Process Video: 2022

Exclusive video showing the making of Stan!'s homage to Monsters of the Multiverse

The thing about an astral dreadnought—the creature in the background of Greg Rutkowski’s incredible cover painting for Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse—is that it’s among a handful of D&D creatures that are absolutely legendary among fans of the game, but that very few player characters will ever have encountered, let alone faced in combat.

Together with creatures and characters like the Tarrasque, Orcus, Tiamat, Vecna, and perhaps a dozen or so more, an astral dreadnought just exists at a different scale than mortal characters. Unless you’re playing in a truly epic level campaign, there would be no sense in a DM creating an encounter with one.

That’s not to say that I think they have no place in the game. I think it’s IMPORTANT to the rich tapestry of a game world (or a game cosmos) to have unassailable entities—things of legend that characters can dream of conquering, while still secretly hoping that such an encounter never actually occurs. And in being able to share even one tale of how a PC once actually faced such a being only to be completely and utterly destroyed is a crowning achievement in any gamer’s career.

Subscribers to this newsletter got to see this drawing early, whereas the general public are only just getting their first glimpses of it today. But there’s still something left that’s JUST for the paid subscribers—a process video showing the step-by-step creation of this cartoon homage. (If you’re currently a free subscriber, now would be a great time to upgrade.)