When I GM a homebrew I try to go all out so when I decided to take a break after my current campaign ends I started plans to build my new campaign while I'm on GMing vacation.
Right now I'm asking for suggestions on how to make this plot work and what kind of setting to build around it.
The basic plot is pretty much ripped from an old Playstation one game called Threads of Fate. There is a frontier mining town surrounded by ruins from two ancient civilizations who destroyed each other in a magical war. Evidence suggest that somewhere in the area is a relic that could grant wishes.
Details I'm planning:
Gargoyles from the ruins are alive and grant clues/boons in exchange for favors based on the facility that they used to guard. Half are looking for mates so there's a matchmaker angle going on that opens up more clues.
At least three other factions searching for the same wish-mcguffin. One being a humanoid monster of some sort who has been committing countless murders across the land to get to this point. Partially there to give some PCs something to chase besides a mcguffin. Another faction is just a rival party of adventurers(who are all Blue/Gary from pokemon levels of being twerps). I don't know what the third faction should be.
Npcs that have distracting side stories and problems for adventurers to solve in exchange for clues and boons.
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That's pretty much it. I'm trying to think of a fitting setting to set the mood. I thought of Golarion but it seems too crowded and easy to metagame the mystery. Also we're playing Rise of the Runelords before that so I wanted to move away from Golarion for a campaign.
I also had half a mind to mix up the race selection and probably the class selection (I have a growing collection of third party classes/races) But my first thought was to go core races and generic setting to make things easier to digest since I'm making a complicated scenario.
I plan to map out the ENTIRE town since it's the main base of operations and they are unlikely (not supposed) to leave the town other than to go to nearby dungeons/ruins/woodlands considering that the nearest town would be weeks away.
I plan for the campain to not go past lvl 12 and 'level by plot' with plenty of opportunities for downtime.
I'd really love some ideas or suggestions to really make this campaign pop, especially since I have nearly a year to plan this.