cursed-strahd

[cursed-strahd]

Finished Strahd but i thought I'd post here again since I'm planning on revisiting the Dread Domains

I've really been wanting to play with an amnesia plot for an entire party, as is a popular trope, but having literally every part of creation in my lap as the dm - between plot, character backstory, concepts, everything - seems a bit overwhelming so I was looking for something I could mix with that and ended up looking through the domains covered in van richtens guide because mixing a dread domain with amnesia sounds fun and then i have a more sound structure to work with. I ended up teetering between Bluetspur and Dementlieu - Amnesia around the concept of alien abduction sounds right and it already deals with memory loss, but I quickly got enamoured by the idea of having no idea who you are in a domain where all of you is a mask, the absolute epitome of the imposter syndrome the domain offers.

Now I havent read the old stuff on Dementlieu and I very well may but I will be tweaking it based off its source material in the very least; I don't like Sadia being the Red Death (pulling from masque it doesnt suit her station and i would rather her be some untethered and still horrifying wraith through the day, and have the red death as a another terror, potentially a dark power) and I want to play heavier with the concept of time. Both Cinderella and The Masque of Red Death have a really interesting relationship with the toll of the hour and it feels like such a loss that that isn't really mentioned beyond the direct connection between Sadia and Cinderella at midnight. The most haunting moment of Masque is when Midnight tolls, the longest of the tolls, and the silence that surrounds it.

Hags are always a godsend for DMs tbh i gotta praise them they make it so easy to do weird shit - i can so simply and easily justify stealing away my players memories for the express interest of a quest. So first off i'll give my players a basic rundown of the themes and setting and get them to make me a moodboard and I'll use that to create their character so the PCs aren't too much my own preferences. I'm not certain if I'll give them their whole character sheet or just pieces of it, I'll think on that more as I develop things. But basically each character will wake up with a letter from their 'fairy godmother' with hints as to who everyone in the party is, and a mask - the mask will belong to another party member but I'd like that to be not instantly obviously (everyone sorting out and wearing their correct masks wont solve the mystery but it will give them some form of bonus). They'll all have some dark secret to uncover and I'd like to entwine them as well, have the characters learn that theyve caused each other horrors and pain

obviously ive played strahd so im less interested in running another 'you get sucked into a dread domain and now you have to escape' plot, im probably going to downplay a lot of the dread domain aspects and mostly focus on Dementlieu as a setting that is not escapable

Also i think it'd be a fun game to run with the honor rules so I will think on that

i will not be able to consider running this game for months at a minimum but im so enamoured by it i am going to go insane

[cursed-strahd]

if you are someone i know IRL, whether you are a player of mine or not, this post isnt for you. dont look. im scheming

im enjoying running strahd but its also been a gauntlet of disappointments and struggles, and because of that id love to run it again (probably a few years after ive finished this run)

the issue with that is that every dnd player within a radius of my city is either playing or running strahd, or has played or ran it. It is very amusing, the amount of people i know and know of who are currently running strahd. With this being my pool of players, i don't just want to run strahd again as is because everyone already knows it.

my thought i that I play it in a different part of the timeline. 100 or 200 years before the normal game setting - a handful of characters would be the same and the rest would be an entirely new cast. I could put easter eggs in for characters people love(have a powerful necromancer in valaki who left their books behind for victor to eventually find). Most of the side quests would be renewed and have to be made from scratch, which would add a lot of uniqueness and new things to do

I also think it would be good to run a party with higher stakes/personal attachment to the story. For my game we went with a very gothic horror approach of normal people Experiencing the Horrors which is fun but id like a different vibe So like, for example A Tatyana reincarnation, a potenial fucked up reincarnation of Jander, someone who might be a fragment of Argynvost, warlocks beholden to the powers of Barovia(like the hags, or exathanter), reincarnations of Marokva or Andral (and maybe escher, because my escher canon is that he was an adventuerer who betrayed his party for strahd and what a fun thing for every player to be aware of; maybe i make it a prophecy) A more powerful group, start at a higher level, move quicker and face harder threats. Remind them that even special people are powerless here

and with the ending of strahd being that he never stays gone, it all slots in

[cursed-strahd]

The player mentioned and myself

One of my dhampirs left my campaign but even so, both of them have fucked Vasili 

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One of my dhampirs left my campaign but even so, both of them have fucked Vasili 

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Strahd killed Ismark which I think is probably the best way to unlock final girl Ireena

[cursed-strahd]

Wanted to draw out my Ravenloft polycule babies and talk out what ive done with them. These are also the designs without any of their accessories, I’ll add to them later - especially Volenta’s mask and such 

Rahadin. His design isnt my favourite yet but I dont know how I want to tweak it but we’ll get there.

He follows canon pretty closely, he was an exile who sided with King Barov and has been serving the Von Zarovich familty for hundreds of years. He’s Strahd’s most ruthless general and is very battlescarred from his years of service. While he is the oldest of the group at Ravenloft, he is also one of the few true mortals. 

Patrina Velikovna. 

Despite Strahd’s continued fixation of Tatyana, his true perfect match is Patrina. Her and Strahd never truly loved each other but they shared each others passions and were incredibly similar.  Tatyana and Patrina’s parts in my canon have been altered somewhat, Patrina came to seek Strahd out after Strahd had already fallen for Tatyana, not before. And she was a wonderful distraction and for a while, Strahd was almost content with his role as Tatyana’s brother in law rather than her love. But Kasimir feared his sisters involvement with the devil and the dusk elves saw to it to stop her from her path; killing Patrina and robbing Strahd of his lover. The timing was atrocious, as it was so soon after that Tatyana and Sergi were set to be wed and consumed with rage, Strahd would end their lives and ruin his own.  She exists still, as a haunting spectre. She haunts her brother and seeks to be returned to life and power. 

Strahd may not admit to it but each of his current female brides are each reflections of an aspect of Patrina; Ludmilla her brains, Anastrasya her charm and Volenta her cruelty. 

Ludmilla Vilisevic

A lady of science and discovery, Strahd met her when doing further study of the Amber Temple after his own transformation. Of the current brides, she has been by Strahd’s side the longest and as such no longer holds much interest to him. Still, she lives her life in the luxury of the castle Ravenloft and continues to study. 

Anastrasya Karelova

Once a vistana, she brought joy to the people of Barovia by bringing all sorts of fantastical things through the mists to show off to townsfolk. Mostly she spent her time in Vallaki. This was not done out of pity or affection for the people, but her own desire to be the centre of attention and beloved. She is boastful and proud and caught Strahd’s attention in the form of Lord Vasili. With his softspot for the Vistani, she had the most ‘usual’ courting process. Soon enough she began to brag that she held the favour of their lord himself - something that came to be noted by the Vallakovich family; her joy was enough to appease to devil. This would be passed down through the family and though her name drifted out of the story, she is still smug that her influence continues. 

Volenta Popofsky

Volenta was born into this world with violence in her soul. She would kill small animals even in her childhood years and as she grew, so did her prey. She was not even a teenager when she committed her first murder. She was never a suspect, with her youth, and the extreme violence that had come upon her victim. By the time she was an adult, she had left an path of death in her wake. She would one day attempt to attack a Vistani camp but was stopped by Strahd, though he admitted his own interest in her and brought her to Ravenloft with him. 

Interestingly, becoming a vampire spawn partially soothed her aggression and her violence is now more intentional. She is the one who most often hunts for the vampires of Ravenloft. 

Sasha Jvliskovich

Sasha was the second bride to become a vampire spawn and Strahd’s first male lover since the mists closed in. He was the son of a lingering noble family that would eventually die out. He adores Strahd, moreso than the others who have come to terms with being partially abandoned by him. 

Escher

Escher is the most recent bride of Strahd and still currently holds his interest - for the most part. Strahd begins to grow bored with him and Escher is incredibly aware of this fact. He is bratty and angry and lashes out due to it.

Escher is the tortured creative type, seeking beauty in darkness and he sought out Strahd himself in hopes of using him as a muse; their shared love for the arts was the base of their relationship. 

 Jander is not a Bride but still a lover of Strahd so ive included him

Jander Sunstar 

I dont completely know his canon and I dont intend to align to it completely so mine is probably gonna be a slight clusterfuck Jander existed beyond the mists as an adventurer and was one of the first adventurers ever pulled through the mist. He was a cleric of Lathander and worked alongside Saint Andral in Vallaki for a time. As Saint Markovia and her abbey had fallen, the church that Andral protected began to be inundated with desperate people. Amongst them he met Anna, a woman crazed by dreams and pain and he fell deeply for her. Unbeknownst to him, Anna was one of the first reincarnations of Tatyana and was driven insane by her connection to her past life. Alongside this, a man named Vasili was rather interested in him - as a newcomer in their trapped land. He spoke of promises of immortality and power and knowledge. When Anna got sick, Jander was desperate to save her and with Vasili’s whispered promises, he sought out the Amber Temple to seek power and life and thus became a vampire. He offered Anna to turn her but she refused him, even as she lay dying in his arms and he could not bring himself to go against her will. With his love dead, his connection to his god broken and his life in pieces, Vasili revealed himself as Strahd and offered condolences and affection and Jander fell into him. They became lovers and spent years together, easing their pains. But eventually, Jander would find out about Tatyana and all that happened to her and would make the connections to the desperate rambles and screaming nightmares of Anna. Enraged that Strahd was the reason his love had lost her sanity and suffered so, he attacked him. As he was not one of Strahd’s vampire spawn, he was one of the few ever capable of standing against him and they clashed brutally. He was defeated but not killed and as a once holy man, he prayed desperately to be allowed his revenge and fury and the Dark Powers listened and let him slip through the mists. He was not completely free of the dread domains but could wander between them as he wished. He would become a vampire hunter and while he intends to return to Barovia to destroy Strahd completely, his whereabouts are currently unknown.

[cursed-strahd]

Starting up the campaign again tonight and one of my players is putting together group notes bc its been a while and i love lying to my players so much

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Updated Ez reference - I didnt mind the older one but it didnt look like my art

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I love the Abbot so much

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Its friday, I have a session on sunday and I have been so distracted by other things that I forgot how much I wanted to rewrite of the Abbey. So this is me doing that

now, the Abbot is my favourite character in all of Strahd - I’ve already mentioned some of how I intend to run them. Genderless, inhuman angel who believes they can only be righteous and holy and so all their actions are good and just. Hubris. Vasilka is Vera, androgynous and genderless. 

But the Abbey itself and the ‘Mongrelfolk’ are terrible. The ableism and incest is just incredibly outdated so will be rewriting a lot of it. For one, the belviews that are there are not the inbred descendants of the first Belviews - they are the first belviews. Every time they die, the Abbot brings them back and each time gets worse. They are still wanting perfection and asking for creature parts and the Abbot complies but they are simply the Belviews and I won’t be calling them Mongrelfolk(though some of the people in Krezk might, because people suck). I wanted to leave some of the Belviews in mostly because my party have a ‘shifter’ who obviously has canid features and an aasimar with visable wings and tieflings with tails and horns -- they arent human. So its a... Well, they wanted to be more than human and I’m sure you can understand that the nose of a wolf is stronger than the nose of a human - this is their chosen perfection.  They also werent deformed from birth and they didnt seek out the abbot - they were using the abbey as their home when the Abbot came and in the Abbot’s grace they allowed the Belviews to stay and slowly over time they began to ask things of the Abbot that would eventuate in their ‘perfect’ forms. the Abbot returns them to life each time they die but less answer the calls over the years so there are only a few Belviews left. They werent insane originally but the extended life and changes to their bodies has left them unstable 

Other than the belviews there are also a few more flesh constructs; more prototypes for Vera that are a range of different forms and vibes. They are utterly inhuman, soulless and almost wild. 

And then there are the... villagers. People who sought out the Abbot for help and healing. The Abbot, of course was willing to assist people but soon enough there is a price involved with it. In The Abbot’s striving to create the perfect bride for Strahd and with countless failures which they begin to associate with using corpses - they begin to trade their services for limbs and bodily pieces. The Abbot is not human and doesn’t entirely understand the human condition so these surgeries are often done without any pain relief and for a lot of their patients, the pain broke something in their minds. 

So now the Abbey is filled with the few remaining Belviews, the creatures created before Vera and the people who need to be contained for their own safety and the safety of others due to their reactions to the surgeries. The Abbot believes they treat them very well and with kindness but is very focused on their work with Vera and often forgets about the others for days or weeks. Clovin is usually the one to tend to the patients and the Abbey runs slightly seperate to the Abbot, as the Abbot and Vera do not need to eat. Sometimes the other patients are allowed to tend to the garden with Clovin. 

[cursed-strahd]

Something I find so interesting about my players journey is that they’ve clicked onto the ‘dead past lover’ plotline with Strahd but they really havent got a lot of hints to Tatyana (theyre not super close to Ireena and the Izek stuff got... Interestingly rushed through) 

But they do know about Patrina. They know about who she is and how she died. So they’ve come to believe that Patrina is THE dead love. And I actually really like that idea

So I’ve been tweaking things and playing off it - Tatyana is still the catalyst of Strahd’s curse and he was still utterly enamoured by her. 

Strahd was in love with Tatyana who loved Sergei. Patrina comes along and is a welcome distraction - they get along, she helps Strahd come in contact with the darker powers of Barovia, they are together but it is not love. It’s a mutual, intellectual connection and they, for now, would both be content with being with the other and seeking great power together. But the elves can see what she is doing and is it dangerous and it is horrifying and giving such power to a man like that is not something they can stand by. So the elves slay Patrina. And Strahd no longer has his distraction. And he begins to spiral. He sinks deeper into the research he shared with her. And when Sergei and Tatyana announce their wedding, he breaks.

He slays Sergei at the alter and Tatyana is the one who ‘kills’ Strahd before succumbing herself - and in his death he rises again. Alone.

[cursed-strahd]

We’re starting up Curse of Strahd again tomorrow! It’ll probably just be finishing a few months old combat in the Winery but I’m really excited 

I’m going to gently ask that they go after the druids later and keep on their path to the Abbey because I want to introduce them to the Abbot because they are so much my favourite character. Ez will be there too - and I’ll probably introduce Escher on the way so its just a bunch of my favourite NPCs

I know a lot of people do away with the wedding dress aspect of the Abbot’s lil quest but one of my PCs is a tailor and I think its perfect that she helps sew a dress rather than have it as a fetch quest and I’m glad theres a way to let her shine

[cursed-strahd]

So my party’s ally is Arrigal. As a joke prediction, one of my players described  that he would be the real secret final boss who betrays you after you kill strahd to become the real ruler of Barovia

This is my partner and I am 100% certain they don’t know that this is what happens, and if the knew it they’d never have said it at the table 

i cant believe this 

[cursed-strahd]

So my partner wanted to do some art for the campaign but theyre also a player so I gave them a very vague description of Kasimir and they did the line work and I added colour and clothes 

The symbol is the symbol for Sulphur in alchemy which I’ve picked for the Night Mother because it represents the human soul and I liked that more than the symbol for the moon

For my Dusk elves I’m going to be using Shadar-Kai as a base rather than Wood Elves because i think the links to darkness and shadow suit them 

[cursed-strahd]

My partner wanted to do some art for the campaign with a v vague description and then I’d colour it and introduce the NPC later with their art. And its fun so I gave them a vague description of Kasimir and when they sent me the art, they’d put flat colour down in greyscale for me. And Kasimir is,,, greyscale. They have no idea

[cursed-strahd]

Oh a fun thing  One player knows Argyn is Argynvostholt means silver, they knew this a while ago bc they were doing etymology studies

But recently I asked them if, theoretically, there is a dragon there, what colour did they think it would be? and they did not mention silver. So thats fun that theyve forgotten 

[cursed-strahd]

Its funny the little spoilers my party knows between them

One player already knew a lot of death house bc theyd read it but nothing further One player knows whats in the pies One player knows we’re going to fight a Baba Yaga type character One player knows theres a banshee 

very fun and interesting