Episode 14: Toy Story

The Wonderful World of Darklords

Welcome back to Wonderful World of Darklords! Our summer hiatus has ended, and we're coming back with a franchise that was our white whale for months: the Toy Story trilogy. (Yes, trilogy. We're so glad they didn't make any more movies after Toy Story 3, the perfect ending to the series, la la la we can't hear you.) Lotso is a perfect darklord in so many ways, but how can the PCs interact with a domain in which every important character is a toy that pretends to be inanimate whenever humans are around? Cracking that puzzle was harder than evading a toy monkey in a panopticon, but we managed it without nearly getting ourselves incinerated in the process.

Topics discussed include:

• How to get your PCs interacting with Lotso in a way similar to how Woody, Buzz, and the gang do, instead of just tying him to the front of a garbage truck;
• An in-universe mechanical explanation for why the toys have to freeze in almost every situation, but can move around to scare the pants off Sid;
• Why the phrase "Stinky Pete is a Kargat agent" makes perfect sense in context;
• A way to make a Sunnyside-based adventure feel like a Toy Story movie, complete with traveling from one location to another on a strict deadline (although, alas, the final destination isn't Andy's house and the deadline doesn't involve anyone moving or going to college);
• And more!

The full writeup for Sunnyside is available for free on DM's Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/450988/Shadyside-Inn-and-Foundling-Home-A-Ravenloft-Domain-of-Dread?affiliate_id=24177 (In the writeup, we're calling it Shadyside and tweaking the names of a few NPCs to avoid any copyright kerfuffles, but all the information is the same. Shadyside is still ruled by an evil bear who smells of strawberries, even if his name happens to be Lazlo.)

In addition to the free DM's Guild writeup, Tom wrote a Toy Story adventure like our Sleepy Hollow adventure from October! As always with these longer adventures, a caveat: while our DM's Guild writeups for domains are free and always will be, adventures are a LOT more work and DM's Guild doesn't give us the option of "no, no, it's free for regular podcast listeners but everyone else has to pay." HOWEVER, just like with Sleepy Hollow and the Raven Nebula, we have a coupon code to get our listeners the adventure for 99 cents instead of $1.99 until the end of September. (And if you join our Patreon, you can get access to a free link!) Check out the discounted link here: https://www.dmsguild.com/shopping_cart.php?products_id=450987

All music recordings are in the public domain (mark 1.0) and are licensed through https://musopen.org:

Chopin Nocturne in B-Flat Minor, Op. 9 No.1 (main theme), performed by Eduardo Vinuela

Chopin Etude Op. 25, No. 12 in C Minor: “Ocean” (darklord theme), performed by Edward Neeman

Chopin Nocturne in F Minor, Op. 55 No. 1 (land theme), performed by Luke Faulkner

Rachmaninoff Morceaux de Fantaisie, Op. 3 - 2. Prélude in C sharp minor (Dread Possibilities), performed by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Chopin Nocturne in E Minor, Op. 72 No. 1 (parting thoughts), performed by Luke Faulkner

Dialog for Yensid was written by Azalin Rex himself: http://www.tumblr.com/darklordazalin

The Wonderful World of Darklords logo was designed by Halite Jones, whom you can find on Tumblr and Instagram: https://www.tumblr.com/halite-draw and http://www.instagram.com/insta_halite

Contact us on:

Gmail: [e-mail]

Facebook: @wonderfulworldofdarklords

Tumblr: @wonderfulworldofdarklords

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/WonderfulWorldofDarklords

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-wonderful-world-of-darklords/exclusive-content