Side account for @thatsmutaccount, posting only sfw and fandom stuff, mmaybe even just shitposting from time to time
Just here to have a fun time, honestly
Updates very irregularly
Hi, in case you didn't know me, you can call me Smut - I seriously need to find a better nickname -, I write r18 stories on ao3 about original character on my main account here on Tumblr, @thatsmutaccount, and on my ao3 ThatSmutAccount.
This my secondary account, where I want to post all things fandom and more sfw related, so I will try keeping everything pg on that aspect.
So yeah. expect AUs, characters analysis, scenarios, ideas, ship talks, and maybe even some fics, who knows? OwO
Thank you so much for everything, hope you'll have a great time here ^.^
Links to single posts and fandom
Rating how much I enjoyed playing single CoS NPCs
CoS shipping: Ismark x Doru
The origin of the three treasures of Barovia (the tome, the sword and the symbol)
CoS shipping: Lady Watcher x Lydia Petrovna
CoS shipping: Victor x Stella
My CoS Campaign main masterpost and funny/cool moments
Me wordvomiting about Ismark and shitposting about him one | two | three | four and a silly Doru x Ismark thingy
Ismark Kolyanovich, the lesser or the great? (Ismark character study)
Ismark Kolyanovich, the Lesser or the Great? (Ismark characters study post)
Despite all the "funny ha ha" and meme-ish stuff I post, I do think Ismark is quiet an interesting character when it comes to the Curse of Strahd campaing.
Before we start two warnings:
Be warned, this post might contain SPOILERS for the Curse of Strahd campaing
Ismark is an NPC, a character that does not have a clear and defined personality - except a few fixed points given to you by the module -, people experience and interpretation of him vary and as such what you are about to read is purely how I personally view him
If this is alright for you then enjoy what I have to say about one of my favorite characters
First thing first, I think it's best if we talk about what I call the "fixed points" in Ismark personality and how Wizard of the Coast present him.
Who is Ismark then?
He is the son of the bourgmaster of Barovia Kolyan Indirovich and brother to Ireena Kolyana. His father just recently passed away leaving behind just him and his sister. Strahd had been obsessed with Ireena and is trying to have her by his side for reasons ismark does not know and can't control. He is very passionate about both his love for Ireena and his hatred for Strahd and wants to kill the vampire. The other townsfolk call him "Ismark the Lesser" because of his father. He drowns his sorrow by drinking.
As a description, it's pretty barebone, so people can play a lot with him and see if they can work with this elements based on how the party members interact with him, and it makes sense since he is techincally not a main character or someone as important to the story as Ireena or Strahd himself.
One thing I always found nonsensical with his canon depiction is how, apparently, if you go only by what the manual says, Ismark leaves Ireena with the party asking them to bring her to Vallaki, without coming with them. That is unless he is the fated ally, in which case he would come and help after Ireena is safe and sound.
Of course you can all see the problem here: Ismark is depicted as someone desperate and most likely paranoid, the only reason he asks the party for help is because he has nobody else to go to or that he thinks he can trust in the village of Barovia, but he is also not a dumb man, he wouldn't let Ireena go with a bunch of strangers that he just met. He lived a dangerous life in a land under the control of his enemy, this people could be under Strahd control for all he knows.
I think most people would have him come with the party and Ireena to Vallaki BUT, that being said, there might be an interesting interpretation in letting him stay behind in his hometown too.
Let's say he is not your ally and that the DM decides to let him trust the party and leaves his sister with them. Why would he stay behind in a place he hates?
Here we arrive to one of the things I think characterizes Ismark the most: he is selfless and ready to give his life for his sister.
If he stays behind I think he would do so to keep Strahd attention in Barovia, making him believe Ireena is still in the house, until his con is discovered - which he knows sooner or later would happen - and then nothing will stop the fury of Strahd. Maybe he does so also to get a chance to fight one-on-one the monster that made his life miserable and indirectly killed his father and brought so much suffering to so many people - including Doru and father Donavich -, a chance to try and see if he can win, even though he most likely does not believe so, but this would only make him sure that he will die trying.
I do believe he is someone who has self-destructive tendencies, seeing how he is ready to fight Strahd - something I don't think any other NPC native to Barovia is said to want to do - and the fact that he is most likely an alcoholic, given how much time he is said to spend in the town's tavern.
This also brings me to the second issue of Ismarkm sorta linked to what we just said: his severe lack of self-confidence, which he can mask pretty well with a more open and fakely outgoing personality.
The fact that he is more talkative and ready to voice out his opinion then the average barovian could make you think he is someone that didn't lose hope, and it would make sense to have in him be one of the few NPCs that, like Ireena, believes a better future is possible.
But then, the more time you spend with him, slowly but surely you can see the cracks in his mask: the fact that he drinks too much wine, him being ready to basically fistfight someone as powerfull as Strahd, him having lost so many people dear to him - last but not least his own father -, his pure desperation in asking help to a group of strangers to save the only important person left in his life, people he does not know if they would respect their pact of keeping Ireena safe or not, and despite that he is ready to give what is most precious to him - his sister - and his fortune to this people to have her arrive to Vallaki. This are all actions of someone that is at his last resorts.
But, despite this, he moves on. He keeps going, day by day, ready to survive, ready to not give up, ready to fight tooth and nails not to let himself go, despite everything.
What I think is an interesing trait I gave to my Ismark is his difference from Ireena to his relationship with the gods and religion in general. Father Donavich was friend with Kolyan and Doru was friend with both Kolyan siblings, this is a headcanon that for me just makes sense and gives much more depth to all of this characters that you meet in Barovia. So, they -Ismark and Ireena - were both raised very closely to the cult/religion of the Morninglord, which I think still has some effect on them. When they buried Kolyan, I had Ireena pray for him, while Ismark stayed more to the sides, silent and respectful. I think Iteena is devoted, because she believes that evil will not win, that there is a new day to come where people will be happy, she is hopeful and her faith is one way she expresses this. Ismark does not believe that. He is more "believable" in this situation, he suffered so so much, his day to day life is a perpetual struggle, he does not believe a god of any kind would help him, because if there is a good higher power, they would have helped them and all the other people that suffered in this cursed land long before it would have come to this. He can't rely on the wills of the gods, and he can't trust others either, because he can see how they will not think twice and simply give him or Ireena to Strahd just to not have the Count against them.
Ireena works hard for a better future because she believes is possible; Ismark works hard because he has to guarantee a good present for his sister.
But the main thing that makes Ismark so interesting to me is his possible growth and him becoming something more, him becoming "Ismark the great".
If the party spends enough time with him, if they bond, if they help him out, he can evolve, he can find himself. In my campaign - again, I'm not the ideal DM for a traditional CoS campaign, I'm way too soft hearted and I want to try and reach a happy ending, so I don't have too many horror moments or desperate moments or folks getting killed in my story - the character that took the place of Vasili killed Vargas Vallakovich and announced they would keep assaulting Vallaki until they give Ireena to them, and then disappeared. While the city was in full panic mode, desperate and ready to just give up, Ismark stood up, told them they can fight, that they should fight, that they still have a possibility. All the things he went through with the party, with ireena, hearing all the things they did and said, made so he found himself and became the leader he was never able to become in Barovia, the leader he never allowed himself to be due to his low self-esteem and his father's shadow and his prejudices that made him think the only person he should care about is Ireena, because other people will not hesitate to betray the two of them.
I think Ismark is a character that could become a leader, if he is allowed to grow and to become himself. Someone that put others before himself and that still has enough strength to not let himself go to despair.
Ireena is hope, is the light that flickers even in the deepest darkness, is the belief things will come to a happy ending if you kepp fighting for it.
Ismark is the strength to not let despair consume you, to find the strength to fight constantly to survive, to simply be too stubborn to let others decide what your future should be.
They end up filling a similar role, but the way they are they are radically different.
*****
So yeah, here are my really confused thoughts about my favorite CoS NPC. He is just such a fascinating character, and all in all he fills a trope I like, that of a fighter that finds his true calling and that becomes someone others can rely on, despite him not believing to be fit for the role himself.
I hope you enjoyed and if you had any more thoughts please let me know, I love to hear more about this man, thank you so much ^^
Father Donavich: Son, you are such a kind, handsome, young man. How come you still haven't found a proper girl to court and marry?
Doru, thinking about a sweaty Ismark after he finished practicing sword fighting, lifting his shirt and showing his abs: ...
Doru: I just didn't find the right girl, that's all.
*****
Or: I fully believe Ismark to have been Doru's first crush and that they have explored each other's bodies at least once during their "friendship" years before the events of the campaign take place, maybe more.
Every depiction I see of Ismark in fanarts is either
Him being dressed in noble clothes and looking like some sort of prince charming, with a seductive smile but with eyes haunted by the demons of his past™
OR
Him being an absolute hobo that probably didn't bath in like two weeks and is going forward through the power of alcohol and pure spite
And I think both of them are canon in their own way
And also he is depressed, but, I mean, that's the bare minimum
How was your Ismark?
The byronic hero who wants to protect his sister and wants revenge on Strahd and doesn't care how far he need to go to have it?
Or the young man that's haunted by his past and the belief that he will never be enough but still just wants to help the people around fully believing he will not survive this adventure?
Or maybe you/your dm gave him another characterisation? Please tell me, I need more contente about this man
Btw, I so want to make a post discussing Ismark and his personality, like a character study or sort, tell me if you'd be interested about it ^^
This 👆 is exacty what I meant in my last post. This is canon now, when Ismark first appears in your CoS campaign you are now legally obliged to describe to your players his bouncy pecs and the slutty V-neck. I'm sorry I don't make the rules, this is the law now
PS: and I'm sorry for what I'm about to say, but this meme just reminds me of the Gandalf with the big naturals posts, so now I can't help but go in my mind "Strahdìs big artificials VS Ismark's big naturals" and I'm so sorry for that. That being said I need a fanart of this asap please
I'm so sorry for hornyposting about this man, I just can't help myself x.x
You know, all in all I should have expected what was going to happen: Ryoma is my absolute favorite character in all of the Dangan franchise and Kirumi is also quiet cool; I used to really like Mahiru (now she is just average for me) and I found Peko and his relationship with Fuyuhiko really sweet and fun; Chihiro and Mondo are some pretty cool characters too.
So, of course my two favorite characters (Ulysses and Jean) were supposed to die in chapter 2, why shouldn't they? x.x
At least a couple of other didn't. Honestly, apart from Grace, I quiet like the rest of the survivors, I've always been a Jett truther and Diana was always such a nice character and I like the contrast with Damon.
But yeah, RIP my muscle king (I decided that canon is a lie and I refuse the reality you are actually a bad person) and the guy whose talent I love so much (again: I refuse the canon and how they wanted you to "evolve" in ch.2), you two will always be famous for me <3
If you guys would like for me to make a tier list and explain my favorite characters or what I think of the spoilers let me know, it could be fun
Hi! I apologize in advance for my English—I'm doing my best, but I hope it's not a problem and that you can understand me!
I’ve been looking around a bit on this blog and the other SFW one, and from what I gather, you’re playing/DMing a CoS campaign??
How’s it going? Is it fun? Personally, I stopped playing due to a bunch of circumstances involving work and school, but I’m always curious to hear about other groups.
Actually, I don’t know if you’ve already answered this somewhere, or if there’s a master post somewhere; but maybe you could tell us a bit about the party you’re playing with—like what characters are in it and what classes they are (obviously, if that’s not a problem!). Where are you in the story? Have there been any particularly fun parts? Things like that.
Thanks in advance! Hope you have a nice day (or evening?) depending on when you read this message!!
Hello!
Don't worry, your english is fine, I can easily understand you without any problems ^^
Yes, I'm playing/DMing a CoS campaing, in fact is the first time I'm actually playing a full campaing period. I did some one shots here and there before, but this is my first, full fledged campaign, and I'm having tons of fun! And the first time I'm a Dm ever too! ^.^
As of February/March it's been more or less two years since we started and we are getting closer and closer to the end now.
Under the cut there will be a more in depth talk about the campaign and, because of this, there will be some spoilers from the Curse of Strahd DnD Campaign, so please be careful and don't spoil yourself ^.^
Also, the funny/insightful moments are so many that I have to make a part two of this post, I'm so sorry x.x
I plan on posting them as a repost just after thisn ask, there are so many moments and I can't find a good way to cut them, and if I leave them in the post will be way too long, sorry guys XP
With that being said, enjoy part 1 with all of the characters and some more direct info about the campaign ^.^
So, first of all let's talk players. I'll be talking from a DM point of view, some of this characters started with secrets that were found out by the rest of the players only later on in the campaign.
There are five players in total, we started as a party of four, but after the first few session a new player was added and so they basically played the whole campaign as a group of five. It's basically all irl friends, so we are able to mostly play with everybody present, but sometimes some of them have to connect and play through Discord and such.
We have:
A Drow Paladin, devoted to Elistrae, who took the Oath of Vengenace. He escaped from the Underdark and is now traveling the surface wanting to spread justice and make things right. Pretty young for an elf, still an adult though. The silent type and sure in his ideals, will not budge when it comes to defeating evil. He is the one that usually does the most damages in a fight, and the one who is currently wielding Sergei's Sun Sword. The player is at his first campaign experience like me;
A Thiefling Ranger, who took the the Monster Slayer Conclave. She is the daughter of a monster hunter and her mother was a thiefling too, but she got kidnapped by a vampire - unrelated to Strahd - and now she is looking around for her, trying to find her. She mainly uses long distance attacks and sometimes magic. She got along pretty well with Van Richten and Ezmeralda, she got gifted by Van Richten himself a bow to help her hunt undead creatures. A bit ditzy and also pretty direct, she is the one that has the funniest lines, most of the time without knowing it. The palyer is also at her first campaign like me;
A "Human" Rogue, who took the Thief Rougish Archetype. This is one of the more interesting one, because she is actually not human: she is a cat, turned human by his pet owner, a wizard, by motives that only he knows about. She ran away and now is looking for someone to turn her back into a cat, hating the fact she is human. Standoffish, rude and easy to distrust anyone, she is an element that exasperated me quiet a bit at the beginning, since she was a force that split the party quiet a bit, but in the end she was the element needed to make the story more interesting. Still exasperates me from time to time, but I do enjoy her as a presence in the party, being the one that stirrs drama and makes the whole campaign feel more lively. The player, which is the one that was added later to the group, is at his first campaign, which makes the fact that not only he chose to play a character with a different gender than his own but also that he is able to play such an interesting character quiet impressive, and he plays her really well, being able to distance himself from the character;
A Half Elf Paladin of Selune, who took the Oath of Glory. Yeah, I got two of them, you can imagine how things got at a certain point with two characters that are the most powerful class of the 5e. He is more soft spoken and tries to take on the more "father of the group" role, being also the main one who tries to protect and heal the other characters of the party. Doesn't stand out too much but tries still to be a presence inside the group. The player it's not at her first experience, and it's mainly the one I bother the most with sillines related to CoS things, like ships, fanfictions and other stuffs like that;
A "Kenku" Wizard, who took Transmutation as his Arcane Tradition. A mostly silent and relfective wizard that goes around always dressed with long cloack that completely hides his features, making so it's impossible to see who he actually is under all of his clothes. He is actually a human, turned Kenku because of a curse given to him by a family who took advantage of him all of his life, making him ran away, as he now is looking for a way to turn back human. He believes in the power of brain over brawn and is mostly the voice of reason, but has some pretty "interesting" moments as well. The player is probably the one with most experience at the table, he played a lot of other rpgs, not only dnd, both as player and as a DM.
This are the characters. Yeah, there are quie few things said in some of their backstories, mainly for the rogue and the wizard and also a bit from the ranger, that could be developed and attached to the story, but, as I already said, this is my first experience as a DM and only in the last few months I got a bust of confidence that finally made me work on the adventure itself, so I didn't plan any personal link with the players, with everything that this means. Maybe if I had other experiences beside this under my belt, it would have been different, but oh well.
Another thing to be clear: I'm the worst DM to have if you plan to run a CoS campaign XP /hj
I'm way too soft and I do not like the macabre and the bad stuff, so there isn't too much focus on the horror and despair, despite me trying to still have it known to my players that this is a more gothic style adventure. Just an example: none of the main NPCs had died yet, and Vallaki, despite everything, is still standing and did not got destroyed, Because I didn't want to do such bad thing to my players.
Yeah, if you want a still-heavy-but-not-too-much CoS campaign, I'm your man XP
As for where they are, they are nearing endgame: they need to retrieve Kazimir and go to the Amber Temple and after that it's only Castel Ravenloft and the final battle with the count left. In my plans is a matter of like 6 months and then the campaign will be officially over ^.^
This is the end of part 1, part 2 with all the bnest moments will be uploaded in a bit, just gimme a second to atach it and it will be soon done ^.^
Thank you so much for the ask, it was lovely to hear it, and if you have any more question, please feel free to leave an ask at @thatsfwaccount and I will try to answer it as soon as possible ^.^
As promised, here is the part with all of the fun/interesting parts of my current CoS campaign. There have been quiet a bit yeah, in two years a lot of fun stuff have happened, both when playing and during the moments you prepare something.
Again, under the cut there are spilers for the CoS campaign, so be careful!
Also this post is long, be preapred. And I do mean long, I'm so sorry x,x
The wizard and the rogue: They did not talk to one another, they had no idea what the other's race or backstory was, but both of them decided to play a character who got turned into something else against their will, one from an animal to a human, the other from a human to an animal-like hybrid. It was so fun for me when they pitched this idea to me, stil baffles my mind;
A true twist of fate: Like most DMs, I did two readings of the tarokka: one before the campaign started in case they might not have met madame Eva, the second with madame Eva herself. Both times, Victor was the one to be chosen as their fated ally. Both readings were made months from one another and there was no trick, so I guess it was destiny for them to have him as their fated ally XP;
All roads lead to... Vallaki?: beside Victor, the reading serves to reveal also where the three other objects needed to defeat Strahd are. When I did the official reading, the Symbol of Ravenkind was in the Werewolf Den, the Sun Sword was in Urwin's hand, and Rictavio had the diary. So, basically: three out of four things were in Vallaki. I was about to cry because of this x.x Since I didn't want my players to just exit Vallaki with basically everything they needed to defeat Strahd, I decided to split the things around, making this the Fetch Quest Campaign: Rictavio used to have the diary, but he left it in the tower (and yeah, I know there is a separate card for that location, but at the time I didn't realize it, so...); they found only the hilt of the Sun Sword in Vallaki and they also needed the blade, which was in the mausoleum in Argynvostholt, and to access it they needed to defeat Baba Lysaga; they did found Victor... but his Teleportation Circle worked, and before they could get him, he teleported, but instead of going to the outside world he teleported to Krezk, since his magic was intercepted by the biggest source of external magic in all of Barovia, aka the Abbot;
A wizard??? In meelee???: yeah you read that right, our wizard, who barely reaches 30 hitpoints now that they are level 8, from time to time just... enters close combat and attacks the monsters and the enemies in meelee, despite being a very frail and sickly wizard. He had done this since he was level 2 inside the Death House and is still going strong now. This thing always makes us laugh;
The Doru conundrum: A really interesting moment that happened was when they had to decided what to do with Doru. I made Father Donavich not completely insane, someone they could reason with, and in the end, also with the help of Ismark and Ireena, they found out the truth about Doru. This created the first moment of fracture inside the group, that ended up with the two paladins, the ranger and the rogue going in the chapel's underground, with the paladins and the ranger wanting to kill Doru on sight and the rogue on the other hand wanting to speak and reason with him. The wizard stayed out of it and made it clear he was against the idea of killing Doru. In the end the rogue, since Doru was hungry, thought that they could apply a cut to her hand and make him approach her and try and reason with him this way, but this made the spawn attack her, intiating what wasn't even a fight but a one way massacre. This created a fracture that followed the party all the way until Vallaki;
The sparring match: A scene I liked was when the two paladins, during their travel from Barovia to Vallaki, after dinner, decided to do a sparring match with one another. It was a really cool scene that I really apreciated that ended up in a draw between the two. It was really cool to see;
Team Church 4 Life!!!: When in Vallaki they decided to split in basically three groups, with the rogue alone, the half elf paladin and the ranger together and the drow paladin and the wizard together. The wizard and paladin went with Ismark and Ireena to see Vallakovich and then accompany them to the Church of St. Andraal, where they took the mission of retrieving the relique. After that they became basically bros, being together and helping each others out during all of the campaign, which lead to the nickname of the two being 'Team Church', which out of context is quiet funny, they had so many bromance moments, it was quiet sweet;
No bullying, no Blinsky: A "fun" but also important thing that came out of Vallaki is the relationship of the characters with Blinsky. You see, before the forming of 'Team Chiurch', the party divded, with wizard and drown paladin going with Ismark and Ireena to the bourgmaster's house while the other three found Blinsky's shop and the Ireena doll. Inside, the rogue, helped by the ranger, decided to basically bully Blisnky, even going as far as threatening Piccolo, to understand what was going on with the doll. He told them the truth - which resulted in and outside scene where Izek bascially took a whole shelf and threw it out of the window, destroying part of Blisnky's shop - and they left but not before basically also robbing him of some of his toys. The half elf paladin was pissed with the rogue who showed no remorse and found the whole thing funny and they butted head. This made so that later on the paladin and the ranger freed the prisoners in the main square and fought Izek, which then began the moment the party was at his lowest. After that the rogue began a weird relationship with Blisnky with her basically bullying him still to get what she wants and him being terrified by this 17 year old looking girl, while at the same time she keeps on trying to prove that she changed. It was a really interesting scene and i liked how it affected the players quiet a bit;
A bard's secret: During the fight with Izek, the rogue wasn't with the others, but decided to create a distraction. How so? Simple: by going to Rictavio's chariot and free the tiger she knew was inside. As she was about to do so, he surprised her, pointing a knife to her back, without her noticing him, dropping the Rictavio act and showing off the true Van Richten side. It was a moment among my favorites because later on allowed the whole party to know the truth and the beginning of a relationship with a quiet interesting character, which also lead to the beginning of this interesting mentor-mentee relationship between the ranger and him,, that allowed later on the beggining of the relationship between her and Ezmeralda;
He might be Strahd: Still during the Izek fight, the wizard, who, I remind you, always goes around with his face covered, used the spell 'Alter Self' and threw the hood of his cape behind to reveal he transformed into Strahd. The next day, while going around the village undercover, they found the wanted posters for all of them, obviously all caricatures of them based on the terrified descriptions of the guards. The wizard was an amorphus blob completely covered by his hood and with under it the words 'BE CAREFUL: he might be Strahd'. My players really found this funny;
Few but meaningful: A really unique aspect of the CoS campaing, in case you didn't know, is the fact that the manual encourages that the players meet Strahd multiple times during the story, instead of just the end for the big fight. My players did meet him... a total of two times, but those two times were honestly quiet great. First one was right after the funeral of the bourgmaster of Barovia, with the wizard and one of the paladins, I'm pretty sure it was the drow, escorting Ireena inside the church together with father Donavich, while the others and Ismark stayed outside and went to meet him. The second one was right after they retrieved the tome, as they were traveling either towards or from the winery, on the side of the road, as he "asked" them his book back. Both time were great and my players really liked how chill and in control he was during those meetings, during the first one the ranger told him they can attack him there and then, and he dropped his smile and simply told her to do it. People really liked that moment, they find it very powerful. I plan to maybe have them meet him a few others time, but we'll see, but this is just for you people to know: you don't have to force the encounters, use them wisely instead and make them have their meanings in the story itself;
We didn't start the fire: Another gem of a moment came when they decided to go against the spawns in the coffin-maker shop in Vallaki. During the fight the wizard - who else? - used a spell and started a fire in the storage room. After they defeated the monsters the drow paladin took the wizard and, as they ran out and found the coffin-maker that they left tied up in the lower floor, the wizard shouted to him "those damn spawns started a fire in your shop!". I love that moment;
The nat 20 that almost ruined Vallaki: This is why you should not allow your players to play two paladin in your party, not just in CoS, but in general. They are way too powerful. I made the final enemy of Vallaki Lady Watcher, and, after an Original NPC revealed her true nature, she started a fight with my players, raising in the air wih a spell, since I thought because she is a magic user and does not have too much life I will make so only spells and arrows can actually hit her. I was wrong. The drow went and casted 'Command' on her, ordering her to come down. I told him to roll and he rolled a 20, and once she was down, the two paladins together almost killed her in one turn. I had to improvise so much, because that simple thing almost ruined the enteriety of the fight. They did not know and it wasn't their fault, obviously - in fact it was a great idea, I even praised the player for it -, but I was so mad at that stupid 20 x.x;
Oh my god, who is she?: Can we all agree Vasili is not described that well in the manual? When I read the manual and arrived at his parts, I barely understood what was his prupose but, more importantly, how to make him act in the story. In case you want to understand how to actually use him effectively I recommend reading the novel 'I, Strahd', it's not only a quiet good read, but also will help you a lot in understanding and preparing for the campaign as DM, giving a lot of great inspirations for your story, and also explains what Vasili's role actually is. Thing is, I had no idea, having read the book only this last summer, and so I decided to change, erasing Vasili and trading his role with someone else. Enter: Patrina Velikovna. The elf that was the reason for the twisted fate of Kasimir and all the elves of his tribe is apparently alive and well and is about to destroy Vallaki if they don't give her what she wants, and what she wants is Ireena. All of this after having killed Vargas Vallakovich. She is also the one that put the spawn in the coffin-maker shop and planned all the twisted things in Vallaki. Why? How? Well, I can't tell you yet all my plans for her, since one of my players will read this post, but follow @thatsfwaccount for more updates XP;
Baby you're a firework: When they arrived at The Tower of Van Richten, the rogue found Ezmeralda's chariot just behind it and, obviously, wanted to find out what was inside it. She opened the door and the trap made it so it blew, knocking out the rogue and made the other come. Once the paladin made her come back to her senses after healing her the first thing he said was "what the fuck have you done?!". Still iconic in my mind, she kinda deserved that XP;
Dance dance revolution: When they found out the method to open the door of the tower, we made the ranger, who figured out the puzzle, do the dance in person. It's a fun and enjoyable memory;
A dangerous woman: After they etrieved the tome they went out of the tower and found Ezmeralda, who was being chased by Kyril and his werewolves. Once there they fought together against some of them, and here Ezmeralda completely girlbossed, showing how capable she is. After the fight she went to the ranger... and pointed a knife at her throath asking her where she got the bow that Van Rochten gifted her in Vallaki. They became friends and met her afterwards so that she could accompany them to the Werwolf Den. Once there she proved she is their ally, but she won't put herself in danger for them if not strictly necessary and her priorities was to save and protect the children. This moment I particularly liked, because it made some of the less expert plaers realize thath yes they have allies, but not always their view coincide. I think it was a good lesson for them;
A cranky old man and family dramas: I'm sorry but I need to talk about Davian and the Martikovs. I love them all so much. Davian especially because he is the stereotypical cranky old man always complaining about the youth of today but at the same time he is also very wise and ready to sacrifice himself for his family and his loved ones. He has the habit of hitting people in the head with his stick as he lectures them, and none of my players escaped, they all got hit at least once. I changed a bit the story of the how and why Davian and Urwin fought, keeping the premise and all, but making it make sense for the story they were playing. Also the wizard took him as a mentor figure. The wizard also wants the Keepers to bite him to turn him into a wereraven as a way to get rid of his curse. And by the way, this does not concern Davian but Adrian, his oldest son. I made him gay and he has a boyfriend now. His name is Valentine. They are happy together uwu;
You... shall not... pass!: The wizard strikes once again. When they were at the summit of Yester Hill and the Gulthias tree was summoned, while the paladins and the rogue went to fight the druids, only the ranger and the wizard stayed behind to stop the Gulthias Tree. So you have this comical image of this small, underweight wizard cosplaying Gandalf with the Balrog and basically stopping the giant monster from going forward. The tiny wizard stopped the giant carnivorous tree from destroying the winery. Kinda iconic;
The hunting contest: A cute habit the rogue and the ranger developed is this thing where they do a hunting contest of which one can hunt the biggest prey. It's a pretty fun scene every time they play it out;
No more Belviews: This is a change I made for myself. I hate the Belviews. As a concept they creep me out and make me uncomfortable. It's all a me thing, I get it, but ever since I decided to DM CoS I decided I want to get rid of them. And after a long, long time I found a solution. I turned the inhabitants of the Abbey in basically people that died before their times that the Abbot resurrected in his twisted view of saving them, but in doing so they came back wrong, their mind fractured and so the Abbey became basically an asylum. I'm pretty proud of the change I made, going for a more psychological angle;
The true nightmares: This happened right after the Wolf Den. Two of the players, the drow and the rogue, got bit and infected, so they spent the following nights with nightmares of being turned into werewolves, which was particularly upsetting for the rogue, which I remind you , is a cat turned human against her will. The wizard cured them... but I made so they weren't sure if that worked or not until the day of the full moon, which was 10 days later. And to top this all off, the other paladin got cursed when taking the Symbol of Ravenkind from Mother's Night treasure, and he spent like 4 days being haunted by horrific nightmares. It was a really tense moment that dragged on for at least 3/4 sessions, and that made them feel the true Strahd experience;
Tact? I barely know her!: I play with the less tactfull players possible x.x. I'm obviously joking, but some of the things they say are just... so wrong. The biggest example of this is with the Krezkov. When they arrived in Krezk, they stayed at the bourgmaster house for a night. Once there they saw that the children's beds were empty and unused. They then found out that Victor, the whole reason they were there in the first place, did, in fact, arrived in the village and the bourgmaster and his wife took him in, but the Abbbot forced them to give him to him. The players then thought that they usued to sacrifice kids to the Abbot - they did not know at the time what he was - and accused them of doing so, clearly ignoring all the messages that clearly said that they didn't want to give Victor to them and that their kids died and that they were still suffering their loss. Anna, the wife, told them that first thing next morning they are invited to leave their house and went away, soon followed by her husband. My player got mad at her for reacting this way x.x;
Ranger writes fanfictions: I love the ranger, she is great. What I mean by this title is the fact that, when they visited the Abbey, they found two books, one talking about Argynvostholt and the other talking about Berez. The one about Berez talked about a character from the 'I, Strahd' novels and his story, telling about Marina and how she was almost turned in a vampire by Strahd, not outright telling the whooe story but putting the first seeds to know the truth. The ranger, the one that found the Berez book, read it, then forgot completely about it, I had to made her do a dice throw to remember, and she then gave the book to the wizard and told the others about what she read... completely misrembering everything and telling a story that was the farthest away from the truth.. all by accident! It was one of the funniest stuff ever;
The hell of the 1.000 doors: Argynvostholt was the first actual experience my players had with a proper dungeon. And they hated it. Opening door after door, just to find empty rooms with bascially nothing inside was so frustrating it became funny. It became a meme later on. Still makes me laugh how much they cursed Argynvostholt and all of its doors;
Ships, ships and more ships!: And of coruse there are some ships. Mainly, three ships developed between characters, two more canonicals, one that is more of a meme. The first one is between the wizard and an Original NPC that I created that is a Keeper of the Feather. She is a wereraven and the main help they received from the Keepers for the longest time, basically the acting agent, and the one that helped them revealing the truth about Lady Watcher. She gave him her Keeper of the Feathers cape at the end of Vallaki. Everyone ships them. Then there is the ship between the half elf paladin and Izek. Basically an enemies o lovers, opposites attract kind of story that only reveals how bad the taste in men of the half elf actually are. Izek is still a bad person, but he mellowed out a bit and finds fun in teasing the half elf paladin. During the last session, since they came back to Vallaki, the paladin kept following Izek around, so at one point I made him say "If you want to fuck me, you just have to ask". 'Nough said. The more meme-y ship is a bit more... predictable, I guess. It's between the ranger and Ezmeralda. It has quiet a bit of potential and they get along fine, being really similar, but they never had a proper interaction like the paladin or the wizard. We'll see how things develop in the future;
Berez and chaos: I made Berez quiet an important part of the story. First of all, the skull of Argynvost wasn't inside Castel Ravenloft - the dumbest idea ever, in my opinion - but instead it was used by Baba Lysaga as a way of transportation; second: they fought Kyril in the den but before they could defeat him he was tranported using magic by Baba Lysaga, who actually hepled him harnest more power to defeat Emil and became the leader of the Pack, and she is now using him to get everyone there, so they fought both Baba Lysaga and Kyril in the swamp; then I made so that, after the fight, they found in what was left of Lysaga's shack the pages of her diary in which she tells her story and what ties her to Strahd; finally, I used this moment to actually highlight Victor and started to plant seeds of doubts and make so the fact that he was the chosen ally to help them defeat Strahd actually have a motivation. Three scenes I loved of the fight against Baba Lysaga: first one, wizard used flight on the paladin by extending his hand and having him touch it casting it this way, it was a really hectic scene and the way they simply trusted each other was so cinematic; second one, the fact that Lysaga almost permanently in one action killed Victor while using one of her strongest spells and how this affected the party, it was great to see and made the scene much, much more tense; third one, after the fight, the drow, that killed Lysaga had a vision in which he saw Victor basically becoming the new Strahd and after that Mother Night basically taunting him. My players loved this fight, some of them told me it was their absolute favorite of the whole campaign as of now;
The true enemy of this campaign is not who you might think: The longest meme of the campaign, the true enemy my players keep wanting to meet. Have you ever realized how so many of the buildings have no sense, from an architectural point of view? Ever since they played the Death House, my players decided that there is only one architect in all of Barovia, that designed all of this building that make no sense whatsoever. This architect, simply known as "the Durst archytect", from the family that onwed the Death House, is now their one true enemy and whenever they find something that does not make sense in a building they blame the Durst archytect. Its the best thing that ever came out of this whole campaign XP;
Not so charismatic after all: One of the earliest jokes that ever came out was in the Death House, right after they meet the ghost children Rose and Thorn. In case you didn't know, if you tell them you want to leave, they try to possess the players, to escape you have to pass a possession throw. Two people failed: the ranger... and the drow paladin, who I'm pretty sure even made a nat 1. The paladin, who has as his highest score his charisma, failed a charisma saving throw. It was so fun. And he got possessed by crybaby Thorn too. It was great;
So yeah, that's it. That also made me think about the fact of making some other posts, I'm thinking one in particular dedicated to the Death House and why it's actually so bad and how you could change it.
Hope this was a good read, and I'm sorry it's so long, I just had so much to talk about, and again it's a 2 year worthy campaign TT.TT I'm sorry it's so messy, it's getting late and I'm getting quiet tired as well.
If any of you have any moments that intrigued you and wants to know a bit more about all of this, please send an ask to my sfw account and I'll gladly answer that ^.^
Tell me your experience too, how you changed stuff and what happened, I'm dying to know more CoS exeriences, they are all so fun and intrguing.
Thank you so much for the ask, it was so fun to answer it, remember to be awesome, see ya ^.^
Curse of Strahd shipping talk: Victor Vallakovich x Stella Watcher
If you want, you can suggest me any ship between two canon NPCs character (no party characters or OCs) and I will do a basic ranking of them. You can join me as well and tell me what you think of them, I would love to hear your opinion ^.^
If you already suggested them, through tags or other means, don't worry, I plan on making your suggestions too ^^
DISCLAIMER: This is just my opinion, please be respectful and remember that we are all different and that we all have different opinions, thank you so much <3
PLEASE READ: Due to the recent changes in Tumblr's guideline and how reblogs work, I can't see your reblogs if you do them from other accounts, so if you want to suggest a pair, please either comment under this post or reblog the original with your suggestions, thank you so much.
And after the m/m post and the f/f post is time to talk about a f/m ship with Victor and Stella. This one in particular was suggested through a reblog by @thedarkpowers . Thank you for suggesting, I promise you I saw the post and I will come and do the rest too (also, if you don't want me to tag you, please let me know so I also know for future posts like this, thank you ^.^ )
SPOILER WARNING FOR THE CURSE OF STRAHD CAMPAIGN!
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Ship: Victor Vallakovich x Stella Watcher;
Why they are shipped: There are so many parallels that could be drawn between the two of them that makes shipping them really understandable. This time let's start with the obvious part: they share the same Tarokka. They are both fated allies for the campaign, and if you draw their card you, as a DM, can choose between which one of the two you can give your players. This already make them really similar, then you come to who they are: teenagers/young adults, children of the two most important families in Vallaki, both living shut in their families home (one forced - Stella - one by their choice - Victor), both with parents that neglect them, both with the desire to leave Vallaki and their respective families the first chance they get (Stella not wanting to have anything to do with them after she gets cured of her madness, Victor with his failed teleportation circle) and then there is the cat thing. It's well known that Victor likes to summon cat skeleton, and then Stella in her madness believes she is a cat herself. They clearly have a lot of things in common or thematic parallels that make the two of them really similar;
What kind of dynamic they can have: arranged marriages/strangers to enemies to lovers. It does make sense, doesn't it? Both the children of the welathiest families in Vallaki, and with personalities opposites to one another. Victor is not the easiest to have around and Stella has quiet a strong personality - which can be inferred after she gets cured of her madness - and are unthrostworthy of the people in their own city and families. They clearly have no interest or way to bond with one another, but in a different universe I can see Lady Watcher wanting her daughter to marry the son of the bourgemaster to bring more prestige to the family, and neither of them wanting that, but being forced by their families. It's a perfect trope for them to follow, it makes more sense for them rather than other eventual pairings, I feel like;
What kind of story suit them more: Hurt with comfort/eventual happy ending. It is really difficult but due to their age and their desire to leave and have a better future, I think they, more than other couples, can achieve a happy ending. By learning from one another and learn of each others strength and weaknesses, they can find a common ground and be happy, maybe by leaving their previous situation behind and find a brighter future beyond the Mists. But also due to the fact that this is Barovia, there will be plenty of angst beforehand that might make so that people looking at their story are not really sure if they will achieve this happy ending or not;
My ranking of them as a ship: 3/5. Perfect middle of the road. I can see it, I can totally get it, the parallels are perfect, they can work with one another so so much. In my personal opinion, I prefer to imagine them as just friends. They were presented as each others' future spouses do to the plans of their families, while they only knew of each others in passing and hated each others for their different personalities, then they were forced to spend time with one another, got to knew the person behind that first appearance and end up maybe not falling in love but for sure forming a strong bond. This is a pair I would have never thought about but that I'm happy I got to think of, I was certain my ranking would have been lower - also due to the fact that in my campaing my players never met Stella so I have barely an idea about her personality - but the more I think of their potential the more I undestand and I agree with those that see this pair, which is why I like doing this ranking, they let me see stuff from different perspectives.
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Suggest me a CoS pair and tell me why you ship them, I would love to hear your stories and your headcanons <3
Curse of Strahd shipping talk: Lady Fiona Watcher x Lydia Petrovna Vallakovich
If you want, you can suggest me any ship between two canon NPCs character (no party characters or OCs) and I will do a basic ranking of them. You can join me as well and tell me what you think of them, I would love to hear your opinion ^.^
If you already suggested them, through tags or other means, don't worry, I plan on making your suggestions too ^^
DISCLAIMER: This is just my opinion, please be respectful and remember that we are all different and that we all have different opinions, thank you so much <3
This was suggested to me by my friend @i-tzi, eccoti le tue lesbiche problematiche e, sai che ti dico? Adesso che ci ho pensato penso di capire perché le trovi così interessanti come dinamica XP
SPOILER WARNING FOR THE CURSE OF STRAHD CAMPAIGN!
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Ship: Lydia Petrovna Vallakovich x Lady Fiona Watcher
Why they are shipped: First of all: same village. Since they both live in Vallaki and they are both part of the higher class of the village, one being the wife of the burgomaster and the other being one of the nobles, it makes sense they frequent the same circles of people. Apart from that, both of them being married to "important" men and, in Lydia's case, her having a disatrous marriage, also makes so the other could be their own "way out" and "a chance for a happier life". And both of them being mothers puts even more common ground in between them, especially if you make that Stella and Victor are the same age;
What kind of dynamic they can have: Acquaintances to friends to lovers, with some forgiven romance in it. If we make Barovia a more conservative land, the romance between them would be one not so easily accepted, maybe even by Lydia herself, with her brother being also the priest of the city. And the fact that lady Watcher is devoted to Strahd adds to the mix of this whole 'lovers that will never be', because the circumstances don't allow them. It could play a lot with the dynamic "we had one time together and I felt the best I ever did all my life, but society doesn't want us to continue this way, and as such we can only exchange quick and brief glances and rarely see each others, hiding how we feel behind lies and other people's expectations";
What kind of story suit them more: Hurt no comfort. It's a tragedy (like 90% of the CoS ships, honestly): the tragedy of two people that found each other and they actually work well together, and if they tried to put themselves into this relationship, maybe something healthy and beautiful could come out, but what other people expect of them and the nature of their relationship makes so they are both too scared to actually work on this, drifting more and more apart until this is only a tender "what if?" between the two. If we go the even angstier route, then we can have Lady Watcher using Lydia, taking advantage of her in her most frail moments, and make her dependent on her in the most toxic way possible, convincing her to betray Vallakovich and her family so she can be free under Strahd reign, together with Fiona. If this ends up in a betrayal or not it's up to you. This would be so heart breaking.... Or, if we go the happy route, Lydia saves lady Watcher with the power of love and they find solace in each others after the deaths of their husbands and the crashing of their dreams, or something among these lines;
My ranking of them as a ship: 4/5. I wasn't convinced at first, but the more I think about it, the more I get why they would be good together. The toxic angle and Lady Watcher using Lydia is what I would expect if we go the canon way, but also being together in a more happy ending way could make this all work really really well. Honestly, we can all agree Lydia deserves much better than Vargas, so I'd be down to kill the man so she can be with someone that loves her... if we don't go the "toxic and abusive", Strahd-obsessed canon Lady Watcher. Poor woman suffered enough under one lunatic, let's not make this worse with a second one. I will pay good money for someone to have Lydia actually be a lesbian but since she desperately wanted a kid is deeply in denial and have maybe a party member make her accept her sexuality while also giving a big middle finger to Vargas, making her leave him.
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Suggest me CoS pair and tell me why you ship them, I would love to hear your stories and your headcanons <3
The origins of the three treasures of Barovia, Curse of Strahd
So, I've been thinking about the three treasures of Barovia "required" to defeat Strahd, so the Tome of Strahd, the Symbol of Ravenkind and the Sunsword.
I'm not here to discuss about their statistical role or anything like that, I'm mostly thinking about them on a roleplaying level.
The Tome and the Sword are both linked to the Von Zarovich brothers, one to Strahd the other to Sergei, but among this I always felt the Symbol was... lacking. Yeah, it has its own lore and story, but if you play a vanilla module without any references to the "supposed past" of Barovia, it feels disconnected to the plot of CoS as a whole.
Which is why I, personally, changed its story a bit. Because if we have one treasure representing Strahd and one Sergei, to me it makes sense the Symbol in a sense represents Tatyana.
For how I put it with my players, Sergei gifted the Symbol, once belonging to his mother, to Tatyana. It was a powerful talisman with the power of protecting someone from evil, so that she was always protected, even when he was away and couldn't be by her side.
And, if you want, you can also make so all this treasures once belonged to Strahd himself.
For how I put it in my campaign:
The Tome obviously was written by Strahd himself, nothing more to be said about It;
The Sunsword once belonged to Argynvost and the order of the paladins of the Silver Dragon, who gifted it to Strahd as a truce to avoid conflicts with his armies in a sensless war. The sword never liked Strahd, sensing his potential for darkness, so Strahd instead gave it to Sergei when the two met, who instead tuned in with it almost instantly, so techincally the original owner was Strahd himself;
The Symbol, as I previously stated, belonged to Strahd mother, and once she died, Strahd inherited it, but never used it, keeping it as a memento of her, until Sergei asked if he could gift it to Tatyana, which Strahd agreed since it was just another protection on the woman he also loved
Different treasures, all that once where in the possession of the master of Barovia, all representing the original actors of this tragedy, all destined to bring end to Strahd...
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So, this is how I played with the treasures, how did your party and dm decided to act around them? Do you think some things could be changed and made better? What else would you add?
Let me know, I'm always curious to hear different experiences about Strahd, since the comunity worked so much with the adventure and all of its parts.
I've been slowly going back to my Yugioh/Duel Monster phase.
I'm still going to do Curse of Strahd posting and my shipping posts. I can have more than one hyperfixation at time, and the silly little card game with eldritich horrors in it is slowly creeping back in lol
Granted, I still prefer the style of play that there was when I first started following the anime (so around the Renaissance, since I'm that old, RIP me), so the slower pace of the first few seasons (I still have almost the entrety of Duelist Kingdom in dvd and the latter part of Battle City on vhs, again RIP me) but I want to know a bit more about modern sets, meta and archetypes.
I think I'll start watching Arc-V, always been curious about that one, I know more or less the plot and some plot twists, but always been curious.
So yeah, I'll keep you up to date about this and I'll try to post a new CoS shipping post soon, thinking about doing one Ismark ship and then another ship to mantain a balance.
So yeah, thank you for hearing me blab about this, remember to be awesome, see ya <3
I want to talk about all kind of Curse of Strahd ships between NPCs. When it comes to DnD campaigns, of course, the main ships are Character x NPC, Character x Character, Character x OC or OC x OC. And this is good, have fun, kiss your blorbos, but I want to go a step further and think: what if the party characters are not an option? What do I think the best ships between two Canon NPCs are?
For now I will do it with campaign I'm currently DMing, Curse of Strahd, but in the future I could do it also for other campaigns as well.
If you want, you can suggest me any ship between two canon NPCs character (no party characters or OCs) and I will do a basic ranking of them. You can join me as well and tell me what you think of them, I would love to hear your opinion ^.^
For now I will mainly focus on Ismark ships, since he is my favorite NPC, but I can do others as well.
DISCLAIMER: This is just my opinion, please be respectful and remember that we are all different and that we all have different opinions, thank you so much <3
SPOILER WARNING FOR THE CURSE OF STRAHD CAMPAIGN!
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Ship: Ismark x Doru
Why they are shipped: There are quiet a few reasons as to why I think this two are shipped. One: they are both from the village of Barovia, which makes so they are geographically close, so that's a good starting ground; two: their families, it is implied that Kolyan and father Donavich are close, even just for their roles in the community of the village, which also gives good reason to believe Ismark and Doru had known each other when they were kids; three: they are close in age, this one is more debatable then the other two because it all comes down on the age you give the characters, but, in my campaign, Ismark is his late twenties and Doru in his early twenties, which means that they could have been playmates when they were little;
What kind of dynamic they can have: Childhood friends turned unwilling enemies. I can see the two of them and Ireena having grown together and play together when they were little, maybe even be best friends because of their dads, which can make so Doru started admiring Ismark, since he was the older of the three and acted as a guardian and leader of sort, maybe even comparing him to an older brother figure of sorts. And once Doru gets turned into a vampire spawn, of course the problem starts, because of the Doru's new nature and because of Ismark's hate for vampires. It's a classic tale of two people who were close together when they were little but that fate turned them into enemies;
What kind of story suit them more: Angst. This two are perfect for angst, having Ismark cry the loss of Doru, or having him destroyed once he discovers that he has been turned into a spawn, something more akin to an animal than an actual human being, having them remember the time when things were easier when they were kids, or maybe, if we go for the "they got together before Doru got turned" route, then we can see them trying to navigate this new complicated relationship, be it with good or bad results;
My ranking of them as a ship: 2.5/5. I do see it and I think there is a lot of potential... but I don't romantically ship them. I think there is a much more compelling narrative if we go for 'older brother Ismark' and 'younger brother Doru', especially for Ismark, having him mourn the loss of one younger sibling in Doru which makes so his desire to protect Ireena is now even stronger. They can be a romantic ship, 100%, there is a lot of material shippers can work with when it comes to this two, but for me personally I don't see them as such.
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Suggest me CoS pair and tell me why you ship them, I would love to hear your stories and your headcanons <3
