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

[Coroc]

Give things a twist.
Examples:
Eberron:
the sewer system is not overrun by rats because some CR 10 automatons do the cleaning down there. But now something has taken them over and they attacked their maintenance crew and killed some of them. The PCs are to investigate.

Vanilla:
Its not your orcs of the mill pillaging the surrounding farmland but e.g. devils/demons/giants whatever has the appropriate CR (and it might be odd for these mobs to attack lowly farming communities, what do they want / seek and why, is it some lost artifact or some special individual?

Dystopic world:
A la Darksun turned to eleven. The setting(s starting area) has almost no safe places, resources are rare to find, equipment is bad, support is low (only few temples stores inns etc. or none at all)
The whole environment is deadly because of heat / cold / radiation/ acid fog/ wild magic etc etc plus it is overrun with mobs which are to deadly for any adventurers lower than level 10.
Survival might be a major focus of that style. You might need some justification to dump the PCs into the starting area, maybe a la Ravenloft-mist-teleport does the job.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

 

[humble minion]

One campaign starter I've always wanted to run is "You wake up, and look around in bewilderment. You're standing, fully-equipped, on what seems to be a battlefield. Goblins and ogres and monsters surround you, all shaking their heads in confusion. Undead shamble, flit, and flee in all directions. Ahead of you, cheers ring out as a wedge of shining armoured paladins on horseback cut their way towards you.

"There they are, send them to hell with their master!"

You look down. Why are you wearing black heraldry with a sinister skull motif and vile runes? Uh oh...

Basically, the PCs have been the mind-bent slaves of the setting's BBEG for an indeterminate period of time (enough time to advance from level 1 to level X, in fact). When the BBEG is slain, while his army besieges not-Gondor (or whatever) they regain their right minds (while losing their memories of the intervening time...), but by then they've long since been identified and are widely despised as the foremost minions of evil. The mighty heroes who slew the BBEG sacrificed their lives in the effort, but the alliance they built still lives on.

First, the PCs have the flee the retribution of the forces of all that is good and holy. If they kill any paladins in the process, they'll only find it harder to convince anyone of the truth down the track Can the PCs escape this battlefield full of rampaging horros while being hunted by paladins? If they can, then what? What the hell happened in the past few years? How did they get here? What happened to their friends/family/home village? How do they deal with the machinations of the BBEG's other lieutenants, who obviously know the PCs from way back and are all trying to manipulate/enlist/plot against them in order to inherit control of the BBEG's empire? Can they convince the forces of good about the truth? Why did the BBEG pick THEM for this anyway, last thing they remember they were 1st level mooks, armed with a pointy stick and wearing armour made of cheese? And do they really want to know or remember what atrocities they committed?

Something like this could work. PCs have a reason for being high level, but the rise, conquests, and destruction of the BBEG have turned the world upside down since they last remember anything, so they basically have to discover it all anew.

(I never quite worked out how to justify having a paladin or good cleric in the party though...)

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Since you tagged this as General and not 5E, and do not say in your open which edition this is for, not knowing that can make a big difference in the power levels of 10th level PCs. That makes it a bit harder to suggest possible adventures for them.

 

[jayoungr]

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.

I'm fine with that. What I was trying to head off was people suggesting "You should start your campaign by assuming that the PCs already have deep ties to the setting and use those to generate storylines."

Since you tagged this as General and not 5E, and do not say in your open which edition this is for, not knowing that can make a big difference in the power levels of 10th level PCs. That makes it a bit harder to suggest possible adventures for them.

I mostly run 5E, if that helps (have done a bit of 3.5 as well, but not recently).

 

[Quartz]

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?

I like @humble minion's suggestion, but something else you might consider is to use a well-known campaign world like Greyhaw and have the PCs displaced from their homes by larger events. Sure you were the Deputy Commander of the White Tower, but that got destroyed by Iuz and is now in territory held by him, so you're now a refugee.

 

[MGibster]

Why are these level 10 PCs there in the first place? I think that would help establish who they're going to want to meet with. If these people are new in town there's a good chance all sorts of people might want to meet them. Perhaps merchants are interested in opening up trade or maybe important dignitaries would like to meet these interesting foreigners.

 

[dave2008]

They are elite warriors tasked with solving the kingdoms greatest threats (think the seven deadly sins if you are familiar with that reference). Or they are an independent avengers type group. You don't need a back story (though you could have one), just start with that premise and they are only called to action to resolve the biggest threats.

 

[TwoSix]

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).

Yea, I like this. Treat level as just extreme amounts of natural ability and/or luck and/or divine providence. Maybe they're just all kids from the same village who are also destined to fight off the demonic invasion of their homeland. Kind of like ta'veren from the Wheel of Time.

 

[aco175]

The PCs suddenly come out of the blackness to a large room with some sort of portal contraption and a mage says, "Great, now that you are all here..." Picture Hoth and Dearth Vader is knocking down the walls to not let the machine summon the PCs. A quick fight so the PCs know that, or think that they are fighting for the right side. Cut to after they escape and find out they were the rebellions only hope since all the heroes in this kingdom have already been killed by the BBEG.

I lost a 4th level fighter like this to the Deck of Many Things. I also gained the services of one in a later campaign.

 

[Reynard]

I am planning on running a similar situation -- when we finish the Avernus adventure I am going to have the PCs escape Hell not back to Baldur's Gate but to some new world where they will be appearing at the height of their power. They will be rudderless and capable of truly disrupting the status quo. I have to decide whether I want to use an established setting (if so, I am leaning toward Eberron since that world specifically avoids high level NPCs everywhere) or creating a new world.

As to"adventures" I am more interested in what the PCs are capable of doing to a setting at that level, so it will be intentionally lower powered than they.