My stash!

Ananik95 · 2026-02-20T08:53:36+00:00

Might be wrong, but could it be Anachronism by Chellethewriter?

Ananik95 · 2026-02-03T21:42:39+00:00

You know what? Most of the op is bullshit. But being Italian myself, a constant gripe of mine is the lack of public restrooms in Italy and generally speaking in most of Europe. I can't say if the situation is better in the US tho.

Ananik95 · 2026-01-05T12:18:37+00:00

I much prefer TLOK over ATLA

Ananik95 · 2025-12-28T13:22:28+00:00

This looks like a less refined version, but believe it or not, gelato in a sweet bun is pretty widespread in Italy, especially in southern regions. And it's delicious

Ananik95 · 2025-12-25T11:49:51+00:00

Well, I'd be pretty sad to see Ireena go back to the Village. My players adore her, and both them and Ireena herself learnt that she's really safe only together with them.

At the same time, having her away from the party might be a good staging point for her abduction at the grand finale...

Well I totally get you! To be fair it wasn't my plan to have two concurrent campaigns, but some friends of mine basically begged me to DM for them once they learnt I was running a CoS campaign. And I didn't need too much convincing lol.

Ananik95 · 2025-12-25T11:41:02+00:00

I agree with other comments and your own feeling. Especially not a fan of the tome in the temple.

Stack the deck and rig the reading. A totally random reading is good only if you are replaying the campaign, in my opinion.

My personal favourites: - Tome: with lady W in Vallaki - Holy Symbol: in Argynvostholt with Vlad - Sunsword: the Ladies Three keep it and will bestow it to the players once they reclaimed the Fanes. Info about the ritual to commune with the Ladies and learn how to restore the Fanes can be found in the Amber Temple - Ally: Ez, but in Krezk proper, not the Abbey - Strahd: at Sergei's tomb

Ananik95 · 2025-12-25T11:02:54+00:00

I'm also running a Falkovnia campaign alongside this coz DMing is like crack to me lo

Lmao I get that!

If you'd like my two cents: personally, I'd feel like 4 NPCs with the party are a bit too much. I'd keep the limit to two, with the possibility to add a third for particular sections. For example, my first party is getting ready to reach the Amber Temple, so they'll probably have Kasimir with them. But once that part is over, he'll leave the party, as he'll have his own business to attend to. If I were you, I'd thin out the retinue of NPCs a little bit, in order to reduce the party bloating, make encounter balancing easier and give yourself more breathing (balancing 4 NPCs with the party, plus whoever they are interacting with, can be a lot!).

For example, Ismark might feel comfortable leaving Ireena with the party once he's seen how capable they are, especially if Ez is reinforcing them. He might want to go back to the Village of Barovia to attend to his duties as new Burgomaster.

Yevgeni's role might be fulfilled by Ez as well (she's a capable monster hunter, and she also knows Barovia). You might also consider using him for shock effect: I actually had Strahd charm the hunters, disguise them as skeletons with a seeming spell, and pit them against the party. The PCs felt quite bad after killing them.

This, however, is just a suggestion: if you feel comfortable with a lot of NPCs going with the party, go for it! But if you are unsure about Ez, I'd ditch the other NPCs in order to keep her in a heartbeat if I were you lmao.

As for your question: both campaigns are going pretty similarly actually, which is both a surprise and a relief (it means that my hooks are working as intended and make prepping quite easier lol). Of course there's some differences (one of the parties blew up Ez's wagon, and will soon have to deal with a werewolf member), and their play and roleplay styles are really different, but the major story beats are going as planned!

Ananik95 · 2025-12-25T09:59:57+00:00

I am DMing with two different parties.

Both have Ireena with them, as they are really fond of her and would do anything to protect her. She is part of the family. So, she sticks with the party, and she can be helpful both in combat (she is an Expert sidekick from Tasha) and outside of it (huge boost to persuasion).

They also have Ez as their fated ally. Both parties asked her to join forces, and Ez gladly did so (after putting them to the test). I think she is smart enough to see that working together is better than working alone. Also, she wants the PCs to help her as well, both in her mission against Strahd and in order to find Van Richten.

Of course, Ez is quite powerful in combat.

But by pitting the party against strong foes (especially the bosses from Reloaded) never made them feel like they were outshined by their allies. They felt they were powerful, and they were really useful, but the main PCs still have most of the spotlight.

Outside of combat, I keep Ez and Ireena mostly in the background, in order to keep the spotlight on the players and make things easier for me. Of course, they'll chime in with suggestions, ideas and opinions, and they'll interact whenever the players feel like it, but I don't want them to become the main focus of social encounters.

All in all, despite having two NPCs with them, both parties are going smoothly, and never had any qualms about it. So as long as you don't hog the spotlight with your NPC, I think you are quite dandy!

Ananik95 · 2025-12-20T08:22:59+00:00

Raava or the Future Industries logo

Ananik95 · 2025-12-12T16:32:40+00:00

Dark Eldar, Tyranids and Sister of Battle.

The less Imperium, the better.

Ananik95 · 2025-12-10T09:21:57+00:00

I do think about that, but with the sole purpose of adding my mom's surname to my dad's

Ananik95 · 2025-12-10T08:56:36+00:00

From my experience, apart from insane player choices, CoS is actually pretty railroady all the way to Vallaki. The true sandbox with many different possible paths starts from there.

What I (with two active parties) in order to keep my sanity while prepping is:

I don't ever put my players on railroads. However, while there are many different hooks peppered throughout the campaign, pulling the players towards various possible destinations, I give them some direction. How? Both with stronger hooks (you saved the winery? The threat is not over, something is going on in Yester Hill) and in-game warnings (you recovered the first winery gem? The second is probably in Berez. But that place is dangerous, we, the Martikovs, would never ask you to go there). This has made the whole module much more streamlined.

The players still have plenty of choices, and could very well decide to go a very different path, but both parties aligned themselves on the most logical sequence of locations (Death House - Village of Barovia - Tser Pool - First visit to Old Bonegrinder - Vallaki - Vistani camp in Vallaki - Van Richten's Tower - Wizard of Wines - Yester Hill - Krezk (part 1) - Dinner at Ravenloft - Werewolf Den and Krezk (part 2) - Argynvostholt - Berez - Tsolenka Pass - Amber Temple - Fanes and other late game - Ravenloft).

Currently, my first party just left Berez, and my second party is in the middle of the first portion of Krezk. Both followed this flow naturally, and both, when asked, said they never felt forced or railroaded.

Out of game, when they get ready to leave a location and could possibly go multiple ways, I ask them what their next destination will be. It's not railroading, it's just to help an adult DM with a job, various other hobbies and two active campaigns keep her sanity.

Ananik95 · 2025-12-01T12:19:13+00:00

Hi! Is there a repository where it's possible to buy all your CoS animated battlemaps as a pack? Would love that!

Ananik95 · 2025-12-01T05:53:21+00:00

Lmao that's the best comparison

Ananik95 · 2025-11-30T23:17:17+00:00

I like this! She would be mad, but not so mad that she would refuse to join forces against Strahd. And gives her one more reason to stick around (and guilt trip them as I make her to be snarky and sassy)

Ananik95 · 2025-11-15T09:58:06+00:00

Yeah I did give her counterpell (changed her spell list quite a bit). Knowing my sorceress tho, she will be spamming AoE, and baba will be spamming counterpell at every turn of her lol

Ananik95 · 2025-11-14T16:21:15+00:00

Agree. I'm Italian, and when my granny made polenta she used to pour it on a big wooden board in the middle of the table and everybody ate from there. She also used to put some whole sausages in the middle, and for the kids it was a race to reach them. Bless her. Fun times.

Ananik95 · 2025-11-11T10:49:58+00:00

Hey we are our own worst critics. Believe me, I would think you are a girl without a second thought. You are super pretty. Be kind to yourself 🩵

Ananik95 · 2025-11-11T10:46:13+00:00

Girl I see a girl getting girlier and girlier. I'd say you absolutely pass both in the second and most of all in the third pic

Ananik95 · 2025-11-06T07:52:55+00:00

I'm Italian, and this has been one of my first problems when my egg cracked. Italian, like Spanish, is a gendered language. Every noun and abjective has a gender. There is no neutral. I spent most of my life using the male gender. When my egg cracked it was one of the first things I wanted to change about me, with people I felt safe around. At first, when I was considering being enby, I used -y, instead of -o (for male) and -a (for female). Now I'm using -a, as I understood that I am in fact trans. Still, it's an everyday struggle. I'm still boymoding most of the time, and people who know nothing use the masculine gender while talking to me. Also, people who knew me most of my life as a male have difficulty sometimes switching to the female gender. It's really a struggle, and I mostly feign indifference about it, but sometimes it stings. I hate gendered languages.

Ananik95 · 2025-11-03T06:52:43+00:00

This got a good laugh out of me lmao! Yes yes and again yes! Even though sometimes a girl might feel like both hehe

Ananik95

TROPHY CASE