Epic Level Adventure Ideas (Share Yours)

[Graf]

i thought the epic level book was pretty silly (and I still don't own it). But I'm pretty impressed with the story ideas here.
(and to avoid breaking any 'rules' its not really epic but anyway)

A new strain of vampires has been created by a demented former servant of the god of light. Immune to the suns damaging rays the plague begins to spread like wild fire. The vampires concentrate on turning key figures and their servants to their side first.
(I'm presuming a mideval setting where the fudal arrangement means that the minority controls both weaponry and wealth).
In only a few years they have taken control of a significant chunk of the contient and key figures down to the regional level have all been turned, concentrating on high level individuals. The madman(woman) is focused totally on "equalizing" the planet by transforming all worthy individuals into members of the "pure race".
The heirarchy stretches back to the first mad priest who has enacted a true ritual which grants him/her power for every servant he transforms (i.e epic level power). He is now bent on claiming the seat that is the Sun God's deposing him and allowing his dark light to shine over the whole world.
Anything living can be turned into a vampire. between hordes of giant vampiric shock troups, vampiric illithids, dragons, etc. There's a lot of baddness for the PCs to enjoy.
You could do the same thing with some kind of demonic (or for a twist angelic taint) as well.

 

[CRG]

A few more...by the way, if the PCs seem to be taking the place of or competing with gods its probably because they are FREAKING EPIC MONSTROSITIES. To be honest though, any of these could be done without the epic handbook. Hell, many of them could be done at any level, but they take on different scales depending on the party level.

Heh. Sorry.

I like the Timmy idea and variations.

Hey Ranger Wicket, maybe we should clean this up and stick it in Asgard? With a little work we can put together a fairly decent concise list.

(9) THEM!
Epic spellcasters (as a side effect of experimentation) awake / whatver giant ants or radioactive fire breathing lizards (ie, Godzilla). Now these giant menaces are moving across the lands, eating all in their path.

This could be a Tarrasque variation I suppose.

(10) Infiltration
Similar to Illuminati .... some group is infiltrating everyone, everywhere. The PCs, now quite powerful, may be a mix of good or evil but now must work together to protect their world and what they know from the unknowns.

The unknowns could be aboleths, mindflayers, doppelgangers or some combination. Could be the "new Vampires" or world-as-construct-of-other's ideas we posted above.

(10a) "I summon you - PokeWizard"
In a dimension somewhere some young child is playing a game and summons one of the PCs to fight a friend's monster/critter/person (also as part of the game).

(11) King for a Day
We can consolidate a few of the other posts into this one...

Ruler/power (political, magical, religious, deity or concept) goes on a break (missing or just on vacation). The PCs must deal with the day-to-day crap of the ruler/power until their return and possibly track down the missing ruler.

(12) Timmy
Lets put the Timmy variation as #12 epic plot. This covers all the "protect the youngster / unprotected but valuable person/thing" plots.

(13) Balance of Power
The PCs job becomes to see to it that power is balanced and nothing comes for free. This includes the "free ressurection" sample from Psychotic Jim or the "Avatar" idea from fl8m.

(14) Greater of two goods
The PCs are good, and represent a strong good force in the world. They are, however, caught in a dispute between two good cultures who want to work together but, for a variety of reasons, can't seem to find peace. Maybe there is a third party sowing dissent. In either event, war looms on the horizon and the conflict continues to escalate.

Maybe noble paladins fight to the death (as that is the way in their culture) so that whole battles need not be fought - each were friends of the PCs and good people, but now one is dead (killed by the other). The PCs get involved to stop the madness and death.

 

[Arcane Runes Press]

A *BUMP* and...........

FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON (Requires an Epic Bard): A paragon aboleth of maximum size and cunning has, with the writing of a potent philosophical work, succeeded in erasing the very concept of memory and free will, turning even the gods into mindless automatons.

Only the PCs, who were adventuring off plane at the time, remain unchanged. Now they must find and then journey to the heart of the plane, where the god of knowledge spoke the first words that made the cosmos. There the bard must, using his Bardic Knowlege, recreate that which was lost.

Patrick Y.

 

[Crowe9107]

Epic Clue: The Diety of Justice has conscripted the PC's to investigate an Epic Crime (The murder of a God, mysterious massacre of a civilization), which for some reason the Gods have no knowledge of how it came to pass or who is responsible (Or at least, they're not saying). The PC's must question the usual suspects ("Excuse me, Mr. Vecna? Tyran PD, I'd like to ask you a few questions."), gather clues and evidence, and identify the perpetrator of the crime, so that justice may be served. At lot of twists can be put on this, but I think it could be some great fun.

Cheers,

Carl Rowe

 

[Anabstercorian]

Fight the future to save your past

Elder beings, benign but immensly powerful, sweep in from beyond known realms to usher in a new era, transforming all sentient creatures from their current form in to a state of divine unity and one-ness - at the expense of all that has ever come before, wiping all individuality and identity from the planet as the most evil and most pure merge in to a single, immense whole.

Do you aid this apotheosis? If you do, what comes next for you, who may join the conglomeration or remain separate through force of will? Or do you thwart it, protecting the past at the expense of the future? Which is the correct choice?

*Blatantly stolen from Isaac Asimov's Childhood's End

 

[mmadsen]

Re: Fight the future to save your past

*Blatantly stolen from Isaac Asimov's Childhood's End

So, did Asimov steal it from Arthur C. Clarke, or was it the other way around?

 

[alsih2o]

a titan monastery....he he, titan monks!

 

[shadoe]

Council of Wyrms dragons versus an abomination and his undead servitors.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

The Divine Mandate of the Children of the Gods

For untold generations there's been a hidden society of humans and other humanoids. These people hid themselves away from the rest of the world because they felt it was impure and degenerate. They all have the strong belief that they are the chosen of the gods, in fact their children and that the blood of the gods are contained within their veins. They might just be right as all of them are indeed Paragons of Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Orcs, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Gnomes, Kobolds, Bugbears and so on.

They built themselves a Utopia where all the various races among them live in harmony. No animosity exists between the Elves and Orcs, Dwarves and Goblins and so on. Their achievements in terms of magic, technology, psionics, culture, and art exceed those of everyone else on that world. But the presence of the outside world threatens their society.

Thus many among them feel that it is time they return to the impure world they fled from. It is their destiny to rule the lesser people of the outside world, as they have done nothing but bring pain to the world. If it was the gods that chose them, then it's the mandate of the gods that they must conquer the world as the sole means of saving it.
Armies of Paragon Humanoids now plan to sweep through all the nations of the world to claim it for themselves.

 

[Bob Aberton]

Power corrupts. Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.

Now that the PCs have the ultimate, Epic power, can they resist the corruption?

What's the twist? The PCs are not being tested by some diety or uber-NPC, they test themselves. Their personalities split into Vice and Virtue. Vice is essentially that little devil whispering in their ear. Vice is all their sins, guilts, and weaknesses.

Virtue is their good side, their strengths, their virtuous acts, their virtues.

In a scenario, preferably a dream, have the gods and all NPCs and PCs more powerful than themselves disappear, so that they are the ultimate power. Make sure they know this.

See what they do with their power. Vice whispers in their ear, telling them what they could do, you know, something like

"You have the power, my friend. You have no equal. Come on, this is a great opportunity. You could have it all ! Money, Power, anything you want, it's all there for the taking. Those aren't people you see, they're sheep, sheep for the fleecing. You, my friend, are the ultimate power. Use it!"

Virtue whispers in their other ear:

"With great power there is great responsibility. Everyone looks up to you. Resist temptation! Be strong! Don't give in to greed or Vice! Your destiny is your own..."


Who does the character listen to? That depends on the character. When they have made their choice, reward or punish them as their actions warrant. Then have them wake up from the dream.