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. If you're not comfortable with the full range of randomness in the book, you can create "massaged randomness" without the players finding out.)
AFAIK there is no errata on this
However, this is how I resolved it ...
They’re both true
Ezmerelda simply doesn’t know that the zombies had anything to do with Richten. She saw him leave and assumed that he spared their lives. Then the zombies came and killed many but not all of her family and Richten assumed that all of them had died. Richten now knows the truth but Ezmerelda doesn’t - it was this that was at the heart of the breakdown of their relationship.
Now, how much fun is that going to be when it all comes out?
Best Answer
Run Death House
Death House serves much better as an introduction to CoS over Phandelver. Phandelver is a great adventure, and I started as a player with it, but it would serve you better later if you want to run a classic D&D adventure, with less gothic horror elements. I'm DMing Curse of Strahd now and started my group with Death House.
Death House will teach you certain DM skills, and it will reinforce the skills necessary for the PCs to survive Curse of Strahd. Here's my justification:
Introduce with Roleplay and dread
Curse of Strahd is a roleplay-heavy campaign — there are lots of situations you don't want to bash your way through. Additionally, Death House will, if played correctly, teach you as DM to foreshadow threats and create a sense of dread that will help with the rest of the campaign on both sides of the table.
For example, the desolate streets of Barovia, with only a single house on the outskirts lit up, with smoke pouring out of the chimneys will draw the players in, but also give them the eerie feeling something is wrong. You'll have to play the children correctly to bait the players in, but you can always use the mists to railroad them as necessary. Once they're in the house, you'll be able to hook them in.
This introduction is much more in-line with the tone and nature of the rest of the campaign.
Take time to describe the environment
This is critical with Death House, but less emphasized with Phandelver. With Death House, you'll need to take time in each room, describing the blazing hearths, the strange wolf-helm armor, everything. It's all important, because it also teaches the players to pay attention to the environment. When
they'll get a good idea of how Barovia works. You'll have plenty of chances to have them roll Investigation, Perception, and Insight during the buildup, and therefore teach them some fundamental rules, and fundamental survival skills for later.
Toss a bit of combat in after
The first fight will likely occur later,
This will be after the players have had the run of the house for a bit, and will give you plenty of time to switch from warm, but empty house, to
Using that buildup, when something bad happens like
the players will be alert to such changes. It's also an easy fight to run, but will introduce damage resistance and basic combat rules.
Phandelver starts you off with a goblin ambush, which is fine, but Curse of Strahd places the emphasis on the fact that the players can walk into dangerous areas — Phandelver's goblin ambush is more of a device used to spur the plot along (perhaps much like the mists). Death House will give you a chance to explore first. Having the combat after emphasizes where the priorities should be in this campaign, I think.
Ramp up the danger
Death House is notorious for how lethal it can get — your players can absolutely TPK against
However, much of the campaign is like this — you'll get to make the decision of how hard to beat them over the head with their impending doom, or how to fail forward. You'll learn from your players what they expect out of a campaign with this kind of tone, and it'll get everyone on the same basis. Starting with Phandelver, I think you stand the danger of letting them be the big damn heroes and then taking that away from them.