Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8386144" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 68: February 1992part 2/5Bestiary: Hearth Fiends are our only monster this month. William W. Connors reminds us that nearly anything can be corrupted by Ravenloft, and that includes the safety of a warm fireplace. They'll whisper from the flames and promise you nearly anything if you'll just keep on feeding them, Seymour. This usually ends tragically in the long run, as they lie liberally and they'll welch on the deal as soon as it's amusing and they secure another patsy. They're completely immune to nonmagical attacks, including normal water, so they're an out of context problem for the superstitious and ignorant peasants of most domains. Even adventurers might be tricked by their ability to jump into another fire and think they've killed it, only for the cycle to start all over again. Unless you have the logistic power to give every home a continual light spell and central heating, this is one recurring villain that'll be very hard to stamp out permanently. Both mechanically interesting and nicely atmospheric, this is one monster that definitely gets my approval. Iron Hands, Captive Hearts: We haven't had a rogues gallery in a few months. They take a break from Raven's Bluff material for a little adventure in a galaxy far far away. Zhen Mirat is a force sensitive albino pirate captain who uses his mental powers to reinforce his dominance over his crew, have a good time and pluck info that'll lead to new scores from the minds of other cantina patrons. He seems thoroughly despicable and a decent challenge for your heroes to take down. Like any pirate captain worth their salt, he has several similarly unpleasant, but not quite as bright lackeys to order around, a nice ship called the Fatal Vision to travel the spaceways in, and an angry nemesis that he's blackmailing, who will be very eager to get revenge if the PC's can free his kidnapped wife & kids. This is all quite entertainingly written and filled with plot hooks, and the main question on if you'll want to use it is whether using villains who are both mind & literal rapists will add to the satisfaction of your players beating them, or be triggering for them and something they want to avoid entirely in their escapism. Vaguely surprised they can include that openly here as well given the TSR code of conduct, but I guess Star Wars already gets away with rather more incest and gruesome amputations than most family friendly franchises, so what's a little more unpleasantness to drive you to more dramatic roleplaying scenes?</blockquote>

Verification