Exploring the "Why" of D&D Mythology in 'Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes' why do dwarves act the way they act
right that’s what the question we’re
asking and then we’re then taking that
and saying given what we know about
dwarves you know if they act this way
and now we know why they act this way
what is this a but how they might act in
the future so it’s all about giving you
as a dungeon master a framework within
which you can work and both lay out what
here’s the past of my campaign but
here’s how I think my campaign might go
I know that dwarves are essentially
homebodies they don’t like to leave
their their fortresses they like
stability they like reliability so now
when I’m portraying a dwarf of have
these big truths in mind I can make up
any dwarf I want but what is hopefully
interesting is you then contrast that
dwarf to dwarf culture you know if I
have a dwarf who’s Khattak neutral how
did they end up that way what does it
mean in this characters relationship to
other doors and what does it mean for
how they might act in the future you
know if I have a lawful evil elf what
does that mean you know and instead of
saying here’s all these very specific
points dwarves have six toes and doors
always put their beards in braids that
look like this we focus a lot instead on
giving you the bigger more far-reaching
truths like dwarves like stability
because I think my hope is as a dungeon
master or a writer or whomever is
working on the game you can take that
truism and think about how it affects a
specific character so we don’t want to
tell you what each specific dwarf is
like we want to tell you in in the
generalities of dwarves backed up with
mythology that says here’s their
mythology and that explains why they are
this
because D&E is a mythic universe right
the gods exist there there we you can
meet the person who made all the dwarves
Morden exists right so mythologies
incredibly important it’s very vivid
it’s basically it is DNA doesn’t have
history it has mythology and then then
once you know that you have a framework
with which a lens you can use to
understand things and then start
changing it right you can make now I
know what dwarves are in general now I’m
gonna make a specific dwarf with that
knowledge and then I can play a contrast
I can lean into that I can do one tweak
things like that you know this like so
one of the things that falls out of this
you know is dwarves really like toil
they like to work they generally enjoy
working you can imagine a red dragon
somehow taking the word dwarf stronghold
and the dwarves actually growing to like
the dragon what if the dragon gave them
security and gave them purpose and said
sure you can obey all your customs I
just you can imagine a very clever
dragon doing this just think of me as
the king of this clan now and I will now
owe you everything that a king goes to
you but you will owe me everything that
is owed to the king in turn and you can
imagine dwarves who happily serve a
dragon the dragon protects them it keeps
the other enemies away so now they have
stability the dragon is very smart the
dragon makes good decisions right the
claim is prospering well what does that
look like in your world you’ve made
something which might be really
interesting to play with in your
campaign and then you can see why it’s a
kind of you know warped Ark of dwarves
but you can see how it fits in right you
can imagine in a human Kingdom the elf
character you know the elves who live
next door to human Kingdom might support
like the Robin Hood esque figure who’s
trying to lead an insurrection against
the king because the elves just believe
everyone should be free and happy right
why would you need this king who’s
collecting taxes that’s just wrong right
and then the elves end up in a war with
the human Kingdom over that right you’re
supporting the insurrection right well
of course they would that’s just elves
and even with that that elven society
some elves might say we should help
these humans are there I was like no we
shouldn’t and then you start seeing that
that friction evolved it’s all about
building mythology that asks more
questions then it provides answers the
only guideline we have is we will tell
you about the mythic past we will try to
do it in a voice that isn’t judgemental
there’s actually someone on line got
kind of fussy about it like the mind
flayer entry
bolos they all this is TV saying mind
flayers of the good guy like no we’re
not saying anything why don’t say there
are good guys are bad guys will throw an
alignment on people say lawful good
lawful evil we try not to be judgmental
because we tell you the mythic past but
the future is yours to write so that’s
why we try to do things like rather take
dwarves are good they love puppies and
they help hold it across because they’re
good we’d say no no no doors are lawful
good doors are nice to each other and
they are nice and gentle to the world
but really what they like is stability
that’s what they want so that’s how you
end up with a dwarf clan ruled by a
dragon because they like stability in
the dragons offering stability and that
to me is why we and why do they like
stability and then you then trace it
back here’s the mythology who’s the the
mythic foundation of dwarves in their
society and that’s I think a big change
4d indeed it was really funny I never
thought about this way until we started
doing a lot of research D&D used to have
this very scientific approach to world
building you’d ask how do things work
right how does this work how does a
dragon fly physically how does that
happen
how does the dragon’s breath weapon work
what glands does it have in its organs
and now we asked why why do dragons fly
why don’t they just crawl or burrow
why do dwarves live in mountains by
themselves why haven’t the elves just
taken over every world of D and E they
live the longest to the eldest they have
powerful magic so we ask a lot of Y and
then invariably it’s because here’s the
myth here’s the myth here’s what
happened and that’s what set these
people in a course so rather than look
at biology we’re look at culture right
there’s the thing I’m like orcs act the
way they are because well that’s the
culture because there’s a god groomed
who literally lives in the other planes
who tells them what to do and he has a
plan right and then lurking behind
grooms is Lucic who she has a smarter
plan right but that if you took an orc
and raised it in human society he would
just be like a human I mean obviously
would be an orc biologically but it
would just there’s no reason why work
couldn’t be raised by you know but in
work society and be like an or a dwarf
and I just like toil and I like work and
this is what I was taught right the
because then then you’re talking about
something which is much more more formal
right you just say dwarves are capital G
good no matter what
oh these dwarves are ruled by a dragon
Oh must be a silver dragon right like no
it’s it’s a blue dragon well how does
that work that’s impossible right now
but instead you focus on that mythic
layer you focus on cultures and
societies and asking lots of questions
we I like to think we ask a lot of
questions and we provide just enough of
the answers that you can answer the rest
of the questions yourself
binky Mike Murrellshttps://t.co/zoBasmrGGw— D&D Beyond (@DnDBeyond) April 26, 2018