When would you set Curse of Strahd?

[Rebel Mage]

Hi, I'm DM'ing Curse of Strahd (just started a second concurrent campaign), and I'm also interested in Ravenloft lore. I don't know too much, but I've done my dives into the wiki and I've read parts of old books. Now, Curse of Strahd is set in 735 BC according to the book, but I know that 5e Ravenloft lore has changed a lot, and there's a lot of interesting things that happened later than 735 BC in the original lore.

So, taking that into account, if you were to DM this adventure, what would you do with when it takes place? (I'm thinking about it myself. I've told my players it's 735, but I can always just retcon that. Or I could just mess with timelines.)

[TwiceBorn Reborn]

I consider it a straight reboot of I6 ("Ravenloft") and would therefore run it in 735 BC. That said, there's absolutely nothing wrong with messing with timelines. In fact, that's probably a better choice than slavish adherence to "canon" timeline for the sake of maintaining "canon purity" (and yes, I have been guilty of doing that in my D&D games, though I have yet to run a campaign set in Ravenloft).

[Mistmaster]

795 aT ( after Tergs) my campaigns are set in 800 aT.

[Rebel Mage]

795 aT ( after Tergs) my campaigns are set in 800 aT.

You use a different calendar? When I see "after Tergs", do you mean after the war ended, which was about 347 of the Barovian Calendar, I believe?

[Mistmaster]

I mean after Tergs where pushed out of Barovia. My Barovian Calendar starts when Strhad defeated the Tergs.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Hi, I'm DM'ing Curse of Strahd (just started a second concurrent campaign), and I'm also interested in Ravenloft lore. I don't know too much, but I've done my dives into the wiki and I've read parts of old books. Now, Curse of Strahd is set in 735 BC according to the book, but I know that 5e Ravenloft lore has changed a lot, and there's a lot of interesting things that happened later than 735 BC in the original lore.

So, taking that into account, if you were to DM this adventure, what would you do with when it takes place? (I'm thinking about it myself. I've told my players it's 735, but I can always just retcon that. Or I could just mess with timelines.)

Personally, I'd shunt 5e Ravenloft into an Alternate Universe all its own, so as to let both those who prefer the 5e continuity and those more enamored with the 3/3.5e continuity have their fun.
So 735 BC should be fine.