You may already be in an established group and therefore have the pre-game stuff sorted out. However, please take a second or three to look over this and think if there's something you may have missed. At worst, your players will say “No, fine,” and you can move on fairly easily. If not, you now know what to avoid. Just a fair warning, if someone states they have a phobia of Vampires, Zombies or undead in general, this may not be the module for them, just saying :). Establish what kind of roles are needed. If your players have gotten a whiff that they're going to be playing against vampires, they may go with the more holy of holy thinking; this will give them the upper hand, but - The Ravenloft denizens in this module aren't quite like the ones native to Faerun. To them, holy means something different.

The game set up expects the players to know each other. However, they can meet up the way you agree upon.

• Is there anything like Phobias or Taboos that the group should directly avoid during the game?
• How often should the game be played?
• Should you as the GM include players background stories, or are they just for fluff and content?
• Whatever else you can think of.

This is meant for the GM to help the players. Mother of all character questionnaires

This module is meant mostly as a guideline. The game mode is meant for tension, excitement and wholesome fun. Don't overdo the tension, as that can be annoying at best and downright frightening for your players at worst. Your players will hopefully overcome what is presented to them. Also, be aware that the master NPC isn't killable. The realm of Ravenloft cannot exist without Strahd, and Strahd cannot exist without Ravenloft. So, the best they will be able to do is send him back to his own realm. (No, Banish will not work here..)

Help the players if need be, otherwise prepare for Session 0's Adventure