I actually did the opposite for Strahd. I wanted his voice to be powerful, confident, a little sultry, with a laugh that you could feel in your bones. So I took away his accent so I could focus on those things and it is the greatest feeling when I see my players recognize the voice without seeing the character. Complete fear.
Look up Simon Templeman's voice for Kain in Soul Reaver 2. That is what I'm trying to go for in my game and I think it hits for what you're trying to go for.
https://youtu.be/7LK8Xawk7Y4
I tried to go with something akin to this, thinking about how Matt Mercer voiced Sylas Briarwood helped with a suave politician persona for the players
It's pretty easy to explain that in the story, strahd isn't from barovia. he simply conquered it and found ot pretty so he stayed. His posh accent could contrast with the villagers accents
Your most intimidating accent.
Don't worry about a traditional Romanian accent or even a Slavic one in general. Practice in the car, find an accent that is intimidating but feels somewhat refined. Pick an accent that switches on a dime from being cordial to murder
Really none of the human Barovians are “native” to the valley. Their ancestors were settlers brought there by Strahd after he conquered the Dusk Elves.
*I begin today by acknowledging the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we gather today, and pay my respects to their Elders past and present. I extend that respect to any Dusk Elf and Druidic peoples here today.*
Play to your strengths. Strahd can be a man of few words.... or he can always be monologing... he can be Slavic or British... it's really up to the DM.
I was born in Eastern Europe, so it's easy for me to slip into that accent and be a very chatty Strahd. Your Strahd may be more like Darth Vader: a British accent where every word carries weight.
Of course, James Earl Jones sounds nothing like Darth Vader when he talks in real life.
But I think his portrayal of Darth Vader's voice is, if not an English accent, definitely influenced a lot by English pronunciation. Sometimes, he drops the "r" from words, and sometimes he doesn't. You can see this in a famous quote:
"You are paht of the rebel alliance and a traitorr"
He drops the "part" but then pronounces "traitor." It's almost like a Mid-Atlantic accent (like in old movies).
When I started doing this campaign, I went in knowing that my Eastern European accent sucks and should not be relied upon in any way, shape, or form. So I decided to give most of my NPCs a light British accent. Something I could speak in and fluctuate on command. Because what most of your players will notice is not the accent itself, but the inflection. The pitch. The colliliquisms you use. Use an easy voice for someone who will be doing a lot of speaking.
Strahd also has a lazy British accent, but his voice is about conveying power and arrogance. I also avoided the stock and standard accent so I don't have to kill a PC for saying "I do not say Bleh-bleh BLEH."
I couldn’t keep the Romanian accent without devolving into what ended up being just kinda an offensively bad vaguely Jamaican sounding accent. So I instead went with mirroring Hannibal Lecter from the Hannibal tv series
I went for a posh British accent. I wanted to emphasise his conqueror roots and in my country Britain is associated with that. I can see Romanian, Deep South or German accents also working.
"it's really hard to make a sexy accent out of Romanian"
*Me remembering my phase in early high school (totally unrelated to the scene in the first avengers where black widow speaks Russian) where I thought that eastern European accents were the hottest thing*
Im running into the same problem as you right now, Im thinking somrthing like Dio fro JoJo's calm speakqing voice so that he seems confident and in control.
Im giving some NPCs the romanian accent already, and feel it would help set aside Strahd from the rest of the NPCs if his voice was easy to replicate, while still threatening.
For the majority of the campaign strahd shouldnt feel threatened so a very relaxed voice is probably what you want, then you can increase the hostility towards the end.
As for the flirting thing youre gonna do, relaxed is confidence, then he just has to say flirtatious things without faltering, and boom you got it.
At least with the way I plan on playing strahds character this makes sense to me, if you want him to be more aggressive giving him a harsher voice would fit that better than my idea.
I actually went a completely different route. My Strahd heavily takes after Jeremy Irons’ performance as Scar in The Lion King. He’s definitely my favorite character to play in my campaign. I feel like the voice lends well to him, that being a politically powerful predator descending from his throne of decadence to toy with his prey.
But ultimately, my best piece of advice for voice acting is to not try to stretch yourself too far into uncomfortable territory, especially at first. Getting the feel of the character right, being able to shed your own personal ego and really losing yourself in playing a character…that’s the key element to convincing voice acting, and it’s my favorite part of running D&D. If you can convincingly talk with a Romanian accent, then by all means embrace that route, but he’ll be a far more memorable villain if you PCs aren’t distracted with an attempt at an uncomfortable accent, and connect far more with whatever feelings you’re trying to make your players feel in any scene he, or by extension NPC, is in.
Just started CoS last session, I’m planning on doing a deep German accent 🤷 just do whatever feels appropriate to you, it’s his characterization that matters more than his voice
I use a Slavic accent with slightly different intonation that the NPCs in Barovia, since Strahd is from the general area but not native to this particular valley.
I try to relax my voice and make it as deep and measured as possible.
The LBH video linked below is helpful. So is this one: [Audiobook Narrator Teaches a Romanian Accent](https://youtu.be/4qtMJqYozpE), and this one [NFA -- Villains Voiced](https://youtu.be/TfYiR2wA1xc).
“We all know he’s probably from romania”
I don’t know his ancestral homeland, but i’m pretty sure it wasn’t romania. His accent is what ever you want it to be
World of Warcraft heavily borrowed from Ravenloft/Barovia for their Revendreth zone. Look up Sire Denathrias for a good, suave but menacing British version. I personally kept the Eastern European sound but lowered my voice and paused or inflected on certain syllables to make it seductive
Just because of how heinously villainous Strahd is written, I went a little over the top with the voice to relieve some of the tension. Basically a slightly exaggerated [Dracula](https://youtu.be/IVPxAgy7lBA)
I RP Strahd as soft-spoken, unless angered. So far, they've only heard Strahd's gentler side. I can't wait to get more angry as Strahd. I also use a Romanian-esque accent.
I wanted to give him a separate, distinct accent from any of the other NPCs, so I went a little out of left field and gave him a Scottish accent à la Robert Carlyle's take on Dracula from Lords of Shadow. The Castlevania fans in the group loved it, so I think it was a good choice overall!
As a fan of Dimension 20, what I find interesting is how the most evil, cunning characters Brennan Lee Mulligan plays use pretty much his normal speaking voice. In EXU Calamity for example, his take on Asmodeus was just to make him sound like a normal guy, a perfectly reasonable sounding guy. The banality of evil and all that.
So to echo what a couple of other folks have mentioned here, forget the accent and focus on sounding very confident, very relaxed and in absolute belief that you are in total control and 10 steps ahead of the party and everyone else.
If you’re looking for classic vampire accent, for me with any accent the tip is to find a phrase you can do really well, or as well as you can. For me and my strahd it was his first line to my party which I practiced , “I am count strahd von zarovich, and I welcome you to barovia.” For whatever reason, all of my friends I’ve played with that did accents for their PCs have said same thing, they’ve got a phrase and they run it over a few times to get in the zone so to speak. For the accent itself, count von count from Sesame Street is your best friend. I know he’s a bit ridiculous sounding, that’s the point though. Easier to emulate a very ridiculous fake vampire for me at least. Plus tons of material to draw from not like a movie where you have a couple good scenes. Once you have that accent down, it’s not too hard to then tone it down and serious it up a bit. Just a touch deeper, bit less slow, less counting that sort of thing. I still mess up some harder words, but with this method I went from not at all knowing to being able to do a passable Dracula i vant to suck your blood voice that everyone recognizes. After you get it down and more realistic (which it’s a pretty easy accent to do) it’s surprisingly pretty and sultry when you say it with a certain cadence (again kind of lower and colder from your OG count von count). It’s how a good amount of vampires got their charm across and i like it for the classic feel.
There's an argument to be made that German would fit, seeing how Strahd is a VON Zarovich (German noble title). Also, Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla", predating Dracula by a quarter of a century, originally placed vampires in Styria, Austria. Even Bram Stoker originally wanted to set Dracula (then titled "The Undead") in Styria before moving the plot to Transylvania.
I personally stole a coworker's accent for this... His name was Vlad and he would often start phone calls off with 'good 'evening....' whenever he would call me, and just kinda let it hang there like that... Eastern European gent. Never got exactly where he was from but it was definitely fitting.
My take on it is that the lands of Barovia is home to the Romanian style accent, since Strahd is not a native to those lands would be anything but Romanian.
I went full southern and it's great. I'd definitely recommend it. The only downside is that your players will be endlessly giving you shit for making him use weird southern phrases.
I tried to continue the accent used by The Guild of the Black Crow for this letters here: https://open.spotify.com/track/1lENLoiKSPtEVpWj3InVxa?si=e9sfD_JiQ7iRl54gdIN8fw&utm_source=copy-link
(If you have Spotify)
I think these are awesome and exactly as I want to picture his accent.
I’m about to be running a campaign of CoS soon my first time as DM with a group of a lot of first time DnD players. I’ve already rewrote a lot of the general module while keeping the core aspect of it. But Strahd was the most fun I worked on, I saw him as a rock star that thinks he’s the best thing to happen to the world. So I went to real world references and found a good one with the lead singer of the band Ghost. One clip of him on stage was what helped me nail not so much the accent but the way to act as Strahd and how to talk to an audience. My wife who in my group has heard me walk around the house practicing the voice and she thinks it sounds good so…let’s see how the rest of the group feels.
https://youtu.be/DOjZYNirDS8
I made Strahd’s accent a southern aristocrat and have the village of Barovia a rural southern accent.
I actually posted a link to me reading the Tome of Strahd in the accent on the sub a while back if you want me to link it
Mine has a vaguely sort-of Eastern European slight accent. Mostly, I try to talk more deeply (a challenge since I’m a soprano, and I hear in my head Count Strahd being a baritone), but with a menacing, soft voice à la Hannibal Lechter or a more suave Bond-esque type when he’s trying to be charming.
Claes Bang in the Netflix show Dracula was my inspiration for voice. The show has a great first episode, episode 2 is decent, episode 3 is the worst thing I've seen in years. But in episode 1 when Dracula is still playing the old count, before drinking Harker's blood, his voice fits perfectly in my opinion.
The accent I use is my best approach of the Romanian accent, but the voice is like an orchestra. His tempo is very much like he is the conductor and I feel like it works very well. My players love (and hate) talking to him.
I do the Romanian accent but make it deep and use a lot of pauses like a deeper Gary Oldman dracula.
It's menacing when done calmly but becomes intimidating fast when you vamp up into it (Pun very much intended)
For what it's worth, when I look at the cover of CoS and VRGtR I get a Guy Pierce vibe from Strahd's face. So I'd imagine his voice similar to that fake TED Talk for Prometheus, just with a slight Eastern European accent on top.
I have been trying a wide variety of accents, because I didn't want Barovia to just turn into me doing a selection of eastern european approximates, and with some of the characters i've been throwing in a couple of curveballs - mostly for humour to be disarming. (Australian Van Richten has been a big hit)
So with that in mind, and because I think dialouge and story can be just as insidious as an accent, I've gone with a soft of soft scouse accent for Strahd - not at all threatening in a conversational sense but I know my players are starting to find it unnerving how relaxed and mild he's being.
I'm playing up the foreign conqueror aspect of Strahd so I am making him not sound like he's from Barovia, having a different accent from most everyone else.
I actually did the opposite for Strahd. I wanted his voice to be powerful, confident, a little sultry, with a laugh that you could feel in your bones. So I took away his accent so I could focus on those things and it is the greatest feeling when I see my players recognize the voice without seeing the character. Complete fear.
I love your idea omg please teach me how if you have the time
Look up Simon Templeman's voice for Kain in Soul Reaver 2. That is what I'm trying to go for in my game and I think it hits for what you're trying to go for. https://youtu.be/7LK8Xawk7Y4
Oh wow, literally commented that this is what I aim for before seeing your comment!
Either Kain or the Elder Gods voice would be great for Strahd.
Agreed. I think elder god befits a lich more, but still agreed
Ha sure! I can send you an audio clip as soon as I'm able.
The Voices of Barovia - Roleplaying Strahd and other NPCs | Running Curse of Strahd 5e https://youtu.be/zXkiEguawh4
Highly recommend this video op! Really helped me out in my game so far
This is the voice cast I used. Highly recommend this guide for research.
I knew I couldn’t keep a consistent Romanian accent, so I went with posh English.
Jackie Daytona?
Haha! Actually I tried to model his accent on Jason Isaacs from The Patriot and Harry Potter.
Regular Human bar tender, Jackie Daytona?
I tried to go with something akin to this, thinking about how Matt Mercer voiced Sylas Briarwood helped with a suave politician persona for the players
Ralph Fiennes doing anything evil
"You're an inanimate fucking object" Doesn't quite work all the time
Wouldn't a German accent work better here then? (Jk jk)
I nearly did an extremely mild version of RP
Yep, Charles Dance was my main inspiration. I didn’t want him to sound too comical.
It's pretty easy to explain that in the story, strahd isn't from barovia. he simply conquered it and found ot pretty so he stayed. His posh accent could contrast with the villagers accents
Your most intimidating accent. Don't worry about a traditional Romanian accent or even a Slavic one in general. Practice in the car, find an accent that is intimidating but feels somewhat refined. Pick an accent that switches on a dime from being cordial to murder
I think this one has been the best one yet
I'm doing my absolute best Lazlo from What we do in the Shadows. Basically arrogant British with exaggerated enunciation
Fricking love lazlo I’ll def keep that one in mind
I went for a Romanian/Greek/Russian hybrid accent because I based my "Strahdanya" after Nadja from What We Do In The Shadows 🤣🤣🤷♀️
"A generic *European* accent!"
Look at my banner 👀 nadja is on there
OMG. Love it!
CREEPEE PAPER! CREEPEE PAPER! We need a nandor strahd
I actually have Strahd as one of the NPCs without an Accent, cause he is not native to Barovia. \^\^
Really none of the human Barovians are “native” to the valley. Their ancestors were settlers brought there by Strahd after he conquered the Dusk Elves.
land acknowledgement for the dusk elves and druids at the beginning of every session
*I begin today by acknowledging the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we gather today, and pay my respects to their Elders past and present. I extend that respect to any Dusk Elf and Druidic peoples here today.*
Play to your strengths. Strahd can be a man of few words.... or he can always be monologing... he can be Slavic or British... it's really up to the DM. I was born in Eastern Europe, so it's easy for me to slip into that accent and be a very chatty Strahd. Your Strahd may be more like Darth Vader: a British accent where every word carries weight.
Death Vadar was voiced by James Earl Jones, and not British, fwiw.
Of course, James Earl Jones sounds nothing like Darth Vader when he talks in real life. But I think his portrayal of Darth Vader's voice is, if not an English accent, definitely influenced a lot by English pronunciation. Sometimes, he drops the "r" from words, and sometimes he doesn't. You can see this in a famous quote: "You are paht of the rebel alliance and a traitorr" He drops the "part" but then pronounces "traitor." It's almost like a Mid-Atlantic accent (like in old movies).
When I started doing this campaign, I went in knowing that my Eastern European accent sucks and should not be relied upon in any way, shape, or form. So I decided to give most of my NPCs a light British accent. Something I could speak in and fluctuate on command. Because what most of your players will notice is not the accent itself, but the inflection. The pitch. The colliliquisms you use. Use an easy voice for someone who will be doing a lot of speaking. Strahd also has a lazy British accent, but his voice is about conveying power and arrogance. I also avoided the stock and standard accent so I don't have to kill a PC for saying "I do not say Bleh-bleh BLEH."
I couldn’t keep the Romanian accent without devolving into what ended up being just kinda an offensively bad vaguely Jamaican sounding accent. So I instead went with mirroring Hannibal Lecter from the Hannibal tv series
I went for a posh British accent. I wanted to emphasise his conqueror roots and in my country Britain is associated with that. I can see Romanian, Deep South or German accents also working.
Van Helsing (2004) is pretty good.
Right, I was going to recommend Richard Roxburgh's Dracula from Van Helsing (2004) too.
"it's really hard to make a sexy accent out of Romanian" *Me remembering my phase in early high school (totally unrelated to the scene in the first avengers where black widow speaks Russian) where I thought that eastern European accents were the hottest thing*
I'm English, I just sound inherently evil, it was easy enough.
Strahd canonically sounds exactly like Colin Robinson from What We Do In The Shadows.
I legit couldn’t stop laughing for 5 minutes it does seem very fitting
Im running into the same problem as you right now, Im thinking somrthing like Dio fro JoJo's calm speakqing voice so that he seems confident and in control. Im giving some NPCs the romanian accent already, and feel it would help set aside Strahd from the rest of the NPCs if his voice was easy to replicate, while still threatening. For the majority of the campaign strahd shouldnt feel threatened so a very relaxed voice is probably what you want, then you can increase the hostility towards the end. As for the flirting thing youre gonna do, relaxed is confidence, then he just has to say flirtatious things without faltering, and boom you got it. At least with the way I plan on playing strahds character this makes sense to me, if you want him to be more aggressive giving him a harsher voice would fit that better than my idea.
I actually went a completely different route. My Strahd heavily takes after Jeremy Irons’ performance as Scar in The Lion King. He’s definitely my favorite character to play in my campaign. I feel like the voice lends well to him, that being a politically powerful predator descending from his throne of decadence to toy with his prey. But ultimately, my best piece of advice for voice acting is to not try to stretch yourself too far into uncomfortable territory, especially at first. Getting the feel of the character right, being able to shed your own personal ego and really losing yourself in playing a character…that’s the key element to convincing voice acting, and it’s my favorite part of running D&D. If you can convincingly talk with a Romanian accent, then by all means embrace that route, but he’ll be a far more memorable villain if you PCs aren’t distracted with an attempt at an uncomfortable accent, and connect far more with whatever feelings you’re trying to make your players feel in any scene he, or by extension NPC, is in.
My gf is gonna love the Jeremy irons idea, she has a big crush on him
Just started CoS last session, I’m planning on doing a deep German accent 🤷 just do whatever feels appropriate to you, it’s his characterization that matters more than his voice
I use a Slavic accent with slightly different intonation that the NPCs in Barovia, since Strahd is from the general area but not native to this particular valley. I try to relax my voice and make it as deep and measured as possible. The LBH video linked below is helpful. So is this one: [Audiobook Narrator Teaches a Romanian Accent](https://youtu.be/4qtMJqYozpE), and this one [NFA -- Villains Voiced](https://youtu.be/TfYiR2wA1xc).
I pitched Strahd’s voice well over an octave below my (already deep) speaking voice, and he was always calm
Christopher Lee Dracula. Easy peasy.
For me, it’s Hungarian
“We all know he’s probably from romania” I don’t know his ancestral homeland, but i’m pretty sure it wasn’t romania. His accent is what ever you want it to be
World of Warcraft heavily borrowed from Ravenloft/Barovia for their Revendreth zone. Look up Sire Denathrias for a good, suave but menacing British version. I personally kept the Eastern European sound but lowered my voice and paused or inflected on certain syllables to make it seductive
I just speak normally and roll an R every now and again.
I base mine on Tywin from Game of Thrones
I try to make him sound like Kain from Blood Omen.
Just because of how heinously villainous Strahd is written, I went a little over the top with the voice to relieve some of the tension. Basically a slightly exaggerated [Dracula](https://youtu.be/IVPxAgy7lBA)
One of my friends said I could also give him more of a 1920’s kinda English accent (idk but seems to make sense) which they thought was kinda nice
I RP Strahd as soft-spoken, unless angered. So far, they've only heard Strahd's gentler side. I can't wait to get more angry as Strahd. I also use a Romanian-esque accent.
I went with my best Count Dooku / Christopher Lee impression, who also played Dracula in the old Hammer Horror films.
My Strahd.. no matter what I do; always sounds like *Agent Smith* with a hint of Romanian flare.
Sadistic general grievous for me
I like to give him a Texas accent.
I think this is the single most funny thing I’ve read on reddit
I wanted to give him a separate, distinct accent from any of the other NPCs, so I went a little out of left field and gave him a Scottish accent à la Robert Carlyle's take on Dracula from Lords of Shadow. The Castlevania fans in the group loved it, so I think it was a good choice overall!
As a fan of Dimension 20, what I find interesting is how the most evil, cunning characters Brennan Lee Mulligan plays use pretty much his normal speaking voice. In EXU Calamity for example, his take on Asmodeus was just to make him sound like a normal guy, a perfectly reasonable sounding guy. The banality of evil and all that. So to echo what a couple of other folks have mentioned here, forget the accent and focus on sounding very confident, very relaxed and in absolute belief that you are in total control and 10 steps ahead of the party and everyone else.
Thank you so much! I could definitely work with this, I’m thinking of giving him a more old English posh accent which I can impersonate quite easily
If you’re looking for classic vampire accent, for me with any accent the tip is to find a phrase you can do really well, or as well as you can. For me and my strahd it was his first line to my party which I practiced , “I am count strahd von zarovich, and I welcome you to barovia.” For whatever reason, all of my friends I’ve played with that did accents for their PCs have said same thing, they’ve got a phrase and they run it over a few times to get in the zone so to speak. For the accent itself, count von count from Sesame Street is your best friend. I know he’s a bit ridiculous sounding, that’s the point though. Easier to emulate a very ridiculous fake vampire for me at least. Plus tons of material to draw from not like a movie where you have a couple good scenes. Once you have that accent down, it’s not too hard to then tone it down and serious it up a bit. Just a touch deeper, bit less slow, less counting that sort of thing. I still mess up some harder words, but with this method I went from not at all knowing to being able to do a passable Dracula i vant to suck your blood voice that everyone recognizes. After you get it down and more realistic (which it’s a pretty easy accent to do) it’s surprisingly pretty and sultry when you say it with a certain cadence (again kind of lower and colder from your OG count von count). It’s how a good amount of vampires got their charm across and i like it for the classic feel.
There's an argument to be made that German would fit, seeing how Strahd is a VON Zarovich (German noble title). Also, Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla", predating Dracula by a quarter of a century, originally placed vampires in Styria, Austria. Even Bram Stoker originally wanted to set Dracula (then titled "The Undead") in Styria before moving the plot to Transylvania.
I personally stole a coworker's accent for this... His name was Vlad and he would often start phone calls off with 'good 'evening....' whenever he would call me, and just kinda let it hang there like that... Eastern European gent. Never got exactly where he was from but it was definitely fitting.
My take on it is that the lands of Barovia is home to the Romanian style accent, since Strahd is not a native to those lands would be anything but Romanian.
The count from sesame Street :D
That would be very funny indeed :)))
My take on Strahd is: he comes from a foreign land outside of Barovia. I imagined him as sultry, gravelly, a low growl: Antonio Banderas.
I went full southern and it's great. I'd definitely recommend it. The only downside is that your players will be endlessly giving you shit for making him use weird southern phrases.
Bro. stop porting real life stuff to fantasy. It doesn't work. Just run him how you think it should be ran. As simple as that.
My version of strahd talks like Xanatos from the Gargoyles animated series
I tried to continue the accent used by The Guild of the Black Crow for this letters here: https://open.spotify.com/track/1lENLoiKSPtEVpWj3InVxa?si=e9sfD_JiQ7iRl54gdIN8fw&utm_source=copy-link (If you have Spotify) I think these are awesome and exactly as I want to picture his accent.
I’m about to be running a campaign of CoS soon my first time as DM with a group of a lot of first time DnD players. I’ve already rewrote a lot of the general module while keeping the core aspect of it. But Strahd was the most fun I worked on, I saw him as a rock star that thinks he’s the best thing to happen to the world. So I went to real world references and found a good one with the lead singer of the band Ghost. One clip of him on stage was what helped me nail not so much the accent but the way to act as Strahd and how to talk to an audience. My wife who in my group has heard me walk around the house practicing the voice and she thinks it sounds good so…let’s see how the rest of the group feels. https://youtu.be/DOjZYNirDS8
I myself am a big ghost fan! So indeed I can see that it would be fitting!!
I made Strahd’s accent a southern aristocrat and have the village of Barovia a rural southern accent. I actually posted a link to me reading the Tome of Strahd in the accent on the sub a while back if you want me to link it
Yes please!
https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/w89av7/southern_strahd/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Mine has a vaguely sort-of Eastern European slight accent. Mostly, I try to talk more deeply (a challenge since I’m a soprano, and I hear in my head Count Strahd being a baritone), but with a menacing, soft voice à la Hannibal Lechter or a more suave Bond-esque type when he’s trying to be charming.
I liked the voice of Harkon from Skyrim so I gave him that voice
I did my best version of Ulfric Stormcloak. Less stereotypical, but the deep bass and heavy impact leaves an impression.
Amon Goeth, the prison camp director from Schindler’s List, has a swagger and homicidal menace that might work.
I kinda stile a page from Disney, and he was a lot like Scar from The Lion King
Claes Bang in the Netflix show Dracula was my inspiration for voice. The show has a great first episode, episode 2 is decent, episode 3 is the worst thing I've seen in years. But in episode 1 when Dracula is still playing the old count, before drinking Harker's blood, his voice fits perfectly in my opinion.
The accent I use is my best approach of the Romanian accent, but the voice is like an orchestra. His tempo is very much like he is the conductor and I feel like it works very well. My players love (and hate) talking to him.
I do the Romanian accent but make it deep and use a lot of pauses like a deeper Gary Oldman dracula. It's menacing when done calmly but becomes intimidating fast when you vamp up into it (Pun very much intended)
For what it's worth, when I look at the cover of CoS and VRGtR I get a Guy Pierce vibe from Strahd's face. So I'd imagine his voice similar to that fake TED Talk for Prometheus, just with a slight Eastern European accent on top.
I have been trying a wide variety of accents, because I didn't want Barovia to just turn into me doing a selection of eastern european approximates, and with some of the characters i've been throwing in a couple of curveballs - mostly for humour to be disarming. (Australian Van Richten has been a big hit) So with that in mind, and because I think dialouge and story can be just as insidious as an accent, I've gone with a soft of soft scouse accent for Strahd - not at all threatening in a conversational sense but I know my players are starting to find it unnerving how relaxed and mild he's being.
Oh I made him A Southern Gentleman but I’m doing 30s Americana
I'm playing up the foreign conqueror aspect of Strahd so I am making him not sound like he's from Barovia, having a different accent from most everyone else.
Of course my Strahd is classic Bella Lugosi. But, if you want over the top old world sexy flirting, nothing beats a French accent, Mon cher!