Dinosaurs of Dread, warning Spoilers for X 1

[ewancummins]

Take X 1, the Isle of Dread

Shift it into the Mists.

Darklord ? This is the big question. Not, I think, a dinosaur. That might seem too close to King Crocodile.
A kopru? Maybe. They are weird, but perhaps not as alien as mind flayers.
The evil Voodoo Master? Maybe too close to Sourange. But " voodoo" will certainly be an important element of this domain's native culture.
Pirate? There are other pirate lords.
Maybe the Black Pearl is the lord? Shades of Ebonbane.

Maybe I should consider a phantaton or a rakasta? Aranea?



I need to work out the lord before I can do a lot with the domain.

But the module comes ready made with maps, races, a town, wilderness encounter areas, dungeons, etc. Nice strong thematic elements.

Is this a crazy idea?

[thekristhomas]

Crazy? yes, bad? no

The feel I always got from x1 was the RKO stop animation films (King Kong, Mighty Joe Young, Son of Kong, Gorgo etc) which in my mind was not too far away from the Universal monsters that we more normally associate with the setting, but play up the mysterious island aspects, maybe add a little "Lost" style paranoia I think your on to a winner for a quick Island of Terror.

I'd lean toward a kopru DL, a phanaton DL might be a little amusing, and aranea, while scary, require less from humans

A intelligent talking dinosaur DL might be kinda lame/a bit too much like King Croc, but a dinosaur that was of normal intelligence but possessed of a will, a dogged persistence, that just kept on coming, and kept on finding a way, that could be quite terrifying. I'm reminded of the character Old One Eye from Flesh, a comic strip in the magazine 2000ad, she was an old Tyrannosaur, who was just meaner than the others and wouldn't stop tracking something once she had it's scent.

But I think kopru, while similar in ways to illithids are different enough that players won't be jaded to them, and fill the role of moral/spiritual threat which most of the island lacks, being largely physically threatening. (although i'll admit it's been some years since I read x1)

[alhoon]

I would say: Put a dragon in there and make it darklord.
Or
Put a human evil settler there, that loves civilization and make him darklord.

[ewancummins]

SPEAKER TO BEASTS

A kopru mutant whose charm ability worked on animals, not people. Ostracized by his own kind, he plotted against the other kopru. He aided the rebellious human slaves that destroyed the old kopru empire.
He hoped that the revolution would give him power and worshippers, but instead of bowing down to accept his rule, the humans cast him into a steaming chasm.
Then the humans covered the hole, trapping their "savior" underground. He could survive the heat, but he still needed food. He tried to dig out, but only succeeded in causing a collapse that trapped him all the more securely. His charmed dinosaurs were out of reach.
He finally perished, half-mad with hunger, his skin and extremities already partly crystallized by the mineral rich steam.

And he rose again as one of the Ancient Dead.

A volcanic eruption piled tons of rock atop his tomb.

But by charming small burrowing animals that sometimes dug into his lair, he was eventually able to excavate himself. It took an exceedingly long time.

Once free, he sought revenge on...

....

I am stopping there. This is all just a quick sketch, some spaghetti toss of ideas.

I have traded for a copy of VR GttAD . But I have not read through it yet.

I see this villain as a semi-crystallized/ petrified kopru " mummy" , served by charmed dinos and other prehistoric critters.
Enemy to both the normal kopru and the human Voodoo Masters.

[steveflam]

Actually Sauron the Marvel Villain could fit this bill of your Darklord, ewan. as mentioned in my pm


I don't know any D&D type monsters like him cept those from 2nd edition - I forget their names, sorry. Saurials , yes?

[ewancummins]

Actually Sauron the Marvel Villain could fit this bill of your Darklord, ewan. as mentioned in my pm


I don't know any D&D type monsters like him cept those from 2nd edition - I forget their names, sorry. Saurials , yes?

Yeah, K saw the PM.

Ruth knows of him.

He sounds cool.

RE Saurials:
I really like them a lot. Easily one of my fave FR things.

[thekristhomas]

SPEAKER TO BEASTS

A kopru mutant whose charm ability worked on animals, not people. Ostracized by his own kind, he plotted against the other kopru. He aided the rebellious human slaves that destroyed the old kopru empire.
He hoped that the revolution would give him power and worshippers, but instead of bowing down to accept his rule, the humans cast him into a steaming chasm.
Then the humans covered the hole, trapping their "savior" underground. He could survive the heat, but he still needed food. He tried to dig out, but only succeeded in causing a collapse that trapped him all the more securely. His charmed dinosaurs were out of reach.
He finally perished, half-mad with hunger, his skin and extremities already partly crystallized by the mineral rich steam.

And he rose again as one of the Ancient Dead.

A volcanic eruption piled tons of rock atop his tomb.

But by charming small burrowing animals that sometimes dug into his lair, he was eventually able to excavate himself. It took an exceedingly long time.

Once free, he sought revenge on...

....

I am stopping there. This is all just a quick sketch, some spaghetti toss of ideas.

I have traded for a copy of VR GttAD . But I have not read through it yet.

I see this villain as a semi-crystallized/ petrified kopru " mummy" , served by charmed dinos and other prehistoric critters.
Enemy to both the normal kopru and the human Voodoo Masters.

Really like this maybe instead of being ostracised his unique ability elevated him to a position beyond that which would have otherwise been in his grasp, maybe the kopru elders were fascinated by the possible applications of new slave species and gave him more freedom to explore his powers than was wise, maybe he kept his control of the larger species secret or maybe they simply didn't dream that his powers could extend so far, his betrayal then would not be of an evil society which had spurned him, but of his sponsors and allys.

Crystallization would be quite a cool reskinning of mummy rot, but if you wanted a related salient ability, there's the crystallization virus from one of the MC appendices, which IIRC is quite terrifying

[Hell_Born]

Hmm, honestly, I have to confess, I think a Saurial darklord would be more interesting for the Isle of Dread Domain than a Kopru. Yes, I know, they're not exactly kosher to the original, but let's face it, the original domain isn't exactly constructed for the Gothic Morality Tales that Ravenloft kind of runs on.

For example, your Darklord may be a mutant dinosaur, one that was born with greater than human intelligence, and that might have led to it betraying its kind. Or maybe it was originally a human tribal, and it became a saurial as part of its darklord curse - a fallen shaman, or even a were-dinosaur. Dragon Magazine did an article on Saurian Shifters in Issue #328 that could maybe be useful for such a character's origin.

Also, I remember reading somewhere, might have been in a 4e DragMag, that one could easily splice the original Gygax Module "Isle of the Ape" and the Isle of Dread together. Given any thought to that? I remember Peter Jackson's King Kong from 2006, and while not conventionally Gothic, I would still say that its depiction of Skull Island was perfect for horror D&Ding in. And apparently, the "Natural History of Skull Island" tie-in artbook only made it worse... but I've never seen a copy online, alas.

[The Lesser Evil]

Yeah, I have to ask what makes this guy worse than any single other one of its kind? (Or perhaps gives him the capability of being better than his kind but he consciously chooses not to follow it?)

[Resonant Curse]

Pterrans I believe was another pterasaur humanoid race you could look at. I *believe* they were in the Forgotten Realms 3rd edition monster manual.

[Hell_Born]

Pterrans come from the Dark Sun setting, back in AD&D. The same edition also had the Pteramen, reptilian shapeshifters who could shapeshift between lizardman, pteranodon or hybrid forms. They were in the Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume 1.

[ewancummins]

Maybe the mutant was a atavistic specimen, similiar to the ancient, pre-decadent kopru?
This variation would assume that the ur-kopru originally possessed a limited ability to sway some lesser animals, but over time that ability evolved into the charm person effect common to kopru.
The elders placed the mutant in a special environment to study his development. A hidden vale with bubbling mud pits and many small dinosaurs and other animals. Only very limited contact was allowed between the outside world and the mutant.
This separation kept him from the evil influences of kopru society (which was not so far gone into wickedness in those times, but nonetheless has slipped a long way towards the darkness).
Then, when he became an adult, he was wrenched from his sheltered existence and thrust into the chaotic society of the kopru.

More later...

[ewancummins]

SPEAKER TO BEASTS

A kopru mutant whose charm ability worked on animals, not people. Ostracized by his own kind, he plotted against the other kopru. He aided the rebellious human slaves that destroyed the old kopru empire.
He hoped that the revolution would give him power and worshippers, but instead of bowing down to accept his rule, the humans cast him into a steaming chasm.
Then the humans covered the hole, trapping their "savior" underground. He could survive the heat, but he still needed food. He tried to dig out, but only succeeded in causing a collapse that trapped him all the more securely. His charmed dinosaurs were out of reach.
He finally perished, half-mad with hunger, his skin and extremities already partly crystallized by the mineral rich steam.

And he rose again as one of the Ancient Dead.

A volcanic eruption piled tons of rock atop his tomb.

But by charming small burrowing animals that sometimes dug into his lair, he was eventually able to excavate himself. It took an exceedingly long time.

Once free, he sought revenge on...

....

I am stopping there. This is all just a quick sketch, some spaghetti toss of ideas.

I have traded for a copy of VR GttAD . But I have not read through it yet.

I see this villain as a semi-crystallized/ petrified kopru " mummy" , served by charmed dinos and other prehistoric critters.
Enemy to both the normal kopru and the human Voodoo Masters.

Really like this maybe instead of being ostracised his unique ability elevated him to a position beyond that which would have otherwise been in his grasp, maybe the kopru elders were fascinated by the possible applications of new slave species and gave him more freedom to explore his powers than was wise, maybe he kept his control of the larger species secret or maybe they simply didn't dream that his powers could extend so far, his betrayal then would not be of an evil society which had spurned him, but of his sponsors and allys.

Crystallization would be quite a cool reskinning of mummy rot, but if you wanted a related salient ability, there's the crystallization virus from one of the MC appendices, which IIRC is quite terrifying

See above for more riffing on this idea of yours.

[ewancummins]

More possibilities for the kopru darklord's history.

It may be that the young kopru mutant was influenced by a human hermit.

Somebody who wandered into the hidden valley?

I am not sure. It is just a vague notion now, but I am leaning towards the mutant having been CG at one point.

[thekristhomas]

More possibilities for the kopru darklord's history.

It may be that the young kopru mutant was influenced by a human hermit.

Somebody who wandered into the hidden valley?

I am not sure. It is just a vague notion now, but I am leaning towards the mutant having been CG at one point.

If the voodan are involved, might one have granted the mutant a request, in that "be careful what you wish for" way that they have (assuming Chicken Bone is a typical example), maybe the mutant did want to please and impress his sponsors but felt his control of the smaller dinosaur species lacked, and so asked the voodan master to brew him a potion to allow him control of the greater lizards, the wily human agreed, knowing that it would spell the end of kopru domination and a better future for his people.

A little note on that, with reference to the Voodan's prophetic ability. The quite limited sources seem to suggest that Chicken Bone knows the outcome of any deal struck with him, and possibly other things. I would suggest that rather than stemming from a mystical divinatory ability this comes from him

1) knowing how his potions and spells work

2) knowing how the world works

and that he and other voodan are happy to play up any appearance of omniscience.