classes yeah I mean I mean you are like
the lead writer on this so maybe you
have the inside scoop like I would
prepare a little bit yeah
well here’s the weird thing it’s like
this game this this adventure can go in
so many different directions because
it’s it’s if you run a a bunch of like
paladin’s and clerics which which kind
of is maybe the first impulse that
players my B’s like oh there’s there’s a
hellish realms well I’m gonna I’m gonna
run somebody who’s very holy that can go
well for you you know you can
there are boons and benefits that you
can get from being a holy player or holy
character that will serve you well in
the infernal realms and then there’s
items that you can encounter through
there that can help you out that and and
then you’re able to resist the
temptation and corruption of avarice and
that’s really a good thing it’s also a
difficult thing because we’ve designed
it in such a way that the righteous path
is the most difficult path so so it is a
double-edged sword if you run a tiefling
character that is has predilections
towards evil that can also help you out
you can actually skate through some of
these things that you wouldn’t a good
character would normally have a lot of
problems with you might be able to get
through it
however there’s so many temptations that
you could wind up being a corrupted mess
and a slave to an arch devil before you
even get to the goal of the adventure so
so in that case you know you can see the
two different you know ways that a new
player going into this and like you said
you’re gonna find out about what your
who your character is by the end of this
adventure or at least halfway through it
you know you’re gonna understand like oh
we’re in way over our heads here or
you’re gonna be like oh my gosh this is
defining Who I am as a hero you know I
know myself and I think I think I’m
gonna do good down here
you can have two of those things so as a
DM as a new DM going into this I think
it’s a
Great Adventure because it’s it’s going
on a lot of resonant tropes it’s going
on a lot of things that you already
understand as a consumer of fantasy and
as a consumer of myth good at versus
evil the light in the darkness
that Devils are evil and scheming and
conniving and you’ve got to be able to
resist the temptation people all across
the world understand that so and this
this story and this campaign hits on
that it’s on that note so if I just come
to D&D for the first time I’m like I
want to run adventure I get it
I already get the premise of this
adventure and I already understand how
to run it as a storyteller so it’s not
something that’s so abstract like if I
was a new player and I wanted to play
like a really obscure world that we have
in D&D that I’m like I don’t really
understand this I don’t understand who
these people are and why are they mad at
them and is this sci-fi is this fantasy
like I’m not sure where I’m at
like everyone might be a little bit
difficult for a first-time DM to run if
you go like if you can tell them like
it’s about noir detective noir Pulp and
then they’re like okay I get that I
understand that then they can might be
able to muddle their way through
everyone there’s a lot of kind of
upfront reading you have to do
understanding like what is the last war
about what it’s corvair because that’s a
political intrigue yes yeah and there’s
you know okay you can think of the
dragon more houses as corporations and
they’re evil or and they’re trying to
get as much you know so so we’re trying
to keep resonant stuff in that new
players to the game can get so that the
least have something to hold on to as
they go on their crazy quest of
imagination but you know ultimately
there’s things that are kind of easier
to understand and things that are harder
to grasp so for something high fantasy
like what we do a lot in The Forgotten
Realms which is kind of our high fantasy
setting which and I think that’s why
it’s probably our most popular setting
is that people understand it you know
players understand it you can come from
anywhere in the you know however you
consume your media and game stuff you
come to D&D and you’re like oh I get it
this is you know I’ve encountered maybe
Lord of the Rings or I’ve encountered
you know
Game of Thrones and so I have a baseline
where as you get into like and was
secure set like like let’s say we did
the dune role-playing game it’s like I’m
ass out our car or Bremen like what you
know I’m a dub the Atreides clan what am
I doing here and what are what’s the
voice and what’s the weirding way like
so but but this is true for players as
well
yeah like players who consume all of
these different comics all these
different yes all these TV shows
understand like if you were a fan of
penny dreadful or you’re a fan of
Constantine or Doctor Strange or
supernatural or you know even you know
if there’s just so many different shows
and books and novels about this subject
matter like he was a player you’re like
I get it yeah like I am on that slippery
slope like Constantine is always like
he’s always just writing that middle
line between heaven and hell yeah he’s
always that type of character and like
you know the brothers brothers and
Supernatural are always fighting the
demons they’re trying to get through and
so I think players automatically get it
they get that struggle yes like
characters and I think that’s why it’s
something that resonates immediately
yeah the other thing that I like about
it I’m just going to this entire
interview rock and roll man oh but the
action is like really resonates because
when you tell someone you’re in combat
you’re like okay here here I go I am
playing Dean D for the first time I
swing my sword that cast my spell but
now you’re telling them you are on a
fertile war machine yeah that is what
you’re doing you are in a blasted
landscape there is almost virtually no
plant life is like a desert hell
dimension you are an infernal war
machine and you’ve got all these weapons
and this thing that screams and this
thing that vomits and and you’re just
fighting each other and they’re warlords
and everyone who’s seen Mad Max
understands okay this is the kind of
combat I’m seeing in my head right now
yeah yeah totally I mean I mean one of
the things you could do is like you know
with your players before you you run
this adventure
is you could go and just be like let’s
have a fury road viewing and let’s have
like a Hellraiser constatine viewing
yeah and just that’s watch those two
movies and you’ve got you’ve kind of got
the vibe like for a player who who kind
of hasn’t sort of you know immersed into
that yet just watching those two movies
then then you play this and you’ve got
visual contacts complete visual context
and also context is to like like the
slippery slope and like how like the
danger of where you’re going you know
like you know as as the the plot
thickens in to send to a furnace you
know a DM all they have to do is you
know say well you know now you can you
smell of the wind of the sulfur coming
at you and you can see the the sandstorm
you know howling the distance and
there’s biting flies buzzing around you
and and the players are like oh man now
we get it now we know what we’re in for
this is this is going to be screwed you
know and how do we survive down here you
know and then then that moment of I mean
I think this is one of those adventures
where the the DND players are gonna
understand all about the party like the
party working together like wow powerful
it is that we stick together and we help
each other and taking rests and making
sure that nobody is gets separated off
because you know one of the things we’re
trying to do in a virtus is to make it
scale as different down here it’s it’s
different you know distances are
deceiving you know the the landscape
moves and changes because it’s a
supernatural plane it’s a magical plane
of existence so the feeling that you’re
small and you’re out of your own element
and you’re sort of alone in this it’s
it’s a predatory realm like and it’s
it’s a arcane predatory realm like it’s
coming at you from the supernatural and
so anybody who’s like watch you know
like or read old Conan in comics you
know and the Lovecraft like that feeling
of you’re not sure and you know the
thing that prickles the sense of
prickles up on your back in the neck
and then there are demons that are
coming through portals and you’re never
sure what you’re going to encounter that
stuff is just like food to generate this
feeling of you know we are completely
out of our element we’re completely in a
different world and now now how do we
how do we survive we have to use every
scrap of our ingenuity we have to use
every scrap of our magical power to
survive down here and that’s fun I have
a very specific question about descent
into a furnace was a holly font okay why
is this so adorable yeah so holly fans
are they are a I believe they’re a
second edition creature that we that we
they’re Celestials and you know when
there was a when we were designing this
this adventure coming with a story we
knew that it was going to be bleak and
so there had to be some sort of levity
and some sort of thing that breaks the
tension and so there needed to be kind
of a light-hearted character that went
with you and so I thought about Jiminy
Cricket in Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket
kind of acts as your conscience as
you’re going as Pinocchio is kind of
going through his trials and
tribulations and I thought well Holly
fat would be a great character and I
believe it was his Matt’s turn it
actually came up with like it could be
this this this Holly Fant creature so
but anyway that was like that’s perfect
that’s perfect so we put this character
in there to just act as that thing to
guide the characters through the
adventure and so then in the next part
of it was in the story we connected it
to sort of the main plot line that the
holla Fant
was once a connected was Ariel the arch
devil and she’s lost the the howl
offense in this is called Lulu she’s
adorable and but she’s lost her memories
and she doesn’t know she has vague
recollections of things so when you go
to a
furnace this hall event is is there to
kind of guide you and she’s also a
celestial being so she’s pure of spirit
so she’s reminding you in times of
temptation like oh don’t do that
you know don’t Oh stay away from them is
that the official canon voice it could
be you know so so that that is a it’s a
tool for the DM to you know either you
know dissuade characters from making bad
choices humor and Ed humor and add
levity and had fun and laughs but yeah
that’s where Lulu evolved from so it’s
it’s an old D&D monster from way back
and but and they are very quite powerful
as written in the in the second edition
or is it the second Monster Manual –
it’s one of the other I’m clear on that
but they’re quite powerful but Lewis and
she has has lost her memories
she’s been nerfed a bit so she’s not as
powerful but as you go through and as
Lulu starts to regain her memories she
becomes more and more powerful and more
and more of a presence and stays
adorable