D&D‘s Culturally SensitiveStrahdRevamp Is Here, But It’ll Cost You [Updated]

Over the years , adept of the Coasthas welcome justified critique for its use of antiblack image inDungeons & Dragons . One target of that concern was the Vistani masses , part of the plot ’s Ravenloft setting , seen in module such as the Curse of Strahd , a history about aDracula - type villain which sport the Vistani as a major support element .

update : 2025-04-08 , 3 p.m. ET : Wizards of the Coast has arrive at out to io9 to clear up just what has been updated in the re - acquittance of Curse of Strahd , and how Dungeons & Dragons players will be able-bodied to get at update material without purchasing Revamped . According to Ray Winninger , the executive manufacturer of Wizards ’ D&D studio , only text in Strahd has receive revisions to bring the module ’s portraying of the Vistani more in line with Wizards of the Coast ’s committedness to diversity and inclusion , and none of the original artwork in the module or the included Tarroka Cards has been qualify as part of this update .

For owners of the original release of Curse of Strahd , the update material — alongside the rule errata antecedently secrete online — will be released for player to download for free on the D&D internet site in the future , and also be made usable for innocent to player who purchased Strahd digitally in theD&D Beyond app . While Wizards can not commute physical copy of Strahd for the updated reading released as part of Revamped , as previously noted in the D&D team ’s affirmation on variety and wash in the game , future reprinting of Strahd will included the update fabric as well . The original storey is as abide by .

Strahd, from Curse of Strahd.

Strahd, from Curse of Strahd.Illustration: Wizards of the Coast

The Vistani have a clear resemblance to the real - life Romani people , and much unfavorable judgment was made of the way 2016 ’s Curse of Strahd in special reinforce stereotypes historically used tooppress and persecutethem . That literary criticism led to Wizards of the Coast issuing prescribed revisions to the cloth to try out to suffice some of the literary criticism . And now , Curse of Strahd is getting a fancy corner set . Nice ? Well , there ’s a flake more to it .

https://gizmodo.com/wizards-of-the-coast-is-releasing-free-dungeons-drago-1842809739

As preview today byIGN , Curse of Strahd : Revamped Premium Edition is a collector ’s edition of the mental faculty , roll up a revise rendering of the book along with a monster booklet , aTarokka deck , a pamphlet to excuse how to use the Tarokka deck of cards in your dangerous undertaking , some handout for musician , illustrated postcards , and a Dungeon Master ’s screen .

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“ We do n’t do a tremendous figure of corner sets , ” D&D ’s principal narrative couturier , Chris Perkins , told IGN . “ And we do n’t always have the luxuriousness of time or money to really quiz ourselves … You ’d think that we ’re just taking something that exists , we ’re lay it in a fancy parcel and ‘ Whoop ! ’ it ’s done , but actually so much intellection and so many citizenry were involve in the concepting and the packaging and the design , the cards , the DM cover , and everything . It was really a very time consuming — but fun — mental process . ”

Notably , this is the first time Curse of Strahd will have been republish since a routine of amendment were made to the book , released to players as errata for the impress edition , that seek to loosen some of the harmful stereotyping of the Vistani people , along with revise the book ’s advance to a specific character ’s disability to avoid ableist stereotype . And while it ’s good to have a full publish version of the modify module , releasing it as a collector ’s edition box set is an odd option .

For one thing , the rescript are n’t as extended as perhaps they could be . While modifications do fix thing like the stereotyping of the Vistani the great unwashed as “ uncivilized ” and heavy drinker , the mental faculty still gives the Vistani power to blaspheme and mesmerize role player or cast turn like Evil Eye , which , along with unrevised artwork that to a great extent raise stereotype imagery of the Romani , tilt into figure that suggest the Romani have mystic , grave powers , image that have been used in the past to place Romani for persecution .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

https://gizmodo.com/dungeons-dragons-team-announces-new-plans-to-address-1844084273

For another , it seems like a respectable ask , for players who might want an version of their fun vampire mental faculty that is n’t culturally insensitive , to go out and grease one’s palms a $ 99.99 aggregator ’s variant . If , as Perkins told IGN , Wizards is n’t in the business of bring out collector ’s variation on a even basis , this seems like perhaps a poor choice of module for that function . Perkins addresses concerns over theatrical in the book , in the interview , saying , “ Curse of Strahd [ Revamped ] specifically [ addresses ] pain point around the Vistani and around this disabled character , and there were small other issues to resolve as well . ”

He continued , “ We wanted to make clean that up a bit and slay some material that the fans did n’t particularly like in term of representation and how they were depicted — it ’s that kind of very coarse-grained - but - crucial change . More like operative changes to the adventure than some sort of magisterial sweeping alteration . ”

William Duplessie

But stereotyping of the Romani people — mistakenly and obnoxiously label using an old slur terminus for the mass — isa fixtureof the gothic fiction the circumstance of Curse of Strahd uses as its stylistic fundament . While thaumaturgist of the Coast is clear attain step , recentlypledging to rent and put out more multifariously , and specifically charter a Romani adviser to sour on some of its release , it will likely take more than a handful ofgranular changesto fully expunge offensive undercurrents from the setting . And while there ’s a veridical chance here to do good work — the aforementioned diversity pledge also mentioned future works that will feature the Vistani the great unwashed and aim to complicate their depictions — starting that workplace with a fancy gatherer ’s edition feels less like a hope to do well and more like a victory lap covering .

We ’ve reached out to Wizards of the Coast for clearing and input on the re - spill of Curse of Strahd and Vistani representation , and we ’ll update this post if we hear back . The Revamped Premium Edition of Curse of Strahd will be released on October 20th , 2020 , according to Amazon .

This C. W. Post has been update with additional commentary from ace of the Coast .

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