Critical Lit

Everything's vine down at the Wizard of Wines! Chapter 12 is the nexus of nearly every plot hook in this book, but the wine won't flow until this gemless, ravenless, farm-to-table homestead is restored to its former glory. Too bad it's knee-deep in stick monsters and crazed, teetotaling druids. Remember, they're not dirty because they're evil; they're evil because they're dirty. In this episode: Chapter 12 (The Wizard of Wines, stolen gems, Approaching the Vineyard, The Martikov Family, bad blood, Approaching the Winery, Areas of the Winery W1-W20, blights blights blights blights druid, Special Events, Wine Delivery, Wintersplinter Attacks).

Sure, Strahd had one mother, but what about second mother? In Chapter 10, Baba Lysaga is a boy-mom wannabe, with a parasocial fixation on our titular vamp. To impress him, she wages a never-ending blood feud against Barovia's goat and raven populations. Adventurers are another matter. In this episode: Chapter 10 (The Ruins of Berez, the sad tale of Marina, Baba Lysaga backstory, Approaching the Ruins, Area of Berez U1-U6, Baba Lysaga's Hut, the gemstone, Baba Lysaga's ritual, Goat Pen, Standing Stones, Special Events, flying contraptions).

Mutual aid! In my D&D? The Krezkites share everything: food, labor, and a growing horror at the screams emanating from the Abbey above. The empty graves strewn about town are almost as problematic as the portrayal of the people this book calls "mongrelfolk." In this episode: the first half of Chapter 8 (The Village of Krezk, approaching Krezk first, Areas of Krezk S1-S5, Burgomaster Dmitri Krezkov, Krezk Lore, Shrine of the White Sun, Areas of the Abbey S6-S19, mongrelfolk publication history, portrayal of mongrelfolk, The Abbot, Vasilka, Vasilka as Fated Ally, The Madhouse, Clovin Belview).

Dream Pastries™ are Pediatrically Delicious! Uhh, Tragically Suspicious? Chapter 6 of Curse of Strahd is a bigger deal than its page count lets on. Looks can be deceiving, but the hags don't bother with all that. What you see is what you get, and that's a whole lot of trouble. In this episode: Chapter 6 (Old Bonegrinder, night hags, hag covens, Areas O1 - O4, The Megaliths).

It's an old school holiday hiatus! We're tackling the first half of S2, the 1979 TSR adventure White Plume Mountain, written exactly one time (to his eternal chagrin) by Lawrence Schick. In this episode: publication history, front cover, map, Introduction, Dungeon Features, Wandering Monsters, Rooms 1-4.

All will be well! Provided you avoid the murderous man with the barbed devil arm and his eerie collection of identical dolls. Or the incel wizard. The bone thief and his shovel. The priest with a secret. Gaze into the mirror and name your victim. Keep smiling, because you must. All will be well.

A cape a day keeps the Dark Powers at bay! Never mind the young woman of indeterminate age in the King's Bedchamber. Just don't use the bathroom if you value your privacy—or sanity. In this episode: Chapter 4 (Treasury, Gertruda, capes, Spires of Ravenloft, Escher, Tower Peaks, Larders of Ill Omen, Kitchen, Cyrus Belview, Chamberlain's Office).

It turns out life (and unlife) at Castle Ravenloft is as zany as the town of Barovia is dour. Trade the gloomy mists for the crack of lightning, chanting witches, the clacking fingernails of crawling claws, and a bevy of rats, bats, cats and other killers. In this episode: Chapter 4 (Random Encounters, Blinsky toys, Ezmerelda d’Avenir, Rahadin, Poster Map, Walls of Ravenloft).

Only some listeners will be able to comprehend the mysteries laid bare in this episode. And only some of those will be compelled to pursue the eternal truth. The rest are condemned to a base existence, sated by the wit, humor, and dulcet tones of your hosts, never to glimpse the esoteric reality of the conversation. Do not pity them—ignorance is a reward of a kind. In this episode: Strahd as Gnostic Demiurge, map of Barovia, Areas of Barovia A-Z, Madam Eva, Mad Mage.

Curiosity gets the best of us, and any one of Strahd’s ploys would be enough to drag us into the prison plane of Ravenloft. But three out of five adventure hooks prefer Creeping Fog. Ask your GM if Creeping Fog is right for you. Side effects may include asphyxiation, exhaustion, and resurrection madness. In this episode: using the Tarokka deck, the portrayal of the Vistani, Adventure Hooks, Death House.

We begin at the beginning, with two false entrances and a green devil face. Grab a 10-foot pole and a spare character sheet and join us as we plumb the depths of Tomb of Horrors, TSR's 1978 1st edition Dungeons & Dragons adventure, written by Gary Gygax himself. How does it hold up? What does it tell us about the tabletop community of the day? And how did this handful of black-and-white pages, barely a pamphlet, echo down the long years to inspire and traumatize generations of game designers and players? Not with fair play, that's for sure.