Prelude to a Campaign

“The world moves on a woman’s hips

The world moves and it swivels and bops.”

- Talking Heads

Prelude to a Campaign

A while back, I decided to build a D&D pantheon based on the characters described in the music of Parliament and Funkadelic. 

As gods, characters like Star Child and Sir Nose DeVoid of Funk are cosmic in scope and have an agenda for mortals. They fit D&D so well that they made the project easy – at first.

As I worked on this pantheon, however, I realized that the traditional alignment chart won't work. While neutral can hold its place, the battle between the funky and the unfunky described in Parliament’s music doesn't fall into the familiar D&D clash of Good versus Evil.

Unfunky beings don't want to destroy life or cause suffering; they want to remove the unpredictability from life. The followers of Funk, on the other hand, are not protectors of life; they are the bringers of groove and soulfulness.

That changed both Good and Evil, which in turn changed Lawful and Chaotic. 

I found myself drawn to alignments that are sympathetic in moderation but troublesome when pushed to extremes. 

I enjoy the Good/Evil dichotomy of traditional D&D, but it does tend to create stale moral dilemmas and cardboard cutout villains.

I kept on world building, and now I have a group of five players who are willing to let me take this world for a spin. 

I aim to keep track of the process here.

I'm listening to Parliament's album Motor Booty Affair as I work out the story and encounters. It is an album all of us should revisit.