Creating the Werewolf

Werewolves. They are an iconic part of the gothic horror mythos. They have been both feared and loved. They have been depicted as savage monsters with no claim to humanity, and normal people dealing with a terrible curse.

And yet, despite how iconic they are, there are no official statistics to create a playable character in Dungeons and Dragons. There have been many attempts online to create a homebrew version of them, but I'm not happy with any of them.

I have a player that really wants to play a werewolf character, and I am a big advocate for letting people play what they want. So this is going to be my stab at a homebrew Werewolf race.

May the gods of luck and fortune have pity on my soul for even trying.

But before I even begin jumping into statistics, we should look at the source material we do have. In the Monster Manual, there are some official rules for what happens when you get cursed with Lycanthropy.

The Curse of Lycanthropy

The Curse of Lycanthropy is contracted by being wounded by a lycanthrope. It can also be contracted if one (or both) of your parents are lycanthropes.

The actual statistics of the curse change depending on the type of lycanthropy a person contracts. For our purposes we'll be discussing werewolves, which gain the following:

• ·         A Strength score of 15 if their score isn't already higher.
• ·         The ability to use an action to polymorph into a wolf, or wolf-human hybrid.
• ·         A +1 bonus to AC while in wolf or hybrid form.
• ·         40 ft movement speed in wolf form
• ·         Damage Immunity to: Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage from nonmagical weapons that aren't silvered.
• ·         Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell.
• ·         A 1d8 Bite Attack in wolf or hybrid form.
• ·         A 2d4 Claw Attack in wolf or hybrid form.

That's a crazy amount of power. It's no wonder that the Monster Manual says that, "The DM is free to decide that a change in alignment places the character under DM control until the curse of lycanthropy is removed. (207)"

But in addition to providing insane amounts of power, the Werewolf (and other lycanthropy) stat blocks from the Monster Manual also miss out on one of the most iconic abilities that werewolves have in almost every piece of fiction I've ever seen. The ability to heal quickly from wounds. The concept of a werewolf that doesn't have regeneration is ridiculous to me.

However, regeneration is another of those powers that are insanely over powered.

What is a werewolf?

Let's take a step back from statistics for a moment. Instead, let's take a second and think about what a werewolf actually is.

I was going to quote something from dictionary.com here. But their description of a werewolf is woefully unhelpful. So instead, let's make a list of things that I think are iconic to the werewolf mythos:

·         The change. Changing into a werewolf isn't an easy prospect. And there are two types of stories told about the change.

•           A person who doesn't care about the implications of the change, and what it means. They are monsters, willing to go out and spread the curse.
•            A person who sees the change as a curse, and does everything they can to prevent the wolf from wreaking havoc in the world. These stories often end in tragedy, with people they love getting infected with the curse.

Either way, the change always happens. It's an inevitable monthly change that can't be fought, only endured or embraced.

• ·         The Moon. The full moon is the cause of the change. Sometimes just a single night, or sometimes each night for a full three day period.
• ·         Spreading the curse. Werewolves might tear people to shreds and go on bloody rampages. But the true horror of the werewolf story is that anyone can become one. All that's required is to survive a werewolf attack.
• ·         Weakness to silver. Enough said.
• ·         Fast Healing. Werewolves almost always heal from wounds with the efficiency of Wolverine unless they are attacked by a silver bullet.

Those are a lot of abilities, and just like the ones from the monster manual, they are going to be both very powerful abilities, and very punishing abilities. Balanced werewolves are not.

So, where does that leave us? In previous editions of Dungeons and Dragons, I would have either created a monster class or slapped on a level adjustment. I actually think that a monster class is still the way to go.

But my player is interested in playing a Werewolf Blood Hunter. So slapping on a monster class doesn't allow my player to play what they want. And as I said, I'm a big advocate for letting people play what they want if it can be made to work.

So that leaves us with the last (and hardest) option. Creating a homebrew werewolf race that both reflects the concept of the creature, but maintains balance with the other race options available.

Let's take a deep breath, cross our fingers, and jump right in.

The Process

The first thing we need to do is make a decision about the change. Is it voluntary? Can a character hold off the change with a Constitution check? Can the character change while it isn't a full moon?

My first instinct is to say that a character must change during a full moon, and that during the full moon they hand their sheet over to the Dungeon Master. Being a werewolf is a curse above all else, and no Constitution or Wisdom save can hold it off when the moon calls.

But playing a werewolf is only fun if you do get to change while it isn't a full moon, and to have a modicum of control over that change. Still, in almost all werewolf stories, even changing when it isn't a full moon can end in disaster. Werewolves are fueled by rage more than anything else.

My first instinct here is to require a wisdom save while attempting to change into wolf or hybrid form outside the full moon. On a failed save, the character would hand their character over to the Dungeon Master. But having an ally that is constantly losing control and turning on the party is fun exactly one time. After that it gets punishing.

That idea isn't going to work. So, for now let's put the rage concept on the back burner. We'll simply add the following to the race:

• ·         A werewolf looses itself to the curse once a month during the full moon. During this period they have no control over their character, and hand it to the Dungeon Master.
• ·         A werewolf can spend an action to polymorph into either a wolf or wolf hybrid form.

The wolf and wolf hybrid forms are going to need some natural attacks. Elves get weapon training in Longswords, Shortswords, Shortbows, and Longbows. Let's use those weapons as damage guides and say that:

• ·         While in hybrid or wolf form, a werewolf gains a melee claw attack that deals 1d6 damage. Claw attacks count as light weapons.
• ·         While in hybrid of wolf form, a werewolf gains a melee bite attack that deals 1d8 damage. Bite attacks take a full attack action. If you have more than one attack per action, you can replace one (but not all) attack with a bite.

Having a claw attack does imply having light weapons in both hands, which leads to two weapon fighting. That might be fine, or it might be too powerful. We'll just keep that in mind for now.

The natural weapons do need to spread lycanthropy though. That's part of the mythos. So let's also add:

• ·         When a creature is hit by a werewolf's claw or bite attack, it must make a DC 12 constitution check, or be infected by the Curse of Lycanthropy.

That about covers the details of the change and the natural attacks. At least for now. Next we need to tackle how to deal with silver weapons, and how to deal with fast healing.

The obvious way to deal with silver weapons would to just add silver vulnerability to the statistics. But that is a very punishing mechanic. Instead, let's take another existing mechanic, and rework it a little bit.

Concentration checks are required when a spell caster takes damage while concentrating on a spell. The DC equals the higher of either 10, or half the damage the character takes. If we modify that just a bit we get:

• ·         Silver Weakness. If a werewolf is hit by a silvered weapon, they must make a constitution save equal to 10, or half the damage dealt by the weapon, whichever number is higher. If the werewolf fails this save, they have the poisoned condition until the end of their next turn.

So now we get to quick healing. Again, the solution seems logical. Let's just slap on some quick healing. Maybe the ability to heal 1 hit point at the beginning of each turn. After all, 1 hp isn't going to make or break a combat.

And that's somewhat true. But it does mean that a character jumps to full health between combats. And that's a major advantage. It means that they never have to spend hit dice to heal up during short rests. And hit dice should be a resource that gets worn down after time.

So instead let's play with the hit dice mechanic a bit. We could allow a werewolf to reroll ones when they use hit dice to regain hit points. That feels just a bit too weak though.

My other idea is to adopt the second level fighter ability, second wind. It allows a fighter to spend a bonus action to regain 1d10 + fighter level hit points each short rest.

We can't just throw a second level ability into racial stats though. So instead, what if we allow a werewolf to use a bonus action to restore 1d4 + their constitution modifier hit points as a bonus action once per short rest?

That feels like it might be okay. At least for now. So, let's put together all of these statistics, add a strength increase, and see where we are at.

The Werewolf

The werewolf has a variety of natural abilities.

Ability Score Increase: Your Strength score increases by 2.

Speed: Your base speed is 30 ft. It increases to 40 ft. if you assume a full wolf form.

The Transformation: A werewolf is a humanoid cursed with lycanthropy. Once a month, when the full moon rises, they are forced into their wolf form. During this period they have no control over their characters, and hand them over to the Dungeon Master.

Controlling the Change: Some werewolves spend time learning to control the change when there is no full moon in the sky. Your character can take an action to polymorph into either a wolf, or wolf hybrid form.

Darkvision: A werewolf's eyes have been enhanced by their monstrous curse. While in wolf or wolf hybrid form you can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in Darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in Darkness, only shades of red.

Enhanced Smell: You have advantage on Perception checks that rely on scent.

Natural Attacks: When a werewolf is in its wolf, or wolf hybrid form it gains both claw attacks, and a bite attack. The claw attacks deal 1d6 damage and count as light weapons. The bite attack deals 1d8 damage. Bite attacks require a full attack action. If you have more than one attack per action, you can replace one (but not all) attack with a bite.

Lycanthrope's Curse: When a creature is hit by a werewolf's claw or bite attack, it must make a DC 12 constitution check, or be infected by the Curse of Lycanthropy.

Accelerated Healing: On a werewolf's turn, you can spend a bonus action and regain hit points equal to 1d4 + your constitution modifier. Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.

Silver Weakness: A werewolf is especially susceptible to damage from silvered weapons. If a werewolf is hit by a silvered weapon, they must make a constitution save equal to 10, or half the damage dealt by the weapon, whichever number is higher. If they fail, they have the poisoned condition until the end of their next turn.

Names and Cultural Appropriation

I've been doing a lot of world building, and I'm worried that I've hit a bit of a moral wall. The situation goes like this:

• In the past, I used Google Translate to come up with cool sounding names.
• I picked a language that sounded decidedly non English, and then type words like 'forest' or 'fire' or 'star hope.'
• I looked at the translation, maybe modified it a bit to sound better to my ear, and capitalized the first letter.
• I wrote the name at the top of a character or NPC sheet.

Easy, right? A quick way to get an interesting sounding name. A way that doesn't require me to slam my head against a wall trying to come up with something interesting on the spot. But Google Translate can sometimes take a long time. I might type a word in, decide I don't like it, type another word in, and go through the cycle six or seven times before I find something I like. Or I might see something I like, but have to spend a minute deciding on the best way to alter it.

So the easier answer is name lists. Everyone loves name lists. And if, for example, I'm already translating names into something like Bengali, I might as well just grab a name list of Bengali names.

But this is where I start worrying about cultural appropriation. For anyone that doesn't know, cultural appropriation is:

"...a concept dealing with the adoption of the elements of a minority culture by members of the dominant culture. Cultural elements which may have deep meaning to the original culture may be reduced to 'exotic' fashion or toys by those from the dominant culture."

So... what does that mean for names? I mean, I am a member of a dominant culture. I'm white, I live in a culture which is probably the most dominant, with the most privileges. And if I'm honest with myself, when I'm coming up with names from google translate or using name lists from other languages, I'm not often using those names for humans. Most of the time they are for Elves, or Living Spells, or Tabaxi. In fact, the thing that made me worry about this was looking at a Bengali name that meant "Lord Shiva."

That's a god, and I don't mean in the D&D sense of the word. Shiva is a real world deity with cultural importance for a whole mass of people. It's just not my culture, so it sounds like a name that would fit perfect with my kitty cat people who live in the desert.

That's almost exactly the definition of cultural appropriation.

When I was only running games for myself and other people, in the comfort of my own home, or even in roll20, it wasn't such a big deal. But now I'm designing stuff with the hopes that people other than me and my group will look at it. That they will like it. Eventually, that they will like it enough to buy it. That makes the homebrew that I design public, which changes the amount of responsibility that I have to be a good person and represent myself in ways that I want to have a reputation for. It means not casually appropriating a culture and hand waving the problem away with a thought like, well, it's not like anyone is going to make a fuss about it... most people won't even think about it.

But I've thought about it. And it's not a genie I can just stuff back into the bottle.

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Citation:

Wikipedia. "Cultural Appropriation," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_appropriation

Confused World: Syl, The City of Steam

Yesterday I had my first even livestream, where I spent some time going over the brainstorming steps of a brand new world. You can find a link to the recording below, but I also wanted to share a more finished product with everyone.

Here is a link to the story and description of Syl, The City of Steam. It's almost ready to be dropped into any campaign, all it really needs is a good improv sheet!

The Advantage of Friends

I do a lot of game preparation. It's not usually about finding maps, and coming up with monster statistics. It's not usually about trying to predict my player's every move and plan carefully detailed plots. Most of the time I'm thinking about character motivations and interactions, feeling out how my players interactions have changed the web formed by conflicting NPCs that want different things.

Most of the time it's preparing to improv.

However, every once in awhile I come to a place that I know needs a specific scene. The Trials of Mind, Might, and Heart was a scene like that. Preparing a dungeon when you know your players are about to come across it is like that. And my next session is like that too. A lot of things have been building in the background, and tonight it's all coming to a head.

I wanted to be ready, to have a set of iconic scenes prepared and ready to go.

But I was struggling. Like, really struggling. I had a vague idea of how the scenes might play out, but every time I tried to grab hold of one, the idea floated out of reach.

So I called a friend. And she helped me prepare, and now I am feeling super prepared.

Which is the advantage of having a friend that isn't in your game to talk to. Sometimes you find yourself in a situation that just isn't clicking in your head for some reason. You know that there's something good beneath the surface, but when you try to dig it out of the sand, all you find is more sand.

Having a friend to bounce ideas off of can help you find the sweet pearl of player despair under all the dirt.

Your friend doesn't even have to be a dungeon master, although I do find that other DMs can have some very clever insights about things going on in a game. But all you really need is someone that is willing to listen to your ideas, someone to help you brainstorm, and someone who will help shape the urge you feel as a dungeon master to complicate character's lives.

So find a friend and try it some time. I highly recommend it.

Curse of Strahd as a Sandbox

So, if you've been following me for any decent amount of time, you will have scene by several rants about the Curse of Strahd book. I've complained that Death House as a dungeon didn't have encounters that reinforced the theme of the adventure. I've complained that the Village of Barovia is portrayed as a boring place with nothing interesting going on. But then I had a conversation with someone (I don't remember who, my friend Julia maybe?) about my frustrations, and she was all, "it's a sandbox, Lexi."

That made me take a step back. I've been treating the adventure path like a sandbox. I added a really fun story arc in the Village of Barovia with Ireena. Since she refused to leave before her father was buried, I added in this scene at the church. It was being assaulted by dire wolves as the father worked to dig a grave for Ireena's father. But the deadline for her father's soul to escape Ravenloft was midnight (I've come up with lore that if you aren't buried within three days after dying, your soul belongs to Strahd).

The priest was burying Ireena's father... only, Strahd had made a deal with him. Make sure that soul gets to me, and I will fix your son. So Father Danovich was digging the grave slowly, buying as much time as he had.

Eventually the characters realized what was going on, and has thousands of ravens swarmed in the skies above (raven swarms), they forced him to complete the burial ritual. Then the characters escaped the church and fled from the town as the ravens bit and scratched them to bloody pieces.

But finally they escaped into the fog. Only to come face to face with Strahd himself, and through the vampire lord experience just how horrific Ravenloft is.

It was a super fun adventure, full of tension, intrigue, and suspense. And at the end of it, I was angry that the book hadn't provided something interesting for the players to do like that.

Only, if Curse of Strahd is a sandbox, it sort of did. I didn't make up Ireena, or Father Danovich, or even Danovich's son locked in the basement slowly turning into a vampire. I did add the Direwolves in, but in other chapters of the book it's mentioned that Strahd uses them. The only thing I really added to the setting was some lore about the importance of burial rituals, and that they can only be performed by priests that Strahd has given the duty to. Everything else was there.

I just played with it, twisted it to my own ends, and came out with a really fun couple of sessions.

When the characters escaped Strahd, they badly wanted a town to rest in that wasn't the Village of Barovia. In my mind I thought that Vallaki was much closer to the town than it is on the map, so I introduced it as a place of refuge. And it's themes are perfect. Barovia is a hopeless place of the downtrodden, but on the surface Vallaki is a place of happiness and freedom! I'm so glad that I introduced this town early, because the juxtaposition between the two towns is amazing.

But when I started preparing for Vallaki, I approached it differently. Instead of expecting to find an adventure to run, I just noted down major NPCs. I noted what their motivations were, how much power they had on a scale from 1-3, and what their reputation was with the players. I came up with this:

The list below is a list of factions, a summary of power (rated 1-5), and it's reputation with the players (starting at 0 and progressing from -3 to +3).

Urwin. Innkeeper of the Blue Water Inn. Holding Tomb of Strahd. Quest: Retrieve the wine (award: treasure chest. 140 gp, 70 pp. 2 elixers of health, 3 potions of healing, and 1 grey bag of tricks). Power: 2. Reputation: -1.

Wolf Hunters: Szoldar Szoldarovich and Yevgeni Krushkin. Hunt dire wolves and sell meat and skins for a living. Will work for money. Excellent guides, some information. Know that people are shipped off to Castle Ravenloft, only tell if they are paid 100 gold. Power: 1. Reputation: 0

Rictavio: A half-Avariel bard. Aerie's son, and worshiper of the Gnome God Wildwanderer. His real name is Elaroth, but he has adopted Rictavio after the legendary vampire hunter "Rudolph van Richten." He has heard of the Keepers of the Feather and is trying to get in contact with them. He is also gathering information on the Vistani camped to the north west. They are working for Strahd (taking villagers from the Burgomeister and taking them to Castle Ravenloft). Once he finds out, he plans on attacking them with his saber-toothed tiger. Power: 1. Reputation: 2 (because of Ariane).
Rictavio's Journal: In his room, open on his desk, is a journal Rictavio writes to keep up the illusion that he is an entertainer in search of new acts for his traveling carnival. He makes frequent mention of conversations with Drusilla (his horse, although the journal fails to mention that). He also writes about various oddities he has seen in his travels, including:

• A "werehare" child (a boy who transforms into a rabbit on the full moon)
• A half-orc woman named Gorabacha who could chew through iron chains
• A giant, man-eating plant that has the most beautiful singing voice he's ever heard
• A pair of conjoined goblins
• A small man with no legs named Filmore Stunk who could drink whole casks of wine without getting drunk.

The Valakovich Family: Power 3, Reputation 0

• Baron Vargas Vallakovich: Ruthless. Unhappy. Bent on keeping the city free of Strahd. Festivals to provide hope. Publically the hope "Keeps Strahd at bay," but in reality, when people die of hope, he has their bodies shipped to Castle Ravenloft. Catchphrase: "All will be well" Secrets: Bodies, Almost 200 years old by virtue of Strahd's blood. Always accompanied by two huge mastiffs.
• Izek Strazni: The Baron's servant, and "Hand of the Baron." He is supposed to be in charge of the government's economic well being, but in reality he is the person that the Baron uses to disappear people. All the mimes on the street corners report to Strazni, and are willing to take out whoever he orders.
• Baroness Lydia Petrovna: Vargas' wife. She has desperately picked up her husband's insistence that "all will be well" but at the cost of her sanity, for she does not believe it. She hosts daily high tea ceremonies at the mansion, which is mostly attended by the poor because all the nobles have been put off by her strangeness caused by her desperation. She is the younger sister of Father Lucian Petrovich, who is the leader of the Church of Pelor.
• Baronet Victor Vallakovich: Miserable and depressed, wants nothing but to get away from the city. He is adamantly opposed to the "Tyranny of Happiness" that his father governs with. He found a spell book in the attic, and is trying to build a teleportation circle to escape (give players hope of escaping Ravenloft?)

Watcher Family: Power 2, Reputation 0

• Lady Fiona Watcher: Leader of the Watcher House. She craves to rule the city, and makes no secret of her loyalty to Lord von Zarovich (Strahd's official title). She is the High Priestess at the Temple of Shar, and is allowed some actual divine power by Strahd for her loyalty. However, at most she can cast 2nd level spells, and then only clumsily (all concentration checks made at a disadvantage). However, more than Shar, she is a member of the Cult of Awakening, who believe that the Eternal Sleeper will awaken from his slumber, and the world that is his dream will be destroyed. She has a book of summoning rituals in her private chambers, with the same snake symbol as that at the Death House.
• Nikolai and Karl: Brash Drunkards, always looking for trouble. They don't like talking about their mother, but they would be overjoyed to join a revolution.They love listening to character's tales of adventure, the more harrowing the better. Power: 0. Reputation: 0.
• Ernst Larnak: Fiona's spy. He is a super greedy person who would love to get job with the Baron, however Fiona has seen to it that he would never be welcome there. He knows Fiona's secrets, and would love to sell them to someone who would free him from her power.

Gadolf Blinsky: The toymaker of Vallaki, "Is no fun, without Blinsky!" Used to be a mime in the employee of the Baron's spy. He still feels a great debt to Izek for getting him the store, and makes free dolls for the man every month. The dolls are supposed to represent Ireena, and they are shipped to Strahd along with the shipment of bodies. He adamantly believes in the Baron's "all will be well" slogan, and he has a collection of super weird and creepy toys. Power: 0, Reputation 0, Contacts 2. 

Ivankov Valerianovich - Baker in town. No one leave Ivankov place sad! Power: 0, Reputation 1, Contacts 0

Manqoba's Fashion: Manqoba is a Shadar' Kai fashion maker who was banished from the tribe after trying to challenge for the throne. He somehow maintained his life, but he ran from the city, and the leader would love to have him killed. Luckily it is incredibly rare for Shadar' Kai to leave their village. His status as a tailor for the well to do gives him tons of information, and he is incredibly good at playing the game of intrigue. Power: 1, Reputation: 0, Contacts 4

I love this! If I was publishing it, I'd clean it up some. But it's just a list of NPCs that I can look at in the moment and decide what's going on. For example, the Baron is already pretty upset with two of my players for being unhappy on the streets. He has invited them to dinner at his mansion where he plans on doing away with them.

However, my players don't know that, and are just excited to go to the Baron's. They wanted to shop for proper outfits, and so I introduced Manqoba's Fashions. When Manqoba heard about the invitation he knew what was up, but he knows the game of intrigue. And so just as the players are about to leave, he says, "Oh, wait, I just thought of a perfect thing to go with that dress," and he pulls out an elegant silver Ouroboros (snake eating it's own tail) on a thin chain. It goes great with the dress, but the players have no idea it's the symbol for Lady Marks, and that by wearing it they are showing that they have her backing.

All of this to protect the players, and they don't even know it's happening yet. And although I've added in Manqoba, all the other players in this little intrigue are in the book. I'm just using them.

So, to sum up, I still have some problems with the actual book. But I also think I owe an apology to the book as well. It has some really fantastic situations, NPCs, and events. It's just up to the DM to pull that together. And in the end, as a fan of improvisational Dungeon Mastering, that's all I really want to do anyway.

Sending Players out of the Room

This is a topic that came up in the Curse of Strahd game that I'm running. One of my players decided to split from the rest of the party and go investigate a temple to the Raven Queen by himself. He worships her, and it was a private moment of reflection for him. He was surprised by the fact that I didn't pull him into a different room and do the scene in private.

I've run scenes in private before, but this scene didn't really feel right for that, which led me to think about the different tone and attitudes you create around the table by deciding what to keep private, and what to keep transparent. This is the theory that I came up with:

When you take a player aside to do a private scene, you add a sense of mystery and intrigue to the game. No one else at the table knows what that person is doing (obviously), and that can lead to people wondering, "just what is the rogue across the table up to?"

When you run a private scene with everyone at the table, it creates a sense of transparency. But I think it also creates a sense of teamwork, a consensus that the players are "all in this together." Nothing is hidden from them, so they don't have to worry that the chaotic neutral sorcerer is about to betray them to the big bad.

So why did I decide to run this scene at the table? After all, Curse of Strahd is a adventure of gothic horror, it would make sense to keep things secret, hidden, in the dark. It would add tension to the table, and create a greater feeling that anything could happen.

And I might get there later in the adventure. But right now the characters are still new to Ravenloft. They've faced some truly horrific events, events that have left a few of them questioning their ability to accomplish anything in the dark land. And that's the feeling I'm trying to push right now. Ravenloft isn't just dangerous. It's horrific. Even when you set out to do bad, things turn against you. I want them to feel like any way they turn could be a step in the wrong direction, but also build the tension so high that they have no choice but to take a step.

And through it all, I'm trying to make the characters feel like they can only rely on each other. They are the outsiders in Ravenloft, the only ones untouched by the shadow of Strahd, and the only trustworthy people in the entire realm.

And so I decided to run this scene at the table. I don't want players to be looking at each other side eyed right now, I want them pulling together against the darkness.

But this is early days, when the corruption that seeps through Strahd's realm hasn't truly affected them yet. Later in the game I will want the players to start questioning each other. Has someone made an agreement with the vampire so that they can return to their normal lives? Is someone giving away party plans to the spymaster of Vallaki for a handful of coin, and a promise of sanctuary in the city? Later I'll want that tension at the table.

But not yet. And when I look up from my notes and meet my players eyes, then say, "Everyone but Vaclav, I need you to leave the room," for the first time the change will leave them wondering what's going on even more.

So, I suggest that you think carefully about sending players out of the room. Normal dungeon masters have a set policy, but great dungeon masters deliberate over questions like these, and use these moments to craft the mood they want.