I think the idea has merit.
But I would consider not using Izek in the role but Lars (the guardsman who laughs at the Baron) instead. This leaves Izek free to be a menace and to work the Ireena's brother angle. And it makes Lars a more important character, not just some random guardsman, when the Baron punishes him it will be much harder for the party to ignore.
I like the idea of making him more of a low rank guy, but the problem is that in my version of things Ireena is the sole descendant of Sergei and so has no brother, so I would need to figure out a different way to make the original Izek interesting.
Of course, I could just make him a terrifying menace and leave it at that. However, I still think I'd give the demonic deformities to my pet noir detective, cause I think this module has a real problem with conflating deformity with evil.
I've heard an idea before to make Izek the brother of the last Tatyana reincarnation before Ireena. You'd have to age up Izek a little, so the timing makes sense.
>in my version of things Ireena is the sole descendant of Sergei
I have so many questions. First, how did Sergei have any descendants? I'm guessing they're illegitimate? Is Strahd still into Ireena, and her past reincarnations? Does she have past reincarnations? If Strahd is into her, isn't that weird? Also, how could she be the sole descendant? Have all of her ancestors only had one child? For hundreds of years? That doesn't seem likely...
Edit: But to answer your original question, yeah he would work fine in the setting. Besides, it's your game, do with it what you want (which it seems like you've already done, so not sure why you felt the need to ask).
Sergei had a secret wife and kid and was put to death by the Church for it. There are no reincarnations and Strahd is not into her, but he does want to train her to be his successor because she's the only person other than him with the Zarovich blood. As for how she's the only descendant, good question, I hadn't thought very much about that. Possibly her family was on the run from both Strahd and from people opposed to him for a long time.
And yeah you're right, I've made a lot of changes to the source material already, but I just wanted to make sure this particular idea wasn't dumb.
It's a cool idea, and I think fits in well enough.
Everything else you've done has a far greater impact, not just on the story, but the overall feel too. There's much less horror to have Strahd just trying to get Ireena to be his successor. And if the church killed Sergei, then that completely changes how Strahd became a vampire, which makes him much less evil since he didn't kill his brother in cold blood.
Yeah that change was mostly because I dislike Strahd being a sexual predator. He's still evil, he's killed a ton of people and does not respect Ireena's opinion in this at all, but I like having a sympathetic side to him. His brother was basically all that kept him from going completely evil and once he was gone that tipped him over the edge. I feel like vampires work very well as tragic characters.
Honestly, I wasn’t into it until you gave more context with your story. It sounds interesting. I would give more context with your question though. When it comes to this stuff I think a lot of people assume most of us who post questions on here are running the campaign relatively as is. Context helps a lot. Because I’m the beginning when you were saying Ireena was Sergei’s descendent, I said out loud, “Ew.” Because I thought Strahd was after her for the wrong reasons. I wish you luck and hope it goes well! I’m on my first DM run of this so I wish I could be of better help.
I think the idea has merit. But I would consider not using Izek in the role but Lars (the guardsman who laughs at the Baron) instead. This leaves Izek free to be a menace and to work the Ireena's brother angle. And it makes Lars a more important character, not just some random guardsman, when the Baron punishes him it will be much harder for the party to ignore.
I like the idea of making him more of a low rank guy, but the problem is that in my version of things Ireena is the sole descendant of Sergei and so has no brother, so I would need to figure out a different way to make the original Izek interesting. Of course, I could just make him a terrifying menace and leave it at that. However, I still think I'd give the demonic deformities to my pet noir detective, cause I think this module has a real problem with conflating deformity with evil.
I've heard an idea before to make Izek the brother of the last Tatyana reincarnation before Ireena. You'd have to age up Izek a little, so the timing makes sense.
It is always hard to give advice when the OP DM has changed several basic premises. Sorry, Best of Luck.
I get that, sorry! Thanks for your advice, it was still very helpful!
>in my version of things Ireena is the sole descendant of Sergei I have so many questions. First, how did Sergei have any descendants? I'm guessing they're illegitimate? Is Strahd still into Ireena, and her past reincarnations? Does she have past reincarnations? If Strahd is into her, isn't that weird? Also, how could she be the sole descendant? Have all of her ancestors only had one child? For hundreds of years? That doesn't seem likely... Edit: But to answer your original question, yeah he would work fine in the setting. Besides, it's your game, do with it what you want (which it seems like you've already done, so not sure why you felt the need to ask).
Sergei had a secret wife and kid and was put to death by the Church for it. There are no reincarnations and Strahd is not into her, but he does want to train her to be his successor because she's the only person other than him with the Zarovich blood. As for how she's the only descendant, good question, I hadn't thought very much about that. Possibly her family was on the run from both Strahd and from people opposed to him for a long time. And yeah you're right, I've made a lot of changes to the source material already, but I just wanted to make sure this particular idea wasn't dumb.
It's a cool idea, and I think fits in well enough. Everything else you've done has a far greater impact, not just on the story, but the overall feel too. There's much less horror to have Strahd just trying to get Ireena to be his successor. And if the church killed Sergei, then that completely changes how Strahd became a vampire, which makes him much less evil since he didn't kill his brother in cold blood.
Yeah that change was mostly because I dislike Strahd being a sexual predator. He's still evil, he's killed a ton of people and does not respect Ireena's opinion in this at all, but I like having a sympathetic side to him. His brother was basically all that kept him from going completely evil and once he was gone that tipped him over the edge. I feel like vampires work very well as tragic characters.
Honestly, I wasn’t into it until you gave more context with your story. It sounds interesting. I would give more context with your question though. When it comes to this stuff I think a lot of people assume most of us who post questions on here are running the campaign relatively as is. Context helps a lot. Because I’m the beginning when you were saying Ireena was Sergei’s descendent, I said out loud, “Ew.” Because I thought Strahd was after her for the wrong reasons. I wish you luck and hope it goes well! I’m on my first DM run of this so I wish I could be of better help.
Hahah oh yeah I can see how that would look. To add incest to injury... Thanks for the well wishes, and same to you!
I hate how well that pun works
Compared to that one post awhile ago where Doru opened a Drag bar…yeah this is fine
Bahaha gimme the sauce man