The Curse of the Living Corpse The curse of the living corpse is a theme that has appeared in various forms of literature, film, and folklore. It revolves around the idea of a person who is technically dead but still alive, often due to a curse or some supernatural force. This concept can be found in different cultures and has been explored in many different ways. One common version of the curse of the living corpse involves a person who is buried alive but somehow manages to escape their grave. They then wander the earth as a walking corpse, neither fully alive nor dead. This idea has been used in many horror stories and movies, such as "The Mummy" or "Frankenstein.
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Rufus, who had an intermittent paralyzing condition and had always feared being buried alive, left instructions in his will that no funeral be held for five days, that a qualified physician pronounce him dead beforehand, and that his crypt should always be lit by torches. However, as I progressed, I kept coming up with new ideas about how to deepen and link the campaign ideas that were often not reflected in, or, even worse, actively contradicted the earliest chapters.
This idea has been used in many horror stories and movies, such as "The Mummy" or "Frankenstein." In these stories, the living corpse is often portrayed as a terrifying and dangerous creature. Another variation of the curse of the living corpse revolves around a person who is cursed to live forever but cannot die.
I'm revising Curse of Strahd: Reloaded—and I need your help.
Five years ago, I started writing Curse of Strahd: Reloaded—a campaign guide to Curse of Strahd aiming to make the original adventure easier and more satisfying to run. However, as I progressed, I kept coming up with new ideas about how to deepen and link the campaign—ideas that were often not reflected in, or, even worse, actively contradicted the earliest chapters.
On top of that, I've spent the past two years mentoring new DMs through my Patreon, which has really developed my understanding of the fundamentals of DMing and adventure design. That's been a blessing, but it's also been a curse, opening my eyes to a lot of design-based mistakes that I made on the first draft of Reloaded, as well as bigger problems that the entire campaign has a whole.
This past December, I started work on a wholesale overhaul and revision of Curse of Strahd: Reloaded, which I'm affectionately calling "Re-Reloaded" as a draft codename. My goals in doing so are to:
- enhance and supplement existing content to create a more cohesive and engaging experience,
- further develop the adventure's core strengths and themes, focusing the guide on what makes Curse of Strahd great instead of adding lots of additional content,
- organize the entire module into narrative-based arcs, minimizing prep time, and
- gather all Reloaded content into one, user-friendly PDF supplement.
This process, inevitably, lead me to reconsider one of the biggest aspects of Curse of Strahd: the campaign hook.
The original Reloaded uses an original campaign hook called "Secrets of the Tarokka." In this hook, the players are summoned to Barovia by Madam Eva to seek their destinies. Along the way, they develop an antagonistic relationship with Strahd, which eventually leads them to decide to kill him.
This campaign hook had a lot of strengths—it gave the adventure a more classic "dark fantasy" vibe, allowing the players to get more personal victories along the long and arduous road to killing Strahd. More importantly, though, it scratched a lot of DMs' desires to directly tie their players' backstories into the campaign. However, I've come to realize that it has major drawbacks:
- The individual Tarokka readings provided by Secrets of the Tarokka tend to distract the players from the true story of the module, which is killing Strahd in order to save and/or escape Barovia. It's a lot harder to make the players want to leave Barovia (i.e., kill Strahd) if they have unfinished business to do in Barovia (e.g., "find my mentor" or "connect with my ancestors") that Strahd doesn't really care about.
- The narrative structure of Secrets of the Tarokka makes it really difficult for the players to care about killing Strahd at the time they get the Tarokka reading. In practice, the players' decision to seek out the artifacts usually comes down to, "Well, Madam Eva told us to, so I guess the DM wants us to kill Strahd eventually." In order for Curse of Strahd to shine and the Tarokka reading to really feel meaningful, I truly believe that, at the moment the players learn how to kill Strahd, they should already hate and fear him and want to see him dead.
- At the end of the day, the core of Curse of Strahd is about the relationship that the players develop with Strahd and the land of Barovia, not the relationship that they already have with the land of Barovia or its history, or with other outsiders who might have wandered through the mists.
Re-Reloaded removes this hook entirely. Instead, it creates a new hook in which the players are lured into Death House outside of Barovia, which then acts as a portal through the mists—upon escaping, the players find themselves in Strahd's domain. Soon after, they learn from Madam Eva that Strahd has turned his attentions to them, placing them into grave danger, and are invited to Tser Pool to have their fortunes read. This gives the players a clear reason to want to kill Strahd (escape Barovia) and a clear reason to seek out the Tarokka reading (learn how to kill Strahd).
With that said. while discussing this change with beta-readers, though, I've learned that it tends to upset more than a few people. Lots of DMs really like Secrets of the Tarokka because it gives their players an instant emotional entry point into the module, giving them personal investment and making them feel like their backstories matter.
I totally get that! To that end, in trying to adapt the new hook to these DMs' expectations, I've outlined two new aspects of the hook.
- First, each player has an internal character flaw or goal (such as "redeem myself" or "escape the shadow of my family"), which primes them to organically connect with NPCs facing similar situations in the module and so develop their own internal arcs.
- Second, each player has something important they're trying to get to at the time that they're spirited away (such as "visit my ailing father before he dies"). The idea, then, is that the players are all already invested in the idea of "escaping Barovia" at the time that they get trapped.
But I'm not entirely satisfied with that, and I suspect that other people might not be, either.
So I want to ask you:
- How important is it that player backstories play a role in the campaign's hook?
- How important is it that player backstories play a role in the overall adventure?
- If you answered "fairly" or "very" important to either of those two questions, why is it important, and what role do you feel that those backstories should play in the "ideal" Curse of Strahd campaign?
- How do you feel about the two ways in which the new Reloaded tries to involve player backstories? Do you find them satisfying, or disappointing?
Thanks in advance! Sincerely appreciate anyone who takes the time to respond.
(PS: I haven't finished revising Re-Reloaded yet, but if you'd like a sneak peek, comment below and I'll DM you the link!)
(PS: I haven't finished revising Re-Reloaded yet, but if you'd like a sneak peek, comment below and I'll DM you the link!)
This eternal life becomes a burden, as they witness the people they love age and die while they remain unchanged. This theme can be seen in vampire stories, where the immortal creature must constantly feed on the blood of the living to sustain their existence. The curse of the living corpse can also be found in folklore and mythology. For example, in some versions of the Greek myth of Prometheus, he is punished by Zeus for stealing fire and giving it to humans. Prometheus is bound to a rock, where an eagle eats his liver every day, but the liver regenerates overnight, causing him eternal suffering. The curse of the living corpse is often used as a way to explore themes of mortality, the fear of death, and the consequences of defying natural order. It raises questions about the meaning of life and the value of living forever. The living corpse is a haunted figure, trapped between life and death, and often becomes a symbol of the human struggle to find purpose and meaning in an uncertain world. In conclusion, the curse of the living corpse is a recurring theme in literature, film, and folklore. It represents the fear of death and the consequences of defying natural order. Whether it involves a person who is buried alive and escapes their grave or a person cursed with eternal life, the idea of the living corpse raises profound questions about the meaning of life and the value of mortality..
Reviews for "Nightmare Tales: The Curse of the Living Corpse"
1. John - 1 star - I found "The Curse of the Living Corpse" to be a complete waste of time. The acting was incredibly overdone and the dialogue was cheesy and predictable. Additionally, the plot felt disjointed and lacked any real substance. I was hoping for a thrilling horror film, but instead, I got a campy and poorly executed mess.
2. Sarah - 2 stars - I was really disappointed with "The Curse of the Living Corpse". The storyline had potential, but the execution fell flat. The characters were underdeveloped, and I couldn't connect with any of them. The pacing was slow and dragged on, making it difficult to stay engaged. Overall, I found this film to be lacking in scares and originality.
3. Steve - 1 star - "The Curse of the Living Corpse" was one of the worst horror films I've seen in a long time. The special effects were laughable and the makeup on the living corpses looked incredibly fake. The scares were predictable and didn't provide any real suspense. It felt like a low-budget B-movie, and not in a good way. I would not recommend wasting your time with this one.
4. Lisa - 2 stars - I had high hopes for "The Curse of the Living Corpse" based on the premise, but unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations. The storyline was convoluted and confusing, making it hard to follow along. The acting was mediocre at best, and the characters lacked depth. Overall, I found this film to be forgettable and not worth the watch.
5. Mark - 1 star - "The Curse of the Living Corpse" was a total letdown. The pacing was incredibly slow, and there were long stretches of time where nothing of importance happened. The scares were cheap and relied heavily on jump scares, which I found to be more annoying than scary. The ending was unsatisfying and left me feeling unfulfilled. I would not recommend this film to anyone looking for a good horror movie.