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Hello. I'm planning on running a PBP based on a scenario where Kyuss manages to usher in the Age of Worms. I'd appreciate your suggestions on how to make such a scenario rock. You think the good and evil nations of Greyhawk will unite to combat Kyuss or continue on their merry and independent way and be gobbled up by Kyuss piecemeal? What would the various churches do? Will the cult of Nerull join with Wee Jas, for example? What would be conditions in the countryside? What happens to the dead? Do they rest peacefully or rise up again to trouble the living, ala Dawn of the Dead?
Suggestions and other ideas will be greatly appreciated.
Suggestions and other ideas will be greatly appreciated.
My concept of what happens if the PCs fail to stop Kyuss is the following. He emerges from his imprisonment and would usher in an Age of Worms (thus the name). I think swarms of Kyuss Worms which can infect animals would be pretty bad. The infection spreads until all life on Oerth is harmed.
The strongest bastions against the unholy plague would be underground or in secluded areas, undersea or in a different plane altogether would be preferable for higher level folks.From these areas a plan is hatched to either 1)trap Kyuss in the God Trap beneath Castle Zagyg. With the aid of Iggwilv and Mordenkainen a hearty band of heroes lures and traps Kyuss, ending his threat...for now. or 2)Slay Kyuss' Aspect on the material plane. He has achieved true godhood, so this will only resore the balance, and send him to grovel at the feet of Nerull.
1)trap Kyuss in the God Trap beneath Castle Zagyg. With the aid of Iggwilv and Mordenkainen a hearty band of heroes lures and traps Kyuss, ending his threat...for now. or 2)Slay Kyuss' Aspect on the material plane. He has achieved true godhood, so this will only resore the balance, and send him to grovel at the feet of Nerull.
Or perhaps both....
In the process they would need to beat back the tide of dead and corrupted as well as collect some kind of vital components for the god trap. Not to mention rallying allies and the like along with some epic battles. It could work for a campaign as epic as the original Age of Worms. Keep us informed about it.
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I could see good an evil nations uniting. The good nations want to stop the slaughter. The evil nations want living subjects, not zombies that can only be controlled by one church.
I was thinking, however, that nature-oriented, neutral dieties as well as true neutral druids might actually side with Kyuss. Here is the reasoning.
Worms, in nature, break-down dead animal and plant-matter into nutrient-rich soil, which then allows for new life to spring forth. The Neutrals could see the Age of Worms as a necessary transitional phase to restore the world to a purer, more natural state.
Kyuss and his minions will spread the worm-plague, eventually killing everyone and everything and turning them into zombies. The zombies will decay and rot, and the worms will consume them. The worms will then be forced to consume each other when nothing else remains.
Kyuss will consume the life-forces of any living worshippers to sustain himself, only to realize that it was a temporary measure. With no more worhippers and no living beings to either convert or feast upon, he will diminish a fade away.
All that will be left of the material world will be nutrient rich earth and water. The Neutral Dieties of Nature will then cause things to grow anew.
Whatchya think? Too wacky?
I could see good an evil nations uniting. The good nations want to stop the slaughter. The evil nations want living subjects, not zombies that can only be controlled by one church.
I was thinking, however, that nature-oriented, neutral dieties as well as true neutral druids might actually side with Kyuss. Here is the reasoning.
Worms, in nature, break-down dead animal and plant-matter into nutrient-rich soil, which then allows for new life to spring forth. The Neutrals could see the Age of Worms as a necessary transitional phase to restore the world to a purer, more natural state.
Kyuss and his minions will spread the worm-plague, eventually killing everyone and everything and turning them into zombies. The zombies will decay and rot, and the worms will consume them. The worms will then be forced to consume each other when nothing else remains.
Kyuss will consume the life-forces of any living worshippers to sustain himself, only to realize that it was a temporary measure. With no more worhippers and no living beings to either convert or feast upon, he will diminish a fade away.
All that will be left of the material world will be nutrient rich earth and water. The Neutral Dieties of Nature will then cause things to grow anew.
Whatchya think? Too wacky?
A devoted cult under a charismatic leader could head in this direction, but I think it's a 'ends justify the means' approach which no true nature religion would tolerate. Most nature religions tend to humans who revere the old ways. When they die so does the religion.
How about a follower of Istus, 'the Lady of Fate'. A high priest or powerful worshipper could be convinced the Age of Worms is our destiny, and work to make it happen in their life time.I see Kyuss as a follower of Nerull in the Flan pantheon before apotheosis. The head of that religion is Pelor, and the main nature diety is Obad Hai 'the Shalm'. Vecna, a competitor with Kyuss, is nominally in this pantheon as well.
Another option would be to have the Ebon Triad turn into a bunch of crazed fanatics (more so than now) who believe Kyuss is really the Over God they prophesized.
Some good ideas, all.
I, too, am considering running a post-apocalyptic game featuring the Age of Worms. I DMed AoW and the PCs lost, so now it's time for them to see just what happens when they lose. I'll probably run this in 4ed, but right now I'm in the brainstorm phase...
A couple of things I am having trouble with are:
1. The Age of Worms feels very *all encompassing*. I mean, it's not just a god being reborn here, it an entire new Age coming-to-be. How does this affect the other gods? Why didn't they do more to stop the Age of Worms from happening? What stops them from fixing it now?
2. In a few years, the entire planet would be spawn of kyuss. But, that doesn't sound like something Kyuss would actually want. It's pretty hard to terrify the living and enslave them if they are all undead. I think he's smart enough to realize that his worms may be *too* effective. Or is he?
3. What does Nerull think of all this? He's the god of death right? Or is he the god of the dead?
4. What is Mak'ar's role in all this? I had a feeling that perhaps he was in some way greater than Kyuss...pulling the strings to something more vast than a mere Age of Worms on one planet. Perhaps the freeing of Tharizdun?
I actually did this once.
Kyuss brought about the Age of Worms and an undead apocalypse consumed the world. It was kind of a Final-Fantasy-Meets-Resident-Evil thing. Survival horror in the realm of D&D.
All cities had fallen except for Magepoint, which had been obscured by Manzorian with epic magic. The PCs, once they escaped the horror that Greyhawk had become, were tasked with accompanying Zeech to the new Spire of Long Shadows while Celeste and her armies distracted the undead from Alhaster. At the top of the Spire, the PCs, Zeech, Manzorian, and Agath must disjoin the monolith in order to rob Kyuss of his divine ranks and epic template. Then, they must kill him.
It turned out to be very scary and a lot of fun.
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I was thinking, however, that nature-oriented, neutral dieties as well as true neutral druids might actually side with Kyuss. Here is the reasoning.Worms, in nature, break-down dead animal and plant-matter into nutrient-rich soil, which then allows for new life to spring forth. The Neutrals could see the Age of Worms as a necessary transitional phase to restore the world to a purer, more natural state.
Kyuss and his minions will spread the worm-plague, eventually killing everyone and everything and turning them into zombies. The zombies will decay and rot, and the worms will consume them. The worms will then be forced to consume each other when nothing else remains.
All that will be left of the material world will be nutrient rich earth and water. The Neutral Dieties of Nature will then cause things to grow anew.
Whatchya think? Too wacky?
I think that idea may go to far to the ideal fo worms and their purpose in nature. First these worms don't really break-down dead material, they just infest the living and turn them into servants of Kyuss. They don't act like earth worms.
Second the balance of nature relying on so many living things to keep that balance in harmony would require that nature centered believers and deities keep some semblence of nature other than just dirt, water and air.
Finally Kyuss would take over the entire planet in my opinion, then set his eyes across the multiverse looking for his next target with his newly formed armies. What's to stop him from entering in to other prime material planes? He worked this hard to bring the AoW about in this campaign, it would only be 100 fold worse the second time.