She's NOT who you think she is.

[@avengingblowfish9653]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who looked at that 50 hp "Heart of Sorrow" buffer and realized that a single hit from the paladin will remove it...

[@holyghost_963]

How would you recommend transitioning from Madam Vampyr's arrival after the battle with Strahd into the binding of Vampyr. I was imagining where she reveals herself as the grand schemer of the entire campaign and offers them the choices listed: let the god free, become vampires themselves or seal her away - but i can't imagine this exactly being an option that she would give the party. I would also like the binding to be an optional good ending that has a lot of risks for the characters so having it after the mists roll away feels the most impactful, but could Vampyr still be sealed away after leaving into the multiverse?

[@Wastelandmatrix]

In my game she is a Time Vampire (like the weeping angels from Doctor Who). By doing the Tarroka Reading, she locks the fate of the adventurers into whatever the cards tell her. She then feeds of all the timelines, that never came to be.

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Insidious

[@AJBernard]

KZbin hasn't been recommending your videos to me lately. I realized that I hadn't seen one in a while and went searching for your channel. I love your stuff, and need to make a daily search list for KZbin creators like you that I want to keep up with!

[@deathshere4u480]

Its funny im going to be doing something like this in my game, except I'm gonna use Blinsky the Toy Maker. For most the story he is just a loveable/weird guy that sells odd toys. But as the story goes on, his funny laughs and disturbing toys become more and more creepy as the story continues. Until you finially get to the amber temple where instead of where you would normally find this dark power, you find a little piece of paper that says “Is No Fun, Is No Blinsky!”

[@TheGreatBooster]

Now this is a much better angle for Madam Eva than what was presented in Curse of Strahd! I had already thrown out the half-sibling and adherent-to-Mother-Night connection in favor of keeping her closer to her original background as a powerful figure among the Vistani. The Vampyr connection is even better because it could also imply that she's duping the Vistani just as much as the party: they only know her as the wise old woman who keeps them safe due to some poorly-understood pact with the lord of the realm.

[@joshsquash4330]

I was just thinking yesterday on how I'd love more Curse of Strahd videos! Your guides are helping me shape my campaign. I was wondering if you would do a video about Lake Zarovich, unless you did already and I'm forgetting. I feel like there's plenty of stories to be had there!

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

I mentioned a baby Aboleth in my old skill challenge video, but that's all we've done with it so far.

[@charlesthivierge4375]

I changed Strahd as a Warlock that made a pact with Vampyr

[@Hewhowantstoknow]

In my game the Heart of Sorrow is Dracolich Argynvost's Phylactery, binding him to Strahd (Stolen from Puffinforest, who's DM might've copied it from somewhere else) Which still works very well with this idea, A Metallic Dragon's heart could absolutely lure heroic souls towards it Only thing I can't quite put my finger on is the explanation for the March of the Dead happening every night when the souls get absorbed, other than spook factor

[@jordancoller]

I’m so glad you’ve gone back to doing your COS content 😍😍😍

[@trouqe]

Mine is another village cursed by Strahd as an avalanche decimated the area, caused a fissure to open up, and eventually, something resides below in a cavern. Strahd cursed due to another Tatyana reincarnation being murdered by their own people.

[@ventusastrea3850]

Your videos have been a great inspiration and help for my own campaign!

[@HaythamKenway383]

I like this idea of making Baba Lysaga Mother Night, though I would probably make it so that she was the Evil Vestige trapped in the broken sarcophagus in the Amber Temple, who was freed after Madam Eva and/or the ancestors of Kiril's pack made a deal with her. Maybe the ancestors of the Martikovs made a deal with her to become Wereravens, but then began using their powers for good rather than to serve her, which is why she hates them so much. Maybe Baba Lysaga is behind the druids of Yester Hill trying to destroy the Winery, and "Baba Lysaga" quite literally means "Mother Night" in the tongue of the druids of Barovia. If she's Mother Night, then who's the father? Vampyr perhaps? Maybe she intended to free Vampyr and establish a "family", with Strahd as her "son" and Patrina as her "daughter-in-law". Maybe she put the visions of Patrina in Kasimir's head so that Patrina would be resurrected and then complete her deal with Vampyr, freeing him. The only problem is that this might overshadow Strahd as the main villain, but I think it would work if she's the overarching antagonist of the story while Strahd's the final antagonist, with both of them having conflicting evil plans that the heroes will both want to stop, sort of like Sauron and Saruman in The Lord of the Rings books.

[@ventusastrea3850]

@@HaythamKenway383 yeah your ideas sound good and definitely could lead to interesting outcomes, as was my intention to offer a spring board for more lore to be build upon and make Barovia feel like a more connected breathing world. How I plan on using Baba Lysaga and Mother Night is going to in the over arching villan category as I've made my Strahd be in a position where he is just the darklord and count of Barovia. A prisoner of the realm as are the people of Barovia, instead of the entire land itself as is in the canon module. That is the role that I've given to Mother Night for me she is the representation of the land in her original deity form. It is my intention for her to overshadow Strahd, as a god would to a demigod. It does not mean that Strahd would be a mere pushover, after all Barovia is his birthright and he will fight for what he owns. In the lore I made up players will discover that Vampyr is an aspect of Mother Night derived from her power and through its isolation at the amber temple twisted into this eternally hungry form that creates vampires. For me Vampyr just wants to be free of Barovia, while Baba Lysaga Avatar and mortal representation of Mother Night seeks to reclaim all that she has lost. I hope to create this web of overlapping and conflicting interests and put my players in the middle of this power struggle to see what tough choices they make and how it all turns out. For me I see this as bit more interesting than go kill this evil vampire and leave. :D

[@FarTraveller]

This is close to what I did. However, my Vampyr is doing two different things. 1. Always challenging its champion with new adventurers to make sure it has the strongest one (if someone defeats Strahd, it offers them the seat. If they decline, it begins working on bringing Strahd back. The goal here is to eventually take over more demiplanes of Dread. 2. Vampyr is working its way into other places (Faerun, etc.) from time to time by sending out other full Vampires to the rest of the world. Because Strahd is the first vampire, from time to time Vampyr will have him actually turn a Spawn (a lot of times from strong adventurers who failed to defeat him) and then send them out into the world. They are not controlled by Strahd in the same way Spawn are, but they have the same lineage (which fixes the weird hole about where other vampires come from), and they have a bond to Vampyr. Vampyr could leave to do its own bidding, but why do that when it has this perfect cozy Barovia to keep it fed. It let's failed adventurers (in the form of other full vampires) do its bidding outside Barovia. Like yours it also takes the form of Madam Eva.

[@memestrider7077]

This is an awesome twist! Thanks for the great vids king!

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

You’re welcome!

[@wayhayland]

This video is worth my subscription - interesting take on the story!

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Thank you!

[@ScumlordStudio]

You gotta put 'curse of strahd' into your video titles, i cant believe i haven't found your stuff before randomly finding you mentioned on reddit, and ive been searching youtube for curse of strahd content in prep for running it. algorithms are so dumb :(

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

But hey, you’re here!

[@Aemery17]

Such a cool Idea! I love your content always rewatch as part of session prep. Thank you for all your great ideas. This is another really interesting one I am definitely going to try out.

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Happy to help!

[@abracadabra77700777]

So glad to see CoS vids back! They are so helpful!!

[@AlisaCirka]

I'm using the march of the dead as a Chekov's gun for a siege of Ravenloft at the end of the campaign. I'm running the fanes and binding of Vampyr (Making my Eva the forest fey) as options towards a good ending where the party actually kills Strahd and frees Barovia permanently. If they do all that, Strahd being the general he is, will realize he's vulnerable now and shore up his defenses/rally his forces. The party will need to find a way to orchestrate a siege of Ravenloft with all their accumulated allies over the campaign to even get into the castle proper, and Mordy's contribution (So his power doesn't overshadow the PC's, but he still get's to flex who he is) will be using Wish and exhausting himself in the process to give the march physical form and their will back, so they can become an army of the dead for the siege, RotK style.

[@oldomen3788]

4th option. I may have spoke about this in a previous video In your amber temple is leaking video. You explained that Strahd could help the party in sealing vampyr or the amber temple. I say if the player tell strahd and inquire his aid. He helps them fight vampyr. In the Amber temple is Madam Eva. They fight. They do the ritual. But ... Big surprise Strahd betrays party, and decides to absorb Vampyr's soul. Giving him the dark gods power. At this point you can do the wedding as he now has enough power to stop Ireena dying and leave barovia. Final boss becomes a beefed up god strahd Also. Really enjoyed the idea you had. I was not going for that at all and sticking with the canon version (for most part, but I like this idea more). Thanks

[@shamanspointofview8083]

Hey, it’s been a while since I saw a video notifications from your channel, has it been a while since you’ve uploaded? If not you may want to run a poll and see how many people are still getting notifications, I have all notifications on

[@paulinhomusika]

uhauha i like the idea! the players are now travelling to vallaki, and shes helping the players (she is one of the feys) but maybe i gonna change that, its a good twist haha

[@dezopenguin9649]

Ahh, fresh CoS content for spooky season, perfect! (And < $1K from that stretch goal now!)

[@gmsilveraide]

thank you so much for sharing this! love the content. ever since i started loving CoS i always look to your videos. kudos!!!

[@markmerritt1634]

Great minds I guess. Working on a campaign now with this march of the dead concept.

[@MisterRandomEncounter]

Very Cool twist Me personally the angle i used for Eva is that she is actually something older than that specifically she is connected to the mists directly. She and Strahd being few beings that remember every time previous when people have come and gone from this realm.

[@Edward_242]

Interesting idea. I'm currently reading Raising the Stakes and I paused this video thinking "Wait why didn't I see this?", then I noticed the video was posted today. Duh - glad you're still making content, our first playthrough of CoS starts this Halloween.

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Good luck and have fun!

[@xxTerraPrimexx]

Oh that I like. 100% stolen

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Ah, but you cannot steal what is freely given!

[@xxTerraPrimexx]

@LunchBreakHeroes and greatly appreciated. Shall be making my 3rd attempt at the campaign in the new year with a new group. Will be a combination of Pyram King's and your content. Really looking forward to it!

[@xxTerraPrimexx]

@LunchBreakHeroes Actually would it make sense for the purpose of the deathouse is to feed the heart of sorrow?

[@joshkolden563]

So glad to see you posting again!

[@charismacompany817]

Good stuff; as always :D

[@LucianoAcioli25]

What if madame eva was...Strahd. Just let that Vasili twist sink in...

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Brought to you by M Knight Shamalamamyohmy

[@LucianoAcioli25]

@@LunchBreakHeroes ' Oh yes, the brave heroes came, and after many struggles they finaly became powerful, to fight and vaquish the evil from the land of Barovia... It's a nice story, isn't? Soo perfect. Don't you think something is wrong? Don't you think that, with all my power, i could simple had killed you BEFORE you got so much power...? Poor souls, you're powerful because I wanted you to be. All the challenges, all the monsters, all the enemies...It was i that put them on your path. The path that you so eagearly walked, even that was paved by Strahd. You don't believe me? well.. *Turns on Madame Eva illusion spell* Since the beginning you were my puppets, the dreams calling you to Barovia, the cards pointing you in the direction of my powerful little trinkets...It was all MEEE. *Turns off Madame Eva illusion spell* Now, accept you fate as my powerful servants, children of my creation, and together we will get free from this prison and i shall conquer...ALL." Strahd/He Who Remains/Sylvanas final speech