#dndwizards

[jooyeonjooyeoff]

Alexander "I throw my characters into the fire and make the GM decide if they burn or not" Ward strikes again

Gods Lividity is so sassy it gets her in trouble

[mimecore]

if wesloin has no stans i'm dead

[anez-erynlis]

Here is a commission I did lately - a Dragonborn wizard named Viridias :)

I had a lot of fun with this pic, especially with his expression. I wanted to make him look intrigued. Did I make it?

[artereniac]

BONTLOO BOSEK / my action character from @dndwizards 

[teardropper]

How to make Curse of Strahd better for the modern gamer.

I read a very well-written pair of posts on gomakemeasandwich.wordpress.com, a feminist blog about “how not to sell games to women.” These two posts (post 1, post 2) outlined a number of problems present in the Curse of Strahd adventure, and I think the posts would be a very good read for @dndwizards, who are still trying very hard to make the hobby into an inclusive one.

Before I list off all the things that a DM can do to solve the problems presented in the posts, I want to play Devil’s advocate for a moment. Obviously, the adventure has some problems, but I think there are definitely reasons for their existence.

The adventure is an adaptation of one written a very long time ago, and the writers wanted to stay faithful to the original.

Some of the problems (especially those with the Romani and mongrelfolk) are obviously unintentional, and not meant to offend.

The land of Barovia is designed to feel like an awful place that the PCs don’t want to be in, so all the horrible things that happen there are supposed to be horrible.

All this being said, they are still problems, and I have presented the following list of potential solutions (don’t continue reading if you want to avoid spoilers):

Save the mongrelfolk.

Tie their insanity to Strahd’s domain. The mist is what made them this way, and they will remain so until Barovia is freed from Strahd.

Add an NPC in Krezk, perhaps an outsider trapped in Barovia, who is trying to save the mongrelfolk. (This would have to be a recent effort, as the mongrelfolk have not started to have been saved yet.)

“If Strahd is killed, the mists will fade, and the poor mongrelfolk will return to their true, uncorrupted state. They were once simply Beastfolk, like

Diversify genders of those corrupted by Strahd.

Have one of Strahd’s brides be a man.

Have someone mention men in the past who were corrupted by Strahd and so killed, in the same vein as Varushka/Marina.

Equalize/better the treatment of madness in men and women.

Make the burgomaster of Vallaki a woman.

Create a situation in which someone is trying to help Stella Wachter, make it clear that Victor cast a spell on her.

Have Victor Vallakovich locked up for murder.

In general, have some NPCs, Barovians with souls, ask the players to help those who have gone mad, such as Mary, Stella, so on. Instead of treating the mad people like threats to society, have other NPCs treat them as people who need help.

Emphasize the fact that it is the mist, and Strahd’s hold on Barovia that makes madness so common. Once Strahd is defeated, those who have gone mad will be able to recover. Instead of using madness purely for atmosphere, use it to motivate the players to their final goal.

Turn the dial down on man-on-woman/child violence/murder.

Don’t use Death House.

Instead of all female dusk elves being murdered, pretty much reducing them to walking uteruses, all male dusk elves are banished to different worlds. Men are just as necessary in reproduction as women, and in Strahd’s eyes, more likely to pose a threat. The effort involved in killing so many people is greater than that of simply having the fog take them out of Barovia. Now all dusk elves are female. (perhaps some dusk elf males disguised as females), and they want Strahd dead so they can reunite with their male loved ones.

Make Petrina a man. (Petri?)

Make it a lot easier to save Arabelle.

Flesh golem is not specifically women, just random dug-up bodies.

Make it more clear that Erasmus was an adult.

If you or your player group are sensitive to such things, it would be easy enough to simply remove the werewolf death-fights, as well as Old Bonegrinder. In either case, children could be substituted for adults, with no huge ramifications.

Make most Vistani good, having evil/neutral be the exception.

Make it clear early on that anyone the party saves will be safe with the Vistani. This helps in multiple ways:

Presents the Vistani as allies in the fight against Strahd. Shows that the Vistani are trying to get the Barovians to stop distrusting them. Demonstrates that the Vistani are different than the Barovians, their freedom makes them more sane, which means they are more trustworthy. Gives you something to do with all of the children and other people you end up saving.

Make it clear that the idea of the Vistani being “evil” is false, and simply stems from a misunderstanding on the part of the Barovians, another facet of their fearful nature.

Have the Vistani not be servants of Strahd, instead have them be helpful to the party.

The Vistani are human people, they have emotions, obviously they sympathize with the Barovian people, even if those people misunderstand them.

“It is said that we are free to leave this place, but then, why would we keep coming back?” Strahd has secretly cursed/charmed the Vistani so that, even though they are able to leave, they choose not to.

Turn the dial down on harmful Romani stereotypes in the Vistani.

Don’t use the Mysterious Visitors hook.

Don’t use the Plea for Help hook.

When describing groups of Vistani, de-emphasize the amount of drunkenness.

Separate the idea of the escape potion from the Vistani altogether, create a separate NPC/group for this concept, perhaps an outsider looking to capitalize on their captivity.

Bandits instead of Vistani bandits.

Instead of Vallaki saying “Vistani aren’t welcome,” say “Vistani prefer to keep to themselves.”

Create an assassin NPC for the Vallaki camp, instead of the Vistani generally.

Arabelle is prone to wandering, so nobody noticed her leaving, as opposed to everyone being drunk.

Luvash doesn’t care about wine until his daughter is back

Rudolph van Richten’s son was stolen by wolves.

While some Barovian people may have superstitions about Vistani curses, these are unfounded.

Separate Madame Eva from the Vistani camp, have her appear on her own. There’s really no reason for her to be a Vistani or be connected to the Vistani in any way.

I specifically did not even think about removing the Vistani altogether, as they are very evocative. My hope was to keep the fun stereotypes, like the clothing and the nomadism, and remove the negative stereotypes, like the drunkenness, thievery, lying, and especially the kidnapping. It would be easy enough to remove them altogether, but with some modifications, they can be a fun part of the dark world.

Here in America, where I live, Romani stereotypes aren’t harmful like they are in Europe, so obviously, if you are playing in a group where these sorts of things could be a bigger problem, then it would be plenty easy to remove them altogether.

In conclusion, Curse of Strahd is a great adventure module, its sandbox style is great fun, and it would be a shame to ignore it due to some hold-over problems from 34 years ago that can easily be fixed.

Also, here’s a link to this post as a Google Doc if you want to find it later: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DCEnASdrJc5VN5EL5OkBU8UdJiYdi0Huhp_pYocWurw/edit?usp=sharing

[anez-erynlis]

Althrough I have a lot of fun with these It will be the last one for a while ;) Caleb - the grumpiest wizard ever :D and his magical cat Frumpkin. It's also a first male chibi I've ever done. Males could be cute too :D #criticalrolefanart #criticalrole #fantasy #fantasyart #fanart #dnd #dndwizards #wizard #wizardscats #cat #dailydrawing #dailyart #chibi #chibiart #caleb #calebwidogast https://www.instagram.com/p/B8OcIy_F0MV/?igshid=jg9pj4256hws

[kal-ai-doscope]

"Hard earned wisdom" A.I. Generated Character #dungeonsanddragons #dungeonsanddragonsart #dndwizards #dnd5e #dndmonk #pathfinder #pathfinderrpg #pathfindercharacter #aigeneratedart #aicommunity #aiartcommunity #aiartistsoninstagram #wonderai #wonderaiapp #aiartdaily #aicreation #aiartwork #ai #aiartist #ai_arthunter #aiart https://www.instagram.com/p/ClfNR-mOC7Y/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[kal-ai-doscope]

"When the Mighty a Took Mortal Form" A.I. Generated Character #fantasy #swordandsorcery #dndwizards #dndcharacter #dnd5e #pathfinderrpg #aigeneratedart #aiartdaily #aicreation #aiartwork #aiartists #aipaintings #aipaintings #ai #aicommunity #ai_arthunter #aiartcommunity #dragon https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck9b8_hu9dq/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=