Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Jul 28, 2006 13:28:12	I know that Strahd is a Vampire. Everyone who encounters him doesn't know that on sight, though. They keep having pictures of him where he look grey. Quite frankly he looks like a very well kept zombie.
#2 bob_the_efreet Jul 28, 2006 17:10:46	Every time I've had the fine opportunity to dine with Count von Zarovich, he's looked like this:
#3 gotten Jul 28, 2006 19:25:54	Hey, that's exactly how I see him too, but sometimes he wears a tutu. Joël
#4 lordjerz Jul 28, 2006 20:48:23	I can sort of understand how he'd get away looking like that.... it could pass as human i suppose..... maybe..... this one he clearly looks undead.... i mean...c'mon....
#5 Mortepierre Jul 29, 2006 2:24:20	Well, it was "advertising" for the first AD&D "vampire" module. What did you expect?
#6 zombiegleemax Aug 04, 2006 15:06:44	Every time I've had the fine opportunity to dine with Count von Zarovich, he's looked like this: Is that before or after he has dominiated you and altered your memory? By the way thanks for the laugh. It sounds like your a lot of fun to game with.
#7 zombiegleemax Aug 29, 2006 6:20:01	According to the books, He takes great pains to appeare human. He combs his hair to cover his ears, he speaks in an older diolect to cover his fangs, he dresses in old fashioned clothing and claims he is elderly to cover his skin.
#8 zombiegleemax Aug 29, 2006 6:19:23	According to the books, He takes great pains to appeare human. He combs his hair to cover his ears, he speaks in an older diolect to cover his fangs, he dresses in old fashioned clothing and claims he is elderly to cover his skin.
#9 zombiegleemax Aug 29, 2006 6:20:27	According to the books, He takes great pains to appeare human. He combs his hair to cover his ears, he speaks in an older diolect to cover his fangs, he dresses in old fashioned clothing and claims he is elderly to cover his skin.
#10 zombiegleemax Aug 29, 2006 11:06:14	According to the books, He takes great pains to appear human. He combs his hair to cover his ears, he speaks in an older dialect to cover his fangs, he dresses in old fashioned clothing and claims he is elderly to cover his skin. Thank you! That is exactly my point. I would love to see them use pictures that are even a little close to what he is supposed to look like. :D He is a vampire, able to blend in with humans, not an intelligent zombie. I would love to see more pictures like Robh Ruppel's cover for I, Strahd. But they are still using the long dead and decaying look. They even continued it for the cover of Expedition to Castle Ravenloft. By the Way: Do you think they will ever be consistent on the color of Tatyana's hair (in the pictures they use)?
#11 zombiegleemax Aug 29, 2006 11:31:27	I think the point behind that is that it may not be her, per se, but one of the reincarnations of her, which do not always look exactly the same. Also, outside of the game, the original picture was sort of a forshadowing, because the adventure was based around the fact that the players might know everything about this "a little bit odd" host, even that he's a vampire, but the characters had to figure it all out for themselves. That was also before there was a realm of Ravenloft. It was just a castle then.
#12 i_strahd Sep 02, 2006 3:25:00	Every time I've had the fine opportunity to dine with Count von Zarovich, he's looked like this: is that buddy criest. lol:D
#13 bob_the_efreet Sep 02, 2006 23:32:10	is that buddy criest. lol:D Yes. Yes it is.
#14 zombiegleemax Sep 14, 2006 6:42:33	The new cover art of Count Strahd for Expedition to Castle Ravenloft:
#15 zombiegleemax Sep 14, 2006 12:08:38	Every time I've had the fine opportunity to dine with Count von Zarovich, he's looked like this: Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Who are you, what have you sacrificed?! Jesus Christ Superstar Do you think you're what they say you are?!
#16 bob_the_efreet Sep 14, 2006 15:46:32	The new cover art of Count Strahd for Expedition to Castle Ravenloft: Wow. That's... kind of bad.
#17 zombiegleemax Sep 14, 2006 17:32:33	The new cover art of Count Strahd for Expedition to Castle Ravenloft Wow. That's... kind of bad. This is exactly what got me started on this thread. I had always had an issue with the pictures, but this one. . . He looks like a zombie who dresses well and brushes his hair. This is not the look of someone who can walk into the Blood and Wine without everyone knowing that he is undead. Grey is the look of decay. He is undead, but he is not decaying. Nor was he ever decaying. Pale and ghaunt I can understand but this
#18 zombiegleemax Sep 17, 2006 15:54:40	Enh, it really isn't the worst Strahd art I've seen (hello, Forbidden Lore) and it's not as if Strahd hasn't been depicted as bluish-grey (hello, Black Box) or even CHALK WHITE (hello, Roots of Evil) in past art...
#19 dawnslayer Sep 17, 2006 16:48:28	Well, it really depends on what book you're looking at doesn't it! HA! I mean, hhOkay, heee, hee, hee, he'd kill if he ever got a me! Ravenloft Dungeon Masters Guide, inside cover lower left corner: James Woods Ravenloft Player Handbook v3.5 front cover: young Sean Connery with fangs Secrets of the Dread Realms: Bela Lugosi Gazetteer vol 1: Christain Bale in American psycho!
#20 zombiegleemax Sep 17, 2006 17:05:11	Enh, it really isn't the worst Strahd art I've seen (hello, Forbidden Lore) and it's not as if Strahd hasn't been depicted as bluish-grey (hello, Black Box) or even CHALK WHITE (hello, Roots of Evil) in past art... My point was that this is a reoccuring problem that I would hope would not continue. I wasn't trying to say that this was unique to the 'new' Castle Ravenloft book.
#21 Morrigan Sep 18, 2006 12:59:17	Would it be out of place for me to point out that there's a custom spell presented in Gaz I which allows a vampire to temporarily trade their vampiric powers to counteract their weaknesses? So it's fully possible that Strahd looks inhuman much of the time, but casts this spell when he's expecting company and looses the inhuman skin tones and fangs. And when he's not expecting company... no witnesses.
#22 zombiegleemax Sep 18, 2006 14:48:05	Would it be out of place for me to point out that there's a custom spell presented in Gaz I which allows a vampire to temporarily trade their vampiric powers to counteract their weaknesses? So it's fully possible that Strahd looks inhuman much of the time, but casts this spell when he's expecting company and looses the inhuman skin tones and fangs. And when he's not expecting company... no witnesses. No it's perfectly appropriate for you to point that out. I do have to disagree with you however, on two points. I disagree with your interpretation of that spell. I don't believe that it effects their appearance at all. When I read it, it looks like it changes your vampiric weaknesses (like garlic, etc.). My second point has to do with how Strahd looks when he is not expecting company. The books make it pretty clear that people don't know that he is a vampire and that he takes great care of his appearance. He had encounters people when he wasn't expecting them, and they still didn't know that he was undead.
#23 Morrigan Sep 19, 2006 5:20:58	Fair enough so. It's not even an interpretation of the spell - it's been a good year since I read the book so I probably just remember it incorrectly. Though I would still hold out that as a powerful wizard, Strahd can easily alter his appearance if he so desires. Hence his Von Holtz persona. Ah well. Just an idea.
#24 The_Jester Sep 19, 2006 12:10:07	Disguise self. First level.
#25 dawnslayer Sep 19, 2006 17:38:41	In our campaign many strains of vampires can look as they did when they were alive, then they turn into feral looking or dead looking vampires they are, like in Vampire Hunter D! My hero! Even spawn can do it! (disguise self, your living self only)
#26 panurg Oct 19, 2006 9:58:26	The real problem of this vampires looks are his ears. He is a human, not an elf. I know that the powers wanted to warp his appearence so he needs to disguise his inhumanity, but why pointed ears?? It simply looks stupid.
#27 zombiegleemax Oct 19, 2006 10:36:41	If I remember the original description correctly, even without a magical disguise Strahd looks more human after a recent feed (ie, like a merely pale person, not actually bloodless). He does have pointy ears (so does the original Dracula, BTW-- who also has the extra handicaps of hairy palms[!] and a nasty overbite), but if he grooms his hair carefully they can be covered (something the new illustrator cheerfully ignored).
#28 shadycowmist Oct 19, 2006 11:47:01	The new cover art of Count Strahd for Expedition to Castle Ravenloft: The Picture is very Bela Lugosi-esq. -=SCM=-
#29 john_w._mangrum Oct 19, 2006 13:12:40	The Picture is very Bela Lugosi-esq. It actually reminds me quite a bit not of Lugosi, but of John Carradine, who played Dracula a few times, most notably in the Universal mash-ups House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula. Here's an image.
#30 Sysane Oct 19, 2006 13:15:48	Have you seen the pic they use for the interior art next to his stat block in the new 3.5 Castle Ravenloft? Long black hair? He looks more elf like than ever now
#31 zombiegleemax Oct 19, 2006 14:12:00	By the Way: Do you think they will ever be consistent on the color of Tatyana's hair (in the pictures they use)? I should hope not. Tatyana changes and is a bit different every time around; heck, I don't even think she really HAS to look similar for Strahd's obsession to key. The Mists make sure he recognizes SOME trait as being common to her. The PCs might not even always see the similarity, but Strahd ALWAYS does... and we all know what it means when Strahd sees it and we don't. It means we're all dummies, and Strahd laughs at us for our weak powers of observation. HE'S certainly not crazy.
#32 rotipher Oct 19, 2006 16:18:07	I disagree with your interpretation of that spell. I don't believe that it effects their appearance at all. When I read it, it looks like it changes your vampiric weaknesses (like garlic, etc.). The Mimic Mortal spell actually trades in vampiric powers for suppression of both telltale signs and weaknesses. The way it works, the first few powers sacrificed -- which are always the strongest ones, like energy drain and regeneration -- correct only the most superficial physical marks or mild liabilities (like paleness or never crossing running water). Only if a vampire is willing to forfeit ALL of its powers, right down to petty stuff like spider-climbing, does it lose its major Achilles' heels, like sunlight vulnerability.
#33 shadycowmist Oct 19, 2006 19:53:21	It actually reminds me quite a bit not of Lugosi, but of John Carradine, who played Dracula a few times, most notably in the Universal mash-ups House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula. Here's an image. That guy reminds me of Vincent Price...
#34 zombiegleemax Oct 19, 2006 23:51:56	You guys have it all wrong, look closely, that is Clint Eastwood!
#35 zombiegleemax Oct 20, 2006 10:21:33	That guy reminds me of Vincent Price... He's much slimmer than Price (also, he usually doesn't wear a mustache). Here's a much later picture of him with Price (he's in the lower left corner). Bonus Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, too!
#36 zombiegleemax Oct 23, 2006 16:51:26	I should hope not. Tatyana changes and is a bit different every time around; heck, I don't even think she really HAS to look similar for Strahd's obsession to key. The Mists make sure he recognizes SOME trait as being common to her. The PCs might not even always see the similarity, but Strahd ALWAYS does... and we all know what it means when Strahd sees it and we don't. It means we're all dummies, and Strahd laughs at us for our weak powers of observation. HE'S certainly not crazy. Thank you, that makes sense! I had always thought that it was just a repeat of the problems that keep popping up with Strahd's pictures. But what you said makes sense, thanks. :lightbulb
#37 panurg Oct 24, 2006 10:35:03	Have you seen the pic they use for the interior art next to his stat block in the new 3.5 Castle Ravenloft? Long black hair? He looks more elf like than ever now I'm looking forward to hold that book in my hands, but haven't seen the picture yet. Seems they are not quite satisfied with him being human. :raincloud But what can I do, I talk about this for years now. :surrender Not in public, but my players know that Strahd has no elven ears. :D
#38 zombiegleemax Oct 24, 2006 12:25:26	Thank you, that makes sense! I had always thought that it was just a repeat of the problems that keep popping up with Strahd's pictures. But what you said makes sense, thanks. :lightbulb Glad to help!
#39 xaoswolf Nov 12, 2006 11:53:51	They even continued it for the cover of Expedition to Castle Ravenloft. I imagine it's a lotlike the tabloids... You have your good days and bad days, and the traveling artists( paparazzi haven't been invented yet. Though I could imagine a realm just for them...) always seem to catch you on your bad days...
#40 zombiegleemax Dec 04, 2006 0:34:25	The real problem of this vampires looks are his ears. He is a human, not an elf. I know that the powers wanted to warp his appearence so he needs to disguise his inhumanity, but why pointed ears?? IIRC the ears r of his own doing ..he tells his people he is an half elf . so few people in ravenloft have seen an elf much less an half elf its how he explains ruleing over the land for so long.