Episode 4: Sleeping Beauty

The Wonderful World of Darklords

Welcome to Wonderful World of Darklords! In this episode, we discuss how to convert Disney's most iconic villain into a darklord. (Don't get us wrong, the wicked queen from Snow White has a case for herself, but who's on the cover of Disney Villainous and who wasn't even included until the first expansion?) While Maleficent is amazing, the setting is...less so, and we're here to do our best to elevate it to her glorious level. Subjects discussed include:

--A potential backstory for Maleficent that gives her a more human motivation than "not invited to a party" without (we hope) diluting her malevolence or turning her into an antihero;

--Adventure ideas for a domain where 90% of the citizenry is asleep, including ideas for encounters other than "Maleficent's raven" or "bumbling goblins;"

--Why this is the first domain so far where you can successfully play through the entire plot of the movie (other than the part where Maleficent dies) without breaking the setting;

--Our darkhorse candidate for a secondary genre of horror that lets Sleeping Beauty fill a creepy niche that's currently empty;

--and more!

The full writeup for the Sleeping Kingdom is available for free on DM's Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/408757/The-Sleeping-Kingdom-A-Ravenloft-Domain-of-Dread-drops-9-13?affiliate_id=241770

All 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 Vinuela

Chopin Etude Op. 25, No. 12 in C Minor: “Ocean” (darklord theme), performed by Edward Neeman

Chopin Nocturne in F Minor, Op. 55 No. 1 (land theme), performed by Luke Faulkner

Rachmaninoff Morceaux de Fantaisie, Op. 3 - 2. Prélude in C sharp minor (Dread Possibilities), performed by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Chopin Nocturne in E Minor, Op. 72 No. 1 (parting thoughts), performed by Luke Faulkner

Dialog for Yensid was written by Azalin Rex himself: http://www.twitter.com/darklordazalin

The Wonderful World of Darklords logo was designed by Halite Jones: http://www.twitter.com/katimus1

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