Count Strahd von Zarovich is a fictional character originally appearing as the feature villain in the highly popular Advanced Dungeons and Dragons adventure module I6: Ravenloft.

In 1978, Tracy and Laura Hickman wrote adventures that would eventually be published as the Dungeon & Dragons modules Pharaoh and Ravenloft.

[2] When the Hickmans began work on Ravenloft, they felt the vampire archetype had become overused, trite, and mundane, and decided to create a frightening version of the creature for the module.

[4] When creating Strahd, the Hickmans' vampire research started with an image of Bela Lugosi from 1931 before they explored older stories such as Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897), John William Polidori's The Vampyre (1819), and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818).

The setting includes not only castle Ravenloft itself, but also the nearby village of Barovia, and a camp of gypsies led by Madame Eva, who had formed a kind of alliance with the vampire.

Strahd himself is noted as being the first truly well-developed villain to appear in the AD&D game system, being fully capable of changing the course of events to suit his own evil ends.

Set in the quiet, seaside town of Mordentshire, players of this adventure are confronted by two Strahds—the same monstrous vampire from Ravenloft (now referred to as the Creature), and a very human counterpart, known as the Alchemist.

Nothing of note is added to original nature or history of Strahd von Zarovich in the course of the adventure, though a number of characters of lesser importance, including the lich Azalin make their first appearance in this publication as well.

[11] There are many similarities between the character of Strahd von Zarovich and that of fellow fictional vampire Barnabas Collins from the American 1960's-1970's soap opera Dark Shadows, as P.N.

[16][17] Strahd also appears in the PlayStation game Iron & Blood: Warriors of Ravenloft (1996) and can be unlocked as a playable character via a secret code.

In 2001, White Wolf published the 3rd edition Ravenloft Campaign Setting which included a detailed timeline of Strahd's history.

[...] In horror fiction, the villain is framed as inhumanity personified, often serving as a cautionary tale: once you lose your humanity, you can never get it back.

[27] On the module's development process, Perkins said, "the Hickmans envisioned Strahd differently than he's depicted in the original Ravenloft adventure.

[5] Tracy Hickman said, "Vampires have strayed from their original role in cautionary tales, which warned women about monsters and thereby empowered them.

[5] Strahd is included in the Barovia section of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft (2021), a campaign setting book which is focused on the various Domains of Dread.

[29] A man of noble birth, Strahd spent much of his life serving causes of goodness and law, most notably as a warrior and leader of armies.

Years of such service took their toll upon him however, and by the time he reached middle age, Strahd came to believe he had squandered his life and his youth.

With this dark mood upon him, he came to conquer the region known as Barovia, and assumed lordship there, taking as his residence the pre-existing castle known as Ravenloft.

From this position of power and security, he called for members of his family "long unseated from their ancestral thrones" to join him, including a younger brother named Sergei.

Some time after this reunion, the Count himself fell in love with a young Barovian woman, Tatyana, though she rejected his affections in favor of the younger Sergei.

Filled with despair and jealousy, and brooding a growing hatred for Sergei, Strahd sought magical means to restore his youth.

Strahd's curse is that although he is absolute lord and master of Barovia, to the point where he can enter private homes unbidden because he owns them, once every generation he will meet a woman whom he believes is Tatyana reincarnated.

His mastery of necromancy is so great he has produced a kind of "super-zombie", one that is capable of seeing invisible, regenerating like a troll and whose appendages continue to fight on when severed.

Strahd has had to battle at least two darklords who had entered his domain in the past; Azalin Rex the lich, and Lord Soth the death knight.

"[32] Henry Glasheen, for SLUG Magazine, highlighted that "up until the release of Ravenloft, almost every adventure module was just a shoestring of dungeon traps and monster encounters meant to test the valor and endurance of the player characters.

[33] Ari David, for CBR, wrote: "Out of all of the great evils in the many worlds comprising the D&D multiverse, Count Strahd von Zarovich eternally remains one of the most feared.