u/BudgetExtra9763

Okay, so my last post hit 14k views. A dozen of you commented on the premise - mostly some version of "Strahd would never." Only a few actually asked for the files. (Thanks! Much appreciated)

Three comments in conversations changed the manuscript:

u/gwydapllew pointed me at RM1 Roots of Evil. In it Strahd conceives a temporal plan, briefs the party himself, and supplies the means to get it done. I didn't realize that this actually sets a precedent for my grander version, and this was in print from TSR.

u/falcobird14 asked whether he gets Tatyana at the end of this. No, he doesn't. I realized then, that I was missing something, so have added an exchange at the dinner table where he admits he no longer knows whether Ireena is Tatyana - this realm is out to torment him and his filter of reality is through the Dark Power's lens. Any truth is compromised.

u/Carnagan raised Mordenkainen. So I had Strahd recall that the archmage walked up his road and lost before supper, and tied in the revolt that allowed Doru to survive. It serves to strengthen his position that no outside influence will ever change his situation. He has to act.

So, thank you! The un-Strahd objection was the right objection, and now the text is better for having had that pointed out. He's now more Strahd, than Strahd.

To get the files, no messaging this time, the link's right here. Three versions in the folder: plain B&W for printing, plus two styled layouts (image above).

🔗 [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1FLCSAnY-wFGGVJSYf6WpzKzY4Sx2roXf?usp=sharing]

If you've got time for one thing, pick whichever you can spare the time for:

Quick comment: which of the two styled versions would you prefer to use? (Reply with 1-Gothic or 2-DnD, so I know which templates need work on.)
Ten minutes: Could you read the dinner scene. Does he sound like Strahd line by line, or like me doing an impression?
Time to digest the document: does the ending hand you a something you would be interested in continuing? Does it spark ideas for your own campaign, or does it just strand your party in the year 401 of Barovia Calendar?

Love to hear your feedback, thanks for your time.

In darkness, John Winter.

My table finished Curse of Strahd differently. Instead of the fight at the castle, Strahd sent an invitation to dinner, and over the meal he asked them for help-go to the Amber Temple, reach back four hundred years, and talk his younger self out of making the pact. (For those who already have The Horrors Within, this idea is also mentioned there on page 201.)

He isn't repentant. He has no capacity for remorse left and he can't imagine having been anyone else. He came to a fork in the road, took one path, and now wants to walk back and take the other. The four hundred years that lie along the path behind him doesn't enter into it.

Three things that came out of running it:

He's tired, not theatrical. The organ doesn't play. When a player asked why: "I stopped playing some time ago. I grew to dislike the theater." Playing him exhausted made him far more frightening than playing him grand or mischievous. No illusions, no face in the clouds, definitely no zip-line.
The parting gift is a test. After dinner he gives each character a sealed vial and a letter explaining that if they can't go through with it in good conscience, drinking it will carry them home through the Mists. It's acid. He'd genuinely prefer their help, but he's planned for the other outcome. There's an Insight check that tells you nothing about the contents but everything about the Count.
The climax is a speech, not a fight. One character projects back and gets one attempt to change his mind. My player arrived with hers handwritten. She opened with "You sent me here" — which, given his ego, was the smartest possible way in. It worked, and the table still talks about it. I'm still talking about it.

I've written it up as a standalone appendix: the dinner, the Amber Temple, the intervention itself, and both endings — failure is a real outcome and it's written out in full, but not treated as a loss. All that means is that you now have an irate Strahd to deal with.

I'm after a few DMs who'd read it and tell me where it breaks. Specifically: does the dinner give you enough to improvise from, and does the one-shot speech read as exciting rather than punishing? Happy to send a PDF.

Send me a direct message with your email address and I'll send the files over.

You told me Strahd would never do this. Here's v0.6, of The Intervention with modifications.

I ran a Curse of Strahd and the endgame was where Strahd asks the party to talk him out of the pact. I'm Looking for DMs to poke holes in it.