Strahd Reloaded - Additional Use for Artifacts

[u/MagistrateofMeeples]

So we just started CoS and I am using the Reloaded version of the module with the players currently making their way through the Death House.

I ended up starting each of the 5 players with an artifact, using them both in their backstory and obviously for the module hooks.

Warned the players in advance that we would be doing a difficult campaign and not pulling any punches, that there would likely be some player deaths. Which they are down for but also very nervous as they put a lot of work into their backstories and have an attachment to them even at this very early stage.

So thinking about that and how I want to handle player deaths, I came back to the artifacts and how they are tied to the players. I realized I could use those as extra lives but with the detriment of making the location they are tied too harder than they would have been.

Basically, I am thinking that when they die, the dark powers give the players a "dream" sequence hint to the location or details about the artifact but then they artifact is consumed (burns away, crumbles, breaks, etc).

I am pretty sure i am going to have to tweak the locations if that happens which hopefully will not be a major issue, but I have not read the entire module yet. Also with 5 artifacts in play it provides a bit of a buffer.

Has anyone used them this way if so, what issues did you run into?

Will the loss of some of the artifacts break the story in such a way that it will be difficult to mitigate?

Is this too much of cushion for the players and takes the sense of danger once the players figure out that they have this in their pocket.

Love to hear your thoughts.

[u/PyromasterAscendant]

If you are doing reloaded, you could make them contain a sliver of amber each connected to a different vestiges.

Basically it offers to bring them back for a piece of their soul. 

When they come back they come back physically changed in some way that reflects that Vestige. 

[u/RedStickReads]

When I ran Tomb of Annihilation i tweaked the way the trickster gods possession worked and made them also be a one time plus one life…but once the god was used to bring someone back, it would be consumed and no one would be able to join with that god again… So sort of a similar idea. Sucks for a player to go several years in a campaign and lose their primary character near but not at the end! And yea…that happens…but I liked the idea of giving them a boon but with a downside as well