#5e strahd? I don't know that bitch that's not my man

[bluehairperson]

I'm not immune to propaganda 😔

[strahdapologist]

which interpretation of strahd do you like better- reddit or tumblr

oh man both have their pros and cons tbh. the vibe on the two platforms is very very different as well and depending on what i'm looking for, i will search resources out more on one platform than the other.

generally speaking, the audience on reddit is older and since COS/ravenloft reddit is by and for DMs and discourages the presence of players i find the discourse to be a lot more polite and civil haha not that i mind a tumblr user saying kys bitch ive been here long enough to ignore that it does make reading reddit discourse a lot easier to digest. the shit you find on reddit is also very different in terms of resources but it can be a mixed bag. since the audience is older, you have reddit users who were around when "i, strahd" came out and that is the platform where i found out about it and quite a few people also have guides on how to redeem strahd or play him more interestingly than 5e does. it was also reddit where i found the masterpost on how to rewrite the vistani in a way that is no longer racist against romani people. reddit also has more diverse takes on how to play strahd, ie. there's the general sense that there is no right or wrong way to play strahd, just the way you chose to play him. they even have statblocks out there to reflect these different interpretations that i really appreciate.

however, edgelords also populate the forum at times and you will find guides that are like "how to gaslight and emotionally abuse the shit out of your players" which is.... bad :( generally speaking tho as a dm i do like reddit more than tumblr lol

tumblr has some very interesting shit out there, and the best art imo, but the audience is generally younger, and it is mostly populated by players. this isn't a always a bad thing, it just means that the vibe is different and fewer people have heard of older materials or large expansions that have been co-created by a myriad of reddit users. there is also at times less openness to alternative interpretations, likely coming from the perspective of player rather than DM, of strahd and this sense that there is a set canon (something that old dnd fans don't have because they've experienced multiple editions of adventures so there is no attitude of "this is canon").

i find, depending on the space on tumblr, sometimes less of a critical view on decisions 5e has made because of this sense of "oh this is canon" and an ignorance (not deliberate!) to older editions. one may not see the entire issue with changes made to the dusk elves for example if they did not know this was purely a 5e thing and that they were white in older editions. similarly, people may not know that 5e strahd was not always canon strahd and older editions of him are beloved by older players and DMs. this is not to say older editions are perfect, they do have their issues, but once you're aware of where ravenloft started and where it's gone you can see TSR's/WOTC's gross missteps and how they have moved away from some bad decisions, but made new ones that are also bad. again i don't think this ignorance is deliberate, why would a player hunt down an ancient PDF from the 1990s and scour through it to get the deep lore for a campaign they play once every two weeks. my issue with this is when there's a staunch defense of 5e or harsh criticism of older editions is made because malicious intent is assumed of defenders of older editions. this approach to discourse is also par of the course for tumblr since the tone with which people can speak can become quite aggressive. very chronically online behavior :/ touch grass

but back to tumblr's take on strahd, as a whole it tends to follow 5e canon but that isn't to say there are no derivatives in opinions and no fans of older editions of ravenloft. i am very lucky to have found a lot of people who agree w/ me here, but my takes are definitely seen as hotter there than on reddit.

anyway follow me i'm delicious :)