Let's make LAMORDIA in 5e!

[@herkles5416]

Another good video. Some thoughts The description of the land and the people is a bit different from old Lamordia. Where the vibe i always got of the land was like that of the Alps in Germany/Austria/Switzerland, and having been there thats probably how I would describe the land. The 3rd edition Gazetteer has some fun lore details for the people, such as the fact they call children little snowflakes as a term of endearment, their atheistic cosmology, their love of craftsmanship and having a more slow life. there were also part of the Core, and consquently, had relations with other nations. They traded along the sea of sorrows and with their neighbors, including most notably Falkovinia. I would keep these elements since I rather enjoy them. Now integrating that with the 5e version isn't that difficult IMO. Keep the climate, but for the more steampunk stuff, I would go with the discovery of whale oil. Whale oil leading to an industrial revolution of sorts. Where the older more simple and pleasant tradesfolk are now butting up with people whose innovations are beyond what others imagined. also as a reference this is the sort of environment that the Shellys themselves were experiencing when she wrote Frankenstein. This also allows me to use for some aesthetics dishonored, some of the mad scientists I would use there. In terms of the adventure; its neat. my only thing would be to probably not TPK the players but instead after a while have them exhausted, perhaps when they decide to take a rest thats when they are captured. Since players might not like being getting a TPK. I do like the body horror and elements that players can encounter and find them in. though I like it when domains can have multiple adventures; similar to how Barovia has far more then just storming Castle Ravenloft. So what I would probably is several adventures in and around the towns of Lamordia first. The 5e book has some adventure seeds, and there are adventure seeds from previous editions one could use for Lamordia or adapted to it.

[@phdnd-drbowers]

Thank you for watching, and for your comments! Recommending whale oil is a commodity makes sense, and is a great idea for fleshing out (ha!) the Domain. Yeah, in addition to being a plot hook in “Adam’s Wrath,” the idea of surgically altering the PCs is also suggested in Van Richten’s Guide (under “Mordenheim’s Powers and Dominion,” rather than the table under “Adventures in Lamordia”) , but the ideas in the table are excellent, too! I’ll have to revisit this one and do a second adventure! 😅 Thanks again for your insights and suggestions. Best wishes, and cheers!

[@rats-of-a-feather]

I am baffled at how low the views are for well thought out and high quality work.

[@phdnd-drbowers]

Thanks so much! Hopefully, the channel will grow as it gets more attention here and there... Feel free to share it with your friends, players, and fellow DMs! Any requests for future content? Best wishes, and cheers!

[@blahblah8405]

@@phdnd-drbowers more Ravenloft domains please ;) - Great work, as always Mr. Phdnd (altough with this one i think many PC will not like the adventure because of how often they get captured)

[@Christopher_Pug]

All I could think about was how my players would try to kill the Doctor as soon as they were told they can’t attack her: “Technically I attacked NEAR her…” or “I attacked the thing that just happened to fall on her, so….” or “She didn’t say my summoned demon couldn’t attack her!”

[@phdnd-drbowers]

That's an excellent point! I should have mentioned this in the video. Fortunately, there's an easy solution, there. It's the magic sentence: "she already thought of that." PC: "I'm going to attack NEAR her, so that she gets hurt..." DM: "She already thought of that. You can't do it if your intention is to hurt her." PC: "I'm going to just attack stuff randomly, with the goal of causing destruction that *might* randomly hurt her!" DM: "She already thought of that. You can't do it if your intention is to create conditions that might hurt her." Seriously, feel free to lean on that phrase. "She already thought of that." Mordenheim is a brilliant scientist, and this is an opportunity to demonstrate as much! Thanks very much for this excellent point! And thank you so much for watching and commenting, too. Best wishes, and cheers!

[@Christopher_Pug]

@@phdnd-drbowers great video and advice, as always!

[@themannaking]

I've based a lot of my Lamordia on GRRM's Corpse Handler series. My party loves it so far.

[@notanotaku1101]

Oh i really liked this one! Not surprising though, Dr. Mordenheim was one of my favourite darklords in Van Richten's Guide. This adventure really captured the things that make her such a good and horrific central villain.

[@phdnd-drbowers]

Ah, thanks so much! Mordenheim is a favorite Darklord of mine, too. I really enjoy the new direction and personality that her character has, as well as the Domain itself being one of mad science and deadly cold. Best wishes, and cheers!

[@marcusblacknell-andrews1783]

For this domain, I’d build a “Simic Hybrid” Transmutation Wizard/ Alchemist Artificer multiclass.

[@phdnd-drbowers]

Ah, perfect! That’s a great idea for this Domain; thanks for this excellent suggestion! Cheers!

[@bifflechips-t5r]

Very cool. I love the idea of this realm, and it's become one of my favorite domains to read about in all its incarnations. This may make this horror adventure a little goofier, but I like the thought that post-surgery, all the players have to exchange character sheets because their brains have also been switched around. Probably better if this adventure was the sole campaign focus as a 2-3 shot rather than a ongoing campaign, but with players being a lower level, that adjustment period should be a bit better too.

[@phdnd-drbowers]

Oh, that's a really fun idea! It might be hard to pull off, since it would work best as a surprise, on one hand; on the other hand, if it's a surprise, it's harder to tell whether players would be annoyed at the mechanic. I love it, though! Thanks for sharing this cool idea, and for watching, too. Best wishes, and cheers!

[@dvanhiel]

Discovered your videos, and this series in particular, about a month or so ago and am HOOKED! I especially love how you not only cover inspirational media sources for the domains at the start, but ggo into such great detail. I vaguely remembered some horror movie that had something to do with seeing into other dimensions with a device, and here you are with the movie AND the original Lovecraft story that the movie was based on! As for the adventure, the only thing bothering me is having to TPK the PCs to get things going. I would think that you can avoid having to TPK the party at the start of the adventure by having them start off at level 1 already having undergone the surgery. You wouldn't have to lose the tour of horrors in the castle, having them wake up without the Doctor around and then exploring the castle on their own before running into her with the flesh golem. As for the other TPK with Elise, one might be able to avoid that too since you also incorporated their inability to harm the doctor causing them to also not be able to harm her either. Instead of her capturing the PCs, you can have the PCs get lured to her lair somehow (shiny magic items seem to work best for my characters) and her just cornering them. Otherwise, I love how you incorporated the multidimensional perception into your adventure! It gives the Doctor a tangible REASON to do her experiments (or a reason for this one, at least).

[@phdnd-drbowers]

Thank you so much, and welcome to the channel! I'm delighted that you find these videos engaging and useful. Any requests for other Domains I should cover? Best wishes, and cheers!

[@dvanhiel]

@@phdnd-drbowers Glad you asked! I was looking for somewhere in the Discord to drop suggestions, but I am trying my hand at putting an adventure like these together for the domain of Scaena! I really like seeing you flesh out the domains with barely a paragraph of description and would love to see your take on that one. I've been throwing a bunch of inspirations together to see what works best: so far I've got bits of Truman Show, In the Mouth of Madness, Some Twilight Zone episodes (A Matter of Minutes & It's a Good Life), and (of all things to inspire a horror adventure) an episode of the SUperfriends cartoon featuring a Mr. Mxyzptlk.

[@phdnd-drbowers]

@@dvanhiel oh, excellent! Those are sources I will look at, for sure! Have you also considered S06E21 of Star Trek: TNG, “Frame of Mind?” I will certainly cite it when I get to Scaena! Maybe in the Discord, under world-building, you could share this? Or “what are you playing now,” or maybe we could make another channel? 🤔 Thanks so much for watching and for being a part of this channel’s community! Best wishes, and cheers!

[@blade2813]

Excellent as always. I just got done running a Lamordia chapter in our campaign so I unfortunatelly can't really use this. One thing about the setting though: Dr. Mordenheim and Lamordia as a whole are obsessed with sciece and find magic to be lesser and unreliable. So I made each leveled spell have a chance to trigger a wild magic effect, making magic actually more unreliable. Only magic items and spells cast from magic items didn't cause wild magic surges so magical artifice AKA science made sense to be wieved as superior. Added some fun randomness and danger when every spellcaster was suddenly like a wild magic sorcerer (although I used a custom wild magic table)

[@phdnd-drbowers]

Oh, that’s an excellent idea, and a fun alternative to my own little fix, which is to re-skin Mordenheim’s spells as the use of technology (like an artificer)! A wild magic table to represent arcane instability is really cool! Thanks very much for sharing that idea, and of course for watching! Cheers!

[@justafox5356]

Always happy to see Lamordia. Would love a Dominia video some day though.

[@phdnd-drbowers]

Added to the list! Thank you for the suggestion, and thank you for watching! Best wishes, and cheers!

[@caelinnis]

these are all great! I plan on buying your adventure collection soon.

[@phdnd-drbowers]

How lovely to hear! Thank you so much for watching, and for supporting the channel! I'm a little behind on the release of Volume 2, but Volume 1 is out now. Best wishes, and cheers!

[@AbrokennoseOUCH]

been running Lamordia for a long term game for a while now (+2yrs) In my additions to the setting I added great machines that are embedded into the earth. Haze covered monolithic anachronisms, creations no one has created. These machines account for areas of 'smothered' magic as they dampen its effects -- they are as much apart of the land as roots or stone and some towns are built around/on top of them.

[@phdnd-drbowers]

That sounds delightfully gothic. I bet you run an engaging game, for sure! Thank you for watching and commenting. Best wishes, and cheers!

[@elderdankspawn3973]

Love the video as always, keep up the great work! I'd love to see your take on Vorostokov and/or G'henna from AD&Ds Dark of the Moon and Circle of Darkness respectively. I think they would be great horror/survival adventures.

[@phdnd-drbowers]

Ah yes, G'henna is a fun Domain! The 2e adventure, "Circle of Darkness," does not do it justice (although it's a nice adventure)! I'll add it to the list, and probably get to it relatively soon, since it's a fun one and a childhood favorite of mine. Thanks for watching, and for the suggestion! Best wishes, and cheers!

[@RavenloftLore]

Really ramping up the horrific weather was one of the nice additions to the setting in 5e. Also having experimentations built into the settong rather then just "the crazy dr who lost his wife" is interesting. Although I must admit i miss having Adam as the darklord. And nice pull with "Are you afraid of the dark" Steller work again Dr.

[@phdnd-drbowers]

Thank you so much, Jason! I really enjoyed your reading of "Howls in the Night." It's a funny coincidence that I was working on a video that repurposes that same adventure at the same time! Thanks also for attending our Saturday Evening Short Story Reading! Best wishes, and cheers!

[@camblycreeper7999]

In my personal campaign, an Amnesniac Reborn character ran into a mermaid (Which was actually a human woman sewn to a dolphin) that was his sister, they brought his sister along until eventually she disappeared from her room one night, and later they found her again, but in a store, where she was skinned, tanned and made into a magic cloak. The Cloak of the Mermaid (Now with 100%* real mermaid leather! *Not real mermaid leather, 40% Human, 60% Dolphin) They tracked down the man who sold the shop this macabre cloak, some old man simply going by The Trapper, and he was entangled in the splintery wood of the floorboards, before being forced to kneel with a Command spell and then the paladin moved one his rusty hunting traps under his head and pushed his face down into it. Also one of the players playing as a Bugbear (Who was formerly human but was experimented on by Mordenheim so much they were no longer recognizable as human) was being kept in one of Mordenhiem's freezers, evidently discarded and forgotten about. Their name; 17, why such a low number? She only numbered the one's that survived. Lamordia is very much a favorite of mine being a place to just throw as much Body Horror in as I can. Including but not limited to an Escaped Category 2 Krasis that was a Polar Bear and a Troll fused in the style of the movie Annihilation. Edit: It said Insomniac, not Amnesiac, He didn't have trouble sleeping, he just didn't know anything about himself except his name might have began with L.

[@phdnd-drbowers]

Ah, that sounds like it was really fun! It reminds me of the old 2e adventure, “Neither Man Nor Beast,” which took place in Markovia (a Domain inspired by “The Island of Dr. Moreau”), and which also featured a dolphin-woman! It sounds like you run a really fun game! Thanks for sharing some of its chronicles, and thanks as well for watching, as always! Best wishes, and cheers!

[@raymondmassey666]

This is nothing like Lamordia it's more like Markovia with DL Frantisek. And who the he'll changed Mordenheim into a woman.

[@anthonyambrose7830]

Love these videos. It's easy to tell lore to an audience but to give an actual game is a lot of work no other dnd channels do this keep up the good work

[@phdnd-drbowers]

Thank you so much! I agree: generating lore is one thing; as Sly Flourish points out, you can do that all day long without engaging with your players directly. I prefer the adventure-first method of world-building; I’m glad that it shows, and that my work is useful! Thanks so much for watching and for engaging with this video! Best wishes, and cheers!

[@Grimlore82]

Life long fan of Ravenloft from the TSR era here. I am loving these videos. Great video format. Just subbed and looking forward to more dark fantasy/horror RPG content. 👊

[@finnmchugh99]

Another great addition to this catalogue of creepiness 👏 👏 👏 I look forward to the next episode regardless of if its from one of the fleshed out domains or from the itty bitty entries on the later part of the chapter, lol 😆 I kinda Mordent or the Sea of Sorrows or G'henna, Kalakeri etc get an episode cuz these are great vids for any DM. Also idk if Dr. Bowers would do a Barovia adventure... maybe a retelling version of curse of strahd or his own adventure in Barovia 🤔

[@phdnd-drbowers]

Thanks so much! As a matter of fact, a Mordent video should be out next week, time permitting! 😅 Also, yes, I will absolutely do a Barovia video; the Domain certainly deserves another adventure to accompany “Curse of Strahd!” I’ll probably dip into Polidori’s “The Vampyre” along with Le Fanu’s “Carmilla,” and heck, maybe Castlevania lore? We’ll see! Thanks so much for watching and commenting! Best wishes, and cheers!

[@grinningbuck]

Hey, Dr. Bowers! Love the video! Thanks for sharing. I secretly love the idea that maybe Dr. Mordheim anonymously sent the tip that the party should attempt to break into their location? I like your layout, but had some questions regarding the "7-day timer" and how the PCs never have theirs removed in your description. I mean, I assume the Dr set some sort of timer in place as a "just in case" something happens to her before the PCs finish their mission. Of course, you could maybe have Elsie remove it or something, but I just wanted to hear if you had a better solution. Thanks again for sharing.

[@mercury199runner]

Nice I like this alot. I love the icewind dale tie in. This is certainly a unique take on a Lamordian adventure and brings a lot to the table.

[@phdnd-drbowers]

Thank you for saying so, and thank you for watching! I wasn't sure how to handle this one, since there are so many ways to go with this Domain! I figured it might be fun to mix Lovecraft's "From Beyond," Machen's "The Great God Pan," and Smedman's adventure "Adam's Wrath," and this is the result! Thanks again for watching and for your comments! (And for hanging out in the Discord, I think?!) Best wishes, and cheers!

[@gnomebreath]

Great adaptation Doc! I'm definitely going to import some of this to my Gothic horror campaign.

[@phdnd-drbowers]

Thank you so much! Please let me know how it goes if you bring this adventure to your table; I would love to hear about it! Best wishes, and cheers!

[@joshuaewing3456]

It could be fun to let one player be the “control group” who can’t see the shadowfell attackers but can attack Dr. Mordenheim

[@phdnd-drbowers]

Ah, that could also be a fun way to mix things up; the control PCs wouldn't be able to help with the meenlock combat, but maybe there's a way to make that fun? Cool idea! Thanks very much for sharing it. Best wishes, and cheers!

[@HouroftheRaven]

Great video as always! Frankenstein is one of my favorite books of all time. Nice to see other works of science fiction as inspiration for your adventure as well.

[@phdnd-drbowers]

Ah! Glad you enjoyed it! Lovely to hear from you, too! I look forward to reviewing your most recent release! Thank you so much for watching, once again! Cheers!

[@bobatehfettz6255]

I have been waiting for this one!! Thanks so much!

[@phdnd-drbowers]

Thank you so much for watching! I hope it doesn't disappoint! Best wishes, and cheers!

[@bobatehfettz6255]

​@phdnd-drbowers Fantastic video! Loved the idea of pcs getting surgery and the reflavor for the Flameskulls was perfect.

[@JokersVsZombies]

This is awesome

[@phdnd-drbowers]

Thank you so much! And thanks for watching! Cool handle, by the way! I highly recommend Arthur Machen's stories from the inspirational media section, and feel free to check out my other adventure videos. Best wishes, and cheers!

[@JokersVsZombies]

@@phdnd-drbowers im checking out the whole playlist. The mindflayer one legit inspired a one shot Im working on.

[@thomaswilson9925]

Yeees the 🎀✨lobotomy✨🎀 adventure

[@phdnd-drbowers]

🔪 🧠 ‼️ Indeed! Hope you enjoy it! Best wishes, and cheers!

[@grinningbuck]

"When she makes your heart beat like new!"

[@danteherrera299]

I saw this video days ago, i started playing dnd this year and it was a ravenloft campaing so i want to do this campaning because of that, my question is i can run this with 5 pc's. I can calibrate de encounters but what do you think. Good video

[@phdnd-drbowers]

Thank you so much for watching, and for your kind words! Yes, I think the adventure would work just as well with five PCs! You may need to adjust a few of the encounters, e.g. adding an additional meenlock here or there, but just one additional PC shouldn't imbalance the adventure! Best wishes, and cheers!

[@TheClericCorner]

Again, have to say I love these videos! Although, it is a bit disappointing with the amount of Deus ex machina and making the players go on unonscious as of late. Neither of which are very fun as players. I would never incorporate either of these things in any game I run. And from what I understand, it's not an unpopular opinion. I know I'm just one commenter, but if you could refrain from those in the future, that would really inspire me to run these adventures whole-cloth. Keep up the good work!

[@phdnd-drbowers]

I'm glad you love these videos! In my defense, most of the scripted unconsciousness has its origins in 2e Ravenloft adventures! In this case, "Adam's Wrath" by Lisa Smedman incorporated the plot device of knocking the PCs unconscious while they were burgling Mordenheim's castle. Likewise, "The Created," "Feast of Goblyns," "Chilling Tales," and "Neither Man Nor Beast" all have scripted imprisonment or scripted unconsciousness to advance the plot. I guess that was more common back then. I understand and sympathize with your feedback, though; I try to avoid such things unless they seem necessary! Thanks for supporting the channel with your views and your comments! Best wishes, and cheers!

[@mazineric]

I'm Dming a campaign in Lamordia it's ending soon after 3 years

[@phdnd-drbowers]

Ah, congratulations! Care to share some of the most enjoyable or memorable parts? Best wishes!

[@mazineric]

Start of the campaign the players resurrected with no gear no clothes no memories. The players found out it was a experiment that went wrong a alchemical attempt at resurrection. They found out their bodies were being used so various people could keep coming back too. They found their memories stored in a machine capable of making even more memories. They ran into older versions of themselves. They found out they were created and were not supposed to come back at all.

[@mondamelf1439]

I am curious as to why you went with Dr Viktra Mordenheim and her ''monster'' instead of the original Dr.Victor Mordenheim and Adam which is alot closer to the Frankenstein material and frankly less bland then the Ravenloft remaster.

[@phdnd-drbowers]

I don’t think the 5e presentation of Lamordia is bland at all, nor is it blander than any previous incarnations! There are already adventures featuring the 2e Darklords, including Adam’s Wrath, which I mentioned in the video. If you prefer, of course, you’re free to switch Darklords around at your own table, too. Personally, I enjoyed learning about Viktra and Elise for this video. Cheers!

[@Babbleplay]

@@phdnd-drbowers I've old man griped about this before, so I will be brief. There can be more than one mad science domain; I fail to see why they decided to throw out one of the original Darklords from the very first publication, before any expansions. Mordenheim was a great novel, and gave plenty of character to Victor. This one, to me, is a noteworthy offender, simply for the name recycle. Victor became Viktra, and that, to me, highlights the laziness. That said, I am fully aware nostalgia is at the core of my complaints and issues, but I just don't see why the changes happened.