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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gonzoron" data-source="post: 3977739" data-attributes="member: 31753">And there we go with the misperception again.  Of the three you mentioned, only Adam is close to being stolen, and his case is more of a "What If?" twisting of the story.  (i.e., what if Frankenstein's monster WAS evil, not just misunderstood.)  Van Richten bears little little resemblance to Van Helsing other than a similar name, a doctorate, and a scholarly approach to vampire slaying.  But unlike Dr. VH, Dr. VR branched out into slaying other beasties, and wrote books to help others follow in his footsteps.  Dr. VH had a son who died and insane wife.  Dr. VR has a son who was sold to a vampire by gypsies, had to slay said son to prevent him from becoming a vampire, had his wife killed in revenge, and slaughtered the gypsies in revenge for that.  (Thus gaining a lifelong distrust of gypsies and a lifelong curse to watch his companions die around him.)  A much darker and different character.Strahd is a Count and a vampire and rules a superstitious, Transylvania-esque land.  But apart from that, how is he Dracula?  Did Dracula constantly chase the reincarnation of his dead "love"?  Was he a wizard? Did he kill his brother to steal his wife?  Did he have a centuries-long enmity with a lich?  Backstabbing vampire niece?Yes, you can come up with lots of great gothic horror stories that don't even remind anyone of a previous character.   (And plenty exist in published Ravenloft.  Von Kharkov?  Harkon Lukas?  Juste?  Nightmare Court? Toben the Many? Elena Faithhold?)  But sometimes you also want to play up to player's expectations, but with enough twists to keep if fresh.</blockquote>

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