D&D 5E Sanitizing Curse of Strahd (+)

[Zardnaar]

No. You can represent people in fiction without being racist.

I've never really liked Ravenloft partly because the Vistani are a bad stereotype.

They certainly aren’t Romani, but it would be asinine to pretend they aren’t based on them, and any depiction of the Vistani that hopes not to run afoul of racist tropes against them would do well to consult actual Romani to help with the writing and development.

I don't think you can fix the Vistani in terms of a purity test.

Any Romani hired would just be that individuals opinion.

Gothic horror as a genre hasn't aged well. I never liked it to begin with so there's also that.

Grim in Romania.

 

[Charlaquin]

I've never really liked Ravenloft partly because the Vistani are a bad stereotype.

They certainly are.

I don't think you can fix the Vistani in terms of a purity test.

You want to unpack that?

Any Romani hired would just be that individuals opinion.

Obviously.

Gothic horror as a genre hasn't aged well. I never liked it to begin with so there's also that.

Many works of gothic horror haven’t aged well. The genre itself can adapt, and many modern works of gothic horror have done so.

 

[Dire Bare]

I've never really liked Ravenloft partly because the Vistani are a bad stereotype.

I don't think you can fix the Vistani in terms of a purity test.

Any Romani hired would just be that individuals opinion.

Gothic horror as a genre hasn't aged well. I never liked it to begin with so there's also that.

Grim in Romania.

I don't think anyone here is suggesting any kind of purity test. And, hopefully, it's obvious that if you hire ONE Romani editor or sensitivity reader, that doesn't mean you've solved the problems . . . but as with anything, the more eyes on your product the better . . . but you have to start somewhere, and ONE Romani writer on the team is an amazing step forward from where we were.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I don't think you can fix the Vistani in terms of a purity test.

Any Romani hired would just be that individuals opinion.

Sounds awfully like an excuse for punting on the whole thing.

 

[Zardnaar]

Sounds awfully like an excuse for punting on the whole thing.

I would probably cut the Vistani. They were a stupid idea in the 90s and I don't think you can really fix them without getting away from the whole curse, nomad type thing the designers leaned into.

Then for this ngs like kiddie cannibalism or what stick warning labels on it (R14, 16, 18 etc).

 

[Guest 6801328]

Then for this ngs like kiddie cannibalism or what stick warning labels on it (R14, 16, 18 etc).

What's that, some kind of age rating? As in, "Warning: this material may be too mature for audiences under 14, and too immature for audiences over 18. But 16 is right about the sweet spot to enjoy banking children into cookies."

 

[Zardnaar]

What's that, some kind of age rating? As in, "Warning: this material may be too mature for audiences under 14, and too immature for audiences over 18. But 16 is right about the sweet spot to enjoy banking children into cookies."

Kinda gives you an indication what's in it.

I'm not opposed to villains being villains and things like that are in fairy tales.

Not really my cup of tea but there you go.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I agree. It's great to have representation in our games. But when the basis of that representation in the setting has been a negative stereotype, I don't know how to fix it within Curse of Strahd. Like if you were to have a Romani-inspired culture in the Forgotten Realms, without the baggage of being allied with an archvillain surrounded by towns that shun you for being a disreputable, alcoholic, promiscuous people.

Just...have them not be drunken or promiscuous, and not generally allied with the villain? Have some Vistani help the PCs and consider the Strahd allies to be weak collaborators who shame themselves.

 

[humble minion]

If you were redoing Barovia from scratch, and remaking the setting without reference to what's come before in either Ravenloft modules or even old horror tropes, you'd never fill the 'Strahd's collaborators' niche with an identifiable culture. You'd want a bit more uncertainty, PCs on edge as to whether ANYONE they meet might be a collaborator. Some sort of society, or club or guild that's been hollowed out and turned into a front for Strahd's collaborators. Maybe some Vistani could be involved, some Barovians, even some of the elves - you might even try to involve a PC with appropriate interests or skills. Make it the local chess society, or a book club, or the town musical ensemble. Of course the townsfolk still probably believe that all Vistani are Strahd's informers anyway...

 

[doctorbadwolf]

If you were redoing Barovia from scratch, and remaking the setting without reference to what's come before in either Ravenloft modules or even old horror tropes, you'd never fill the 'Strahd's collaborators' niche with an identifiable culture. You'd want a bit more uncertainty, PCs on edge as to whether ANYONE they meet might be a collaborator. Some sort of society, or club or guild that's been hollowed out and turned into a front for Strahd's collaborators. Maybe some Vistani could be involved, some Barovians, even some of the elves - you might even try to involve a PC with appropriate interests or skills. Make it the local chess society, or a book club, or the town musical ensemble. Of course the townsfolk still probably believe that all Vistani are Strahd's informers anyway...

With a fun ironic nod in Death House to the Dursts trying to form a secret society because they’re so out of the loop they don’t even know there already is one.