I'm out of ideas

[kolikeos]

So the party of adventurers (9th-11th level) is going to search a swampy area about the size of half the continent for a group of evil wizards bent on world domination. The swamps are filled with monsters and the only civilizations there are villages of evil humanoids. There are a few human towns and one city near the north of the swamps, the adventurers will probably start from one of those.

And damn if I know where to go from here... I'm really desperate for ideas.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Obergnom]

Hmm,

grab a lot of interessting swampy monsters for "random" encounters, let them find a clue (like the rotten cadaver of a human who might have worked for the wizards)

They might use magic to find something out about this cadaver or they might not.

If they do, use the cadaver to point them closer to the wizards base, if not, wait and see what they do, try to give them other clues.

The wizards might have enslaved several of the evil humanoid tribes. They might even send in their troops to gather "raw material" for their experiments.

I think this is a good scenario to play "sandbox style" ... instead of thinking about what will happen next, decide what happens in the swamp, connect most of it in some way to the wizards or their base (There might be a black dragon in the swamp who happens to know where the base is, because his lair is next to it. The wizards first tried to control him, and then drove him away after that failed. He will start an encounter with a "You are working for them? Now die!" ...)
etc.

 

[Numion]

Rip off one old Dungeon adventure where some evil dudes were drying a swamp for cultivation etc.. That didn't sit well with the species living in the swamp. Maybe that's one way to go. There's stuff living in the swamps (evil & non-evil), and the wizzies are drying out the swamp.

Involve players in some goodly swamp dwellers battle for survival. In return they can recruit allies to fight the wizards.

 

[Doug McCrae]

"After many months of fruitless searching in the Black Marsh, you finally find a clue to the location of your quarry."

It's also traditional in these situations for the bad guys to send assassins after the PCs because they're 'getting too close'. An astral stalker (CR 12) from MM3 would be CR appropriate.

You could have some humanoids in the marsh serving a different evil master (a demon prince? a chuul overlord? a hag?) who are opposed to the wizards. They could form an uneasy alliance with the PCs.

 

[Mallus]

Here's an observation: half a continent + scattered civilization + random swamp encounters with plot-inconsequential monsters = boredom.

Try this on for size: the half-continent is currently the site of a brutal war between humanoid cultures, making heavy use of evil shamans and big charmed swamp monsters.

The cabal is using the conflict as a shield. They are hiding at the center of it, and it poses no threat to them. In fact, the PC's can discover evidence that they are behind it, using it initially to keep outsiders out of their territory, with the later plan to usurp control of both sides and magically weld them into an army (after the war produces an ample supply pf veteran combatants). Perhaps the warring humanoids worship the same demon god, and their conflict is just a religious schism --orchestrated by the cabal who plan on making the 'demon god' appear when it most suits their purposes.

How's that?

 

[diaglo]

needle in a haystack.

throw in plenty of disease checks.
and rusting of weapons.
ruining pages of spellbooks.
etc...


who wants to go trudging thru a swamp. day after day after day.

it is messy work.

 

[darthkilmor]

So the party of adventurers (9th-11th level) is going to search a swampy area about the size of half the continent for a group of evil wizards bent on world domination. The swamps are filled with monsters and the only civilizations there are villages of evil humanoids. There are a few human towns and one city near the north of the swamps, the adventurers will probably start from one of those.

And damn if I know where to go from here... I'm really desperate for ideas.
Thanks in advance.

A huge area with little civilization says "druids!" to me. Maybe the party comes upon a low-level druid fighting one of those random swamp monsters. PC's to the rescue, a little chit-chat and the druid takes them to a druid conclave or village or something. Head druid offers party assistance and great reward to rid the swamp of evil wizards, and they just happen to have magic trees for teleporting around near different towns/ruins/whatever that the low-level druid can operate. PC's get a relatively vulnerable companion they have to protect in order to use the teleporting stuff. That takes some of the drudgery out of "you travel for 6 days. you fight 5 random monsters." since they now have a network to zip around this huge land mass.

Also sounds like its ripe for having a ruined city/dungeons-type locations, kind of myth drannor-y that the PC's can go dungeon-delving in.

Another stupid idea, land is swampy because of a mad wizard that created a multitude of say,greater decanters of endless water. PC's can chose to try and locate and stop these to help the swamp return to the wonderful land of fertile valleys it once was. Maybe each one is feeding a large lake and once turned off the lake empties to reveal a city/town at the bottom.

 

[Halivar]

Huge swamp. No civilization. I'm thinking a black dragon. Or a green one. Or both. Maybe they're at war, and using humanoids as proxies. The players inadvertently stumble into it. But our dragons are smart, see? They know the PC's are more powerful than ten-times their number in humanoid yard-trash. So they both attempt to "persuade" the PC's to aid their cause against their mortal enemy (with a carrot and stick approach, "I'll perhaps give you treasure and perhaps not eat you."), with the desired end result of both ruling the entire swamp and eating the party.

 

[exile]

I'm thinking war between humanoids from different villages. One of the villages approaches the PCs for help with raiding the other village. In return, they could share some information about the whereabouts of the wizards...or their humanoid employers could even betray them to the wizards (ideally right after raiding the other village so that the party's resources are somewhat depleted).

Chad

 

[Stormborn]

Huge swamp. No civilization. I'm thinking a black dragon. Or a green one. Or both. Maybe they're at war, and using humanoids as proxies. The players inadvertently stumble into it. But our dragons are smart, see? They know the PC's are more powerful than ten-times their number in humanoid yard-trash. So they both attempt to "persuade" the PC's to aid their cause against their mortal enemy (with a carrot and stick approach, "I'll perhaps give you treasure and perhaps not eat you."), with the desired end result of both ruling the entire swamp and eating the party.

Ditto. Black and green dragons, and large numbers of dragonspawn, half-dragons, etc. Barbarian tirbes led by dragon shaman holy men.

To make this interesting have what appears to be a vast uncivilized wasteland turn out ot be rife with life and society, just different than what the PCs are used to.

Forestlord elves, with green dragon blood, live in a hidden metropolis made of living buildings, plants shaped over generations to serve as buildings.

Dryad oligarchies rule over fey kingdoms and their druid allies.

Ruined cities, destroyed in the war between the dragons and consumed by the swamp their war created, are filled with restless undead. Maybe even a city of ghosts that continues to function as if it were real via Ghostwalk campaign rules.

Gateways to elemental planes of plants and water provide swift passage for those willing to use them as dangerous short cuts.

Lost expiditions from major universities beg the PCs for help finding a way home.

Awakened ancient cypruss groves, all a single entity, with levels in sorcerer can be a deadly trap or can aid helpful PCs who take the time to learn to communicate.

A crashed mindflayer astral ship is filled with the desperate and starving remains of the crew and an escaped band of thralls that war with them.

Big empty lands have lots and lots to do in them, and a swamp can limit how much one group knows about another.