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Message: <blockquote data-quote="[OMENRPG]Ben" data-source="post: 5817544" data-attributes="member: 6677983">To be honest, what you have already is about as detailed as I would go.I ran a 224 session campaign in 4e that had a mega-giga-ultra-supra plot. I wrote it down as one word: Primordials. I didn't touch it again until about level 6. Now, this is somewhat personal taste, but every ounce of energy that you put into making finite details or guidelines for a megaplot such as this could be wasted with one easy twist of a PC, one death, or one "hey let's go over there." I always give advice to GMs, new and experienced, that crafting a living and believable setting, developing some interesting people and cultures, and working out a backdrop for the characters to be placed in, are far better uses of the DM's creative energy than lettering every detail of a hundred-step plot.This is hard to hear. A lot of DMs don't believe me. A lot of DMs simply enjoy making the "story" as long and as epic as they can. But I think what you have right now is pretty much the upper limit of preparation that I would go regarding a "campaign arc" as you put it. I would spend that extra effort and creative juice in making the world feel alive, and making the players feel that their characters are living in something immersive and real. If you have the time and enjoy doing it, there is no harm in preparing things. But the more steps down the line you plan out, the less likely the PCs will arrive at the place you think they will. And if you force them down a particular path, that could leave a very bad taste in many players' mouths. Start small. I would really flesh out your heroic tier arc, get the villains sorted out, the locations, some cool NPCs (both helpful and antagonistic) and work your way from there. Who knows, maybe your PCs won't even care about Vecna or learn anything about him. It just so happened in my long campaign that the party stumbled on to it much sooner than I thought they would. I left what I thought were subtle and interesting clues, but it just so happened that a particularly chaotic and strong-willed character opened up a whole can of campaign worms. It ended up being a beautiful, formative part of my professional and personal life; and I never expected it to happen the way it did. Allow the players to manipulate the world. Don't over prepare plots, prepare context for the characters to create plot. You will make something more beautiful and "real" that way, in my opinion.Whatever the case, good luck, I'm sure your campaign will be great.</blockquote>

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