Demon Lords. You use 'em?

[Darth Shoju]

The campaign I wrapped up last year featured Molloch as the main villain. I wrote that after he was cast out of the Malbolge he was imprisoned by Asmodeus but later freed by a Hellfire Wyrm ally. They fled to Gian (the name of my campaign's planet) as it was being formed and managed to usurp some of the planet's power. Throughout history he and the Hellfire Wyrm posed together pretending to be one villain (a dragon named Adon-Sul-yes, stolen from Tolkien ). Eventually they enacted their plan to pull the planet into the Astral plane and from there into the 9 Hells in a bid for vengeance on Asmodeus (long story how they did this, pretty much the whole campaign was written around it).

At the climax of the campaign, the party ended up going to the 9 Hells, met Bel and then travelled to Malsheem. They parleyed with Martinet and one of the characters was briefly "hit on" by Glasya. They managed to warn Asmodeus (indirectly, all they saw was his goat leg sticking out of the shadows around his throne...they were outside the throne room) who sent a force led by Martinet to oppose the forces of Molloch and the hellfire wyrm (who were both revealed by this point). There was also intervention by a servant of Graz'zt leading some demonic forces trying to get a foothold on Gian (seeing as it was about to become a new layer of Hell and a fantastic position of power for the Blood War).

The forces of Hell, the Abyss and Molloch engaged each other while the party confronted Molloch and eventually defeated him. Martinet came and collected his essence and departed. The party then managed to awaken the judgement and punishment aspects of the creater god of the planet that had been put to sleep by Molloch. They deity's aspects banished the remaining fiendish forces and set the planet back in the Prime.

*phew* So yes, I heavily used them in that campaign and I doubt I ever will again. It was a balancing act to keep them from becoming cheapened by the heavy involvment in the campaign and I may have tipped the balance in the end, but at least we all had fun with it.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Hey, Ari or Joe -- what issue of Dragon is that?

I'm sorry, Josh. I somehow missed this question way the hell back when. But, in the better late than never department...

"The Ebon Maw" was published in Dragon #312. I believe that was the October issue of last year.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

Do I use them? Well, I've got Mammon mowing my yard right now. Does that count?

I am using Mammon when ever money comes up.

 

[humble minion]

I've never used them, but I've got an idea lurking in the back of my mind for some time waaaay in the future. An epic Oriental Adventures campaign, where the Empire is under attack by nomadic steppe horsemen(/gnolls/ghouls) in the service of Yeenoghu. But as the PCs dig deeper, the whole invasion turns out to be a power play among demon lords, with Yeenoghu taking aim at Mammon, Graz'zt, and all the rest of the more subtle Lords, whose cults are deeply intertwined with the corrupt elites of the Empire.

Demon lords are a lot scarier in an otherwise animist cosmology, when instead of good gods to keep them in check, the best you have is minor local nature spirits and the odd Lung dragon...