Oh, there are so many. My advice to past me (and current y'all) is: DO IT! DO IT NOW! Run whatever crazy, cool thing you have in mind. Now! Before it's too late!
But here goes.
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The Fall of Moria
You are dwarves who delved too deeply and awoke something in the darkness - shadow and flame. You are doomed. You will die. But
how you die matters. Originally I conceived this as a 3rd edition D&D game using all the ammo-tracking, food-lacking, exhaustion-having rules. Nowadays I might run it as Ten Candles if I wanted to amp up the doomed feeling, or Dread (Jenga tower version), although I do like the combat mechanics of an F20 type of game. I dunno.
P.S. I love dwarves.
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Githyanki Incursion into Magnamund
The Githyanki Incursion is, in my opinion, one of the finest campaign frames ever created for any version of D&D; not least because it has James Wyatt's fingerprints all over it and I am a huge fan of his. Dragon #309. The premise? Githyanki invade your campaign world and gradually amp up the pressure.
At this time this came out I was running a game set in Magnamund, the world of Joe Dever's
Lone Wolf gamebooks. While at first this mash-up might seem stupid, and maybe it is, I loved the idea that the PCs would have to put down their Darklord-bashing ways to face an even greater threat. I had a lot of plans for this but the game fell apart just as the incursion started. Ah well.
(Of note:
Incursion was incredibly influential overall, not only on the 4e Scales of War adventure path, but through its influence on
Baldur's Gate 3, Incursion has now touched an entire generation of new players.)
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Star Control 2 as Campaign Seed
A thread by this name was posted (by me?) on the late lamented CircvsMaximvs, which was EN World's rude, profane cousin who was allowed to use bad language and grandma-inappropriate comments. When we weren't being naughty we even talked about games sometimes.
Anyway. Star Control 2 (SC2) is a classic sci-fi adventure / combat game whose premise is that two warring species are tearing the galaxy apart with the Earthling-led (New) Alliance of Free Stars caught in the middle. It's a text-based game with mostly static art yet has some of the best writing of any "CRPG" I've ever played.
The exact relationship between the warring species is a spoiler but for my purposes, I stripped away the sci-fi and sought
rough D&D equivalents. Eventually settling on the Aboleths vs. the Illithids. The premise of this campaign (ripped from SC2) is that the PCs have been out of touch for a long while, arrive back to their home, and find it under the complete control of (in my version) the Illithids. Clearly this will not stand, but after freeing their home from the squid-faces, they gradually realize the larger war....
This one never got past the planning stages.
Also, if anyone knows a way to retrieve stuff from CM, you're my hero. (Wayback Machine doesn't work because all content was behind a sign-in.)
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Nine Princes in Shadow
I played a
lot of Living Forgotten Realms, the 4th edition organized play campaign. During that campaign, three of the twelve Princes of Shade (i.e., the Netherese) died at the PCs' hands. What about the other nine?
This was conceived as a high-paragon tier, low-epic tier hardcore 4e mission-based game in which the PCs know their targets, know their targets
starting situations, and must terminate them all with extreme prejudice. The first one or two should be straightforward kills assuming adequate set-up. After that the remaining princes realize what's happening and begin to fight back....
This one I have notes and even some statblocks for, and given my group still plays 4e, who knows! It could hit the table at some point.
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Empire of a Million Worlds
This is a game I actually ran for ~50 sessions, into the low-Paragon tier (4e), riffing off
one of my favorite threads of all time on EN World.
Welcome to the Empire of a Million Worlds. Through our Portal Lattice -- a series of permanent teleportation circles -- we extend our influence throughout the multiverse. As the Lattice grows, we bring the benefits of civilization and access to the combined cultures of all the Worlds.
Empress Hakama and Emperor Emrys IV rule from Teverola, the Palace of Infinity, on the homeworld Magathei. They preside over a parliament made up of representatives from each of the Million Worlds, plus the Archmages who create and maintain the Portals.
The Invincible Legions protect the Empire and preserve the peace. You are a proud soldier of the Ninth Legion, members of a special forces squad hand-picked by the archmage Desatysso, who has need of talented individuals.
May Ioun grant us wisdom and may Pelor light our way as we do the work of Erathis.
--
The tone of the campaign is noble and hopeful, with the PCs growing to become heroes in the purest sense.
The Empire is essentially good and utopian; its problems are treated as challenges to be overcome.
The PCs are elite operatives in the Invincible Legions, supporting the Empire's benevolent goal: to expand the Portal Lattice in emulation of the Lattice of Heaven.
I aim to provide heroic action plus plenty of character-driven drama. There is also an overarching game-level story ('mystery') for the players / PCs to uncover.
It fizzled (darnit COVID) just as it was getting
really good, then one of the key players dropped out, and I haven't had the heart to re-start it.
Somday....????
