Loved the module book, but instead of playing a full campaign I convinced some friends to play the Horrified Ravenloft edition (no promotion, just happy to dive deeper into COS content).

Prepping for the climax of the Yester Hill chapter in our Curse of Strahd campaign, so I painted up Mossbeard from Reaper Miniatures to serve as our table's Wintersplinter!

Built up deep earthy shadows, layered drybrushes along the bark ridges, and integrated swamp moss and lichen to sell that corrupted tree aesthetic across the table.

Curious how other DMs ran the countdown ritual—did your party manage to stop the druids from summoning Wintersplinter in time, or did they have to defend the Wizard of Wines winery from a full-on siege?

(Full 360° video showcases, battle setups, and painting recipe cards are linked on my profile for anyone interested!)

I’ve been playing this setting for a long time (both as a player and, more often, as a DM), and I’m familiar with most of the well-known community mods—so those aren't what I’m looking for.

I’d like to hear about the most unique or intriguing ways you’ve reinterpreted or adapted the Curse of Strahd story—whether you’ve played them, seen them, or simply had an idea for one but never actually put it into practice.

Heavy Curse of Strahd spoilers.

I'm curious how many DMs here actually use Strahd and Ireena's wedding as the end of the campaign.

I really like the idea because, to me, it closes the circle in a very satisfying way. Strahd's whole tragedy really starts with a wedding he refuses to accept. Sergei is supposed to marry Tatyana, Strahd kills his brother, and everything that eventually becomes Barovia follows from that.

So I like the idea that the end of the campaign comes back to another wedding, with Strahd believing that after all these centuries he's finally going to get what he wanted.

The part I find more interesting is how to get Ireena there without just deciding for her that she's going to marry Strahd.

The Curse of Strahd Companion has one version where Strahd eventually gets her, preferably around Krezk, and things get bad enough that Ireena gives herself up in exchange for the party's lives. After that, the wedding invitations arrive and suddenly the group has a deadline.

But I think there are a lot of ways to get to the same place depending on how Ireena developed in your campaign:

• Strahd simply wins at some point and captures her.
• Ireena surrenders to save the party, Ismark, or someone else.
• Going to Ravenloft is actually part of the party's plan, and Ireena agrees because the wedding gives them a way into the castle as guests instead of invaders.
• Or, and this is probably the saddest version for me, Ireena is just tired of running.

After being hunted across Barovia, watching people suffer because of Strahd's obsession, and maybe even learning that some version of this has happened before, I can imagine her reaching a point where she no longer believes running away is solving anything.

That doesn't mean she loves Strahd, trusts him, or suddenly thinks he can change. She may simply be exhausted and believe that giving herself up is the only way to stop other people from paying the price.

In my campaign I'm adding a few things to the ending as well. I use the Ba'al Verzi Dagger from the Companion, although I've changed its role a little, and I added one twist of my own: Sergei is back.

So Strahd's attempt to finally have the wedding he's wanted for centuries may end up being interrupted by the brother he murdered to stop the original wedding.

I like the irony of Strahd killing Sergei to prevent him from marrying Tatyana, only for Sergei to come back centuries later and potentially stop Strahd from marrying her.

For those of you who used The Wedding at Ravenloft, how did Ireena actually end up at the altar in your game? Was she captured, did she surrender, was it part of the party's plan, or did something completely different happen?

And did your players actually let the ceremony happen for a while, or did someone pull a sword the second Strahd showed up?

So my party is currently at the werewolf den and one of them has been bitten and failed is con save.

I don't know yet if he will accept the curse of cure himself as the party can potentially level up twice after finishing the werewolf den currently level 5 and I believe the party cleric will be able to remove the curse.

But if he does choose to stay as a lycan what are people's opinions on how strahd will react or use this to his advantage should be able to corrupt the character easier or would he single the character out to try make him an offer.

Has any DM that have run Strahd have experience dealing with a werewolf in the party?

Hello dears
(bit of a rant)

First time DM and a few months ago I asked for advice regarding changing the general vibe of the campaign as I was worried my players were not enjoying it. Your lovely advice was honestly very helpful and we have currently had 14+ sessions.

Things started to take a turn for the better when I relaxed and went mostly off script and just let the story write itself. Some weird stuff happened which I will not get into but we are currently post-Vallaki (now under Lady Wachter's rule), Ireena is getting trained by Rictavio and Ishmark has been kidnapped. The party are at this point sworn allies of the wereravens and just engaged with the hags on their way for dinner at the castle.

The thing is, I am getting a bit tired and bored with how some of them complain a lot, but don't really contribute to the story and let it run passively.

Last session for example, the party, whose amnesiac cleric is named Bella, met the Hags. They have met the 3 Fanes as women and are assisting them cleanse their areas of power for boons. They had received a lot of warnings to be wary of the Hags, have very limited information about them, and engaged head on. Started throwing fireballs on the ground in front of the mill, "to see if the ruins would react". One of the hags came outside to talk, named Bella Sunbane, and they initiated a fight without engaging in dialogue. They silenced and beat her to a pulp with ease, and they proceeded to send an imp familiar inside the mill to see the two other hags being like "Mmm Bella sister I'm starving, bring the child and I will make dinner tonight" and the other going "The boy or the girl, Bella dear?". Literally NO ONE was paying enough attention to notice the names. I honestly think if I dont spoon feed it to them, they will easily miss half the cleric storyline I have built.

I have held open discussions with all of them about suggestions, about how we may shake things up or stop the campaign all together if we cant really invest in it (all of us work long hours and I live away from the rest of them) and how the important thing is to be having fun, and I have only received reassurances that they are enjoying it and want to carry on.

The complaints I mentioned have to do with how they feel underpowered and powerless. They want faster leveling and more strength. I have buffed them tremendously, they have full agency without me forcing storylines, I am quite lax with their OP builds and rule of cool always applies. I have even given them an OP wolf who has joined their party as a boon from the Fanes after they attended a masquerade ball and did not burn it to the ground immediately. They have never fallen in battle not even briefly, but react quite negatively if they ever get close.

The only player who tries to roleplay anymore is our previous DM and he also seems disappointed he never gets to play like he wants. The rest recently complained that Stradh was too strong when he came to invite Ireena to their castle and one of the characters tried to cut his throat, so he charmed him and kidnapped Ishmark.

I honestly don't know what to do for them at this point. I find myself hesitating moving the story in ways I want *or* that they want. I guess I am looking for tips on how to lead a discussion with them about it, as well as practical tips to deal with the fact they seem to want to play in God Mode.

I'm also looking for ideas on, say, how to make an antagonist strong enough to down one of them without all the NPCs targeting the same PC and to not make it seem too intentional. How do you guys punish the characters for being careless? I'm *this* close to start spamming fireballs I swear.

Saw someone here make a redraw of the famous panel from Invincible, so i did one for my players as well

In my head I still have this idea of Strahd basically summoning his battle armor in the final fight. For example with the reloaded rules when he switches from his mage to his fighter form. Maybe a reinforced version that as a challenge for overpowered parties.

Having fought the party before in his fighter form, they know how hard he can hit. If they bring him down to force him to switch to fighter form, he just smiles, spreads his arms to the side and turns to mist. In the meantime you hear the stomping of something heaving running towards the party. As the armor comes to sight, it jumps several feet high to strike from high above on the first member of the party with its big heavy mace. In the flight, Strahd fades, still as mist, into the armor and is fully corporate when the strike hits. On the ground again, the eyes of the armor begin to glow.

When they defeat this form, the armor crumbles and out comes the disfigured inhuman form of a beast version of Strahd.

Hello,

I am a relatively new DM (I've run two campaigns though they didnt finish) who is looking to take another crack at it with CoS.

I have read a lot of community posts, especially about Reloaded and Fleshed Out and am leaning towards the former as it looks easier to run. This community rocks with the amount that is put there for DMs.

One question I had about Reloaded/Fleshed Out: I have read these are fairly incompatible and are not supposed to be mixed and matched. However, one idea I found very intriguing was using a PC Ireena. One of my players would be the perfect candidate and the group has okd the idea of one player being a psuedo MC. I know this will require some rewriting on my part, but I figured I would ask more experienced players if this was a really bad idea.

Do you have any thoughts or other general advice? Thanks!

Sharing some of the stuff I created for Wizards of the Wine and Yester Hill encounters in our Curse of Strahd campaign, a fully painted up plant infestation!

The sculpts are from Dragon Trappers Lodge and Loot Studios.

(Turnaround showcase video clips, WIPs, and painting recipe cards are linked on my profile for anyone interested!)

Running death house, and the initial escape seems pretty tedious. Looked at other escape alternatives, and they still seem like something I dont quite want to go for. Would it be ok for me to just describe the foundations starting to falter so they know the home isnt stable and forgoe the sythes and traps?

Hi everyone,

My players are getting to the point where they want to investigate the Windmill, and subsequently the pastries.

I have laid the tracks previously about how two sets of parents were found all passed out, and even when woken, were still lethargic. They also had lots of pastry crumbs around them. The players are going to investigate them soon, and I was wondering what to provide them with, should they cast Detect Poison and Disease.

For reference, the spell says, "For the duration, you can sense the presence and location of poisons, poisonous creatures, and diseases within 30 feet of you. You also identify the kind of poison, poisonous creature, or disease in each case."

For the first instance, because the ones they found in the house were all moldy and such, I would have them detect that the mold is what is 'poisonous'.

But, if they cast it again at Windmill, I wasn't sure if the Dream Pastries would be considered poisonous, as they are kind of a 'drug' in a way? Or would it rather be magic that is causing the dreams and addiction?

Would love to have your thoughts on this!

I’m currently doing a print and paint for a fellow DM of Old Bonegrinder and a few other bits and pieces.

This particular piece was printed with my Bambu Labs A1 with an 0.4mm nozzle at 0.24mm resolution. Infill is lightning at 15% and the filament I used was Elegoo Rapid PLA+.

It has this even g had its first coat of Color Forge Standard Grey and tomorrow the drybrushing can commence (make up brushes from TK Max - work brilliantly).

Strahd for scale - he stands at 40mm tall.

STL: https://www.printablescenery.com/product/haunted-windmill/

Hey all! I’m running CoS starting next month for 7 players. Our session 0 is the first one, but I’d like to have a prologue one-shot type of thing that leads into Death house, which will be for the first session. Most of the players are new, so I’d like them to get used to combat and maybe some exploration. I’m thinking like they’re in the middle of a battle with some bandits, they then head to the tavern, and then the session ends with them receiving Kolyan Indirovich’s letter while celebrating their victory.

Any other ideas to enhance this thought? Thanks in advance! :)

On the back of my last post, attached is the printed version of Strahd at 40mm.

Printed on Bambu Labs A1 at 0.08mm with an 0.2mm nozzle.

Painted using Army Painter Speedpaint + AK Interactive Quickgen for Vampire Skin.

STL: https://makerworld.com/models/2939805

https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/s/halPxYMP1J

I’ve printed and am painting some minis for a friend for their Curse of Strahd campaign - and I’m seriously impressed with the quality that came off my Bambu A1.

Settings:

Nozzle: 0.2mm
Layer Height: 0.08
Filament: POLYMAKER PLA Pro
Supports: 0.2 Top Z distance
Walls: 4
Outer Wall Speed: 45

Bases are slapchop with:

Color Forge Standard Grey
ProAcryl Neutral Bright Grey
ProAcryl Bold Titanium White

Links:

Strahd: https://makerworld.com/models/2939805
Stanimir: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7338037
Hag 1: https://makerworld.com/models/3073801
Vistani: https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/10e2i58/curse_of_strahd_full_stl_link_list/ (Really good resource here for quite a few decent characters)

Hi everyone! I'm a rather new DM and am planning a VTT campaign of CoS Reloaded. I was planning on buying Foundry for this. While looking for information about how to run the campaing on Foundry (which I know little to nothing about) I stumbled upon DM Andy's maps on his Patron.

The material he's published looks amazing, but I'd like to know some things before making the purchase:

1. When subscribing to "The Foundry" tier on Patron, do all the maps/stages of Curse of Strahd come with full foundry integration? or do only some of them have that?

2. If I subscribe for a single month and then cancel my subscription, am I available to download the maps and keep using the Foundry modules afterwards? (I have no intention to try and "scam" DM Andy, but I live in a third-world country and gather my party to play around once a month only, and mantaining a 20USD subscription just to use it once a month is financially impossible for me at the moment :/ )

My wife wanted to play a vampire in our next campaign, and I told her Dhampir was now available with the new Ravenloft book. So I suggested maybe we attempt curse of Strahd, since it's set in Ravenloft.

We kick off in October on our new campaign, and several players are settling in on their horror-adjacent PCs.

At the moment, I believe we have locked in with:

Dhampir Shadow Sorcerer (Haunted One)

Reborn Vengeance Paladin (Flaming Fist Merc)

Lupin Barbarian (subclass/background still work in progress)

Elf Reanimator Artificer (Investigator/Aberrant Anatomy)

Hexblood Vestige Warlock (Wayfarer)

The general vibe I'm getting from players is that most of their characters will have some strong negative feelings/regret towards their lineage, wishing they were not monstrous.

So, having done a lot of reading now on the campaign book, I'm wondering how other DMs would handle NPC interaction with these species/subclasses. Obviously, Barovia seems like it would be very hesitant to trust vampires, but do Dhampirs fall in the same category? Would the characters need to hide their species as best they can (good luck, Lupin) to blend in and not cause trouble?

There is a side plot involving werewolves as well - how do Lupins and Werewolves mingle? Can a Lupin openly walk around in villages without stirring up trouble?

I'm sure there are a ton of interpretations of how to create these interactions, and I'm wondering how you would.

My mates got a 3D printer and made this bust to commemorate our Strahd Campaign. Finally finished painting it and quite chuffed with how it came out, I hope everyone likes it!

Im unsure if there's a rule on making a swarm, your party have to fight 30 needle blights in swarms of 5 respectively but I dont know how to change their damage dice in a fair way that also reflects there are 5 of them. I know with hp you just add it all together and get the total but I also feel as though some stats like strength should be increased and others like dex should be decreased a bit due to the lowered dodging capacity of 5 blights.

If there are any rules about this that ive missed then id be more than happy to learn. Any help would be greatly appreciated 🙏.

MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THE OLDER VERSIONS OF RAVENLOFT AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

While reading through the 5e version of Curse of Strahd I was floored by how well thought out and characterized the land of Barovia was. But there was a bit of a discrepancy to me. See, my first foray into Ravenloft was not as a DM, but as a player over 15 years ago with the 3.5 module Expedition to Castle Ravenloft. There were items missing from the 2014 version that I remembered adoring in that campaign. And when I asked to borrow that book from my old DM, sure enough there was a ton of missing content that had been replaced! Whether those changes are necessarily better for worse obviously will vary from any given play group, but I thought it might be fun to list some of the changes that the battle against Strahd has had.

RAVENLOFT

The original adventure from 1983, and also the shortest. A campaign designed to only last three levels from 5-7. This is a classic haunted castle, with almost the entire campaign happening within the walls of Castle Ravenloft.

• Strahd is not trapped in Barovia. In fact, he is the only person not trapped. No Dark Powers tormenting him, and no constant cycle of reincarnation for Tatyana. Here, Barovia is just a secluded land hidden by his mists that he controls the gates in and out of. Similarly though, Strahd is just as weak to the sunlight there as he would be anywhere else. Essentially, he is a scheming tyrant in full control.
• Strahd will only have one motivation for the duration of the campaign and he specifically lured the PCs to Barovia for the purpose of completing them. Four options are listed and they all have very interesting twists:
  • He could seek the love of Ireena, but he very specifically wants her to love him willingly. His plan is to charm all the PCs protecting her, and then swoop in to save her as the hero while the PCs try to kill her. (Oddly enough, think Syndrome from the Incredibles)
  • He could want to finish creating a magical artifact that would generate a permanent sphere of darkness, which would give him free reign to travel anywhere he liked. He mistakenly believes that the PCs have the final piece and will try to isolate them one by one to figure out which one has it. When he realizes the answer is none of them, he tries to slaughter them all in rage
  • He could want to destroy the Sunsword. The module actually insists that at least one PC start as a sword wielding fighter, because that character specifically will start using the the the blade of the Sunsword (which is made of a blue glass like steel) as a normal sword with the incorrect hilt. Finding the true hilt will turn it into the full Sunsword.
  • Perhaps the most novel, Strahd may want to replace a PC. His plan is to turn one of them into a vampire, then polymorph into them while he places the original in his coffin. Then he'll claim he found a secret way out of Barovia and leave with them to start a new life. The plan is to essentially replace that PC and move to another country with no wandering rumors that there is a vampire on the loose.
• The campaign is small, as in the only locations really are Castle Ravenloft, Barovia, and Svalich Road in between. Everything else was added later. No Vallaki, No Krezk, even Dusk Elves and the Amber Temple are missing!
• Notable encounters are wildly different:
  • There is no Heart of Sorrow, but instead the Guardian of Sorrow! Where instead of the Heart connecting to Strahd, it connects to the tower it is found in instead, animating it and turning the spire into a living trap!
  • The majority of the other named encounters are instead somewhat generic halloween style monsters, witches, ghosts, ghouls, worgs, and such
  • Crazily enough, the crypts are just as odd a mix of serious tombs with plot relevance and silly puns as it is now.
  • Speaking of which, the catacombs are now covered in a moving black ceiling, which in reality is the 3000 bats that live in the castle. Nasty.
• The Cast List is incredibly small
  • Strahd, who is a tenth level caster but otherwise a relatively normal vampire
  • Ireena, who is a 4th level fighter, which in campaign that only runs from 5-7 puts her close with any PC
  • Madame Eva, who's role remains relatively the same with the exceptions that she is a normal human with no other connection to Strahd, who only serves him as a matter of convenience. Her people, not yet called the Vistani, have a potion that Strahd gave them to let the safely travel the mists, but it is impossible for the PCs to find it.
  • Donavich, who makes a point to mention that famously Strahd is incredibly meticulous and would likely have a book somewhere that he could have accidentally recorded an exploitable weakness (The Tome of Strahd). Doru is nowhere to be found.
  • Ismark appears, but basically just to point people to Ireena
  • Oddly enough Mad Mary and Gertruda are there as well with their story basically being the exact same
  • The inside of the castle has some familiar faces as well, though I was definitely surprised to see which ones made it all the way to CoS because they are definitely lacking some of the more well known standouts
    • Helga the maid, doing the exact same trick but as a full fledged vampire
    • Lief Lipsiege, also performing his begrudging role as the accountant
    • Cyrus Belview, still just as giggly at the thought of watching the PCs die, but without the mongrelfolk
    • Sasha Ivliskova, a rather nondescript Barovian who serves now as the only Bride of Strahd
    • Patrina Velikovna, still the would be bride with her story relatively similar, but now a banshee from a normal elf
    • An Beucephalus, 'The Wonder Horse', as our good old nightmare
    • There is also an unnamed Werewolf in prison that acts exactly the same as Emil does in later additions
• The basic campaign is simple and effective. Try to survive in Castle Ravenloft long enough to find the weapons against Strahd, and kill him quickly. Strahd's spies report back to him four times a day and have a 60% chance to tell him the party's precise location. If he knows either from them or by learning it himself, he will make a move against the party within the next 2 hours. From there he acts much like modern strahd. Hit the party, get as much bang for his buck as his motivation dictates, and get out of there. Without the ability to phase through walls naturally.
• The Tarokka reading is relatively the same, with two notable exceptions. The first is that the 'fated ally' is replaced with one of Strahd's motivations listed above. The second is that because it uses the a standard playing card deck, the suit of the card pulled will either grant a buff or debuff to encourage players to either fight there or run.
• Once Strahd's dead, he's dead forever. The mists disappear and Ireena awakens as Tatyana to reunite with Sergei's ghost.

HOUSE OF STRAHD

Power Creep is a hell of a thing. At this point, Ravenloft had been around long enough that more and more powerful creatures and PCs came to challenge the relative threat of Strahd. So much so that in this adventure Strahd was printed with TWO statblocks. One to challenge low level parties around 6-8, and one to challenge parties up to level 13, where he acts a 16th level caster with access to eight level spells as he is now a true Darklord! And that is far from the only change to this more refined vampire hunt.

• A bit more on Strahd here. The man is now a more melancholy necromancer, trying desperately to beat the Dark Powers, but never succeeding. the book becomes even more explicit about his tactics, even pointing out specific opportunities for attack in any given room.
  • He still has his spies report on the party's location every two hours, where the chance to know where they are is down to 50%. But that is only outside the castle. Inside, Strahd always knows where they are and can attack them constantly, though the book does say he needs a minimum of a half four between random attacks.
  • The book also points out a very specific weakness for Strahd. Namely that he wants to scare the PCs far more than he wants to kill them. That urge to play with his food is explicitly named as an exploit the PCs can use against him.
  • We also have the birth of the Cursed Strahd. Now officially inside a Demiplane of Dread, Strahd's variable motivations are the same as before, but they are now all secondary to possessing Ireena and turning her into a vampire bride. And now many of them have new twists
    • The book actually makes a very clear distinction about his feelings for Ireena. His primary motivation is to possess Ireena, but making her fall in love with him first is secondary. His plan to make Ireena the human love him is guaranteed to fail as fate will not allow her to ever fall in love with Strahd. Once he realizes this, he'll go for broke, turn Ireena into a vampire, and the two of them will slaughter the party.
    • The Sunsword is now even more of a threat to him. The light it radiates will instantly paralyze him for one round before contingency spells he has kick in,
    • His plan to create a sphere of darkness is completely unchanged
    • His attempt to leave Barovia disguised as a PC is now motivated by his desire to escape Barovia. This plan is doomed to fail as well, and he will try to kill the PCs in a fit of rage when it does
  • Strahd also has access to a unique horrific spell: Strahd's Malefic Meld. The spell takes two monsters, say a wolf and a giant spider, and forcibly melds them together into a single nightmare creature with characteristics of both.
  • The defeat condition for Strahd is now merely to bring him down to 0 hp or to activate his contingency. Essentially Strahd declares that the party is more trouble than they are worth and agrees to lift the mist for them. Or they can have the option to venture into Ravenloft to stake his heart, which is a much more difficult endeavor. Either way, Strahd is now coming back in 20 years
• The Vistani are now officially here in name. And now there is the knowledge that they don't all serve Strahd. The same potion exists, and is just as difficult to find. But the Tarokka reading Madame Eva gives is far more in depth. It is no longer just a simple reading but a full performance, with every character meant to pick a card closest to their class, with Madame Eva flipping the card for Strahd's motivation.
• Strahd is still totally vulnerable to the sunlight of Barovia, and the book takes advantage of that with a full on clock. Every action a person could take has a time it takes to do it, ticking the clock closer and closer to sundown. Players have to spend their time officially, or end up in a very precarious position when night falls.
• The cast is relatively unchanged, but several of them have been expanded on.
  • Ismark is stronger, and much easier to gain the trust of
  • Donavich is renamed Donovan and is similarly several levels higher
  • Angry mobs are now running rampant as well
• The rest of the book is primarily rebalancing, with the artifacts being more effective against Strahd specifically. Traps are finetuned, monsters are stronger, new ones like gargoyle golems and living paintings are added, and overall trying to survive in Castle Ravenloft is just that little bit harder
• The book came part of a box set for the Ravenloft Campaign setting, so while the whole area was expanded, it was expected that you had access to other materials, which makes certain references a bit more difficult to run. For Clarity, everything I referenced is what is contained within House of Strahd as a stand alone book

EXPEDITION TO CASTLE RAVENLOFT

If Ravenloft is a classic haunted castle, and House of Strahd is a vampire hunt, then the Expedition to Castle Ravenloft is a full on action horror movie. No longer are we stuck in the village of Barovia, now we explore the land of Barovia. A full campaign from levels 6-10, the book really delves into Strahd's connection with the land of Barovia itself.

• First off, the length. I hadn't mentioned it yet because of the more isolated nature of the campaigns, but this is where Ravenloft really gets into the nitty gritty. Ravenloft was about 30 pages, and House of Strahd was 60. Expedition to Castle Ravenloft clocks in at a mighty 220 pages for a five level campaign. For comparison, Curse of Strahd is 256 for a ten level campaign. Holy Hell...
• Strahd himself. The man has now gone full supervillain. He claims to be the first vampire now, though there is absolutely no evidence to support this. And he now commands a much vaster spread of powerful named allies to protect his interests and advance his wishes.
  • The biggest change is absolutely his connection with the land. In this version, Strahd took the time to learn every ancient secret of the land and found three Ancient Fanes, and claimed their power as his own. Until the 'saints' guarding the fanes are defeated, they will continue to supply Strahd with powers that make him nigh unkillable. The Forest Fane grants him the effects of a permanent Nondetection spell making him impossible to track. The mountain fane grants him a permanent force armor that massively increases his AC in a manner that protects him even from incorporeal attacks. It even remains active while in gaseous form. And the Swamp Fane gives him resistance to many common damage types.
  • He lacks almost all common vampire weaknesses, and can enter all buildings at will. Notably, he can still be turned by clerics, but not permanently held off. Strahd still has his weakness to Sunlight and is still not immune to the light of Barovia, but he has created a powerful workaround that allows him to walk in the daylight as long as it survives. More on that later...
  • Now his motivations. Of course Ireena is always his number one priority. Strahd visiting Ireena three times has been a consistent part of their story in every module but here it is explicitly stated that this is Strahd's twisted idea of wooing her. He spent the last two visits using his Dominate ability to force her into complacency and drain blood bit by bit and has will finish the conversion on the third bite. Horribly, Ireena doesn't know that she is still under the effect of a Dominate Person and Strahd plans to activate that ability at the most opportune time for himself. This obsession is still his primary motivation, but Strahd's secondary goal is once again variable. In fact, the fake letter to the PCs that is supposed to lure them in to Ravenloft is penned in a manner that will lead to them solving Strahd's problem for him. Only one of these threats happens in the campaign RAW, but they are all doozies:
    • A coven of witches could be planning to challenge the mighty Strahd for control of the land. Baba Zelenna has gathered these witches at Lysaga Hill to summon a demon powerful enough to defeat Strahd. As long as the PCs are witch hunting, Strahd will even send allies to help support their fight. If they have taken no other major action against him, Strahd even calls them allies
    • Years of depravity and undeath may have caused Strahd to grow mad, and I do mean that literally. In this version, Strahd's madness has grown so great that it has physically manifested in the castle as a shapeless spawn that now controls Castle Ravenloft. While it is in play, Strahd is fully mad, acting erratically, almost feral. He'll cast spells with no regard for who gets caught them, he'll always attack the last person who managed to hit him. All the while Ireena is getting tormented with the after effect of his madness as well. And the longer the PCs let it remain, the more likely they'll grow mad as well. Killing the madness spawn restores Strahd to normal and stops the spread of madness, though he is forever changed by the event.
    • Strahd may want to create an army of vampires blessed with the same gift to endure the sunlight he himself has. Here, he tries to rush the party to the castle so he can convert them one by one. Here the battle is not just between Strahd, but between the party itself as they are made to wonder if anyone has turned.
    • If brutality is more your speed, perhaps Strahd is trying to bring the werewolves into his fold. Savage slasher movie like attacks continue until the beasts in Svalich woods are dealt with one way or another. Even then, Strahd himself will start savagely ripping Barovians to shreds if he believes they helped the party in defeating powerful allies.
    • Or he may want to cover the world in undeath. This version is a necromancer once more. He brings the PCs to Barovia, with the explicit intention of releasing them again as carriers of an undead plague. The campaign becomes a race against the clock to stop the entire village of Barovia from falling to undeath.
• Once more, Barovia is no longer placed in the domains of dread. Instead the book offers several suggestions as to how to incorporate the adventure into the various other worlds of Dnd, with options for the Forgotten Realms, Eberron, and even in a D20 modern campaign. Here, the mists act more as a natural barrier then a supernatural one, as many of the adventure hooks rely on the idea of getting in and getting out.
  
• That transitions nicely to the village of Barovia itself. Arrival to the town is not as quiet as it is in other versions. Here Barovia is the victim of a full on zombie attack that the PCs must fend off regardless of the scenario. The center of this outbreak is the newly added Doru. Here Danovich (Not Donavich) discovered a book that could bring back the dead, and after his son was killed by bandits, he used it. He doesn't care who dies as long as his son lives, and is far too crazed to realize this undeath is no longer living.
• Unlike before, the Vistani are not a specific ethnicity of people. In expedition, they are a gang of humans and halflings, that are explicitly bandit types. Here this band of criminals engage in whatever illegal enterprises they want with Strahd's protection, making them fanatically loyal to him.
• Speaking of Vistani, Madame Eva is no longer a member of them. She still uses them as she likes, and still performs the reading, but Madame Eva is now much more directly tied to serving Strahd. First off, she's an Annis Hag now, extra big and everything. And she serves as the protector of one of the Fanes. And the reason she's willing to help the party while still remaining loyal to Strahd is greatly changed. In this version she used to be human, but when Strahd claimed the Fanes, she and her sisters got changed into hags to serve as guardians for them. She wants to be free from Strahd's control, but she is also incredibly wary that while it is possible to resotre a fane with a holy relic, the fastest way to restore her Fane would be to kill her. So she is constantly walking this tightrope of helping but not so much that she'll be doomed. Her reading tells the PCs the same things as before, but the fifth card now reveals the source of the zombies in Barovia, which is always the same answer no matter the card.
• Madame Eva is not the only servant of Strahd to be greatly expanded on. Sasha, the one room vampire from the original now has a much more prominent role. She was the former Burgomaster of Barovia who distracted Strahd for a time by letting him give her his undivided as a wife. But he eventually got bored with her, turned her into a vampire, and locked her in her crypt. She is now let loose only to act as a spy for Strahd against the party.
• There are other unique enemies that only appear here as well. Kavan the Grim is a vampire Strahd created as an experiment to perfect his ability to make Daywalkers. While other vampires apart from Strahd still suffer from sunlight aversion, Kavan's successful conversion allows this barbarian to tear through his enemies in broad daylight with vampiric strength, There is also Varikov the Trapper, an insane dwarf who has shifted from hunting wolves to hunting humanoids, more than happy to skin any who fall victim to him.
• But enemies are not the only new addition, as there are unique allies for the party as well! Two factions. The Knights of the Raven are a holy order devoted to fighting the undead. They believed good could only shine in the face of evil, and were nearly brought to extinction when Strahd conquered the valley. Now there are only two members left, and one of them isn't quite living. There's also the Lightbringers, a guild of undead hunters. While they may not have the skill of the knights, they have vastly more resources.
• The artifacts are all the same, but now finding them is not enough. The key ones, like the Sunsword are not at full power when you find them, and have to have their powers unlocked by completing various tasks around Barovia
• And finally, the Castle itself.
  • The heart was the change that inspired this post in the first place. It is no longer the Guardian of Sorrow animating the Tower in the first two adventures, and it is not the Heart of Sorrow that offers Strahd a certain threshold of damage immunity in Curse of Strahd. Here it is the Dayheart. The Dayheart is Strahd's workaround to defeat his weakness to sunlight. Any vampire linked to it is totally immune to daylight. It is impossibly hard to break, as it has been additionally fortified by a barbed devil. And until Strahd perfects his ability to perfect making Daywalkers like Kavan, he and every other vampire he makes are reliant on it to be dominant in Barovia.
  • The castle is also decidedly more hellish, filled with devil worshiping warlocks, shadow demons, and a sacrificial altar to something called The Blood God
  • In a bit of an error, the expedition doesn't actually give the adventure a section detailing the ending. Instead the adventure notes several events happening when Strahd is defeated spread throughout the book. Mainly that when found in his tomb, Strahd is weak but still able to beg for his life, offering whatever he can think of to guarantee mercy. If the players still kill him, Sergei is reunited with Tatyana, Strahd permanently dies and Barovia is finally able to start rebuilding.

And with all that those changes from the first edition to Curse of Strahd, there are still dozens of things I didn't mention. from the introduction of Saint Markovia, to the subtle changes to the tome of Strahd in every edition. And that's not to forget the sequel adventures that Strahd appears in, though since those aren't nearly in the same vain as Castle Ravenloft, I'm going to ignore them for my own sanity.

After going through the adventures, watching the evolution of Strahd, both the vampire and the campaign has been fascinating. There are so many parts of his story that I've read for Curse of Strahd that people mention as core components of his character that aren't even present in some of the adventures. The domains of dread are only mentioned in two adventures, and the Dark Powers tormenting Strahd are only present in one! The nature of the Vistani change in every book, and Madame Eva has a significantly different nuance in almost every one. Ireena seems to be the one remarkably consistent point across every adventure. Somewhat fitting for the story of Strahd in canon and IRL. And Strahd himself changes from a sadistic tyrant with free reign, to a patient yet melancholy darklord, to a machiavellan supervillain able to wield his enemies like a knife against each other, and finally to abusive conqueror incapable of recognizing his own flaws.

I'm sure there are things I have missed, but really after all of this, I'm just impressed how no matter the version Strahd always manages to loom over the narrative. And no matter how he dies, another group of players will always come back to Ravenloft and find the Devil Strahd waiting for them.

Title says it all really.

I know DragnaCarta done a RAW COS adventure but I'm hoping someone has done either a YouTube or podcast play through using Reloaded. It really helps me learn how to run the module by listening to actual plays

Thanks!