D&D turned up to 11.

I'm a veteran DM of a homebrew that I ran for about ten years. Then I got married and had kids. Now, I'm back and running a new game and a new campaign world.

We go once a month, and we're only a few sessions in. It's a 3.5 game. The basic premise of the world is D&D turned up to 11.

So far they've had the classic start of fighting goblins. In this case, a goblin cult called the Cult of the Bygone Beasts. They basically, summon weird magical beast in an effort to drive the world into chaos. Also involved in the cult was a green hag and a barghest.

Next, came a surprise dragon fight. Because, who throws their 6th level PCs at a green dragon immediately after fighting a goblin cult trying to summon a displacer beast?

Now, they're in a mage run city with an overall LN/LE government.

O.k., that's the background. My question is, what classic D&D tropes would you want to experience if you were in a game that was intended to be as pure and over the top a D&D experience as possible?

So far, my long term plan is to give the PC's an evil artifact, possibly the Hand/Eye/both of Vecna, which they will need to destroy while in a parallel plot the cult tries to summon the Tarrasque. Do they stop the summoning or let it happen so they can use the beast to destroy the artifact?

But there's a lot of space between 6th level and 20th and I need help. Any thoughts?

Beholders, Mind flayers, Rust monsters, oh my!

Sounds like a fun game.

Scantily clad virgin princesses in need of rescue.

Tomb of Horrors plus Drizzt & Wulfgar plus Evil Drow manipulating Kuo-Toa and Hill, Fire, & Frost Giants.

Also, make sure there is a City-State of the Invincible Overlord somewhere.

Finally, make sure there is an invasion by barbarians who worship Chaos.

Dungeon chambers with movable statues.

Secret doors.

Clever riddles and obscure prophesies that need to be fulfilled.

The Black Knight blocking a bridge.

What do you mean turned up to 11? What is being turned up? I get somehow you want the "game" to be but that isn't much to work on. Are you asking for over the top mechanics, spells, NPCs, items, settings, what?

Beyond that, your ideas seem fine but see if they can gain the power of the HEAD of Vecna!~~

Tovec said:

What do you mean turned up to 11?

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The intensity of the campaign, I suppose. Of course, the units of campaign intensity are arbitrary anyways, so why he doesn't make "11" the new "10" is beyond me.

Spinal Tap reference.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrVCjnRdB_k&feature=youtube_gdata_player]These Go To 11... | This Is Spinal Tap | Classic Clips - YouTube[/ame]

Dandu said:

The intensity of the campaign, I suppose. Of course, the units of campaign intensity are arbitrary anyways, so why he doesn't make "11" the new "10" is beyond me.

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Dandu, I have just not seen enough of you lately since I've been haunting the 5e boards.

No, my point is that I don't know what he wants us to turn up to 11. The intensity of the campaign is subjective to say the least and doesn't give us anywhere to start. Not to mention that what is 11 to us might be a 4.5 to him. Plus we don't know what to be focusing on. If he thinks that he needs to boost his magic items then I'm sure we can suggest ways of getting there - from suggesting higher level gear or more money or even coming up with new artifacts for him to use. But that information is useless if he wants spicier kingdoms, with true moral quandaries and racist elves and whatnot. I want to know what he wants up to 11. Give us examples or a direction to go with. I've noticed that people on ENworld are VERY creative if given the chance but we just need to know what he wants to do beyond "turn the game up to 11".

If you are going for the Traditional Every Game has them type battles then I agree with Marley, you need a Drow Invasion...Possibly a Lich thrown in there, some big Giant Ambushes and they should most certainly summon the Tarrasque to destroy the evil artifacts, but then I would run..lol