Hitler and the Rod of Seven Parts.

So, yes, the title is intended to be click-bait. But not really.

I'm running a campaign centered around the Rod of Seven Parts, and the "powers" generally ascribed to the Rod (flying, summoning air elementals, etc.) are all very nice, but ultimately weak.

In fact, the entire story is lame, IMHO. Rod is created to kill a Demon spider, spider's blood corrupts the rod, causing it to shatter into 7 pieces. Meanwhile, the Queen of Chaos does ... nothing? And if the player uses the rod, there's a chance she sends some peon underlings to ... stop them? None of it makes a damn bit of sense.

But in thinking about what I want it to actually be, it seems to me that the rod should ultimately turn the wielder into ... Hitler!

And I should point out that, once I made this realization, it occurred to me that a campaign centered around the idea that Hitler was just a dude who managed to complete the Rod of Seven Parts and used it to inflict ultimate ORDER!!! on the world would make a freaking awesome campaign.

At any rate, what kinds of powers would you give the Rod of Seven Parts such that, by the time the wielder has all 7 pieces, he's basically squashing rebellions, creating armies, uniting warring factions, establishing order across barbaric lands (by choice or by genocide - the barbarians get to choose!).

I was thinking of having the rod be a greater power of Mechanus - the place of ultimate law. So, I'm thinking having it be able to summon Modrons would be a good start. This would be akin to summoning a Mr. Meseeks (from Rick and Morty) and then all Hell is liable to ensue a result of what are initially "good" intentions. "Hi, I'm Mr. Modron - look at me! You want me to establish and enforce a set of laws for this barbarian village? Can do!"

You know, I get the vibe you're going for...but the Hitler comparison just makes it really tasteless.

Somewhere in one of his myriad Eternal Champion books, Michael Moorcock mentioned that the ultimate triumph of Law was stasis. A place for everything, and everything in its place, eternally.

That in mind, perhaps some of the powers could be things like creating force barriers, or acting like an immovable rod.

Well, I agree that the comparison to Hitler is tasteless... though completely in line with the general tastelessness of society lately, so the OP is hardly to be held accountable for that. He's certainly breaking no social norms.

I'll object mainly that while German society was lawful and orderly, Hitler was not actually in any fashion an embodiment of that. It's on par with the irony that Hitler's society declared that the ideal man was blond, fair, tall, fit, morally pure, and physically without flaw when Hitler was in fact none of those things. Hitler was a short, weak eyed, weak jawed, dark haired, unathletic man with chronic drug addictions. In the same fashion, Hitler was a narcissistic megalomaniac who did everything according to personal whim and pitted his own allies against each other, while at the same time preaching the virtues of an orderly society where the individual was less important than the state.

Or in other words, while the Nazi state taken as a whole might well be Lawful Evil, it was pledging its loyalty and personal fealty to a man who was Chaotic Evil. Nazi Germany as a result was an economic basketcase, being micromanaged by a guy who trusted no one and who therefore always wanted at least two over everything so that no one had any power except on the word of Hitler. It was a political basketcase, because the law was meaningless. Everything was centralized in the hands of Hitler, who had sole authority to make any decisions of consequence, and who ruled by fear backed by his capricious and unpredictable temper. In short, the character of Hitler is nothing like the character of a person being influenced by the Rod of Seven Parts as the item is typically understood.

I agree that the goal of Pure Law is eternal infinite unchanging stasis - a perfectly crystalline indistinguishable infinite reality in which no one part can be distinguished from any other part. To that extent, the functional end of Law is basically no different than the functional end of Chaos, which is why in the Moorcraftian universe, only Neutrality provides any sort of moral framework.

To add to Celebrim's take on it, not only was Hitler a narcissistic mess, so were the other Nazis in power. There's a mythology that the Nazis got Germany working again or created some economic miracle through their efficient, fascist economic order - but in truth, they failed at that like they ultimately failed at everything. The economy was still in abysmal shape on the eve of war, in no small part, because the Nazi true believers in most positions of power were incompetent.

The Soviets were ultimately more successful, but they were also extremely inefficient considering the massive body count it took to achieve their orderly state.

All that said, the idea of the Rod of 7 Parts creating a dictator is, I think, a good one. And if it created Hitler, for example, that might suggest the Rod can only do so much if the wielder has his limitations.

Actually, the real analog you're looking at is the One Ring. It corrupts the wielder into effectively becoming Sauron and Sauron is actually a fairly orderly guy. His orcs are surprisingly well ordered in units and specialties as we see from various interactions (even if they don't get along with each other). And he's been able to marshal enormous amounts of diverse forces and resources.

I don't have an opinion on rod powers at this juncture, but Hitler + the Rod of Seven Parts = D&D Raiders of the Lost Ark, which is a great campaign concept. Just add obvious Belloq expy!

The Rod of Seven Parts turns the wielder into a Bard / Sorcerer / Warlock? Hmmmm...