#mordenkainan

[mr-leach]

I had a dream last night where the premise was "what is the funniest party of 4 combo of Baldur's Gate 3 companions to throw into Curse of Strahd" and my subconscious decided on Astarion, Karlach, Shadowheart, and Lae'zel

Astarion is the obvious choice but specifically in my dream this was post BG3 and apparently Cazador hadn't been dealt with?? Like wherever Tav may be they're apparently a fucking cunt who didn't help free the poor bastard. So he was understandably miserable and scared and very cranky on account of becoming violently ill any time he tried to feed on animal blood. I didn't get far enough into the dream to figure out how they dealt with this but I could see it getting ugly real fast.

Karlach was a mean choice I feel like. I mean I can see the first week or so being fun for her cause she gets to help people who need helping and kill a bunch of evil creatures and in that sense she'd be having the time of her life, and thus it would be very funny! But also like. Trapping her in another realm of death and misery and telling her she can never leave? Don't make me think about it I'll cry

Shadowheart is another obvious choice tbh. Provider of snarky commentary and snide remarks a plenty, naturally she would have a field day in a place like Barovia. She had black hair in my dream so I assume she was still big on Shar. The dread realms are supposedly located in a deep corner of the shadowfell so tbh she would probably be sitting pretty. EXCEPT FOR THE WOLVES GODDAMN IT. Seriously, what was my subconscious on. Evil.

Lae'zel is the only true pure comedic choice my brain came up with tbh. Barovia is just as alien as everywhere else to her, foul beasts and undead are no doubt regrettable to encounter but not nearly as troubling or foul than mindflayers and other illithid horrors, and then most of the horrible shit going on in Barovia would be so inconsequential to her that at most she would be just a passive commentator to some of the most gruesome shit ever and then add her two cents like "RIP to Mordenkainan but I'm built different" "idk if it were me I think I'd just kill Vargas and put his severed head on display in the town square to send a message" and aside from really wanting to leave she would have so little stake in anything going on. Dark powers won't even fuck with her cause she's highly trained to resist manipulation and on that note Strahd would seem like such a loser to her. Wait you were a formidable conqueror and renowned warrior and you did what? Extremely cringe dude, couldn't be me.

Anyway I don't remember a whole lot from the dream tbh aside from the premise deliberately trying to be as funny as possible and the party members that were chosen. I think Astarion got sick from eating spider blood and Karlach had to carry him into town. There was some silly stuff about the Barovian citizens having no idea what Gith were, Lae'zel having no social skills, and Shadowheart providing "cultural translation" so they wouldn't get chased out for every extremely off colour thing Lae'zel said. It got very dicey but Karlach was cute and charming enough to make up for how much the rest of the party unsettled everyone.

[pangurbanthewhite]

Current MtG Historic Brawl pet projects are

1. Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive

The deck is jank and I’m not sure it can ever be anything but jank but occasionally I get further with it than I expect. The big downside is that a mono-Blue Commander actually loses access to a *lot* of the ninjutsu package that “can’t be blocked” really elevates

2. Zimone and Dina

I think the idea of the deck is to lean really hard into the loop of “sacrifice a unit, draw a card, play a land, drain your opponent, gain life”, and there are Golgari and mono-Black cards that exist which can make that loop extremely punishing, but right now I’m leaning into it more from a “gain card advantage and keep it, using Zimone and Dina to regain it if necessary” angle with things like Wizard Class and Planeswalkers like Teferi and Mordenkainan. You can get them out on the board on Turn 2 with the right ramp and lands, and having a 3/4 on the board Turn 2 is already pretty absurd.

3. Errant and Giada

I can’t really conceptualize how good it is to be able to see the top card of your library and play off of it, but apparently it’s a lot better than it feels to me, because every opponent in my first few games against it was ready and waiting to take them out the second they hit the board. Giada, Font of Hope feels more reliable, but anything that this many people fear this much has to have some potential.

[absolxguardian]

We're used to big numbers in video games, but double digit level DND characters are incredibly powerful. The DMG lists characters levels 11-16 as masters of the realms and characters level 17-20 as masters of the world. If you're ending a campaign in that range, the epilogue of the PCs should involve them being at the same power and renown level as figures like Elminster and Mordenkainan (in fact all the wizards with spells named after them are the PCs of Gary Gyax and his friends). Early DND had rules to facilitate high level characters designing dungeons to be played by other lower level groups.

high level dnd is insane. this week i had a quest where the players navigate a standoff between two ships of rival navies. and our cleric just used water walking to waltz over to one of the ships, and cast control water to part the sea, sinking it instantly. problem fucking solved i guess

[overfedvenison]

Bigsby: HANDS! Bigsby: GOD I LOVE HANDS! Bigsby: Dear Mordenkainan, I'm so alone

[fairfield-adventurers]

Quest for the Book #0.5

Upon meeting Lady Sylvetta, she un-enchanted the statue to reveal our new bezzie mate Gilgadroon (Gheladrin) who is 1/6 stone heads which point to a repository of stuff (belonging to Ioun) We're off to see the wizard (Kesh - Leonin) to get some more info Zyldi notices Kesh hiding knitting needles as we walk in - scandal A book is MISSING from Lady Sylvetta's personal collection... Kesh is the face of 'The Agency' who deal with incursions from other realms aka area 51 The book we seek is 2 weeks north of Candlekeep, past Tiberium, in the posession of something strong enough to banish our vision of the book Our reward will be in coins or items upon our return The book we're after is BRIDGES BETWEEN REALITIES: THE INNER AND OUTER PLANES the author MORDENKAINAN

[modernvetherature]

LEVEL 13 MORDENKAINANS MAGNIFICENT MANSION

[roll20]

Compendium Selection now on Roll20!

Until now, every compendium for a system would always be available in every game you launched for that system, regardless of settings. This sometimes created less than ideal experiences. GMs had a difficult time curating the exact experience they envisioned for their players.

That’s why we’re introducing Compendium Selection. It allows game owners to choose exactly which compendiums they want available in a single instance of a game. Want to build a D&D game on Ravnica, without any of the monsters in Mordenkainan’s Tome of Foes? You can do that. Looking to run an introductory game of Call of Cthulhu with just the Quick-Start rules to teach new players? You can do that, too. Even if you want to just share your entire collection for a long and epic multi-session campaign, you can! Compendium Selection lets you curate your game experience so you can finetune the story you want to tell.

Here’s how it works:

On the Game settings page, head to the Compendium Settings section. You’ll see a list of all the compendiums available for the system you’re playing, listed in a table. Just click on a book to toggle the setting between Available and Not Available.

There are three settings:

Available for those who own (white)

Available and you own (green)

Not Available (red).

Any compendium labeled “Available for those who own” will be allowed in the game, even though you don’t own it. You’re allowing others to bring it to the virtual tabletop.

Any compendium labeled “Available and you own” is one you’re bringing to the game. This setting further ties into sharing settings; if you have sharing turned on, you’ll bring it to the virtual tabletop for everyone to use, but if you have compendium sharing turned off, you’ll bring it for your own use, but other players won’t have access (though they can still bring their own copies).

Any compendium labeled “Not Available” will not be included in this instance of the game. This can be a compendium in your collection or one you don’t own. Either way, it and its contents won’t show up in the compendium sidebar for anyone.

Missing a compendium that you want in your game? You can head right to the marketplace from Compendium Selection by clicking the purchase link.

With Compendium Selection, you can build the exact game you want to play. Curate the best compendium for you and your players, build the world you want to explore, and craft the story you want to tell.  

You can learn more about this feature in detail by visiting the Roll20 Help Center.

[kitanumi]

The newest D&D venture

So, one of my friends from a game I play in has decided to dip his toes in the realm of Dungeon Mastering. As a Dungeon Master myself, I am super hyped to support him in this endeavor. The player behind Peaches O'Plenty in my Tails of Equestria game is also a player. He is a huge Critical Roll fan and loves trying wild ideas from it. He approached me about making our characters a collaboration. Our aspiring DM friend, Tim, allowed it. Thus, soon the Tale of Clatter the Paladin and Effionne Ezfritti the sorcerer will soon begin.

Yeah, it took some work to make those two linked characters. Clatter is a kenku paladin that, through the power of a wish card and almost getting horrifically murdered by a mind flayer, was saved from dieing in the underdark by a young githrezai woman. Effionne Ezfritti is a githrezai princess we said was in the material plane because she got teleported there in the chaos of a githyanki war strike. Yes, I know Mordenkainan's Tome of Foes does not say that is a thing; but Tim is okay with that back story. So, we are using it. She was in pursuit of a githyanki war band when she came across Clatter. The war band were the ones that killed the mind flayer. Due to the wish spell in Clatter's story, Effionne was compelled to help him and lost her quarry. Clatter now aids her in thanks for saving his life. Effionne is just trying to figure out how to get home and why she just helped this bird man for no reason. They are friends as of the start of the campaign from their misadventures from leaving the underdark to where Tim will be starting us for his campaign.

Hopefully, having to strange characters won't hinder his first time DMing. I honestly agreed to collaborate because its with my friend; and its less work for Tim to make us work together if our characters already will work together because of back story reasons.

[hag-darling]

Zach got me Spyro and Super Mario Party!!!! AAAAAAAA

He also loved his gifts that I got him! Art & Arcana, Mordenkainan's, Xanathar's, a dice tray, and a copper dice set! (And a French press lol)

Great Christmas so far!!

[sageadvicednd]

Eladrin sketches for Mordenkainan’s Tome of Foes Eladrin sketches for Mordenkainan’s Tome of Foes #dnd #dnd5e #wotcstaff pic.twitter.com/KkqCAgI7nJ — Richard Whitters (@WhittersRichard) May 10, 2018 An Eladrin design for Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes #WOTCstaff #dnd #dnd5e pic.twitter.com/Ka0Mmktlp6 — Richard Whitters (@WhittersRichard) May 14, 2018

[appendingfic]

Me at the Game Store

Me: One copy of Mordenkainans Book of Foes please

Me: *catches sight of a picture of a cat*

Me: *looks closer*

Sourcebook: Cats of Cathulhu

Me: ...

Me: This is everything I've ever needed

[theinvulnerabletide]

10 facts about Celandine

Oh, Celandine, my dear little gnome inventor. 13 years old and already raising hell. :,)

1.) Celandine is a rock gnome, which means she comesfrom a long line of tinkers, mages, alchemists and inventors. Unfortunately,she is also a Darkhollow, which means most of that line are failed tinkers,alchemists and inventors, with either small, unmentionable patents, none atall, or, in her grandfather, Nikola’s case, all of his patents stolen by hispartner. Her father gave up that path when he saw what it did to his father,settled down with a nice merchant girl, and opened a shop: “Darkhollow’s AlchemicalEmporium” which sells spell components, gears and springs and tools of moredelicate trades, alchemical supplies, and the like.

2.)Recently, though Darkhollow’s Alchemical Emporium has diversified their waresto include small, wind-up animals, firestarters, and music boxes, all of whichare made my Celandine and sold with pride at the front counter. She receives75% of the profits, as, like her mother, Celandine is a shrewd haggler. Ithelps that she has her father wrapped around her finger.

3.)Celandine is a freshman at Eberron High, though she is only 13. She’s a cleverlittle sprog and kept getting in trouble for goofing off in class or not payingattention, even though she best grades in the class (except for in Mathsbecause she refused to do it the stupid way she was being taught), so she wasmoved up two grades sometime during middle school. She was ostracized by mostof her new class for being a know-it-all and for her robotics obsession, andquickly fell in the Caela, the elven monk, Arwin, the dragonborn paladin and Onion, the warforged druid, as fellow weirdos and outcasts. They’ve been friends for years now, and Celandine would kill for them if they asked her to. So it’s a good thing none of them ever would. 

4.)Celandine cannot, for the life of her, figure out why Caela decided to be herbest friend. Not in a bad way; she thinks the world of Caela, and appreciatesthat she even tries to pay attention when she natters on about whatever herlatest project is, and loves that she finally has someone to have sleepoversand listen to music with, but Caela is pretty and smart and kind and a GoodPerson; everything the popular crowd should be. Why she’s not the Queen Bee ofthe school constantly eludes Celandine; but then the finer points of mostsocial dynamics elude her.

5.) Thething is, Celandine knows she’s a know-it-all and probably really annoying andkind of unpleasant to be around, so while she can’t seem to put exactly howmuch she appreciates her friends into words, she showers them in presents toshow her gratitude instead, presents she’s made: little toys and music boxes(and firestarters, though she told them to keep them a secret from theirparents), but also one’s she’s bought or won: stuffed animals from the cranemachine, books she’d think they’d like, trinkets that made her think of them,(all the while worrying they’re sick of receiving things, which just makes herdo it more, compulsively).

6.) Shewants to be a thaumaturgical and alchemic engineer when she grows up, designingand creating new spells and enchantments, potions and magic items. She alsofinds electrical engineering fun, though not nearly as fascinating in itsscope.

7.) She hasdesigns for little helper servos that she’s perfecting, as well as a mechanicaldog (since she’s too allergic to pet dander to have a pet or even a familiar ofher own). She’s a long way off from completing either one of them, especiallywith school and her other half dozen projects, but she’s got some great mentorsat school (including THE Mordenkainan), so she expects to have at least one of themby the time she graduates high school.

8.) Shewas so rude to Onion when they first met. Not intentionally, but Onion is awarforged, and Celandine had never seen an activated one before. So, of courseshe lobbed an endless amount of questions at him, likely straining even Onion’sseemingly endless patience. It probably took someone pointing out how thoughtlessshe was being before she blanched and apologized (sincerely, which is rare forher), but after a while she and Onion grew closer. She always leaps into actionto help put him back together when, say, his leg comes off during P.E, and shewill absolutely set anyone on fire who calls him stupid.

9.) Celandine’sparents are very indulgent of her, especially since she skipped grades and seemed to start staying out of trouble.As far as they know her worst sins are badgering the administration intoletting her take more classes than is normally allowed, and her experimentsdon’t explode nearly as often as her elder sister’s did.

10.)Celandine has an older sister, Greldamine, who is 18 and attending classes atthe University of Feyrun, where she is majoring in Evocational Magic (andminoring in non-Euclidean physics). Celandine looks up to her sister and lovesher to death. In fact, they still chat every weekend via stone of far-speech. Shedoes still feel this competitive itch to be better than her sister in everyconceivable way, but she never lets that drive get in the way of theirrelationship. 

[pangurbanthewhite]

For that writing prompt meme Molly and “I’m going to take care of you, okay?”

(I keep thinking that this is almost certainly not the kind of fill you had in mind, but it’s an idea I’ve sort of wanted to poke at for a while anyway, soooo this is just how it came together. Mordenkainan’s Tome of Foes really is a good source for CR plot bunnies. I hope you enjoy it anyway!)

Mollymauk Tealeaf had run away to hell.

Avernas, to be exact; destination: the river Styx that cut through the heart of it where the souls of the damned went to bubble and boil and churn until they clawed their way out as a fresh batch of demons. 

But not all of those souls were damned by their own choice. 

He wasn’t supposed to be here. He’d slipped past one of the guardians of Arborea with a lie and a kiss and cut his way down into the Nine Hells with his scimitars glowing with radiant light. He’d be caught eventually, of course, and he just hoped it was by his own jailers rather than the locals. 

Molly wasn’t eager to join Caleb in the water.

His old friend had been consigned there by the hellfire of a Narzugon’s lance, struck down and killed and his soul sent down to hell by the curse of its infernal power. Just a few hours by the standards of the prime material plane would be all the time it took to complete Caleb’s transformation into a lemure and, from there, into a demon. But time passed differently between the planes, and while Jester wouldn’t have nearly enough time to get her hands on all the diamonds she needed given the state the rest of the Nein had been left in, Molly had enough leeway to try and render the entire time limit moot. 

Entire platoons of Merregon were doing drills along the vast, blasted plane, or else warring with one another at the behest of one or the other of the Archdevils. Stinking, suppurating masses of Nupperibo gathered around the banks of the Styx, and Abishai in all their chromatic colors patrolled the skies. Molly was pretty sure they’d spotted him - he wasn’t exactly subtle or hard to miss, a bright spark in a barren place. 

Three of the Nupperibo spotted Molly as he approached the river at a brisk, controlled walk. They were big but, fortunately, slow. Molly danced between their grasping hands without issue and cut them down, the light of his blades searing their skin and lighting them up like beacons. Which would probably bring at least one company of more trouble down on his head, but no matter. He couldn’t afford to be here long. 

Plunging his hands into the water of the Styx was one of the hardest things Molly had ever done - worse than dying, cold and cloying and wrong on every conceivable level. It was a tremendous effort to focus his will on clawing one soul out of the mire, to find one person in the endless, evil depths.

“Come on, Mister Caleb,” Molly murmured, hoping so much it hurt. “Come back to us.” Come back to me. He still had so much of Arborea to show him when it truly was Caleb’s time to come and meet his goddess. 

Other souls called out to him, reached for him, making grand promises or using stolen voices. Maybe some of them deserved to be saved but gods above, that was so far beyond Molly’s scope of understanding as to be laughable. He had come here for one thing, one soul. He could do this much good, at least. 

“You’ve got people waiting for you and it’s terribly rude to keep them waiting. Get up, come on.”

Until at last, after what felt like a minor eternity, Molly felt a familiar hand grasp his desperately and he heaved with all his might and pulled the twisted, broken soul of Caleb Widogast free of the Styx and onto solid ground with him, gasping and sputtering.  After what was probably only a couple of hours in the physical world, he was partially corrupted but still fundamentally human, still something that could be resurrected and stuck back in his body when Jester got her diamonds.

But time passed differently between the planes, and Molly didn’t even want to think about how Caleb had been down here from his perspective. Instead, as one of his most important people broke down in helpless, terrified, traumatized sobbing, Molly just shushed him gently and pulled him close. “It’s all right, it’s all right,” he murmured. It wasn’t, none of this was, they didn’t really have time for a meltdown right now, but...just a minute. He could make sure they had a minute, at least. Gods knew Caleb deserved that. “I’m going to take care of you, okay? Let’s take this somewhere a little more comfortable, shall we?”

Eventually, he got Caleb to look at him, and Molly smiled as reassuringly as he could under the circumstances before setting to work getting him upright. A few more of the Nopperibo were starting to eye them hungrily, and Molly wasn’t confident that he could fight them off while sparing Caleb further damage. But they were slow, and all he really needed was to get them far enough away to get caught by the right kind of people. 

As they went along, Caleb pressed close to Molly with a lack of hesitation that Molly would have found gratifying once and just found heartbreaking now for so many reasons. Rationally, he knew it was only because he was glowing with the bright, celestial energies of Arborea where he’d been brought to dwell. It was the utter antithesis of everything that made up the Nine Hells, the only thing that let him survive down here without corruption. Of course Caleb was craving it. Molly only wished he had more to give. Maybe an archon or an eladrin could have cured the corruption entirely, but he was still only Mollymauk Tealeaf, tiefling and petitioner. So he did what he could.

And he wished this desperate, easy intimacy could have happened in another time when they both still drew breath. 

“H-How?” Caleb stammered, once he’d seemed to remember how to speak. And then, in little more than a whisper: “Wh-Why?”

He was shivering like a leaf in a gale. Molly fussily shrugged out of his coat bundled Caleb up in it, and pulled him close again. It seemed to help - the other spirit stopped shivering quite so painfully, even if Molly could still feel the heat of his blank, disbelieving stare on his face. 

“I have my ways,” Molly said, glaring at a blue Abishai overhead that looked like it was getting ideas. “I have my reasons. And one of those was that this is a shitty thing that I didn’t want to see happen to you, Caleb. Honestly, can’t that be enough for you?” 

If it wasn’t, Caleb still proved to not be in any fit state to argue the point. They simply carried on in silence for a little while longer, until Molly almost missed the sound of Caleb whispering, “I missed you” over the distant rumble of a Hellfire Tank. 

Molly kissed his temple and wished so much that he could do more to fix any of this. “Missed you, too.”

The man with the raven’s wings caught up to them just as the tank was starting to rumble towards them. Molly had been praying that he would, and so his prayers were answered as he felt the all-too-familiar presence coalesce behind him. “Mollymauk Tealeaf,” Vax’ildan drawled. “We really have to stop meeting like this.” 

Molly glanced back at him and smiled his most apologetic smile. “Mercy for a first offense?”

Vax snorted, then reached out to take both his and Caleb’s shoulders. “All right, I’ll play along for your friend. Yes, this is absolutely your first offense.” And just like that, there was a moment of utter blackness slamming down around them, a sense of movement and wind, until Vax released his grip and both Molly and Caleb were left to tumble forward into the grass. 

“Welcome to Arborea,” Vax said, dusting off his hands. “Enjoy your stay.” 

“He won’t be here long,” Molly said flatly, dragging himself up to his hands and knees and going to check on Caleb. He had to hope that was the case but Vax was right - until Jester or Caduceus attempted and succeeded on a resurrection ritual, it had been determined that here was where Caleb belonged while he was dead. And that just made the echo of Molly’s heart skip a beat because he’d always, always thought that the one thing that could make the afterlife better was being here with them.

And that was just a desperately selfish way to think, and probably pointless besides. One of the clerics would resurrect him soon and Caleb wouldn’t struggle and fail to claw its way back to life the way Molly’s had. 

Vax blew Molly a kiss and left them there to their own devices, his job done. “Are you going to get into trouble?” Caleb asked quietly, staring at the space where he’d been. 

“Nah,” Molly said, reasonably sure he wasn’t lying. “He’s a marshmallow at heart, that one.” He kissed the top of Caleb’s head and then helped him to his feet as carefully as he could. “Come on, up you go. Let’s get you settled.”  

Time passed strangely between the planes, and what would probably only be a few hours, a day at most, from the point of view of Caleb’s friends left Molly with enough time to care for Caleb in a way that had been denied him for much too long. They lingered together under the trees in the quiet, idyllic woods or wandered through fields of wildflowers, Caleb eating berries and fruits that Molly picked for him and pressed into his hands. Bit by bit, he grew less sickly and weak, healed by the food and the rich, loamy air and the positive energies that made up the very foundation of this plane. Celestial animals watched them with benign disinterest before going about their business. Other petitioners were occasionally visible in the distance going about their own business, enjoying their own eternities. As Caleb came alive again, he had questions, so many questions about how and why everything worked. Molly couldn’t even begin to answer all of them, but he tried and was happy that Caleb had come back to himself enough to care at all.

The weather in Arborea was as chaotic as could be, and at one point they stumbled, soaked and laughing, into a cave as a sudden rainstorm thundered down around them, only for it to end just as they made themselves comfortable. 

When Molly tried to stand up to leave the cave, Caleb pulled him down again with a surprising strength and kissed him and then kissed him again and Molly returned each brush of lips eagerly and two more rainstorms passed by overhead as they laid down and found solace in each other for a long, long while.

But all good things had to come to an end at some point, even here. That was the only way to ever give them any meaning. So as they were sitting together on a hill and watching a flock of brilliantly colored birds swirling and dancing overhead, Caleb suddenly went still, eyes going wide. Molly glanced at him, saw Caleb press his hands to his chest where a faint white glow was starting to emanate, and knew that he was hearing the voice of one of his friends calling him home. 

Their eyes met and damn him, bless him, but Molly saw Caleb hesitate. That wouldn’t do at all. He leaned forward to kiss the wizard soundly and cut off any foolish offers that might be coming. He felt Caleb hesitate, and then he felt him relax and accept what must be.

“I’ll tell the others you said hello?” Caleb whispered instead, as he started to fade. 

“Tell them that,” Molly said, smiling through the tears. “And that Beau’s new tattoo looks absolutely ridiculous on her.”

His old friend laughed, and then he was gone, the sound lingering in the air. Molly tried to commit it to his memory, hold it in his heart, as he was left to continue waiting there beneath the holy trees. 

[apricotgryphon]

.... Literally just found not only art depicting eladrin as I think of them.. but it’s official wotc art from mordenkainan’s tome of foes, expressly intended to be ref art.... so that’s handy plus it’s so pretty

Eladrin sketches for Mordenkainan’s Tome of Foes #dnd #dnd5e #wotcstaff pic.twitter.com/KkqCAgI7nJ

— Richard Whitters (@WhittersRichard) May 10, 2018

[terfs-hate-women-blog]

3. Use Kobold Fight Club; you can filter by type, but more importantly you can sort by CR, generate a random encounter, and if you find a combination you like but it includes one or more monsters you don't, just limit your range to the CR of those monsters and find something to swap out.

4. Get more books. Volo's Guide to Monsters, Tome of Beasts, Fifth Edition Foes, any of the campaign settings like Tomb of Annihilation or Tales from the Yawning Portal. Also Mordenkainan's Tome of Foes is either out or coming soon. More options means using less humanoids.

5. Use the stats from goblins (or whatever) but change what they are. Make them vaguely mindless gremlins or something.

6. Examine history more and realize that just because a group of people is "the enemy" doesn't mean their species is entirely evil. Take the Roman Empire vs Gaul: your gaming group could be the Romans or the Gauls. If they're the Romans, then they see the Gauls as uncivilized heathens. If they're the Gauls, they see the Romans as arrogant conquerors. Either way, neither side is necessarily evil, they're just in opposition to one another. You could also include a plotline which forces the players to come to terms with the fact that they are actually more alike than they thought. If you do this with a traditional D&D setup, use races that aren't commonly aligned, such as having your party comprised of humans, gnomes, orcs, and dwarves, while they are at war with the elves, halflings, and kobolds.

7. Accept that this is a fantasy setting, and it is possible to have sentient species (or subsets of that species) that are uniformly evil. For instance, in your setting maybe gnomes used to be dwarves but a millenia ago they made a pact with an evil Archfey for magical power, and have been slowly corrupted by their connection and now every gnome in existence is irredeemable vile. You aren't saying "gnomes are an inferior race because they lack genetic purity," you are saying "gnomes are an evil race because this world has magic in it and that sort of shit is possible."

I'm having trouble planning out potential encounters, because so many of the "monsters" suggestions just seem plain racist. Like, "they're goblins so of course they'd do horrible things and you'd need to kill them".

1. It’s not in their blood, it’s in their society

2. There are always demons, devils and undead to kill

[fairfield-adventurers]

Quest for the Book #03.3

Estevaan acknowledges the victorious Vorrakaz, shouting the party a round of drinks to celebrate.

Ilvar heals Thebus' wounds as a show of good faith.

The party agree to meet Matreos back at the Pickled Inn at daybreak. Matreos is a bit disheartened that he is not as fit as the elderly Vorrakaz.

Zyldi looks for the source of the music at the inn, but can only see Bartemus is playing the dulcimer. Seeing Bartemus, she turns back to the bar for further (non-alcoholic) drinks instead.

Ilvar chats with Thebus about his previous opponents. Thebus mentions the only other person who has beaten him was Lieutenant Cindertooth, head of the city watch (a red Dragonborn). Thebus calls him a cheeky bastard.

Ilvar invites Thebus to join the party, Thebus relunctantly declines but would happily meet up with the party in the future.

Ilvar asks about Bartemus - Thebus notes he's a bit odd, and his friends are odd too. He acknowledges that you can't expect to like everyone.

Thebus passes a handful of gold to Ilvar, but has paid too much. Ilvar makes sure to return the excess.

Zyldi notices Fi and Re have followed Esther to a corner of the bar. Zyldi compliment the twins on their hair, and Esther responds for them - they aren't very talkative. Esther explains the twins are from a village in the mountain but can't recall the name. Esther turns back to the twins as if listening, but they don't speak. There is the sound of a fire crackling, and Esther translates the noise (their speech) as the name of the village, and mentions there is an entrance to the elemental plane of fire there. Zyldi asks where Esther is from, and she says "everywhere". Upon further pressing, she names the island of Lucario's Coin as her hometown.

Zyldi asks if Esther recalls anyone passing through with a book. The twins make eye contact, and Esther asks if Matreos is involved in any of this. Esther suggests the party take this conversation to a more private location, and shifts to a quieter corner of the bar.

~meanwhile, unbeknownst to the party~

Rowan is chatting to Estevaan about the fight. Rowan asks for information about the missing homeless population of Tiberium. Estevaan's face loses it's jolly smile and turns grim - this topic is clearly of great concern.

Estevaan states he's always been friendly with the guard, but some parties have been complaining that previously quiet roads are now bustling with unsanctioned activity. Rowan knows these roads to be a set of tunnels under the city, managed by a criminal network of 'Grinners', led by the 'Golden Jester'. The city watch have been unable to locate the Grinners, following them into the tunnels only to lose them in the maze. The fact that the Grinners are unhappy about the use of the tunnels speaks volumes to the nature of the activities underway.

~back at the booth~

Niamh has made Thistle a drink named the midnight star, to match her hat.

Niamh drops a drink at Rowan's table but as he is on duty, he doesn't touch it.

The party (minus Rowan) file into the booth. Esther gives Zyldi a look, and mentions how interesting it is that she mention a book. Esther recalls about 3 weeks ago a mouthy fellow passed through, and put several of our friend's (Rowan) friends in the ground (DED). They were sober guards, not ones to indulge while on duty. The perpetrator mentioned he was going north, a great calling awaited him near the mountains...

The noise of fire crackling gets louder, and Esther continues: "oh yes, the god brain would reward him". When asked what that meant, she looks genuinely afraid. There are few sources that talk of brains in the way he did, one is Illithids (tentacle faced, davy jones type fellas), one could also mistake a beholder for a god. Either way, he had the book, and he was heading north, expecting a reward.

Niamh says EW and recalls a scary story about Illithids snatching fairies in the night for a snack. The brains of the fairies would be turned into little creatures to do their bidding. If they were to be real, Niamh would not hesitate to eliminate them.

Zyldi mentions Illithids can take whole races captive, and that Illithids are not fairy tales. This gets the attention of the genassi twins, who nod vehemently.

Niamh brings Zyldi a soothing tea. Esther is interested to hear Zyldi affirm they are real, and questions whether Zyldi serves them. Ilvar objects, frustrated.

Esther mentions anyone proficient at tracking psychic energies would have no trouble picking up the scent of the perpetrator. She promises to take us to the location the perpetrator was last seen in the morning.

The tiefling and the genassi rise to leave. One of the twins smells of lavender and cinnamon.

A previously unnoticed owl lands on the shoulder on one of the twins as they leave.