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Description
So like I mentioned, I've gotten really into D&D. I'm not going to pretend I'm any good at playing D&D, but I'm told I make a much better DM. I love the storytelling elements and relatively easy to grasp dice rolling to help with my ineptitude with roleplay. Not long ago, I ran a campaign of my own creation set on planet Earth in the year 526 BCE. The party started off in ancient Scandinavia, for which I had to source some… less than historical material from Johannes Magnus's 1554 work the Historia de Omnibus Gothorum Sueonumque Regibus, as it's the only book I could find which dates any Swedish kings to this time period, even if they were entirely made up by Johannes. In the process of overthrowing their tyrannical king, the party uncovered the secret machinations of a demon named Dismegistus, who sought an ancient and dangerous power in hopes of escaping reality and resurrecting his son.

Eventually, the party chased Dismegistus down, first into Scythia, then into the Achaemenid Empire. There they unraveled a secret criminal cabal puppeting Cambyses II and his crippling mental deterioration, eventually having to help Darius overthrow the Shah for the good of the Empire. In the process, they also learned of Dismegistus' origins: he was the Greek god Hermes, himself the newest form of the angel Metatron, who magically reincarnated himself to break free from the bonds of the Canaanite pantheon who refused to heed his fears about disappearing once no one believed in them anymore. The Cambyses conspiracy was little more than a distraction for Hermes to slip out of the Empire and down into Africa, where the great mechanism behind the existence of the supernatural was hidden. With the help of Hanno the Navigator, the party gave chase and encountered all sorts of mysterious and ancient civilizations and monsters from the Sahara to the Congo and eventually into the Cradle of Humankind, where Hermes was finally persuaded that the power was nothing that any man, angel, or god could control, but that he still could do good in his universe through yet another incarnation: a fusion with Thoth, the god who had been hunting him down to try and stop him, to become the entity known as Hermes Trismegistus, the greatest sage in history.

Design notes, Dismegistus' design I actually plucked straight from a monster in my night terrors. This demon of fire and slate who seemed to know more than he let on. Really, this campaign was meant to be a vent piece, a metaphorical way to confront my night terrors and offer an olive branch. An olive branch which wasn't taken obviously but hey it's the thought that counts. In the story, that molten-plasticky sort of lava skin he's got going on is actually a veil, made by his partner Hekate, meant to disguise his godly form and assume a new identity he can mold in order to cross between mythologies on his own terms. I have a design for his other forms: Hermes, Metatron, and Enoch, but I'll share those later. The name "Dismegistus" itself is a play on the name of his later form: Hermes Trismegistus, which means "Hermes the Thrice Great", because legend says he was made great three times. Taking a cue from later Arabic interpretations of the Trismegistus lore, I took this as first Enoch being made into Metatron, second Metatron becoming Hermes, and third being when he fuses with Thoth to become Hermes Trismegistus. "Dismegistus" would mean "twice great", i.e. before he ascended with Thoth at the end of the game.

Nightmare or not, it was a lot of fun. He had this suave, could snap at any moment sort of voice, like MCU Ultron. The party dreaded running into him every time, not just because they were afraid of his power, but because they kind of sympathized with him and didn't want to hurt him. All the hallmarks of a great villain, in my opinion. Looking forward to sharing more NPCs and the historical figures I threw at my party~

Description
So like I mentioned, I've gotten really into D&D. I'm not going to pretend I'm any good at playing D&D, but I'm told I make a much better DM. I love the storytelling elements and relatively easy to grasp dice rolling to help with my ineptitude with roleplay. Not long ago, I ran a campaign of my own creation set on planet Earth in the year 526 BCE. The party started off in ancient Scandinavia, for which I had to source some… less than historical material from Johannes Magnus's 1554 work the Historia de Omnibus Gothorum Sueonumque Regibus, as it's the only book I could find which dates any Swedish kings to this time period, even if they were entirely made up by Johannes. In the process of overthrowing their tyrannical king, the party uncovered the secret machinations of a demon named Dismegistus, who sought an ancient and dangerous power in hopes of escaping reality and resurrecting his son.

Eventually, the party chased Dismegistus down, first into Scythia, then into the Achaemenid Empire. There they unraveled a secret criminal cabal puppeting Cambyses II and his crippling mental deterioration, eventually having to help Darius overthrow the Shah for the good of the Empire. In the process, they also learned of Dismegistus' origins: he was the Greek god Hermes, himself the newest form of the angel Metatron, who magically reincarnated himself to break free from the bonds of the Canaanite pantheon who refused to heed his fears about disappearing once no one believed in them anymore. The Cambyses conspiracy was little more than a distraction for Hermes to slip out of the Empire and down into Africa, where the great mechanism behind the existence of the supernatural was hidden. With the help of Hanno the Navigator, the party gave chase and encountered all sorts of mysterious and ancient civilizations and monsters from the Sahara to the Congo and eventually into the Cradle of Humankind, where Hermes was finally persuaded that the power was nothing that any man, angel, or god could control, but that he still could do good in his universe through yet another incarnation: a fusion with Thoth, the god who had been hunting him down to try and stop him, to become the entity known as Hermes Trismegistus, the greatest sage in history.

Design notes, Dismegistus' design I actually plucked straight from a monster in my night terrors. This demon of fire and slate who seemed to know more than he let on. Really, this campaign was meant to be a vent piece, a metaphorical way to confront my night terrors and offer an olive branch. An olive branch which wasn't taken obviously but hey it's the thought that counts. In the story, that molten-plasticky sort of lava skin he's got going on is actually a veil, made by his partner Hekate, meant to disguise his godly form and assume a new identity he can mold in order to cross between mythologies on his own terms. I have a design for his other forms: Hermes, Metatron, and Enoch, but I'll share those later. The name "Dismegistus" itself is a play on the name of his later form: Hermes Trismegistus, which means "Hermes the Thrice Great", because legend says he was made great three times. Taking a cue from later Arabic interpretations of the Trismegistus lore, I took this as first Enoch being made into Metatron, second Metatron becoming Hermes, and third being when he fuses with Thoth to become Hermes Trismegistus. "Dismegistus" would mean "twice great", i.e. before he ascended with Thoth at the end of the game.

Nightmare or not, it was a lot of fun. He had this suave, could snap at any moment sort of voice, like MCU Ultron. The party dreaded running into him every time, not just because they were afraid of his power, but because they kind of sympathized with him and didn't want to hurt him. All the hallmarks of a great villain, in my opinion. Looking forward to sharing more NPCs and the historical figures I threw at my party~