Episode 19: Hercules

Welcome to Wonderful World of Darklords! In this episode, we're going from talking tigers to literal freaking gods with what might be our most powerful darklord to date: Hades. (We don't know whether we'd back Hades, Elsa, or Maleficent in a fight, and we don't want to be anywhere in a hundred-mile radius if that ever happens.) Making the god of the underworld a darklord was a tricky proposition; after all, the Dark Powers weren't able to hang onto Vecna. We figured out a solution that lets us bring everyone's favorite evil motor-mouth in without having to shatter the demiplane in the process. Topics discussed include:How Hercules works in some of the dark, horrifying themes of Greek mythology despite being a bowdlerization, and how to generalize those themes to an entire domain;How to make your PCs the main characters of a Hercules domain even though the movie has a full-on prophesied Chosen One (it doesn't have to involve killing him this time, we promise!);Monsters and characters from Greek mythology that lend themselves beautifully to a sprawling domain that still keeps Hades as its primary mover and shaker;Serious geeking out over the gods of Ravenloft and how the gods of Olympus fit into their metaphysic;and more!(We don't actually discuss Vecna. We're sorry. Rachel keeps forgetting Vecna was a darklord because he's connected to so much non-Ravenloft material that the idea of diving into all of it causes her to automatically fail a Fear save. Please don't @ us; it's taking all her willpower not to rerecord the entire episode.)The full writeup for Olympus is available for free on DM's Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/467315/Olympus-A-Ravenloft-Domain-of-Dread-2-13?affiliate_id=241770All music recordings are in the public domain (mark 1.0) and are licensed through https://musopen.org:Chopin Nocturne in B-Flat Minor, Op. 9 No.1 (main theme), performed by Eduardo VinuelaChopin Etude Op. 25, No. 12 in C Minor: “Ocean” (darklord theme), performed by Edward NeemanChopin Nocturne in F Minor, Op. 55 No. 1 (land theme), performed by Luke FaulknerRachmaninoff Morceaux de Fantaisie, Op. 3 - 2. Prélude in C sharp minor (Dread Possibilities), performed by Sergei RachmaninoffChopin Nocturne in E Minor, Op. 72 No. 1 (parting thoughts), performed by Luke FaulknerDialog for Yensid was written by Azalin Rex himself: http://www.tumblr.com/darklordazalinThe Wonderful World of Darklords logo was designed by Halite Jones, whom you can find on Tumblr and Instagram: https://www.tumblr.com/halite-jones and http://www.instagram.com/insta_haliteContact us on:Gmail: [email protected]: @wonderfulworldofdarklordsTumblr: @wonderfulworldofdarklordsPatreon: www.patreon.com/WonderfulWorldofDarklords