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Too many mad wizard or demon cultist villains, not enough warlords* and master criminals.

* In the historical sense of the word, not the 4e class.

That requires fixing. I’ll stat up some mundane villains, time allowing, tonight.
 
Too many mad wizard or demon cultist villains, not enough warlords* and master criminals.

That's a good point though: in all of the monster manuals, pretty much all villains are spell casting, supernatural things. Very few plain old non-magical big bosses.

To compete at higher levels, villains gotta cast spells, it seems, or have magical abilities. It kind of feels that this is a problem with most RPGs in general though.
 
That seems to be true in fantasy literature, as well. In SF, it's often mad scientists. It might tap into fear of the unknown. It also gives a plausible method for a single person to be a serious threat and points to a simple solution.
 
Speaking of which are there any supplements or modules that incorporate science fiction elements into a D&D setting for 5E? Something in the vein of Expedition to the Barrier Peaks or Tale of the Comet maybe? I kind of like the idea of the fantasy world sitting unknowingly in the middle of a full blown space opera war in the heavens scenario.
 
That's a good point though: in all of the monster manuals, pretty much all villains are spell casting, supernatural things. Very few plain old non-magical big bosses.

To be fair upon further reflection, most fiction is based on the real world, and most real-world fiction villains are criminals or warlords, so overall most villains are criminals or warlords. Fantasy is the niche opportunity to cut loose.
 
To be fair upon further reflection, most fiction is based on the real world, and most real-world fiction villains are criminals or warlords, so overall most villains are criminals or warlords. Fantasy is the niche opportunity to cut loose.
I guess if you want to have the protagonist get into an epic sword duel or fist fight with a key villain, play a pulp or historical/swashbuckling game.
 
A new gripe about the Tome of Beasts:

There are a half dozen creatures of the exact same type:

"Aquatic, gorgeous seductress who preys almost exclusively on men; drawing them close with beauty and/or magic and then drowning them."

While each has SOME degree of subtle differences (one's undead, one's fey, one is a demon etc...) they really could've been handled with a single entry with sub-types spelled out. Felt like unnecessary padding.

Same thing with small rodent people who are benign and live in communal underground tunnels: I think that they too could've been handled with a single entry.

There might be others. To me this comes across as redundant padding to make the book "bigger and more impressive". I feel a little bit cheated. Luckily the good stuff outweighs this and I do not regret this purchase at all.
 
To be fair to WOTC, mythology has a lot of aquatic gorgeous seductresses that drown their victims.
 
To be fair to WOTC, mythology has a lot of aquatic gorgeous seductresses that drown their victims.
For sure, but I found very few differences between the entries. They could've done a single entry with sub-versions covering different sources of mythology.

Not sure what they'd call them, though... "Enchantress" perhaps?
Enchantress, Nymph
Enchantress, Lorelei
Enchantress, Blue Maiden
Enchantress, etc...
 
To be fair to WOTC, mythology has a lot of aquatic gorgeous seductresses that drown their victims.

Yeah, mythology is annoying like that.

Most monsters in mythology, stripped of the historic-cultural prestige we have granted them, are actually quite boring combinations or reconfigurations of regular animals and/or people with one or more of our primal anxieties bolted on.

"Gasp! It's the dreaded hydro-hussy! Like a regular hussy, but in the water, and she kills you outright instead of destroying your reputation and giving you VD!"

I guess this is mostly because in centuries before truly imaginative fantasy art you had to be able to quickly convey the monster to an audience in the middle of a story. Well, that and it often had to resonate as a covert life-lesson rather than just being an amusing exercise in world building. Far easier to describe a three-headed dog that guards the underworld than whatever this is:

 
I disagree, mythological creatures engage our imagination because they are archetypal and tap into a deeper part of us that has real resonance. That is what a lot of modern fantasy wants to do but most often fails at.

The issue that Necrozius refers to is about endless variations on one of those archtypes, something done to death with dragons for instance. To expect someone to create a truly new archetype monster is a tall order. I do like weird creatures like the kind one finds in Veins of the Earth for instance.

Raleel Raleel, Tome of Beasts is not a WoTC release.
 
The issue that Necrozius refers to is about endless variations on one of those archtypes, something done to death with dragons for instance.
More eloquently put than my blundering ramblings.

It's true: I'm fine with archetypes, I just think that a monster manual could be structured by archetypes when there are half a dozen (or more) individual monster entries that are nearly identical.
 
I disagree, mythological creatures engage our imagination because they are archetypal and tap into a deeper part of us that has real resonance.

That's what I was addressing when I said this:

Well, that and it often had to resonate as a covert life-lesson rather than just being an amusing exercise in world building.
 
:grin: I like this turn of events! Now spin faster and gimme more! :shade:

What if there is also a BrazenHussy and TeenageHussy, and they all combine like Voltron!:eat:

:shock: Oh my, I just might finally enjoy a Supers game! :dice::heart:
 
:grin: I like this turn of events! Now spin faster and gimme more! :shade:

What if there is also a BrazenHussy and TeenageHussy, and they all combine like Voltron!:eat:

:shock: Oh my, I just might finally enjoy a Supers game! :dice::heart:
There is no end to the list of Hussies just like their is no end to the list if pouched DBags!
 
I'm pretty sure the Hussies combine to form... Fornicator!

I'm so sorry. it was the only word I could think of that sounded like Devastator that was related.
 
I'm pretty sure the Hussies combine to form... Fornicator!

I'm so sorry. it was the only word I could think of that sounded like Devastator that was related.

:irritated: By the by-laws of dark humor... :angry: I must "like" this! :evil: ... ahh, better.
 
"You can't hold me, Pouch!"
"Hydrohussy, I'm hanging you out to dry!"

Pretty sure Hydro-Hussy is a 1990s Rob Liefeld Image character:
Riptide1.gif
 
I keep having these thoughts I can’t get out of my head.
 
So to complete the transformer set while still matching up with mythological archetypes -
Hydro Hussy: The aquatic one. You think you're going to have great sex, but then she drowns you!
Hemo Hussy: The dead one. You think you're going to have great sex, but then she exsanguinates you!
Haunt Hussy: The other dead one. You think you're going to have great sex, but then she pulls you into her spectral purgatory!
Hell Hussy: The demonic one. You think you're going to have great sex, but then she steals your soul!
Huge Hussy: The giant one. You think you're going to have great sex, but then she emasculates and pulverizes you!
Hag Hussy: The secretly old one. You think you're going to have great sex, but then she turns into a toothless Strom Thurmond!

The five of them combine to become the aforementioned Fornicator. Huge Hussy forms the core obviously, and Hag Hussy would make a great Head Hussy.
 
Pretty sure Hydro-Hussy is a 1990s Rob Liefeld Image character:
Riptide1.gif

Yeah, I just cannot draw at his level! :cry: It's pure enthusiasm over scholasticism. :wink: He has truly found his authentic artistic voice... and as a professional, too! :shade:

(I believe one can also read those as backhanded compliments... :wink:)
 
Further illuminations upon playing with a character creation app:

Dex/Finesse-based Vengeance Paladin makes for a surprisingly effective Solomon Kane-ish expy build. Add Mage Slayer feat for some serious witch hunting.

My predilection for old school melee-friendly Clerics has made me favor the Tempest and War Domains, but Knowledge Domain Clerics with high Intelligence make great cerebral skill-monkeys. Intriguing.
 
I know Dragonhesist is being decried as a railroady heresy but Justin Alexander Justin Alexander posted some great ideas on Twitter about how it can be repurposed.

His review is here, seems his issue is less that it is a railroad and more that the investigative structure makes no sense. A poorly designed investigative structure can lead to railroading. I suspect one issue is that not enough of those familiar with D&D know how to create or run an investigative game unless they have some experience with CoC. Ultimately, to me these releases are basically toolkits anyway unless they are as well designed as CoS or OotA.
 
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I know Dragonhesist is being decried as a railroady heresy but Justin Alexander Justin Alexander posted some great ideas on Twitter about how it can be repurposed. To me these releases are basically toolkits anyway unless they are as well designed as CoS.

I heard very good things about Dragon Heist and thought it'd be the first D&D5 adventure I’ll actually get.

But then I read a couple of reviews that confirmed my suspicions that our video chat group is definitely playing Dragon Heist.

So let's see how this turns out. :hehe:
 
Haven't comprehensively read it yet, but at first blush it looks to be the adventure book with the least adventure in it.
 
Got my copy of the Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Gave it the once over and will return and read it in more detail. Basically I've read the intro material (not that much, a few pages) then the summaries at the beginning and end of each level chapter and read the levels that leaped out at me.

81l1qn4CfyL.jpg


So far I'm pretty impressed, there are 23 levels to the dungeon with good maps, the average level has 30-40 locations. The dungeon is supposed to take the PCs from level 5 to 20. They use a header and bullet point layout for each location with the creatures and items usually in the order that the DM would introduce them to the PCs.

There's a wide range of different dungeons, two to three levels often relate to each other with overlapping factions of theatrical bandits, some truly nasty drow, Xanathar's gangs, troglodytes, bullywugs, githyanki, mindflayers, mutant monsters from failed experiments, automatons, lichs, mad wizards, death knights, demons, archons, etc. Sometimes items or NPCs will have connections to other levels of the dungeon. Within each level there are also different factions struggling for territory.

DqXaxy4XQAMOU3E.jpg

Each level has a few prominent, interesting NPCs (including one take on a dragon NPC I particularly like) and theme: a minature castle the PCs shrink to enter, an ancient dwarven temple overran with drow, a swamp temple, an underground forest, a crystal labryinth, etc. Lots of opportunity to negotiate rather than fight.

Almost too many ideas here to summarize and some of them are clever enough I wouldn't want to give away their secrets.The magic items spread throughout are nicely detailed and with some good flavour, for instance a shrunken sea elf head with the cork of a potion sticking out of his mouth.

They acknowledge that two levels are inspired by Steven Schend's interesting but flawed 2e Dungeoncrawl series for Undermountain: Maddgoth's Castle and Stardock, both of which are done better here honestly although the original MC has some nice encounters worth stealing. I remember reading those original modules and thinking 'the concept is great but the execution doesn't quite nail it.' Of that original series btw I recommend Schend's Undermountain: The Lost Level the most.

Undermountain_-_Maddgoth's_Castle (1).jpg
Undermountain_-_The_Lost_Level.jpg

There could be many other module and FR easter eggs referenced throughout but I'm not familiar enough with them.

The tone ranges from slyly comic or gonzo to one instance of outright silly (one level gives each leader of a faction their own song to sing!) but a few levels (a drow temple and the demon/archon level) also manage to be surprisingly dark and creepy for WotC 5e.

Each map has two to three passages that lead off-map and are there for DMs to add their own homebrew or to attach another dungeon module or megadungeon to.

Skullport is detailed but only briefly, here they oddly don't mention the excellent 2e Skullport supplement as a resource for a truly living and fascinating high magic, blackly bizarre Undercity.

There is a piece of art at the beginning of each chapter but that's mostly it except for some small pieces here and there. I quite like the art but it is no where near as inspired as the art in Dragonheist but in compensation we get good maps and an endlessly useful, huge dungeon. I like that they seem to continue to use the same PCs throughout the art. There is a bestiary of the new monsters and some of the major NPCs in the back.

A lot seems to be left up to the DM to decide in terms of changes to the dungeon as the PCs progress through it, NPC behaviour, etc. It is quite loose in that way.

Some adventure hooks are supplied, as usual some stronger than others but some of the later ones for higher levels are interesting and tie in well with the dungeon factions and NPCs. No real reason is given to pursue Halaster to the final level and kill him, except for Adventure! But I kinda like that myself.

Oh and there is some major Spelljammer love in the lower levels. With this much tease the next setting/adventure book has to be Spelljammer based I'd say.

DnkHxSbVsAEdSN9.jpg
 
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