Ruling Waterdeep From The Shadows: Who Are The Masked Lords (Pt 2)

[@edgreenwoodofficial]

Do you have any more questions about the Masked Lords that you'd like to ask? Support me on Patreon for exclusive and early-access content: patreon.com/EdGreenwood

[@StevenSchend]

Haven’t watched Part 2 but wondering if the problematic Unseen infiltrators have been expunged from the Lords ranks. I regret ever having introducing Hlaavin in 1994… but now I’m also wondering if the other shifters-the Ghaunadan-have maintained their small grip in influence there.

[@theprofessorkeen1911]

Mr. Greenwood, you said that the Mask lords don't want mind flayers and dragons among the mask lords, but HAS there been such beings (or worse) that did get in among their ranks before?

[@edgreenwoodofficial]

I'm being as vague as possible, to give DMs maximum freedom. @@StevenSchend

[@edgreenwoodofficial]

Oh yes,@@theprofessorkeen1911 ...see my novel DEATH MASKS.

[@matthewsinclair4322]

When you say that the masked lords can be any age, does that mean that it’s possible for a child or teenager to become a masked lord (although likely with less of a voice/less responsibilities), or did you mean any adult age?

[@bryaneisenhart]

One of my favorite short term masked Lord was Danilo Thann. He only stayed a Lord to get the bard College approved and opened. Which turned out to be a great base for the Harpers. Ed, love your writing. And, can Elminster make an appearance in an episode please?

[@tannerboudreau2884]

Whoa…. He would give my party various Harper missions! I did not know this! That’s sooo cool!

[@bryaneisenhart]

@@tannerboudreau2884 Check out Elaine Cunningham's novels. Her lighthearted characters around Water-repellent are awesome backstory fodder.

[@edgreenwoodofficial]

Heh. He will. Elminster has actually done a "Waterdeep advice" Patreon post. ;}

[@mikewaterfield3599]

What are you talking about? Don’t you recognize the beard? He may be missing the hat but Elminster Aumar hosted this discussion.

[@LeoxandarMagnus]

Not only does Mirt fill his role as masked lord, he overflows it.

[@weslooos]

Mirt comes across as James Bond meets Winston Churchil.

[@IanAlcorn]

I'm curious if Omin Dran (from Acquisitions Inc) being a Masked Lord is "official canon" or not. I know he was referenced being one in some of the live games with Chris Perkins as DM.

[@edgreenwoodofficial]

Oh, yes. I deliberately included him in DEATH MASKS to make him canon-official (Chris and I worked together on elements that should appear in the novel).

[@Sardonic_Cynic]

I am going to find a way to work 'don't get your codpiece caught' into everyday speech now because the mental picture was just too amazing

[@Tbrekke]

My question is...*how* do the masked lords meet? They have to change somewhere to put on the masks. How do they meet up while maintaining public anonymity? What cover do they have for meeting up at the palace of the open lord, at the lord's court, to discuss things? Do they have secret entrances?

[@WhiteEagle8888]

Dear Mr. Greenwood, Ever since I've read about the Spellplague, I wanted to know more about it. I also have a fascination with the concept of blue fire in any fantasy setting, and use it heavily in my own campaigns as part of a Platinum Dragonborn Battlemage who breathes blue fire and uses a double-bladed polearm enchanted with it. My question would be: Are there any hitherto unrevealed secrets you are willing to share about the Spellplague itself? The concept of magic- an unpredictable force by itself - suddenly backfiring, thereby creating even more of a chaotic situation, and the entirety of Toril changing - I'd love to hear more about it in a future video, should you be so inclined to talk about them. Ever since I found out about this channel, I've been watching it non-stop. Thank You for enriching the childhood of so many young ones including mine with these wonderful stories! I genuinely think D&D is the next step in the evolution of fairy tales, a concept we are all familiar with. God bless and take care, Archmage of Faerún, Loremaster of the Forgotten Realms! Respectfully Yours, White Eagle a.k.a Arkenor Bluescar, Protector of the Elements

[@Glornie]

first: I would love to hear an audiobook narrated by you. Your voice is so wonderfully rich. second: have there ever been plots to destroy the masked lords from the bottom up? I mean if there are so many average men and women who are masked lords they are relatively easy targets. it could be inside or outside factions trying to destabilize Waterdeep. or even just a crazy serial assassin.

[@edgreenwoodofficial]

I used to volunteer-narrate audiobooks for the CNIB (Canadian National Institute For The Blind) back in the 1960s. Reel to reel tape, so they're probably all gone now. Yes, there have been many plots to destroy the Masked Lords (most recently, see my 2016 novel DEATH MASKS) by blackmail and killing-and-impersonating and slaying-and-replacing; this is one of the reasons the Watchful Order has some of the powers it does.

[@sk8rdman]

One of my biggest criticisms of 5e adventures is that every one of them features the villain of the story on the cover or in the title (or both!). This makes it so much harder to run these adventures with any sort of mystery or exposition, when the players already know who's pulling the strings behind the curtain. The expansion books are guilty of this too. How am I supposed to run a campaign in Waterdeep involving a secret crime lord when every player and their mother knows who the Xanathar is? It completely removes mystery when they see his symbol or hear his name for the first time. The players are robbed of the opportunity to discover that the crime lord is no mere man, but a monster of superior intelligence. I appreciate the fact that we live in an information age, and it's next to impossible to keep campaign secrets from curious minds who seek them, and that some important story elements can even be spoiled accidentally for players who are otherwise engaged with the lore of a setting. But WotC definitely isn't helping matters by leading their products with critical story elements.

[@jackielinde7568]

Laeral: "I don't remem- ... oh, hello Mirth. We all thought you were dead. We even had a memorial service for you. It was very lovely, and a lot of nice things were said about you. You would have loved it."

[@sakarakit5835]

excellent

[@SoakedNDnotSorry]

One of my players is playing a 17 year old changeling cleric who's Whaterdavian born & bred & the city doesn't know the truth of the changeling community, so everyone thinks she's just the human daughter of the sweet halfling & elf gay couple that run a popular costume shop & are members of an acting troupe resident to the Southern Ward. She's already known to Laeral personally, courtesy of Waterdeep Dragon Heist & the group is currently trying to get out of Barovia. Being named a Masked Lord is the big end of campaign reward I have in mind for her character. 😁

[@rionnachelliot8951]

In my game I have a few masked lords prepped up. Danilo Thann- Changes are that he is essentially 2nd in command of the harpers at this time. Though the harpers don't have much of a command structure as it is so such a title is not meaningful. But he narrows his views to the city in order to maximize the good he can do in an area rather than attempting to go beyond his abilities trying to save the whole world. Esvele Rosznar- Played her as young and plucky. She enjoyed the comforts of nobility but hated the restrictions. It led her to the life of crime as a passion rather than a desperate attempt to survive. I had her initially join the doom raiders before they fell apart. Afterwards she was once again a solo act. With hard choices happening from time to time she found herself to not be as cold and distant as she thought she was. Often giving up the heist if it meant to save someone's life. This didn't go unnoticed and her now open rebellion with her parents after her brother's death sent shockwaves through the social order of the Nobility. Thus she was seen as a fiery newcomer who despite being a noble had the sensibility enough to be a masked lord. Though she was none too thrilled about the prospect. It was only after a convincing talk with Silverhand that she relented. "Crusty"- The elderly barkeep at the Muleskull tavern. A mostly retired member of the dungsweeper guild that pours the drinks for the lads at the end of the day. Jaster Thull Jr- Grandson of the former Watermen's guildmaster and a current contender for the next guildmaster position. A hard worker with a low tolerance for nonsense. Grey in his beard and an unnatural red hue to his eyes give him an intimidating presence. With a gruff voice he fights tooth and nail for his workers and has been known to throw out even royal envoys for disrespecting the crews he supplies. But doing so has earned him unanimous respect of the people on the docks. The truth is he is just a stubborn old coot. Unnamed homeless man- A mysterious figure whom none of my players have ever asked the name of. Almost a plot device rather than a character. But they are a homeless man in their late 40's early 50's who speak unusually eloquently and have a suspicious amount of knowledge no matter the topic. If a player ever asks them a question all they need do is give them some gold and they will happily tell them the truth in full. Though after answering just a few questions they seem to get tired or bored and will simply slip away with no one noticing. Lady Jalanvalos- My favorite NPC. God I hope steel dragons are brought back officially. Even in an unofficial capacity I'd love to have it. But Lady Jalanvalos the business mogul, venture capitalist and real estate tycoon. Dark hair and steel blue eyes behind a party mask and a decorative fan. Extensive skills in gossip and rumors. Relishes the complexity of the city and all its inner workings. Likely has the most wealth of any Waterdavian to date. Also secretly the wyrn of many spells. A secret dragon living within waterdeep. She adores a little bit of chaos but never the destructive kind. Just enough to always keep things interesting. To make sure all the parts are well oiled and moving as they should be. Stagnation, monotony and repetition is poison to her. Two others I've though about but haven't pulled the trigger on is Raenar and the Rakshasa private eye. Raenar just because he is an upstanding citizen and if his father was once a lord maybe there are those that would still wish for him to be one too. I'm sure many would hate the idea as well. And so long as the Rakshasa's identity wasn't in danger I think the self importance of being a secret masked lord would be right up the alley of such a creature. And having a private investigator is a unique perspective to have. An information gatherer niche within the lords unlike any other. First hand information rather than having a spy network.

[@johngillan4475]

Thank you for your information y

[@shaunoday3646]

Love the idea that a party of players giving their services to act as specific masked lords so real masked lords don't risk being killed

[@anathema1828]

Amazing content- thanks for posting!

[@SealsElite]

So my friends and I are currently playing dungeon of the mad mage and the masked lords are actually going to be a big point in the game now, seeing as how my character was just made a masked lord. She is a noble, but she is the 3rd child of her parents and she is also adopted. She is also a member of force gray but that came after she was made a masked lord. Would being on Force Gray pose any problems to being a masked lord?

[@edgreenwoodofficial]

Oh, yes. Not legal ones, but the "which takes precedence when lords want to meet" personal ones. However, it would be a benefit to Force Gray: as a masked lord, she can defy orders given to FG by the Open Lord if she disagrees with them, and so "go freelance" on matters. Have fun with the interesting roleplaying. ;}

[@christopherclubb9167]

It's interesting because you don't mention adventurers (nor does any of the source lore that I have read so far, of which there is a deep well) as possible candidates for being Masked Lords. Is this an uncommon situation given the presence of Force Grey and Lord Silverhand tapping adventurers as prospective members, or do adventurers get appointed from time to time? I ask because in my current campaign, two of the adventurers had some fresh and radical ideas for the city. At the time, they had helped defend the city from a siege orchestrated by Halaster and carried out by Zalthar and Dezmyr Shadowdusk, and expressed to Lord Silverhand they were interested in discussing local politics. After she heard their varying opinions and ideas for the city, she reached out to them some time later to appoint them as Masked Lords to present those ideas to the Lord's Court. Edited to add context: One adventurer in question is a Waterdhavian by birth, while the other is the son of a foreign guildmaster native to Sundabar.

[@CharlesKhan]

It wasn’t me, but one of my party members made the masked lords mad at us, one of us started a fire in water deep, it wasn’t me, but we burned a lot of the town down. Maybe my greatest death in waterdeep was trying to rush back to our boat. It was me I made them mad and started the fire.😂

[@jackielinde7568]

Wait? You're NOT supposed to throw things at gorgeous women to get their attention? Is that what I've been doing wrong all these decades? Huh. You learn something new every day. Besides, I wouldn't throw anything at Laeral. I'm afraid I'd be turned into a newt. Now, if I can figure just what Siproites did to Artemis to get his curse, I've got a Greek goddess to harass.

[@phoenixiwaki]

Any thoughts about Mirt’s new duties at the Spelljammer academy down near Lantan?! 😂

[@hunter11300]

if they are secret from each other how do they know it is a nepotism recommendation to reject?

[@futurewario9591]

BALDUR'S GATE 3 just came out & you should totally play the videogame 🎮 & even do some videos on you playing BALDUR'S GATE 3.

[@michaelwallace3858]

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[@AncientRylanor69]

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