Fiends & Foes offers a fresh look at the game’s nastiest villains
A great game of Dungeons & Dragons requires a terrible enemy for players to fight. The designers of the tabletop role-playing game have spent decades coming up with iconic villains from the vampire lord Strahd von Zarovich to the five-headed dragon goddess Tiamat. Their schemes have been the subject of countless adventures, while the names of Vecna and Demogorgon have become mainstream thanks to Stranger Things. Now a new book is providing a fresh perspective on these baddies, and Polygon has an exclusive first look.
Erin M. Evans’ Dungeons & Dragons: Fiends & Foes follows Farideh, the tiefling protagonist of the Forgotten Realms novel series Brimstone Angels, as she undertakes a quest for Glaysa, Princess of the Nine Hells. Along her journey, Farideh encounters notorious villains including the drow goddess Lolth, the beholder Xanathar, and the archmage Halaster Blackcloak. Much of the book involves Glaysa providing commentary on the villains through a mix of banter, gossip, and arguments.
Dungeons & Dragons: Fiends & Foes releases on Nov. 24, and publisher Ten Speed Press gave Polygon the chance to reveal two spreads. These delve into the nature of evil gods and the origins of the lich Acererak, the master of Gary Gygax’s extremely lethal dungeon Tomb of Horrors and a key character in Ernest Cline’s pop culture-heavy novel Ready Player One.
