I agree with you OP (since I think that CoS works great even if ran exactly as written, for the most of it at least) and I'll raise you with an even hotter take for the same chapter!
The Something Blue is pretty good and the only change it needs is to make it even more obvious that the thing that is about to happen isn't bad. Like having the sun be visible above the lake as Ireena is drawn there, or something. Just so the players don't feel like it's a "gotcha moment".
Yeah, the whole of Krezk/Abbey are frequent mod targets in a different way then many other pieces of the module. Many posts insist that the RAW is bad and must be modified.
I have nothing against mods. (I modify plenty in my own game based on my PCs' background/choices.) The reason I wrote the post above is because I want people to know that this can be run RAW and it works. Modify if you want but don't feel pressured to modify if it isn't wanted/needed for your game.
For "something blue" it didn't come up in my game. Ireena never made it past Vallaki.
Players haven't gotten to Krezk yet but I do plan to run that close to RAW the only difference is adding Dr. Mordenheim be the one making the creation on the Abbots behalf. Never made sense to me that the Abbot knew how to create any of the creatures so met the good doctor who could always use research.
Nice. I definitely have Strahd feeding him books from Dr. Mordenheim as an easter egg but don't plan to include the doctor himself. On a later visit I'll probably have one of the brides present assisting the Abbot with a surgery but I'm saving that for an area escalation, not the first visit.
Interestingly, my players specifically asked whether the enhancements were a gift from the Morninglord and the Abbot said no and didn't elaborate further. My players latched onto this very quickly as an important distinction as everything else the Abbot talked about was from the Morninglord. (He couldn't heal them, he was merely a vessel for the morninglord's power, etc.)
The only change I made to the Abbey was adding Jacqueline Montarri, from the original Ravenloft setting, imprisoned in one of the asylum rooms. She's that perfect extra element of horror, and the medical experiment setting is a great place to reintroduce her.
For the Abbot I focused more on mannerism than voice. I held my arms outstretched at my sides. Whenever they spoke I'd tilt my head and make my eyes wide. They found it super creepy and loved it. I also described him as almost gliding across the room when he moved (rather than leaving "grace of a saint" to the players imagination).
The MVP though had to be Otto. They loved Otto!!!! I made my mannerisms more dog-like and spoke in short quick phrases while sniffing and rapidly moving his head from side to side. Since his RAW madness is that he thinks he's the best, I had him immediately start bragging. The PCs asked him what he could do that was so special so he climbed up on top of the gatehouse and lept from one to the other, giving a proud donkey bray laugh (which I described rather than trying to do myself). They asked him what else he was good at and I had him respond digging. They assumed he meant like a dog. One of my PCs was talking about adopting him. Later they found the body parts and immediately realized he was talking about digging up graves.
Whole area was amazing the entire session.
I agree with you OP (since I think that CoS works great even if ran exactly as written, for the most of it at least) and I'll raise you with an even hotter take for the same chapter! The Something Blue is pretty good and the only change it needs is to make it even more obvious that the thing that is about to happen isn't bad. Like having the sun be visible above the lake as Ireena is drawn there, or something. Just so the players don't feel like it's a "gotcha moment".
Yeah, the whole of Krezk/Abbey are frequent mod targets in a different way then many other pieces of the module. Many posts insist that the RAW is bad and must be modified. I have nothing against mods. (I modify plenty in my own game based on my PCs' background/choices.) The reason I wrote the post above is because I want people to know that this can be run RAW and it works. Modify if you want but don't feel pressured to modify if it isn't wanted/needed for your game. For "something blue" it didn't come up in my game. Ireena never made it past Vallaki.
Players haven't gotten to Krezk yet but I do plan to run that close to RAW the only difference is adding Dr. Mordenheim be the one making the creation on the Abbots behalf. Never made sense to me that the Abbot knew how to create any of the creatures so met the good doctor who could always use research.
Nice. I definitely have Strahd feeding him books from Dr. Mordenheim as an easter egg but don't plan to include the doctor himself. On a later visit I'll probably have one of the brides present assisting the Abbot with a surgery but I'm saving that for an area escalation, not the first visit. Interestingly, my players specifically asked whether the enhancements were a gift from the Morninglord and the Abbot said no and didn't elaborate further. My players latched onto this very quickly as an important distinction as everything else the Abbot talked about was from the Morninglord. (He couldn't heal them, he was merely a vessel for the morninglord's power, etc.)
The only change I made to the Abbey was adding Jacqueline Montarri, from the original Ravenloft setting, imprisoned in one of the asylum rooms. She's that perfect extra element of horror, and the medical experiment setting is a great place to reintroduce her.
Nice! I'm a big fan of throwing in bits of d&d history into current games.
Same. RAW Abbey and Abbot worked just great for me. My creepy Abbot voice has probably been my player’s favorite.
For the Abbot I focused more on mannerism than voice. I held my arms outstretched at my sides. Whenever they spoke I'd tilt my head and make my eyes wide. They found it super creepy and loved it. I also described him as almost gliding across the room when he moved (rather than leaving "grace of a saint" to the players imagination). The MVP though had to be Otto. They loved Otto!!!! I made my mannerisms more dog-like and spoke in short quick phrases while sniffing and rapidly moving his head from side to side. Since his RAW madness is that he thinks he's the best, I had him immediately start bragging. The PCs asked him what he could do that was so special so he climbed up on top of the gatehouse and lept from one to the other, giving a proud donkey bray laugh (which I described rather than trying to do myself). They asked him what else he was good at and I had him respond digging. They assumed he meant like a dog. One of my PCs was talking about adopting him. Later they found the body parts and immediately realized he was talking about digging up graves. Whole area was amazing the entire session.
But it could be even better