Shortcutting to the end of a campaign, need help.

[TwinBahamut]

So, somewhere around a few weeks ago, I got the idea that, since I don't have the luxury of being able to run a full campaign any time soon, I should run a one-shot adventure. At the same, I wanted to run something epic. Not in the level 20+ sense, just the normal sense. So, I decided to run a one-shot as if it were the final battle of a years long campaign that went all the way to level 20.

Since I didn't actually run the campaign all the way to level 20, but really want to emulate the feel of such a battle, I could use some help and suggestions.

First, the set up.

Some years prior, the Good Magical Kingdom (still needs a name, but names just take time with me, so its fine) fell into times of strife. In desperation, they used a powerful magical ritual to summon great warriors from other lands and worlds. In response, a number of heroes arrived. Each character was a hero in their own homeland, and arived with considerable skill already (level 10, to be exact). Before arriving, each has a unique history. However, for the next few years (and the next 10 levels), these characters have fought side by side against the Evil. Now, the final battle is taking place.

The full force of the Dark Lord and his Evil Empire is being brought against the capital city of the Good Magical Kingdom. Both forces are totally commited to this one battle, and the winner of the battle will win the war. The Dark Lord will be in the field himself, as well as all the survivors of his generals and elite guards (the PCs killed several already, and the Dark Lord knows them by name now). It is going to be a battle too large for the PCs to even keep track of, really, but that helps with my improvisation.

The major players in this battle will be:
The PCs, serving as elite troops for the Good Kingdom.
The Princess of the Good Kingdom, and her elite guard.
The Surviving generals and soldiers of the Good Kingdom.
The Dark Lord and his personal guard
The powerful generals of the Dark Lord, each worthy of being a good encounter for the PCs
Varyous mooks, cannon fodder, and real threats among the Evil Army.

As shown above, I am really not trying to avoid stereotypical elements here, but I am also going for fantastic sword and sorcery, with high magic. There will be teleporting siege towers and floating castles, and both sides will employ potent artifacts and eldritch machines.

Of course, I need help coming up with half of this stuff.

Specifically, I need help with PC character background (I am using pre-gen characters to make this run quickly), PC mechanical info (nothing fleshed out, even class suggestions will help a lot), secrets about the characters that a PC won't learn until they have chosen a character, and lots of suggestions about the composition of both sides in the battle.

The Good Kingdom will have mages, knights, and maybe some good giants, and the Evil Army will have monsters, undead, and a dragon as one of the generals, and I prefer both sides to have mixed races, with humans (or soething close) as top comanders and royalty. Beyond that, I am uncertain.

Any help at all would be appreciated.

 

[Quartz]

Can you make it a 2 or 3 shot? One adventure at low level (4 ish), one at mid levels (12 ish), and then the final one at level 21 or 22 (so you can throw in a few cool Epic feats). Doing it this way will allow your players to invest emotion in both their characters and the bad guys.

Hmmm... could you do Age of Worms as 3 adventures - Champion's Belt as the intro to Kyuss, the one where they raid the tomb of the Wind Duke as the info dump, and then the final one?
I think you're going the right way with pre-generated characters

 

[Flynn]

Can you make it a 2 or 3 shot?

Here, here! A few summers back, one of my players had to be out of town for a few months, and so we ran what I called vignettes, essentially "mini-series"-style One Shots that lasted 3-4 sessions, each one set at various levels, to allow the players to experience different parts of the world's back story. I would definitely suggest a Vignette approach here, with pre-gens at various levels, to capture the essence of the events leading up to the final war. It would go a long way towards getting character investment in the final adventure, I think.

It also has the advantage of showing the players how the characters developed, instead of just being created in a void, and your Pre-Gens will feel more "balanced".

With Regards,
Flynn

 

[TwinBahamut]

Not a bad idea, though it would add some work to the pile of things I need to do... Probably a first summoning, some mid-point battle, then the big final battle. One adventure each at levels 10, 15, and 20.

The problem is that the level 10 adventure might start a bit slow, writing a good intermediate adventure would be pretty difficult, and I was intending to spend 2-3 5-hour sessions just getting the final battle taken care of. I will need to think about this one a bit.

Thank you for the replies. Anyone have any more advice or suggestions?

 

[Quartz]

A staple of adventures is that the heroes get whomped by the baddie (10th level), learn how to defeat him (15th level), then put the smack on him (20th level).

 

[Gold Roger]

Can someone say Montage?

Not a bad idea, though it would add some work to the pile of things I need to do... Probably a first summoning, some mid-point battle, then the big final battle. One adventure each at levels 10, 15, and 20.

The problem is that the level 10 adventure might start a bit slow, writing a good intermediate adventure would be pretty difficult, and I was intending to spend 2-3 5-hour sessions just getting the final battle taken care of. I will need to think about this one a bit.

Thank you for the replies. Anyone have any more advice or suggestions?

Well, the slowdown on number one is easily avoided. Give the PC's short (one page max) handouts on who the PC's are and what they where doing. Start the session with a bang. The PC's are suddenly appearing on some eldritch place, sorrounded by old men in pointy hats and a hotty princess.

Hotty princess starts into some longwinded "please solve our problems" speech, when early in the first sentence

Boom

Walls shatter, hotty princess screams and old men in pointy hats have heart attacks as an Evil Strikeforce TM attacks the site.

The evil Emperor has divined that Goody kingdom was about to do something that could spell his doom and send countermeasures. But they are to late.

Strike Force gets killed in a show of battle provess exhibitionism. But their are just the spearhead of a larger force, the area is lost, so the PC's have to eskort hotty princes back to the royal city. Backstory is dispersed between combats with pursuing forces.


Part 2 should be assaulting the stronghold of the evil Emperors first General and killing him.

 

[TwinBahamut]

Now I really am getting interested in this multi-part formula...

Thanks for the input.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Cool idea, I've considered doing something similar. The main thing is you have already grasped the key, #1 most important feature of oneoffs -

I am really not trying to avoid stereotypical elements here

Time is limited so the players have to understand who they are, how the world works and what's going on asap.

The three-parter idea is interesting too. If you stick with the single session, steal your stuff from familar sources such as Lord of the Rings, Conan and so forth. For the PCs I'd have a dimwitted barbarian (which Conan wasn't, but that's the cliche), a wise old wizard and a larcenous rogue. Other possibilities are a dashing swashbuckler, dour dwarf, femme fatal assassin or flighty catgirl. To get a bit weirder, how about a man out of time from our own C21 Earth? This is unusual in D&D but common in fantasy.

If I was doing it I'd indicate history by having the PCs already completed their quest for the mystic mcguffin of seven parts which is the BBEG's only weakness. Some other utterly cliched stuff that could've happened might be the BBEG killed the true love of one or more of the heroes. Two of the PCs could still have a will they/won't they romance which has been unconsummated for the whole trilogy (sorry, campaign). One of the PCs may be struggling with self doubt, perhaps a priest or paladin on the verge of losing his faith.