Yeah, because you smell bad.

'strahd's scary'

'strahd's evil'

yea ok but hear me out.

imagine if. if he let you hug him.

@wonderfulworldofdarklords you know, Podcasts.

💀💀💀💀💀💀

.......sure it was all Strahd.....I get no respect at all.

Thanks, Strahd. 😒

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/s/uCRkDcYtr4

From the minds that brought you Alameda Slim's capers

That podcast that made The GMs guild Webpaper.

My friends, in one week we embark on the most odious, the most evil, the most diabolical episode of our illustrious career. A podcast to top all podcasts, a podcast that will live in infamy!

The best toys to give children is a real Sword

In one week, we take you to infinity...and beyond!

Or to Sunnyside and beyond, at least.

OoC: agreed 100%

Ravenloft DM Hot Take:

Barov was a HORRIBLE dad.

I know- some people like to put the blame solely on Strahd, but let’s face it: you don’t go from being a vaguely good aligned war hero to killing your brother in a psychotic episode without SOME childhood trauma. The man canonically put his kid into the military at age SEVEN!

All of Strahd’s woes are daddy issues, can’t convince me otherwise.

Ravenloft DM Musing*:

The Von Zarovich family probably suffered from a cocktail of personality, mood, and psychotic disorders.

Strahd’s meltdown™️ has the characteristics of a major depressive psychotic episode, possibly brought on from the overwhelming strain of both running the country and grappling with the death of his parents! In lore it was very sudden and tragic, and would have left Strahd to finally grapple with a LOT of childhood trauma that he’d never fully be able to resolve now that his parents were dead.

But psychotic and mood disorders don’t usually exist in a vacuum! There is usually a very strong hereditary component, meaning Strahd likely inherited the predisposition and risk factors from a close family member! A close family member like, say, his mother Ravenia. Though there’s little to no concrete lore standing for this headcannon, I personally run with the idea that Ravenia suffered from bipolar II and was possibly rather low functioning at that. The major, crippling depressive episodes that come with the disorder would have given her ample time to ruminate over the loss of her son Strahd (and possibly Strum) to the military. Barov most likely bullied her into enlisting the boys (because let’s face it, no mother willingly puts their kid in the military at age seven) and when Sergei came along, she had over a decade of depression fuelled regret put in to her relationship with the youngest Von Zarovich. It would explain why he was treated so differently, why he was so unusually pampered. Ravenia had reached her breaking point, and somehow managed to put her foot down and protect Sergei, at the expense of far overdoing his upbringing. If you want to run further with this (as I have) I headcannon that Strum likely suffered from a more mild case of bipolar II which he passed down the family line. This generic predisposition eventually led to lovely Lyssa Von Zarovich who I personally feel has a lovely little cocktail of a psychotic and mood disorder (Schizoaffective disorder) but that’s just my take on things, and is mostly due to how delusional and parabolic her mental stability seems to be.

Which brings us to Barov, my behated. Barov was a domineering, withholding, callous, and likely abusive man (he put his seven year old into the military, kids. That’s abusive even by irl medieval standards). Judging by what I can glean of his behaviour from Strahd’s HEAVILY biased little emo biography, I wouldn’t be surprised if Barov either had personality disordered tendencies, if not full blown Antisocial Personality Disorder (Psychopathic subtype). And oh look at that, personality disorders have hereditary components. To be clear, do I think Strahd has ASPD? No. He’s got some seriously unhealthy behaviours, but he’s not consistently disordered. It’s very circumstantial and I wouldn’t say he fits the full criteria of ASPD or Narcissistic personality disorder. I think he’s a very sick little man whose been warped by trauma and ya know- messing with the dark powers. HOEVER I do think he’s got some hereditary tendencies towards psychopathic behaviour. He’s eerily good at compartmentalizing emotions and has a much higher threshold for empathetic responses.

In summation- Strahd himself is a cocktail of an abusive past (I might do a bigger post on my reasoning for that later) and a really shitty genetic background. Villains aren’t born, they’re made. And unfortunately Strahd (IMO) had the deck stacked against him, at the very least when it comes to mental health. Thank you, if you read this far! Let me know your takes in the comments!

(*Disclaimer: I’m not a professional psychologist, but I will be in 2 years! I also suffer from several of the aforementioned brain issues, so it stood out to me when some NPC experiences were eerily familiar! These are just my takes on how I run these NPCs and interpret their past!!! Feel free to steal or disagree, fellow DMs)

The Gnoll language is so nuanced, I should write a poem in it for my beloved Ravenovia And a speech to inspire my troops in it.

I am excited to enlighten you all: gnolls eat the whole corn, cob and all. Its crunch is like bones! That's why in our language, corn's literal word is "bone fruit"! We happen to be masters of confusing fruits with vegetables.

Love her car!

In one week, we have part two of our Dog Days of Summer! We're trying out a new bonus episode format that will let us discuss non-darklord villains. We have to podcast about as many of them as possible, darling. We live for Disney villains! We worship Disney villains! After all, is there a nineties kid in all this wretched world who doesn't?

Trying to get back into the groove of animating with a quick test featuring Horrid Old Corpse Man; this is real rough and really the only thing animated is the eyes and base magic effect, but I'm probably gonna finish and clean this up at some point later

I'm so happy my big little boy found a worthy rival.

still thinking about that scene

Be warned Yeenoghu tends to hang out here when he can, that guy is a dick.

Man, the America campaign setting is really messed up. Glad I live in Barovia, not there. 😅

You mean Arkhan the Cruel's tower? Nope, that's still burning last I check.

Man, the America campaign setting is really messed up. Glad I live in Barovia, not there. 😅

You all should try Advernus when you get a chance. It's hot, has a werid smell, something is always on fire, and you're always sticky for some reason ........still better than America sometimes.

Man, the America campaign setting is really messed up. Glad I live in Barovia, not there. 😅

I'll take two!!!

animated fantasy films just don’t make fucked up evil castles like they used to

Strahdmas is that soon?

It is exactly 3 months until Halloween! 🎃

My Boi! My beautiful little boi!

No longing for the moonlight, no longing for the sun

Another redraw for practice.