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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 8153930" data-attributes="member: 58197">First, I love the setting and I want to play in this campaign. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I would not do the "make characters in isolation" approach. I have never found that to produce cohesive parties. (You're not guaranteed a cohesive party anyway, but you do tend to get better results with a Session Zero.)I quite like the idea of a dead wizard "patron"--making him dead is very convenient because the PCs can't ask the wizard to solve their problems for them with high-level spells. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />As far as the gaps go, the only significant one I can see is the nature of the Great Curse. If I were doing it, I'd start with the following:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There is some kind of organized, or at least semi-organized, force behind it. This is a source of endless adventure hooks; you can have missions to attack its strongholds, thwart its plans, discover its aims.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There is a Big Bad, who can be fought and killed as the climax of the campaign, but the Big Bad is well hidden and its identity isn't even known in the early stages. This keeps the PCs from rushing off to be smote by an ultra-high-level foe before they're ready to tackle it (a particular danger with novice players who don't yet grasp the steepness of D&D's power curve).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The organization works through proxies, bringing local monsters and villains under its sway, rather than sending its own forces. This provides for more variety in opponents.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Local "vassals" of the organization spread the Curse (perhaps unwittingly) from their strongholds. This creates mini-campaigns, where each stronghold and its leader can serve as a Big Bad for several levels, and the defeat of that Big Bad provides a tangible milestone toward ultimate victory.</li> </ul>Personally, I would probably go with a lich as the ultimate Big Bad. Undead are great for this kind of thing; spreading blight is their whole jam, and you can stuff a dungeon full of them and not have to worry about pesky details like "What do all these predatory monsters, you know, eat?" Plus I love undead. Fiends would also work as a variation on the same theme. Or, if you prefer a little less Game of Thrones and a little more Lovecraft, mind flayers could be slowly twisting the world into a reflection of the Far Realm.</blockquote>

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