I love Brennan as a dm but he also has put my standards higher for storytellers/dungeons masters
Because he’s just so good at it dude,
He manages to make everyone feel like a main character in a story that isn’t really supposed to have one set main character. And he also manages to get the players to focus on the main plot. A lot of good dnd players know they aren’t the MC, and are good at standing back for other players to shine
But sometimes - most times - dms struggle to get characters and players to care about the main story they’re trying to tell because it’s difficult to entangle such drastic and diverse backstories to a main plot that has nothing to do with backstories sometimes
Brennan had a good idea, which is I imagine he said “here’s the plot, I want you guys to have full creative control so here’s what I’ve got so far; now how do your characters know this person?” — it’s a great way to connect all your players, have them know one NPC a very important one and go from there
And while Thiazi is dead and their closeness to the man varies because you have Hal who is his brother, and then you have Occtis who met him once but it’s very close with thimble who was his partner. And then you have Wicandor who hasn’t met Thiazi but knows Hal. Vaelus whose only business with Thiazi is cause she stole something from her people, Julien who fought against him, Thaisha who married into the family but it’s okay cause Thiazi’s wife is also a Druid
So many diverse paths and yet
Occtis is important because the stone of night song is used to rip his heart out and be used to turn him into a celestial
Vaelus stays with Occtis even after getting the stone back because she’s endeared herself to him and she’s scared of what might happen is the stone is out of his reach
Thaisha who sees Occtis as her child and doesn’t want him to die and yet now that his family is a threat she must go check on her actual son
Julien who has trained Thaisha’s son going with them because he wants to kill Occtis’s family not being consumed by revenge but that’s not all because he’s being stalked by a shadow attachment
Teor who has fought against Julien in the war, only involved with Wicandor because he was curious of how relationship with Thiazi and they needed to find his brother to figure out what went wrong
Kattigan who abandoned the war to be with the love of his life, and Teor who helped make that happened. Now traveling with his war buddy because only he can guide these soldiers through the woods where he goes to hide
Thimble who is going to find Teor’s brother, which will lead them to that bastard who let Thiazi died
Wicandor and Tyranny who revealed Wic’s family sucks, saves Teor, and now with a newfound friendship with this Lion man follow him because they have to get the hell out of here
Hal who knew Wicandor and wants to keep him safe because even though the kid’s family sucks he’s not an asshole — but also his baby mama has to find their son and he’s got a theater to run thanks to Wicandor’s awful family and his brother is dead and has so many people after him and trying to protect him and he’s been sheltered from it all
Which irritates Bolaire who hates Thiazi, claims that this man has ruined his life and he also wanted to keep Hal out of it, but now his identity as a mask is revealed he needs to keep pretending it wasn’t while his relationships fall apart but because he’s a lorekeeper he knows all about Shapers and he’s the keeper of Thaisha’s family history and even knows Tyranny’s father and what might be happening to Wic
Murray who roughly knows Thiazi but she’s more friends with Hal and she’s Occtis’s teacher, she’s a divination wizard who is invested because she can also see everyone and everything happening — much like Thiazi she hates these sundered houses and wants them gone
Azune who fought with Thiazi, hates the sundered houses, is very good friends with Hal, Thimble, Teor, Kattigan, and finds out his sister is working for the sundered houses, has to play pretend for one of them, while trying to avenge Thiazi
Awesome recaps me, ANYWAY it’s so cool how he’s they all have their own backstories and complicated relationships with Thiazi and each other but as we learn more about their backstories we find that Brennan has not only connected them in some way but has also shaped them in delicate ways to fit them in the story while keeping the main plot interesting
Like for example if Occtis died and then his family was killed off instantly because of it then why does Julien still care about what’s happening? Because he trained Thaisha’s son and he owes it to her to find him, then on their journey he learns more about why Occtis died and realizes he can’t stand by and let this living dead walk the realm, and then he gets close to the fairies and has to tell Thimble her brother is alive
Or let’s say we know Occtis won’t die if the stone of night song touches him or leaves — so why does Vaelus still stick around? Because now a flower from her home village was brought far away from her home and she realizes one of her people might be a traitor working for the Tachonis. Also she seems to have unfinished business with Bolaire Lathalia as well,,
Point is, the players do a great job of tying their motives into the main plot, not just their backstories and Brennan does a good job at making everyone feel seen and giving everyone a main character moment
Julien with his family, Thaisha with her son and the druids, Occtis and Wicandor being puppets for celestial, Bolaire and the constant intrigue because no one else knows his identity, halandil and his brother being the center of his dismay while also having a theater given to him by the Halovars, Tyranny and her destiny to hurt people and ruin them, etc
Everyone has a purpose, and if they didn’t before you can bet your ass they will now (Kattigan and Yanessa Halovar for example.)
Comparing to an old dm I had in the past, he would plan everything out first and then ask for characters — and It was a miracle it our backstories got referenced at all and if they did it was always lackluster.
He would be soo focused on the story he wrote that we were living in the world it always felt like we were just visiting.
I fall in love with ever character I play and sometimes if I made a character I thought was going to be somewhat important or useful I was always mocked for taking things too seriously and yet we’d be playing a horror campaign
Paragraphs of ideas or backstories I wanted to expand upon to fit in the world he already built were things his NPCs never heard of -once again feeling like I just spawned in when the characters should’ve grown up there
I love Brennan’s style of world building he does and also allows the players to do beforehand and even in the moment
Like when he asked Occtis would he would know this rich noble or Hal to describe the people who live around this house and theater area
It’s awesome how fast he yes ands everything the players do
Even when Kattigan tripped him up, thinking he returned the whole knife when really he kept the blade and returned the handle.
Brennan Lee Mulligan you’re wonderful and now my standards at dms might be too high
