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I have a concept that's stewing in my brain...a secret society that rises every 200-300 years and causes extreme havoc throughout a significant part of the world...sometimes are worse than others.
The root of the problem: A massively powerful godlike (think Great Old Ones ala Lovecraft) linnorm is stirring - as he reawakens over decades, a figure is reincarnated - a not quite human, though born of a human mother...he is the manifestation of Ouroboros itself. He manifests great magical power, and omens are foretold, but he usually lives to maturity, and the society steps up activities. Most members are recruited through their dreams...though a core of serpentfolk have served him for time immemorial.
The Ouroboros symbol starts showing up at strange events, usually connected to something horrific.
Some events are very much linked - the child that is the reincarnated is reborn through a dream of the linnorm...at his puberty, the events start happening so that they become noticeable, and the linnorm enters stage 3 sleep. As it enters stage 2 sleep, the reincarnated is an adult, and feeling the power grow (low level...sorcerer? magus?) and activities are stepped up. As the linnorm slips into stage 1 sleep, some years later, the reincarnated one is passing through mid levels...and the world is becoming far more chaotic. Eventually, the linnorm fully awakens, the reincarnated achieve incredible power, and the world is thrown into total chaos. The linnorm is making its way slowly through the bowels of the world, to become its master on the surface.
So far, every time, the reincarnated is killed sometime along the way, and the linnorm passes back into sleep...and the society disappears.
I have tons of things to work out...this should be something of a backdrop for a sandboxy campaign...and even the final emergence of the linnorm doesn't signal the end of the world, just a remarkably bad left turn.
Of course, other linnorms would come into the cycle...the serpentfolk...sorcerers with an Ouroboros bloodline? (needs to be worked out)...I need to figure out what the reincarnated truly is...he has powers similar to a vampire...and his class...etc...
Any ideas are welcome.
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*hoping I'll get some feedback*
The reincarnated one won't assume control of the society until he's 10th+ level...won't even understand who he is until about then...though there could be a scenario or two featuring groups within the society as they start upon their nefarious plans...one of the features I love about the concept is that the most of them know virtually nothing, having been only given information through their dreams...which they will barely remember...they're brainwashed, maybe even under geases to do particular things.
The plots should seem bizarre, only making sense as one starts to get the bigger picture...and of course, it will be a very rare and astute party that figures out that the reincarnated one isn't the absolute leader...though he is the leader in many senses...once he assumes control, the dreams will be less common, and he'll be the conduit for major things...though many cells will be 'on automatic'...
Looking at the multiple layers of what you've got going on here Eldon, I can only say, "good luck." This looks like a GM task of grimace proportions, and I do not envy you all the bookkeeping that will go along with such a thing. That said, you will probably want to look at the SGG class mighty godling. It has a bit of what it is I think you're trying to accomplish.
I like the fictional aspects here, but it seems like a daunting task to bring a campaign of this nature to its ultimate fruition.
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Looking at the multiple layers of what you've got going on here Eldon, I can only say, "good luck." This looks like a GM task of grimace proportions, and I do not envy you all the bookkeeping that will go along with such a thing. That said, you will probably want to look at the SGG class mighty godling. It has a bit of what it is I think you're trying to accomplish.
I like the fictional aspects here, but it seems like a daunting task to bring a campaign of this nature to its ultimate fruition.
Hmmm...well, what I see as its ultimate fruition is the defeat and death of the reincarnated one...putting the wyrm back into a sleep cycle. I can see this accomplished by characters of...hmmm...somewhere between 16th and 20th level, depending. It hardly ends the threat long-term, though I suppose I could set up a scenario to break the cycle, somehow...a way to keep it in slumber...
For all intents and purposes, it would be a god...perhaps of a lesser stature...at any rate, well beyond the capability of mortal men...even heroes... to vanquish.
The godling does look interesting.
That's kind of what I was talking about. You're creating an NPC with quite a bit of power, and scaling that power up as the campaign goes on. You want this NPC to be "mythic" in legend and a real world-bender before things are all said and done. In my experience when you build a campaign around one central "all-powerful" bad guy, it goes poorly. The PCs will learn of their legend early on, and devote their time to finding them. To prevent them from finding him, and killing him, before they reach appropriate levels usually requires either rail-roading or deus ex machina of a portion equal to the enemy's legend. It can work really well depending on the table, but many tables would get bored of the chase after a few "missed" encounters.
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That's kind of what I was talking about. You're creating an NPC with quite a bit of power, and scaling that power up as the campaign goes on. You want this NPC to be "mythic" in legend and a real world-bender before things are all said and done. In my experience when you build a campaign around one central "all-powerful" bad guy, it goes poorly. The PCs will learn of their legend early on, and devote their time to finding them. To prevent them from finding him, and killing him, before they reach appropriate levels usually requires either rail-roading or deus ex machina of a portion equal to the enemy's legend. It can work really well depending on the table, but many tables would get bored of the chase after a few "missed" encounters.
Actually, no. He won't be a known in the campaign until he's of decent levels. Secret societies aren't out in the open...and one of this nature will have protections against even magical scrying. Even if they met him younger, they'd have no reason to suspect him as being anything but perhaps another sorcerer...and not an evil one, even. A lot of characters 'scale up as the campaign goes on'...they just aren't encountered until the appropriate time.
That requires no deus ex machina...or railroading.
Then again, this is hardly a campaign 'built around on central "all powerful" bad guy', either. He's not at all meant to be "all powerful"...his previous incarnations have all been killed off, after all...and he's not utterly central, either. In a good sandbox game, any number of plots might be happening. This would just be one of the nastier ones, largely meant to be a mystery, and unlikely to be fully unraveled by the end of the campaign.
I've run several campaigns where, after it was over, I'd sit down and explain what the players never discovered...it's really something of a bad habit of mine.
No...if they uncover enough of it to find him, it'll be when he's a high enough level to be an interesting and significant encounter...of course, his main goal would be survival, and he'd have contingency escape plans...but if they do kill him, that just ends that plotline.
Which brings in the bookkeeping part I was talking about. Whether he's a central character or not, you have to keep track of this bad guy as the campaign goes on, even if they haven't met him yet. Keep track of the movings of a secret society, even if they haven't interacted with it yet. That's a lot of keeping track of things that aren't directly affecting the PCs in a campaign. Like I said earlier, I wish you luck. I'm not saying it doesn't sound like a fantastic idea. It does, but I don't have the time on my hands necessary to either get it going, or keep tabs on secret parts of a campaign world. I have enough trouble keeping tabs on the parts of a campaign that are affecting the characters. Perhaps that's a failing of mine. I do wish you luck with this. It could be extremely fun for all involved. It's just not something I'd ever want try and undertake.
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Which brings in the bookkeeping part I was talking about. Whether he's a central character or not, you have to keep track of this bad guy as the campaign goes on, even if they haven't met him yet. Keep track of the movings of a secret society, even if they haven't interacted with it yet. That's a lot of keeping track of things that aren't directly affecting the PCs in a campaign. Like I said earlier, I wish you luck. I'm not saying it doesn't sound like a fantastic idea. It does, but I don't have the time on my hands necessary to either get it going, or keep tabs on secret parts of a campaign world. I have enough trouble keeping tabs on the parts of a campaign that are affecting the characters. Perhaps that's a failing of mine. I do wish you luck with this. It could be extremely fun for all involved. It's just not something I'd ever want try and undertake.
You don't really have to 'keep track' of the secret societies...just think of their goals, and introduce scenarios that incorporate them. If you've never used secret societies in a game before, they make coming up with scenario material a lot easier! :)
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This thread (and the eternal return of devastation theme I read in it) reminded me fondly of one of the most excellent short stories I ever read (in comic book format).
A young guy walks on the sidewalk and comes close to one of those apocalyptic end of the world homeless guys. But this time, when the homeless sees him, he shouts at the young guy : "You are the one. Through you the Lord will destroy this world".
Later that night, the young guy wakes up in the night and goes at his windows. He looks at the stars and one of them becomes larger and larger.
Next image, still in a city, but another setting, like having recovered from a huge catastrophe. The young guy is still there, but now he is the homeless guy warning all about the next coming of his Lord.
Your point about the central NPC prophesied to end the world also reminded me of the great Damien : The Omen movies. Especially the second one, where a teenage Damien is torn between his destiny (ie, the Ultimate Evil) and his feelings (average nice boy).
Maybe your NPC has doubts about his fate. Maybe he wants nothing to do with it. He could even ask the PCs' help when he hears about them. And maybe it is in fact the PC's actions that push him to embrace his fate. Which clearly makes stopping him the PCs' duty.