Epic quests that don't involve saving the world?

[RangerWickett]

It seems like all the epic destinies they talk about involve stopping the destruction of the world. It seems so . . . done. I mean, saving the world is something everybody ought to do once or twice in their lives, but I'd like some more options. Any suggestions?

First is the "end of the world as we know it," where the world survives, but all we care about will be gone. That's just a variation on a theme.

More original, I think, would be, "healing the world." This is not a preventative quest, but rather a pro-active one. The world is naturally sick, and the heroes need to undergo great trials to usher it into a new age. Of course, from a narrative perspective, this often works best when there is someone or something responsible whom the heroes can defeat.

Could it be something as 'mundane' as "found a nation"? Or maybe more grand, the Biblical sense of creating a nation of people, guiding them through troubles, and finally stepping aside when it is time for them to walk on their own?

"Tame the wild"? Not particularly in vogue these days, but it's classic: man vs. nature. It could be more metaphysical, perhaps taming the inner beast in our souls, bringing primitive people into an age of civilization?

Hm.

So it looks like epic quests all involve either:

a) saving the world from destruction; or

b) ushering in a new age.

I'm hard-pressed to come up with any that don't fit into those two categories, though I suppose I am up rather late tonight. Perhaps we could go Zen and have a destiny for a man to reject the world and undergo a change that is wholly internal, but I'm not sure how well that would fit with D&D style adventure. Well, we can pull a God of War and have you kill a god and take his place, not for any higher purpose, but simply as a personal goal. Hehe.

Of course, even in just those two categories, there are a lot of variations on a theme. What are some historic, incredibly significant events that might be worthy of an epic destiny?

Free the Israelites and found a nation.

Conquer the known world (Alexander failed, Genghis Khan succeeded).

Sack Rome and destroy civilization.

Liberate the Holy Land (from either side; nobody ever finished this one).

Explore the entire world (Magellan might count).

Keep a nation unified and free the slaves.

Defeat the Nazis.

Okay, so maybe that makes 3 options:

a) Save the world,
b) Change the world,
c) Accomplish a daunting personal goal

 

[Stalker0]

The epic quest to save oneself.

Your future self has come back to undo all that you have done. He is an immortal, driven to near insanity by thousands of years of existence. He has gone back to stop you from being a hero, and prevent his immortality from ever occurring.

The fate of all the lives you have touched is once again on your hands. You must journey to your past, and fight your future.

 

[FireLance]

Would "redeem an ancient evil" fall under the scope of "ushering in a new age"?

Otherwise, I think an epic destiny ought to have some (relatively) permanent, wide-ranging impact on the campaign world. Some examples:

1. Create a new race or change the characteristics of an existing race (e.g. reverse the effects of the pact of Bael Turath so that all tieflings revert back to being human)
2. Change the alignment or attributes of a god
3. Change the way in which the world works (perhaps the previous generation of epic heroes gave us healing surges and at-will magic missiles )

 

[Fallen Seraph]

-Uncover the history of the cosmologies' past.

-Escape beyond the grasp of those that hunt you.

-Gain power for the sake of power.

-Explore what lies beyond normal mortal realms.

-Experience all there is to see in the universe.

-Bring a god or high-being to account for something it did.

-Make your stake in the political game of gods, devils and other beings.

Those are just some ideas.

 

[FireLance]

Would "redeem an ancient evil" fall under the scope of "ushering in a new age"?

Example: showing Venger the error of his ways and reconciling him with Dungeon Master.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

One of my all time favorite characters was a sorcerer one of the other players made. He was a surly peasant who was completely average in every way, and wanted to do nothing more then just work through the day and then get stinking drunk afterwards.

And then he found he could accidently throw fireballs.

We eventually retired the character, but for the most part, his ambitions were made of: "Get more gold, don't die in this newest horrifying death trap, and maybe get into some elf's skirt."

It was strangely refreshing to have an adventurer who was an actual adventurer and not some hero or paragon.

 

[AtomicPope]

Save the world from destruction is really a weak story device. Listening to Orson Scott Card a long time ago he said, "You can only destroy the world once." It stuck with me for every game I ever DMed, from Cyberpunk to Paranoia, D&D to Whitewolf. Saving the World is really a thoughtless exercise for campaign goals. It's simple. Create something/someone powerful enough to destroy the world but leave enough clues to save it. Wow, that's original.

Concepts such as Prevent Catastrophe are much better since they allow for failure and redemption.

Prevent Catastrophe - A catastrophe could be the prevention of a cult from freeing a powerful and destructive force. Failure doesn't mean the end of the world, but something bad is sure to happen. In Gygax's original campaign, Robert Kuntz freed Iuz, thus changing an entire campaign setting and creating countless supplements to follow. Not the end, but not a good thing. Players are now charged with "cleaning up" the world.

 

[Saitou]

Why do people always gloss over the epic quest to destroy the world?


And no, I'm not talking bout evil adventuring parties.

 

[PeterWeller]

"Long united, the empire must divide. Long divided, the empire must unite." (Thanks, Lu!) In the former, the players throw off and later destroy the shackles of some oppressive regime. In the latter, the players unite the remnants of a fallen empire and return it to greatness. Or you can just rip off Three Kingdoms completely and have the players do both.

Somewhat in the same vein, players can be trying to start their own dynasties or guilds or whatever.

You could always be trying to break some sort of curse on your family and your name. Perhaps you come from a line of Eternal Heroes, but it ain't all happy and ass-kicking, and you want out.

Clerics and Paladins of some obscure god may want to bring their faith into prominence. Saint Peter with a battle ax sounds like a decent character concept.

Romance can play a part. Reunite with one's eternal soul-mate and all that, or it can be much simpler: get a girl or boy or thing.

I once had a player whose number one goal was to own his own bar. Both in real life and in game. (Later we had to ask him to leave the group because his alcoholism was becoming a problem )

Then there's my personal favorite: "Retire on a pile of loot so big as to make even dragons cry."

Edit: Oops, I forgot to include the serious part.

One thing I think groups will need to square away is whether or not players will have epic destinies in mind at the beginning of the campaign, or if they will let them develop more organically. If you're planning on becoming a demigod from day one, you'd probably want your DM to start working in story elements that refer to that. This is really a player by player thing, and it's not like it has to be carved into stone, but it's definitely something to note. It's also a great help to the DM who's planning an epic plot as these sorts of goals can have a large effect on the endgame.

 

[Syunsuke]

resurrect dead god
redeem (not kill) demon lord
change structure of cosmology
release Asmodeus

win certain woman(or man)'s love