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Description
Today's post is about another character for which I have a special affection: Mac Bane.
Mac Bane was created for a AD&D game in the late '90's and I played it for quite some time, his adventures being concluded by a memorable showdown.
The concept of the character was at the time inspired by a VG which was called Nightmare Creatures. The main protagonist, Wallace, was a mad axe-wielding disfigured killer on the line of many slasher movies antagonists. I decided to make a similar character for a D&D game, and it was lots of fun.

Mac Bane was born son of a fallen noble somewhere on the Forgotten Realms setting (it wasn-t really very important).
He was a proud, stark and spiteful young man which spent most of hist time harassing his subjects and living a dissolute life, indulging in any vices conceivable, dilapidating the already exhausted resources of his family.
One night during one of the countless debauched parties he was used to call, a strange character came knocking to his door. It was a hunch, crooked and misshappen caricature of a man, dressed in tattered robes and apparently harmless. He introduced himself as a poor pilgrim seeking shelter, appealing to the goodwill of his host. Of course Mac Bane did not lose the chance to humiliate the stranger, unleashing against him the fierce laughter of his guests, and then ordering his guards to lock up the stranger in the deepest dungeon of his castle.
But the stranger was no ordinary pilgrim. He was a powerful necromancer, in disguise. He had came to redeem a debt that Mac Bane's father had contracted with him, and demanded the payment of the most cruel price: his first-born life. With powerful magic he routed away all of the guests and servitude, and took away with him a terrified Mac Bane.

The following years, Mac Bane was locked in a damp, dark dungeon and tormented by any means possible, both physical tortures and psychological strain. The Necromancer exerted on him his darkest magic, polluting his body and mind and transforming him from a young, handsome man into a wretched, misshappen caricature of his former self. The black magic however, or maybe the effect of the hatred growing inside him, also changed Mac Bane into an unstoppable killing machine: half-man, half-golem, possessing unearthly strenght and stamina and an unrelentless drive. Finally Mac Bane got to break free (or he was released on purpose) and fled away, leaving a trail of maim, blood & pain behind him.
Later he found he has been magically transported to another realm of existence, a shadow version of his home world. He was like living in nightmare, and he was enjoying every moment of it, for his soul has been forever blackened by the evil he had been exposed to.
Long story short, the adventures of Mac Bane were both tragic and grotesque, a grand "blood opera" during which countless people were slain, both innocents and guilty, by the bloodstained blade of his executioner's axe.

For this redesign I felt the original illustration was still very good, and kept it practically unchanged. I only slightly modified the pose and proportions to add some dynamism. It was great fun to have the chance to draw Mac Bane again after so many years.

Description
Today's post is about another character for which I have a special affection: Mac Bane.
Mac Bane was created for a AD&D game in the late '90's and I played it for quite some time, his adventures being concluded by a memorable showdown.
The concept of the character was at the time inspired by a VG which was called Nightmare Creatures. The main protagonist, Wallace, was a mad axe-wielding disfigured killer on the line of many slasher movies antagonists. I decided to make a similar character for a D&D game, and it was lots of fun.

Mac Bane was born son of a fallen noble somewhere on the Forgotten Realms setting (it wasn-t really very important).
He was a proud, stark and spiteful young man which spent most of hist time harassing his subjects and living a dissolute life, indulging in any vices conceivable, dilapidating the already exhausted resources of his family.
One night during one of the countless debauched parties he was used to call, a strange character came knocking to his door. It was a hunch, crooked and misshappen caricature of a man, dressed in tattered robes and apparently harmless. He introduced himself as a poor pilgrim seeking shelter, appealing to the goodwill of his host. Of course Mac Bane did not lose the chance to humiliate the stranger, unleashing against him the fierce laughter of his guests, and then ordering his guards to lock up the stranger in the deepest dungeon of his castle.
But the stranger was no ordinary pilgrim. He was a powerful necromancer, in disguise. He had came to redeem a debt that Mac Bane's father had contracted with him, and demanded the payment of the most cruel price: his first-born life. With powerful magic he routed away all of the guests and servitude, and took away with him a terrified Mac Bane.

The following years, Mac Bane was locked in a damp, dark dungeon and tormented by any means possible, both physical tortures and psychological strain. The Necromancer exerted on him his darkest magic, polluting his body and mind and transforming him from a young, handsome man into a wretched, misshappen caricature of his former self. The black magic however, or maybe the effect of the hatred growing inside him, also changed Mac Bane into an unstoppable killing machine: half-man, half-golem, possessing unearthly strenght and stamina and an unrelentless drive. Finally Mac Bane got to break free (or he was released on purpose) and fled away, leaving a trail of maim, blood & pain behind him.
Later he found he has been magically transported to another realm of existence, a shadow version of his home world. He was like living in nightmare, and he was enjoying every moment of it, for his soul has been forever blackened by the evil he had been exposed to.
Long story short, the adventures of Mac Bane were both tragic and grotesque, a grand "blood opera" during which countless people were slain, both innocents and guilty, by the bloodstained blade of his executioner's axe.

For this redesign I felt the original illustration was still very good, and kept it practically unchanged. I only slightly modified the pose and proportions to add some dynamism. It was great fun to have the chance to draw Mac Bane again after so many years.