Dungeons & Dragons lore!

https://www.reddit.com/r/GoblinSlayer/comments/wynfcq/i_love_the_gygax_reference_in_light_novel_12/im12wfl/

"Goblin Slayer's insistence on killing goblin children was a problem first addressed in the intro module for non-AD&D "Keep on the Borderlands"."

Looking through the module, here's our page btw and finding that they're called "young", not "children" nor any other synonym, is the problem actually addressed by any words of the module or just exists without being discussed further?

https://archive.org/details/dungeon-module-b-2-the-keep-on-the-borderlands/page/24/mode/2up?q=young

Edited by Malady on Apr 8th 2024 at 10:25:17 AM

Keep on the Borderlands was a "sandbox" module in every sense of the word, and if I remember right it just gave you set pieces and scenarios that your group had free reign to tackle however you see fit.

It does NOT directly spell out to you the moral ramifications of possibly wiping out entire settlements of ostensibly hostile demihumans INCLUDING the non-combatants (children, elderly). That part you roleplay.

Does anyone know any warlock Great Old One patron stories?

Like, I wanna hear what people do with the concept of having a Great Old One as a patron, and how that affects their warlock.

Going by the Cthulhu Mythos stories and the games by Chaosium, I'd expect lots of Body Horror. Cultists tend to get blessings and physical alterations from the deities they worship, some of them mutating slowly into something inhuman, or going through a much faster process. The most typical example would be the Slow Transformation of the Deep One hybrids, but pure-blooded human cultists can be rewarded with the same process. Some devoted of Cthulhu might slowly become octopoid humanoids reminiscent of the much larger Star Spawn. It is visually comparable to ceremorphosis, so the cultists can end up looking essentially like green Mind Flayers. Worshipers of Shub-Niggurath might be rewarded by transformation into vaguely Satyr-like monsters, which in some stories happens through Shubby devouring the cultist and then regurgitating them, in an instantaneous mutation.

Edited by Mara999 on Apr 28th 2024 at 1:03:06 PM

So you're asking for suggestions on how to roleplay or design a Great Old One/Mythos warlock or just ideas regarding the theme?

For something closer to DND, another possible option is to have Father Llymic as a patron considering he came from the Far Realm, is a Sealed Elder Evil in an Ice Mountain, can subtly contact and influence far away people via his visionary disguise of an old elven hermit and often drive people he comes in contact w/ to eventual insanity and also mutates them as well into 3-eyed mantislike creatures of ice and darkness. And a really easy inspiration would be your warlock being descended from Deep One expies and your patron slowly turning you into a Deep One.

Seeing the Deep Ones referenced suddenly reminded me of D&D's Aboleths. Both are ancient ancient races of fish people with very long memories.

W/c reminds me, who would be a more fitting expy for Deep Ones in DND? Sahuagin or Kuo-Toa?

The Kuo-Toa are the more eldritch of the two, but Sahuagin honestly fit the classic Deep One mold better. The Deep Ones of HP Lovecraft were an ancient and advanced civilization that while dangerous to provoke was still open to negotiations. That's what Sahuagin are.

Edited by M84 on Apr 30th 2024 at 3:51:44 AM

I believe Keith Baker at one point suggested using the concept of the malenti - the sahuagin mutants who resemble sea elves - as a starting point for a sahuagin Innsmouth.

Aside from their literally fishy nature, the Aboleth remind me in concept less of the Deep Ones and more of creatures slightly higher in the Mythos food-chain. They make me think of the Mi-Go and the Moon Beasts, in that Aboleths enslave mortals and forcefully make alterations to other beings, while they also come across as more cosmically-attuned abominations than most D&D fishmen reminiscent of Deep Ones.