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An Epic-Scope Campaign: Any ideas?

   
An Epic-Scope Campaign: Any ideas?

Hey guys. I'm thinking about running a huge-scale Pathfinder campaign set in my own custom world. It would be epic in scope, similar to Lord of the Rings, the Wheel of Time, or A Song of Ice and Fire. The players would start out at a very low level, but would eventually grow into world-renowned heroes fighting against some horrific evil.

And here is where I'm stumped.

Epic-scope fantasies tend to have a primary antagonist or faction that serves as the driving force behind the story. The need to defeat this enemy shapes the actions of the heroes and the events of the world. Tolkien's Sauron, Jordan's Shai'tan, and Martin's
White Walkers, for those of you who've only watched the show and not read the books
Others all serve this purpose. I need something like that, something that will drive the story. I need an antagonist whose desires and goals are opposed to the forces of the world enough to where nations would unite against it/them and destiny itself would have a hand in the outcome.

What do you guys think?

Vampires. Aliens. A warlord betrayed and seeking vengeance. King Tarrasque and the seven Tarrasque Kids.

Liches are always good for the growing sort of evil. A cabal of dragons. A god going insane. A person trying to achieve godhood.

Perhaps a champion of darkness is on a quest to obtain the Regalia of Evil and forcibly convert the world to his religion. Or the demons/devils/entities of the Far Realms have found a way into the world and are building strength as time passes. An evil god has found a way to tip the balance and begins influencing the Material plane. There's the classic "ancient seals begin to weaken" plot, of course. And the wightocalypse.

A Good god dies or is severely weakened, leaving a power vacuum. An elemental god gains superiority over its counterparts, leading to natural disasters themed along the lines of the dominant element (earthquakes, tsunamis, storms, cold, fires, etc.).

A demilich, bored after spending thousands of years in a horrific tomb, has decided to conquer the Multiverse. Et cetera.

Make sure the players have multiple enemies. Sure, have some sort of very powerful end-all-be-all, but have rival groups of adventurers, a king or two who wants them dead, and the son of a goblin they killed at level one who's trained his entire life to kill them.

Dragons would be a good destination. It is half the name of the original game. Could even have rival dragons causing issues with each other, and the players get caught in the middle.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wippit Guud View Post
Dragons would be a good destination. It is half the name of the original game. Could even have rival dragons causing issues with each other, and the players get caught in the middle.
...always liked the caught-in-the-middle scenario. A lot of ways to go with that... former enemies unite, pick a side (like Transformers) etc...

Quote:
Originally Posted by OREO View Post
...always liked the caught-in-the-middle scenario. A lot of ways to go with that... former enemies unite, pick a side (like Transformers) etc...
Dibs on Starscream-possessed Waspinator

i'll take regular waspinator any day. great form and weapons layout but he was always so wimpy in personality.


though to add something constructive to the discussion, i once played a game called 'overlord 2'. perhap basing your villian off of him would work.

Dinobot. 'Nuff said, end of Transformers discussion.

Or is it? There are plenty of video game, cartoon, and comic book villains that could serve as great inspiration for your evil factions and the Big Bad. A world-eating monster (Lavos, Unicron, and Galactus spring to mind) can be a great finale to a series of competing bad guys. Maybe some of the bad guys will even offer to ally with the PCs... for now. And/or for a price.

I seem to recall skimming Elder Evils once and thinking "if only I could get a group together long enough to actually include a plot..."




 

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