MAYBE I'M JUST SENSITIVE

Maybe I am just always on high-alert for problematic shit

And I know this was written back in 2016 and the D&D writing from around that time in general had a lot of problems

But I'm very over modules that introduce elements because they are dark/edgy/gross even though they don't bring value other than shock

A tooooon of modules have this problem, not just WotC published modules

I guess this is also like... Horror is subjective but I'm just bothered by stories and settings where people are gross or awful things happen for no reason other than that it is ~bad ooo look how dark it is here~

oh strahd is Fine but people have fixed it and made it so much better

YEAH I've been deep in the weeds as far as "how to fix Strahd" guides lmao

I've already gotten a lot of great stuff

MandyMod is my fav, but DragnaCarta has good stuff too

I ran Strahd online for two groups concurrently a few years back and now I'm running it in person since I've got the resin printer for minis

Ooo I'll make sure I find those

Yeah I'm already reading this like "yep gonna throw half of this out!"

also this guy ben has made the most incredible online battlemaps and environments I've ever seen for Strahd and it's not even slightly close

Beneos Battlemaps: Curse of Strahd - Death House 2.0

he's even got map stuff for some of the changes made in the most popular Strahd edits (like fane shrines)

honestly it was just a reboot of the 1980s Ravenloft module and imo they tried so hard to emulate grim grungy dread horror they went way too far over the line and just made it absurd

and strahd is such a melodramatic bitch it's actually really hard to keep the tension up with him... he's so over the top as written... one of my groups just referred to him exclusively as the "simp incel" and i just 💀

I'LL STOP BABBLING NOW and share thisFrom the CurseofStrahd community on Reddit: Resource...

YAY ONLINE STUFF

No this is wonderful!!

it's just a big list of resources for the module organized by location, and each one will have stuff like guides and maps and in depth relevant discussions

I'm running it online and was already like wah I need maps

I am planning on running Strahd like... Fully leaning into him being an incel piece of trash so my players can be excited to punch him in the dick

it's so good... it's i think mandymod whose guide really fleshed out Vallaki and made it feel like a living breathing town

OH RIGHT also if you haven't read the Adventurer's League Strahd set of adventures I'd recommend it, they're very very good and I rolled the first half of it into the regular campaign

they're also really melodramatic but they were fun

I don't go here but mood

~darque for darque's sake~ can go fall in a hole

Yo blobulon I've read like three minutes into that reddit and I've already found a pitfall I'll immediately swerve away from so THANK YOU

transilience AND YES it's... very tiring...

stick: oh but i wanna know which one...

I saw the note about THERE'S NOTHING WORSE THAN THE RAVEN ARTIFACT BEING IN STRAHD'S CASTLE and I'm like ah

I already did the card pull but I haven't told the group about it yet so

yoink

yeaaaah it's true. i cheated a little with my tarokka pull and put the book in the blue water inn Raven loft - I'm saying the family there are the "keepers" of it and the characters are gonna get it in exchange for sorting out the wizard of the wines quest

i also went a slightly different direction with the vistani.... like for the most part they have a horrible in game reputation by their own design, because they're the only ones able to go in and out of barovia easily for certain foods and herbs and medical supplies etc, so they very intentionally cultivate a sort of shitty image so they don't draw

strahd's attention

but on the DL they're making sure the taverns have enough stock to keep the poorest fed even if it's just shitty soup, etc etc

lot of wiggling has to be done but it's quite fun when you get in the groove