A number of PC's in one of my games have backstories that tie to the idea of creation, and I see that as a sort of opposite to entropy (usually described as "the tendency of things to become more disordered"). The heat death of the universe will be a point where its contents are all a homogeneous mess - a sea of subatomic particles where nothing larger exists. Sounds like a great opposition to the force of creation the PC's are likely to ally with! It could also be imagined as "the void."
Only, I'm not sure what this "villain" would be like - if it can even be called one. It might not even be a conscious force, and it almost certainly wouldn't be physical or have material minions, because a point is that their bodies would break down. Incorporeal enemies are typically undead, and entropy isn't death or undeath, just degradation. I suppose I could make it something akin to a recurring spell effect - "void zones."
“Across the multiverse there are many planes of existence, countless possibilities that have seen infinite lifetimes. Many have travelled from one plane to another, magically transporting themselves into new realms to explore, new worlds to see, new enemies to conquer. No one took the time to consider what lay between. Gods live and die, worlds wither and break, but the empty darkness that lives beyond the corner of your eye will always be there.
the multiverse is not a deck of cards to be shuffled and drawn from at leisure, it is a complex living organism that requires balance. Planar travel and magic has torn holes through the flesh of the multiverse, the wounds have festered and grown infectious, but like any living thing it can fight an infection, even if that means cutting out what has grown rotten. This is not a vendetta, this is not personal, this is not an execution, this is a cleansing.”
You could have a planar based “antibodies” using things like blink, with like a master brain type hierarchy. It’s unfeeling or emotional but it is eating away at planes of existence. Maybe your party end up on a random plane of existence and escape as it is swallowed up into nothing. Maybe they win by healing the whole GD multiverse, maybe they defeat the antibodie and it causes ripples that F up reality or trap them on an entirely different plane of existence never to return home but let’s you start a completely new direction. Maybe to win they have to lose, maybe it causes flashpoint like changes to their world.....who knows
If you're looking for any material to get inspiration from, there is a book series called the Alvin Maker series, the first book is called The Seventh Son. It has an antagonist called The Unmaker, this force of the universe that seeks to eventually crush everything into dust, to unmake things, it's an unseen force with no face or corporeal form, but the book does an amazing job personifying the idea of eventual nothingness (similar to your reference of the universes heat death) Hope this helps, keep us posted on how it goes, sound like it will be a great campaign!
Synopsis: James Bond/DiIbert Vs Cthulhu, only he has magic instead of Walter PPK. Author: Charles Stross.
In one of the books he has to go to another world where the Nazis won and took over the world, but they did it with the aid of "an Old One", which promptly killed everyone. Only things left are undead and the sleeping 'Old One'. The Old One is trying to move on to the 'real' world. Good guys have to go their world, drop off the big bad bomb and get out before it goes off.
Stross came up with only actual good reason for a real world type Government to cover up the existence of magic: The more people that believe in /use magic attract the attention of Old Ones from other universes.
A number of PC's in one of my games have backstories that tie to the idea of creation, and I see that as a sort of opposite to entropy (usually described as "the tendency of things to become more disordered"). The heat death of the universe will be a point where its contents are all a homogeneous mess - a sea of subatomic particles where nothing larger exists. Sounds like a great opposition to the force of creation the PC's are likely to ally with! It could also be imagined as "the void."
Only, I'm not sure what this "villain" would be like - if it can even be called one. It might not even be a conscious force, and it almost certainly wouldn't be physical or have material minions, because a point is that their bodies would break down. Incorporeal enemies are typically undead, and entropy isn't death or undeath, just degradation. I suppose I could make it something akin to a recurring spell effect - "void zones."
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Lots of books have Entropy incarnated as the Villain. Think of it as your own personal God. Probably has Domain of Tempest.
“Across the multiverse there are many planes of existence, countless possibilities that have seen infinite lifetimes. Many have travelled from one plane to another, magically transporting themselves into new realms to explore, new worlds to see, new enemies to conquer. No one took the time to consider what lay between. Gods live and die, worlds wither and break, but the empty darkness that lives beyond the corner of your eye will always be there.
the multiverse is not a deck of cards to be shuffled and drawn from at leisure, it is a complex living organism that requires balance. Planar travel and magic has torn holes through the flesh of the multiverse, the wounds have festered and grown infectious, but like any living thing it can fight an infection, even if that means cutting out what has grown rotten. This is not a vendetta, this is not personal, this is not an execution, this is a cleansing.”
You could have a planar based “antibodies” using things like blink, with like a master brain type hierarchy. It’s unfeeling or emotional but it is eating away at planes of existence. Maybe your party end up on a random plane of existence and escape as it is swallowed up into nothing. Maybe they win by healing the whole GD multiverse, maybe they defeat the antibodie and it causes ripples that F up reality or trap them on an entirely different plane of existence never to return home but let’s you start a completely new direction. Maybe to win they have to lose, maybe it causes flashpoint like changes to their world.....who knows
Sounds like you need the Eldrazi from Magic the Gathering (https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Eldrazi)
Or maybe a god like Moander (https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Moander) whos domain was corruption, decay and rot, he is technically dead int eh forgotten realms setting but no reason he can't spring up else where. I've also got a homebrew Moander Sorcerer subclass if that floats your boat (https://www.dndbeyond.com/subclasses/209204-dark-bringer-of-moander).
Or perhaps a never/barely seen presence, like Sauron or the entity backing Zorg in The Fifth Element.
Thank you all, esp. Mog and monkey!
I like the escaping the dead universe trope.
Reminds me of the Stross "Laundry" series, particularly the Atrocity Archive.
I'm unfamiliar. Explain, please.
If you're looking for any material to get inspiration from, there is a book series called the Alvin Maker series, the first book is called The Seventh Son. It has an antagonist called The Unmaker, this force of the universe that seeks to eventually crush everything into dust, to unmake things, it's an unseen force with no face or corporeal form, but the book does an amazing job personifying the idea of eventual nothingness (similar to your reference of the universes heat death) Hope this helps, keep us posted on how it goes, sound like it will be a great campaign!
They're detailed at the end of Plane-Shift Zendikar.
https://media.wizards.com/2016/downloads/magic/Plane%20Shift%20Zendikar.pdf
If you meant the Laundry series, look here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OIZUIA/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
Synopsis: James Bond/DiIbert Vs Cthulhu, only he has magic instead of Walter PPK. Author: Charles Stross.
In one of the books he has to go to another world where the Nazis won and took over the world, but they did it with the aid of "an Old One", which promptly killed everyone. Only things left are undead and the sleeping 'Old One'. The Old One is trying to move on to the 'real' world. Good guys have to go their world, drop off the big bad bomb and get out before it goes off.
Stross came up with only actual good reason for a real world type Government to cover up the existence of magic: The more people that believe in /use magic attract the attention of Old Ones from other universes.
An entropy-based entity? How about something like Coaxmetal?
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.