The Devil of Barovia Returns
Revisiting one of D&D's most iconic villains, forty years after my first encounter in Castle Ravenloft.
Strahd von Zarovich is one of the most iconic villains in Dungeons & Dragons. From the original I6 Ravenloft adventure in the early 1980s to the modern Curse of Strahd campaign and the new Ravenloft: The Horrors Within, the Devil of Barovia has haunted generations of adventurers.
My own history with Strahd goes back more than forty years.
My First Encounter with Strahd — 1983
I first encountered Strahd in the winter of 1983. I was fifteen years old and had been playing D&D since 1981, starting with Moldvay Basic before moving into AD&D.
I still remember that Ravenloft campaign.
My original character died early in the adventure. That was hardly unusual back then. Character death was simply part of the game, and we rolled up new characters and carried on. I created a fighter, a lost adventurer who had somehow wandered into Barovia and joined the surviving party.
We explored the village, made our way to Castle Ravenloft, and eventually confronted Strahd.
He wiped us out. Every last one of us, and it was glorious.
That experience has stayed with me for over forty years.
Back then, Ravenloft was relatively small. There was a village, a castle, and the surrounding countryside. Yet it felt like an entire world. Over the decades, Ravenloft grew through different editions of D&D, eventually becoming the much larger campaign we know today as Curse of Strahd.
But at its heart remains Strahd von Zarovich.
Revisiting the Devil of Barovia
In 2021, I wrote my first Guide to Strahd von Zarovich, exploring his history, personality, strategies, and combat tactics.
That free PDF has since been downloaded more than 5,000 times.
With the arrival of the updated D&D 2024 (5.5e) rules and Strahd's new stat block in Ravenloft: The Horrors Within, I thought it was time to revisit the guide.
Rather than simply update the statistics, I wanted to explore Strahd as a character and as an adversary.
The revised guide, Strahd von Zarovich: The Devil of Barovia, examines two sides of his personality.
Cunning Strahd is the patient commander. He studies his enemies, exploits their weaknesses, controls the battlefield, and withdraws when the odds turn against him.
Wrathful Strahd is what happens when that carefully maintained restraint finally shatters. His hatred, regret, and self-loathing consume him. He remains a brilliant strategist, but vengeance begins to override judgment.
Free Strahd von Zarovich Guide
The guide also explores a three-act final confrontation through Castle Ravenloft, updated combat tactics, spellbooks, and optional enhancements for more powerful parties.
The revised guide is available as a free PDF, and I've included the original 2021 edition for those who prefer the older D&D 5e rules.
Bringing Strahd to Life
Hardi's Watercolors
Over the past several months, I've been replacing the older artwork in Legends of Barovia with original watercolor and ink paintings by our new artist, Hardi.
For Strahd, I shared my earlier interpretation of the character and asked Hardi to explore those two sides of his personality.
The results are wonderful. The first painting captures the aristocratic, calculating Strahd. Composed, confident, and dangerous. The second captures his wrath. The mask has fallen away, revealing the hatred and monster beneath.
I particularly enjoy how these two paintings complement one another. They portray the same character, but at very different moments in his story. They are now featured prominently in the revised guide.
I'm delighted to have Hardi joining our team, and I'm looking forward to sharing more of his work as we continue updating Legends of Barovia.
New Strahd Artwork and Tokens
Alongside the free guide, I've created two sets of Strahd tokens based on Hardi's paintings for our supporters.
Each version includes static and animated tokens for Foundry VTT and other compatible virtual tabletops.
The original high-resolution artwork is also available in the digital asset pack for supporters who would like to use it in their own games.
Get the Strahd Artwork and Token Pack
Behind the Scenes
How I Create These Guides
One question I often receive is how I create the Legends of Barovia guides and digital assets.
The process has changed considerably since I first began publishing adventures.
From Microsoft Word to Typst
My earlier guides were written and laid out in Microsoft Word, then exported as PDFs.
It worked, but maintaining consistent typography, page layouts, tables, and artwork across dozens of adventures became increasingly cumbersome.
I've now moved the guides to Typst, a modern markup-based typesetting system used for everything from academic papers to technical documents and books.
It combines the simplicity of writing in markup with powerful control over typography and page layouts.
I think it is particularly well suited to tabletop roleplaying adventures.
Jesse Winter, our editor and layout designer, has developed a new style guide covering typography, page design, and the presentation of Game Master information.
I've incorporated that style guide into Typst, allowing us to create consistent layouts across Legends of Barovia and our other adventures.
The result is a cleaner, more readable guide that is also easier to maintain and update.
Creating the Artwork and Tokens
All the new character illustrations begin as original watercolor and ink paintings by Hardi.
Once the artwork is ready, I use GIMP, a free image-editing program, to prepare the portraits.
I remove the background to create a transparent version, then experiment with subtle, blended backgrounds and colors that complement the original painting.
For the tokens themselves, I use two excellent tools:
Token Stamp by RollAdvantage — A free online tool for creating tabletop tokens with borders and transparent backgrounds.
Heroic Token — Another excellent browser-based token creator with a variety of framing and customization options.
Both are easy to use and produce great results.
Creating Animated Tokens
For animated versions, I take the prepared artwork and use Grok to generate a short, approximately ten-second animation.
I try to keep the movement subtle. A little motion in the eyes, hair, clothing, or expression can bring a character to life without becoming distracting on the tabletop.
I then use Heroic Token to frame the animation and export it in WebM format for use in Foundry VTT.
The entire process begins with Hardi's original painting, which remains the foundation of the finished artwork and tokens.
Forty Years Later
It's remarkable to think that more than forty years have passed since that first disastrous expedition into Castle Ravenloft. I was a fifteen-year-old adventurer whose party was utterly destroyed by Strahd.
Today, I'm writing guides to help other Game Masters bring that same villain to life. And perhaps destroy a few adventuring parties of their own.
I hope you enjoy the newly revised Strahd guide, Hardi's beautiful artwork, and the new tokens.
Thank you to Jesse, Hardi, Blair, DM Andy, and everyone who continues to support Legends of Barovia.
I'm particularly excited to welcome Hardi to our little creative team. There's much more artwork coming, and I can't wait to share it with you.
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