D&D General Introducing High-Level PCs to a New Setting

[jayoungr]

I've been thinking lately about adventure design for high-level PCs, defined for purposes of this thread as above level 10 or so. Most campaigns start with some low-level skirmishes--goblin raids, rats in the sewers, that sort of thing--to ease the players and their PCs into a new setting. But what if you're starting a fresh campaign in a brand-new setting at a high level? What sort of adventures would level 10 PCs have as their first introduction to a new setting?

Bonus points if it doesn't involve dreaming up an extensive backstory between the PCs and various characters in the new location, because that's basically the same as playing through a bunch of low-level adventures to weave the PCs into the setting.

And yeah, I know some are going to say "Well, if the PCs are already level 10, they should have some past that will affect them." And I agree, that's quite likely and will work well in a lot of cases. But humor me, if you will, and help me think of other ways to approach it.

Say, for example, that the PCs are high-level adventurers who arrive somehow in a completely unknown land where no one has heard of them. What sort of adventures could introduce them to the new setting and still be level-appropriate?

EDIT: To be clear, because it seems a lot of people are giving me answers to a different question, I'm not looking for suggestions on how the PCs arrive in a new world. I'm looking for suggestions on what sort of adventure is appropriate for a new arrival who is also high-level.

 

[Oofta]

Amnesia? The old stand-by is that they wake up in a prison and need to break out but they have no clue who they are or where they came from. You could always do a slight twist where they are clones the bad guys were going to use but the cloning process worked a little too well.

Or let the PCs come up with a general back story. Just have a brain-storming session where they come up with a history. Even if they didn't have a lot of influence in the current area, they could all come from a different region.

A portal or rift opened up. Maybe they were summoned by someone who's summons worked a little too well right before being killed?

Then again, it may not matter. Simply ignore their background other than some very broad brushstrokes. Not everyone cares. Depends on the group and the players.

 

[jayoungr]

A portal or rift opened up. Maybe they were summoned by someone who's summons worked a little too well right before being killed?

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear in the OP (if so, sorry for the confusion). I'm not thinking about ways to get the PCs into a new setting. I'm trying to think about what they'd do when they get there.

They're too high level to get much fun out of killing rats in the sewers, so what do they do instead?

 

[Bitbrain]

CRISIS ON MULTIPLE EARTHS!

 

[Krachek]

At level 10 you can state that they are fresh out of an extensive elite training.

The classic path for leveling is adventuring, but leveling through training is easily manageable.

So they can be some kind of rookie with no field experience, and no great knowledge of the world.

 

[OB1]

A few ideas off the top of my head, all related to the idea of a kingdom recently expanding into new territory and discovering trouble.

1. A city of the dead, ruled by a Vampire, was uncovered and is now sending undead in constant attack waves into villages to 'recruit' new members to her army. Fighting the Army doesn't do any good, the source of the problem must be dealt with, but the ancient ruin where she resides contains dozens of undead and is trapped to the hilt.

2. A large gnoll pack (100+), led by a Flind, is harassing local populations. No matter how many are killed, more seem to keep appearing. Party must find the Flind in it's lair (surrounded by dozens and dozens or lesser Gnolls) to end the problem for good.

3. After opening a new mine in the mountains, a tribe of Frost Giants (led by an Everlasting One) has killed everyone in the mine. The mine is essential to the war effort with the neighboring kingdom and must be retaken.

The nice thing about level 10 is that CR 2-4 monsters, in decent numbers and led by a stronger boss, can lead to challenging adventures. In small groups, they are easily manageable, but in larger numbers, they can still overwhelm a 10th level party, so the party tactics will need to be guerrilla style or smash, grab and dash to get out alive.

 

[Oofta]

Ah, sorry I misunderstood.

Then it can be anything from being trapped in the abyss or the heart of an evil empire. Maybe it's a peaceful kingdom (perhaps they're even retired adventurers) and there's an invasion by aberrations, drow or dragons. An ancient curse is turning the dead in to zombies (not just shambling dead think Resident Evil or Left 4 Dead super zombies).

There are any numbers of stories that can be told. In one of my previous campaigns it was a dragon disguising himself as a human in order to take over a kingdom and using his mother to create half-dragon armies. The group was part of a special forces team that hunted the half-dragons because they could devastate normal troops.

What kind of setting? What kind of adventures do you like? Should they be exploring the cursed jungles of Chult or taking on kaiju on Monster Island? Urban adventure where the city is run by vampires? Dungeon crawls in a series of tombs dedicated to demons?

Personally I do tend to make custom monsters, reskin or tweak existing ones (never assume a werewolf is just a werewolf) for these kind of things. There's also Kobold Press's Tome of Monsters which has more high level stuff.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I am actually thinking of taking my current characters (around L5) and stopping the campaign after this adventure.

Then coming back in 10 years, and they will be level 15. And the threat they thought they had stopped has re-awakened. That threat is an invasion from the Far Realms of Mind Flayers, Aboleths, and worse (yay, worse!). And those creatures are coming back not just for Toril; but for the entire Multi-verse.

So my plan was - players - you are all now L15. And you had 500k GP to spend on whatever, and you have all 3 of your attuned magic items - what are they? And how are you guys still in contact with each other?

And then they find out that the Nine Hells have partnered with the Far Realms to take over the Multiverse. And then I'll have my players go to Sigil (I'm going to use modified Ravnica) and then do some planar hopping to find mcguffins and finally fight Asmodeus and an Elder Brain at level 20. Ideally with their troops and some allies against all the hordes of hell and swarms of mind flayers and other aberrations

 

[Li Shenron]

And yeah, I know some are going to say "Well, if the PCs are already level 10, they should have some past that will affect them."

You can go against the grain, and simply don't say that.

Say that the Fighter is level 10 because she's been training like mad, the Wizard is level 10 because he's 70yo and has read books of magic all his life, that the Cleric is level 10 because she was blessed/chosen by her deity, and the Rogue is level 10 because he's a natural born killer and has a helluva luck.

Or take it further and just don't say anything. Treat "level" in a more OOC way, and lessen its association with experience (at least with regard to past levels, then you can continue as normal).

 

[S'mon]

They're new knights of the Round Table sent on missions by their king.