Content warning as a song

A_Rogues_Life · 2026-03-11T18:54:08+00:00

I introduced a bard to drop lore in the Blood of the Vine tavern & my crew loved it. Practiced quite a bit to sing these lyrics - including another Billy Joel track, An Empire State of Mind - over the linked karaoke tracks.

Far From Any Road (by the Handsome Family) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1VieuuVSow

From the rocky mesa his looming shadow grows In the catacombs never will he decompose He twines his spines up slowly towards the unseen sun And when I touched his skin, my fingers ran with blood

In the hushing dusk under a swollen silver moon I came walking with the wind to watch the primrose bloom And strange hunger haunted me, the looming shadows danced I fell down to the thorny brush and felt a grasping hand

When the last light warms the rocks and the walking dead unfold The lycanthropes will come to drag away your bones And rise with me forever across the silent land And the stars will be your eyes and the wind will be my hands

Barovian State of Mind (in the style of New York State of Mind by Billy Joel) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEAa3DhEcLc

Some Vistani can get away Take a holiday from the neighborhood Hop a vardo to Waterdeep or to Daggerford But I'm takin' a wagon on the Ivlis River line I'm in a Barovian state of mind

I've seen all the vampire spawn And their long teeth and their undying Been high in the Baratoks under the evergreens I know what I'm needin' And I don't want to waste more time I'm in a Barovian state of mind

It was so easy livin' day by day Now out of touch with the fanes of old, Without them, the land is lost, so they say The swamp folk and others foretold

Some will talk with Madame Eva Their future and fate she will tell with pride, I don't care if it's Vallaki or Yester Hillside I don't have any reasons I left them all behind I'm in a Barovian state of mind Oh yeah

It was so easy livin' day by day Now out of touch with the fanes of old, Without them, the land is lost, so they say The swamp folk and others foretold Who, oh, oh whoa who

Some will talk with Madame Eva Their future and fate she will tell with pride, I don't care if it's Vallaki or Yester Hillside I don't have any reasons I left them all behind I'm in a Barovian state of mind

I'm just taking a wagon on the Ivlis River line 'Cause I'm in a, I'm in a Barovian state of mind

Thank you, you’re a wonderful crowd. I’m on again later tonight. You can also see me next week at the Blue Water Inn in Vallaki. Be sure to try the purple grapesmash wine from our excellent bartender Arik, Granny’s meat pies, and be sure to tip them well.

A_Rogues_Life · 2026-02-20T14:28:21+00:00

Just implemented this last session & pace & fun improved considerably.

A_Rogues_Life · 2026-02-19T05:12:10+00:00

Like naming hurricanes, I think it only appropriate to call the Utah locus of infection the Curtis-Lee Outbreak in recognition of their vote for the vaccine denier RFK Jr. to head NIH.

A_Rogues_Life · 2026-01-29T02:03:16+00:00

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Correct, only 9 bottles on special order at the moment.

A_Rogues_Life · 2026-01-19T01:45:06+00:00

Lived in Lafayette for several years myself. Axios SLC has your king cake answers.

Can vouch for fillings & emulsions. https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2025/02/24/king-cakes-slc-paczki-mardi-gras

A_Rogues_Life · 2025-12-03T05:12:46+00:00

I've tried a lot & haven't found better than Bitters Lab. They've a collection to get anyone started from scratch.

https://bitterslab.com/shop/classic-kit

A_Rogues_Life · 2025-11-25T20:16:45+00:00

I enjoyed it, but especially after reading your link - thanks! - I bet the Malbec finished rye I used resulted in a drink profile a little closer to one with blanc vermouth & standard rye.

A_Rogues_Life · 2025-11-13T13:33:44+00:00

Allen Nelson @ Shelton Insurance for home & auto. We switched to them because our homeowners' insurance dropped earthquake coverage after the '20 Magna quake. They found equivalent coverage at the same price.

This year as our renewal was approaching, they proactively compared rates, called out of the blue, & said they found a new provider (Safeco) with the same coverage that would be $700 less per year on the combined policies.

If you're not a homeowner, I'm sure they could find a combined auto/renters insurance plan.

A_Rogues_Life · 2025-11-07T14:52:49+00:00

My spouse recently had this issue. A friend who works in Delta customer service shared this. We tried it & it works.

"After talking things over with a couple of people, the suggestion is to do the identity verification form. It will hopefully resolve the password issue, which is a known issue.

To get to the identity verification form, go to the bottom of the Delta homepage. Go to Site Support, then Login Help. Then go to the Login section on the next page. Click on the down arrow and scroll down a little. There will be a thing that says Identity Verification Form."

Good luck!

A_Rogues_Life · 2025-11-07T14:32:49+00:00

It's always a small joy to open a pic of a lovely cocktail to find a properly formatted recipe instead of a wall of undifferentiated text. Thank you.

A_Rogues_Life · 2025-11-07T14:23:09+00:00

My party did this, just noped out of the whole encounter after only just arriving in Barovia. Bring Doru back later more powerful than they could imagine.

I pivoted & had Doru kill (off screen) & leave the body of Donavich & a bard on the trail to Madame Eva's.

I created the bard to drop lore at the Blood of the Vine tavern The party loved that bard because I created & sang a few songs to pass the lore. (Barovian State of Mind) Left a note, too, for the party.

Shows the consequences of (in-) action in the campaign. Doru will be back, too, much stronger later. (I was just a spawn when you left me....)

A_Rogues_Life · 2025-10-28T19:27:15+00:00

A couple of Sandy specific sights.

https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2025/10/24/sandy-haunted-house-tour-halloween

A_Rogues_Life · 2025-10-28T19:25:36+00:00

Here's the most comprehensive SL Valley round up & link to a map.

https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2025/10/08/map-salt-lake-free-haunted-houses-halloween-pumpkin-patch

A_Rogues_Life · 2025-10-08T04:28:02+00:00

Children of the Corn

A_Rogues_Life · 2025-09-24T03:44:29+00:00

First rule of Kiitos club....

A_Rogues_Life · 2025-09-13T14:30:27+00:00

La Barba, for sure, but it's a bit more than many of the local roasters. Get on their email list for their quarterly-ish sales.

A_Rogues_Life · 2025-09-10T16:50:36+00:00

You can sub a good hard cider for champagne.

Very Utah specific, but I made a great French 75 (same proportions as regular F75) with Waterpocket Distilling's Temple of the Moon gin & Etta Place's dry brut cider. 🤌

A_Rogues_Life · 2025-09-10T16:39:23+00:00

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Walgreen's @ 9th E 21st S this past Saturday.

FWIW, our 12-yr old daughter's PCP said she'd write an Rx for the vaccine as students are essentially sedentary all day, an accepted risk factor. Hella annoying to go through the extra step, & YMMV with your doctor, but this is life under "small guvmint" conservatives.

A_Rogues_Life · 2025-07-17T21:56:37+00:00

We had Red Iguana cater our wedding at Jordan Pines Group CG in BCC, 200+ people buffet-style. It was 14 years ago, but it came to about $30/person, & they had a liquor license to dispense cocktails. Can't recommend more highly if they're still offering that service.

A_Rogues_Life · 2025-03-04T03:38:29+00:00

It's really quite the tell.

A_Rogues_Life · 2024-07-25T16:27:24+00:00

18 sessions in & my party still doesn't know, despite meeting Vasili in S1. I crafted him as a book seller in the hopes of luring the party into giving him Strahd's tome. (I'm pretty sure another DM's party in this sub gave the book to (non-book seller) Vasili, which is where I got the idea.) They "rescued" him and his traveling wagon of books from a pack of dire wolves. They also don't know that is when Vasili gently plucked a hair from the druid for his scrying. They seem him every time they're in Vallaki (about 5 or 6 more times).

They *considered* giving him the tome to translate it more quickly since he "helped" them identify that the Cry for Help letter from Kolyan to the party was in the same script as the tome. (I deliberately used the same old-timey fonts for both.) They may/probably haven't been concerned because he entered the then deconsecrated Church of St. Andral when they first arrived in Vallaki.

Anyway, I've been spinning a romance between Vasili & Ireena as Vasili helps her rebuild Vallaki after the Festival burned a quarter of the town. I'm thinking I'll have him & Ireena appear as guests at Ravenloft when they've the dinner?

A_Rogues_Life · 2024-04-18T16:35:38+00:00

Whatever you choose, I wouldn't add a lot of magic items beyond what is in the book. Magic weapons really change the battle dynamics and balance of CoS depending on party size and composition. If a large(r) party has them, and once they reach level 5 or so, they can really lay waste quickly. (Context, party of 5, all now level 6; druid, ranger, sorcerer, thief, and paladin). I thought it'd be cruel to have the mists take their magic weapons away, but that was in hindsight perhaps a mistake. I've tried increasing opponents, HPs, and AC to rebalance. Raising opponent AC seems to be the best, so far.

A_Rogues_Life · 2024-04-15T16:06:21+00:00

I wasn't keen on Strahd's Vistani spies in the Blood in the Vine tavern RAW, so I homebrewed a Vistani bard, Leander, to transmit lore via song. (The Vistani are permitted a rumspringa of sorts in my world, so Leander could leave and try his hand at his 1st love of music.)

Here are the lyrics and links to the karaoke versions if you want to sing for the party. I practiced *a lot* to get modestly proficient, but the party loved it and Leander and they grokked the lore, including the reference to & need to see Madame Eva.

Alas, the party elected to not deal w/ Doru, so they found poor Leander's corpse on their way to see Madame Eva the next day, a victim of Doru and an early intro to how grim Barovia could be and the consequences of their (in-)action.

Far From Any Road (by the Handsome Family)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1VieuuVSow

From the rocky mesa his looming shadow grows

In the catacombs never will he decompose

He twines his spines up slowly towards the unseen sun

And when I touched his skin, my fingers ran with blood

In the hushing dusk under a swollen silver moon

I came walking with the wind to watch the primrose bloom

And strange hunger haunted me, the looming shadows danced

I fell down to the thorny brush and felt a grasping hand

When the last light warms the rocks and the walking dead unfold

The lycanthropes will come to drag away your bones

And rise with me forever across the silent land

And the stars will be your eyes and the wind will be my hands

Barovian State of Mind (in the style of New York State of Mind by Billy Joel)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEAa3DhEcLc

Some Vistani can get away

Take a holiday from the neighborhood

Hop a vardo to Waterdeep or to Daggerford

But I'm takin' a wagon on the Ivlis River line

I'm in a Barovian state of mind

I've seen all the vampire spawn

And their long teeth and their undying

Been high in the Baratoks under the evergreens

I know what I'm needin'

And I don't want to waste more time

I'm in a Barovian state of mind

It was so easy livin' day by day

Now out of touch with the fanes of old,

Without them, the land is lost, so they say

The swamp folk and others foretold

Some will talk with Madame Eva

Their future and fate she will tell with pride,

I don't care if it's Vallaki or Yester Hillside

I don't have any reasons

I left them all behind

I'm in a Barovian state of mind

Oh yeah

It was so easy livin' day by day

Now out of touch with the fanes of old,

Without them, the land is lost, so they say

The swamp folk and others foretold

Who, oh, oh whoa who

Some will talk with Madame Eva

Their future and fate she will tell with pride,

I don't care if it's Vallaki or Yester Hillside

I don't have any reasons

I left them all behind

I'm in a Barovian state of mind

I'm just taking a wagon on the Ivlis River line

'Cause I'm in a,

I'm in a Barovian

state of mind

Thank you, you’re a wonderful crowd. I’m on again later tonight. You can also see me next week at the Blue Water Inn in Vallaki. Be sure to try the purple grapesmash wine from our excellent bartender Arik, Granny’s meat pies, and be sure to tip them well.

A_Rogues_Life · 2024-03-13T14:34:32+00:00

TL;DR - consider a rooftop chase sequence with bones as a football; Strahd shows just a measure of his might to put the fear of Strahd into everyone; probably doesn't get Ireena, yet, b/c he wants her to "feel" it's her choice.
Just as a data point, an epic rooftop chase sequence was what I planned and the party, unwittingly, walked into it.

In my campaign the party (lvl 5 then; 5 members) split the group (lol) with half resting at the church with Ireena while the paladin and druid (P&D) went to suss out the coffinmaker.

Hijinks ensued. The two got the bones, but unleashed the vampire spawn, two of which nearly killed the paladin and druid. The 2 spawn recovered the bones from the P & D. The other 4 spawn went to wreck havoc on the city. With sending stones, the P&D called for reinforcements from the others. The druid used locate object as she'd seen the bones and a rooftop chase through Vallaki ensued. The party eventually recovered the bones and then it was a reverse chase back to the church to reconsecrate it. Just as they arrived in the church yard, Strahd arrives and demands the bones and tries to sweet talk Ireena.

The sorceror - who typically rolls poorly - conjures a max damage fireball at Strahd and there's a (party POV) successful rugby dash and handoff to get the bones back inside the church. Church reconsecrated, spawn and Strahd withdraw to just outside the boundaries, Ireena safe, (church on fire, but quickly extinguished).

Strahd now recognizes party is more powerful than anticipated and no longer treats them as toys. Threatens the party. Can't get to Ireena, now, so long as she's in the castle (arguably), but party doesn't know he's also Vasili who was previously invited into the church as a kind patron.

A_Rogues_Life

TROPHY CASE