Episode 33: Labyrinth


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Apr 13 2025 165 mins   8

Welcome to Wonderful World of Darklords! In this extremely long episode, Tom and an increasingly thirsty Rachel are talking about a villain who looms large in the imaginations of Xennials everywhere: Jareth, the Goblin King. He's a magnetic and malevolent presence whose domain is a perfect reflection of his disaster bi energy, but he has no canon backstory and may just be a figment of Sarah's imagination, so adapting him posed some challenges. But if Sarah can escape the oubliette, cross the Bog of Eternal Stench, and say no to Jareth looking at her like that in the masquerade ball, we can rise to this challenge. Topics discussed include:

  • Squaring the circle of making Jareth an independent being and a figment of Sarah's imagination at the same time, and how you can make him occupy that same role for your PCs;
  • Adapting the labyrinth so it reflects your PCs' inner worlds in the same way that the canon labyrinth reflects Sarah's, from "give the movie's labyrinth-dwellers the mannerisms of your NPCs" to high-concept lunacy that makes our Christmas Carol episode look straightforward;
  • How to bring your PCs into the labyrinth in the first place, since presumably none of them are going to wish for the goblins to steal their babies;
  • Why everything about the labyrinth, including the thirteen-hour time limit, is ultimately a distraction from Jareth's real game;
  • and more!


The full write-up for the Goblin King's Labyrinth is available for free on DM's Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/517199/The-Goblin-Kings-Labyrinth-A-Ravenloft-Domain-of-Dread?view_as_pub=1

Our Listener's Choice poll is available as a public post on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/listeners-choice-125322997

Timestamps

0:00 Introduction

6:01 The Lord

53:05 The Land

1:21:50 Dread Possibilities

2:15:37 Parting Thoughts

2:41:52 D’s Parting Thoughts

All music recordings are in the public domain (mark 1.0) and are licensed through https://musopen.org:

Chopin Nocturne in B-Flat Minor, Op. 9 No.1 (main theme), performed by Eduardo Vinuela

Chopin Etude Op. 25, No. 12 in C Minor: “Ocean” (darklord theme), performed by Edward Neeman

Chopin Nocturne in F Minor, Op. 55 No. 1 (land theme), performed by Luke Faulkner

Rachmaninoff Morceaux de Fantaisie, Op. 3 - 2. Prélude in C sharp minor (Dread Possibilities), performed by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Chopin Nocturne in E Minor, Op. 72 No. 1 (parting thoughts), performed by Luke Faulkner


Dialog for Yensid was written by Azalin Rex himself: http://www.tumblr.com/darklordazalin

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