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Message: <blockquote data-quote="evilbob" data-source="post: 6928164" data-attributes="member: 9789">Pffewf, that's a tough one.  It fits the narrative just as well, but it leaves even fewer allies for the party, and no one with any real power who opposes Strahd in the land.  I don't think I will personally use that one, just because it could start to feel too hopeless:  it turns up the "everyone is out to get you" vibe to the point that the party might just stop trusting anyone.  (I've been in those kinds of games.)This narrative structure I would reject completely.  It mixes excuses for Strahd's behavior with victim-blaming and comes up with a particularly nasty mix, especially as the entire game is more or less a metaphor for spousal abuse.  This makes Strahd way too sympathetic and far less responsible for his actions, which is... way too much like every other story about an evil vampire, ever.  It's beyond trope; it's stereotype.  Strahd didn't conquer those lands for the people, or to keep anyone safe:  he did it because he loves to conquer people, consolidate his power, and he's good at it.  It's all about power and glory, which makes his inability to gain the attention of a woman even more frustrating to him:  he can't conquer her (thanks to her pesky free will and his lack of any warmth or reason for her to like him) which infuriates him, especially as he is clearly someone used to bending everything in his path to his will.  He doesn't damn his brother because he's jealous, or because other people like him:  he damns him because he is an obstacle in his path to the object he desires to possess, just like anything else.  Strahd doesn't love Tatyana; he wants to conquer and lord over her - which is much easier as a vampire, since you can remove someone's free will and force your way/vision/self onto them.  That's what he loves about being a vampire:  now he can also conquer people's souls as well as their lands and bodies.The idea that he's upset because the villagers he worked so hard to save don't have the proper thanks for him just makes me throw up in my mouth a little.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  Which isn't me saying it's a bad idea!  It's just me saying I'd never use it.  I feel like it goes entirely against the flow of the story.</blockquote>

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