It was just a bit ago that I popped on to discuss one of the lovely things about DW – my party’s evil cleric and how…

It was just a bit ago that I popped on to discuss one of the lovely things about DW – my party’s evil cleric and how…

It was just a bit ago that I popped on to discuss one of the lovely things about DW – my party’s evil cleric and how easy it was to introduce the Evil into the party without flattening the entire story (a thing that’s always been a problem before).  I asked the community questions, took a lot of notes – and we’re approaching session three.

I thought, given how much the community helped out with this campaign, I’d come back with my Fronts and show you what your input helped create, and offer a little of the process it took for me to get there.

For you new-to-DW folks?  My process may not be yours – just be advised that your experiences may differ.

Let me start by saying that I went into the first session with only two things I knew were true:  

1) The player characters were going to start in the middle of what (will prove) to be the great climactic battle of good vs. evil… and it was unlikely Good was on the winning side.

and

2) The world revolved around a set of artifacts that, unknown to the players (and to most of the world at large), were instrumental in dictating the political and military situation of the world around them.

By the time this session was over?  My players had created a world revolving around Dragons.  The Wizard spoke with some authority about the Green Lady and the Black Lord, the two metaphorical dragons that represented the balance of existence, and the Red Dragon, the outsider always seeking to disrupt the Lord and Lady’s dance.  The Cleric (of Conquest and Suffering, no less!) had laid out a pantheon of gods that, while not truly specific, nonetheless gave us the start of our creation myth.

My thief laid out an order of assassins, devoted to stopping magic-abusers, and my bard laid out the tyranny of the Evil Kingdom, strongly hinting that the Tyrant Lord was controlled by another, more sinister force – that his ambition was not his own.

This led me to my Campaign front:

The Campaign Front:  The Last Gate

The world has long been created, and the Age of Heroes is long past.  Gone are the great monsters; the Dragons were hunted to extinction when their ancient empire was broken, the Gates that the Giants and Titans used to ravage the world were all closed.  The wall between realities has grown solid and civilized.

In truth, however, one Gate remains – one last threshold that keeps the world from being wholly inviolate.  The Gods would destroy it.  The primal forces would crack it wide open.  Some few powers would use it to their own ends – but the time of the Last Gate has come.

Dangers:

* The Grey – 

The Saadi – the ancient enemies of existence, seeking only to unmake all, and their cults as led by the Herald, the last Saadi remaining on this earth… if they open the gate, the hordes of unmaking will swarm, and all that has been made will be lost.  (Destruction)

* The Artifacts of the Dragon Empire – 

Venerated by the Dragoncults, the last remnants of the last dragons of this plane captured and preserved in artifacts that now stir, sensing the nearness of the Last Gate and hoping to restore the Empire (returning Dragons to this plane) with its power.  (Usurpation)

*  The Tyrant Lord of Order – 

Avatar of the Mad God, a tyrant who seeks to bring all of existence under heel.  The Tyrant seeks the Gate to close it for all time, ridding the world of all outside influences save for that of his God, bringing into being a world perfected by law and the will strong enough to lead it.  (Tyranny)

(In this case, each Danger is a group/mover who wants to activate the Gate for their own ends.  Each Adventure Front is a battlefield that these three prime movers are attempting to manipulate for their own ends.)

Grim Portents:

* The way to the Last Gate is found.

* The Last Free Kingdom is placed under siege.

* The power of the Gods wanes.

* The Guardians of the Gate are lost.

* The Gatewar comes into the open.

* A power ascends

* The Gate is opened.

(Notable individuals and NPCs started falling out in the adventure fronts – I am not detailing them here.)

(This front currently has no moves.  This may change, as I grow more comfortable with writing them, and as it becomes obvious what moves will be needed.  I suspect when you come in contact with a draconic artefact and when you are infected by the Saadi will both be there, as will  _when you sacrifice someone in a Grey Ritual_.)

Adventure fronts to follow!

5 thoughts on “It was just a bit ago that I popped on to discuss one of the lovely things about DW – my party’s evil cleric and how…”

  1. … oddly, no?  I have one evil character, and one that’s… sort of on the edge (the Wizard is a necromancer, but his master is a ‘good’ lich – a Banelorn).

    The Assassins are actually a force for good – which should say a lot about the campaign world my players have designed.

  2. If you can pull it off?  Let me suggest that Villains are just Heroes who have allowed their flaws to take over – the best Villains aren’t evil for evil’s sake, they’re evil because it’s the best way for them to get to their (oftentimes fairly heroic or noble) goals.

    Pick, say Strahd from Ravenloft.  He’s an evil guy, without a doubt – but he wants love, and chafes that his younger brother has the love of the woman he wants.  So, he cuts a deal – kill his brother, and he’ll get power, immortality, and the vitality of the youth he believes will let him woo the girl.

    Of course, after his brother’s dead, she flees from his now-vampiric self and dies.

    The motivation matters – Strahd doesn’t do random violence.  Rather, he runs a country, pines for a lost love, and has a rich – could-have-been-heroic-if-he-could-get-past-his-flaw life that goes beyond ‘kill all the good things, steal all the stuff.’

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