Episode 21: Princess Mononoke

Welcome to Wonderful World of Darklords! In the spirit of April Fool's Day, we're once again taking a break from Disney movies for this month's episode (yes, we know Disney distributed the Ghiblis for a while, but we operate under strict Calvinball rules in which Home Alone can be a regular episode but Princess Mononoke can't). There's so much nightmare fuel in Princess Mononoke that it's almost redundant to turn it into a horror setting, but turning it into a Ravenloft domain is another matter entirely. Topics discussed include:
• How to give Irontown and the forest an unforgivable, irredeemable darklord when one of the movie's main themes is that no one is unforgivable or irredeemable (except Jigo, who we're going to discuss a lot);
• A Disney movie that we will never, ever make an episode about, but that actually has quite a bit of thematic overlap with Princess Mononoke, so you can just pretend this is that episode if you want;
• Multiple AU possibilities for the darklord, ranging from "fairly obvious" to "high-concept fever dream;"
• The canon darklord who can fill the same role as Lord Asano but with more personality;
• and more!
The full writeup for the Mononoke Forest is available for free on DM's Guild: www.dmsguild.c...
The real-life inspiration for the forest was Shiratani Unsuikyo on Yakushima Island. Swoon over some photos that look like they should have Okkoto in them here: www.gettyimage...
All music recordings are in the public domain (mark 1.0) and are licensed through musopen.org (musopen.org/) :
Chopin Nocturne in B-Flat Minor, Op. 9 No.1 (musopen.org/mu...) (main theme), performed by Eduardo Vinuela
Chopin Etude Op. 25, No. 12 in C Minor: “Ocean” (musopen.org/mu...) (darklord theme), performed by Edward Neeman
Chopin Nocturne in F Minor, Op. 55 No. 1 (musopen.org/mu...) (land theme), performed by Luke Faulkner
Rachmaninoff Morceaux de Fantaisie, Op. 3 - 2. Prélude in C sharp minor (musopen.org/mu...) (Dread Possibilities), performed by Sergei Rachmaninoff
Chopin Nocturne in E Minor, Op. 72 No. 1 (musopen.org/mu...) (parting thoughts), performed by Luke Faulkner
Dialog for Yensid was written by Azalin Rex himself: www.tumblr.com/...
The Wonderful World of Darklords logo was designed by Halite Jones, whom you can find on Tumblr (www.tumblr.com...) and Instagram ( / insta_halite ) : www.tumblr.com...
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[@codydwyerify]

FYI, there is a 5e nightwalker, which is a CR20 huge undead giant

[@WonderfulWorldofDarklord]

I knew the 3e one, but not that they did a 5e version. What book was it from, may I ask? I'm pretty sure the Nightwalker was a direct D&D-izing of the end of this movie.

[@aresjett]

@@WonderfulWorldofDarklord I am sure someone has already gotten to you, but just in case the Nightwalker is in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes as well as Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse (For the updated stat block).
Big Fan of y'all's work. Oddly found on DM's Guild first. I was actually already planning a Disney Ravenloft setting to get my players to play a Disney campaign; You have been a big help with that, thank you.

[@WonderfulWorldofDarklord]

@@aresjett Thanks! A lot of people find us through Dmsguild, actually. We did the first domain write up kind of on a whim and I'm really glad we. I am so happy to hear we were helpful, and I'd love to hear more about your campaign!