Hypothetical: What would your Ultimate (and Final) D&D Campaign Look Like?

[Mercurius]

Thinking about campaign planning for 5E gave me the idea for this thread. The question--and challenge--is this: Imagine the following scenario. For whatever reason (doesn't matter) you are only going to plan and run one more full D&D campaign, then (for whaever reason) you're done with D&D. What would that campaign look like?

Some general (soft) guidelines:
*Preferably starts at level 1 and spans at least 10 levels, hopefully 20 or more - a "full" campaign
*Shouldn't take more than a year (probably somewhere in the 20-50 session range)
*Give us a sense of different episodes or chapters
*Include major villains, monsters, quests, locations, adventure types, etc - even if just in broad strokes
*Any edition

That's about it. I think one way to look at is to ask: what campaign haven't you run that you've always wanted to run? And/or, what sort of campaign would combine all, or as many of, your favorite aspects of D&D?

Have fun! I look forward to seeing the creative minds of ENWorld at work!

 

[Ahnehnois]

The Big Picture: I'd be going for an apocalyptic multiverse-spanning war that brings the campaign world in the end, with a love story buried underneath.

To start, I'd be running several low-level sessions very possibly with some of the characters completely separate. I'd focus on the normal ups and downs of their nonadventuring lives, waiting at least a session or two before even working in the most oblique hints at cosmic conflict.

I'd then slowly start getting the PCs together, trying to work in some organic concordance of events based on their backstories. As they hit mid levels, there would start to be ominous, but fairly nonspecific signs. A powerful NPC would be introduced as an ally, and the NPC would start discovering the foundations of the war to come, and would start preparing the PCs. I'd probably get this started and then throw in a time jump to get them to the higher levels.

When they hit double digits or so, I'd start breaking the world apart. Strife would hit their hometowns, acquaintances would be murdered by extraplanar assassins, disasters and conflicts would emerge on a broad political level. The PCs would then have a few sessions of trying to save individual people, and would hopefully with the help of their mentor NPC start to realize that they were shoveling water out of a sinking ship.

At the higher levels, various factions and pieces of the puzzle would start to emerge, and the PCs would get their chance to pick sides in the final conflict. They'd start really feeling like heroes; the common folk would be in awe of their deeds, but the players themselves would feel the weight of a conflict much bigger than them.

Finally, a massive, orgiastic battle between all the major powers of the campaign setting would ensue, and the PCs would take part in it, all the while looking head on at the headlights at the end of the tunnel, as the collapse of their universe would become apparent. After the battle, the PCs (hoping I have the right ones for this) would get a moment alone before basking in the blaze of the world's end.

And then of course, we'd go off and find something more productive to do with our lives than play make-believe...

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

It starts and runs through all of the classic D&D adventure modules -- say T1-4, I3-5, I6, S2, GDQ1-7, then S1.

Then, as it transitions to Epic levels, the PCs end the Bloodwar and clear the planes, depopulating Deities & Demigods in alphabetical order.

 

[Evenglare]

Starts with a raid on the village by a dragon and ends with some sort of epic planar spanning campaign topped off with killing said dragon.

 

[Kinak]

Well, the two D&D settings I've always really wanted to play but have never really gotten the chance are Spelljammer and Birthright, so...

A game of nationbuilding and political machination on an interplanetary scale, where the gods themselves have set their scions on the path of conquest. What starts as brushfire wars on a backwater moon ends with the players uniting the worlds against an outside threat.
The opening probably casts the party as the retainers or members of a royal family, kicking off with a war against their neighbor. They quickly discover the other nation is receiving aid from the inhabitants of the planet that dominates their sky.

The middle is empire building, bringing more worlds under the party's banner through conquest and alliance. Rival nations feature heavily, along with threats from the cold outer reaches of space... probably a lot of illithids.

The last part is very much on the players. I'm guessing they'd probably rise up to overthrow the gods for being jerks and throwing the whole system into chaos by setting their scions against each other. But they might end up facing off against a greater outside menace. We've got options.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Lanefan]

I'm running it right now, I hope.

Every time I start a campaign I go in with the (probably naive) idea that it will last forever, or at least as long as there's people willing to play it. But eventually it gets stale, or ideas run out, or the system gets too wobbly; and I start another one. I may have to again once or twice; each one seems to last about 10 years or so, and I think I've a few decades in me yet.

But thus far my current game looks in many ways like I hope my final one would: lots of mayhem, lots of chaos, occasional heroism and derring-do, stories told and retold later, and endless laughs around the table.

Lan-"and really, does it get any better than that?"-efan

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Thinking about campaign planning for 5E gave me the idea for this thread. The question--and challenge--is this: Imagine the following scenario. For whatever reason (doesn't matter) you are only going to plan and run one more full D&D campaign, then (for whaever reason) you're done with D&D. What would that campaign look like?

Some general (soft) guidelines:
*Preferably starts at level 1 and spans at least 10 levels, hopefully 20 or more - a "full" campaign
*Shouldn't take more than a year (probably somewhere in the 20-50 session range)
*Give us a sense of different episodes or chapters
*Include major villains, monsters, quests, locations, adventure types, etc - even if just in broad strokes
*Any edition

That's about it. I think one way to look at is to ask: what campaign haven't you run that you've always wanted to run? And/or, what sort of campaign would combine all, or as many of, your favorite aspects of D&D?

Have fun! I look forward to seeing the creative minds of ENWorld at work!

Those guidelines look right. Mine would be that post apocalyptic thing I've described in bits & pieces on ENWorld- planty elves, cyber dwarves, sentient ash trees, amnesiac mind Flayers from the future...

 

[Uller]

A little off topic...but the group I played with in highschool ran what I figured was my "final" campaign (at least with them) prior to me heading off to basic training in the Army...We were seeking some artifact (an amulet, IIRC). Somehow my character ended up with it and in the confusion of the final battle against the BBEG I had him sneak away. At that point I handed my character sheet to the DM and announced he was to run my character as a villain. They spent another year tracking him down, during which time he killed several PCs. I was pleased.

 

[GMMichael]

Some general (soft) guidelines:
*Preferably starts at level 1 and spans at least 10 levels, hopefully 20 or more - a "full" campaign
*Shouldn't take more than a year (probably somewhere in the 20-50 session range)
*Give us a sense of different episodes or chapters
*Include major villains, monsters, quests, locations, adventure types, etc - even if just in broad strokes
*Any edition

That's about it. I think one way to look at is to ask: what campaign haven't you run that you've always wanted to run? And/or, what sort of campaign would combine all, or as many of, your favorite aspects of D&D?

The ultimate D&D campaign? In one year?

Phase 1: D&D 1. Each player makes a cleric, fighter, or magic-user. They crusade to save their town from goblins, only to discover that it wasn't their town. And those weren't goblins...

Phase 2: AD&D. Players draw up new characters at level 5. They "awaken" to discover who they really are, which can be the same concept as the previous phase if desired. They learn that they've been hypnotized by a storm giant for dubious reasons, and the previous adventure was closer to a dream than reality. The heroes set about freeing themselves from a storm giant lair, while finding symbols in the lair similar to what they remember from the goblin horde. But there's no explanation for the symbols, and the storm giant insists on escorting all of his guests on their way out. Forcefully.

Phase 3: 3rd ed. Players draw up 10th level characters. After dispatching the storm giant, they get a personal audience with a god, who unlocks their latent powers. The god explains which demon placed the symbols, how it manipulated the storm giant, and what its motives are. But to overcome the demon, the PCs must retrieve ancient lore, peacefully or no, from an ancient creature: a far-underground dwarf vampire.

Phase 4: Forry. Players design 20th-level characters based loosely on their 3rd edition characters, because the dwarf vampire's arcane knowledge sends them to another plane of existence. With, as it happens, different game mechanics. What hasn't changed is that the PCs need a sturdy plan in order to defeat a massive, brilliant demon. Their winning approach, diplomacy, combat, bribes, is up to them. What's not up to them is the need to dispatch an ornery fiendish shadow dragon prior to reaching the demon.

Phase 5: well, according to the guidelines, I've already quit D&D forever.

 

[Jacob Marley]

Let's start by tossing those (soft) guidelines. If I am running my final campaign it will be run in the style I am most comfortable with: an emergent sandbox. Now, on to the show...

• Greyhawk, Spring 585CY.
• The City of Greyhawk, Greyhawk Wars, and From the Ashes define the base setting.
• Rary the Traitor, The Marklands, Iuz the Evil, The City of Skulls, and Ivid the Undying would flesh out the setting.
• Mythic Game Master Emulator would assist me framing situations and in adjudicating game-play.
• It would make heavy use of random encounter generators.
• Each player would play a pro-active character.
• Ideally AD&D 1st Edition, in all likelihood, 3.x.

I really have no idea what the campaign will be about. The narrative will be whatever the PCs do. There are no episodes or chapters - those will be generated in real-time through play.