Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 BohoMojambo Apr 27, 2015 16:09:51	Okay, I've been tossing around ideas for a new campaign and I wanted to invite some brainstorming from you all.   Basically, I want this campaign to be a series of episodic adventures taking place throughout the multiverse. I've begun to concept around the idea of a PCs from different worlds (Forgotten Realms, Krynn, Eberron, Dark Sun, or any world the player wants, from fiction etc.) being drawn from their own worlds and then shifted (by some mysterious entity) together throughout the multiverse ala Sliders/Quantum Leap etc. They will arrive on a random world/plane and must discover for what purpose they are there, and accomplish it so that they can shift again. This allows for my players (who really like the exploration side) to experience lots of different environments, and me to introduce different themes into each session. Plus, I tend to get bogged down in details when I develop a single campaign world. With all the hopping around, I think I'll be able to stay focused on only the maximally fun parts of whatever world they're currently on.   What I'm looking to develop is WHY? Why are they being shifted? Eventually, they'll discover who/what has been shifting them and for what purpose. I've been toying around with the idea of it being a kind of primordial force of neutrality (The Great Primordial Neutrality, or GPN) who is shifting them around as an exploration of the concept of good (this will be a good aligned party.) This also opens up the possibility that the GPN is also shifting a party of evil PCs around for a similar purpose. But I'm not sure this is enough? Should there be a darker purpose behind this? Other antagonists?   I'm planning on running a session zero whereby each character will roleplay out a scene (based primarily on Background) where they find, steal, win or are awarded a ring. When they put it on... zip. They are standing together on a foreign world (probably in some immediate danger.) Cue Scott Bakula, "Oh boy."   As for the PCs, I expect a primary motivation will be the desire to break out of this shifting and return home. Here I expect that the best way to go will be a long running quest to collect parts of an artifact that will free them. Don't really have many ideas here. Could certainly use suggestions.
#2 Breefolk Apr 27, 2015 16:24:51	An interesting idea.  Could be the sort of thing a trickster entity might do, maybe a powerful fey of some sort.   This is a really good scenario for an episodic campaign.  Could be a little difficult to work into a larger metaplot, but not impossible.
#3 OoftaMeg Apr 27, 2015 17:33:18	The famous gnomish inventor Bixash Wobblesprocket was trying to create rings of dimension hopping for himself and his compatriots when his work was sabatoged and the rings were sent into multiple dimensions.  The rings are tied to a prophecy about the ultimate destruction of the multiverse that Bixash is trying to prevent.   There are people here and there that can help the group - although they may try to do it withou being noticed at first - who were working with Bixash but aren't 100% certain the PCs are on the up-and-up or if they are part of Evil Inc.   Evil Inc of course wants the destruction of the multiverse because, well, they're evil.   This way you have an overarching plot you can tie into if you wish and at a certain point Bixash might be able to contact them and give them advice or other aid.  Communication across the multiverse is of course difficult and not always reliable.     You can even keep the whole meta-plot hidden for a while and see if it's necessary.  If the people are enjoying the campaign without it, then Bixash was just a crazy inventor who's latest experiment went wrong.
#4 Orethalion Apr 27, 2015 17:41:39	I could have sworn there was another poster who posted pretty much this exact same scenerio a few months ago (possibly in the product discussion folder) and got a lot of help and ideas.  Anyone remember the thread name so he can look it up?   Edit:  Found it.  http://community.wizards.com/forum/dungeon-master-help/threads/4188606
#5 BohoMojambo Apr 27, 2015 18:24:18	Oh my gosh, Orethalion, there is a lot there that I think I can make use of. Thank you SO much (this place is great.)     That's terrific stuff, OoftaMeg. Thanks. Yeah, I definitely prefer an over arching plot that I can hold as an option. Because it may not be needed.   Thanks, Breefolk. I'd like for the PC's to be primarily driven by the desire to go home. Until they discover just why they're being shifted, at which point they tap into whatever the as yet unidentified threat to the universe is (ie. why they're being shifted.) I need those arcs to intersect at some point.   I just need to plug in the details. :P
#6 Orethalion Apr 27, 2015 18:44:34	BohoMojambo wrote:
#7 Storyteller-Zero Apr 27, 2015 18:45:47	You could give the PCs an objective of activating Gates that connect the different universes, then introduce a threat that revolves around the consequence of activating the Gates.
#8 NamelessHero Apr 27, 2015 19:09:45	I need more information. Are the deities (if any) spanning your multiverse the same ones or different gods?
#9 BohoMojambo Apr 27, 2015 19:39:10	I think I'd prefer the deities to stay specific to their worlds.   But I do want to have some sort of higher power that spans the multiverse. I'm thinking abstract forces such as Good, Evil, Law and Chaos, but embodied in some sort of intelligent manifestation (similar to the Great Primeval Neutrality I wrote about above.)
(Reply to #9) Breefolk	BohoMojambo wrote: