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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 8025030" data-attributes="member: 53980">IMO, Barovia isn't a gothic horror reflection of our world (which is admittedly the case in most tales of gothic horror) but rather of a D&D world. That's not really an issue since the vast majority of those who play Ravenloft are experienced D&D players for whom it all translates. They know what a D&D world looks like, so it isn't hard to extrapolate a gothic version thereof.Regarding the discussion of a tabaxi or dragonborn being regarded as a monster like a goblyn, I think that's a missed opportunity. You probably don't have an entire party of them, right? The townsfolk can see that they are traveling with other humans or demi humans.So one way to play it in order to establish a feeling of being strangers in a strange land is for them to treat that character as a freak. They're not going to grab their torches and pitchforks right away, but many of the townsfolk give them a wide berth and the ones who don't are there to gawk or ask impolite questions. If something strange happens in town, there's at least one jerk who immediately points to the freak that came into town with that group of strangers, and people glare at the character suspiciously.This enforces a feeling of isolation and otherness even within the relative refuge of a town. People naturally find comfort in banding together, but if you can take away the sense that they can, in any way, rely on those townspeople, the characters will lose that sense of comfort. You take away the safety of the safe place without taking away the place, and that makes them feel all the more exposed.I'm not claiming to be any kind of expert on horror, much less gothic horror. Certainly, a lot of this comes down to preference. For the most part, I think not wanting X in a horror game is simply a preference. That's obviously leaving aside silly outliers, like replacing Strahd with The Count (from Sesame Street). Vahn dead adventurer, two dead adventurers, three dead adventurers... bwa ha ha ha ha!I'm perfectly willing to accept that not every gaming group would enjoy a tabaxi (or whatever) in their Ravenloft campaign. However, I don't think there's anything inherent to tabaxi that makes them a poor fit for Ravenloft outside a subjective perspective.</blockquote>

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