If there’s one D&D campaign every party should run, it’s Curse of Strahd. The gothic horror romp is turning 10 this month, and there’s a good reason why it’s still played so religiously by fans – it’s bloody excellent.
Pun very much intended, by the way. This is amongst the most brutal D&D adventures around, but it’s laced with enough baroque charm to lure would-be heroes into its clutches. This is the ultimate vampire story; it’s basically what would happen if you threw a handful of Dracula into a cauldron of swords ‘n’ sorcery, then stirred. It’s all dark secrets, vengeful monsters, sins turned deadly, demonic pacts, and monsters that Guillermo del Toro would be proud of. If you’ve yet to dive in, I couldn’t recommend it enough. It’s one of the best campaigns for one of the best tabletop RPGs. Indeed, it’s popular enough that Dungeons & Dragons is returning to that well again later in 2026 with Ravenloft: The Horrors Within.
I’ve now run Curse of Strahd twice for two different groups, and you know what? I’d absolutely do it again. While there are other, brilliant adventures out there like Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden or Baldur’s Gate: Descent Into Avernus, Strahd still stands head and shoulders above them in my book – it has the holy trinity of possessing a phenomenal sense of place, deep and compelling characters, and the opportunity for players to truly reshape the land based on their actions.
There’s also the fact that Count Strahd von Zarovich himself is, in my opinion, the best D&D villain of all time. Yes, Vecna may be more dangerous. The evil arch-lich is a better fit for epic, apocalyptic storylines – he’s absurdly powerful. But Strahd is a different kind of evil; his villainy is far more human. This guy doesn’t want to take over the world or become a god like many of his fellow D&D baddies. He’s just an unrepentant piece of shit. This is all of our worst impulses writ large; he’s jealous, petty, utterly selfish, and vain. He lusted after his brother’s fiance and wanted to “own” her as property, so flipped out when she rejected him – leading to her death and the murder of his brother. He also made a deal with a dark power for eternal youth because he was getting old, which is one hell of a mid-life crisis. Now he’s damned to roam lands that have become a prison due to his sins, so he lures in adventurers he can victimize purely out of boredom. This is not a good guy, nor is he someone you can “save.” That, and the fact he’s constantly popping up across the adventure to test the party’s mettle, makes him a truly memorable bad guy.
In short? If you haven’t tried to best Strahd already and free the realm from his tyranny, you really should… and if you do, I highly recommend these additions.
For more tabletop suggestions, be sure not to miss the best board games or the best card games.