D&D 5E Your favorite campaign you've never run

[Mouseferatu]

Great topic Ari Thanks! Have you answered your own question yet?

Heh. I have not, because I'm having trouble whittling down my list to a couple of favorites. I come up with campaign concepts the way many people come up with characters.

Some of them are just brief ideas. Like the idea of a "vs. kaiju" campaign where the PCs are totally overmatched by the newly appearing giant monsters and must go locate the tarrasque and lure it back to take on the invaders in a "Godzilla vs. Mothra" scenario. Or a campaign where the PCs have all died and gone to Hell, and Mephistopheles brings them back to hunt down people who have avoided or escaped Hell. D&D meets Ghost Rider + Brimstone.

----------

Then there's this:

The PCs (who would start somewhere in the 4th-6th level range, and thus already have a rep) are approached by dwarves. The dwarves are seeking to regain a homeland, very much an Erebor or Gauntlgrym thing. The city was lost generations ago, and is in the hands of gods-know-what. It is also cursed; the dwarves themselves cannot return until the curse is broke, which is why they're gathering outsiders for this. The PCs, and other humans who assist, will be granted lands and titles within the dwarven kingdom.

Some (but not all) objectives and plot arcs would include...

1) Clear out the upper levels of whatever has claimed them, so the PCs can use it as a base and start moving in workmen, builders, etc.

2) Research the source of the curse and ways to break it.

3) Recover lost dwarven relics throughout the region so they can be returned to the city, where they have religious or magical significance.

4) Gather other treasures to fund the rebuilding and jumpstart the economy, as well as necessities for farming, ranching, crafting, etc.

5) Gather other dwarves to come live here once the curse is lifted.

6) Eliminate various threats to the nascent city nearby, like monsters, orc tribes, etc.

7) Deal with political machinations among the factions of the new mostly dwarven government.

8) Start building up their own properties; maybe the cleric PC wants to have a temple here, the wizard a school, etc. These must be constructed and incorporated into the growing society.

9) Eventually reclaim the deeper levels of whatever holds them, and clear the surrounding Underdark of threats.

10) Open diplomatic ties with neighboring lands, above and below ground.

----------

Or this:

D&D Canterbury Tales. A campaign in which the PCs are part of a long journey or pilgrimage. Adventures alternate between events occurring to/on the pilgrimage, and the stories the PCs are telling each other to pass the time--stories in which the PCs are effectively "stand ins" for the characters being talked about, and still level/develop accordingly, but can thus find themselves in all manner of different environments/situations that might otherwise not be possible in an internally consistent setting.

----------

And I have others, as well.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I have had a few inchoate ideas for fantasy campaigns set entirely within Dyson spheres or similarly improbable environs. One was based on Larry Niven's Integral Trees setting. Another was essentially its exact opposite- a fully constructed labyrinthine, Escher-eque and partially flooded world.

Then I realized they'd probably work better as planes of existence.

And I have little campaign elements I'd love to use, and have tried in various as-yet unused campaigns. There have been elemental dwarves who are made of living stone (they reproduce by carving, stone type determines stats and racial benefits); Seshayans as past, present or possibly future masters of the Underdark; anthropomorphic snapping turtles; truly fey gnomes (or elves); "Gray" alien elves. All have been written in, none have been used in an active campaign.

Of course, there's also all those contributions I made to the "Campaign Ideas" thread (see my sig)...

 

[Tony Vargas]

Or this:

D&D Canterbury Tales. A campaign in which the PCs are part of a long journey or pilgrimage. Adventures alternate between events occurring to/on the pilgrimage, and the stories the PCs are telling each other to pass the time--stories in which the PCs are effectively "stand ins" for the characters being talked about, and still level/develop accordingly, but can thus find themselves in all manner of different environments/situations that might otherwise not be possible in an internally consistent setting.

That reminds me of an odd, 'backwards' campaign/cooperative-storytelling idea I had.

The PCs are old friends getting together in the twighlight of their lives, and reminiscing about their past adventures - which the players play through as they come up in conversation, not chronologically. As the stories progress, an old adversary keeps coming up in them, and it's slowly revealed that it's still out there. As the campaign capstone, the high-level, but elderly, PCs in the present must face their nemesis in a final showdown. One aspect of it is that, since everyone is at the gathering, none of them can die permanently until that final showdown - when, quite possibly, they all might.

 

[5Shilling]

D&D Canterbury Tales. A campaign in which the PCs are part of a long journey or pilgrimage. Adventures alternate between events occurring to/on the pilgrimage, and the stories the PCs are telling each other to pass the time--stories in which the PCs are effectively "stand ins" for the characters being talked about, and still level/develop accordingly, but can thus find themselves in all manner of different environments/situations that might otherwise not be possible in an internally consistent setting.

I love that idea! You could bring in elements of player narration, or ask each player to write a story synopsis that you then take away to form the basis of each week's story/adventure.

Another good source in inspiration would be Neil Gaiman's Sandman: World's End (possibly my favourite of the trade paperbacks in a seminal series, and one that stands alone very well).

 

[Mouseferatu]

I love that idea! You could bring in elements of player narration, or ask each player to write a story synopsis that you then take away to form the basis of each week's story/adventure.

Yep! Player says "I'm going to tell a tale of great political upheaval in a faraway kingdom, and the dragon who tried to manipulate both factions," and the DM then has a basic seed on which to base the next adventure.

Or, alternatively, you can even occasionally allow a small it of round-robin DMing. There's a main DM for the campaign, but a player could take over the DM role for a specific tale, with the DM temporarily playing another character who's also part of the pilgrimage. And since it's all "fiction," the fact that it's a different DMing style, or the DM has no solid idea of the campaign setting or long-running plots, doesn't matter at all.

 

[Lanliss]

I have a few campaign ideas that I am eager to work on.

First, a similar concept to what Mouseferatu put above about the dwarf city, except it is a massive City-country, all entirely united at one time, and truly a terror to those who insulted the honor of the Dwarves. Because of this threat, they were a target for numerous evils, which all aligned to fight against them. Their country now stands abandoned, except for the remnants of the Evil forces that lie in wait. Skyscrapers to rival mountains, and massive open air farms carved into lake beds.

Next is a campaign where the bad guys already won, centuries back. The adventuring party is huddled up in a shelter for homeless when they are struck by a squadron of the tyrant soldiers. Deciding they have had enough, the party rises up and fights back. I should note, the most important part of this, that I believe sets it apart from other such examples, is that there is no resistance, no rebellion. The party IS the first rebellion, and possibly the last if they can't juggle fighting and intrigue properly.