gah writers block

[rembrandtqeinstein]

I have a bunch of neat ideas for my future 4e campaign but I can't come up with a way to tie them together

• poison world (most surface areas inhospitable due to poisonous plants, inspired by nausicaa)
• militaristic eladrin who guard the gates to the feywild and kill anyone who crosses from midworld
• dwarves fighting against giant tumors that spring up in their underground kingdoms (like cancer but on a global scale)
• something to do with far realm because in my opinion that is the coolest aspect of 4e cosmology

So fellow forum dwellers, can anyone think of a hook that would make all these cool aspects make sense?

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Hmm... How about this:

The poisonous plants and tumours are thanks to layers of the Far Realm blanketing the World and slowly twisting it. Causing normal plants and substances of the World to shift and alter (you could bring in lots of aberrated animals, perhaps a PC race that are partially aberrations).

In one setting dealing with the Far Realm in the World, I included a "ringing" this ringing is a slight psychological echo that all animals (including sentient ones) hear from the Far Realm. Most grow to have it only be white-noise, however some grow insane (especially animals) and all newborns constantly cry from the noise (unless they are aberration-children).

The Dwarves given their homes are deep underground have noticed these tumours first, however they are slowly spreading to the surface. Causing massive alterations to the World's physical appearance; strange plants and other flora and fauna seem to focus around these tumours.

The Eladrin fearing the spreading of this to their homes in the Feywild have turned into a militaristic society to guard the gates of the Feywild, killing all who try and pass and burning their bodies to cleanse the "taint".

 

[LostSoul]

So fellow forum dwellers, can anyone think of a hook that would make all these cool aspects make sense?

The far realm is the source of the infection. Its chaotic ways have infected the natural world.

The Feywild is, so far, untouched; the Eladrin want to keep it this way, so they kill anyone "unclean" who tries to enter their world.

The dwarves are fighting off the infection, same as everyone else.

You could pick a theme you want to explore, and make that the central theme of the gameworld. Everything follows out of that.

 

[Surgoshan]

perhaps a PC race that are partially aberrations).

Like... tieflings and dragonborn?

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Like... tieflings and dragonborn?

Well those aren't aberrations. Both are full-races. So no, not Tieflings or Dragonborn.

I would say, hope that the MM has PC-stats for say a Mind Flayer and mix that in with say Human.

 

[Jack99]

Well those aren't aberrations. Both are full-races. So no, not Tieflings or Dragonborn.

I would say, hope that the MM has PC-stats for say a Mind Flayer and mix that in with say Human.

Pretty doubtful, but hey, you never know, right?

Aside from that, how about this:

The Far Realms have begun to siphon into the real world, creating a poisonous environment just about anywhere. The Eladrin, in order to keep the Feywild pure, have closed their boarders and guard them with zeal.

Having no-where else to go, the other races have retreated to the only place left untouched, the Underdark. This has of course created a massive conflict with the races already living there, especially the Drow, who have absolutely no interest in sharing their living space.

After a minor (or major) war underground, things are atm at a status quo. However, the dwarves (and the other races who have retreated underground) have recently noticed that the influence of the Far Realms have started to spread down into the ground, down into the Underdark. With few plants to corrupt down there, the Far Realms energies instead mutate the Earth itself, creating living tumor elementals that seem to help spreading the energy at a even quicker rate.

 

[ShockMeSane]

The far realm is the source of the infection. It's chaotic ways have infected the natural world.

The Feywild is, so far, untouched; the Eladrin want to keep it this way, so they kill anyone "unclean" who tries to enter their world.

The dwarves are fighting off the infection, same as everyone else.

You could pick a theme you want to explore, and make that the central theme of the gameworld. Everything follows out of that.

This is actually pretty close to how I would run it if those were my campaign hooks, with just a few alterations (some of them obviously just plot point issues):

I would have the source of the infection a vile entity from the far realm, which is tearing its way through a rift deep beneath the earth. The chaotic energies unleashed from the rift, and the entity itself have been damaging the very fabric of the world for X years. (Campaign decision here. Maybe the world was peachy keen 5 years ago and the infection came quickly, maybe it was over the course of 100+ years)

The dwarves are getting the worst of it. Their underground cities have been ravaged by the earth's plight, as the planet itself rejects the terrible plague within it. Perhaps even lesser abominations have come forth from the far realm in their deepest strongholds, which would give the dwarves more of a clue as to what is actually going on than most would have.

The hardest part is how to handle the Feywild. While I like the thought that the Feywild is uncorrupted and the Eldarin want to keep it that way, it doesn't sound like from any lore that they take much more advantage of it than the inherent ability to move through it in very short bursts. I think you are giving up a great storytelling tool here. Just a first thought here, and it won't appeal to every GM, but how about this:

There is a secret cult within Eldarin society that worships this entity from the Far Realm, and have actively sought to bring it to the material plane for many thousands of years. Perhaps they have tried or maybe even succeeded before in the far distant past, but their attempt was thwarted by an Artifact that only exists in the Feywild. Somehow this Artifact can be manipulated in the Feywild to heal the earth and begin sealing the rift. The cult has secretly infiltrated every level of the Eldarin government, perhaps even to its most powerful leader, while the vast majority of Eldarin society are completely ignorant of their existence. The Eldarin government guards the Feywild under the pretense that they wish to keep it uncorrupted, but in truth they want to deny all knowledge of the Artifact that defeated their plans once before. Well, just the first thing that popped to mind.

If you want to run a 0-30 campaign in this setting this gives you some nice, easy options for an engaging storyarc.

0-10: Fighting localized corruption, discovering the plight of the dwarves, uncovering the source of the world's corruption, and knowledge of the cult.
11-20: Tracking down the cult, infiltrating a powerful cult stronghold, discovery of the deep government infiltration and knowledge of the feywild artifact, confronting the cult leader
21-30: Into the feywild to recover the artifact, deep into the earth's core to the rift itself, into the Far Realm to confront the entity and put an end to its evil machinations forever.

Good luck with the campaign!

 

[Herobizkit]

How about...

"Our would is in peril. Gaia, the spirit of the Earth, can no longer stand the terrible destruction plaguing our planet. She sends five magic rings to five very special young people..."

Seriously, LostSoul has neatly tied all of your ideas together. Another concept you might want to borrow is from a Palladium product entitled Wormwood, in which the forces of Good and Evil duke it out using energy and symbiotes from the planet, which is a living, sentient organism.

 

[Kesh]

Let's twist this around: the Feywild was the original source of these troubles. They solved it by "pushing" it out to the midworld. Once it was eradicated from the Feywild, they fought viciously to keep it out, regardless of the cost to the midworld.

The Far Realm aberrations are more like a parasite, feeding on the poison plaguing the world. It draws them, gives them strength.

 

[Spenser]

I think ShockMeSane's idea is a winner. I particularly like how it ties in the Eladrin into the plot in a deep, integral way.

Another cool thing is how Heroic, Paragon, Epic all plug in to the campaign's unified theme. There's probably a general lesson about structure to be learned here. First, start with some great, epic level Threat. Then:

* Heroic -- stumble around in the dark, fight various minions of the Threat. By level 10, you've basically put most of the pieces together about what the Threat *is* and how to start fighting it effectively.
* Paragon -- take the fight to the main bad guys in the World, saving cities and kingdoms. By level 20, you've at least halted the Threat's advance.
* Epic -- no more Mr. Nice Guy, take the fight to the heart of the Threat itself. By level 30, the campaign is over: you've defeated the Threat for 1000 years / forever. (Or you failed, and the next campaign is set in a world that suffers the consequences -- perhaps a post-apocalyptic setting. Or the PCs are defeated & seduced by the Threat and become Avatars of Evil for the next 1-30 campaign. )