Making a BBEG and a solid story for a Newbie campaign

[Nettlekid]

A bunch of D&D newbies at my school want to learn how to play, and so I've decided to design a campaign of indeterminate length that hopefully has enough classic D&D feel to it to be an enjoyable first game, while still being unpredictable enough to keep them on their toes. I plan to start at 3rd level, because I feel like that's when different classes first start feeling different (the Barbarian's +3 BAB versus the Wizard's +1, but the Wizard and Cleric have 2nd level spells and the Rogue has 6 skill ranks on everyone else, not to mention everyone has a second feat, etc).

Anyway, I have a decent outline for a few adventures to set them off, but I'm not 100% sure how to weave it into an overarching story, nor how to provide enough flexibility for their decisions. I'm often guilty of railroading my PCs, and I'd like not to, but it's difficult to have a thing prepared for every eventuality. I once knew a DM who had a very large world and knew what was happening at each point at any time, so that the PCs could go anywhere and interact with it, and I'm definitely not at that level. So I guess I'm asking for suggestions on how to bring things all together.

Here's the story plan thus far. I've put a star next to anything that needs later tying-together.
The premise is that the party meets in a crossroads town on their way to a big city where there's a tournament of skill being held, with the aim of making their names known for fame and fortune. Obligatory Goblin Bandit fight as they approach the city as their first fight, gaining the royal family's signet ringthe princess is missing and is actually currently in this town.. Any traveler is detained in this town because there is word that in the big city there's a serious epidemic*the epidemic is a false rumor, but I don't know quite why the BBEG wants to start the rumor or how it would be convincingly spread and the town doesn't want it to spread. The PCs could go along with being quarantined, try to run away and sneak into the town later, or try to fight the guards and get imprisoned in the quarantine tent. (They'll also be sent to the tent if they steal things from the medic office (which they will because they're D&D players)).

In the quarantine tent they'll meet a bounty hunter named Sidewinder*He's a disguised Yuan-Ti Pureblood who's either hunting down the missing princess or the BBEG, haven't decided. Need a good reason for the Yuan-Ti to go for either. and a young woman keeping to herself named Mara, who is actually the missing princess from the city. She's also a Necropolitan*She underwent the process herself, I guess because the BBEG has Charm or Dominate effects or something and she needed to become immune to them. though she keeps hidden with potions of Disguise Undead.

There's going to be a fire in the quarantine tent, small, but enough to free the trapped party members and the two others. The party can lie low or leave immediately, but if they go to the tavern they'll meet some NPCs and possibly an old man who is an Amethyst Dragon in disguise. Maybe the Amethyst Dragon was fighting either the BBEG or the Bigger BBEG, and the battle caused the fire (perhaps Fiery Discorporation because the Dragon was losing) which ruined the tent. I think Sidewinder will know the dragon, but I don't know why.

On the road out of the town the party can encounter a regular Salamander fighting an Ettercap. This mainly serves to give them a Cloak of Elemental Protection with a Salamander symbol, which will sort of come up later.

I don't have that much planned for the big city, apart from the tournament. I should plan more, like a shop and a blacksmith and stuff. More fleshing out of the world. Anyway, the tournament is three separate tournaments, which any PC will only have to win one of. The three are a Tournament of Warriors (a full out nonlethal brawl), a Tournament of Scholars (plain old riddle game), and a Tournament of Thieves (stealing stuff from other contestants, and the trick is that the real target is the referee on the field.)

Upon winning, the king will invite the winners and their allies to his castle with an award and an adventuring proposition. The thing wants to test their mettle for a real quest finding his missing daughter, though the king (and probably everyone in the castle) is being either Charmed or Dominated by the BBEG, which is the king's adviser. Perhaps she'll be a Warlock, or just someone with an Umber Hulk minion. The princess is the only one who knows what's going on and is also immune to the Charm, so the adviser wants her back. The mission is to climb a mountain (lots of Survival checks, fight a Yeti) and find an old scepter supposedly a relic that will bond the kingdom's principalities, but in actuality an artifact that the BBEG wants. in an abandoned castle at the top of the mountain. The castle is supposedly occupied by a Noble Salamander, and if the PCs should happen to have any connections with the Salamander race it might be to their advantage (hence the earlier Salamander cloak.) This is however a lie, because it is in fact an Adult Red Dragon guarding the hoard. Very Smaug-ish, because at level 4 or so that is to stare death in the face. That's about as much as I have so far. The PCs will probably run away, if they're very lucky they can nab some piece of treasure, and most likely won't get the scepter (though they might be able to.) I guess I want an eventuality for either case.


So that's everything I have planned out so far. It should do for quite a few meetings, but I like having a longer term plan. I need to figure out the alliances, rationales, what/who the BBEG actually is and who, if anyone, they're working for, etc. There's no specific question I have, but if anyone has suggestions for edits and how to make the whole story more fun for these newbies, I'm glad to hear them.

[wayfare]

Well, you have some interesting things here, but a few things are unclear to me.

1) Why the rumors of a plague? Which area is the BBEG trying to isolate and why?

2) Which of the NPCS know eachother and why. Why does Sidewinder Know the Dragon.

3) Actually this should be #1 -- how far do you want this campaign to run? What level range are we looking at, and do you want them to actually confront and slay the BBEG or simply destroy its power-base (easier to do, lower level)

[Nettlekid]

Well, you have some interesting things here, but a few things are unclear to me.

1) Why the rumors of a plague? Which area is the BBEG trying to isolate and why?

2) Which of the NPCS know eachother and why. Why does Sidewinder Know the Dragon.

3) Actually this should be #1 -- how far do you want this campaign to run? What level range are we looking at, and do you want them to actually confront and slay the BBEG or simply destroy its power-base (easier to do, lower level)

Most of those are questions I'm not so sure of myself. The plague was a throwback to before I had any semblance of a story idea, and I posted on this forum, and someone suggested "There's a plague except it's really a ruse for something else," which I liked, but have yet to be able to justify. I guess it might work because if the rumor is spread that there's a plague in this city, then the escaped princess coming from the city may be detained for fear of being a carrier long enough to be found.
Something else I just thought of is to make the BBEG a Cancer Mage, using Viral Ally to Dominate key players that they want to keep command of like the king and princess before she manages to become a Necropolitan and escape. If that was the case, then the whole plague thing could actually be true. It would also make the PCs find trustworthy allies in interesting folk like Warforged, 5th level Monks, 3rd level Paladins, and anyone else who can't be diseased.

I do not know why the NPCs know each other yet. I feel like it's good to have many NPCs, some one-offs that they run into in a tavern that they might meet again if they go back to that town but otherwise won't come up, and some that are doing their own thing in their own story and as such have interactions. Perhaps the disguised Amethyst Dragon, in full dragon form, is responsible for the Yuan-Ti investigation. But there would need to be a good reason for the Yuan-Ti to care about any of this. In fact, the BBEG needs a motive for any of this. A final plan to thwart.

I tend to start a campaign and keep going until the group can't meet anymore due to other commitments, so the longer the better. I also prefer to do story-based level-ups rather than using XP, so I can control how strong they are and when. At the moment I'm thinking that they'll start at level 3, level up once after the tournament, and then once more after they come back down the mountain from the castle. I'll see if that feels too fast or if it's an okay pace. But I don't know quite where I want to go with it. I think perhaps the king's adviser will be the bad guy who's messing with immediate stuff, but they're being commanded by the proper BBEG who the Amethyst Dragon is actually after, and whose defeat is a pretty long way off. Earlier I was thinking Vampire or Vampire Spawn for the adviser (Dominate Person at will, and the scepter could be some item of Night's Mantle), and the BBEG is a Vampire Lord, but I worry that the undead thing would get too tiresome.

[wayfare]

See, you've already made some big gains right there.

Based on what you've posted, I think Ragnorra or the Worm the Walks are good enemies if you want to go all epic on this stuff.

Cancer mage is a very interesting choice, particularly if the disease effecting the city is something like Festering Anger, which effectively turns the populace into rage zombies from 28 days later.

An amethyst dragon could be feeling some psionic backlash from teh constant aggression and tracked the BBEG's minion first, but was unable to fight when the dudde called upon teh full power of the elder evil empowering him.

more ideas forthcoming.

[Nettlekid]

See, you've already made some big gains right there.

Based on what you've posted, I think Ragnorra or the Worm the Walks are good enemies if you want to go all epic on this stuff.

Cancer mage is a very interesting choice, particularly if the disease effecting the city is something like Festering Anger, which effectively turns the populace into rage zombies from 28 days later.

An amethyst dragon could be feeling some psionic backlash from teh constant aggression and tracked the BBEG's minion first, but was unable to fight when the dudde called upon teh full power of the elder evil empowering him.

more ideas forthcoming.

Hmm, good thoughts. I don't think I'll go with Festering Anger, because there's just no real justification for sending something so RAW-brokenly-optimized at a newbie party like that. I'm also unsure about actually having the whole city infected, because if there really was a plague then the special tournament wouldn't be held, and stuff.

I like the introduction of the Amethyst Dragon's psionics into it, because that' subtle. But I don't want to go with an Elder Evil as the BBEG, because again, that's too much for newbies. Something like a Vampire Lord or a Lich or something. But I don't know what.

[Fax Celestis]

AKA Bait posted something called "Silas, the Rat Lich" a while back. You should look it up. Silas is one of my favorite BBEGs.

[wayfare]

Consider adding some feyrs or even greater feyrs to the mix -- a city that is threatened by plague is perfect for them. Imagine the distrust and fear!!!

[Weirdlet]

Not sure if the mechanics are what you'd need, but something about this just says 'Necrotic Cyst' to me. Controlling people through tumors you give them.

[Nettlekid]

Not sure if the mechanics are what you'd need, but something about this just says 'Necrotic Cyst' to me. Controlling people through tumors you give them.

Ah, that's an interesting thought. The "plague" is the spreading of Necrotic Cysts, and people are like "Yeah they're kind of weird but it's not too bad, I'll probably get better pretty soon" and so things carry on. It would also be a good reason that the princess took such a drastic step as becoming a Necropolitan in order to no longer be a viable target.

Okay then, so if the sub-BEG, the adviser, is using Necrotic Cysts to subtly control the population, then there are a few questions.
1) What's her race and class? She needs Necrotic Domination, which is a 4th level Cleric and Sorc/Wiz spell, so any build of at least level 7 gets it. As the PCs will be level 5 by the time they get back to the castle, and when they do they'll be sent on a mission slash wild goose chase to find the missing princess (at which point they'll probably learn about the adviser's wrongdoings), so they'll likely be level 6 at the time of the confrontation. So I could see this character being ECL 8 or 9 even. (Perhaps 8 if given a Cleric or Wizard base, 9 if given a Sorcerer base. Perhaps anything that amounts to CL 8 when combined with a couple of levels in a not-entirely-10/10-casting PrC)

2) Who is she working for? What kind of creature would want Necrotic Cysts in a population and also want control of the king, and also prove a challenge against an Amethyst Dragon? I'm tempted to just go "Lich" and end it, but that's a bit overdone. Then again, newbie campaign, they'll want the classics.