For the first installment of this series, I must return to either 1986 or 87. It was a time when I got to play D&D only during that precious lunch hour, when monsters were slain by a cadre of 8 to 9 guys all wanting to roll damage on things, and our hormones made us what to "get it on" with whatever female NPC we encountered. We were all between twelve and thirteen years old...
We were playing the hallowed - or is it unhallowed? - I6 Ravenloft adventure. It was a time before Ravenloft was a setting. A time before Strahd had a full series of novels.
It was the year when Strahd was that vampire dude you came in and kicked his rear end.
One of our player, JM-S played a druid. During the final confrontation with the Big Man, he suddenly decides to turn on us and join Strahd because the "Balance" was affected. So he needed to side with evil, join Strahd and fight us.
With Strahd cornered in the Grand Stairwell of Castle Ravenloft, he ran up the stairs and had the following exchange while we were at the bottom, flabbergasted and unable to understand.
- Hey Strahd, I want to join you. - What? Why? - These guys have been turning things to good too much. I must keep the Balance. - Well... go and kill them. - Okay
What followed was a big fight. First as we took on our druid friend, and we wasted a number of our spells and abilities making him go splat! All the while, Strahd at the top of the stairs, smirking down at us, waiting to take on the winner...
JM-S never played with us again, as he raged that we destroyed his
From that day forth, I have never been a fan of "Balance" as an active force in the universe.
But it is a great plot hook or NPC motivation. ;-)
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