Editing Strahd von Zarovich (section)

==Module Version==
Strahd first appeared in the 1e module I6 "Ravenloft" in 1983. This module was essentially a typical dungeon crawl with Universal Horror trappings; the party is summoned to the mysterious mountain village of Barovia, which is under the tyrannical rule of the dread vampire Strahd von Zarovich. [[Railroading| Trapped in the village by a cloud of toxic mists that unfailingly kills those who try to escape]], the party is compelled to seek cryptic advice from the local band of creepy gypsies, the [[Vistani]], and then penetrate the castle to slay the vampire. Replayability was attempted by using a card-based random generation to determine the position of the Holy Symbol and the Sunsword, two items that would make defeating Strahd easier, as well as the location of the vampire himself, the location of his autobiography, and which of his four motivations is currently in play:
* Attempting to take a PC's place by turning them into a vampire and using shapeshifting magic on them both, so he might have the adventurers lead him to new lands to prey upon.
* Attempting to woo the Burgomeister's adopted daughter Ireena, by charming the PC's into attacking her so that he can save her.
* Recovering the missing Sunsword and destroying it.
* Finishing the creation of the Sphere of Darkness, a magical item that will protect him from the sun's rays.

Whatever his goal, Strahd is a dangerous opponent, as he has powers of both a vampire and a wizard, making him far stronger than the ordinary (for the time) D&D vampire.

This module was later updated, expanded and rereleased for [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] 2e (RM4: House of Strahd), D&D 3.5e (Expedition to Castle Ravenloft), and D&D 5e (Curse of Strahd).

The original module ranks as #2 on the top 10 greatest modules released by [[TSR]], surpassed only by [[Queen of the Spiders]].

Strahd's second appearance was in the AD&D module I10 "Ravenloft II: House on Gryphon Hill". This was written by new authors from outline drafts the Hickmans created before leaving [[TSR]]. Playable either on its own or as a direct sequel to the former module, it revolves around the creepy moorland town of Mordentshire, where Strahd and the [[lich]] Azalin Rex are conducting experiments with a strange, soul-manipulating arcane device called the Alchemist's Apparatus. Through this item, Strahd has managed to sunder himself into two versions; one evil vampire, and one benevolent human. As with the original module, a lot of random generation was made use of:

"The Creature" could have one of four different goals; killing his human counterpart, tormenting his human counterpart's fiancee, claiming a new realm to feast upon, or becoming human himself.

Likewise, the form the Creature took was randomly generated; he could have been a vampire double of "The Alchemist", possessed the Alchemist in a Jekyll & Hyde situation, have partial control over the body of Lady Weathermay, or have complete control over the bodies of either Lord Weathermay or Mistress Ardent.

Finally, the location of the adventure's Plot Important Items was randomly generated, just like the Holy Symbol and the Sunsword from the first module.