Using Strahd

[DocBeard]

Arguably the most iconic Darklord, I've always wondered...how many DMs actually use Strahd as a regular villain in their game?

And by regular villain, I mean someone who's plotting and a driving force in the world, rather than the monster in the castle to be avoided. It's always seemed to me that, in Barovia, with few or no living minions and little desire to leave his castle when Tatayna isn't reincarnated, Strahd's always been portrayed as more of a natural disaster than a worldwide threat like, say, Azlain or Mordenhiem or even Ivana Borsti are.

Strahd did recently conquer Gundarak, making himself, perhaps, the first real victor of a war in Ravenloft, but not only were the circumstances fairly unique, but the action was all off screen. It was less Strahd acting than reacting to Gundar's fall.

So...how do you use him, then? Do you give him a support organization or cult? Give him goals outside of finding his lost love? Does he want to reunite the Balok-speaking nations? Summon G'Henna back to the Core to give Petrovina a stern talking to?

[Paladyn]

Sthrad appeared in mine campaign's twice. First time it was during blood bath, PCs atempted to run i Village of Barovia. After killing dozens of peasnts, wolves began to howl in woods, zombies dug out of graves and Sthrad apperard personally, sentncing them to death for ""destroying his posessions". It was end of adventure as well as playing with those players.

Second time, PC saw a Black Coach on few ocassions, which was always bad omen for them. Finally it came for them with one of mistress aboard. They were invited to Castle, where they spend few weeks as a honoruable guests. Sthrad was eafer to learn spells from wizard and was preparing a scheme. He asked PC to abduct some woman, bring her to Castle and protect by all means from death. He concluded, that if someone can cheat "Death", it would be adventurers, a resurceful and clever lot. Unfortunatelly, young woman of striking beauty died, despite their best efforts. Before news reached the Count, PC escaped to forlorn, only to see Mists rising behind ther backs...

[Charney]

He was a major character in one of the lattest Ravenloft game I ran last year. It was a campaign where Strahd, Lyssa and an awakened Leo Dilisnya were fighting one another and the PC's were caught in the middle and had to choose sides. They sided with Leo and the campaign climaxed in castle Ravenloft where they had to find a doorway in Strahd's very tomb.

[Paladyn]

How did it end?

[HuManBing]

I'm thinking of using Strahd in my game in a fairly brief appearance.

The campaign will take place mostly in Darkon, but eventually my PCs are going to Kartakass and Barovia and Gundarak to witness the events in Feast of Goblyns and to see Gundarak collapse.

The PCs are unwitting pawns of Azalin (they have never seen him or the Kargat up to this point - he's manipulating them from quite a great distance) and their final mission objective is to exploit the border war between Barovia and Gundarak, and to sneak into Castle Ravenloft and destroy Strahd's resting places while he's preoccupied.

Strahd will make an appearance at the end in a manner very similar to Andrew Ryan from the video game Bioshock. Basically he'll reveal to the PCs that they've been manipulated by Azalin all along, and he'll give them the choice that Azalin never gave them - to leave in peace. They can attack him, in which case he'll fight them to the death and won't care even if he loses (since he knows he can regenerate and he's preoccupied). Or if they leave in peace, he will give them several powerful magical items they can use to defeat Azalin and he will outline a plan they may tinker with.

Presumably they'll choose to leave in peace, and his plan is for them to infiltrate one of Azalin's masquerades as a baron's retinue, and then to use the magical items and kill Azalin. This will set the events of From the Shadows in motion, with the botched assassination attempt leading to their capture and awakening in Azalin's laboratories.

For those of you who are interested, here is the dramatic scene from Bioshock, between the player and his archnemesis, Andrew Ryan:

Youtube link

There's a fair backstory that you'd need to know, but the gist of it is that Ryan welcomes the player in and demonstrates to him how he has been manipulated. Then he offers him the chance to choose to leave, rather than attack him. The player is helpless - his conditioning is so strong that he MUST kill Ryan.

Strahd in Ryan's place would demonstrate how Azalin's plans have gotten the better of him, but he can still treat the PCs with more nobility and dignity than Azalin treated them.

[Charney]

How did it end?

Strahd and the few minions loose in the catacombs were outmatching them completely so I had Leo Dilisnya arriving for a last minute attack on Strahd, allowing them to use the portal.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

I think one of the reasons that Strahd is underused by many DMs is that traditional D&D villains tend to be pigeonholed as either the face-to-face butt-kicker or the hidden mastermind. Strahd is so powerful that, given some smart tactics, he can potentially wipe the floor with PCs -- heck, that's what he was designed to do in I6 -- so the former role is too much overkill for most DMs to risk, not to mention a little beneath him. OTOH, Azalin has occupied the supreme manipulator's role in soooo many Ravenloft products, it almost seems like poaching on the lich's territory to use Strahd in the "Lex Luthor" role, anyplace beyond the Count's own home turf.

Myself, I've found ways to work Strahd's influence into adventures that are more wide-ranging than Barovia, alone, while still keeping the "feel" of his plots distinct from Azalin's. For one thing, Strahd needs to devote a lot more attention to information-gathering; he doesn't have the ability to view memories, or steal them and look them up in a library, so he has to rely on conventional intelligence-reports from Vistani and other sources. For another, he's less of a micromanager than Azalin, being far less prone to doubt his underlings' competence; quite often, he's content to sit back and see what his minions or unwitting pawns can accomplish on their own. This creates a false impression of inactivity and/or disinterest on his part -- the popular belief that he just mopes around his castle -- which is sometimes useful in itself. In reality, he's always watching, and ready to tip the balance with a timely assassination here, a strategic bit of sabotage there.

If Azalin is Lex Luthor, with dozens of brilliant plots in progress at a given time, Strahd IMC is more like Lord Vetinari. The Count just plain doesn't bother launching vast, world-shaking plots against foes, anymore: rather, he seizes opportunities when his enemies' own lapses leave them vulnerable. Which is what I6 was really all about, strategically.

[impworks]

I've used Strahd a few times although I've only had him meet PCs once. They didn't know who the helpful nobleman in the carriage who provided them with a night trip across Barovia was.

The impact of the meeting was a ripple that ran through the Grand Conjunction plot in my game. Strahd's agents had discovered Azalin was up to something and Strahd was concerned that while Azalin might succeed his manipulation of events might prevent the conjunction actually occurring.

Strahd used the PCs and manipulated Falkovninan and Lamordian activists funded, trained and supported Darkon anarchist groups into making a number of assasination attempts on Azalin's key supporters. As the events triggering the Grand Conjunction were about to come to completion a Lamordian "anarchist" detonated a large mine beneath Azalin.

The aftermath was pretty much like the Grand Conjunction as described
in the published material. However the bombing roused the western Darkon nobility who invaded Lamordia bogging down in an ongoing battle with Adam and local partizans surreptitiously supported by Falkovnia until Azalin returned and unilaterally withdrew from Lamordia.

Azalin and Strahd continue to fight a cold war of both diplomacy and espionage. Darkon is better resourced and has more assets but Barovia's forces are better trained and more effective. Assassinations and other similar activities are currently rare but one incident could cause a spiral of violence to errupt again.

[Bluebomber4evr]

I use Strahd quite a bit on the Ravenloft-based NWN 1 server that I DM on. Since it's primarily focused in Barovia he gets involved with things quite a bit. I can imagine it'd be a bit harder if your campaign was spread out into other domains.

Most of the things I've involved Strahd with are reacting to those plotting against him: Inajira, Lyssa, and even some outlander PCs who thought they could "change" Barovia into a better place.

I also had him involved with a group of Gundarakite PCs--he basically sought to crush their spirit by first giving them false hope and then destroying that hope in front of them.

As the server is focused on Barovia, we also tend to have some PC who breaks one of the major laws in Barovia like stealing from the state or killing Vistani. In those instances Strahd just makes a cameo.

[Boris Drakov]

I have used Strahd on 3 different occasions with 3 different parties:

1 They trespassed in Castle Ravenloft and got the choice between hunting down an ancient artifact or die. They got the artifact, woke the monster guarding it and lured the monster and its artifact into Barovia where Strahd "recovered" them both.

2 Strahd set up the adventurers through middlemen to hunt vampires. Had them start out with lesser ones which Strahd could have dealt with himself but which were good for practice. Ended up with them confronting a 1000 year old vampire which Strahd hesitated to confront directly himself.

3 Strahd invoked his pact with the Vistanis on one of the players who was a Vistani sourceress. She and the party were to seek out and kill a spy sent by Azalin who was trying to make the Barovian nobility rise up against Strahd.

[DocBeard]

3 Strahd invoked his pact with the Vistanis on one of the players who was a Vistani sourceress. She and the party were to seek out and kill a spy sent by Azalin who was trying to make the Barovian nobility rise up against Strahd.

I forgot about his pact with the Vistani...this could do a lot to make him more involved with Ravenloft...or at least as more than the setting's "dragon". Since the Vistani do, indeed, get in their fair share of trouble, Strahd could be dragged in that way...either helping, or trying to harm a group of Vistani that ol'madame Eva doesn't quite approve of.

[cure]

An adventure seemingly involving Strahd in person but wherein he in fact keeps to the background:

A Stallion for Strahd

This adventure begins in Barovia. The young and foppish Boris von Zarovich, little loved by his immediate family, has decided that his fortune lies with proving his worth directly to the great family patriarch and ruler of Barovia, Count Strahd von Zarovich XI. As there can be no question of going to Castle Ravenloft empty-handed, Boris has hit upon the perfect gift: the most fearsome blacks stallion on the plains of Nova Vassa. Boris confided his intentions to the Vistani in the hope that they could be hired to find and steal the creature. Although they declined politely the insultingly small sum of gold on offer, the rauni of the tribe was kind enough to consult, “for a minor service to be named later,” her tarot deck as to where and when the stallion might be found. With a somewhat cryptic answer in hand, Boris retired to reformulate his plans.

Being a wizard, and not an especially distinguished one at that, Boris had no appetite to see to the business himself. And the more he considered spending his gold on hired mercenaries the less he liked that alternative. Instead, as a von Zarovich lord should, he would delegate the deed to adventurers. And to insure that his commands were scrupulously heeded, he would appear before them in the guise of the lord of Barovia himself.

Thus the adventurers while in Barovia suddenly find their sleep disturbed by the somewhat melodramatic entrance and presence of his exalted lordship, Count Strahd von Zarovich XI, who charges them with the recovery of the fiercest black stallion on the plains of Nova Vassa and gives them the Vistani directions as to place and time. Asked about a reward, Boris attempts his best malevolent smile and replies: “The goodwill of the Lord of the land.”

The party should have some chance of unmasking the ruse without further ado. Should they do so and visit some fitting punishment upon Boris, they will have thereby come into the good graces of the real lord of Barovia who will recompense them for their intelligence and effort. At the extreme this could be in the form of an invitation to Castle Ravenloft. Equally, they will have nothing to fear from Boris (whether they left him dead or alive) for Strahd and/or the Vistani will see to him once and for all.

Should the ruse not be uncovered immediately, the party is off to Nova Vassa. A hint that all is not well is the constant harassment of wolves so long as the party is in Barovia. In Nova Vassa the harassment is by plains cats. The adventurers will be challenged by the frontier guard and will be attacked should they be suspected of being horse thieves.

The real challenge begins when the party arrives to claim the stallion for it is a hell-blooded Nightmare. And it leads a half-dozen like-minded horses. All are likely to fight to the death and none will be taken alive save by extraordinary means.

Should the adventurers have failed in their mission, they may be loathed to return to Barovia. In any case Nova Vassa is by no means safe for they will soon be pursued for the capital crime of horse murder.

Should the adventurers put their hands on some credible alternative (or recall that nothing was said about the stallion being alive) and escape Nova Vassa with it, awaiting them patiently at the site where they were charged with returning to is Boris von Zarovich. Only he is nailed to a tree and quite dead. (There isn’t much blood on or about the tree or left in the corpse should they care to notice.) Affixed to him is a sign that reads: “Here hangs a man guilty of the high crime of impersonating his exalted lordship of Barovia, Count Strahd von Zarovich XI.”

Ideally, the players come upon the corpse by night. It is certainly dead but still slightly warm. In this case taking it down and burying it would be a dreadful mistake. First, Strahd would be displeased and second Boris would rise as a vampire under Strahd’s control, pretty much assuring a third meeting with the upstart.

Alternatively, he may rise as some other type of undead, for he still owes the Vistani a service . . . .

[Joël of the FoS]

Good hook, cure!

---

I used Strahd a few times, one as Von Holtz, the other through one of his minions meeting the PCs (Talena VZ, from LoB).

They are not high level enough to meet him and confront him, but he may ask them for something to do in the future.

Joël

[LouisVendredi]

I used Talena once. She took one of the PCs on as an apprentice and made her wear a scrying brooch to keep tabs on her. She was disappointed in the PC because she (the PC) wasn't domineering enough with the other PCs, who Talena considered the PC's minions.