Best large-scale fantasy campaign plot

[MGibster]

I think Curse of Strahd is the largest published fantasy campaign I’ve ever been involved with. I like it, but it sorta drags in spots.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Red Hand of Doom (3e)

Madness at Gardmore Abbey (4e)

Return to the Tomb of Horrors (2e)

 

[aramis erak]

Dragonlance was my favorite to read.
My favorite to run has been The Enemy Within.
I liked Hoard of the Dragon Queen, but won't run it in D&D next time. (I've run the full campaign through once, the first half twice more... counting halfway through GM switches as half a run for each half.)
GDQ was good for the era...

Warhammer (I've never played it, but obviously something is going on).

The Enemy Within campaign is a very clear move by the Forces of Chaos to take over the Empire... only to be foiled by some nobodies who met on a coach.
Unless, of course, they die, go insane, or retire, first...

 

[Mark Hope]

Night Below and Return to the Tomb of Horrors are both excellent - the former has incredible scope and the latter has some of the coolest locations I've seen in a while.

Dragon's Crown for Dark Sun is also fantastic. You cross the entire of the Dark Sun map (as it was before they expanded it to the north), with everything from city-based strife, an actual dungeon, a mad game of gladiator death-ball, a ruined ship in the Sea of Silt, forest adventures, warring giant tribes, and a final showdown with a 30th-level psionicist in a millennia-old fortress. Took us sixteen sessions to complete for my streamed Dark Sun game - and I left out most of the optional side-quests that come in their own booklet. Highly recommended.

 

[CandyLaser]

Moving away from D&D, The Great Pendragon Campaign surely counts. It covers the full story of King Arthur, from Britain under King Uther in 485 through the destruction of the Round Table and the death of Arthur at Camlann in 565, with a bit of a wrap-up to cover the Saxon conquest in later years. RuneQuest has Six Seasons in Sartar, which covers the exploits of some young adventurers over the course of six seasons in the city of Sartar (really, the name gives it away). Eyes of the Stone Thief is a big campaign for 13th Age that focuses on the titular living dungeon, the Stone Thief, as it hunts the PCs. Finally, for Symbaroum you've got the Throne of Thorns campaign, which covers six books, beginning with The Throne of Thorns and ending with Davokar Awakens. I think this is getting/already has a 5e adaptation.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Eyes of the Stone Thief reads amazingly well. Haven’t run/played it.

 

[aramis erak]

Moving away from D&D, The Great Pendragon Campaign surely counts. It covers the full story of King Arthur, from Britain under King Uther in 485 through the destruction of the Round Table and the death of Arthur at Camlann in 565, with a bit of a wrap-up to cover the Saxon conquest in later years.

it's good, yes... but... given the recent move towards campaigns that have one adventure direct to another... it's not that.
It's only an outline for that great arc, with rumors and court gossip for every year, but only adventures for about 1/3 of the years... and many of the adventures are not ready to run, either, unless you're a good improv GM. (I am for Pendragon, but I don't recommend GPC for novice GM's...) Further, many of the adventures are minimal PC input... "here, go fight in this battle, where you only matter because you're on camera."
It needs a lot of GM input to use. Much much more than GDQ or any of the 5E/PF adventure paths.
It's more fully fleshed out than Boy King, GPC having about twice the adventure content of BK.
And BK was. a marked improvement over Nobles Book... which was only a timeline and landholding system...