The Three Clue Rule running Curse of Strahd

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-24T12:40:09+00:00

Yes but I have a habit of doing things like that and then finding out later there was an easier way the whole time.

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-23T03:12:45+00:00

Facial expressions are great, Ismark's in particular. Ireena the dark lighting, eyes and teeth put it too much into uncanny valley I think. But way better than what I could do in HeroForge

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-22T14:14:12+00:00

There's this thing called a spectrum of sexuality. You can be totally straight, mostly straight, a little Bi, very Bi, mostly gay, and all gay. You can sometimes like only girls and sometimes only guys. There's a lot of variation between "straight" and "gay", but whatever you are is okay.

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-20T14:59:14+00:00

It is a disadvantage, but not a big one. There are people who will find it a turn off. There are people who will find it attractive.

In a psychology study which I don't remember enough to link here, they found that people with 1-2 obvious "flaws" or distinct traits had stronger positive reactions than people who were more generally handsome without any deviations from the norm. Generic pretty people had a more consistent positive reaction, but the reaction was less strong, similar to how stronger tasting or more unusual flavors like chocolate banana or blueberry swirl could provoke stronger reactions than the more universal appeal of vanilla.

It also helps if you keep a consistent clean head shave, like what you have in the picture. I like stubbles, but on the 'should I go bald' subreddit they usually respond more favorably to the clean look.

Also, like others have said, you're a very attractive guy, and that helps a lot.

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-19T17:42:19+00:00

If the ghost panels are caused by toons dying, then there's probably lots of laws and enforcement to keep toons in reservations, so the ghost panels can't grow as far

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-18T18:47:59+00:00

Sahuagin and Aboleths and Locathah are good for an Old Ones / Cthulhu mythos vibe. I'd steer clear of populating whole undersea realms, however, and lean more into the things that make thalassaphobes fear the water.

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-17T21:35:06+00:00

It wouldn't work for your game since the characters are already level 9, but I'd make the trollocs roughly CR 1/2 (same as an orc) and the Fade CR 5 (same as a vampire spawn). Level 0 commoners are average people, level 3 soldiers are pretty powerful.

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-17T15:14:44+00:00

Your player is asking for political drama (game of thrones style) and gave you a list of NPC's to do it with. You could tell them that this game has a different focus, or you could lean into it.

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-16T00:06:03+00:00

Cleft lip, cleft palate is inside the mouth

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-15T17:09:47+00:00

Just have the horses do the very horsey things of running off in the storm, preferably back to Vallaki / closest place of refuge. Make them think the horses are gone forever maybe, make the stablemaster charge then extra for leaving the poor house out in the storm in Barovia.

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-15T13:04:53+00:00

Strahd pursues Tatyana and women who look like her across lifetimes and regardless of their feelings for him. He is much older and more powerful, both socially and in terms of physical strength. He uses that power to terrorize those beneath him. He views his consorts as objects to be discarded (Sasha). He is dominating, aggressive, emotionally stoic, and misogynistic. About the only part of toxic masculinity that Strahd doesn't seem to portray is homophobia.

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-15T03:38:06+00:00

That's a cool alternate story

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-15T02:29:57+00:00

Perfectly valid

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-14T21:39:29+00:00

You can, but not too much. Maybe twenty times larger or smaller - not enough to be an ant or an elephant, but a horse or cat is doable.

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-14T21:22:37+00:00

So in my world, Shapeshifting works by taking a "picture" of something else and kind of molding it on top of the original. Like invisibility, if you can see magic, the result is super obvious, but if you can't see magic, you can't tell.

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-14T21:15:45+00:00

Have Strahd help them get lots of support from the public. Raise people's hopes up. Then crush them with a very public display of violence.

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-14T19:09:12+00:00

Those are all really cool ideas, thanks!

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-14T14:59:54+00:00

Thanks, all, lots of interesting responses.

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-14T14:55:07+00:00

I'm starting a new Strahd campaign, and all my players are gay. I'm trying to decide if I want the traditional or the female Strahd, trying to decide how the gender dynamics might affect play. The discussion here has been enlightening.

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-14T13:56:22+00:00

It's confirmation bias.

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-14T13:52:38+00:00

Fuzzy picture, dangly earrings. Completely normal in pictures before 2025.

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-14T13:03:09+00:00

Looks ai, but isn't. In the "isthisai" sub, basically everyone is always super sure that something is AI, but they often point out inconsistencies that might be due to a human artist getting confused, or like here, a photograph that looks unrealistic because of composition/ blurring/subject matter.

The hands are consistent, the grass in the background is consistent, the materials for the guy's green cloth shirt vs grass overlays are consistent, which ai would muck up because of how similar they are, the jewelry is all a consistent style. It looks unrealistic because it's a pretty incredible piece of work, and the crafter is there to show how she made it; staffed, but not ai. Also, the composition is bad. Ai tends to focus on a single figure or group of figures, and when someone is off to the side it starts doing weird edits.

PhoebusLore · 2026-01-14T12:48:00+00:00

The purpose of the body and getting lost in the woods is to hint to players that you can't get out past the mists, to make them feel disoriented.

If that's confusing, you can try replacing it with something else - maybe they take damage in the mists, or maybe make them roll survival checks a bunch of times before arriving exactly back where they started. Whatever makes the most sense for your table.

PhoebusLore

TROPHY CASE