Dungeons and Dragons Lore : Modron

[@destonlee2838]

Modron stranded alone 'realizes "IAmOne", convinces itself that it is primus and starts a cult..

[@randallbaumgardt3424]

As cool as modrons are I still feel that the creator missed a nice meta nod by not making them all the various shapes of our beloved dice. As a player once our incredible DM was running an encounter with moron a did some thing so simple and perfect. She had each individual modron hit the same spot on a character with a successful hit EVERY time. It was so alien and intimidating.

[@bobadams8818]

The god of Obssessive/Compulsives and god of Focus got drunk, got freaky, and thus the Mordons

[@yuvi9845]

DMs remember: while on mechanus, dont roll, its the average, always. that gives the players the understanding there are out of their element...

[@jgr7487]

releases absolute chaos in a D&D universe. Angels, Devils & Modrons join forces.

[@AJPickett]

The great Modron March takes place once every 289 years, which is 17 cycles of the turning of the great cogs of Mechanus, a cycle, is 17 years long, it divides up further in perfectly regular intervals, down to increments of 17 nanoseconds (the Modrons no doubt have names for even smaller units of time). Regulus is the home of the construct-like Modrons. Their strict hierarchy originates from Primus, a greater deity, which resides here. Regulus consists of a total of sixty-four cogs, a number that never varies. It is divided into four quarters of sixteen cogs, each ruled by a Secundus. Each quarter is in turn split into four regions, of four cogs, each ruled by a Quarton. Finally, the regions are further subdivided into four sectors, of a single cog each, ruled by an Octon. One weird aspect of the absolute lawful nature of the place, is that it is impossible to travel directly to meet with Primus, without first working through the ultimate bureaucracy, and dealing with the Octon, the Quarton and then the Secundus first. It may be extremely tedious and frustrating, but, at least you know that the result will always be the same. Mechanus consists of a single infinite plane; there are no constituent layers. Mechanus shares its borders with the neighbouring planes of the Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia (another fairly rigidly orderly plane of Law) and the Infernal Battlefield of Acheron (with its fantastic landscape of massive floating metallic geometric shapes); travel is possible between Mechanus and these planes at certain locations. Throughout Mechanus exists a series of interlocking cogs that float in space, intersecting at all angles and directions. Many of the cogs are gigantic, stretching many miles across and turn so slowly that the rotation is undetectable. Smaller cogs can move at much higher speeds, but no acceleration is experienced, except at the very edges. Usually smaller cogs bunch up with larger ones; these are called knots. The gears are fiercely guarded by gear spirits that reside within them. The gravitational force is oriented towards the face of each individual cog, making intercog travel a disconcerting experience for the uninitiated. At the center of the Formian realm lies a central cog more than three-thousand miles across, where the Scion Queen Mother, leader of the Formians resides. The central cog supposedly imparts the movement to all other cogs in Mechanus. But that is a matter of some debate (just don't debate it with the Queen of the Formians, she doesn't handle differences of opinion very well at all).

[@Marpaws]

+AJ Pickett (The Mighty Gluestick) I do love Modrons. And the adventure Great Modron March is awesome.

[@linguisticallyoversight8685]

You should totally do a video on the great modron march across the plains dive into what exactly goes on during a March what happened during the last one points of interest theories perhaps competing theories of why it happens suggest ways they may incorporate the March as an event in their game

[@mariobalestrieri7488]

The Modrons kind a remind me of Forerunner monitors from Halo and Aperture cores from Portal.

[@Tiniuc]

What if without mechanus, the outer planes would float away from the Outlands and the great wheel would stop spinning, thus mechanus is also like a motor that keeps the great wheel moving? What if the great modron march is part of this motor-effect, even?

[@WoM]

Damn Mechanus would be awesome to see in a movie!

[@rpsketchbooks3931]

+World of MONSTERS -- true enough. its a wonderfully imagined space.

[@briancorvello3620]

+World of MONSTERS No doubt, but if they ever do, nobody but Industrial Light and Magic could do it right

[@Scortch-lo3xy]

@LordKellthe1st ah mortal engines

[@JoseMolina-ij3xx]

Watch Reboot, the cartoon series. It's the closest you'll see to Mechanus.

[@TiroDvD]

@@JoseMolina-ij3xx I would also add that rogue robot colony in Futurama that had the lugnut shortage.

[@bitterzombie]

I'd like to imagine that modrons are capable of producing art/music, but due to their lawful nature it all has a sort of mathematical structure of patterns that would seem droning and repetitive, like a combination of simple electrical sounds and drawn out choruses like gospel chanting. Their projects are probably epic in scale, i.e whole cities arraigned in mosaic that just looks like tile flooring, or music tracks that last for months with very little variance. Idk I like the idea that they have a basis for art that they consider flawless but other races find boring and uninspired. I can imagine a player character stuck in a waiting room with a modron who is trying to register them in the system, just.... listening to elevator music. For DAYS. and at one point the modron pauses for a moment to listen and is like "this is a good song."

[@bitterzombie]

What am I saying. I'm sure the only thing they listen to is Primus

[@PattPlays]

@@bitterzombie Ah but there's so much to extrapolate here! First of all, a simple mind numbingly boring drone song from one monodrone surely sounds like a bore. However the entire biosphere of earth is built from small simple repetitions becoming beautiful through higher levels of abstraction. Get enough Monodrones together and I guarantee you they will produce an emergent song. Theoretically, you could gather all Modrons together to produce a song that would show you exactly what's going on inside their minds. That song would be the very soul of Primus. All the way down to one Monodrone beeping annoyingly at you at night, stuck on a loop. That's Primus' word that's annoying you.

[@pheralanpathfinder4897]

The perfect note repeated endlessly. Duhn duhn duhn da dahn dahn da dahn......

[@bobadams8818]

Photos and content greatly appreciated!!! Seeing examples really helps connect and follow.

[@BigDictator5335]

I'd imagine that a modron attack would be like a forced surgery.

[@rpsketchbooks3931]

absolutely kick-ass. love your treatment of this topic. and very fortuitous timing for me. it was great to review these guys with your entertaining narrative. the campaign i'm working on ends up in a planar war, one end of which is tied to the plane of Arcadia, a neighboring plane of Mechanus. the Harmonium faction (the "Hard Heads", law-at-all-costs militia guys) is mixed up in there. i also find it fascinating that the god of the Mongrelmen (and of "good goblinoids") makes his home in these Lawful Neutral realms in a "hidden area" called the Ghetto, which "can't be found by beings who take the world at face value."

[@rustyspurs771]

I imagine the Modrons going on their march, measuring everything, it's all good. Then they get to the abyss. "Man... just... fuck this place. I can't even try to measure something before a snake that is somehow also a penis tries to eat me"

[@ProfLoomis]

Whole living situation is like a giant Mega Man level...

[@DuskyPredator]

I have kind of come up with the idea of the players being sent to help a Gnome, artificer artesian who is mostly well intentioned but mad scientist in ways that for research into constructs has been able to break into and kidnap a monodrone by corrupting it. Which when noticed by by its its order will try get rid of it and anyone in their way by increasing waves. I thought it would be an interesting to bring in the development of the class construct, and add in the possible danger of an otherwise helpful NPC, or that he could make his own hacked army before Primus truly has put attention on it, or turn it on its head with attracting Slaad.

[@evanderespinozaee]

This is a great channel! I like all of these videos on explaining the creatures, and on how to run them.

[@AJPickett]

+Evander Espinoza Thank you!

[@drunkenhobgoblin417]

Great stuff. My kids love the comic relief offered by Mondrons, but I like the less than comic opportunity to their use!

[@drunkenhobgoblin417]

Modrons*

[@JoseMolina-ij3xx]

I see Modrons and I see Reboot binaries from the TV show. I think of Cybertron, when I think about the plane of Mechanus.

[@AJPickett]

Mechanus is just one part of Nirvana

[@kendrixhavlik3051]

I would imagine smallest ones are sort of adorably literal-minded, the medium ones act like some stereotypical beaurocrat, traffic policeman or rules lawyer, and then the hierarchs gradually slide from 'scary dogmatic alien' into machine god territory.

[@FontofInspiration]

Great stuff. The cogs rotating is almost like our tectonic plates shifting.

[@FontofInspiration]

I'd definitely like to use modrons in a non-comedic way someday. Despite some of the art, my inital reaction has never been to think of the modrons as kooky little minions. Like you said, they can be so much more.

[@TiroDvD]

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

[@HowtoRPG]

Thanks AJ.

[@2468kaze]

I once played a game where my group played to the point where we were all meant to die as the dm was pissed at us but some how we all lived so time it self as a manifestation (kinda like the doctor from doctor who ) and tells us we messed up the time line because somehow killing six beholders wasn't bad enough he pulls out a pocket watch that isn't working anymore and shows it to us all and tells us to fix time and sends us into some type of time zone and these guys are all freezing out they don't know what's going on all gears have stopped moving and we need to help them . It was really fun we killed some gods one of are group members became a god of some sort because he stopped playing with us so it was a way are dm removed him from play it was cool feel free to use the story

[@Plokman040]

A Pentadrone named Number Five, gets separated from the Mechanus collective and realizes he is alive avoids all who use constructs so he won't be disassembled. Number Five alive, live continue survive! Love that movie and it's squeal.

[@dargo1183]

Short circuit and batteries not included

[@trentonmaloney3280]

modrons could be a worthy ally if battling chaos.speaking of chaos,you should show the hordes of the abyss.

[@AJPickett]

+trenton maloney I plan on doing a Monsterology video about that. Before I start talking about the various types of demon.

[@trentonmaloney3280]

thinking about sculpting myself a demogorgon, hes supposed to be 18' tall, what is that in scale?

[@AJPickett]

+trenton maloney 84mm

[@trentonmaloney3280]

thanx aj!

[@davidfletcher6703]

I actually know a few people who would be right at home in Mechanus

[@strangent404a7]

Its fun to have a friend who always knows the time

[@Silverwind87]

Robot Mike Wazowski

[@shazamsanders4901]

So I'm trying to find out a way that these cuties hop onto the plane of Phyrexia and become completed by the Phyrexians and essential turn them into a marching plague of mechanical madness

[@trentonmaloney3280]

who did the minis at 7:34 ? they are awesome,the boltwork and mechanics look so good.

[@AJPickett]

+trenton maloney I don't know, but the mini at 10.29 is one I made (and sold!) :)

[@trentonmaloney3280]

thanks i needed something to do until crafters tavern comes on.

[@trentonmaloney3280]

+AJ Pickett (The Mighty Gluestick) is he sculpey?

[@AJPickett]

That was before I discovered Sculpey, so it is Green Stuff epoxy putty.

[@ChristianMcAngus]

Monodrons are so cute :)

[@slimecatking5373]

Cute... somehow... just... somehow

[@justnoob8141]

@@slimecatking5373 trust me, they’re as cute as Brain Dog Low detail? Yeah, they’re cute High detail? Yeah, they want you dead

[@theknightofbadassness301]

Well now you have to do the Slaad!

[@AJPickett]

+The knight of bad assness I think you are absolutely correct.

[@zmishiymishi5349]

I'd say it rain high quality mineral oil in Mechanus ;)

[@kendrickrochelanzot2053]

Modrons are interesting creatures to meet in a dnd world

[@coreycoffell6219]

I like Kolyrut...Great NPC

[@coreycoffell6219]

Cogs and spheres as energy producing substrate is pretty cool

[@coreycoffell6219]

That's a goblin is a modron suit!

[@jorywalkinshaw9249]

Not enough modron love Its not right

[@archam777]

If they go through every plane of existance......what do they do when they get to the infinite Abyss?? Maybe they do like one new layer every march?

[@victorvaldez8869]

I wonder if Bill Cipher is a rouge Modron touched by the Far Realm, & there driven mad by, for a time, being shunted into the second dimension & who achieved GOD LIKE power in the Far Realm. "Imagine living in the second dimension, flat minds in a flat world with flat dreams. I liberated my dimension, Stanford, and I'm here to liberate yours." - Bill Cipher (Weirdmageddon) I can only imagine that HE would be the kind of threat to get the whole of the Modron race to unite as a great military force, as he tries to re-write the laws of physics to be more loose guidelines that change every few minuets. I can also see Bill Cipher remaking Limbo into a TRUE plane of chaos closer to the Far Realm, a place where you can see scents, & hear colors, A place where water doesn't fall down, it falls blueberry. Then looking to impose that Chaos above Chaos into the rest of reality. "This party never stops! Time is dead, and meaning has no meaning. Existence is upside down and I reign supreme. Welcome one and all; to Weirdmaggedon!" - Bill Cipher (Weirdmageddon)

[@vardellsfolly5200]

Modron is as Modron does.

[@joebyrnes9254]

One character I've made was called "Mono The Monodrone" he was obviously a rogue monotone who gained individuality and he serves a steel dragoness in a pub.

[@strangent404a7]

I'd make a modron pc that has a MASSIVE OCD problem

[@linguisticallyoversight8685]

If someone or something found a way to destroy all the modron at the same time the overwhelming power Spike funneled through Primus would probably kill him or at the very least overload him and turn him into a true greater divine being and it wouldn't be that hard to actually destroy all of them since they are all connected if you found a way to take advantage of that connection you could cause a Cascade through it destroying all of them let me elaborate a small amount we know that when you destroy a greater version of the modron that somewhere at random the mode runs beneath it get upgraded automatically and new ones produced this implies some level of connection this connection can be taken advantage of I would think if you found a way to overcharge the entire network of them at the same time that might do it but doing so would probably destroy all of creation so I mean the demons would probably be all about it

[@alexcordova7251]

Why not do any of the player races

[@AJPickett]

+Alex Cordova personal preference, I feel like pretty much everything has been said about the player races.. but, if I did do one, which would you prefer to hear about?

[@bleflar9183]

I don't like modrons and mechanus overall but i can understand why many people like them.

[@fingersmcoy]

first edition they were in a plane called nirvana. was it renamed?

[@mr.mallard2121]

"The great nirvana of mechanus" is the full name

[@XXX_xxxxxxxx]

In planescape its known officially as The Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus

[@briancorvello3620]

Weird-looking guys, aren't they?

[@AJPickett]

certainly are.

[@brantnuttall]

It may have been wise to write a script for this video.

[@alexcordova7251]

Gnomes

[@AJPickett]

+Alex Cordova I'll see what I can do for you Alex, thank you for the suggestion :)

[@SetzerII]

Gnomes: The reason Pathfinder has an Impossible bloodline.

[@johntheherbalistg8756]

Wait, you can see me? ☻