dreast
2021-08-02, 01:24 PM
A while ago, I was running a D&D 5e campaign for a group of players that used elements from Out of the Abyss, the Storm King's Thunder, Baldur's Gate 2, and heck, anything else I wanted to throw them at. At one point, the group ended up in Skullport, and I felt a moment of panic... I had no materials prepared for Skullport, and beyond knowing that Xanathar lived there and that it had a bunch of flameskulls for leaders, I knew absolutely nothing about it. It had just never come up.
I ended up inventing a merchant, the Unseen, who was a Duergar from Gauntlgrym that had fled to the surface(ish) to pursue her true passion, creating magical items out of monster corpses. I almost always include an NPC like this for the players, as it lets them get access to coveted equipment without just going up and buying it... they ALSO have to go on an adventure for it! (Getting what they wanted in this case involved running the temple of Amaunator from BG2, but that's another story). The Unseen was a bald female duergar with a vaguely new jersey accent who also (for plot reasons) managed a portal to the underdark for Xanathar's guild, trying to cut around the Zhent monopoly on Underdark trade (which gave the adventuring party a Bruenor-agnostic reason to go back in at that point in the adventure).
It bugged me for two years, though... was a bald duergar female merchant who dealt in body parts and treasure really in the spirit of Skullport, a locale I knew almost nothing about?
https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/large/front/2/b/2bbb8865-dc37-4d56-9a2d-a92f7462c338.jpg?1627705401
It would appear that WOTC thinks so.
Moral of the story: It's your world! Do what feels best for the narrative, and their hearts and minds will follow.
I ended up inventing a merchant, the Unseen, who was a Duergar from Gauntlgrym that had fled to the surface(ish) to pursue her true passion, creating magical items out of monster corpses. I almost always include an NPC like this for the players, as it lets them get access to coveted equipment without just going up and buying it... they ALSO have to go on an adventure for it! (Getting what they wanted in this case involved running the temple of Amaunator from BG2, but that's another story). The Unseen was a bald female duergar with a vaguely new jersey accent who also (for plot reasons) managed a portal to the underdark for Xanathar's guild, trying to cut around the Zhent monopoly on Underdark trade (which gave the adventuring party a Bruenor-agnostic reason to go back in at that point in the adventure).
It bugged me for two years, though... was a bald duergar female merchant who dealt in body parts and treasure really in the spirit of Skullport, a locale I knew almost nothing about?
https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/large/front/2/b/2bbb8865-dc37-4d56-9a2d-a92f7462c338.jpg?1627705401
It would appear that WOTC thinks so.
Moral of the story: It's your world! Do what feels best for the narrative, and their hearts and minds will follow.