If Vlad Drakov is incompetent, then he is not cursed.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Have you or anyone else done anything with them?

The Falkovnia played at my table was largely offscreen, with the PCs outside of the realm and deep under cover. So I never really needed them detailed or highlighted. Really cool (and scalable) potential though.

I had them trying to duplicate their Invidian enclave in Dementlieu as a the reason for the diplomatic meeting that became the setting for a murder mystery. (which became the module Feasting with the Falcons in QtR... #18? I think). Chantreaux was radically against it, of course, but du Suis was at least entertaining the idea, which put the PCs in the middle.

I have also gotten a lot of mileage from Falkovnia in my campaign OUTSIDE of Falkovnia. Like many real-world similar regimes, their power is perceived as greater by their neighbors than maybe it is internally. I successfully scared my players of the place so much that when they finally did have to go inside on purpose, they were intent on getting in, doing what they had to do there, and getting out as quickly as possible.

[brilliantlight]

I think he is a joke to them anyway cause of his refusal to use gunpowder weapons, if it wasn't for this view he has for them as weapons for cowards and clueless people on military matters and believeing battle has to be a brutal bloodbath of swords clashing in a "blood and honor" style instead of the "gunpowder and (undead) horror" he faces...

Basically his own shortcommings not so much as a military tactician but more as being a backdrop, obsolete, paranoid maniac with "strange" views on governing is what makes him not respected by the other lords...

For my players Falkovnia was always a sh**hole, in one of my early games as a DM when the only information was from the black and red box, I had the party emerging from the Mists in the middle of Lekar trying to fight their way out. For them it was one of the most horrifying adventures they played, alienation, isolation (as they had to split) and facing the sheer hate of Drakovs fanatic Talons made it an adventure about survival more than anything else. I remember one surviving by swimming into the Vuchar river unarmed.

I used the black box map of Lekar which is by far better than the one in death unchained (although the use of large icons for ships in the black box made imagining the scale of the city a bit problematic), I never understood how Lisa Smedman who made in my opinion many great Ravenloft adventures made such a big mistake of not using the old Lekar city map layout, but probably it was a mistake by the cartographers and creative director and not her own.
...
I just noticed that in the black box Lekar was situated on the Vuchar river south of Lake Eule while in the 3rd edition it is between Lake Falk and Lake Adler, there is no mention for that post GC movement of Lekar I think in Gazetteer II and Castle Draccipetri in the Gaz is mentioned to be on the Vuchar river as the one in the Black Box.
The map in mistipedia has Lekar between Lake Eule and Lake Adler. So I guess it is on the DM's opinion where to situate the city. Although strategically it is better for Lekar to be between two lakes I like the black box version, where Lekar is almost on the border with Lamordia and close to the Dementlieuese border, making escape from Lekar more probable.

Drakov having Castle Draccipetri as the frontline to those two domains shows his arrogance and incompetence...

I basically made sure that my players knew from various clues that although he is a laughingstock as a conqueror (At least in RL) he is an excellent "lord of terror" type. There are at least 3 different secret police and everyone had to keep one eye out for them at all times and be careful about what they said etc. In Ravenloft he is kind of like Heinrich Himmler, great at scaring the crap out of civilians but sucks as a real general.

[brilliantlight]

And economical warfare is not a manly way to subdue the enemy! Drakov wants to see blood pool, hear the lamentations of the women and pile up skulls to build his throne, not fatten the enemy's belly while emptying his wallet!

I strongly agree, he would never do that as it would be admitting he couldn't conquer them the old fashioned way, on a pile of skulls! He wants to conquer them using blood and iron not by merchant's trick like some kind of fop.

[brilliantlight]

And he ran a band of mercenaries of some distinction. He knows money almost as well as killing.

He -may- not be concerned with the nit and grit of economics and accounting (that doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't understand them), but his war machine is his dream in play. No doubt some coin is spilling off the wagon and into pockets, but the reward in taking and the reward in recovering is about the same, I imagine.

Certainly, we see some degree of financial oversight in that Drakov allows more of the budget to go to the Ministry of Science than the Ministry of the Arcane. We can also see an acknowledgement of the importance of finance in that he gives his bureaucrats and tax collectors military titles like with his soldiers.

I feel like Jardian Kovedknochen's (the head of the Ministry of Finance and Trade) trade colony program (see Gaz II p. 99) could be a Schrödinger's Gun waiting to be used to Drakov's military advantage. If not overtly, perhaps covertly to keep certain actors on a leash should war REALLY explode again in the Core.

I think he thinks of it in more "to finance my future all conquering army" more than "Using economic warfare to weaken the enemy so that he can only feebly defend himself." I picture every copper piece he can get off of the trade is going back into building up his army.

[Mistmaster]

A conquest is a conquest; The problem with Drakov is thathe will never delegate enought to have the plans working.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

And he ran a band of mercenaries of some distinction. He knows money almost as well as killing.

He -may- not be concerned with the nit and grit of economics and accounting (that doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't understand them), but his war machine is his dream in play. No doubt some coin is spilling off the wagon and into pockets, but the reward in taking and the reward in recovering is about the same, I imagine.

Certainly, we see some degree of financial oversight in that Drakov allows more of the budget to go to the Ministry of Science than the Ministry of the Arcane. We can also see an acknowledgement of the importance of finance in that he gives his bureaucrats and tax collectors military titles like with his soldiers.

I feel like Jardian Kovedknochen's (the head of the Ministry of Finance and Trade) trade colony program (see Gaz II p. 99) could be a Schrödinger's Gun waiting to be used to Drakov's military advantage. If not overtly, perhaps covertly to keep certain actors on a leash should war REALLY explode again in the Core.

I think he thinks of it in more "to finance my future all conquering army" more than "Using economic warfare to weaken the enemy so that he can only feebly defend himself." I picture every copper piece he can get off of the trade is going back into building up his army.

And thus he acts in a self-defeating manner yet again.
Unless sufficient money is reinvested in the farms and the people tending them, this source of income will start to dry up.
The annual outbreaks of pestilence in the major cities is already a very bad sign that Drakov is not letting enough money circulate in society.
Drakov might eventually drive his ministers to the point that they have to embezzle some of the profits just to keep up... with Drakov's demand for more profits.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

I was wondering about Drakov's persistence with not using gunpowder weapons preferring bloody hand to hand combat or the reasons he wouldn't use economy as a weapon.Since his alignment is NE doesn't that go against his alignment a bit?

A neutral evil villain does whatever he can get away with. He is out for himself, pure and simple. He sheds no tears for those she kills, whether for profit, sport, or convenience. He has no love of order and holds no illusion that following laws, traditions, or codes would make her any better or more noble. On the other hand, she doesn't have the restless nature or love of conflict that a chaotic evil villain has.

Neutral evil is the most dangerous alignment because it represents pure evil without honor and without variation.
This is OK though...

[Rock of the Fraternity]

He is out for himself.
So he could be dedicated to enforcing his world view, having everything go his way.
Every time someone or something challenges his preconceptions, he reacts with anger and cruelty, because he is used to dealing with dissension with vicious force, and as he is Evil, he sees no reason why this should change.

[Mistmaster]

Drakov is Lawfull Evil.

[The Lesser Evil]

I was wondering about Drakov's persistence with not using gunpowder weapons preferring bloody hand to hand combat or the reasons he wouldn't use economy as a weapon.Since his alignment is NE doesn't that go against his alignment a bit?

A neutral evil villain does whatever he can get away with. He is out for himself, pure and simple. He sheds no tears for those she kills, whether for profit, sport, or convenience. He has no love of order and holds no illusion that following laws, traditions, or codes would make her any better or more noble. On the other hand, she doesn't have the restless nature or love of conflict that a chaotic evil villain has.

Neutral evil is the most dangerous alignment because it represents pure evil without honor and without variation.
This is OK though...

It seems like it would be more a mark of personal pride and elitist machismo as opposed to chivalry or true concern for a fair fight (he considers gunpowder weapons to be considered "effete"). I might also add in an element of hidebound xenophobia in there- Drakov comes from a culture where gunpowder use isn't widespread, I believe. His whole mythos involves the existence of the manly warrior as the ultimate ideal one can strive toward- the promotion of something like gunpowder may to him undermine that ideal. Also, if gunpowder did become widely used, it could contribute to peasant uprisings.

Aside from that, there could also be a supply problem. Dementlieu has placed a ban on selling guns and gunpowder, and I could see the other surrounding countries also placing such bans (aside from Lamordia, which has a relatively limited population).

Also Drakov doesn't have a total aversion to ranged weapons- the military makes good use of bows, for example. There is also money in the budget for the Ministry of Science's huge, elaborate, and impractically esoteric weapons of war/siege machines. Presumably both of these kind of range weapons are used because they, to Drakov or his head brass, require a level of skill that outstrips the weakling commoners beneath them.

Drakov is Lawfull Evil.

If you're talking about how he's listed the official settings, this seems to be incorrect. Drakov's alignment has always been listed as Neutral Evil. If you're talking about personal perceptions of the character, I could see how the logic in making that argument, although I might personally disagree.

[Mistmaster]

I recalled it incorrectly, it seem he is officially listed as Neutral Evil; Personally, as heis the embodiment of militaristic dictatorship, I prefer him being L/E.