Dragon #382 - Guilds & Groups: Moon Catchers

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

A new article up: Guilds & Groups: Moon Catchers.
It is about an organization devoted to a moon that appeared 130 years in the sky and disappeared.

The legendary blue moon, Iltani, destroyed itself in a cataclysm 100 years ago, and its shards rained down upon the world. Only a few people know the reason why Iltani existed and what its destruction portends. They are the Moon Catchers, and their mission is to gather as many shards of destroyed Iltani the Blue as possible. Eventually, they intend to reassemble those shards and place the moon again in its position high above the world. Their organization is tiny but far-flung, spread around the world in towns and uncivilized regions. Although they are not well known, they welcome to their ranks anyone who shares their concern for the fate of the world.

I like it. The phrase "Once in a blue moon" explained for PoLand. Definitely with story potential. Interestingly, it doesn't talk about who created Iltani.

The article reminded me again that my homebrew world also has a twist that I haven't used yet - the moon doesn't look like cheese, but more as if you're looking at Earth...

 

[ppaladin123]

Hmm, Nebiru...I wonder where they got that idea?

::cough:: Nibiru collision - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ::cough::

I like how they turned a real world wacky doomsday prophecy into a fun plot hook for a D&D game.

 

[ferratus]

Well, if a moon exploded and rained down upon the PoLWorld, then it certainly explains why things have been so terrible for a hundred years.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Well, if a moon exploded and rained down upon the PoLWorld, then it certainly explains why things have been so terrible for a hundred years.

It was a small moon. You can hardly call it that. Let's call it a... moonling.

 

[Stoat]

Very cool stuff. I really like Cordell's work.

My only beef is the timeline. Even in a scattered, PoL-type world folks would still be talking about the Blue Moon 100 years later, particularly longer-lived races. I'd move the appearance/disappearance back about 500-600 years.

 

[Zaukrie]

Great concepts. The timeline does seem to be a bit odd, for a world with elves and what not. However, this might fit perfectly into the thousands of other plots I'm weaving together right now....

 

[AntiStateQuixote]

I like this idea also, but am bothered by the timeline.

I'm thinking of having Iltani appear in the night sky for the first time some time in the next few weeks in my game. Maybe leave it as a curiousity for the current campaign. It can fall from the sky in my next campaign and then maybe have the PCs try to restore it in an even later campaign.

 

[Dire Bare]

Hmm, Nebiru...I wonder where they got that idea?

::cough:: Nibiru collision - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ::cough::

I like how they turned a real world wacky doomsday prophecy into a fun plot hook for a D&D game.

Wow! That's cool, in a crazy-crackpot kind of way!!! Perfect for D&D!

While the scientist in my cries everytime I read about one of these hairbrained conspiracy theories . . . . they do make great additions to a D&D game!

 

[Rechan]

It was a small moon. You can hardly call it that. Let's call it a... moonling.

Or maybe a dwarf moon?

 

[Shroomy]

That's no moon, it's a space station (er, kind of)...

I particularly loved this article and a glimpse at the concept of an apocalypse dragon was one of my favorite parts of the article (reading that hilariously crazy wikipedia article was also a nice treat). I now look forward even more for MM3 and the catastrophe dragons (I guess the third Draconomicon too). While I was kind of lukewarm on most of the magic items (there nice IMO), I love the flavor of the deep impact weapon.

I think the 130 timeline was meant to make the threat of Nebiru seem more imminent (I can also see it being largely forgotten in the chaos following the fall of Nerath which was contemporaneous with the destruction of Iltani). If Iltani has exploded a thousand years ago and Nebiru never showed, some of the potential threat would be lessened IMO; it would just be another ancient, prophesized threat that has yet to materialize.