Pop Culture Party – The Children’s Crusade

(l-r) Phresso (human-wizard-conjuration school); Arik (human-paladin-oath of devotion); Duyana (human-monk-way of the Open Hand); Hawk (human-ranger-monster slayer conclave; The Master (gnome-wizard -enchantment school); Shillera (human-rogue-scout); The Barbar (human-barbarian-path of the Berserker); and the Master’s familiar, Younia (unicorn).

IN THE REALMS

Fear not, ranger, barbarian, wizard, rogue, paladin, and monk! With immensely powerful weapons scavenged from the Dragon’s graveyard, you will vanquish evil and drive back vampires, beholders, mercenaries, and even Tiamat herself.

What you may not know, however, is that the Master has not told you everything. This planeswalker has collected orphans from Krynn, Ravnica, Oerth, and Exandria and brought them to Toril in the service of his ruthless crusade against the Cult of the Dragon and their efforts to bring the Dragon Queen into the material world. His familiar, a unicorn, is his arcane tool to tie you to his will and quiet any doubts you harbour. He may call himself your guide, but he nurses much darker secrets than you dare dream – and you may not all survive the war into which he has drafted you…

…in the realm of dungeons and dragons!

SOURCE MATERIAL & CAMPAIGN IDEAS

Unlike some other children’s IP I have covered in the past, this one is a gritty reboot, make no mistake. But what else are you supposed to do with something as silly and uncool as the D&D cartoon? All respect to Mark Evanier, but there are better cartoons and there were better cartoons for children even at the time.

But there are some interesting ideas here! I’m generally not a fan of real world/D&D interactions, so in my mind, Arik, a gloomy knight of the Raven Queen, was recruited by the Master from Nerath (specifically the Nentir Vale). Duyana came from Katashaka on Toril, while Hawk was plucked from Krynn. Phresso comes from Oerth, Shillera from Ravnica, and The Barbar from Exandria.

Get to Class

I know that Diana was an “Acrobat” and Erik a “Cavalier” in the cartoon, but even then those were not the obvious base classes. Bobby, the Barbarian, is here “The Barbar”, an archaic singular noun that has been replaced by the adjective (his real name is Hrodebert Brightfame).

Campaign Notes

The Rise of the Dragon Queen would be a perfect campaign to put these poor brainwashed orphans into and see how they do. But the recent Sigil materials might also work.

The Pop Culture Party Series follows a similar line to my Motley Crew series. Only while that nerdly rotogravure imagined sci-fi motley crews in Firefly’s ‘Verse, this will imagine various casts of adventure media as D&D characters.