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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ganymede81" data-source="post: 7407209" data-attributes="member: 6812267">I don't imagine Barovia as a functioning world. I instead imagine it as a sort of quasi-dream designed to torture Strahd over and over again. In this way, I see Barovia as being similar to Westworld, where most of the NPCs you meet are really just hosts designed to further this eternal torture with the aid of the PCs.When I ran Curse of Strahd, I dropped a lot of hints about this cycle (Strand finds Tatyana's incarnation, loses her, takes his vengeance, and is slain by outsiders) repeating over and over again. Adventurers from prior cycles (or prior attempts to close a cycle) dotted the realm, such as Mordenkainen, Saint Markovia, and some other NPCs I added in. I also added in a way for them to permanently end the cycle (they had to uncover the truth behind the realm, find the identity of the Morninglord/Night Mother as the escaped vestige from the Amber Temple, find Strahd's reincarnated soul in the form of little Arabelle, Slay Strahd, then sacrifice Arabelle in Strahd's secret sepulchure under his crypt).</blockquote>