I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire is a 1993 fantasy horror novel by P. N. Elrod, set in the world of Ravenloft, and based on the Dungeons & Dragons game.

Its plot centers on Strahd Von Zarovich as a former army commander now residing in Ravenloft where he becomes involved in the dark arts because of the envy and regret he feels over lost youth.

[1] The novel is framed as a private journal discovered by the monster hunter Rudolph van Richten in the study of the vampire Strahd von Zarovich.

In the immediate aftermath of Strahd's conquest of the land of Barovia, his second-in-command Alek Gwilym informs him that a covert assassin has infiltrated their camp.

Though concerned, Strahd nonetheless leaves his camp with just his closest retainers to formally take possession of Barovia's central castle, which he renames "Ravenloft", in honor of his late mother, Queen Ravenia van Roeyen.

Strahd then sends his few surviving loyal guards away and locks himself in Ravenloft for a year, during which he searches in vain for Tatyana's body and learns to use his new powers, such as transforming into animals and raising corpses as undead servants.

Despite the danger posed to him by the holy ground, Strahd enters the monastery in search of Leo, who lures him into a trap and almost kills him, having learned magic of his own in the intervening decades.

To the delight of a vengeful Lady Lovina, he then dies a slow and agonizing second death, unable to satiate his hunger for the blood of the living.

Although certain events and characters are depicted differently in all three novels, this is not a failing, necessarily, if readers keep in mind that this book is part of TSR's Dungeons & Dragons gaming world, in which each session at the gameboard produces varying scenarios.