#ch: tam mantigieri

[rahadaddy]

One of the underrated changes I've made to my Barovia, just because it fits some of the themes and narrative better, is with Ez and Van Richten. He's still her mentor and foster father figure, but instead of Van RIchten being secretly racist and leaving Ez behind because he is cursed, it's more heartbreaking. Van Richten is dying in my game. He doesn't want Ez to have to witness it (or, worse, die with him). His stint as Rictavio is a coping mechanism that is not working and his goal is to kill Strahd or die trying.

Ez just found him again and she's hoping he'll reconsider sentencing himself to death like some martyr. She doesn't want him to reconsider killing Strahd. She just wants him to not throw himself at Death (in Barovia, no less!). She wants to be included in the greatest hunt Van Richten has undertaken. There is a heartbreaking drama unfolding between them.

And it's all background noise. Rictavio traded his horse for information on Castle Ravenloft with the warlock (who has a celebrity crush on Rictavio). He just offered to arm the party's fight against Strahd. Ez took the ranger aside and said, "Hey... he means well, but he will be reckless. Coming from me, that means something."

Except... coming from her, it means nothing because as much as she likes and wants to support the party, they hate her for stealing a horse from Arrigal's camp. They don't like Arrigal, either, but Arrigal and the ranger were formerly business associates, so saving Ez's life had a financial cost. More to it, the cleric hates Ez for "embarrassing his family's name" or something. I do not understand my player's logic there, but Alistor generally hates most people so it doesn't shock me.

Sometimes I think about party roles. Theo, our warlock, is definitely the heart of the party. She certainly is the one who wants to make connections with NPCs the most.

I just don't get it with Ez. Ez saved Victor Vallakovich from Castle Ravenloft, and the entire party's lives from pissed-off druids in the woods this past session and it didn't move the needle. Maybe her stint as "Rictavio's Lovely Assistant" will be humorous enough (or productive enough) to impress them. If not, I'm going to have to reevaluate. She doesn't show up often or in every life-or-death scenario. The two times she has shown up were to first give the prophecy to the ranger (who is a replacement for a dead bard PC) and reunite Victor with the party after a teleportation circle went wrong, and second because Van Richten promised the party a ride home from Castle Ravenloft. It made more sense to send Ez than Van Richten, who wouldn't have been able to resist a vampire hunt.

My GF said she wished Alistor (her cleric) liked Ez better because it seems like a fun little drama and that she wishes everyone had insight checked the NPCs more. I agree but I don't know what to do about it. I know what plot beats to hit with my players that they generally enjoy. I have not cracked the code on NPCs. And it's weird because they adored Ez last game!

I think one of the things I'm going to try to do is pare down the number of NPC allies they take with them to Krezk and Immol. Right now, they have Ireena, Ismark, Victor, Stella, and Doru. Stella died and was brought back by Theo during the druid fight. At other times, they've traveled a little with Godfrey and the revenants, the Durst Siblings, and they have plans to travel with Patrina Velikov. I guess they don't really need more NPC allies but like... wild choices, I think.

And I still have NPCs to finish designing for Krezk and Immol.

I'm not mad about it. The game is going really well and we're having a great time. I'm just stumped! The party wants to spend a day or three in Vallaki before shipping out west to search for prophesied items. I have to have Immol ready for them! I'll probably try posting more here as I prepare!

[rahadaddy]

One of the important changes to my Blood Countess game, just as important, imo, as changing Strahd from a cis man to a cis woman, is what I have done to Alek Gwilym. Alek, as in my last game, was Strahd’s lover. Unlike my last game, Alek’s family and heritage are important. Alek is the son of Argynvost in Blood Countess, hence Sir Godfrey Gwilym: one of his two bastard sons with Strahd. Godfrey and his twin brother, Alistor (our party cleric) were devoted to their father and grandfather, so much so that Godfrey has become a paladin, devoted to Argynvost’s memory and Argynvostholt. Strahd never knew her lover’s draconic heritage during his lifetime and only learned of her children’s relationship with Argynvost after Godfrey’s death and Alistor’s disappearance. 

Another important change is that Strahd is a half-elf. Her mother, Ravenovia, was a full-blooded Dusk Elf. Rahadin is Ravenovia’s son from her first (failed) marriage. Ravenovia and Barov had three children of their own: Sturm, who died as a teenager, Strahd, and Sergei. Ravenovia used her children as political pawns and weapons of war while working to ascend herself to godhood - something she achieved around the same time Strahd made her deal with Vampyr. The result is that Ravenovia trapped all three of her children in Barovia, changed half the Dusk Elf population into the Shadar Kai before they could be massacred, and created Ravenloft… as in the Domains of Dread. She has since punished other Dark Lords as she punished Strahd and serves as a goddess of vengeance, loss, and crusades against the undead. She is not kind or loving and is, in fact, the reason her children are all so messed up. Barov was bad; Ravenovia was worse. 

Our cleric and Godfrey, then, are mechanically half-elves, but are genetically one-quarter elf, one-quarter dragon, and half human. Alistor is also Ravenovia’s Chosen One and she “rescued” him from the Mists, even though he was happy there, so that he could one day take down his mother. Our ranger, meanwhile, is the reincarnation of Sergei and has learned oodles about his past life and his family during that life, which has been emotionally scarring. Our warlock, who is sworn to the Morning Lord, just made contact with the avatar of the Morning Lord: a forever undying Alek Gwilym, who is trapped in the Amber Temple, living in hope that he can get back to his children and make things right. 

It’s all so delightfully twisted.