D&D General D&D With Historical Villains (Or, "Why Would Truck-kun Do This?")

[Sparky McDibben]

I was listening to DM of None (a podcast - I recommend it if you haven't heard of them before) today, and they were discussing the Paizo adventure path Reign of Winter. Apparently, you have to go kill Rasputin on Earth during this adventure (spoilers - sorry).

This is an intriguing thing to put in your adventure. But as I ruminated on it, I saw the potential for a whole-ass campaign here. Which leads me to my pitch:

What if all the weirdest historical villains got isekai'd when they died, and wound up in a D&D world...with 20 levels of full spellcasting?

Now, I'm not really talking about the big names here (no Adolfs or Stalin's need apply). I'm looking at the crazy enablers - Jean-Paul Marat instead of Robespierre, for example. Or the Thule Society instead of Hitler. Gimme the B-plot guys that are all flipping crazy, but without some of the real heavy historical baggage of their bosses. Hell, maybe throw in some folks that are less "evil" and more just "nucking futs." Say, Sir Isaac Newton (post-mercury) and Heinrich Schliemann. And yeah, throw Rasputin in the mix 'cuz why not. Then D&D-ify them, crank up the pulp factor to 11 and break off the knob by dropping in your PCs.

I don't know - could be fun. Who would you pull in to this? Why? What am I missing here?

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

Scientology and Mormonism are canon in my Spelljammer game (along with other religions like Norse and Greek paganism) and so L. Ron Hubbard has appeared as a cybernetic lich-lord who was fed by the collective bad sci-fi writing of a million monkeys at a million typewriters, and some historical Mormon personages I personally consider to be villains have appeared in my game though I won't name them here.

Oh and the 27th century BCE Egyptian priest Imhotep made a cameo as a mummy. He's not a villain he's just like one of the few mummies anyone can name.

 

[MoonSong]

Sir Isaac Newton (post-mercury)

Spoiler Escaflowne

 

[Distracted DM]

There are some historical DnD books out there.. but yes, Reign of Winter is a classic what with the world-hopping-to-ww1-era-ish-earth.
But maybe those historical books have some ideas. I'm drawing a blank, though.

It's a fun idea to play with, hoping others have better input than I :'D

edit: one thing, possibly, to note.. in RoW, the PCs go to a historical fiction version of earth- so they're not "poisoning" golarion's setting with earth stuff, they're going to earth temporarily to thwart Rasputin. I know your premise is quite different

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Aleister Crowley, though I don't see him being that villainous, maybe he's someone the PCs would meet and he keeps them guessing on what his intentions are, sometimes helpful and sometimes antagonistic.

 

[Tonguez]

I've used Torquemada the Mad Inquisitor who gets elected as Grand Hierophant and begins a crusade against magic uses and demi-humans (actually inspired by the 2000AD comic rather than real history)

Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell as himself (a Puritanical Tyrant)

The Sun King Louis as a Celestial Parasite who feeds on adoration and glory. Versailles is his demiplane, where the nations nobility are trapped in a grand illusion orchestrated by the long dead king

Also in Versailles is La Voison a Midwife and Witch and the centre of a web of intrigue, black masses and poison.

More unknown would be John Elliotson "The Phrenarch of London" - a real English Doctor who was forced to resign due to his advocacy of Mesmerism and Phrenology. He gets Mind Control powers, and I also linked him to the Air Loom Gang.

 

[Stormonu]

Just take a look at Masque of the Red Death; it's done most of the work for you in that regard.

 

[Sparky McDibben]

Scientology and Mormonism are canon in my Spelljammer game (along with other religions like Norse and Greek paganism) and so L. Ron Hubbard has appeared as a cybernetic lich-lord who was fed by the collective bad sci-fi writing of a million monkeys at a million typewriters, and some historical Mormon personages I personally consider to be villains have appeared in my game though I won't name them here.

Oh and the 27th century BCE Egyptian priest Imhotep made a cameo as a mummy. He's not a villain he's just like one of the few mummies anyone can name.

Ooh, L. Ron sounds like a great addition! "Let me tell you about these Thetans..."

Spoiler Escaflowne

Congratulations! You get to feel super old this week, and also gain free access to this website. God, I loved Escaflowne - still do.

Aleister Crowley, though I don't see him being that villainous, maybe he's someone the PCs would meet and he keeps them guessing on what his intentions are, sometimes helpful and sometimes antagonistic.

That's a solid recommendation, thanks!

I've used Torquemada the Mad Inquisitor who gets elected as Grand Hierophant and begins a crusade against magic uses and demi-humans (actually inspired by the 2000AD comic rather than real history)

Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell as himself (a Puritanical Tyrant)

The Sun King Louis as a Celestial Parasite who feeds on adoration and glory. Versailles is his demiplane, where the nations nobility are trapped in a grand illusion orchestrated by the long dead king

Also in Versailles is La Voison a Midwife and Witch and the centre of a web of intrigue, black masses and poison.

More unknown would be John Elliotson "The Phrenarch of London" - a real English Doctor who was forced to resign due to his advocacy of Mesmerism and Phrenology. He gets Mind Control powers, and I also linked him to the Air Loom Gang.

All of these are fantastic, and thank you! Didn't know about John Elliotson - that bears further reading up on!

 

[Not a Decepticon]

You might want to take interest in this little anime
The Premise is two entities take people from human history at moment of death and send them to fight in a fantasy world, they can range from famous historical figures to a random WWII Kamikaze with whole airplane