Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Leliel 04-08-08, 07:38 PM	For my first 4th.ed campaign, I plan to run a "transition game", which explains how the Great Wheel became the Astral Sea, how the Maelstrom came about, etc. The players will know this beforehand. What the PCs don't know is that the particular method for transition is not at all nice. You see, I plan for the basic Pandorym plot presented in Elder Evils to be the basis of the plot (with a few twists, ie a new BBEG and pals), with the not-so-small addendum that Obligatum VII suceeds in freeing his mind (then to rub salt in the wound, the BBEG mentioned above sics the inevitable on the PCs, pointing out that "failing everyone" probably counts as a breach of contract). The last 10 levels of the campagin revolve around trying to save as many people as the PCs can, while dealing with (A), Pandorym's now-superpowered minions, (B), Pandorym himself, and (C) the self-loathing that all this causes. So, is this a good plot?
PenderGrass 04-08-08, 11:00 PM	So long as your "plot" can account for the players to surprise you and not have to stay on a set of rails, it should be fine. If you won't allow a change in your plot, then it is not very good. :dragon: *****
Kouk 04-08-08, 11:43 PM	It may make a nice movie or short story or something, I guess. Seems kind of bleak and a no-win situation for the players.
CCopperpot 04-09-08, 04:17 AM	Elder Elemental Eye/Tharizdun all the way. :D None of my players has fully realized yet, but that's what I'm doing, just from an adapted 3.5 Planescape. Big T is my BBEG, and I'm planning on using Shothragot (just put into Dragon in the nick of time), a number of fallen proxies with elemental connections, the evil elemental princes, quasielemental mephit armies, dark cults and the remainder of the Doomguard post-Faction War. That's the real BBEG, though. Currently, they're blinded by being forced to resurrect a dead God (with real-world connections!) by his shattered vestiges and save a prime material plane from what they're still guessing is nanotechnology. :rolleyes: It's an awful lot, I know, but the players are interested and I have ten of them....
themocaw 04-09-08, 12:57 PM	This plot can be done well if you allow the players a chance to win. . . but winning doesn't mean saving the world, necessarily. For instance, I was once in a WOD game where my character, a Corax, was a member of an organization who was dedicated to watching for and stopping these demons who would occasionally wake up and try to destroy the world. When he joined, the group told him about some of the things that they had been involved in: a secret plot by the Nazis to summon an elder evil, a Roman ritual that nearly destroyed the world, and Atlantis. "Atlantis was one of your failures?" my Corax asked. "No," his instructor said. "Atlantis was a SUCCESS. Now think about that. . . an entire civilization, the flower of the ancient world, destroyed, and we consider that a victory. Because it could have been much, much worse." My recommendation, if you do this: the world is destroyed. The Great Wheel is broken. All reality hangs on a precipice, about to be destroyed forever. The PC's quest now becomes to stop Pandorym. . . not from destroying the world, because that's a foregone conclusion now. . . but from obliterating ALL HOPE that life will ever return. Your world is over, but perhaps, some day, another will rise. I would imagine, if I ran it, that at the end of the day, any survivors who remain would walk back out of the BBEG's castle, look out at their destroyed world, and wonder, "What do we do now?" The answer? "Anything we want. Soon it will all be over."
Leliel 04-09-08, 03:46 PM	[QUOTE=themocaw;15564855] -snip- [QUOTE] Yeah, that's what I mean. Indeed, the afromentioned BBEG is counting on some survivors of the apocalypse, so he can rule over the remains of reality with his Pandorym-granted powers. And for those of you who didn't read my post all the way through: I specifically stated "save as many people as they can", which in case you didn't know, means that there is some hope in the game. Sorry about the flame. People not paying attention to what I put in my threads really annoys me. I'm egotistical that way.
PenderGrass 04-09-08, 04:00 PM	I think the contradiction of your Thread Title and what you wrote is where the doubt was arising. At least, that is where I began to question your real intent. :dragon: *****
CaptainPicard 04-09-08, 06:12 PM	BUT THE FUTURE REFUSED TO CHANGE Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Kouk 04-09-08, 06:56 PM	Well, more specifically than "failing" I meant that the PCs should have a goal that is attainable. If their goal is to save the world, but they can't no matter what, and the last 10 levels are spent doing damage control, then they can't succeed can they? If the goal is that the world is already destroyed, and they need to save people to keep civilization going then I guess they can "succeed" at that. The gist of your message (that I got) was that the PCs fail at something and have to run around and try to stay alive while feeling guilty about failing.
nightwyrm 04-09-08, 07:10 PM	So it's essentially a Final Fantasy VI storyline then? Cool.