Dungeons & Dragons - A Guide to the Queen of Chaos

by Glen Michael Angus

The big villain in the Rod of Seven Parts boxed set is a demon lord named the Queen of Chaos. She is portrayed as one of the most powerful villains in the multiverse. She created Demogorgon, the current ruler of the Abyss!

And yet, there really isn't that much information out there about her. In this guide, I'm going to try and dig up all the information about her so you can get a look at what should be one of the ultimate bad guys in all of Dungeons & Dragons.

She's been given tiny mentions in many different old supplements, and a lot of them repeat the same info over and over.

James Jacobs and the Queen

There's something I want to talk about before we get going, here. The Queen of Chaos is basically Ursula, the villain from the Little Mermaid. It threw me when I first read the boxed set, and I've never really figured out what, if anything, I should do about it. Should she burst into song? Should my campaign have a talking crab?

Check it out:


When putting this guide together, I see that I'm not the only one with this concern. James Jacobs, author of the tremendous Demonomicon of Iggwilv series of articles from Dragon Magazine, mentioned on a message board that:

"I'm not particularly keen on the mythos for her and Miska from the Rod of Seven Parts adventure, nor am I that keen on her resemblance to Whats-Her-Name from "The Little Mermaid," nor am I too keen on the fact that her name is the "Queen of Chaos." And I don't really like the spyder demons much either, especially how you can't really just update one, you have to update all seven or however many there are. All of these things can certainly be addressed in a ret-con type article, but I'm also aware/suspect that a lot of people out there really like her as she is, so I'm hesitant to dive in there and do a lot of changing just to satisfy my own hangups about her."

Erik Mona, a D&D designer and massive Greyhawk enthusiast, chimed in:

"As the guy who "brought back" the Queen of Chaos and tied her into the Age of Worms and Fiendish Codex 1, I thought I might suggest that the "Queen of Chaos" works as a name because she is from a very, very early time in the history of the multiverse, as much a concept as a living, breathing thing. She is the most powerful of the obyrith. Perhaps the most powerful demon ever to have lived. She doesn't need a name more specific than the one she's had for almost 20 years, now.

She's shuttered away for the same reason as the demons imprisoned in the Wells of Darkness. She serves the same purpose as Tharizdun. As Fafnir and the Midgard Serpent.

Basically, she's an Apocalypse Trigger.

Bringing her back is Bad in the way Vecna entering Sigil is bad. For the Queen of Chaos to stir, major, multiverse-shaking plots are afoot.

And major, multiverse-shaking plots are really the domain of the individual DM, in my opinion.

Now that said, were I publishing a compilation of world-ending bad guys, the Queen of Chaos would be a perfect fit.

But, alas...."

Designer and Shemeshka enthusiast Todd Stewart said:

"Pre-FC I that's how I envisioned her, as a renegade Slaad Lord who was exiled from Limbo by Ssendam and Ygorl after having been corrupted from CN to CE (similar to how Bazim-Gorag is existing only by the sufferance of that pair due to his own slip into CE).

But since I've never really used the Queen, I might muddy the waters if I ever do and offer that as one myth, and incorporate some of Erik's notions from FC:I as well."

Being a fan of Limbo and the slaads, I do like this idea. Maybe the Slaad Lords are even older than the obyriths?

The Rod of Seven Parts Boxed Set

by Glen Michael Angus

 Long ago, there was a war between Law and Chaos. I wrote a whole article about it here.

Basic Premise: The Queen of Chaos was in charge of the hordes of Chaos. Her general, Miska the Wolf Spider, was defeated and imprisoned by the Wind Dukes of Aaqa. The wind Dukes used the Rod of Seven Parts to imprison Miska in the Plane of Pandemonium.

Since that time, the Queen has scoured the multiverse, looking for the rod.

Limbo: The book declares that she is "a native of Limbo," though she is later described as an obyrith (the "demons" that existed before the tanar'ri - modern day D&D demons - existed).

Appearance: Here is what she looks like.

• Her lower body is a mass of 10 mauve tentacles, like a giant squid. shiny with slime, red and purple veins showing through her skin.
• Her skin is blue - lighter at the belly and darker in back. Her eyes and hair are green, locks hanging in drooping curls. Her tentacles reach up to 90 feet
• She has a huge trident tied to her wrist. 
• Wears a coronet of bones decorated with black pearl and a sahuagin skull. I wonder if the sahuagin was anyone important?
• Also. She, uhh... has a beak... down there in the tentacles.

Chaos Gates: The Queen can create chaos gates, portals to the Material Plane.

• Lasts 1 minute
• Portals can open to the Steaming Fen or the Prime Material Plane.
• There is a 25% chance that non-demons will magically age 1d10 years when they step through a chaos gate.
• "Objects and magical effects cannot travel through the passage unless carried by creatures."
• The gateway is all but invisible in anything except bright light. Although.. later it is said that the gate looks like a disk of black fire from the side.
• The queen can extend a tentacle through the gate and pull you through. "No feat of strength can save the character, but the tentacle can be severed."

Warping Effect: When a chaos gate is opened, there is a cumulative 20% chance that a wave of chaos sweeps of the world. When a wave hits:

• The terrain around the heroes changes. Mountains might become a desert, the grass might turn blue (the sun might turn green!).
• Each day the heroes stay in this landscape, they must make a saving throw or take damage (toxic air, hot weather, etc).
• Beasts of Chaos: Animals are transformed into Beasts of Chaos, chaotic neutral tentacled monstrosities. Bright light enrages them.

The Steaming Fen: The 14th layer of the Abyss.

• The Steaming Fen a swampy island with a sprawling palace filled with treasures from every world that the Queen's agents are active on. 
• The Queen rules the Fen through intimidation, favors and bargaining.  
• A vast salt marsh and a turbulent ocean. Smells of decay. Lots of insects and vermin.

by Glen Michael Angus

The Queen's Throne Room: Located in the 14th layer of the Abyss, known as The Steaming Fen:

• A vast cavern nearly 200 feet wide with a ceiling 500 feet high.
• Her throne is a rock rising from a lake of fire. From here, she monitors the Steaming Fen and conducts her never-ending search for the Rod of Seven Parts.
• Demons and yugoloths come and go from side tunnels.
• The throne room is part of a gigantic castle carved from a massive mountain. Many rooms reach down into the briny, foul waters of the Steaming Fen's ocean and high into the air. 

Places in or near the Throne Room:

• Lake of Flame: This pool of brackish salt water is forever covered with a sheet of oil that burns, creating a pall of choking smoke. Swimming does d6 per round. Exiting the lake leaves you coated in oil, tar and lumpy ash.
• Throne: A pillar of obsidian polished to a mirror shine by hundreds of slaves. Has a flat top made of pure silver. Rises 20 feet above the flames.
• Audience Area: Floor is covered in silver.
• Wall of Gold: A huge slab of gold 60 feet square, is attached to one wall. She can call forth Miska's image in it, and it operates as a crystal ball.
• Ramps: Leads to elsewhere in the castle - a maze of tangled passages. Large groups of spyder fiends
• Balcony: 100 feet above the audience area. If Miska ever appears here, this is where he'll show himself to the troops.
• Treasure Room: More than a million coins piled up in drifts up to 8 feet high. You can grab 2 magic items per round or 1500 platinum pieces.

Abilities:

• She has a swim speed. How else will she deal with that accursed mermaid?
• She can telepathically communicate with any creature that has a 3 INT or higher
• Her tentacles reach up to 60 feet away!
• She can force you under her body, where you are constricted by her tentacles. The beak down there can, uh, bite you and stuff.
• You can sever her tentacles, but the tentacle remains animated if severed. She can regrow any severed tentaces in 24 hours.
• She can shape change into human or merman form.
• She can cast suggestion 1 month duration. She can polymorph you.
• 3/day: Chain lightning, mass charm.
• 1/day Symbols of discord, fear, hopelessness and pain/
• Once per hour: Expel a cloud of smoke (or ink if underwater) she chooses one effect: darkness, stinking cloud or solid fog.
• 3/hour she can create a chaos gate.
• She has a "sixth sense" about the rod.
• Weapon: Giant Trident +5

Book of Artifacts

One suggested way to destroy the Rod of Seven Parts: "Turn the Rod over to the Queen of Chaos, who will attempt to pervert its nature and neutralize it in the process (Characters who do this will not be treated with respect by the Queen).

Dragon Magazine 224

This issue has an article about the rod, sort of hyping up the boxed set. Two relevant quotes:

"The queen is a titanic lord of the Abyss, standing at about 24 feet tall. She has a corpulent humanoid torso that sits atop a mass of powerful tentacles."

"Direct confrontations with the queen tend to be short and painful for lesser creatures who displease her."

The Rod of Seven Parts Novel

The Queen of Chaos actually appears in the novel. Miska escapes the citadel of chaos and the heroes end up in the Queen's throne room. They overhear her arguing with Miska (they're speaking common?).

The Queen says to Miska: "It has been too long since I have known your embrace."

And he says his army awaits, and that "vengeance demands that I strike."

The Queen Responds: "My pleasure has been denied for too long" and she gets angry.

The heroes actually decide to attack them. We get a description of the Queen:

"The Queen of Chaos towered like a large building, rising from the midst of a nest of tentacles. Her body was a dark and shapeless blob, almost black in color, the upper portion resembling some grotesque, unspeakably foul version of a giantess. The form was vaguely humanoid and female, yet so bulbous and disfigured as to barely resemble anything like a woman."

I SWEAR it says this next: "Miska's human face was buried somewhere in the folds of the queen's monstrous body, but the two wolf heads were upraised and alert." Really??

The heroes attack Miska and the queen. The queen paralyzes one hero with her gaze, and swats the other aside with one of her tentacles. She summons a snake (?) which killed the third adventurer with a poisonous bite. 

The queen reads the main character's mind and finds out where he is from - a village called Colbytown. She decides that her army of Chaos will march there first.

Arquestan the Wind Duke shows up and holds the rod over his head, banishing Miska back to his prison. The Queen kills Arquestan with bolts of energy while the heroes grab the rod and run away.

The adventurers used Arquestan's wind chariot to escape and return home. They use the rod to resurrect their slain friend, and the rod pieces scatter.

Yeah that's right, I spoiled the ending for you.

Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss

The obyriths were the creatures that existed in the Abyss before demons came to be. The Queen of Chaos was an obyrith lord, who "...cowed most of her rivals under her banner, driving defiant lords to the lowest depths of the uncharted Abyss."

The Queen of Chaos called upon the sibriex to augment her armies with fiendish grafts.

"No new obyriths have been created since the Queen of Chaos retreated into the depths of the Abyss."

Dagon is her Rival: "When the Queen of Chaos called upon the obyrith lords to aid her in her battle against the Wind Dukes of Aaqa, Dagon refused her call. Other obyriths did as well, and the Queen destroyed them for her trouble." Dagon was powerful enough that the Queen didn't dare battle him.

She Killed Obox-ob: Obox-ob was the Prince of Demons during the Age before Ages. The Queen killed him and granted his title to Miska the Wolf Spider. An aspect of Obox-ob lived on.

Pazuzu was a thorn in the side of the Queen of Chaos.

Cabiri: An ancient obyrith, Cabiri was banished to the Wells of Darkness for refusing to fight alongside the Queen in the war against law.

The Queen's hordes conquered entire worlds on the Material Plane. "World after world fell under the Queen's dominion, and with each victory that which was once immutable became fluid; laws of nature became half-forgotten memories from a saner time. Chaos ascended, and the Abyss ascended with it."

When Miska was defeated, the Queen retreated deep into the Abyss, seeking refuge in the Steaming Fen.

Some few obyriths hold out for a return of the Queen of Chaos, but she has not emerged from the Steaming Fen since retiring there on the eve of the Upheaval.

Dragon Magazine 349

The Queen of Chaos "...looked past the Abyss and discovered something unthinkable - life had sprung up in those realms beyond. When this life began to seep into the Abyss, the obyriths quickly learned to shape these spirits, and by enhancing the evil and chaos they found in them, they created the first tanar'ri..."

The Queen marshalled the obyrith lords to her banner and murdered or imprisoned the rest:

• Cabiri: Imprisoned in the Wells of Darkness.
• Bechard: Beached on his own deviant shores.
• Ubothar and Vroth-Khun: Imprisoned in other realms.

Dragon Magazine 357

When the Queen of Chaos marched on the multiverse, her first act was to strike against Obox-ob. "It was the sheer audacity of this move that ensured her victory - although powerful in her own right, she paled in comparison to the Primal Chaos that was the first Prince of Demons."

The Queen of Chaos was among the first to cultivate and nurture the first demons. Demogorgon was the first. The Queen tossed him aside.

A demon lord named Astaroth wanted to fight alongside the Queen of Chaos, but was rejected.

Cabiri: An obyrith who once ruled a large section of the Plain of 1,000 Portals, Cabiri had the ability to peer into possible futures. The Queen used Cabiri as an advisor. Cabiri foresaw the Queen's defeat, and fled the field of battle.

Dungeon Magazine 129

Bwimb: Bwimb was an elemental ooze who fought against the Wind Dukes in the war.

Elder Evils

Sertous: A minor demon lord of parasites and crawling things. He slew every one of the Queen's recruiters that entered his lair. "He had little defense against the Queen herself, who quickly grew tired of his insubordination, destroyed his body, and cast his essence into the gulf between planes as one might cast aside a carcass..."

Heroes of the Elemental Chaos

Bristia Pel, the princess of everlastin flame, was destroyed in the battle that led to the defeat and imprisonment of the Queen of Chaos.

The Queen is described as "dormant." She is a "...demonic primordial or obyrith now dormant in the Steaming Fen, an Abyssal layer."

The Blade of  Chaos: "The original blade of chaos was forged from a broken piece of panoply belonging to Miska the Wolf-Spider that was lost when the fabled Wind Dukes of Aqaa defeated him."

Demonomicon

In 4e, it looks like they tried to tie the war between law and choas with the Dawn War, which was the war between gods and primordials. It appears that in 4e, the Queen did not create Miska.

During an eclipse, the armies of Obox-ob were defending the layer's portals against Miska the Wolf-Spider and his forces. The Queen swooped in and killed Obox-ob.

Deal With Miska: Miska swore allegiance to the Queen in exchange for her aid in destroying the gods of the Astral Sea. "The alliance between the Queen of Chaos and Miska the Wolf-Spider began a climactic epoch of the Dawn War."

Wind Dukes are Dragons? An exarch of Moradin and 7 angels of Bahamut known as the Wind Dukes of Aaqa (!) crafted the Rod of Law.

The Rod of Law turned the tide of the war in the Astral Sea. The Queen of Chaos will not return until the Plain of a Thousand Portals is blighted by eclipse once more.

Obyrith Hall: Once per millenium, the obyriths meet at the Great Ziggurat of Oth-Magluroth on the Plain of a Thousand Portals.

Eclipse: Once every millenium, an immense orbiting mote of elemental earth eclipses the dying star that marks the edge of the upper abyssal vortex. This earthmote is known as A'othorh. It heralds the end of one great cycle and the start of the next.

The rare twilight lasts for several days. During this time, Pazuzu defers his authority to the Queen of Chaos.

The Queen Emerges: She crawls up to the Plain of Yawning Pits from the Steaming Fen and holds court with the remaining obyrith lords.

"Seers have prophesized that the Queen of Chaos will claim the Rod of Seven Parts during the next conclave, heralding the intervention of the Wind Dukes of Aaqa and the start of the next Chaos War."

Obyrith Realm: Inside the Great Ziggurat is the Well of Entropy, a portal said to be the only connection to the ruins of the obyriths' former realm.

The Fetid Pit of Vakorcha: This abyssal layer has a sucking pit that leads to the Steaming Fen. Vakorcha is home to three bebiliths that are loyal to Miska.

Acererak's Guide to Lichdom

You can buy this product on the DMs Guild here.

I've been doing research on liches because my Dungeon Academy group, who call themselves the "Lich Slayers", are about to wrap up playing through the Rod of Seven Parts boxed set and I'm planning for the future. I thought that it might be cool to have them fight every type of lich that there is, but then I saw what was out there and frankly, some of them are lame.

I do plan for the campaign to be somewhat lich-centric, though. I thought about it for a bit, and I realized that in all the years I've been playing D&D, I've almost never seen a group go after a lich's phylactery. They fight the lich, and move on.

So now I'm thinking that the Lich Slayers will definitely hunt down a phylactery or two before the campaign is over. That brings me to the question of how a lich protects their phylactery. Bury it in a deadly dungeon? Who do they trust to guard it? Do they dare just hide it somewhere innocuous and hope it doesn't get noticed?

I checked to see if there was any lich stuff on the DMs Guild to help me with this dilemma, and I came upon Acererak's Guide to Lichdom. Cool name! Awesome cover! Let's check it out and see if there's anything in there we can use.

Actions and Traits

We start off with a pile of powers you can give your custom lich. Here are a few:

• Animate Dead: Raise up to 12 dead as zombies or skeletons.
• Conjure Undead Legion: Summon 1 undead of CR 9 or lower, 3 undead of CR 5 or lower, etc.
• Limited Flying: Gains a fly speed of 15 feet.
• Reactive Spellcasting: When the lich is hit with an attack, it can use its reaction to cast a spell of 3rd level or lower.

I LOVE these! Very useful. Some of them help "translate" lich abilities from old editions into the 5e system.

Traits

There's a big pile of traits for lich statblocks. Here are a few examples:

• Anti-Magic: If the lich fails a counterspell effect, it can choose to succeed instead. That is just nasty!
• Gem of Body and Soul: The damage the lich would take is instead taken by a gem nearby, absorbing up to 100 HP of damage.
• Skull Scry: The lich can see through skulls in a 200 mile radius via clairvoyance.
• Voice of Malfeasence: The lich can charm creatures and force them to reveal any secrets they might know.

There are really great. The book is already worth getting.

Tactics

This section is a bit broad. I was hoping for more detail - actual strategies for liches to use.

Liches as Big Villains

This chapter has a four unique liches all statted out for you.

• Conall, Master of the Undead: A necromancer in life who went on to become a lich. Has a huge stat block. Conall specializes in using animated bones to create walls and structures.
• Daharash, the Mastermind: This one throws me because the art is of a 4th edition sorrowsworn. Dharash can manipulate dreams, skull scry, cause pain with its gaze, all pretty cool stuff.
• Kharadosz, the Juggernaut: Kharadosz is more of a brute who specializes in battle. It has extra HP and a special damaging aura.
• Valerias, the Mistress of Spells: She is always looking for arcane secrets and magic. She can concentrate on two spells at once (!).

The focus here is on stats rather than lore. The stat stuff is really good! Personally I'd like more story stuff to go along with the stats, but it seems like the author knows his strengths and plays to them. I would guess that most people who buy this book won't mind at all.

Magic Items

There's just 2 magic items here. One of them is an item called a soulskull. Basically, some liches can use the skull of a slain foe, and trap the victim's soul in their skull. The lich can then absorb the skill to fully heal themselves!

This is a very interesting way to describe how liches feed souls to their phylacteries. I never considered the idea of the lich also gaining a statistical benefit to consuming a soul.

New Monsters and NPCs

Baelnorn: Hey! They statted out the baelnorn! That's the elf lich, who, in older editions, had a good alignment. Here, they are lawful good as well!

These baelnorn do not have the power to make intangible shadow selves that they use to scout an area, though, which is a bummer.

Bleak Necromancer: These are mortals who serve a lich. They have a "grave stench" aura that poisons, fire death bolts, and can drop bursts of necrotic energy.

Lich Initiate: This is a wizard who serves a lich. I got excited thinking these were wizards who were preparing to become a lich themselves, which is something that could be really cool.

Shadowguard: I love this idea. Those sacrificed by a lich don't just die, their remains become a shadowguard - an undead shell that serves the lich. Really cool. A lich's lair would be full of these things, remnants of victims whose souls have been devoured. I'd like it if there was some way to save them or give them a bit of revenge.

Traps

There are a bunch of detailed traps. There's an extraplanar gate, which spews shadows and, if entered, imprisons you in a demiplane of shadows doing 55 damage per round! Egad.

There's a bunch more, all of them are pretty cool.

Then we get a great map of the "Catacombs of the Dreaming Unborn" by Marco Bernardini, which is absolutely top notch.

Overall

This thing was worth the 5 bucks by the time I got to page 8! Very, very useful product if you're going to run a lich. It is short on flavor and heavy on stats, but I don't see that as a bad thing at all.

Dungeons & Dragons - A Guide to the Lich

by William O'Connor

Today we're going to take a look at one of the most iconic D&D monsters: the lich. We'll check out the lich from each edition, discuss the transformation process and phylacteries, and then we'll go through the many lich variants from D&D books from the past.

Essential Information

• High level spellcasters become liches (undead spellcasters) to achieve a type of immortality.
• The process to become a lich involves a ritual, the creation of a potion, and a phylactery.
• In 2nd edition, failing the ritual results in the caster becoming a firelich.
• Sometimes during the ritual, an entity of the Far Realm will posses the caster, turning them into a void lich.
• The lich has a phylactery. If reduced to 0 hit points, the lich reforms near the phylactery.
• To kill a lich for good, you need to destroy the phylactery.
• A lich must feed souls to their phylactery. Failing to do so results in them becoming a demilich.
• Some liches have used dozens of other lich phylacteries to attempt to achieve godhood.

AD&D 1st Edition Monster Manual

by Dave Trampier

A human becomes a lich through sheer "force of will," and maintains this state through the use of magic and a phylactery.

• Their body has the armor class equivalent of someone wearing +1 armor and a +1 shield.
• All liches were spellcasters of at least 18th level in life.
• Their cold touch can paralyze.
• The mere sight of a lich forces creatures under 5th level to flee (no saving throw).
• Their eyesockets are "...mere black holes with glowing points of light."
• Short and sweet!

AD&D 2nd Edition Monstrous Compendium

by Jeff Butler

The 2e lich is quite an expansion of the 1e version. We learn quite a bit:

• Liches are usually solitary creatures.
• A lich can animate a force of undead troops.
• A lich has "...no understanding of good and evil as we understand it." According to the stat block, a lich can have "any" alignment.
• It feels that the living are of little importance.
• Being obsessed with power, they forget their old names.
• This entry outlines the process of becoming a lich. It uses material from the article in Dragon Magazine #26, which we'll get into below.

D&D 3rd Edition Monster Manual

by Wayne Reynolds

A few more details in 3rd edition:

• Eyes: "...bright pinpoints of crimson light burn on in the empty eyesockets."
• It can cast up to 6th level spells (disintegrate is its 6th level spell).
• In 2e, a phylactery cost 1,500 gp. In 3e, it costs 120,000 gp and you need to "donate" 4,800 XP to it!
• It says that the most common phylactery is a sealed metal box containing strips of parchment on which magical phrases have been transcribed.

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Monster Manual

In 4e, a "lich" is a monster template to apply to NPCs. In this edition, bad guys didn't cast spells from the Player's Handbook, they just had a few "powers" in their stat block that they used. It is different and weird, but as a DM, I can tell you it was much, much easier to run.

The book has two example statblocks: a Lich (human wizard) and a Lich (Eladrin Wizard). Powers and info:

• Shadow Ray: Ranged attack that does necrotic damage.
• Necrotic Orb: Ranged attack that stuns and does necrotic damage.
• Entropic Pulse: A magic explosion that does necrotic dmg to all in a large area.
• Lich Transformation Ritual: The book actually includes the 4e-style ritual to become a lich. "You call upon Orcus, Demon Prince of the Undead, to transform your body into a skeletal thing, undead and immortal..."
• Components for the ritual cost 100,000 gp.
• "Destroying a lich and its phylactery does not guarantee that the lich is gone forever. Powerful beings associated with undeath, including Orcus and Vecna, can reform a destroyed lich, turning it into a lich vestige."

There's also a monster called a"lich vestige", which is the "...arcane remnant of a destroyed lich. It dies not have a phylactery, and crumbles to dust when damage." It was a "minion", a monster type in 4e that has only 1 hit point.

D&D 5th Edition Monster Manual

How do you become a lich?

1. Make a bargain with a Power (demon lord, evil god, etc).
2. Swear fealty to that Power.
3. Go through an arcane ritual that traps the wizard's soul in a phylactery.
4. Drink a potion of transformation (poison mixed with the blood of a sentient creature)
5. The potion kills the wizard and they rise as a lich.

Soul Maintenance: Liches must periodically feed souls to their phylactery through the use of an imprisonment spell.

• A phylactery can only hold one soul at a time
• The soul is consumed and destroyed utterly in 24 hours.
• If a lich is reduced to 0 hit points, a new body reforms next to the phylactery within days.

Liches are spellcasters with legendary actions. They can actually cast up to 9th level spells, with power word kill being their 9th level spell.

Their touch can paralyze you. They have a gaze that frightens, and they can "disrupt life," causing non-undead within 20 feet to take necrotic damage.

I wasn't really aware of the whole "feed souls to the phylactery" thing! Now let's look at a really old article about becoming a lich.

Dragon Magazine #26 "Blueprint for a Lich"

This is from the early days of D&D, and describes the process in which a creature becomes a lich. It goes like this:

1. Make a Phylactery: This must be an item worth at least 2,000 gp. Can't be made of wood.
2. Make and drink a special potion (see below).
3. Cast Enchant an item, trap the soul , and magic jar on the phylactery.
4. Magic jar will force the caster to enter the phylactery.
5. Leave the Jar: You'll have lost a level and can't cast your high level spells until you rest for d6+1 days.
6. The next time you die, you will go into the phylactery, no matter how far away from it you are.
7. To get out of the phylactery again, you'll need someone to bring a recently dead body within 90 feet of the phylactery (the body can be any kind of creature).
8. Once in the creature's body, the lich must seek out their own body and bring it to the phylactery. Then... you must EAT your original body, and your form will metamorph into a humanoid body similar to your original form. 

You no longer need to memorize/pray for your spells, you just get them back after a long rest.

There's a potion of transformation that must be quaffed in order to become a lich. Here are the ingredients!

• 2 pinches of pure arsenic.
• 1  pinch  of  belladonna.
• 1  measure  of  fresh  phase  spider  venom  (under  30  days  old).
• 1  measure  of  fresh  wyvern  venom  (under  60  days  old).
• The blood of a dead humanoid infant killed by a phase spider.
• The blood of a dead humanoid infant killed by a mixture of arsenic and belladonna.
• The  heart  of  a  virgin  humanoid  killed  by wyvern venom.
• 1 quart of blood from a vampire or a person infected with vampirism.
• The ground reproductive glands of 7 giant moths (head for less than 60 days).

The items are mixed in the order given by the light of a full moon. When you drink the potion (all of it) roll a d100:

• 1-10 No effect whatsoever other than all body hair falling out. Start over!
• 11-40 Coma for 2-7 days — the potion works!
• 41-70 Feebleminded until dispelled by Dispel Magic. Each attempt to remove the feeblemind has a 10% chance to kill you instead if it fails. The potion works!
• 71-90 Paralyzed for 4-14 days. 30% chance that permanent loss of 1-6 dexterity points will result. The potion works!
• 91-96 Permanently deaf, mute or blind. Only a full wish can regain the sense. The potion works!
• 97-00 DEAD — start over, if you can be resurrected.

A few D&D products discuss phylacteries in one way or another. Here are the ones I could find.

Dungeon Magazine #99 - Quadripartite

by Tom Baxa

This adventure involves a lich named Kel Virond.

The Phylactery of Darkness: This item is a 1-inch cube of blackest adamantite inscribed with prayers to Nerull.

• It is fused to Kel Virond's forehead, hidden under his helmet.
• Touching the phylactery causes you to "gain 1 negative level" (you're energy drained/lose a level).
• "The phylactery of darkness acts a Virond's lich phylactery. Removing it from his head destroys him permanently as surely as destroying a lich's phylactery would."

Van Richten's Guide to the Lich

by Jeff Easley

Destroying a Phylactery: In Van Richten's Guide to the Lich, the topic of actually destroying a phylactery is discussed.

• It can't be destroyed by common, physical means.
• The "permanency" spell must be reversed from it (maybe with an anti-magic sphere?)
• Once the permanence is gone, cast dispel magic on the phylactery. This gives you 1d4 rounds to do actual damage to the phylactery.
• You must do 25 points of damage to it before the dispel magic wears off.

It also suggests that magic weapons of +3 or higher can directly damage a phylactery, but the phylactery can't actually be destroyed this way.

Libris Mortis

by Steve Prescott

This book gives some general information about phylacteries.

• A lich can construct only a single phylactery.
• A lich whose phylactery is destroyed suffers no harm, but cannot construct a new one.
• A phylactery in an antimagic field cannot recreate a destroyed lich, though the lich returns to life 1d10 days after the phylactery is removed from the area.
• Most liches keep their phylacteries well-hidden, disguised with magic that blocks scrying and detection.
• An identify spell or a high arcana check can identify an item as a phylactery.
• A phylactery cannot be part of another magic item, nor may additional magical properties be built into it.

Tales From the Yawning Portal: Dead in Thay

by Tyler Jacobson

This adventure involves a lich called Szass Tam, who has built a "Doomvault" that houses the phylacteries of his many high-ranking lich servants.

Szass plans to feed the souls of many Chosen (divine agents of the gods) into his phylactery, which could give him the power to become a god.

The Doomvault is in a demiplane. The phylacteries are kept in sepulchers: "The sepulcher walls hum with arcane power. On stone shelves are leather cases, amulets, daggers, scroll tubes, unholy symbols, and other ornate objects. These are the phylacteries of Szass Tam's lich servants."

The magic of the sepulcher protects the phylacteries from harm.

The idea here is to "disrupt the flow of energy," which will stop Szass from draining the essence of the Chosen.

Tomb of Annihilation

by Ben Oliver

In the very final room of the dungeon in Tomb of Annihilation, there is a room full of phylacteries. "Two facing balconies halfway along the room are littered by ornate glass bottles, fluted silver urns, ivory caskets, and other vessels - all of them inscribed with baleful sigils."

Acererak (the lich villain of this adventure) has disciples scattered all throughout the multiverse, including many liches that seek to become as powerful as him. He keeps their phylacteries here.

"Destroying a phylactery is no simple task and often requires a special ritual, item, or weapon."

The phylacteries here are unique, and discovering the key to each one's destruction will require time and expensive research.

There is a 10% chance that any one of these phylacteries would be destroyed by hurling it into the lava.

Now let's take a look at the many different types of liches that have appeared in D&D history.

Alhoon (Volo's Guide to Monsters)

by Wayne Reynolds

Illithids are supposed to stick with psionics, but some secretly study magic.

Normally when a mind flayer dies, it joins with the Elder Brain. But spellcasters aren't accepted, so they pursue lichdom as a way of gaining eternal life.

9 mind flayers worked together to figure out how to achieve lichdom. They were known as the Alhoon. All subsequent mind flayer liches are also known as Alhoon.

Becoming an Alhoon:

• 3 mind flayers create a periapt of mind trapping.
• They sacrifice three creatures and perform a three-day long ritual.
• All three mindflayers become Alhhon.
• When slain, their mind enters the periapt but their body is not remade.
• Periapts only last as long as the age of a sacrificed soul. So.. if a 200-year-old elf is sacrificed, then the periapt lasts 200 years.
• Destroying a periapt destroys the Alhoons linked to it.

Alhoons can cast up to 6th level spells (including disintegrate). They still have their mind blast power, which stuns all in a 60 foot cone.

Archlich (Lost Ships)

by Dell Barras

Sometimes, a good-aligned wizard becomes a lich. They generally don't use phylacteries like an evil lich - they place their life force in a magic item.

If you speak the name of an archlich and you're on the same plane as it is, it can hear it.
Water walk at will.

Becoming an archlich:

• Create a magic item, often a miniature spellbook into which they put 9 spells to carry forever in undeath.
• Create a potion enchanted with a number of spells.
• Anoint the magic item with a drop of the wizard's blood.
• Drink the potion while touching the magic item.
• Cast a single, secret spell. There is a 7% chance the wizard dies. They slumber for a few hours, then rise up as an archlich.

If an archlich is destroyed, its remains teleport to the magic item. The body slowly reforms, gaining 1 hit point per day. If the magic item is destroyed, the archlich is obliterated.

Traits:

• They are immune to turning.
• Aura of Power: Causes creatures to be frightened.
• Paralyzing touch.
• Can repel undead.
• Can animate dead by touch.
• They have 9 spells that they can cast once per day.

Baelnorn (Monstrous Compendium Annual)

by Wayne Reynolds

Sometimes, lawful good elves seek undeath. They become liches known as a baelnorn so that they can continue working on a task such as guarding a people or location.

• They do not have phylacteries.
• They have clones that activate if they are destroyed.
• The process to become a baelnorn is a secret.

Projections: 3 times per day they can project a wraith-like version of themselves up to a mile away. The baelnorn can see, speak, and cast spells through them. The projections are intangible but can be reduced to 0 hit points.

If the lich leaves the host body, it combusts. The lich must possess a new body within an hour, or it is destroyed. 

Defiler Lich (Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium III)

by Tom Baxa

These creatures start in the Dark Sun setting but I guess they get sucked into the demiplane of Ravenloft.

Their touch draws magical essence from others.

When they cast spells, they drain life from the environment around them. Plants turn to ash and cause pain to the living (giving them penalties to initiative rolls).

Demilich (D&D 5th Edition Monster Manual)

by Michael Berube

If a lich fails to feed souls to its phylactery, its body crumbles and only the skull remains. This "demi-lich" retains only a fragment of its former life force. It mostly lies dormant, but if you poke it with a stick, it animates and you're going to die.

• If slain, the skull (only) reforms by the phylactery.
• If it can feed one soul to its phylactery, it can once again become a lich.
• Can't cast spells, but has some powers.
• Howl: Save or drop to 0 hit points!!
• Life Drain: Up to 3 creatures take necrotic
• Cloud of Dust: Blinds you
• Vile Curse: Disadvantage on attack rtolls

Dracolich (D&D 5th Edition Monster Manual)

by Ralph Horsley

Dragons transform themselves into dracoliches via necromantic energy and ancient rituals.
They are driven to rule over all. Becoming a dracolich:

• A group of mages usually help the dragon with the ritual.
• The dragon consumes a toxic brew that kills it instantly.
• The spellcasters transfer the dragon's spirit to a gemstone that functions like a phylactery.
• If the gem/phylactery touches another dragon's corpse, the dracolich can take possession of it!
• If the dracolich dies and the gem is on another plane, the dracolich dies for good.

Dragon Magazine #344 - The Ecology of the Dracolich

by Peter Bergting

Let's see what we learn from this thing.

• The earliest known dracolich is Dragotha, who I wrote about here.
• Dracolich Brew (aka The Damnable Libation): A mix of poison and elixir that brings about the cold existence of undeath.
• The Hades Praxis: The phylactery of the dracolich demigod Falazure. It is "...hidden somewhere under the shadowed plains of the gray Waste and said to hold the accumulated knowledge of all dead dragons."
• Dracoliches go to great lengths to hide their phylacteries.
• If their phylactery is destroyed, the dracolich suffers no physical harm but is unable to create a new one. Thus, if it is slain, death is permanent.

Example Dracoliches:

• The Breather of Locusts: This is "...an evolved great wyrm green dracolich capable of vomiting from its rotting stomach huge plagues of bloodfiend locusts."
• Sin Feaster: A black dragon dracolich that is allied with followers of Lolth, claims to be a consort of the Spider Queen.
• Aurgloroasa: A shadow dragon dracolich (?) that lives in Thunderhome, a dwarven city that she destroyed. She is obsessed with collecting every scale she ever lost.

Ways to become a dracolich:

• The Well of Dragons: A stagnant lake/dragon graveyard, once was Tiamat's brooding pit. Most dragons who drink the water die and becomes zombie dragons, though a chosen few become dracoliches. Welp, I'm totally using this.
• Spiritgorgers: Some dracoliches end up trapped in their phylacteries. You can make a pact with one and become a lich, but you share minds with the dracolich.
• Soul Substitution: If the skeletal remains of a dragon are in proximity of the essence of some powerful being such as an entrapped fiend, it can spontaneously arise as a dracolich.

Drow Lich (Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium III)

by Tom Baxa

This entry also includes drider liches. Drow liches tend to use powerful magic items, such as a staff of power or a wand of fireballs. They frequently "..maintain nests of hairy spiders.."

Dry Lich (Sandstorm)

People known as "walkers of the waste" travel the desert, using magic to spread the desert and drain the moisture from things. The can shape sand, and belong to an organization known as the Dusty Conclave, whose goal is to turn the entire world into desert. When a walker becomes powerful enough, it transforms into an undead dry lich.

• A dry lich "...spends its unnatural existence continuing to spread the waste and preserve whatever it encounters as dry, mummified monuments."
• Can cast up to 6th level spells.
• Body Lamp: Can make its skin glow.
• Creates sand golems and salt mummies.
• Dessicating Touch: Drains moisture from living creatures.
• Pillar of Salt: Can turn flesh to salt once per day.
• Greater Drought: Can produce extreme desert conditions in a 100 foot radius.
• Sandswim: Can burrow through sand.
• The Wasting: Can transform a handful of sand into a disease, blowing it into the face of a creature - giving them a supernatural affliction that gradually mummifies them.
• Vulnerability to Water: Water hurts them.

Elemental Lich (Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium III)

by Tom Baxa

  "Elemental liches are diabolical wizards who studied and mastered the use of Ravenloft's strange elements before or during their undeath."

"Where most liches control hordes of undead minions, elementalists control the very spirits of the elements themselves."

• They must bury their phylactery in a grave, and ignite a fire of burning bones on that spot. Blood is poured on the ashes, and then the mists roll in and obscure the site from prying eyes.
• Touch of the Grave: If this lich touches you, you must make a saving throw or die.
• Touch of the Pyre: Your clothing/armor bursts into flame!
• Touch of Blood: Blood oozes from your every pore! You lose d4 hit points per round. For every 12, you lose one level!
• Conjure Elemental: This lich can conjure up to 4 special Ravenloft elementals per day: Grave, pyre, blood, or mist elementals.

Firelich (Spelljammer Monstrous Compendium Appendix I)

by Tom Baxa

Mages who try to become liches and fail become fireliches!

• They become living fireballs of undeath and race through wildspace, screaming in eternal pain.
• Fireliches look to collide with something to end their torment.
• Can collide with ships and explodes like a fireball. This does not destroy the firelich.
• Sometimes it creates a wall of fire on a deck of a ship.
• They can't cast spells.

Lichfiend (Libris Mortis)

A lichfiend is a fiend (usually a demon or devil) who achieves lichdom. Could be a balor, glabrezu, marilith, nalfeshnee, succubus, bone devil, horned devil, ice devil, or a pit fiend.

Lich's Blood (Dragon Magazine 238)

by Tom Baxa

Created by a necromancer who was trying to figure out how to become a lich, this is a pool of animated blood that seeks out magic items and wizards.

• The blood can coat a magic item and feed off of its energy.
• Lich's blood prefers to feast on spellcasters, sliding down their throat and draining their spells.
• Each round that the wizard is coated, they lose d4 memorized spells, starting with the highest level spells memorized.
• Immune to all weapon-based attacks!
• Spells cast at it are absorbed harmlessly.
• To kill it: Use acid, fire, or deprive it of magic.
• Dispel magic does d6 damage per level to it.
• Anti-Magic shell destroys it.

Lich Claw (Open Grave)

Lich claws are similar to crawling claws.

• They do necrotic damage and work together to immobilize foes.
• "Liches that want to humiliate and dominate their rivals seek out other liches to acquire pieces to make lich claws. Many lich claws occur spontaneously, due to the saturation of necrotic energy in the chambers of defeated liches."

Lich Familiar (Van Richten's Guide to the Lich)

Sometimes a lich has a familiar! The familiar's essence might also be in the lich's phylactery. Here's how it works:

• The familiar must drink from the potion of transformation.
• The familiar can't be destroyed until the phylactery is.
• If the familiar's body is destroyed, the lich must find a new body for it to inhabit.
• The lich cannot cast spells if its familiar does not have a physical body.

Lich Vestige (D&D 4th Edition Monster Manual)

Husks of lesser liches drained of their essence to power the research of Irfelujhar, an ancient lich who once served Vecna but now serves Tiamat.

• "A frail, skeletal creature whose body disappears into wisps of shadow stands before you. It wears tattered robes sporting faded mystical symbols."
• Death's Touch: Necrotic damage
• Shadow Ray: Ranged necrotic attack
• Orb of Obliteration: 2-4 vestiges can act together to hurl a single orb of black fire that detonates on impact, doing both fire and necrotic damage.

Master Lich (Legend of the Spelljammer)

by Tom Baxa

 A master lich is basically just a lightly more powerful lich. Their flesh is not rotted. The skin is pulled back like leather over the skull and bones.

• "At the apex of undead society." Commands all types of weaker undead.
• Made a pact with a dark power so that it is very difficult to slay.
• Two ways for it to Suffer True Death: A dark power shows up to collect the lich's spirit in payment. or the lich is dragged to a power's home plane.
• The master lich fears the dark powers.
• Regenerates one hit point per round, even if its body is destroyed and separated.

Psionic Lich (Van Richten's Guide to Liches)

Users of psionic powers sometimes twist the powers of their minds to extend their existence beyond the bounds of mortal life. They often regret becoming liches.

• Creating a phylactery costs 100,000 gp. It might be a ring or crown.
• The phylactery must be empowered with every psionic power the creator possesses. These powers are permanently transferred - the creator loses them forever.
• Aura of Mind Strike: All within 50 yards have penalties to attack rolls and damage.
• If the phylactery is destroyed, so is the psionic lich.

Suel Lich (Dragon Magazine #339)

by Steve Ellis

The Suel empire existed in the Greyhawk setting long ago.  Suel lich is a cross between a lich and a malevolent ghost.

• Made of negative energy, must possess a living creature's body. They burn out host bodies quickly and must switch to a new host often.
• They can cast up to 8th level spells.
• Fear Aura: Save or DIE from fright. Succeed = paralyzed!
• Malevolence: Possess a creature similar to a magic jar spell.
• A possessed body ages at three times the normal rate.

Thicket Dryad Lich (Open Grave)

"Sometimes a dryad's desire to protect its woodland twists into dark obsession. In rare instances, one of these fey creatures crosses the threshold into undeath and becomes a thicket dryad lich. The dryad transforms a favorite tree into a phylactery. The corruption in the dryad's soul then causes the tree to become warped and rotted. Over time, this blight can spread out over the surrounding forest."

• Controls necrocreeper vines that can restrain or move foes around.
• Deceptive Veil: They can appear as a humanoid, often an elf or eladrin.
• Necrotic Treestride: Can teleport from tree to tree.
• Thorny Body: When grabbed, deals damage due to body spikes.
• When slain, it dissipates into a spray of dead leaves. It reappears within 5 feet of its phylactery tree, unless the phylactery tree is also found and destroyed.

Vassalich (Van Richten's Guide to the Lich)

A vassalich comes about when a living wizard makes a pact with a lich in order to become a lich themself.

• Pledges eternal servitude to the lich, though they retain free will.
• The wizard must hand over a phylactery to the lich, who uses it as leverage over the vassalich.
• Over time, a vassalich gains power and in 40-100 years, grows into a full-fledged lich on its own.

Void Lich (Open Grave)

"A void lich is an antediluvian horror from the Far Realm that seizes control of the body and phylactery of someone performing a lich transformation ritual. Lured into the world by the eldritch power unleashed during the ritual, this aberrant entity shunts the ritual performer's soul off to the Far Realm and possesses the host body as its own. A void lich is cloaked in darkness, a remnant of the dark, churning corridors of its origin plane."

• Shroud of Night: The lich's aura dims lights
• Life Tap: The touch of Void lich deals necrotic damage and heals the void lich.
• Void Tendrils: Does necrotic damage, knocks prone.
• Fade to Dusk: Becomes invisible until it attacks.
• Phase Step: Teleports short distances
• When reduced to 0 hit points, its body and possessions dissipate into wisps of darkness, but the void lich is not destroyed. It reappears in 1d10 days within 5 feet of its phylactery.

Famous Liches

Some of D&D's most infamous villains are liches. Here are a few of the more prominent ones:

• Acererak
• Azalin
• Szass Tam
• Vecna
• Vlaakith the Lich-Queen 

The Citadel of Chaos

I've been running the "Dungeon Academy" campaign for 2 years now, and we're reaching the end of the Rod of Seven Parts boxed set, which I converted to 5th edition. The group right now is in the final section of the book - The Citadel of Chaos. In the citadel, both the 7th and final piece of the rod and the "big bad guy" of the boxed set, Miska the Wolf Spider, are waiting.

This is what Miska looks like in the boxed set

Miska is a weird villain. He's almost too goofy for me to use, as there is something about the two wolf heads sitting on his shoulders that just doesn't feel right to me. I can say that I do love the idea that he was created by the Queen of Chaos to be her ultimate dude (she created Demogorgon first, but wasn't thrilled with him, so she tried again).

I feel like I've done a decent job of setting everything up. I did my best to make the storyline clear, I built up the idea of Miska being a challenging foe (his blood can literally kill you if you touch it), and I have demonstrated that there are a lot of factions in the multiverse who want to use the assembled rod for various purposes.

For the last few sessions, I've been really trying to familiarize myself with this section of the boxed set, and modify it to suit my style. As written, the citadel of chaos is pretty sparse. There's some big maps and pieces of art, but the author only detailed a handful of sections and left the rest up to the DM. I've always hated this approach. I'm buying the adventure so I don't have to do that kind of work!

In this case, it's fine. I have a pretty good idea of what I want to happen in this place.

The Superfluous Succubus: There is one thing that I chucked, though. In the citadel is a succubus and her goristro (minotaur demon) bodyguard. They are in there trying to buddy up with Miska. This duo comes out of nowhere and are one of the most detailed things in this whole chapter, yet I don't really see how they are useful. This is the final area! This should involve the last ditch effort of the spyder fiends to take back the rod and finally kill off the heroes.

I went through the encounters, traps, and trappings presented in the book and then realigned them/fleshed them out as a sort of gauntlet that the group will have to run.

The last two sessions we did were "planning sessions," which usually I avoid like the plague because they tend to bore players. This situation is an exception, as this is the penultimate battle and I want to make sure everything is crystal clear.

This has led to quite a bit of roleplaying, and an excuse for me to play my favorite NPC - Strahd von Zarovich. He's been hanging out with the group, since the soul of his beloved Tatiana has merged with one of the heroes. Everything he does is dramatic and shadowy.

Season 3: The group's discussions and plans got me thinking about the future of this campaign. Right now, they're level 12 and they want to go all the way to level 20. Our game has basically been broken up into "seasons":

• Season One: The Battle of Emridy Meadows (Episodes 1-11)
• Season Two: The Rod of Seven Parts (Episodes 12-62, so far)

Season one doesn't really have all that much to do anything. My original plan for this campaign was to run the old 1e Temple of Elemental Evil adventure. I'd tried to do this in 4th edition, but I gave up after about 10 sessions because.. well.. it was boring.

I'm not sure why I wanted to take another stab at it in 5e, but I am really glad I changed my mind on running it. I think I like the idea of running TOEE more than I enjoy actually preparing and running it. I am positive that somebody out there can run that adventure and make it awesome, but I don't think I can.

Planning for the Future: So I spent some time yesterday brainstorming what season 3 would look like. I usually like to use published stuff, but as of now it looks like season 3 will be about the Queen of Chaos coming after the group to get revenge for whatever happens with Miska the Wolf Spider. I do think it's a very cool idea to end a level 20 campaign with a battle against the Queen of Chaos, who is an obyrith - the creator of Demogorgon! She's one of the oldest creatures known to exist! And her lair is already detailed in the Rod of Seven Parts boxed set.

The Queen of Chaos, as depicted in the boxed set

I think, if I go this route, I'm going to need to compile everything I can find on the Queen and then expand on it. In those old Paizo issues of Dragon Magazine, there are all sorts of lore tidbits about the Queen sprinkled throughout.

A New Demon Prince: Also, I am very excited about the concept of the Queen trying to "build" a NEW demon lord to replace Miska. What would that creature be? How does she 'make' a demon lord? I know she uses the sibriex to help make creatures, but I'd imagine creating a demon lord would be a very interesting process, almost like the bad guy would have to go on a quest through the multiverse to get the "parts" she needs.

I actually just now had an awesome idea for this that involves things and people the heroes have already interacted with.

Reflecting on a Long Campaign: I've been cleaning up some of my old youtube posts. One of my players (Aya Golender) has been making art for me to use on my title images, so I went back on some old shows and added those in. Looking at the game, it definitely confirms my take on the natural pattern of a campaign.

I think most of us want to run a long game, right? We'd like to run it once a week, or every other week, like clockwork. Over the course of months and even years, the group plays together. You have hilarious moments, dramatic moments, thrilling moments. You get together and create the feeling that you're in an epic series of movies, TV shows, or books.

It sounds easy, but for whatever reason, I see a lot of campaigns that don't make it past session 8. Looking at my own Dungeon Academy campaign, I see a bit of that pattern play out.

In the beginning of a campaign, there is a jolt of energy. Everyone is putting their ideas on display and seeing how it all mixes together. That's a lot of fun for the first few sessions, but once the sparks are done flying and the novelty wears thin, things can become dull and even feel like a bit of a chore.

This feeling is enhanced if, as a DM, things don't play out as you thought they would. Maybe the epic moment you had planned falls flat, or you look at the players and wonder if they are having fun. You are putting a lot of work into this thing. You're doing homework! And it feels like it's not paying off.

That stuff can be really hard to plow through! I go through it in almost every campaign I run.

But the more you dig in and plug away, the deeper into the game you get and the more sessions you have under your belt. The key is to constantly monitor everything and make adjustments.

I'd say once you hit 25 sessions, you're in the clear as far as campaign fatigue goes. You don't give up, you constantly adjust, you find what the group responds to and you run with it! You will get to a point where you understand what your characters like, and then giggle to yourself when you come up with something that you know they'll get a kick out of.

You also might get into taking certain "risks" just to see what happens. I am seriously considering throwing something out there in our next session just to see what the players do with it. I might take one of my personal favorite things about the whole campaign and risk it, just to see what happens. Why? It's fun! I have no idea what will happen, and I think they will like having the power to take this thing and do whatever they want with it.