For the cos dm ask I would like to ask literally all of them but I understand that might be a bit much so I'll just go for 6, 11, 13, and 18. But if you want to answer more of them I won't complain ♪～(´ε｀ )
i have another ask for 11 so i'll save that one for them, but for the other three (added song links because i love connecting songs to characters heehoo):
6) Did you make any NPCs more sympathetic than in cannon? Or less sympathetic?
oh for sure. basically from what i've heard, i have turned every character in the module into a conduit for tragedy to hurt my players specifically. every npc got their "this is a 3 dimensional character" levels turned up to 11 if my players are to be believed. biggest examples of this:
lucian petrovich for suuuuure. imo he's already very sympathetic, i just gave him reasonable agoraphobia and a badass last stand at the feast of saint andral where he left the church in milivoj's name so that it still counted as property even if it wasn't sacred anymore since the players did not get the bones away from the vampire spawn. players cried and we had to take a break for an hour.
also the abbot. song #2 because i like him so much. my GUYY my fella my #1 sunlight smella. it's hard to say how he's more sympathetic because he's still just as stubborn and reacts less visibly to the pain he causes than the abbot in the module might, but i just made the mongrelfolk not be locked up and played on the part of him that is totally lost even if he can't/won't admit it and the players just won't kill him now. they won't even look into the things he's doing because they don't want to make it a situation where they have to
13) How did you play Strahd? What's his attitude towards the party, Ireena, the world in general?
hmm i would say i play him pretty much as described in the module. he can be intense, disappointed, smarmy, cunning, and content (but never sad or happy unless it comes to the hunt), and it's hard to say if anything he's doing at any moment is really him or a lie - or to take it a step further, if it's a lie to himself too. he hates the party right now. things are a mess for him so he's locked in on his connection to ireena more than before to stay """"stable"""" (as stable as strahd ever is). there is only one party member he would spare for their complicated history, and that's if they said the right things/rolled really good.
if i had to pick the strahd song of all time to get the feeling across for how i play him, it would be volatile times by iamx
18) Which NPC (or NPCs if its multiple) is your favorite to play?
EXETHANTER. my party met him once so far. they haven't been to the amber temple, it was just through the interactive tome of strahd. god i love that freak. a close second is ireena because it's cathartic to be so close to a mental breakdown? third is rahadin because he is the only person who hates them more than strahd. sure what the hell i'll list ezmerelda too because it's so fun to piss off the blood hunter of the party with her. i play her with a very devil-may-care facade. tbh think hobie brown. it's a surface level act that disarms you but she still manages to get cooler when you see the truth of who she is
