I looked into Descent into Avernus, but honestly, I wanted to make so many changes to that module it wasnt worth it. I also toyed with Strahd but horror and being scary isn’t my thing either. I kinda stopped looking since my group is taking a break for a good while, but if I end up dming again it will almost certainly be with a premade module.

I’m like you, I love making homebrew items and monsters to throw at my party in equal measurements I also really enjoy creating lore and reasons why things are happening in the setting. I’ve been meaning to try a module so I can practice working within an existing story framework more.

I worry that Cultivations downside is the same as many others, in that a single virtue pushed to extremes is bad. Change and growth just for changes sake can mess up a lot of stuff.

Ironically, I feel like picking Whimsy for the meme is perfectly in line with Whimsy and therefore a valid reason. That would be a pretty hard Shard to pass along with purpose like Preservation or Honor tried.

A fair argument. It seems like that’s exactly what Hoid did, decided not to settle on any single intent. How the original 16 picked their shards is open to interpretation I guess, but I’m pretty sure there’s mention in Harmony’s letter to Hoid that Ati specifically picked Ruin to try and curb its destructive intent. Conversely, its mentioned that Rayse wanted Odium, and was already a dangerous man.

I wonder, with that info, if the 16 had any idea how badly the Shards would corrupt their vessel.