Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Nov 23, 2003 14:14:26	Assuming he even exists in your camapign, what is your treatment of this famous NPC? Does he run amok, ruining your party's plans? Does he swing with demons a little too frequently? Are his views too self-serving to ever be truly neutral? What's up with Mordy, anyway?
#2 zombiegleemax Nov 23, 2003 15:45:53	Well, he's not in my campaign (yet, probably not ever). But I'll give some thoughts about him. 1) I see him as "Me 1st, neutrality 2nd" mainly since he does what he wants, and he usually seems to be conveniently missing in the important stuff. 2) He's alienated several individuals from the circle, that shows he's driven and uses questionable methods at least now and then.
#3 Argon Nov 23, 2003 18:52:57	Does he exist in my campaign? yes. Has he been used by me personally? no. I think what he does is as secretive as the circle itself. After all the circle can't be everywhere you know.
#4 zombiegleemax Nov 23, 2003 19:30:39	Remember that old Mordy is dedicated to the idea of BALANCE, not Good. That means that, to his philospophy, Evil's existence in the world should equal that of Good. None of this should come as a surprise in the Greyhawk setting. Boccob does not have the tendency towards moral extremes that the various Mystras of the Forgotten Realms have. Mordernkainen, along with Bigby and to a lesser extent Nystul, Otto and Drawmij are focused on a Big Picture kind of Neutrality. During the wars that meant siding with Good because Evil (in the form of Iuz, the Aerdy and the Scarlet Brotherhood) was so openly ascendent. Mordenkainen probably avoids dealing with fiends. He's smart enough to know that usually leads to bad things. He WILL however, deal with evil beings if Good seems to be gaining too much ground, not that it has lately. Mordenkainen is committed to his ideology of Balance, to the extent that he has set aside personal ambition in order to pursue it. That's the difference between him and Rary. Rary decided that only by trying to take charge could he make things work his way.
#5 zombiegleemax Nov 23, 2003 19:46:48	The first time I ever used a module was when I attempted to run RttToEE. Boy, was that a mistake! Anyway, when the players began getting a little bored and frustrated with the module, they decided to go and cause havoc in Verbobonc. I had made Melf have a princely residence just on the border of the cities limits. An idyllic little mansion amongst the grassy, softly rolling hillocks with a slightly unruly garden (he only used the place as a stop-over, so no gardener :D ) and a long pathway to the big bronzewood doors. Anyway, they had tried to contact him through various agents because they felt he could help them uncover some mysteries about the Temple of Elemental Evil. So they got his address and went to see him. I decided that *I* needed a break from the module to so I kinda made Melf into a comic-relief character. Imagine a VERY chaotic and friendly individual who was all too eager to help when there was a mystery involved. The players loved him. So anyway, they left in his care some artifacts they had found at the Moathouse (the torch of revealing and some other stuff) and went off to go haggle for some goods whilst Melf did what he could to find out about this stuff. Upon coming back, they found two new personages had arrived and were very interested in the items the PC's had found. One was a remarkably serious but attractive young woman, who Melf kept on trying to hit on, who had a rather cute psuedodragon familiar. The other person sat away from Melf and the woman, in a dark corner, with black robes on and his face shadowed. When the PC's arrived, they had only just arrived moments before and so Jallarzi asked them if she could cast an information spell on the items to confirm her suspicions of their origin and use. Whilst she went off into the other room, the PC's began focusing on the other individual. The man in the shadows said nothing, didn't move or even indicate that he was alive in anyway, just sat there and watched. Of course, one idiot of a player HAD to go up to him and couldn't just let it lie. So as soon as the PC was within ten feet of him, I had the man make a brief gesture and disappear. That was the sole encounter with Mordy I've ever run. Obviously, the purpose of the circle's involvement was that Melf had contacted them on the basis that he knew the items were of the Dread Tharizdun and was worried about the areas safety. The circle were simply curious to know what was going on. I threw Mordy in mainly because I thought it would make the encounter a little more interesting if they knew that Jallarzi was powerful, but she took direction from some dark, menancing source (I had her look to Mordy once or twice as if looking for confirmation of what to do). I felt it would add a sense of foreboding about the entire temple and hopefully get them back on track because if someone important was interested in it, then obviously it was important. Didn't work... Regardless, that's kinda how I see him. He's the mysterious man who lurks in the background and pulls other peoples strings, not ever directly interfering but at the same time, always meddling.
#6 zombiegleemax Nov 23, 2003 19:54:01	He's like a mother-in-law....except to the entire world.
#7 OleOneEye Nov 24, 2003 10:12:31	I generally do not run games based on good vs. evil, so the idea of Balance is rather moot. I prefer cultural clashes. The only time he showed up in a game was when the party mage purposely sought him out for sagely advise.
#8 Monteblanco Nov 26, 2003 18:28:42	I always got the impression that Mordenkainen's comitment to balance was somewhat related to an ideal of keeping all Oerthian cultures alive and not predating much one over the other. As such, is much more a political agenda than a moral position. Regarding his own feelings I portraited him as a regular neutral character, i.e., a selfish person.
#9 samwise Nov 26, 2003 18:52:54	Mordenkainen is someone else's PC. As such, it is up to that person to decide on his character, and follow it within a game. I don't even see the need to have him as an NPC beyond a name on certain spells.
#10 extempus Feb 15, 2006 4:51:13	In my campaign, Mordenkainen is basically more interested in doing what he thinks is the right thing to do rather than what actually is the right thing to do, although it has no real effect on play. While my players obviously do what's in their own best interests, they also fight evil wherever they find it (and sometimes seek it out to deal with it). Mordenkainen is really nothing more than window dressing who shows up once in awhile to offer what he thinks is sage advice...
#11 Mortepierre Feb 15, 2006 6:30:07	Does he exist within my campaign? Yes Does he interact with my players? Not (directly) so far What's the deal with him? Mordenkainen believes in his vision of Neutrality, which is to say "I want this world to know peace so I can finally return to the good old days of plundering ancient ruins. Oh, and all the magic secrets out there must be mine". He has auto-convinced himself that not only he is doing what he does for the good of all but also that he is the only one capable of pulling it off. He will pull any string, and go to great lengths to accomplish his goals.. always making sure nobody can trace them back to him, of course. He is leery of fiends though. At least that's what I gather from the intro to the 1st version (the one on loose paper) of this: http://home.flash.net/~brenfrow/ps/ps-mc1.htm The tale of Mordy looking into the Lower Planes and finally understanding the role of humanity in the Blood War was truly chilling...
#12 Amaril Feb 15, 2006 8:59:20	Mordenkainen is someone else's PC. As such, it is up to that person to decide on his character, and follow it within a game. I don't even see the need to have him as an NPC beyond a name on certain spells. Actually, I use him as the reason why there aren't high-powered NPCs affecting the world. He basically keeps things in check. Now if he were of good alignment, then he'd be a problem for the setting as a whole.
#13 extempus Feb 15, 2006 23:52:42	The high-level NPCs in my campaign are generally far too busy dealing with politics, various problems and other matters in their own kingdoms or advising their kings on the best course of action to really directly affect the Flanaess. While my players are hardly loose cannons, they are of such a high level (which happens after 24+ years of play) that they are the ones who get involved and make a difference. I would imagine that Mordenkainen watches them from afar tearing his hair out on occasion because I'm sure they've interfered with his plans more than once...