Editing Strahd von Zarovich (section)

==Setting Version==
When [[Ravenloft]]: Realms of Terror came out as a setting in its own right in 1990, Strahd was given pride of place as the literal "heart" of the demiplane. This setting slightly retconned the modules; now, Strahd's damnation had drawn him from his old world into a mist-veiled demi-plane that functioned as a holding place for evil forces. The original village of Barovia remained (having been drawn into the mists with him), but the land of Barovia was greatly expanded, though the toxic mists still remained only around the village proper. One of Strahd's potential motivations in the original module became a curse imposed upon him by the Dark Powers that made him a [[Darklord]]; that he would fall in love with the reincarnation of his beloved Tatyana once per generation, and that she would reject him and ultimately die as a result. In effect, he was condemned to repeat the events leading to his damnation over and over again. 

The second module became the source of two of the other domains of Ravenloft; Darkon, ruled by Azalin, and Mordent, home of the town of Mordentshire, where the second module took place and which was absorbed into Ravenloft as a side-effect of Strahd and Azalin's experiments. It also connected it to the Ravenloft setting proper, in which Strahd and Azalin's experiments were revealed to be a botched attempt to escape Ravenloft that ended with the two of them blaming each other for its failure and becoming sworn enemies. Azalin is said to have become [[Darklord]] of Drakon soon afterwards.

The D20 version of Strahd retains the lethality of his module version and then some, being a level 20 character ([[Fighter]] 4, [[Necromancer]] 16) with the Vampire (Ancient age category) template applied over the top of it. Furthermore, as the Darklord of Barovia he now has complete control over the mists surrounding Barovia, allowing him to dispel them at will; however, being a Darklord also means he is incapable of leaving Barovia itself.