREA OF EFFECT: UP TO FOUR CREATURES Created centuries ago by evil wizards, inquisitors can paralyze their victims with a single gaze. Luckily for those who have mastered this spell, it negates the effects of any type of paralyzation or related magic. The spell also counters hold or slow spells.
53 54 FIFTH-LEVEL PRIEST SPELLS Atonement RANGE: TOUCH Harm DURATION: PERMANENT AREA OF EFFECT: CREATURE TOUCHED By using atonement, a priest removes the burden of unwilling and unknown deeds from the person who is the subject of the atonement. This spell is especially useful when working to remove the pathological scourge of the werewolf.
55 56 Light MAGE SPELLS RANGE: LONG FIRST-LEVEL MAGE SPELLS Armor RANGE: TOUCH DURATION: LONG Burning Hands DURATION: INSTANTANEOUS Chill Touch DURATION: MEDIUM AREA OF EFFECT: SPELLCASTER When casting this spell, a blue glow encompasses the mage’s hand. This energy attracts the life force of any living thing upon which the mage makes a successful melee attack. To reflect this, the creature suffers a -1 to its attack rolls for every other successful touch.
57 58 SECOND-LEVEL MAGE SPELLS Knock RANGE: LONG Agannazer’s Scorcher DURATION: SPECIAL AREA OF EFFECT: 10 SQUARE FEET/LEVEL Upon casting this spell a jet of flame appears at the caster’s fingertips and bursts outward toward a chosen target. If the target remains within range it will suffer 3-18 points of damage in the first round and 3-18 again in the second. The casting mage cannot perform other actions during the second round of the spell or discontinue the spell until it has run its course.
59 60 THIRD-LEVEL MAGE SPELLS RANGE: LONG Dispel Magic RANGE: LONG DURATION: PERMANENT AREA OF EFFECT: 30-FOOT CUBE When a mage casts this spell, he or she has a chance to neutralize magic. It removes spells and spell-like effects from characters, creatures, and objects. Dispel does not counter cure spells, but it will dispel hold person, bless, and similar spells. It cannot permanently affect enchanted items, such as magical rings, wands, or weapons.
61 62 Vampiric Touch RANGE: CLOSE DURATION: MEDIUM OR UNTIL ONE ATTACK IS MADE FOURTH-LEVEL MAGE SPELLS AREA OF EFFECT: SPELLCASTER When this spell is cast, a glowing hand appears. A mage may attack with this hand like any other melee weapon. When the caster touches an opponent with a successful attack, the spell does 1-6 points of damage for every two levels of the mage. For example, a 10th-level mage would do 5-30 points of damage.
63 64 Wizard Eye RANGE: 0 FIFTH-LEVEL MAGE SPELLS DURATION: MEDIUM AREA OF EFFECT: SPECIAL This is a dangerous land, one where the ability to scout ahead is often the difference between life and death. With wizard eye the mage creates and invisible eye which can travel in any direction as long as the spell lasts. It allows the mage to see along the path ahead, even up to 10 feet away in darkened areas using infravision. Unfortunately, the magical eye cannot pass through solid barriers.
65 66 SIXTH-LEVEL MAGE SPELLS RANGE: SPECIAL Claws of the Umber Hulk RANGE: TOUCH DURATION: LONG AREA OF EFFECT: ONE CHARACTER When this spell is cast, the subject’s hands widen and his fingernails thicken and grow, becoming equivalent in power to the iron-like claws of the umber hulk. The affected character can make two claw attacks per round, each one inflicting 2-12 points of damage plus any strength bonuses.
67 68 Strategies for Using Spells In the hostile environs of the RAVENLOFT game world, the spells memorized by your spellcaster will be important to his or her strategy. In the following section, the spells are divided into types: offensive, defensive, curative, and others, and hints are given on when each type of spell* is most effective. *Spells that are available to priests (or both priests and mages) are marked with a caret sign (^).
69 70 BESTIARY Bat, Skeletal The mindless, animated remains of the bat, skeletal bats are no more than puppets sent to carry out the will of their creator. They are usually used as guardians and are commonly associated with necromancers or evil priests. One to three points of damage can be done by a strike from their bony claws, and they radiate an aura of fear. Cemeteries, caverns, and dungeons are likely places to be on one’s guard against skeletal bats.
71 72 Count Strahd Von Zarovich Doom Guard Count Strahd Von Zarovich, Lord of Barovia, rules from Castle Ravenloft, a huge and forbidding structure which sits atop a precipice overlooking the town. Barovia is his by right of conquest, for long ago Strahd entered the valley between the Balinok mountains at the head of a powerful army.
73 74 Ghoul/Ghast Goblyn Once human, ghouls are the undead who feed on the flesh of corpses. Their transformation has left them deranged, destroying their minds and leaving behind only a terrible cunning. With long, roughened tongues they lick marrow from cracked bones. Ghouls attack by clawing with their filthy nails and biting with their fangs. Unfortunately, the very touch of a ghoul causes many creatures to become rigid, a paralysis which can last for many rounds.
75 76 Golem, Zombie Hell Hound A variation of the bone golem, the zombie golem is known for attacking with its powerful fists. In any single round of combat, a zombie golem can make two separate attacks, each causing from 3-18 points of damage. Luckily, this is a slowmoving creature, one incapable of surprising its victims. In fact, the smell exuded by this type of golem is so noxious, it can affect any adventurer moving within 30 feet of the creature.
77 78 Lycanthrope, Werebat Referring to themselves as “predators of the night,” werebats favor humans and demihumans for their prey. As lycanthropes, werebats typically have three forms: normal human, vampire bat, and a hybrid of the two. In its most feared form the werebat retains its humanoid shape but takes on the added features of the bat: the arms extend to become willowy as leather wings form beneath them, the teeth sharpen into deadly fangs, etc.
79 80 Inquisitor Revenant As its name implies, this creature is adept at the arts of torturing a captive opponent until the helpless prisoner reveals information about his comrades or goes mad from pain and terror. With half its flesh rotted away, exposing tendons and yellowed bones, the inquisitor is an undead abomination which should be shown no mercy by any party finding itself in the position to destroy one.
81 82 Spectre Strahd Zombie Spectres are powerful undead that haunt the most desolate and deserted places. They hate all life and light. Appearing as semitransparent beings, they are often mistaken for haunts or ghosts. The chilling touch of a spectre drains energy from living creatures. Any being totally drained of life energy becomes a spectre under the control of the one who created him. Spectres are immune to all hold, and cold-based spells, as well as poisons and paralyzation attacks.
83 84 Vampire, Female Worg Of all the evil, undead creatures that stalk the night, none is more feared than the vampire. Moving silently through the shadows, vampires prey upon the living without mercy or compassion. During daylight hours, they must return to their coffins, for rest in this container of their native soil renews their strength. Unlike other undead creatures, vampires can easily pass among mortals without drawing attention to themselves.
85 86 DESIGNER’S NOTES Common sense seems to dictate that you’ve got to have a good idea of where you’re going before you go about plotting a course to get there. With this in mind, I also think it’s very important to look ahead before designing a game and spend some time trying to envision what it will be like when it’s finished. Once I am satisfied with what I see, and realize what it is I want to achieve, I begin the long journey of fulfilling that vision.
87 88 TABLES Experience Levels FIGHTER EXPERIENCE LEVELS CLERIC EXPERIENCE LEVELS LEVEL LEVEL EXP TO REACH LEVEL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 HIT POINTS 0 2,000 4,000 8,000 16,000 32,000 64,000 125,000 250,000 500,000 750,000 1,000,000 1,250,000 1,500,000 1,750,000 2,000,000 2,250,000 2,500,000 2,750,000 3,000,000 1-10 +(1-10) +(1-10) +(1-10) +(1-10) +(1-10) +(1-10) +(1-10) +(1-10) +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 EXP TO REACH LEVEL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
89 90 RANGER EXPERIENCE TABLE LEVEL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 EXP TO REACH LEVEL 0 2,250 4,500 9,000 18,000 36,000 75,000 150,000 300,000 600,000 900,000 1,200,000 1,500,000 1,800,000 2,100,000 2,400,000 2,700,000 3,000,000 3,300,000 3,600,000 HIT POINTS 1-10 +(1-10) +(1-10) +(1-10) +(1-10) +(1-10) +(1-10) +(1-10) +(1-10) +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 THIEF EXPERIENCE LEVELS LEVEL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 EXP TO REACH LEVEL 0 1,250 2,500 5,000
91 92 ENCUMBRANCE WEAPONS Encumbrance is a measure of whether or not a character is “loaded down” with so much treasure and equipment that he or she cannot properly defend themselves. Following is a character encumbrance table: Weapons are divided into 3 classes: melee, thrown, and fired. Melee weapons are used only in close combat, while thrown and fired weapons are used at range. Characters in the front rank can use melee and ranged weapons. Characters in the rear ranks can only use ranged weapons.
93 INDEX OF SPELLS CREDITS DreamForge™ Intertainment, Inc. Agannazer’s Scorcher..................57 Aid ..............................................48 Armor..........................................55 Atonement...................................53 Bless............................................46 Blur .............................................57 Burning Hands............................55 Cause Light Wounds...................46 Cause Critical Wounds ...............53 Cause Serious Wounds .........
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