Curse of Strahd is truly fantastic as a setting and basic ideas but the module itself is a piece of crap.

Hammering it into shape, making sense of it, and making it all hang together has been a craptonne of work, and I've used loads of 3rd party stuff. The Curse of Strahd subreddit is AMAZING for that.

It's truly a pile of hot garbage RAW, but I'm having the time of my life customizing and making it mine.

It's cool to have an episodic backup. We just don't play when someone can't make it. It would be nice to still get together and have a game.