Modrons as written are dumb. I could imagine a version of modrons that wouldn't be, in theory.

I liked these wacky little bastards in Planescspe. They work very welI as simple comic relief but there is also something  very sinister  about them. Had a player who played one once. He made a great point that his character was always incapable of thinking outside the box ( bad pun intended ) . Also rote down any adventure notes as filing a report to his Faction high-ups. Essentially they are great as not-robots in a wacky fantasy setting if you don't want to go full sci-fantasy mash-up.

The Great Modron March is one of very few D&D campaign adventures I decided I HAVE to play some day.

They remind of an SNL skit tortured into a movie. Funny enough for five minutes when drinking, but falls flat under lengthier treatments.

I always thought that Modrons were a kind of poor-man's D&D version of Dwarves in Glorantha - sort of living machines there to keep the multiverse working as it should. But the Glorantha myth actually worked, whereas the Modrons were just kind of hanging there with no real backstory or reason to actually exist.

Something like modrons only work in a setting with Michael Moorcock's Law, Chaos and Balance. They don't work if you shoehorn good/evil as another axis.

Seriously, what exactly is the difference between D&D devils and Hellraiser cenobites? The latter are lawful to the point of being hostile to life (which is chaotic), whereas the latter subvert the intent of law to control others for their own selfish reasons. Therefore, D&D devils are not actually lawful but chaotic, agents for chaos to subvert order from within.

Evil does not make sense as a moral axis. Except for clinical psychopaths, every villainous regime thought they were the good guys. You can see no better example of this then in the Nazi America from The Man in the High Castle on Amazon Prime. From our perspective they are horrifically evil, but they see themselves as good to the point where they right books explaining and justifying their warped morality. For example, in reality we believe the best way to alleviate suffering due to congenital deformities is with painkillers. In Nazi land, they believe in enforced euthanasia on the disabled because their moral system claims that disabled lives are not worth living.

In the Stormbringer mythos, the lords of chaos are also called the dukes of hell and appear suitably grotesque, but they believe themselves to be champions of freedom and individuality (and considering what order does when it isn't countered by chaos they do have a point even if they go to insane extremes).

Quote from: Chainsaw;1046857They remind of an SNL skit tortured into a movie. Funny enough for five minutes when drinking, but falls flat under lengthier treatments.

That's an excellent comparison.