I have a 180cm × 900cm document in 300dpi RGB 8-bit and I want to save it as a JPG, but when I try to 'Save As', the only available choices are PSB, RAW and TIFF, why? Saving large PSD as JPG. Or if the final print size will be small, you could probably get away with a smaller jpg.
I'm going to be running Curse of Strahd for my regular group. I'm usually a player and have only DM'd once to give our usual DM a break. This is my first time with a published adventure. I finished reading the campaign book through, and I'm now assembling notes and thinking deeper about how I want to run the game. Without spoiling too much: Early in the campaign, the players can get a Tarroka reading, much like a Tarot card reading. This sets the location of certain critical items, sets the location of Strahd, and identifies a potential ally in the fight against Strahd.
It's also a notable hook into the adventure, since the characters are given some sense of what they are in Ravenloft to undertake. I'm looking for help from those experienced running the campaign on how to spice up this moment. Here's a few things I've considered:.
Letting the players keep the cards after they've drawn them. Giving them verbatim notes on what the teller's hints were. Drawing the cards beforehand so I can work on my acting/telling of the results, and using sleight of hand to re-draw the same cards. Drawing the cards on gameday, and doing my best to roleplay the Teller's reaction genuinely. Given the potential impact, what is the best way to make the card reading dramatic, memorable, and fun for the players (and myself)? Having studied the book, you have some idea of what each Tarokka result can entail, and you can let this 'foreknowledge' inform Madam Eva's reactions to the cards as they appear. If you draw the 7 of Coins, you can hint that the location of the treasure isn't very far away; if you draw the 9 of Coins, Madam Eva might shake her head despondently and say 'Maybe save this one for last.'
It's easy to want to add merely emotional clues, to add color without giving too much away: 'It is in a place of dread;' 'I feel the presence of mournful spirits near this item;' 'This place is cold and silent.' But there's so little emotional contrast in Barovia that sentences like these can easily fade into the background noise of doom and gloom. Specific information will make your players' ears perk up, and if your goal is to create a memorable experience, you can afford to drop a few extra hints.
For example: Many of the speeches for cards that clue locations in Castle Ravenloft don't actually refer to the castle ('We know it's in a crypt. Do we know where a crypt is?' ), but Eva can add something about 'beneath the Devil's tower' or glance nervously in its direction. If the players feel like gabbing it up with Madam Eva about each card, trying to pry hints out of her, go ahead and respond according to the character you've built in your performance—but to add emotional texture to the scene, make her insist on total silence before she turns over the next card. The use of a real deck is so effective because everyone loves props. The description of Madam Eva's tent provides a lot of inspiration for additional props: Mysterious lights, a crystal ball, and a black velvet cloth. I think this cloth is a good thing to focus on because you can slowly unroll it before you lay the cards down, which is a very evocative and almost ritualistic action.
Even if your players forget what cards you drew, they will remember the appearance of that cloth unrolling across the table. If you can't get a piece of black velvet, use whatever spooky-looking fabric you can get your hands on, and then change the words 'black velvet' to whatever you're using when you read the description, so that the players will think you are following the details in the book exactly. (On the subject of Strahd's Enemy: Some of the results are more interesting than others. The book gives you the choice between NPC A and NPC B for some results, apparently according to what kind of Challenge Rating you want for the party's ally.
Obviously you want to figure out your choices in this regard ahead of time. But for my purposes, I didn't really want my players to end up with either version of the Broken One, the Horseman, or the Innocent, so I just removed those cards from the deck.
![Ravenloft dm screen pdf to jpg Ravenloft dm screen pdf to jpg](/uploads/1/2/5/3/125387663/925058754.jpg)
If you're not comfortable with the full range of randomness in the book, you can create 'massaged randomness' without the players finding out.). I have not done the Tarokka deck scene, but I did do the Tarot deck scene from the 3.5e adventure 'Expedition to Castle Ravenloft' which was very similar. For that scene, my thought was: rather than let the cards actually be random, I should just look at all the options and choose the one I think would be best for my group. So, every time they asked a question, I shuffled the deck, drew a card, then made up a reason why the card I had drawn symbolized the answer I had predetermined.
Here's an example. Prior to the gaming session, I've looked through the options for the holy sword locations. I've decided that the sword is in the general store, but that it must be reconsecrated by performing an hour-long ritual over the crypt of the previous owner, the paladin Sergei. My plan is that the 'searching the general store' scene will be a light bit of roleplaying with a few skill checks, but that the hour-long ritual will involve an attack by Strahd himself, which the party will have to fight off in order to reconsecrate the sword. Player: 'Where is the Holy Sword?' Me: (as Madame Eva) (draws the eight of clubs) Me: 'Clubs: the sword itself.
Eight, signifying commerce.' Me: 'The sword you seek is hidden in a place where things are bought and sold.' Me: (draws the jack of diamonds) Me: 'Diamonds, meaning power; the jack, meaning power diminished.' Me: 'The sword you seek has been weakened, and you must use a ritual to restore it.' Player: 'What sort of ritual is needed?'
Me: (draws the four of diamonds) Me: 'Four, the number of death; diamonds, meaning royalty.' Are the cards saying you need to kill a king?' Me: (draws the two of spades) Me: 'The two of spades, also known as the Brothers.' Me: 'Aha: you must seek the tomb of Sergei von Zarovich, brother of Strahd.' Me: 'The tomb lies in the crypts underneath Castle Ravenloft, of course.' Me: (draws the ten of hearts) Me: 'Ten, the number of simplicity; hearts, signifying emotion or prayer.' Me: 'To restore the sword, you must simply pray over the tomb.'
Me: 'An hour should do it.' The scene turned out more comedic than I expected - the players were heckling me a bit as I gave conflicting meanings for the cards. Player: 'You just said fours meant death, and now you're saying they mean water. Which is it?' Me (as Madam Eva): 'Who's giving this tarot reading, young man?
Have you got the Second Sight? I didn't think so. Sit down and stay silent or I'm turning this tarot reading around right now and we can all go home.'
But it was a lot of fun and it made a good impression. Strahd's a vampire - he can peer into other realms.
He sees that there is some kind of seance or party sitting around a table thinking about him in Ravenloft (your D&D group;^). Here's an unorthodox suggestion. Figure out a way to associate different cards with different questions about the player's themselves. Make it subtle at first and up the ante of 'breaking the fourth wall' dependent on how Strahd is relating to them.
The more antagonistic and paranoid Strahd is, the more the cards can reveal very personal traits about the players. Make sure you present it as Strahd, not as your personal self, of course. You can't make it personal at all in order to pull it off.
Perhaps, through continued interaction, he figures out that you are some kind of 'adventuring party' set out to kill his were-beasts and attack him in some kind of 'game'. He may figure out that the player called 'Catherine' is really a man (you have a player playing a different-gendered PC) or that perhaps they're odd-looking (yes?) or anti-social and should get on with their lives.
Go meta - if at least one of the player's doesn't get freaked out and leave the table, you haven't done it right.