A World of Difference - GM Log
Hello all, I am sorry for the delay in the release of the episode, but here it is! Lots of talk in this one and the couple of episodes to come. As the players had a very rough beginning, all the exchanges that usually happen at the beginning are done now. We’ll get to know them a little more and discover their background and personalities. There was a lot of basic information given on Lamordia in this episode too. Very basic, but it also underlines how Barovia and Lamordia are different from each other.
SETTING
Tarokka
Captain Alyosha refers to a set of cards called Tarokka, saying that he “was told to be kind and to accept passengers today.” The group does not press him much further but let me expand a little more. A tarokka deck of cards functions, and is very similar to our tarot card reading deck but uses fifty-four cards instead of the usual seventy-eight. Decks are used to perform cartomancy and is a form of divination that is jealously protected by the Vistani who perform it.
“The Vistani have long been masters of fortune-telling. In the hands of a Vistani seer, a deck of tarokka cards can tell tales of the future and provide answers to many a dark and mysterious question. Although the workmanship and artistic quality of the cards can vary from deck to deck, the ability of the cards to call forth information about the future is far more valuable than the monetary worth of a deck. Anyone can craft a deck of tarokka cards, but only someone of Vistani blood can imbue the cards with the gift of prophecy. Once they are crafted and empowered, they must be stored in accordance with ancient tradition, or they lose their efficacy. When not in use, tarokka cards must be wrapped in silk and stored in a wooden box.”
Curse of Strahd p.243
Like the quoted text mentions, it is not so much the deck of cards itself that makes a tarokka deck exceptionally valuable, but the magic imbued within. Divination magic is quite restrained in D&D and rightfully so. To peer into the future is a powerful tool and some spells reach outside the 4th wall to interact with DM in a way that is unique. The fact that Vistani can imbue objects somewhat permanently with divination magic is potentially world-breaking. I’ve told you before we’d cross paths with the Vistani again, and so shall we see them use the tarokka.
The Devil Strahd
A little side note here as to WHY Barovians are afraid to say Strahd’s name. Strahd has so much power over his domain that simply pronouncing his name can bring disaster upon oneself. Not only can he hear every time his name is uttered and listen on any conversations, but thunder roars in the sky and lightning strikes too. Many overconfident idiots have died on the spot, burnt to a crisp by a lightning bolt after challenging von Zarovich. Over the years, Strahd has cultivated paranoia in Barovia. That is the reason why the populace has started to find other names to call him by, mainly The Devil. It is a fear deeply ingrained the Barovians’s psyche.
What’s up with the sun?
We’ve talked at length about the sun in the past two episodes. It’s something that isn’t canon in the official Barovia but in my version of the valley, the sickly sun, when it is present, rises from the West and sets to the East. As I’ve quickly explained to Cassandra, this means that compared to our world, the planet on which Barovia exists rotates the opposite’s way. Earth and Lamordia’s world rotate prograde (counterclockwise), which means Barovia’s world is retrograde (clockwise) like Venus.
Calendar
I never had to use a calendar in my previous Barovian campaign, so I did not have one to offer the player to compare with the one Alyosha offered. However, to make things easier for everyone, I kept the Harptos calendar model of Faerûn, meaning that each month consists of three weeks of ten days, each year has twelve months plus an extra five extra days for a total of 365 days. The extra five days are the solstices and equinoxes plus one day before the 1st of Grass (May).
Concerning the naming of the days, there’s no official names for each day in Dungeon & Dragons. They are simply called First day, Second day, Third day and so on. I’ve decided to name them after D&D’s time of day, which are rarely used. I don’t think we’ll use the day’s name often, but they are there should we need them. They go as such: Godswake, Harbright, Mystday, Elsun, Midweek, Highweek, Thulsun, Thuldark, Eventide, Endsweek.
The names of the months, however, are of high importance. When I reworked Lamordia, I read about Slavic culture and how people lived in the 15th and 16th centuries and, of course, much of their life revolved around the passing of seasons. The year starts when Spring is about to begin (Dry One is the equivalent of the month of March) and life outside begins anew. This decision is inspired by the Slavic calendar. In Russia, for example, their year started in March until 1699 when Peter I adopted the Julian calendar (going from year 7207 of the old Russian calendar to year 1700 from the birth of Christ).
The need to feed oneself and close ones took the center stage for most people, and you can clearly see it in how they kept time. Dry, Blooming, Grassy, Ripe, Muddy, Roadless: all names that describe nature. Each name of the Lamordian calendar is directly inspired by the old Slavic calendar, which I was fortunate to learn from in a wonderful book called Slavic Seasonal Rituals and Divinations by Olga Kryuchkova.
