Strahd has been on my mind lately. It is a strange thing to say, but it is true.

It might be that we are nearing Halloween. I have ramped my annual binge of weird and gothic films. I'm less a horror guy and more a macabre guy. I like to be unnerved more than fleeing in terror.

Real life is terrifying enough.

So the old boy has been on my mind lately. In particular, I have been thinking about hosting the myth of him has changed over time. The version I encountered in the 90's is very different that the version found in Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, and even more so than the version in the recent board game or Curse of Strahd.

He has had many an unlife, Mr. I am the Land, so I wanted to poke at his origins a bit. Take a look at that very first adventure from 1983. I haven't played or even looked at it in over a decade, so now seems like the right time to do it...

A Tangible Object

I am lucky enough to have an original copy of the adventure in my possession. I picked it up for a song when I first discovered Ravenloft in the 90's. This was before people suddenly realized that these things had value. My copy is in really good shape too, all things considered.

That striking cover of Clyde Caldwell still sings, and the isometric maps of the castle are still just perfect. The map of Barovia is basically just the map for Castle Dracula and the village with the inn near the crossroads that Harker stops at in Dracula. And the damn thing is only 32 total pages!

I mean, these days, most adventures for that hoary old goat, Dungeons & Dragons, are what? Well over a hundred pages right? Even most of the OSR hack stuff I have seen or the DCC stuff is pretty lengthy despite the harkening to the past.

And to be clear, this is 32 pages with several, full or half page Clyde Caldwell illustrations. A lot of artists get way more love than Clyde from this era, but he and Stephan Fabian defined fantasy art as far as I am concerned. Clyde brought the moody color of Hammer Horror while Stephan gave us unnerving black and white gothic storytelling.

Both are huge influences on me as an artist to this day. You can see them poking out in my color and black and white work...