Post/Author/DateTime	Post
MareltEkiran 12-31-07, 06:57 PM	In my campaign, I am approaching the end of the story, which involves the coming of a primordial force of destruction, which the PC's will have to face eventually... So, in order to play this out properly, I would like some descriptions of what would be happening to the world in the meantime. There are probably some examples in the multitude of books out there, but I wanted to see what the community can come up with. I'll start off the list with a few obvious ones: 1. The sky darkens and flashes of red lightning continue to appear. 2. Small local earthquakes appear far more frequently than normal and in places that are normally stable. Sometimes, these earthquakes are large enough to cause actual damage. 3. The rain from the sky turns blood-red and/or caustic. 4. Tough, thorny weeds grow everywhere at an alarming rate, killing plant life. A traveler who sleeps in a natural environment is at risk of being caught or strangled by these growths.
LeeAlucard 12-31-07, 07:17 PM	5) On a given day, all the cattle in a field simultaneously drop dead. 6) Attempts to boil water result in an explosion of ice shards. 7) Alcoholic drinks turn to mundane water in the bottle. 8) Mutant animals are born, dogs giving birth to two-headed litters. 9) The clouds turn into poisonous gases.
AlanBruce 12-31-07, 07:25 PM	10) Beaches are littered with dead sea creatures overnight. 11) Massive migrations of different winged races are observed at non-migratory times of the year (even mighty dragons). 12) Uncurable disease spreads through towns and cities, killing people by the thousands. 13) THE DEAD WALK!!!
Zebppir 12-31-07, 07:34 PM	14.the sun dies and or explodes 15.the gods make a new Material Plane by sacrificing the previous one 16.the nine hells takes over the material plane and draws it in 17.the Abyss takes over the material plane and pulls it in
Panartias 12-31-07, 07:52 PM	18. Magic becomes unstable! 10% chance of failure per spell - level. 19. Some gods leave the pantheon - their priests suffer nervus breakdowns, as they loose contakt with them... 20. In big citys, many nobels start to celebrate "End of the world" - partys.
Sinis 12-31-07, 11:02 PM	21. Never before seen Cultists preach on street corners about the End. 22. Torrential rains of blood appear. 23. An uncurable contagious disease appears with epidemic proportions.
Caeric 12-31-07, 11:40 PM	24. Animals begin to rebel in various ways, ranging from running away to attacking their masters to simply suicidal tendancies. 25. Shadows seem to take on a visually adhesive property to objects they meet, seeming to crawl as the person moves.
Mr_Crepsley 12-31-07, 11:43 PM	26. The PC's find a ... DUN DUN DUN... Deck of Many Things. That'll end any campaign world.
Matthias_Kelvine 12-31-07, 11:52 PM	27. Fires spring up all over the world at an alarming rate. 28. The sky turns the colour of fire and brimstone. 29. Water turns to blood.
Infernostrider 01-01-08, 12:54 PM	a dwarf shaves off his beard voluntarily!
Evil DM Mk3 01-01-08, 01:57 PM	Let me see. 31: All dolphins vanish from the oceans. 32: All clerics start to get recurring nightmares. 33: Elementals begin to seep into the material though appropriate points, ie, volcanoes for fire, oceans for water high windy mountains for air and great chasms for earth. 34: Swords, axes and other weapons start to grow on trees. 35: Good old fashioned rains of fish. 36: Fey creatures sicken or go mad, lashing out at their surroundings. 37: Magical potions of all kinds become impure water in their bottles. 38: In a remote town all of the people loose their faces and carry on without any change. 39: The sky changes colour. 40: The Unholy symbols of dark and apocalyptic gods manifest as clouds, and I mean clearly not the "does that look like a sheep to you" kind of cloud shape. 41: Powerful items associated with Law melt and become useless. 42: The outer planes shift about so a spell meant to take you to Baator takes you to Carceri instead. 43: Fish are washed up on shore alive, able somehow to breathe air (but not move about well on land). 44: Areas of wild and dead magic spring up in the strangest places. 45: Any shadow or area of darkness at least 25ft by 25ft has a 10% chance of turning into a two way portal to the plane of shadows. 46: The Tarrashke, Tarraaash, thingy, rampages across the land in a feeding frenzy that horrifies even those familiar with this beast. 47: The ethereal plane collapses into the material, all spells that use if fail and all creatures that inhabit it appear in the material. 48: All reflections vanish. 49: Unless salted, smoked, dried, pickled etc all fresh food goes rotten and worm ridden in 24 hours. 50: All leather becomes uncured human skin.
Necroramo 01-01-08, 05:23 PM	51: Of course, a high-level evil spellcaster blows up a good artifact, chants around, and one day later everything within 200 miles takes 10d6 points of sonic damage
calronmoonflower 01-01-08, 05:43 PM	52). Demons and devils working together.
Romtos 01-01-08, 07:10 PM	Well, technically it is written as: 53: The four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have arrived on the face of earth. Also, by definition: 54: Armageddon takes place. Since it ought to be the _final_ battle between good and evil, the Apocalypse must follow Armageddon. Even more interesting, even we assume that the Apocalypse múst follow Armageddon, Demons and Devils are holding it at bay. They are doing this simply by continuing their struggle. As long as evil is too busy with itself, the forces of upper planes will never start the battle. :D Yay for environment-caring fiends!
MareltEkiran 01-01-08, 07:30 PM	51: Of course, a high-level evil spellcaster blows up a good artifact, chants around, and one day later everything within 200 miles takes 10d6 points of sonic damage Funny you should say that... In the aforementioned campaign, the PCs have just joined up with the army of a large kingdom to take down the stronghold of a cabal of priests who are in league with the Archforce of Destruction... Now, the High Priestess has captured a number of holy artifacts, but has now been driven with her back against the wall by the kingdom's army.... Guess what her "final resort" is going to be? And just to continue the list. 55: Ordinary mountains suddenly become volcanic, spewing out magma laced with putrid dark green (and apparently incombustable) slime. 56: Some people go raving mad and start destroying everything around them. When people try to apprehend them, weapons made out of a dark energy suddenly materialize in their hands. 57: Occasionally people see a large eye appear in the darkened sky. Whenever it appears, meteors strike the area within an hour.
Realms of Chaos 01-02-08, 12:12 AM	Um, I'm all for originality...and I'm not trying to crush creativity or anything...but you guys do know that the new Elder Evils supplement is all about ending the world and the creatures that do it, right? ... ... Right? Anyway, back on topic: 58: The landscape starts to twist and contort itself into nightmarish forms.
calronmoonflower 01-02-08, 12:28 AM	59). An idiot hires 50 1st level archers to try to kill a wraith.
saeyoung0102 01-02-08, 04:07 AM	60. All ordinary humans turn into vampires, and the PCs are the only ordinary humans left. :D
Meshakhad 01-02-08, 04:09 AM	61. A doomsday cult launches a successful coup. 62. Old political rivalries explode as a world war breaks out. 63. Major churches recall all of their clerics and paladins to their temples, and issue no public explanation. 65. Celestials show up and issue powerful holy weapons to low-level adventurers. 65. A magical experiment at an arcane university goes horribly wrong, and the ensuing explosion destroys a major city. 66. Summoning spells begin working in reverse - would-be summoners are transported to the outer planes and recruited by those they tried to summon. For instance, a demon-summoner might find himself pressed into the services of the demon princes. 67. Random people develop supernatural powers (think Heroes with magic). 68. All augury spells give an answer of "woe" regardless of the question. 69. Winter doesn't end. 70. The sun refuses to rise. 71. A thunderstorm brews over the elven capital, and does not dissipate. 72. There are unconfirmed sightings of gods in avatar form.
Panartias 01-02-08, 09:36 AM	Another good one: 73: Have the ruler/king/his bard publicly anounce, that there is ABSOLUTE NO immidiate danger! The the general population should remain calm and stay at home - it will be over in a few days....:cool:
Derrigan 01-02-08, 11:13 AM	Though I know this will probably spoil the thread, I have to say it. It's too good an opportunity to pass up. :D 74. Dogs and cats living together. Sorry. Can't have an apocolypse without Ghostbusters. ;)
Johnathan_Vagabond 01-02-08, 02:09 PM	75. Objects catch fire without burning. 76. Trees lose their foliage in the middle of summer or grow foliage in the middle of winter. 77. Instead of fruits and berries, trees grow bloody eyeballs and hands. 78. Objects destroy themselves and forcibley return to their prior natural state. (Example: The stone composing the city wall pull themselves apart and fly off at high speed to mend themselves together. Clothes unravel and turn into sheep hair) 79. Food bleeds when bitten. 80. Indistinct faces appear on mundane objects. 81. Statues change positions to cowering, crying, or writhing in fear and pain. 82. Translucent intangible shapes of the dead are seen everywhere they once lived, filling up streets and houses, fields and forests; all looking in the same direction.
Sinis 01-02-08, 03:00 PM	83. The faces of all humanoids (except the PCs) become smooth and featureless; lacking eyes, noses, mouths and ears. The humanoids carry on with their daily life as if nothing had changed, seemingly being able to communicate, see, and hear without the appropriate organs.
Evil DM Mk3 01-02-08, 05:38 PM	(bit of a shout out but hey, no one caught my other one) 84: A young green oak is seen in the middle of a snowfield. In place of acorns it has iron rings. 85: A powerful warlord is revealed to have a iron nail where his heart should be. 86: There is a terrible plague of chickens. 87: A cheese walks as a man.
LeeAlucard 01-02-08, 05:43 PM	83. The faces of all humanoids (except the PCs) become smooth and featureless; lacking eyes, noses, mouths and ears. The humanoids carry on with their daily life as if nothing had changed, seemingly being able to communicate, see, and hear without the appropriate organs. This is very similar to number 38...
Morbid 01-03-08, 06:11 AM	88. Everyone on earth begins to hear a quiet, yet haunting melody/hymn/gospel, anything you'd expect form a choir. 89. Mass and uncontrollable ear ringing and nosebleeds. 90. All sleep ceases. 91. The smell of burnt skunk fills the air. 92. Animals freak and begin to slaughter and eat each other, including herbivores and trained pets. 93. Music dies, everyone is incapable of producing melodic sound (big thanks to Don Mclean for that one).
Dissont 01-03-08, 07:26 AM	I really like some of these. 94. Bugs every where start to go crazy and swarm 95. randomly people around the world wake up missing there eyes. Theres no pain, just empty sockets. 96. Hard for the DM to roleplay, BUT random people around the world begin to speak in riddles that seem incoherent or crazy, though in a twisted way make sense and get the npc's point across if the party can decipher it.
Majick 01-03-08, 07:52 AM	97. An Elder God thought long since past from memory and power re-awakens, and is angry with the follies of his 'children' 98. Certain words begin to not only disappear from books and scrolls, but from speech too, and then memory 99. A betrayal of Epic proportions occurs in the upper plains and the universal self destruct/re-construct 'button' is hit, causing wide-spead chaotic energies to warp all natural things 100. All of the above 100 scenarios happen simultaneously
setekh 01-03-08, 11:36 AM	101: A seal is discovered in the [Deep dark mountain, swamp or whatever], from this dark pit march the endless legion of souls who were murdered for their belief. There are a few signs of the Apocalypse in the bible. :P
Morbid 01-03-08, 12:34 PM	#99 Can you say Kingdom Hearts II? :P :P :P
I_am_The_Law 01-03-08, 02:06 PM	102. Water solidifies, but not to ice 103. Illithids start making sence 104. magic becomes wild, roaming about (living spells!) 105. sleeping giants awaken from underground and start smashing everything.
Sinis 01-03-08, 03:16 PM	This is very similar to number 38... Whoops, missed that one.
LinusMundane 01-03-08, 03:31 PM	Originally Posted by Sinis View Post 83. The faces of all humanoids (except the PCs) become smooth and featureless; lacking eyes, noses, mouths and ears. The humanoids carry on with their daily life as if nothing had changed, seemingly being able to communicate, see, and hear without the appropriate organs. This is very similar to number 38... yes, 38 is very similar to 83....
Zombie_Babies 01-03-08, 03:44 PM	106. Animals move en masse in the opposite direction from where the evil is approaching the PCs (if they are defending a castle and the evil is coming from the west the animals move away). After one day there is no living creature within miles. Livestock that have been placed in pens are seen trampling one another in the corner of their pens. 107. Small children and babies begin to die without explanation. 13 days later they rise as Dunh Dunh Duhhhh!!! Zombie Babies! (yes I used something similar- think evil half-fiend becomes a lich, loses her mind and does some sick experiments). 108. All food tastes putrid no matter what is done to correct it. 109. Wells no longer hold water but blood, ooze, poison, etc, etc. 110. A plague- your choice! 111. A nearby part of the city is destroyed by the volcano that erupts beneath it showering the area the PCs are in with body parts, parts of buildings, etc. 112. Clerics cannot regain their spells and praying causes them to go blind and deaf from the nightmare visions that come when they pray. 113. A desperate feeling has swept the townsfolk. Violent crime is on the rise and suicide has become all too common. 114. All of the virgins in the city have been sacrificed to appease the primal forces at work- to no avail. 115. The moon seems to get closer every night and you think it's starting to look like the BBEG's face. 116. Many wild animals have come into the town. They show no fear towards people and frequently will shriek unnervingly at passers-by. Some swear they hear voices in the animals' screams.
zvbxrpl 01-04-08, 06:10 PM	117:Normally concieved children start being born first as tieflings, then as half-fiends, then, as the end days are upon us, as full blown demons and devils. 118:When wood is cut, it bleeds and makes a sound like the shriek of a young child. 119:Reflections show the decaying corpses of those looking in the mirrors. 120:Any time a body part, (excluding stuff that's already dead like fingernails and hair) is cut off, it transforms into the fresh corpse of its owner. (Added freakiness--after a while, cooking and eating of these corpses becomes not only a matter of necessity, but a boon. Peasants will cut off fingers at the joint to keep from starving.) 121: Alternately, at the site of severed body parts, only the bone regrows. It functions perfectly normally, though. 122: Whispered instructions to perform evil acts can be heard in the wind. (The more screwed-up, the better) 123: Hair and fingernails grow at an alarming rate on some, not at all on others 124: When children lose baby teeth, the new teeth come in as wicked fangs. 125: Any wound oozes maggots instead of blood.
LeeAlucard 01-05-08, 04:51 PM	126: Anyone with less than 2 HD turns into a zombie... (including the animals), yet just go about their daily lives, not even noticing.
zvbxrpl 01-19-08, 12:23 PM	127: The stars in the night sky begin to disappear.
Pezz 01-19-08, 05:07 PM	128: any time anyone goes to sleep, they are awoken by nightmares of the coming destruction. sleep ceases around the world. 129: all life stops growing. food stops spoiling as no mold or maggots can grow. it goes stale, but nothing new grows. no crops, no animals, no insects. Nothing is born, and nothing grows up. 130: Oceans begin to recede. nothing dramatic at first, but their recession increases as time goes on. Seabeds dry up, trenches on the ocean floor become accessible, and fresh water cannot be found outside of magical resources. 131: The sun turns black. It still rises and sets in its usual pattern, but day is now a dark dark grey. stars cannot be seen in the dark grey sky, but the sun can as a dark ball. 132: Low HD creatures give up on living. no disease, no plague. they just stop having the will to do their daily routines. jobs remain unfulfilled. they dont bother eating, drinking, or sleeping. they just lay down where they are and stop caring. doesnt happen all at once, but the extreme lethargy spreads throughout the population. 133: Natural weather becomes dangerous. all weather conditions move 3 ranks higher than they usually are (breeze turns to wind storm. strong wind turns into tornadoes, etc) 134: Parts of the other planes can be seen, overlaid on people's visions of the material plane. eventually, other planes can be directly influenced through that overlay. 135: All holy (and unholy) symbols warp and change, each one becoming a variation of a single, unknown symbol.
DragonStrife 01-19-08, 08:47 PM	136. Random people just start to disappear, leaving what ever they were doing at that exact moment with out change ( a forge with a sword still in in, a hot bowl of soup still lift on the table, only half full, etc.) 137. Nothing dies. The body goes about it's normal business as it visible decays 138. All of the remaining animals that haven't manged to escape, are completely silent right before a huge shadow is cast, killing all living people caught in the shadow. 139. Statues come to life at night and kill people. 140. All constroucts kill their creators, hunting them down if need be. 141. All palidan mounts, or any horse, turns into a nightmare. 142. (sorry couldn't resist) All halflings stop stealing stuff!
Mr_Seth 01-23-08, 08:51 PM	143. The Tarrasque awakens, lets loose an earth-shaking bellow, and immediately dies of no visible cause. It rots away in a few hours, leaving naught but worms and a collossal shell.
The_Wild_King 01-23-08, 09:34 PM	10)13) THE DEAD WALK!!! 144. And then proceed to dance the Thriller, with strange otherworldy music coming from nowhere
Whisper_Swiftblade 01-23-08, 10:10 PM	all comunication with people outside the city stops, this includes the gods. all wildlife seems to have dissappeared. the oceans, rivers, lakes ect all become stagnent or very slowmoving. at night people have reported being watched by a pair of yellow glowing eyes, in from strange locations (closet, under bed, up in a tree ect.) the sun is gon, the world is still lit, and functions normaly however. people are waking up no longer understanding common but an other randomly selceted language(s) some of which never heard before. trees begin to 'ungrow" and shrink. animals even very exotic ones, begin to appear in town they are too afraid to be hostile in any way.
iserith 01-24-08, 12:38 AM	153. Dungeons & Dragons 6.66 is published.
Zousha_Omenohu 01-24-08, 12:41 AM	154. The sky is overcast for days, but one night, the clouds part, revealing that the stars have mysterioiusly changed position and are now red, forming patterns that become increasingly disturbing the longer they are looked at.
Radijs 01-24-08, 02:17 AM	155: Ancient sea creatures that have lain dormant for countless aeons begin to awaken. Islands disappear and/or move around as these creatures swim away.
Ire_and_Nice 01-24-08, 03:27 AM	156; Sun-rays feel cold instead of warm. 157; Alternately (for winter), snow is hot, and leaves burns if held for long enough (1d6 fire damage/minute), but does not harm anything non-living. 158; Whenever anyone sleeps, they mumble incoherently, though a high enough listen check, or maybe a "Tongues" spell, allows a listener to make out many different voices shrilly crying out about doom and torture.
Old_School_Overlord 01-24-08, 07:09 AM	159: The statues of the Gods in the temples fracture and crumble, sometimes crushing the faithful as they pray. 160: The wizards school commence a huge project to cronstruct an aetheic vessel capable of surviving the coming destruction and start selling tickets to the wealthy. Various other factions attempt to capture it, the conflict causing incredible destruction. 161: The Druidic Cirlce of the Vine declare nature's vengeance will sweep away the stain of humanoids, and lead vast packs or animals against the civilised peoples, destroying towns and villages.
BilopTheFleshwarper 01-24-08, 09:18 AM	Holy moley! these are good! I was going to be ending my 3.5 game with a big world shattering *Kaboom* and some of these are too good to let out. So here's some of the ones I was working on to end the game with. 162. Powerful lycanthropic druids begin to pull the moon from the heavens. 163. Ancient Primordial Mind flayers rise and attempt to enslave the peoples of the world. They also possess the basics of magic, in it's ancient and pure forms. 164. The oddities of the world, and oddities man made rise up against the world and run rampant.(read: over templated monsters, and animals...)
Guardian1 01-24-08, 11:59 AM	165. For thirteen days straight, the sky becomes a sickly grayish-green color, eerily similar to the color of the sky right before a really bad thunderstorm. 166. On the eve of the fourteenth day, all clerics throughout the world mysteriously vanish overnight. 167. A kender goes back in time. :cookie: to anyone who recognizes these!
nowiwantmydmg 01-24-08, 01:39 PM	168. No one can Die!
Hate_Machine 01-24-08, 08:11 PM	169. The insects of the earth swarm out of the ground. 170. Animals go ravenously mad. 171. Unsalted food spoils and decomposes in seconds. 172. People can no longer see their own reflections in mirrors. etc.
Zousha_Omenohu 01-24-08, 09:32 PM	165. For thirteen days straight, the sky becomes a sickly grayish-green color, eerily similar to the color of the sky right before a really bad thunderstorm. 166. On the eve of the fourteenth day, all clerics throughout the world mysteriously vanish overnight. 167. A kender goes back in time. :cookie: to anyone who recognizes these! Aren't they from Dragonlance? I'm guessing the first two are parts of the Cataclysm, while the last is about Tasslehoff's infamous time-tripping adventures.
AntontheDM 01-25-08, 12:17 AM	Though I know this will probably spoil the thread, I have to say it. It's too good an opportunity to pass up. :D 74. Dogs and cats living together. Sorry. Can't have an apocolypse without Ghostbusters. ;) MASS HYSTERIA!!! Politicians start telling the truth. Demons run through the city, in fear, from some thing....
Evil DM Mk3 01-25-08, 07:53 AM	171:Winter never ends. It gets colder and colder until the sap freezes in trees and they explode. Then someone finds a Frost Giant who died of hypothermia.