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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Felon" data-source="post: 710710" data-attributes="member: 8158">Well, first thing you want to do is go to the WotC website and pull up the web enhancement about tweaking Epic-Level Spells. Those rules should have been in the damn book. They will allow players to use Harm and Heal without breaking the game, they provide hard caps for spells that previously did not have a maximum value, and they provide alternatives to "Save or Die" effects.Now, my experiences with epic-level campaigns has been pretty dull. Rules issues aside, the key element seems to be that the characters need a personal stake in the events around them, as opposed the usual "insert do-gooders here" feel that most adventures often have. It's very easy for epic campaigns to fall into one of two camps: A) despite being epic-level, the DM's approach is to keep the characters manageable by making them feel like insignificant small fry in the whole scope of the multiverse, sticking them with doing the dirty work of more powerful entities, or B) the DM has the characters being so big and bad that they feel there are no challenges left to conquer and no treasures left worth acquiring, and they wind up planting their flag off on some demi-plane.Both players and DM's have to be able to move away from tangible rewards when they approach epic levels. Money should not be an issue. Magic items can still be impressive, but even most aritifacts can't drasticly improve the lives of people who can casually cast wishes and miracles. Forget phat l3wt; what players need is a sense of their place in the world. Think clout. They need to feel that they have a reputation to preserve, alliances to honor, and enemies waiting in the wings to do them in. A lot of work for the DM you say? No, I'm talking about work for the players. If they don't show up at the table with their own personal agendas to pursue, but rather just sit there staring at you blankly waiting for something to happen, then something's not working. If they're busting into the  fortresses of total strangers to encounter some loser lich whose name they can't quite recall, go back to the drawing board. Pre-epic adventures are usually about preserving the status quoe; epic adventures should be about putting the status quo in one of those paintcan-shaking devices that they have in hardware stores and turning it on full throttle.</blockquote>

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