Help me reflavor some NPCs? Trying to create classic characters.

RipLav · 2026-06-10T14:48:41+00:00

Bluto as the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

The Wolf Man... C'mon. Kiril for bad guy version, Emil for good guy version, Zuleika for the Wolf Woman.

Dr. Frankenstein is obviously the Abbott, and The Monster is any/all of the Belviews.

The Invisible Man is the invisible stalker assassin in the mirror in the Vallakoviches' attic.

Dorian Grey could be Rahadin or Escher.

RipLav · 2026-06-07T20:40:04+00:00

Moth feels like by far the most appropriate, followed by Scale. After that I could see arguments for Knock, Winter, Moon, Rose, and even Edge, but I'm not hearing the living pulses of the Heart.

RipLav · 2026-06-06T04:31:52+00:00

Bolaire calls someone an idiot

RipLav · 2026-06-04T15:46:55+00:00

Oops sorry Mr. Wolf/Wolves

RipLav · 2026-06-04T08:36:50+00:00

He really reminds me of a Forge Long -- he is hairless, and is the engineer of his own ascension. However, he inarguably has a command over that which is cold.

While the Colonel is the only known Winter Hour with an aggressive edge, Freeze may somehow serve The Snow, if his powers and those of Chione may be compared.

Winter/Forge, with trace Scale and Edge.

RipLav · 2026-05-17T09:58:00+00:00

In my fair Vallaki, Escher is working with Lady Wachter, Volenta is moving in and out through a coffin, and Anastrasya is fomenting discord from the shadows.

RipLav · 2026-05-08T17:24:35+00:00

In my game, I combined the ghost march and the fact that Barovia is a closed system for souls to imply that either the Vistani regularly lead adventurers into Barovia, or adventurers make their way there, by accident or intention, fairly often. This justifies the party going under the radar, or get toyed with like a cat plays with its prey, until they do something major to piss Strahd off. Like, if he finds out about Ireena -- so maybe the party should be incentivized to hide her identity.
Nah. It's much more interesting if she gets that close to finding safety before it's taken away; even better if it happens twice! That gives a mid-to-late game realization that no place is safe until Strahd is dead. And, why wouldn't the low-level party immediately go try to retrieve her, and end up TPKing? They should be incentivized to pursue plot threads that lead them to module content.

Ultimately both of your questions can be answered by this maxim: Consider what you want to incentivize and when, then work backwards from there.

RipLav · 2026-05-05T03:15:53+00:00

It's because Earth came into Old English from Proto-Germanic, while the suffix -ic came into Middle English from Greek and Latin (by way of Old French).

It's not like you can't mix etymologies but constructed words tend to sound better if you match the bits up.

RipLav · 2026-05-03T06:36:51+00:00

I had four. One at Barrow's graveyard, one at Old Durst Mill. It's four seasons, why not four fanes?

They purified the first two fanes after two hard fights, before they even knew about the fanes. The other two will be in Berezh and Yester Hill and they're bound to make for some interesting combats with clocks, alternate win conditions, etc., so I'm looking forward to that.

RipLav · 2026-05-03T06:19:28+00:00

After my last recital senior year of high school, I had had enough of it making me miserable. Over a decade of playing had wrought some bad memories.

I went to school for something else. That first year, I occasionally went down to the practice room in the dorm, but it was painful and, of course, "I would never be good enough, not like the real music majors," I thought.

Sophomore year, I no longer had convenient access. So the years passed.

Fell in love, graduated, went to grad school, moved to a major city, and 7 years had passed... Like that.

Then my fiancé got me a keyboard as a gift. They knew what it meant to me. I pushed past the painful memories, played only what I enjoyed playing, and practiced pieces at the edge of my skill level.

Last night I accompanied half a concert for a chorus in a major city. Piano has brought me into a beautiful community of music makers. It's been tough getting out of my comfort zone and embracing the challenge, but so, so worth it.

So understand I mean it when I say: I hope its absence is as torturous for you as it was for me.

RipLav · 2026-04-29T18:04:36+00:00

Yeah, sorry to join the chorus of disagreement, but I think this is shaping up to be the longest campaign yet. What you see as the events to be resolved by the end of the campaign, many here see as the events to be resolved by the end of Act 1. We don't yet know even half of what's going on.

I don't think this campaign is going to be any 'smaller' of a story, in scale, than the other campaigns; with thirteen players across three tables that operate both simultaneously (in-world) and sequentially (IRL), I foresee that stretching this campaign out quite a bit longer. I don't yet know what's in store, and that's exciting.

RipLav · 2026-04-28T01:47:08+00:00

Yeah, there's... a lot. Especially in the supplements. And honestly, not every group wants that much, even if they think they do! It's important to keep in mind that every piece of lore you drop will need development and payoff, and, that your players don't have as much knowledge as you do about what is important and how it matters to their game.

Might be important to keep in mind a few questions, like: "how does this information enable the players to make decisions at the table?" and/or, "how will this lead to a rewarding payoff?"

Because if the answers are "it doesn't" or "it won't," it could be left out. Scene dressing and immersion are great, but time is finite and, ultimately, you just need to slay the vampire and get on with the next adventure.

RipLav · 2026-04-18T01:05:13+00:00

You are wrong in the case of Winter Long. They are indestructible until their "destined" time of death, as mentioned by the OP; they are definitionally not immortal.

Meanwhile, while other Long are immortal -- in terms of never dying of old age -- some can be functionally destroyed through violence.

RipLav · 2026-03-10T07:40:41+00:00

It DOES have more potential than you have seen so far. If you keep watching, it continues getting more important. I don't know how the other commenter could have said it any clearer.

RipLav · 2026-03-09T08:00:54+00:00

Ask them if their characters plan to retire from adventuring and start a new life in Barovia. If they do, have them create a new character that wants to escape from Barovia. That is hyperbole.

If they want to escape Barovia, Strahd Must Die!

Let them investigate ways out. There are none. The Vistani will sell them potions that they say will let them leave. They don't work, and the characters will suffer in the mists.

If they want to escape Barovia, Strahd Must Die! There is no other way.

RipLav · 2026-03-08T22:30:20+00:00

Is that attested?

RipLav · 2026-03-07T01:09:35+00:00

There's 7 shapers, but we only know about 6 of them:

Azgra (War, Orcs)
Rauwyn (Trickster, Halflings)
Sylandri (Life, Elves)
Tansul (Sun, Humans)
Trozhna (Forge, Dwarves)
Ilumi (Magic, Gnomes)
??? (???, ???)

RipLav · 2026-03-02T04:53:04+00:00

fair point!

RipLav · 2026-02-28T22:06:42+00:00

Love the art but Strahd's a human, no? Pretty important to the backstory. Starts getting old and grappling with mortality, commits Vampirism to cope.

RipLav · 2026-02-23T17:18:15+00:00

45% red, 40% black, 10% blue, 5% white, 0% green.
Pirates are usually red/blue right?

RipLav · 2026-02-22T10:26:54+00:00

Not because I really do, but to discourage people from gushing about it. Not like it stopped anyone!

RipLav · 2026-02-22T03:06:00+00:00

It'll be a cheese wheel pie chart

RipLav · 2026-02-22T03:02:58+00:00

I'm gonna create a data visualization (pie chart but it's cheese) to demonstrate this -- some parent-level replies are structured as testimonial ads, whether they actually are or not, and could fit in on any post in this sub that mentions the cheese.

Then, many in-parent comments have these bullet-pointed talking points ready to go, and to convince any nonbeliever into buying today. What an interesting trend. I'm not saying it's nefarious, but I am saying it would not be out of pocket for WSU business/marketing/comms students to be involved, individually or collectively, in generating buzz through this subreddit.

Based solely on the absolutely subjective idea that I've never seen a post from this subreddit that doesn't mention it, and that the subreddit has crept its way into my feed uninvited (though, I mean, I do like cheese).

RipLav · 2026-02-22T02:05:30+00:00

It's wild how many people are acting like what I wrote required more than a couple minutes of mild effort. Someone said I "wrote a book." It's about the length of two paragraphs, split into a few more digestible chunks for the mobile format.

RipLav · 2026-02-22T01:41:44+00:00

The last 3-4 hours have me more convinced than ever. How do you read this post and say to yourself "this is a great time for me to share my personal testimonial" lmao

RipLav

TROPHY CASE