General RPG DiscussionDiscussion of all RPGs and non-system-specific topics. DM/GM/player issues, settings, etc. Rules discussion belongs in one the forums below.
I would love to see the classic Modrons upgraded to 4e and expanded upon. I was flipping through an old Dragon magazine that had some great artwork and fluff around these creatures. Would love to see a revisit/expansion of that material.
I always liked them, but where would they fit? In a domain in the Astral Sea?
Why not as a bulwark between the Elemental Chaos and the Astral Sea? Their fundamental Law-based function is to restrain the primordials and prevent their escape and perhaps Primus exists to restrain Tharizdun in particular.
They're immortal animates but otherwise the astral counterpart of archons, created on great astral forges as creatures of perfect Order so that they might more perfectly oppose Chaos.
__________________ Regards
D
The philosopher Herbert Spencer once observed: "The ultimate result of shielding man from the effects of folly is to people the world with fools."
Agreed! I think WOTC screwed up by removing Law/Chaos from the D&D system of alignments/outlooks. See the maruts how now "collect favours"...meh?!
modrons were great in their mad way
I think the re-introduction of modrons could tie in nicely with the implied setting's plotline element of the increasing encroachment of the Far Realm into the material world and the subsequent rise of psionics and the appearance of the wilden (further detailed in PH3).
In a remote corner of the Astral Sea, a strange, metallic ball appears, apparently out of nowhere. It lies motionless for a while, but suddenly, with a soft "snick", a panel slides open, revealing a single, large eye.
For a few moments, the eye stares blankly ahead. Then slowly, it looks around, and sees nothing but emptiness around it. It blinks, once, and with a faint whirring sound, the ball extends arms and legs, feet and hands.
Cautiously at first, but with rapidly growing confidence, the creature moves its limbs, flexes its joints. Then, apparently satisfied, the creature stands still. It holds up its empty left hand and a lump of metallic substance appears on it. It holds up its empty right hand and a strange tool materializes there. With precise, regular movements, it begins building another creature like itself.
Some sages speculate that just as the wilden were the natural world's response to the Far Realm's gradually growing incursion, the modrons were similarly birthed by the Astral Sea.
Although no god has claimed responsibility for their creation, some argue that their apparently mechanical nature suggests that they are creatures of Moradin. Others believe that their highly regimented and ordered society points to Erathis or even Bane. A more chilling line of speculation is that they were birthed not to counter the Far Realm, but because the growing influence of the Far Realm is slowly driving one or more of the gods insane. Those who believe this fear that the single-minded obsession displayed by the modrons in their battles against creatures of chaos and madness is a form of madness in itself...
I always hated the planescape "reboot" of these creatures.
The original MM2 shows them as geometric shapes, not clockwork robots. I thought it was a lot weirder and more original than going to the clockwork/steampunk cliche. Biological creatures of order so alien the masses appear as near-perfect geometric shapes, while the leaders are humanoids that can't pass the Uncanny Valley.
If they were ever to come back, I'd like them to consider this aspect.
__________________
Forum FYI:
Kask is not the famous Tim Kask of the early days of TSR
I am that weird guy you see buried deep down in the credits section on many of EGGs later products.
If I were doing it, I might make the modrons an experiment in order by the primordials. To me, Mechanus just doesn't fit as an Astral Dominion, it's too single minded. The primordials are much more single minded. You could even make Primus some sort of renegade primordial, dedicated to being as opposed to the chaotic nature of the Elemental chaos as possible.
__________________ All we want to do is eat your brains
We’re not unreasonable; I mean, no one’s gonna eat your eyes
All we want to do is eat your brains
We’re at an impasse here; maybe we should compromise:
If you open up the doors
We’ll all come inside and eat your brains
I always hated the planescape "reboot" of these creatures.
The original MM2 shows them as geometric shapes, not clockwork robots. I thought it was a lot weirder and more original than going to the clockwork/steampunk cliche. Biological creatures of order so alien the masses appear as near-perfect geometric shapes, while the leaders are humanoids that can't pass the Uncanny Valley.
If they were ever to come back, I'd like them to consider this aspect.
I think you're looking too deep. I really don't think it was anything more than 'dude, what if there were monsters that looked like dice!'
Not a modron fan. They're nearly as dumb as gelatinous cubes, piercers, and mimics.
__________________ Looking for gaming in Springfield, IL? Check out my Meetup Group.
I always hated the planescape "reboot" of these creatures.
The original MM2 shows them as geometric shapes, not clockwork robots. I thought it was a lot weirder and more original than going to the clockwork/steampunk cliche. Biological creatures of order so alien the masses appear as near-perfect geometric shapes, while the leaders are humanoids that can't pass the Uncanny Valley.
If they were ever to come back, I'd like them to consider this aspect.
Indeed. I love the Modrons and I've used them to good effect, but in their original version as presented in the MM2 as alien geometrical creatures. Never liked the silly clockwork version.
__________________ 'Can a magician kill a man by magic?' Lord Wellington asked Strange. Strange frowned. He seemed to dislike the question. 'I suppose a magician might,' he admitted, 'but a gentleman never could.'
Given some of the folks currently on the 4e design team, I doubt that we'll see Modrons in 4e. They didn't show up in the 3.x Planar Handbook written by a number of the 4e designers, and there were some thinly veiled allusions to killing them off therein, and in its online chat.
And when someone describes modrons as inherently silly (not a direct quote, I'd need to check my email to find it), that generally doesn't make me think they're a fan of the creatures.
Of course, I could be wrong, but if we did see them, given the 4e penchent for completely rewriting prior concepts and altering them to conform to 4e PoL defaults, I'm not sure if it wouldn't be better to skip them in 4e (and the 3.5 Dragon article by Ken Marable, and illustrated by Julie Dillon was seriously awesome, very well written, and easy to convert over if you wanted).
__________________ "I can just see the 4e adventure anthology "Tale from the Limited Staircase"." - Ken Marable
I currently have Modrons placed in my 4th edition world though they have not been fully written up yet. Basically, my explanation is at the end of the Divine War (which was responsible for many of the changes between 3rd an 4th ed) a young god of law and pacts, who did not yet have his own dominion, saw that mechanus was slowly being destroyed by the shifting of the planes.
Working in tandem with the current Primus the god managed to salave a fair chunk of the plane, raising into the Astral Sea and making it his dominion. The Primus expended most of his energies in the process and died. As Mechanus was now the gods Astral Dominion the title of Primus passed to him.
You could use this as an excuse to make the upper levels of Modron more humanoid in appearance and behavior if you wanted.
I missed the Modrons so much that it inspired me to do a 3d cinematic still of my own version of Quadrones:
I entered this image in a statewide contest but was not the winner.
Hah! Modrons, finding a cluster of eggs, not knowing mom or dad is lurking nearby. I almost wish one of them had two broken egg halves in their hand with the yolk running out!
Of course I'm biased, but I'd love to see modrons make an appearance in 4e (almost as much as I'd love taking a hand in that appearance!) I also always loved the concept of Dark Modrons and wished I could have done more with them.
Having them from a dominion on the Astral Sea would definitely be the easiest way to integrate them as is.
Although, with some of the ideas above, I can easily see them being from a sort of "anti-Far Realm" - bleeding in from some other reality that operates on the strictest rules of physics and trying to impose order upon the chaos of this "mortal reality". Whether spared from a prior reality or from Someplace Else that is so alien as to be incomprehensible to mortals, they are unceasing in their efforts to convert the mortal realm into order. Most see them as silly little pests, but those who pay close attention notice that their numbers are growing... and growing exponentially.
Given some of the folks currently on the 4e design team, I doubt that we'll see Modrons in 4e. They didn't show up in the 3.x Planar Handbook written by a number of the 4e designers, and there were some thinly veiled allusions to killing them off therein, and in its online chat.
And when someone describes modrons as inherently silly (not a direct quote, I'd need to check my email to find it), that generally doesn't make me think they're a fan of the creatures.
But Modrons are inherently silly. It's one of their most endearing qualities.
And I hated them until they were envisioned as clockwork beings.
__________________ "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." - Samuel Johnson 18th century English author.
I almost wish one of them had two broken egg halves in their hand with the yolk running out!
Actually the 2 in the back are supposed to be wearing each half of a broken egg on their heads and the blob at their feet is the yolk
I'm not too happy with the broken shell. I didn't mean to leave the orange part on the bottom half of the broken shell and rendered it before I realized it. I had submitted the pic before realizing it and never bothered to fix that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Silverblade The Ench
Oryan77
lol great image!! that Bryce or Lightwave?
I used Maya to do all of it. Man it is a tough program to learn.
I think WOTC screwed up by removing Law/Chaos from the D&D system of alignments/outlooks. See the maruts how now "collect favours"...meh?!
Linear Mode
And yet another word from our sponsors
