D&D 4E my new 4e campaign world

[Duckforceone]

I once last year had to come up with a campaign world, we could play on with a moments notice. It proved to be a setting that i actually have come to find interesting enough, that i now want to flesh it out, and build it up.

The whole idea, started with a campaign world, that gave a somewhat western setting. Lots of barren land, villages were small fortified towns, with heavily guarded caravans running between them.

Then came the story, that the world had less than 2 years left to live in. A huge star, was getting closer and closer, heating up the world, making it barren.

all the major powers in the world, got together to try and stop it, but found that what they tried did not work. So they took the escape plan, opened a big portal, and moved all the rich and powerful with their armies through the portal. Then the portal exploded due to sabotage, killing all these people.

Leaving only the poor on this world turning bad. Seing all these empty main cities, all the monsters moved in and started to multiply due to them not being kept down anymore.

This left all the remaining humans, to be left to band together in small strongholds, trying to dig deep shelters to be ready for the immense heat.

This is where the players start, a small band, having no home, roving around trying to do some good. They start of doing small tasks for the local populations, getting to know the land and their powers.

Then last night i got a great idea to make this story epic.

After the players have run a few levels or more of these quests, they stumble upon a clue as to what is causing this star to come closer.

At this time, i supply them with a lvl 20 epic character, made over their lower level one. They find themselves into the future on the planet. It turns out it's not a star that's approaching, but actually a form of hell. As it hit, the entire planet was turned into a version of hell, and almost everything on the surface died, turning the planet into a burned out husk.

A few humans survived, and also some monsters. These now strive daily to survive, against all the demons that have flooded the world and are growing in power.

all the gods, are made mortal along with their angels and minions, and these are now the last bastions against the demons. The players awake, not knowhing what has gone on between the old days and now. They get told the story by one of the mortal gods, and get's told they have been brought into the future, so they can rescue the planet in the past. They are also told that whatever they do in the past, can and will change the future.

They now have to go on missions in the future, to discover clues. After a day in the future, they get shifted back into their own bodies, and now have to solve the first clue they found in the future. But solve it in the past, before the event comes to pass.

This goes on for 12 clues, 12 items that are actually calling the hell to the planet.

They have to discover their locations, and what they look like in the future, and then send out their old selves to destroy them.

On the last clue, which is the center piece, the last item is so heavily guarded, that the players have to sacrifice themselves to get a glimpse of the item, so they can take the knowledge home with them. There is no way to escape certain death in the future to get a glimpse of it, and it will require some sacrifices just to get near it.

Once discovered, they can get back to their own time, and try to destroy the final item

This should prove a lengthy story, with some interesting twists.

The feel i wanted of the future hell, is one a bit like the future visions from terminator, just substituted with demons walking around, and epic characters lying side by side with angels in trenches, trying to stay hidden before a fast strike.


phew turned out to quite a text....

now what i could use, is critique, ideas and a name for the campaign, and the planet...

 

[Greatwyrm]

I think this is a pretty neat idea. Here's a few things you may want to keep in mind.

Any time you put players on a clock, 2 years in your case, they'll do their best to find any possible shortcuts. More than usual. Expect them to cheat you out of some really good fights at least a couple times. As a DM, there's a real temptation to put a "hidden guardian" at the item for one last gasp. It's okay once in a while, but if they come up with something really clever, hand one to them. Not every time, but at least once.

Second, you're basically dealing with time-travel. There's a lot of danger for you that comes with that. Somehow you need to rig it so that the prophecy/ritual only stops if all 12 items are captured or destroyed. Also, be sure the whole deal only works with flashbacks (or flashforwards (?)). If they ever get a chance to change past events, the wheels will come off this in a hurry, unless you've got some really strong cosmology to back it up.

Next, don't be afraid to give out treasure. You're kind of going apocolyptic here and that generally makes you think of a setting being resource poor. The thing is, it's not really the apocolypse yet for your guys. It's really just a bad evacuation. People leave stuff behind when they leave in a hurry. Monsters pick up stuff and hoard it. Adventurers kill monsters and take their stuff. I wouldn't mess with that part of the game.

Finally, you're going to have a tough time reconciling one thing with the backstory. All the coolest people in the world tried to save it and failed. Why? How are a bunch of farm kids that should have just gone to Toschey Station and picked up their dang power converters going to stop the Death Star? Somehow you have to find a reasonable thing for them to discover that somehow all the Elminster/Drizzt types missed the first time around. I don't have any really good ideas for that right now, but I'd put that on your list of things to think over.

Hope any of that helps.