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So recently I have had a neat idea for a new campaign that the main goal of the PCs is to prevent an apocalypse of sorts from happening after it has already happened, through a sort of plot-driven time travel. After much consideration, I decided to place it in Golarion, but while I am reasonably familiar with the setting, I am far from a master of the Golarion mythos.
So, my question to you fellow Paizo message board goers is this: What are the best ways to destroy Golarion? Either locations or "current" events that have something potentially destructive going on or powerful individuals and organisations that might have destructive motives on mind.
Any other ideas would be greatly welcomed too.
Now, I am already thinking about doing something with the Worldwound as well as doing something with the whole Geb/Nex/Alkenstar/Mana Wastes situation, and if anyone has any ideas as to those as well, that'd be greatly appreciated.
So recently I have had a neat idea for a new campaign that the main goal of the PCs is to prevent an apocalypse of sorts from happening after it has already happened, through a sort of plot-driven time travel. After much consideration, I decided to place it in Golarion, but while I am reasonably familiar with the setting, I am far from a master of the Golarion mythos.
So, my question to you fellow Paizo message board goers is this: What are the best ways to destroy Golarion? Either locations or "current" events that have something potentially destructive going on or powerful individuals and organisations that might have destructive motives on mind.
Any other ideas would be greatly welcomed too.Now, I am already thinking about doing something with the Worldwound as well as doing something with the whole Geb/Nex/Alkenstar/Mana Wastes situation, and if anyone has any ideas as to those as well, that'd be greatly appreciated.
Freeing Rovagug would be the simplest (if not easiest) way. His stated agenda if he's ever freed is something like:
1) Destroy everything between himself and Sarenrae.2) Destroy Sarenrae.
3) Destroy everything else.
So recently I have had a neat idea for a new campaign that the main goal of the PCs is to prevent an apocalypse of sorts from happening after it has already happened, through a sort of plot-driven time travel. After much consideration, I decided to place it in Golarion, but while I am reasonably familiar with the setting, I am far from a master of the Golarion mythos.
So, my question to you fellow Paizo message board goers is this: What are the best ways to destroy Golarion? Either locations or "current" events that have something potentially destructive going on or powerful individuals and organisations that might have destructive motives on mind.
Any other ideas would be greatly welcomed too.Now, I am already thinking about doing something with the Worldwound as well as doing something with the whole Geb/Nex/Alkenstar/Mana Wastes situation, and if anyone has any ideas as to those as well, that'd be greatly appreciated.
Freeing Rovagug would be the simplest (if not easiest) way. His stated agenda if he's ever freed is something like:
1) Destroy everything between himself and Sarenrae.
2) Destroy Sarenrae.
3) Destroy everything else.
When he eats Sarenrae have the sun die... nothing like having the sun bleed out of existence and then become a black-hole of despair and futility and pain.
Out of the black hole have the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse ride destroying the other planets in the solar system.
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So recently I have had a neat idea for a new campaign that the main goal of the PCs is to prevent an apocalypse of sorts from happening after it has already happened, through a sort of plot-driven time travel. After much consideration, I decided to place it in Golarion, but while I am reasonably familiar with the setting, I am far from a master of the Golarion mythos.
So, my question to you fellow Paizo message board goers is this: What are the best ways to destroy Golarion? Either locations or "current" events that have something potentially destructive going on or powerful individuals and organisations that might have destructive motives on mind.
Any other ideas would be greatly welcomed too.Now, I am already thinking about doing something with the Worldwound as well as doing something with the whole Geb/Nex/Alkenstar/Mana Wastes situation, and if anyone has any ideas as to those as well, that'd be greatly appreciated.
Freeing Rovagug would be the simplest (if not easiest) way. His stated agenda if he's ever freed is something like:
1) Destroy everything between himself and Sarenrae.
2) Destroy Sarenrae.
3) Destroy everything else.When he eats Sarenrae have the sun die... nothing like having the sun bleed out of existence and then become a black-hole of despair and futility and pain.
Out of the black hole have the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse ride destroying the other planets in the solar system.
Wow. Okay. Prefer the "go big or go home" philosophy, I suppose?
It's hard to have an Apocalypse on Golarion without involving The God of The Apocalypse, somehow.
My favorite option? Eox, the Dead Planet. Have a bunch of space liches start hurling asteroids at Golarion. Or have them enact a great magical ritual to bring their dead planet into the same orbit at Golarion, causing enormous chaos. That destruction might do something like, say, free Rovagug from his prison...
You just totally gave me an awesome idea for a myth-arc where Daemons come from space with Eoxian archliches to wakeup the Whispering Tyrant and kill the planet.
It would be like John Carter of Mars meets LOTR meets World War Z meets Flash Gordon meets Blackest Night.
You just totally gave me an awesome idea for a myth-arc where Daemons come from space with Eoxian archliches to wakeup the Whispering Tyrant and kill the planet.
It would be like John Carter of Mars meets LOTR meets World War Z meets Flash Gordon meets Blackest Night.
Where do I sign up????
Don't forget Proteans swarming the univers from the Maelstrom, shattering the Axis and using Groetus as a bowling ball wracking boundaries of planes and releasing ultimate KaeYoss, I mean Chaos...
All of that sends my plot into a spiral of sorrow.
The previously dead god of humanity stirs and wakes, controlled by some "DARK FORCE" as an undead god / god shard / thingie. His plan to elevate humanity has taken a "DARK TWIST" and will unfold through the eradication of all non-human life that stands in the way. Elves, dwarves, gnomes, dragons... if it will not bend it will be broken.
Yeah. Because RPG plot hooks so often revolve around "save the world", Golarion has a lot of built in apocolypses, both for Paizo to mine in the future, and to inspire home campaigns such as yours. Some of these only wreck part of the world, but badly enough that it would still be a major cataclysm. So, options:
1) Free Rovagug.
2) Destroy the Mendevian Wardstones and allow the Worldwound to consume the planet.
3) Groetus is supposed to be the God of the End Times, but no one is sure how. Draw his attention.
4) The Four Horsemen are named for the apocolypse. They wreck up the place.
The following are spoilered because they are the center point of various APs:
2) The Drow cause a second Starfall, and thus a second Age of Darkness.
3) The Denizens of Leng invade the material plane.
4) Kazavon returns.
So, looking in your spoiler tag Ross...number 1 is actually a plot for an adventure path? I'm assuming upcoming, or did I miss something?
So, looking in your spoiler tag Ross...number 1 is actually a plot for an adventure path? I'm assuming upcoming, or did I miss something?
Adventure Path spoilers:
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This is the year spring never came.
The days never got any longer after the solstice.
There are reports that far, far to the south summer never left. It is getting dry there.
And it is impossible to plant in most of the north.
There are reports of frenzied activity in Irrisien, rumors that Baba Yaga seems to be silent.
Famine stalks the land. Children cry and weep when they see the moon, saying that there is a "terrible face" in it now. The phenomenon is widespread but no adult can see anything of the sort.
Fear and terror are everywhere. Normal everyday folk proclaim it to be the end of the world, possessed by some strange compulsion to shout the news incessantly in public places. No pattern can be discerned about persons affected by this compulsion.
Fey, particularly evil ones, seem to be everywhere, even in places where they were seldom seen previously. It is as though what ever barrier existed between their realm and Golarion is almost nonexistent now.
Sailors report that a mysterious "dome" with writhing tentacles as long as 10 ships laid stem to stern is proceeding at a an invariate speed towards Absalom. At times the "dome" seems to be higher or lower as it proceeds, occasionally it disappears, but then appears again a league or two closer to Absalom.
No one seems to know what is going on. No divination or appeal to a deity reveals any information about what the events mean.
One day 6 strangers mysteriously appear outside the Temple of the Starstone in Absalom. Their garb is outlandish, and the armor and weapons several of them possess are of curious design. Though they appear to be members of races common to Golarion, they seem confused by their new surroundings and speak no language known to any in Absalom.
A mage who can cast the tongues spell is quickly sent to speak with them...
I'd love to play in that.
Succubus invasion. Sure everyone dies, but they die with a smile on their face. ;)
Since French (suposedly) call it "small death", succubus invasion certainly would earn name as "big death".
Also, it would be cosmic amount of temporary hp to burn...
"Sire, about that new 'moon' that appeared. Well it's no moon..."
So, looking in your spoiler tag Ross...number 1 is actually a plot for an adventure path? I'm assuming upcoming, or did I miss something?Adventure Path spoilers:
** spoiler omitted **
k thanks. I was afraid of that. Not that I don't like what I've seen of that particular adventure path...I was just hoping there was going to be a whole AP devoted to the subject...
This is the way the world ends.
This is the way the world ends.
This is the way the world ends.
Not w... You actually expected me to tell you? You expected the truth? From me? From me of all entities? Tsk tsk. That's not how I play this game. Even if I'm not invested in this reality in the slightest. But invested or not, I'm trapped here in my little wandering demiplane. And regardless of which way it does in fact end, I intend to be free so that I can watch as it happens and cackle as it does. Regardless of how it ends, I want you all to suffer.
in our current game wecwerevtrying to getbto thevcitybof gold in gating. when wevarrived it was in flames demons and devils were fightingover the remains and the moon had changed to a skull . think someone turned the freaky to stone.
so I think this means ourvdm has shown growths, and with the nemesis well implied the possibility of rovagug..
Demolish it to make way for a hyperspace bypass.
You could demolish it with Vogon poetry..... Resistance is useless
"Vogon poetry is the third worst in the Universe. The second worst is that of the Azgoths of Kria. During a recitation by their Poet Master Grunthos the Flatulent, of his poem, Ode to a Small Lump of Green Putty I Found in My Armpit One Midsummer Morning, four of his audience members died of internal hemorrhaging, and the president of the Mid-Galactic Arts Nobbling Council, survived by gnawing one of his own legs off... The very worst poetry in the universe died along with its creator, Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings of Sussex... in the destruction of the planet Earth."
Rip it apart atom by atom.
Might sound time-consuming, but the Cerulean Void is into the Bespoke Trade, and time is of no concern if it's part of what you are about to wipe out.
Oh, go with something a little more insidious.
Aroden died, right? And Pharasma, goddess of prophecy and death, never said anything about it to her prophets, causing them to go mad and gibbering.
Except for one, who glimpsed the awful truth: The death of Aroden was just the first death, for the next death shall be Pharasma. And with strange eons, even death may die? Yep, when Pharasma dies, the world will be overrun win undead.
The manner in which the Lady of Graves will die is elegant in its simplicity: She knows what every creature's appointed hour is. If that creature misses its appointed hour, due to becoming undead, or having its soul trapped--such as in one of the Final Blades of Galt--then that counts as a black mark against her, and the Lady of Graves dies just a little. Once too many appointments are missed, her reason for being is undone and death dies. Indeed, she ceases to be as if she never was, and the world will be overrun with undead.
And as the mad prophet writes, all it's going to take is one extra pogrom in Galt, feeding the Final Blades the few thousand extra souls they need to undo Pharasma....
Mhar awakens...
Sets the alarm clock an aeon ahead, and turns around.
Mhar awakens...
Possibly Mhar awakens, possibly Dark Elves find the secrets of Master Glyphs, or Intellect Devourers under Sandpoint start puppetteering their enslaved sleepers all over the face of Golarion...
maybe a strange man unearths himself, calling his power from Iomedae's portfolio
and the four horsemen start their ride
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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The last priest of Aroden forges the last sword he'll make, channelling all the rage and frsutration, not just of himself, but of all those affected by the loss of their god, into the metal. As he passes into Pharasma's judgement, he brings this blade with him. Plunging the pain and hatred into an impartial goddess' breast wipes his existence from reality.
Pharasma's death cries draw Groetus to her, for she is the one he's meant to consume finally. The shock of her death and his love is such to drive all her priests mad. They increase the harvest of souls to try to call her back from oblivion, but the echos of their actions reverberate across the planes.
And somewere in the Garundi jungles, a prison cracks...
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From a GM standpoint, it really depends on what you imagine as the final encounter. A demigod? A powerful mortal?
I would think that if some high level cleric of Rovagug or Groetus were intent on destroying the world, they wouldn't rely on just ONE thing to do it. They would try and eliminate the wardstones around the Worldwound, while at the same time looking at ways of rejuvenating the Tarrasque. This is cloaked by their organizing the Gorilla King to lay waste to the Mwangi Expanse and assisting the Drow in some major campaign against another region of the world by supplying artifacts stolen by the Aspis consortium.
All of these things separately COULD be stopped by APL appropriate party, but if they come together at the same time, then the world is screwed. And depending on what level you are starting the campaign at, you could have them help prevent this intricate plot at all stages. Preventing the local cult of Rovagug from acquiring artifacts, intercepting missives and plans sent to the Drow or Gorilla King, discovering the secret to overloading the wardstones or negating their effects, a portion of the ritual needed to awaken the Spawn or a map detailing their location. These are all potentially low level missions that could grow more difficult pretty quickly.
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The D&D 3.5 "Elder Evils" book was all about apocalyptic threats. It had a lot of useful ideas for foreshadowing the end of the world.
My particular favorite idea was the one that flooded the world with more and more positive energy. Death by too much life.
In the words of Tregard "Oooh, Nasty"
(+100 to anyone who gets that last reference :))
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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The D&D 3.5 "Elder Evils" book was all about apocalyptic threats. It had a lot of useful ideas for foreshadowing the end of the world.
My particular favorite idea was the one that flooded the world with more and more positive energy. Death by too much life.
In the words of Tregard "Oooh, Nasty"
(+100 to anyone who gets that last reference :))
Sounds like Marvel's 'Cancerverse'
Temporal disruption imminent!
The D&D 3.5 "Elder Evils" book was all about apocalyptic threats. It had a lot of useful ideas for foreshadowing the end of the world.
My particular favorite idea was the one that flooded the world with more and more positive energy. Death by too much life.
In the words of Tregard "Oooh, Nasty"
(+100 to anyone who gets that last reference :))
Nightmare? Oh boy.
100 points back attcha if you can get my 80's reference. Should be easy.
I'd go with guns, myself.
The knowledge of how to make firearms of Alkenstar starts crossing the world and being taught to blacksmiths. The massive demand for self-defense makes only the most strict nations able to prevent the upsurge in sales from decreasing the costs of the weapons. Obsessed with magic and religion, governments across the world realize far too late what might happen if serfs start having access to guns for self-defense and rebellion. Without a need for adventuring parties to handle any but the most dangerous of tasks, within a generation the world is bereft of heroes and villains of the traditional type. And while nations scramble to control popular unrest without the invaluable human resources provided by roving bands of good, neutral and evil adventuring parties, they turn to Alkenstar's artillery to compensate and gain advantages over their enemies.
Meanwhile, in a world riven by a 100 Years War, Alkenstar's other inventions in the fields engineering, alchemy and metallurgy spread along with its trade caravans. In its wake, modernity spreads. Faith in magic and the gods declines as Science's star is ascendant. With fewer and fewer cure spells and utility magic, the need for even more scientific advances draws more and more investment of time, manpower and resources. That one of the few remaining adventuring groups discovered super-resilient plant seeds in a pyramid beyond time in Osirion filled in the one gap in the Alkenstar century remains a bitter irony to historian nostalgic for an era of Myth and Magic.
And that is how The World Ends as a new modern world of Guns, Germs and Steel begins.
Not all apocalypses have to end the world. Some end the world as we know it.