The Wonderful World of Darklords

Welcome, my friends. Welcome to Wonderful World of Darklords. Will the ticket holders come forward, please? Welcome. It's nice to have you here. We're so glad you could come. This is going to be such an exciting day. We hope you enjoy it. We think you will. Little surprises around every corner, but nothing dangerous. Don't be alarmed. Now, hats, coats, galoshes, over here. But hurry! W...

Welcome to Wonderful World of Darklords: Book Club of Dread! No, if you're not a patron, you didn't miss Book One; it's a Patreon exclusive. We talk about the rules of the Nightmare Land so much that we couldn't paywall them in good conscience, though, so we're making the second, rules-focused book of the 1995 Ravenloft Nightmare Lands boxed set free for everyone. The Nightmare...

Hello, dear listeners! Our fundraiser for the Capital Area Food Bank is LIVE! https://give.capitalareafoodbank.org/wonderfulworldofdarklords If you'd rather support your own local food bank, that's wonderful! Send us a screenshot of the receipt at wonderfulworldofdarklords@gmail.com and we'll count it toward our goal. When we did our survey for what goals you'd like us to set for t...

In which D has a case of mistaken identity, gets answers to a long-standing question, and finally has a decent night's sleep. The in-character fiction from the episode without the in-depth out-of-character discussion of the domain. Timestamps 0:00 Introduction 1:49 The Lord 5:17 The Land 10:42 Dread Possibilities 15:25 Parting Thoughts Content Advisory for D's Journal (details on content a...

Welcome to Wonderful World of Darklords! In this episode, we're celebrating spooky season with one of Disney's spookier villains: the Horned King. He doesn't have a lot going for him other than vibes, but boy howdy, he has those vibes in abundance. (Is he aura farming? We're in our forties; we don't know.) Topics discussed include: A backstory for the Horned King that gives him...

Hello, dear listeners! Our charity fundraiser this year is a bit time sensitive, so Rachel is getting the announcement out in the forty-five seconds before our youngest comes home, terrible sound quality be darned. Details here : https://www.patreon.com/posts/wonderful-world-140996564?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link TL;...

In which D doesn't get shot at, subjected to anti-human racial slurs, captured, robbed of her magic, tortured, thrown off a building, mind-erased, or killed, which automatically makes DunBroch her favorite domain of 2025. D chooses the bear! The in-character fiction from the episode without the in-depth out-of-character discussion of the domain. Content Advisory for D's Journal (details on...

Welcome to Wonderful World of Darklords! In this episode, Callaghan is finally dethroned as "darklord with the fewest lines of usable dialog" as we make a darklord out of...a bear. Not a werebear. Not a talking bear. Just a bear. But he's a bear who comes with a gothic curse and with FANTASY SCOTLAND , so it's well worth the effort of making him a darklord. Topics discussed include...

Note: This letter takes place immediately after the Owl House episode, so please make sure to listen to that one first. In which D has the warlock equivalent of a salary negotiation, making all of us deeply grateful that Azalin isn't our supervisor. Content Advisory (details on content advisories can be found on  Facebook,   Tumblr , and  Patreon ) Abusive relationship subtext (major; eggshell...

In which D travels to a domain full of witches, ruled by a witch hunter. What could go wrong? The in-character fiction from the episode without the in-depth out-of-character discussion of the domain. Content Advisory for D's Journal (details on content advisories can be found on  Facebook,   Tumblr , and  Patreon ) Narcissistic abuse (major), death (major), head trauma (major), suffocation (ma...

Welcome to Wonderful World of Darklords! In this episode, Matthew Graydon joins us to make a darklord out of Emperor Belos, AKA Philip Wittebane, AKA THE WORST. (Please don't make a drinking game out of how many times we say "the worst." You will die of alcohol poisoning.) Topics discussed include: Stats and a character class for Belos that summarize "hypocritical witch hunter who...

In which Grunkle Stan and the peddler get into a scam-off. The in-character fiction for the episode without the in-depth out-of-character discussion of the Gummi Bears. You can find Kris at MegaDumbCast (https://megadumbcast.podbean.com/ ) and the now-completed  Gameable Podcast (https://gameabledisneypodcast.tumblr.com/) All music recordings are in the public domain (mark 1.0) and are licensed th...

Welcome to Wonderful World of Darklords! In honor of Small Screen Summer, Kris Newton joins us for a Disney show that literally no one has ever asked for: Gummi Bears. Not only are they dashing and daring, courageous and caring, but they have much more complex and interesting lore than anyone would expect from a show about colorful bouncing bears, and it can lead to some terrific stories if you ca...

In which D encounters a familiar face, Grunkle Stan runs a scam, and no one can get a good night's sleep. The in-character fiction from the episode without the in-depth out-of-character discussion of the domain. Content Advisory for D's Journal (details on content advisories can be found on  Facebook,   Tumblr , and  Patreon ) Memory modification (major), gaslighting (major) All music reco...

Welcome to the second installment of Wonderful World of Darklords' Small Screen Summer! In this episode, we're looking at the darklord who introduced a whole generation of fresh-faced little Disney XD viewers to cosmic horror. Bill Cipher is Baby's First Elder God and Gravity Falls is a phenomenal setting for occult investigation, but can a character as alien and amoral as Bill ever me...

In which it is too early in the evening for Demona to deal with D's nonsense. The in-character fiction from the episode without the in-depth out-of-character discussion of the domain. Content Advisory (details on content advisories can be found on  Facebook,   Tumblr , and  Patreon ) Heights (major), blood (moderate), death (moderate) All music recordings are in the public domain (mark 1.0) an...

Welcome to Wonderful World of Darklords' Small Screen Summer! We're kicking off our summer of Disney shows with the villain that made little twelve-year-old Rachel look from her TV screen to her copy of the 1994 Ravenloft supplement Domains and Denizens and say, "I think she belongs in here": Demona. She's a Byronic garbage fire who will stare directly at the sun but never in t...

Hello, dear listeners! If you haven't finished our previous episode and don't want to be spoiled on where D is going next, hold off on this one. Turn back now! Last chance! If you haven't seen Gargoyles and want a minimum watchlist, or if you haven't seen it since the mid-90s, here's a watchlist in order of importance: Awakening City of Stone The Mirror Long Way Till Morning Te...

In which D has a horrible, terrible, no-good, very bad day. The in-character fiction from the episode without the in-depth out-of-character discussion of the domain. Content Advisory for D's Journal (details on content advisories can be found on Facebook, Tumblr , and Patreon ) Torture (major), forced mind-reading (major), imprisonment (major), genocide (moderate), slavery (moderate), blood (m...

Welcome to Wonderful World of Darklords: Marvel May! As soon as we announced this theme last May, you knew this one was coming. Thanos is such a compelling Big Bad for the entire MCU that they've been flailing to replace him ever since Infinity War, and he could make a fantastic Big Bad for your campaign as well . . . but can any villain, no matter how grandiose and self-deluded, be a darklord...

A couple of quick announcements about revisiting an old darklord and about the next round of Listener's Choice voting! The Maleficent episode is here: https://youtu.be/A53ZxWvrwMs?si=mkVPgRcb9zOGsJUa We'll link them in those show notes AND these show notes! Visage of Eyes' Tumblr is here: https://www.tumblr.com/ravenloftbythelamplight There's so much great Ravenloft art here, y&#39...

In which D somehow turns Jareth down. The in-character fiction from the episode without the in-depth out-of-character discussion of the domain. 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 them...

While D's Journal is normally a patrons-only perk, we felt bad that we couldn't give more concrete examples of how to personalize the Labyrinth to your own PCs because the episode was already so. dang. long. That's why we've decided to open up this behind-the-scenes explanation of the imagery and encounters that D experienced to everyone. Patrons, don't worry--you'll still...

Welcome to Wonderful World of Darklords! In this extremely long episode, Tom and an increasingly thirsty Rachel are talking about a villain who looms large in the imaginations of Xennials everywhere: Jareth, the Goblin King. He's a magnetic and malevolent presence whose domain is a perfect reflection of his disaster bi energy, but he has no canon backstory and may just be a figment of Sarah&#3...

Ah, Leslie the Listener! How unexpected...and by unexpected, we mean COMPLETELY EXPECTED! Behold, our April UNFools-inator! You see, back in Gimmelshtump, we always wanted to run a Phineas and Ferb-themed session of Ravenloft, but we didn't know how to do it, and even if we had, no one would have come to our game because they would have been playing Roger's game instead. So with the April...