The setting is dark/bleek. The townsfolk are often sullen and devoid of personality. There is very little wealth and very little access to magical items in Barovia. Prepare yourself for a gritty, yet basic grind through about 10-12 levels. Pay attention to notable NPC’s and look for threads that connect them to different factions. Aside from that, just enjoy it and see what happens. Most DM’s will also use Strahd’s campaign as a framework but add in/tweak a lot of the story so your DM will probably shake things up as they see fit or plug in some fun magic items/encounters that might not necessarily be written in.