idea for a campaign; need help fleshing out

[random user]

To reiterate from my original post:

"My main problem is deciding which direction I should focus on. Ideally, I would be able to design a campaign that could be run with any of the above concepts, but I have to consider time constraints. Which one(s) would make for the most interesting game?"

And to reiterate my original post, I don't see what makes it so impossible for you to have hooks for all 4. How time-strapped are you? If you can't afford to spend an hour per week planning your campaign, I think you'll need to scale back your campaign.

No matter what your players focus on, there is going to be a way to tie all the NPC's together. Using what it seems you want to do, your BBEG's don't all have to be big, or bad, or evil. Your NPCs may be being used by other more powerful BBEG's, but that's something that can be calculated later.

If your PC's choose to focus on living in co-existance, there are going to be forces opposed to that (assuming you want some conflict) whereas those same people are going to be the PC's allies if the PC's choose to go the other way.

Your options 2,3, and 4 are very closely intertwined. Even your option one is not that hard to tie in. Maybe the demons have been summoned by the elves to scare the humans. Maybe the demons are undead which have arisen from the dead humans the elves have killed without mercy. Maybe a human has convinced a necromancer to help him, and they are creating an undead army of the dead to march on the elves. There are many ways to tie it in.

Now if you wanted to provide 4 options that took the PC's to vastly different regions or time periods, I would agree that you would have to focus on one. But you have a confined geographical area and NPC's that are appropriate to be placed regardless of focus. Your added cost is really quite small IMO.

Or perhaps I misunderstand what you mean by focus?

 

[Afrodyte]

random user:

I won't be using demons. "Demon" is what the locals call elves. They are not the same demons from the MM.

Each of the set-ups presents scenarios that can go in widely different directions. Here are some of the more obvious things the PCs can do about the problem:

1. Convince the elves that moving is the best option and help them relocate by removing the threat of the dragon. If the PCs are elves, this can take humans out of the equation altogether, and I only have to prepare a quest-type adventure. If the PCs are humans or elves seeking human aid, the campaign is likely to be split into 2 parts. The first part would be establishing diplomatic relations to gather the necessary support (either human, elven, or both), followed by the quest to rid the mountains of the dragon.
2. Get out "demons"/mortals! This would focus more on strategy and tactics. Even with that, you have 2 more possibilities for the conquerers and defenders. And then there is how the PCs will serve in those capacities. Will they serve as the commanders, reconnaissance, or frontline combatants? Each of these would require different types of decisions and capabilities, unless the players are willing to spend most of their time apart as some play general, others play spy, and the rest play skullcrusher. Then there is the option of simply killing elves/humans and taking their stuff.
3. Make love not war. This is the easiest to adapt to multiple set-ups because all I'd have to do is design NPCs and let the players have at it. However, they can't play both sides at the same time. At least, not with the players knowing what all the characters are up to.

Though the themess, conflicts, and major players remain the same, the approach drastically changes the nature of the campaign: quest, strategy and tactics, hack n' slash, and intrigue. In a campaign I would run indefinitely, I wouldn't worry about it because I could cover many of these angles each in their own time. Yet, I don't want to run it indefinitely. At the absolute longest, I want it to run about 10 sessions. Therefore, I have to narrow down the options prior to starting so I won't have things still hanging after I've had enough of running it. This is what I meant by focus.