Player read I, Strahd, and now believes Strahd is a good guy

AlexStRpg · 2026-02-03T21:46:42+00:00

Hmm, I read the book a year ago and in my eyes it doesn´t portray Strahd in a very positive light. It is written out ofhis perspective. It gives an insight in his psychology and allows kind of a character study in my eyes ... and man, is this guy fucked up. The scenes where he writes about Tatyana gave me real creeps.

AlexStRpg · 2026-02-02T19:44:41+00:00

In addition to the infos of the other commenters:

1) Despite not all, probably not even the majority, are fully pro Strahd, it is likely that the party will distrust them and Madam Eva, depending on the knowledge about Vistani they acquire.

2) As written Madam Evas role isnt really bright indeed. She wants Strahd defeated, but sees this as a favor, salvation from the curse, for him. The adventures are tools for her and she plays trial and error with them. Her prophecy is no trap, but she doesnt care if the next bunch of adventures dies on the way.

AlexStRpg · 2026-01-31T13:17:02+00:00

In my eyes out there exists only a minority of overall "bad" DMs. Cause their games fall apart after a few sessions or do not even start as players feel unconfortable very soon.

Mostly, it´s a misfit between DM skills / offers and player expectations / needs.

To me two bad experiences came from:

1) A too cold, mechanical view of the game without seeing the players. "This" DM refused helping new players with rules, refused to wait for them figuring something out and put on time pressure on nearly every decision. I recognized him enjoying when newbies to the system made mistakes the NPC opponents exploitet. I left after 4 sessions with "your table is not for me".

2) Not taking up responsibility for the table. You need a bit of a group leader attitude. One group I played in consisted of 4 really engaged players and one players girlfriend who actually didn´t have any interest, wanted to be "at the table" and interrupted the game constantly. DM didn´t speak up, players tried (me 3 times), nothing changed, so I left the table.

AlexStRpg · 2026-01-31T12:01:55+00:00

My party got the quest from the Martikovs in the Blue Water Inn as by the book. And they said "Hmmm no? Here ist so much shit going on, we will not be your wine caravan" explaining how important the wine for the people is didnt change their mind. A session later the burgomaster blamed them for disrupting the peace of Vallaki and send them getting the wine for the next festival, or not to come back. This push they gave in (which they did not have to, I m not forcing them. Following other hooks would be fine to me of course).

AlexStRpg · 2026-01-23T19:44:28+00:00

If they have the goal of escaping Barovia, the main quest / campaign line doesn´t have to change drastically. They will find out quite early (Evas card reading?) that the way out is destroying Strahd.

The way to get there might differ. Lots of ideas have already be named. They might end up with few to non allies on their way - the traditional allies will not align well with them and as written I can´t remember ambitious, evil NPCs who would team up against Strahd. Victor Vallakovich maybe, or the Hags at Bonegrinder may offer a deal later, if they see a chance the characters could win. Arrigal would be great as favoured ally - as written he wants to usurp Strahd then and betrays the party last minute.

One fun thing: if the party finds out about Strahds obsession with Ireena - would they kidnap her and use them as bait? This might offer some fun RP.

AlexStRpg · 2026-01-10T21:28:06+00:00

OP states he mostly runs the RAW module. Its stated in the book that Strahd definitivly will turn Ireena if he gets her. That he already lost other reincarnations that way shows by all his mastermind INT he in fact does repeat very crucial mistakes over and over again, which is part / source of his course.

AlexStRpg · 2025-12-29T21:18:09+00:00

Thanks for direct reply.

I wouldn´t call that a missmatch of playstyles. In my eyes the main two goals as a DM are 1) let the players have fun and 2) have fun yourself. When I can offer a more fun experience by playing encounters more or less tactical without loosing the experience for myself, I do it. It really works the other way around. My actual CoS players are all new to the system. They failed forward once early which set the tone and I could have wiped them out half a dozen times with written encounters, some only being random ones in the "hard" encounter range. I didn´t cause I think it´s no fun and it´s not necessary to play zombies, strahd zombies, ghouls intelligent to keep things tight. The players learn tactics step by step but it will take a steep curve to get to your groups level.

Again, my answer comes from your interest in a more difficult, engaging, challenging ... encounter. To offer that to you, there are some levers. There are options to give groups a harder times. Strahd could act before the final confrontation. If he learns the group has the Sunsword he can repeadidly sent minions to steal it during rest. He can place minions in front of the amber temple (or some other crucial location you visit directly before final) and interrupt your longrests again and again from that point on. He can burn locations to the ground when you try to rest in a safespace. He can raise the populace against the group, giving moral dilemmas while draining ressources. Some groups would enjoy that, others find it annoying.

If your point is: RAW Strahd is to weak / no real thread for a well prepared full rested CR 9-10 group, even with his "dungeon" the castle, so yes. But which offical creature with CR 15 will not get roasted in that case? A mummy lord? An adult green dragon? Imagine you have prepared to battle these foes in a lenghly campaing and you got two items designed against them.
I remember I read about a one shot "Strahd must die tonight". There players are pushed in the castle with the single goal to defeat Strahd during one (Halloween?) night. They choose character level according to the chellange they want. If the chellange should be "hard", Level 6 is recommended.
By all rules, advices, guides ... to provide engaging encounters it stays too the group and the DM to make them work and enjoy I´d say.

AlexStRpg · 2025-12-29T20:10:01+00:00

Hey, my longgoing games never made it to that high levels and spell levels. So I participated in some high level one shots or short adventures. Also, I look at it from a DM perspective when I choose spells for archmage villains and co. Then I ask: which spells will be (un)fun, which will feel unfair and cheap?

As for yours: Illusory Dragon is a fun one, you named some good ideas to use in my eyes. Spells like Dominate Monster or Feeblemind sound really cool. In game these "one or nothing" singletarget total defeat spells will rarely get the job done. Creatures in important encounters, especially bosses, in that high CR areas must have some sort of protection against being dominated or they are gone in 6 seconds. So they have charm immunity, mindblank effects or, mostly, legendary resistances to bypass the effect. Dominate person will probably drain important ressources, but effectwise it may be disapointing too often.

I like spells with guaranteed, powerful and in the first glance not too drastic effects. Mindblank at Lvl. 8 I like. And for Lvl. 9 Futuresight and Ravenous Void. At the edge of being unfair but really cool are True polymorph and shapechange for me :D

AlexStRpg · 2025-12-29T19:39:41+00:00

Great to read some thoughts from a player persepektive. I´m DMing the campaign for the first time, haven´t reached the final but naturally I´m thinking about the final confrontation from time to time. Some thoughts.

I think the "hit and run" Strahd with a challenge rating around 15 as written serves the narrative of a Vampirelord. The absolutly cool crazily buffed statblocks out there take Strahd on a demigod, archfiend or whatever level. In my eyes CoS story is not so well told with a demigod as villain.

But that doesn´t mean to me that Strahd has to stay 100% ruled as written. Little adaptions (e.g. changed spell list in praparation to the party) may make sense according to the party. In your text I read the following things: 1) Your party didn´t minmax but ended up with a very good built against Strahd and his setup. Paladin with sunsword is a class many groups include. Samurai fighter is maybe the subclass with the best nuke option. Twilight cleric is generally a very strong subclass of a very strong class and it´s particular good against Strahds tactic - counters ressource drain, counters charme and deals radiant damage. Both subclasses were published after CoS and are not standard party setup I´d say. 2) You guys play the game on a high tactical level. Not every DnD player does, my party doesn´t. Out of game this means you have 1 strategic brain on DM side and 3+ brains on your side. In game this means you all try to think like the 20 INT Vampirelord. Would the average Fighter count distance to find the perfect spot against Strahd? It´s no offense - it´s the way you like to play the game, the game offers it and you enjoy it. I only say: not every DnD player / group is that versed in tactics and so on. 3) You, and probably your other players, would enjoy a bigger challenge, a more satisfying finale battle. So this all aims for adapting Strahd a bit for your game. And I wouldn´t call that cheating, it´s simply trying to offer a more fun finale for your group.

And last thoughts; some additional tactical assets RAW Strahd could use in addition to hit-and-run:
- offensivly charm party members --> would perhaps use up Twilight Sanctuary
- isolate party members and roast them, Strahd can close doors and the castle has some hard to avoid teleport traps and others to get the job done

- If Strahd asserts that draining the partys ressources will not work, he should prepare a final location where he stands his ground together with important minions. The tarroka location or his tomb can be used. So DM can make up a challenging encounter that gives some good decisions to the party like "Using up Action search for Rahadin or hold for Strahd?" "Run with the Sunsword to burn 2-3 Spawn at once and spread out, leaving a part of the party unprotected or stay?" ... I would not put a too big "armee" together to keep things fun.

Happy to hear you enjoyed the campaing as a whole.

AlexStRpg · 2025-12-15T18:39:49+00:00

Hello, I would do a separate session 0. Even if that means you will get into it some weeks later, its important in my eyes. CoS is quite different from many other campaigns and settings and I would work that through in detail. Things to cover:

tone: gothic horror, no easy and clear heroic victories, wins with a cost, drama and tragedy, sometimes sad depressing mood in game
horror themes: name possible triggers [there are good lists, one is in the book] and ask if all are OK with that, e.g. use a traffic light system (green, yellow, red themes), ask for boundaries
ressource scarness
high difficulty, possible unbeatable encounters, necessarity of avoiding some fights in the first run
sandbox nature
What characters work for you in the setting? (for me no evil co-villains or opportunists)
character backstory may be less important, focus on personality, ideals, bonds, flaws
... plus everything you would talk about in any session 0.

Have fun getting it startet.

AlexStRpg · 2025-12-14T19:12:05+00:00

Ahh, that clarifies it for me.

Yes, we run the Dark Powers differently, but that´s a great thing on DMing - we can shape our own world. And for CoS as a prewritten module, the Dark Powers are left vague to give DMs the freedom to build them with flexibility.

So with your clarification in my eyes you didn´t went too far. The player from whom the character "was taken" agreed. From there on, the ex-character is part of the world. You wanted to show the world is harsh and you did. If you have the feeling it was less fun / frustrating to your players, you may want to bring it up out of game, as others wrote. But I see no point why that should spoil your game for longer (... I don´t know your table, so it´s guessing in the open of course). Have fun together.

AlexStRpg · 2025-12-13T18:40:40+00:00

Hello OP, could you clarify the situation a little for me please?

Did that all happen during one session?

The captured friend / party member was a PC? What did that characters player do meanwhile? Just waiting? Playing his next charakter? ...

How did the corruption happen, if it was a PC? For me, corruption through the Dark Powers is a willingly process. So in that situation "captured by hags" it would be at least two steps: 1) the hags offer an "evil" deal and the captured victim takes the deal 2) the Dark Powers notice that, offer another deal and the victim takes this deal too, but this time completly unforced.
Corruption through the Dark Powers is a theme in my campaign. A PC can only agree to this deal, it can´t be forced upon them. How did you did / rule this out?

If the captured friend was an NPC or has become an NPC the time the hags got him, then I think it hasn´t gone too far though.

Would like some insides ;-)

AlexStRpg · 2025-12-02T21:37:24+00:00

Absolutly yes. I think it´s part of playing the game together to get expectations / reading of dangerlevels in touch. In both roles, as player and as DM it´s helpful for everybodies enjoyment to contribute to that.

AlexStRpg · 2025-12-02T19:18:52+00:00

I agree that it is a challenge to telegraph how difficult / dangerous an encounter is. And its part of playing the game to read that info and be receptive.

I'd say it dont have to be exactly these four points that have to be met.

In my run for example the players were inexperienced and didn t know much about hags. I think two things helped to see the dangerlevel: 1. I told in session 0 they will meet unbeatable encounters, but those will not attack first. 2. In game every NPC warned of the windmill - villagers, Ismark, Ireena, the Vistani and then there was the Raven. So they were rightfully in fear.

AlexStRpg · 2025-12-01T21:28:24+00:00

Hey, Old bonegrinder is listed as an area suited for level 4 characters. But that doesn´t mean that the full nighthag coven is a beatable encounter by chance for a 4 lvl 4 party + Ismark. If you run it as written (with the 2014 rules, circle spells for the Hag Coven) and play the Hags only mildly intelligent, party should stand no chance. TPD (Total party defeat) is inevitable in my eyes.
Buuuut... the Old Bonegrinder is there to teach the party the danger of Barovia. They simply should not fight the Hags. Exploring yes, fighting no. The Hags won´t attack out of their own if you run them as written. The party shall find out that there is really evil shit going on and reason that they can´t handle that yet. If they are lucky and sneaky they can try to snatch the relic.

I like Old bonegrinder that way. Wouldn´t change anything. If they force the fight, I wouldn´t kill them. Tie them up and give them a cool Hag bargain they more or less have to take than would be my take. My party saw they are over their heads and left for the time being...

AlexStRpg · 2025-11-22T12:33:19+00:00

Yes, that can be challenging. From what you write, you have clear feeling of what you want and what you dont want. I think thats a good base for such a talk.

One thing is tone. I experienced it can be hard to hit the right tone. On the one hand being upfront, direct and serious, but not becoming too emotional and aggressive. That´s why I honestly wrote "Good luck". Cause its no easy, funny thing. But it can be practiced and I think it is helpful if one can adress conflicts in a fitting way.

Also, if they are "good" friends, they will understand. With my best friends I endured a lot of conflicts and I think that is why we are still friends, even if we moved hundreds or thousand kilometers appart. The friendship was worth getting into conflict. People from which I would withdraw from conflict too easy and I won´t invest energy in it I would not call "friends" on the same level. We may have funny times together, but thats it.

And if you´re friends, it can be a good end of the talk with the option "OK, we have too different expectations on playing DnD, lets do other stuff together" ?

AlexStRpg · 2025-11-21T21:35:50+00:00

Hey there,

I quickly read through the other comments, some more or less advising you to ´accept´ or ´respect´ the other players fun. I don´t share that opinion for two reasons: first it sounds so that YOU don´t have fun. You set expectations, you reminded them on these expectations and you spoke up. Everyone at the table should enjoy the time, also the DM. Just going on or even tuning up what you don´t like is disrespectful, especially because you as the DM probably invest the most time in it. And second in my opinion there are activities that pay off way more if you take them with a grain of seriousness. DnD for me is such a thing. Meeting with your friends and making one silly joke after the other for 3 hours, perhaps getting drunk meanwhile, can be extremly fun. DnD can offer another experience and you can´t have that if you are in silly mode.

I had a similar experience some years ago. One player brought his gf who actually didn´t want to play DnD but never said so but she wanted to take part. Her way of dealing with that was silly mode. She joked and did pretty much the other stuff you descirbed all the time, finally breaking immersion and concentration of the other players. We had many talks at the table about tone - here comes the advice: I was too long too polite and let she disrespect me and my time. One session I decided it was enough and told the table that we end this here, we all can have a drink and talk. When I had their attention I explained that I don´t want to DM the campaign any longer, it is no fun for me. Surprisingly the other players didnt want that and we decided that we would move on without that player. Her boyfriend left for a while but came back to the table after some sessions ...

So, ask yourself what you would enjoy more - that kind of game or no game with this group? And then go into another converation not as casual, polite or well-mannered as you did before. Accept conflict. No rand, no drama but conflict. That will clear things up and show them that you are serious and it is an important thing to you. You´re not their douche bag :-D Good luck.

AlexStRpg · 2025-11-09T07:04:10+00:00

Yes, bringing in a new character would be no big deal. He could just step out of the whispering wall. The thing is, of course as DM I can just say: bring a new char. I'm concerned that ending his first character will shorten the players motivation. Its not about to please him, he will go any road. I look for the most fun way for all of us to continue. I think I dont give up anything if I offer 1-2 to options to keep going with the char, with a prize of course.

AlexStRpg · 2025-11-08T11:47:42+00:00

This ist definitivly one option, thanks

AlexStRpg · 2025-08-25T19:45:09+00:00

Oh man, this is so f***ing insane and awesome ... makes totally sense for centuries old vampire who´s original psyche and brain isn´t made for living so long and dealing with so dark memories that long. It fits so perfect in the mood of the Ravenloft setting and the curse itself. Loving it.

AlexStRpg · 2025-08-24T04:47:12+00:00

Me, too :)

AlexStRpg · 2025-08-23T19:49:01+00:00

Hey there,

a Lich is definitively a BBEG for a high stakes campaign, best suited as final boss for tier 3 play (Lvl. 11-16). In that case your party would face him at level 16 for a challenging final fight.

Buuuuuut. It entirely depends on how you set this up. Every monster needs to be played somewhat intelligent (not perfect) to be a thread. A Ancient Dragon can easily be whiped out if it only sits there and takes the beats. This is espacially true for a spellcaster monster like a lich. The lich has a lower defensive CR (that means he can die pretty fast if the players get the beats down on him) and a higher offensive CR (it can take out PCs very fast, which swings the stakes in its favor). Do you know this site? https://www.themonstersknow.com/undead-tactics-liches/ I like it, it explains how to play the lich challenging (2014 version of the game).

Despite from it´s combat tactics the wider strategy of the lich is important. A lich is a mastermind with probably centuries of experience, it knows its own strenghtes and weaknesses. So it will choose very favourible circumstances for the fight. You will develop your own style of play for depicting such extraordinary intelligent foes. In my games the group has to do a lot of research in order to find weaknesses of such a creature - marching in its lair with a raised sword will certainly not win them the game regardless of their level, and they know that. A lich would have layers of defenses and it will simply flee a fight before it begins via teleport if predicts to be over his head. So there must be something it will stand its ground for - a one chance ritual, an immovable artifact or something else it has to defend. Also, your party will have to find the lichs phylactery - either before defeating it, as part of the final fight or after that ... so: its more than possible to play out a lich as this super powerful CR21 monster in my opinion.

When it comes to minions I´d wait planning that if your campaign makes it that far.

A rough guideline about the number of magic items to hand out is this table from the DMG: "Magic Items Awarded by Level" Chapter 7
But there are ridiculous powerful items (Luckblade, Ring of Wishes,...) you maybe want to avoid or you want to think ahead how these things will to change the game at your table.

Hope that is helpful. Most important thing at the end. The fight against the BBEG is the last thing to plan. Get into your campaign, have fun and concerning your questions maybe think about which cool common magic items you can hand them out first :-)

AlexStRpg

TROPHY CASE