When D&D 4E first came out, Dungeon Masters all had a certain learning curve to climb before we could begin to really appreciate the nuances of the game, and run our games with style and verve.  Not only did many of us have to exorcise ourselves of pre-conceived notions of D&D from our previous experiences with 2nd Edition, 3rd Edition, and 3.5, but we also had to become comfortable with encounter building and monster design in order for us to walk that perfect line between scaring the daylights out of our heroes with the threat of death and a TPK.

And one of the first things DMs began to discover along the way, learning that perfect balance between challenging the adventurers and killing the adventurers, was that many of the iconic monsters in the Monster Manual and Monster Manual 2 were inherently flawed.  In many cases they did too little damage, or were too easily confounded by the power of the characters’ attacks, particularly in the case of Paragon and Epic Tier play.

Of course, many of these issues have been addressed with the revamped damage tables as of Monster Manual 3, and monsters which have been created subsequently have been far more potent and capable of offering a serious challenge to heroes of the appropriate level.  One notable blogger and game designer, Mike Shea of Sly Flourish.com, took a look at many powerful iconic monsters and “pimped” them out to make sure they were not only dangerous, but downright terrifying to face.

But another game designer took a different approach.  Quinn Murphy, who blogs on the At-Will.com site as GameFiend, took a different approach to making monsters more fearsome, and gave them powers which not only affected the heroes, but could affect the world around them in strange and horrifying ways – and he called these supervillain of the monsters manuals: Worldbreakers!

Worldbreakers: Etherkai, the Nightmare Dragon

• Author: Quinn Murphy
• Illustrator: Shane Tyree
• Publisher: Omnivangelist Media
• Year: 2011
• Media: PDF (6 pages)
• Price: $2.00 (available at RPGNow.com)

Worldbreakers: Etherkai, the Nightmare Dragon is will be a collection of nine monsters with unique “worldbreaking” powers for use with D&D 4E.  The first monster, Etherkai, has been released, with subsequent monsters to be released monthly to for the collection.  I have it on authority from the author that a compilation of all the monsters will be created once they have all been released in the collection.

Production Quality

The production quality of Worldbreakers: Etherkai, the Nightmare Dragon is exceptional, with some great writing and a well designed layout, making it a fun and enjoyable reading experience.  The monster stat blocks are presented in MM3 format for ease of use, and there is copious information about the background and use of the Nightmare Dragon in a D&D campaign.  The material is presented in black-and-white, with some grayscale border art, which should present little difficulty in printing the supplement for use at the gaming table.

The artwork in Worldbreakers: Etherkai, the Nightmare Dragon is very good but a little scanty, with a single depiction of the evil dragon holding an adventurer in its claw.  The border art is stylish, but without interfering with the reading experience, and overall the use of art in the supplement enhances the experience.

The Contents

In many respects, Worldbreakers: Etherkai, the Nightmare Dragon, is much more than merely a monster manual entry, and more like a mini-adventure setting which features Etherkai at its heart.  The author did a masterful job of creating a background story for Etherkai, delving into a wide range of topics to make the dragon much more than a simple encounter.  The author provides several adventure hooks to add Etherkai to a campaign, as well as suggestions on the type of terrain and tactics the dragon would choose to fight in.  There are even some recommendations on creating a terrifying “atmosphere” in the dragon’s territory, a place where the heroes will have their sanity tested by their own nightmares.

While Etherkai is only a dragon, and a 10th Level Solo encounter, its worldbreaking ability makes it a considerable challenge for any seasoned pack of adventurers.  All monsters with the “worldbreaker” keyword have the ability to affect the terrain, the atmosphere, and even the fabric of reality around themselves for a short time, and the author presents some rules on the effects of the “worldbreaking” phenomena:

The Worldbreaker Keyword

• “Worldbreaker” is a monster keyword. Any solo monster with the worldbreaker keyword has a power with the following effects:
• Triggers as a No-Action. It takes no action to trigger a worldbreaker, though it can only be triggered on the worldbreaker’s turn.
• Removes effects. When the worldbreaker triggers, it removes any status effect that the GM wishes to remove except dying.
• Triggers Worldbreaker Opening. The worldbreaker opening instantly activates any worldbreaker terrain. It then creates the opening, where players may make skill checks to resist some of its effects.
• Temporary Hit Points. The Worldbreaker gains temporary hit points when the worldbreaker effect triggers.  These temporary hit points stack with other temporary hit points. All damage taken by the creature is deducted from these hit points. When these hit points are gone, all worldbreaker terrain, attacks, summons, and effects disappear immediately.
• Attacks, Summons, Terrain. Worldbreaker attacks, summons and terrain may only be used while the worldbreaker is in effect.
• Worldbreaker Effects. If a power has a worldbreaker effect, it gains those abilities in addition or in place of (when specified) the regular effects of the power.

The worldbreaker effects in many ways reminds me of some “boss” encounters you might find in a well-known MMORPG such as World of Warcraft.  The fight gains a new dimension and a “choreography” to it, with the worldbreaker monster changing the dynamic of the combat, and forcing the heroes to use skills and powers to defeat the worldbreaking effect to win the day.  Without giving too much away, Etherkai’s worldbreaking power brings nightmares into reality, and the characters can use skills to resist the nightmares before they are overwhelmed by their own night-terrors made manifest!

Admittedly, running Etherkai is no mean feat, as the stat block for this monster takes up an entire page all by itself!  But with a bit of preparation, most DMs should be able to use this worldbreaker to its maximum potential, and give their player-characters a very unique night of gaming.

Overall Score: 4.6 out of 5.0

Conclusions

I really loved Worldbreakers: Etherkai, the Nightmare Dragon and was already trying to imagine how I can use this worldbreaker in one or both of my D&D 4E campaigns.  The writing was both exciting and evocative to read, and has the effect of getting a DM’s creative thoughts flowing for just what sort of adventure one could create around this beastie.  The concept of Etherkai itself, with its background and powers, is well-designed and both the crunch and fluff are excellent.  And given the content quality and quantity for only a couple bucks, it is almost a “must-have” addition to any Dungeon Master’s virtual library.

So until next blog… I wish you Happy Gaming!

Author’s Note: This Reviewer received a complimentary copy of the product in PDF format from which the review was written.

Grade Card (Ratings 1 to 5)

• Presentation: 4.25
• - Design: 4.5
• - Illustrations: 4
• Content: 4.5
• - Crunch: 4.5
• - Fluff: 4.5
• Value: 5

Tags: D&D 4e, dragon, monster, quinn murphy, review, worldbreaker

This entry was posted by Editor-in-Chief on Monday, July 25th, 2011 at 10:20 pm and is filed under Dramatis Personae, Dungeonmasters' Insider, Monsters, RPG News & Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.