This is an excellent supplement! This is now my go to version of strahd. Tomorrow my group will have their final confrontation with her, and we have all really enjoyed this take on her. Her motives make more sense, but she is still that pure evil that is makes you want to challenge her.

This is an excellent new version of Strahd, the PDF and art work are top notch and the changes to characters and stories I've been really impressed with.

Worth the purchase for anyone who was hesitant to play Strahd due to the problems with racism and misogyny rampant in the original module. This is a great jump-start for DMs to integrate a more modern approach to storytelling within Barovia. LGBTQIA+ friendly and it notably removes the racist tropes in two areas of the campaign. I have run this adventure with use of the companion professionally for the past 5 months and I've received nothing but stellar feedback from my 80+ players who have experienced it. This companion is Platinum for a reason. You should buy it.

Fantastic! I think the layout is easy to process and the entire thing adds replay longevity to both COS and VRGtR! My brain is abuzz with ideas for a Strahd versus Strahd multiverse of madness style campaign thanks to this genderbended reimagining of COS! can't wait to see what these creators release next!

I enjoed this guide a lot. The biggest plus for me is the author adding the new lore from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft into the campaign. Ever since VRGtR came out it's bothered me how it seems vanilla Curse of Strahd contradicts info presented in it. Also some other changes like having Ismark being the long lost brother of Izek is great and helps fix a problem I had with the original plot thread.

Note: I read and understood the author's caution that if I was happy with the original story, I should move on. This story has been told and retold so many times through the editions and I've loved every iteration so much that I couldn't wait to get my hands on this, so I skipped the Warning and dove right in...

and was subsequently disappointed. The author states her intention clearly enough - she wants to do away with the misogyny and child abuse and throw in some genderbends to make the female role in the campaign more powerful. This is vexing in itself - the Curse of Strahd campaign never glorifies the abuse by Strahd or Vallakovich or any of the other characters, but it exists to lend an air of resigned horror to the atmosphere - and that's what Ravenloft is supposed to be. As for powerful female characters, that is and has always been on the DM. Ezmerelda, Ireena, Stella, Zuleika, and more have always played powerful roles in my CoS campaigns, and I've used Ireena so much that I have sheets for her all the way up to level 12 as various classes.

When getting into the reimagined lore of the campaign, everything falls apart. The story feels like it was pieced together from a dozen different smut novels - minus the smut, of course, there's certainly an image to maintain here. The "consent" part truly cracked me up. A vampire will cast Charm Person more often than a bard, and will "court" whomever he/she chooses. This campaign lacks the horror aspect so closely tied to Ravenloft for so many years, and feels like a crude imitation better suited for younger players than the typical audience. Because the idea is so fun, I will be running a genderbent Strahd campaign without using any of the material here.

I will rate this 1/5 stars, deservedly, because the art is truly spectacular. I really hoped for more.

Not exactly what i was hoping for, but still an alright add-on to curse of strahd

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2021/10/review-she-is-ancient-genderbent-curse.html

A couple of months ago, beginning of September I think, I was made aware of a new title on DMsGuild called She is the Ancient: A Genderbent Curse of Strahd by Beth the Bard. I checked it out and liked it. Poped on to Twitter to offer her congratulations and mentioned that she would hit Gold Best Seller status. Well, this past month she did it! I thought with Halloween coming up and so many people running the 5e Curse of Strahd this would be a great time to review it.

She is the Ancient: A Genderbent Curse of Strahd

by Beth the Bard

157 pages, color art, PDF.

To start with you will need the 5th Edition version of Curse of Strahd to use this resource. Though I am going to also talk about how this can be used with the original AD&D 1st Edition adventure I6 Ravenloft.

She is the Ancient is more than just giving us a distaff Strahd. You don't need a guide for that. This guidebook shows how changing the gender of Strahd, but keeping her as a strong warrior figure, changes the nature of her relationship with, well everyone. The most interesting is her new rivalry and even hatred of Tatyana. These new relationships take up a good bit of this guide.

Beth the Bard reminds us that this IS a horror adventure and to assume that bad things can't happen to, well, everyone, is unreasonable. So yes there is still violence here and it's directed at everyone this time.

The changes are largely of these sorts:

Characters/NPCs. Several characters get changes, some minor, others are major. Strahd is now female, as is Van Richten. Others get minor changes. Any of these can be used optionally. Many of these are much more interesting than the ones we get in Curse of Strahd.

Relationships. Related to the characters are new relationships. These are very well detailed and even if you never change a single character according to this guide this is a very useful tool for Curse of Strahd.

Encounters. There are also changes to various encounters all over the Curse of Strahd adventure. This takes the shape of some encounter rewrites and others with tips. Additionally, there are encounter "flowcharts" that show how the various encounters are related to each other. There are also new handouts that you can print out to give to players.

That is overly simple, there are 157 pages here after all, but this is the gist of it.

The layout is clean and clear and the art is rather fantastic. It is on sale right now, but even at its regular price of $19.99 is a good deal, especially considering all we are getting here.

The overall feel is the same I get from watching a classic horror movie. "Dracula" is a horrid monster, someone that kills pretty much everyone in his path. "The Bride of Dracula" is just as evil, and likely kills as many people, but for some reason, her story seems more tragic. This new guide turns even this around.

Strahd is tragic, his love for Tatyana has driven him to become a monster. In this new Strahd, she is still a tragic figure, but it is nothing so prosaic as love that drives her, but hate and betrayal and yes jealousy. THIS Strahd is motivated by more violent emotions and desires. You anger her at your peril.

There is an accessible version of this adventure available. Link included in the PDF. There are tokens and NPC portraits you can use with this OR with the original Curse of Strahd if you choose.

I6 Ravenloft

Curse of Strahd is the newest iteration of the classic Ravenloft tale. This is "Dracula Untold" with Luke Evans. "I6 Ravenloft" is Hammer Horror with Christopher Lee. SO it stands then that "She is the Ancient" applied to I6 Ravenloft is Ingrid Pitt, in her "Countess Dracula" role.

I have not sat down with this new guide and Ravenloft and analyzed it line by line, but I have run Ravenloft several times since I purchased the original shortly after it was released. I have run it for every version of D&D since 1983, including D&D 5e before Curse of Strahd was released. My feeling here is that She is the Ancient can be used with the classic module just as easily.

Much of what is presented in the She is the Ancient is relationship-based. So conversion to or from 5e and 1st Ed is not an issue. There are some 5e stat blocks, but nothing that can't be easily replaced or swapped out.

Honestly the next time I run I6 I am going to give this a try.

What I like best about this is an attempt to do something different with what is now can be considered a classic sort of tale. It shows that like love, the topics of hate, revenge, and undying purpose are universal and can transcend simpler concepts of gender.

I had thought, originally, that this would give me some ideas for my own Darklord and Domain, Darlessa and Arevenir. Thankfully, She is the Ancient is not only NOT distaff Strahd, it is also NOT just a generic female vampire Darklord. I will, however, adopt the adventure flowchart idea and the relationships as they are modeled here. There are some great ideas to be honest.

Who should buy She is the Ancient? Anyone who has run and wants to re-run Curse of Strahd and wants to try something different. Personally, I feel the DMs that have run Curse of Strahd already will benefit the most from this.

I also think that first-time DMs of Curse of Strahd will enjoy this, but there is a LOT going on in both Curse of Strahd AND She is the Ancient.

Once you have this you can adopt/adapt as much or as little as you like. Or even just use the flowcharts and relationships to flesh out all the characters more.

I would say my ONLY complaint is that there is no POD option, but in truth, the layout and design are such that any page or collection of pages can be printed out and slotted into your Curse of Strahd book. Though a POD would be nice.

She is the Ancient: A Genderbent Curse of Strahd is not going to be for everyone and that is OK. BUT, for the people that are inclined to use it is a great resource and guide. It is well written with great art and layout. A lot of work went into this and like the original Ravenloft, it provides yet more options for replayability.

My players had already started in Barovia and had heard some about Strahd, but hadn't met them yet. I was able to work in a story to retcon some things and impliment changes from this but not all of the changes, just because some of it was too fixed already for the players. My players told me after the "retcon session" that they appreciate this take on Strahd and like having a villain who is a little more complex and has motivations and a story they aren't quite as familiar with (some have played CoS before and some are just familiar from memes/stories).

A fascinating supplement. I haven't run it, but just reading it, it has already been a worthwhile purchase. The author makes interesting observations on the gender politics of the Curse of Strahd adventure, and there's something to take away from it, even if you never plan to run a female Strahd or a "gender-flipped" Barovia.

I bought this because my wife and I wanted to DM Curse of Strahd for some friends and we had the idea of changing Strahd's gender and modifying some of the more problematic aspects of the module. We didn't really have a solid starting point but I found this and just had to have it.

It is really high quality and well worth the $20. Largely, what you see is what you get (genderbend on a lot of characters, more queer characters, less problematic portrayals of women and their struggles as well as of the Vistani), and tokens! So if that's not what you're looking for, maybe skip it. But for anyone who wants to run CoS a little differently, or if they want help making the module more inclusive and give women overall some more agency, look no further. I was impressed with the overall quality of the writing, which is both evocative and compelling, and offers good story expansions on the original source material.

You still need to have the CoS module to run this, but you can also take concepts from this to assist you in modifying other adventure modules and published content as well. I think that the big thing this illustrates for me is that it is possible to take a look at the module as a whole and modify it in a way that more closely matches your preferences and values, and that doing so is easier than you think.

Also, a huge shoutout for making the PDF and the content more accessible for those who might have difficulty fully engaging with a highly designed PDF. The layout and overall design is clean, simple, and easy to follow even when I'm tired. Only thing I would ask is that the table of contents in the PDF be linked/bookmarked or that there be an index of some kind.

Aside from all that, there's some QoL stuff that just makes life easier: NPC maps, descriptions of NPC relationships on an NPC's page, the art is really evocative, and the letters save me a little bit of time. Also tokens, tokens are great.

Definitely worthwhile for me and the kind of game I want to run, and the content has already been a hit at my table.

For the author, a few small fixes that I found in my first (partial) read-through:

• In the introduction, Curse of Strahd (/cos) links to the Monster Manual (/mm)
• some grammar mistakes throughout, nothing too bad (e.g. ableist being spelled 'ablest')
• the dead messenger: "the dead messenger could is Dalia Olensky" <-- this took me a moment lol
• Angry Archmage: I get the idea of going for the alliteration and removing the use of mad, but it didn't resonate with me like other things did. I would probably just drop "angry", myself (Archmage of Mount Baratok - is there more than one??)

I love this module so much! I bought it because the idea seemed interesting, but it goes into so much detail on nearly all the important NPCs, and even some unimportant ones! Whether you have played or run Curse of Strahd before I strongly recommend She is the Ancient, and I don't know if I'll ever run vanilla Curse of Strahd again. I haven't even mentioned the fantastic layout, a lot of D&D and other roleplaying games can be hard for me to read but this was so easy with beautiful art too! Count Strahd is dead, Countess Strahd is forever. Buy. This. Book.

This is the only Curse of Strahd. Vanilla is no more.

This is one of the most comprehensively ready-to-roll and inclusively genderbent versions of any campaign I've ever read. I am so excited to run this - as a new DM the thought and care that have gone into this are amazing and as a queer person I feel seen and represented! I feel like I could be brand new to D&D and pick this up and be 80% of the way to a great campaign. It goes way beyond just flipping some pronouns to become complete reimagining of Strahd that feels like a completely new experience, even for seasoned denizens of Barovia! 15/10 recommend - pick this up. If you think you know CoS like the back of your hand, it's time to grow new hands!

Beautifully designed and very useful work. I only wish I had this before I started CoS. Looking forward to the print copy, if it becomes avaialble.

$20 seems steep at first, but there is so much value in the resources laid out here, even beyond just the modified content. The graphics and web diagrams are all very stylish and serve as learning aids for the DM to organize this (very complex) module. I also appreciate that it incorporates and references a lot of the community mods for the campaign, as well as the more recently released WotC books. All in all, this is a very modern and well-designed resource that I will be using in my campaign. Nice work!