Giant Under the Playground

[Galazgru]

I am currently working on what I hope will turn into a level 1-20 campaign or at the very least the creation of a homebrewed campaign world/setting that I can stage multiple campaigns in and whose history is influenced by various groups of PCs interacting in the world.

Anyway, I'm still in the planning stages and I was leafing through the Faerun handbook last night and I stumbled across an entry about the stone giants of Cairnheim in the Underdark. They are led by a stone giant lich called the Dodkong. This idea really inspires me and I think the Dodkong and his tribe could make a really cool/unique antagonist for the campaign world. I don't know many DMs who use giants very often much less use them as creatures who can effectively scheme and run world-ending intrigues.

My question to the playground is, what could the Dodkong and the giants of Cairnheim be up to down there in the Underdark that could affect the surface world in a big way? My original thought is that through the use of powerful and forgotten rune magic, the Dodkong is setting up leylines that run under several major surface empires and eventually he will trigger a fissure that will crack the world open and swallow those empires. All well and good, but I need some help bouncing around ideas for what his motivations are. Why does he care about the surface world, what will he gain, what drives him (besides probably being an insane, ancient lich giant), who are his rival and enemies? Perhaps there was an ancient kingdom of giants on the surface that the dwarves displaced long ago. Maybe it happened so long ago that the people of the modern campaign world think that giants are creatures of legend that never truly existed and no one has seen one for thousands of years (because they are now living underground). Perhaps throughout the span of the campaign, the PCs keep discovering clues about the giants and begin to suspect that they are real and still alive somewhere in the world. Waiting. Plotting. Scheming. Preparing.

[Sian]

opening fissures so warm lava moves closer to the Great Glacier, melting it away, with the intention of getting an apocalypsic artifact buried in one of the old giant ruins under the glacier to return Giants to 'greatness'

Given the speed that Forgotten Realms Campaign setting suggests that the Great Glacier have been pulling back, you could call it that they've been busy at it for the last couple of centuries

[veti]

I like the leylines. He needs to align a certain number of lines to converge on a point. To that end, he's triggering seismic (and other) actions on the surface to move landmarks around. The initial plot hook might be investigating some really weird activity on the surface, where a tribe of goblins appears to be physically moving the ruins of an old temple, brick by brick, from the foot of a hill to the top of the same hill. If the PCs get as far as asking them why, all they know is that they're a very religious lot and their shaman has been having weird dreams.

As for Donkey Kong - he doesn't care about the surface world. The leylines are a way of tapping power that will allow him to transcend to godhood, and the whole 'dropping the surface down a bottomless pit' thing is only a side effect. He doesn't care either way.

The players could hear about him via a tribe of surface-dwelling stone giants, who have legends/rumours passed down via the shaman line over centuries. They don't know what he's up to, but they do know that he's got something to do with recent seismic activity on the surface. ('Getting the PCs to talk to a bunch of stone giants' should be a quest in its own right.)

[Galazgru]

opening fissures so warm lava moves closer to the Great Glacier, melting it away, with the intention of getting an apocalypsic artifact buried in one of the old giant ruins under the glacier to return Giants to 'greatness'

Given the speed that Forgotten Realms Campaign setting suggests that the Great Glacier have been pulling back, you could call it that they've been busy at it for the last couple of centuries

The campaign will be taking place in a world that I've created not in Faerun. I was looking through the FR sourcebook just for inspiration since the histories, countries, towns, and people are so rich. I really like the idea behind this undead giant but want to make it my own and something that wil exist in my own world. That being said, there are two great glaciers in my world on the north and south poles so the idea still works. Just want to make it clear for others that this in't FR specific.



As for Donkey Kong - he doesn't care about the surface world. The leylines are a way of tapping power that will allow him to transcend to godhood, and the whole 'dropping the surface down a bottomless pit' thing is only a side effect. He doesn't care either way.

Kinda burnt out on the "Every BBEG's final goal is to ascend to godhood" train of thought. There's got to be something else that he's trying to acheive. He's already essentially immortal since he's a lich and if he's THE end boss he's probably immensely powerful already, maybe one of the most powerful casters in the world, so maybe he's not interested in godhood. Or perhaps he is trying to ascend to godhood but in a much less supernatural sense. To make himself a godking. Where he rules over the world and all his subjects worship him as a god among mortals (think Xeres in the movie 300). He still has a physical body and gets to enjoy all the worldly pleasures and luxuries that come along with deity status but isn't disconnected from the material world or have to bother with granting spells and managerial duties like that.

[veti]

*shrug* OK, forget the godhood thing. Maybe he's fed up with being undead - misses the taste of coffee - and has an alternative form of immortality lined up. Maybe he originally came from the surface, and now he's homesick.

Or, since this is a homebrewed version and doesn't have to abide by FR canon, how about:

The Underdark is doomed. Those stupid drow with their stupid magic have dug so much, and expanded so far, that there's barely enough rock left to hold up the surface. One more Passwall spell, carelessly placed, will bring the whole place down, and it's only a matter of time before that happens. What Donkey Kong is doing is actually strengthening the surface (the leylines are equivalent to reinforcing cables).

Unfortunately, he and his close advisors are the only ones who know this, and they're far too insular and suspicious to share the knowledge with anyone else. (You try living between the drow, duergar and illithids for a few centuries without developing advanced paranoia.)

[Ellowryn]

Your idea is neat veti, but he is supposed to be the BBEG not the BB(im actually the good guy)EG.

So, turn your idea around.

Basically the giants are tired of not being able to step without hitting another drow city or duergar mine. Every day is always something with them. So they decided to use that massive head for some thinking and realized that all this expansion by the "lesser" races has left the underdark pretty unstable, so they hatch upon an idea, to gather and use leylines to tear down the roof!

By carefully applying pressure in the right areas they can not only collapse the surface world, but also destroy the civilizations of the rest of the underdark inhabitants while taking out any possible resistance on the surface.

[Galazgru]

Maybe he originally came from the surface, and now he's homesick.
That's kind of the train of thought I was going with. Before "recorded" history there were dwarves and giants. The elves were still a very young race and orcs and humans didn't even exist yet. The dwarves and giants both had great kingdoms atop and under the mountains and hills of the world. The stone giants ruled the greatest kingdom off all, perched high atop the mountain range that sits at the center of my world. The dwarves eventually grew jealous and sought to overthrow that great giant kingdom and so they did. The displaced giants fled underground to escape the vast hordes of dwarves; Donkey Kong was among them. He was a budding sorcerer in at the time and forced to live underground with nothing else to do he grew obsessed with magic and runes and necromancy. Eventually, he turned himself into lich and he's been ruling the displaced giants ever since. So perhaps now he's amassed enough power and built a large enough giant army, augmented by enslaved gobliniods and undead that he feels confident enough to breach the surface and take back his ancient homeland.


Your idea is neat veti, but he is supposed to be the BBEG not the BB(im actually the good guy)EG.
So, turn your idea around.
Basically the giants are tired of not being able to step without hitting another drow city or duergar mine. Every day is always something with them. So they decided to use that massive head for some thinking and realized that all this expansion by the "lesser" races has left the underdark pretty unstable, so they hatch upon an idea, to gather and use leylines to tear down the roof!
By carefully applying pressure in the right areas they can not only collapse the surface world, but also destroy the civilizations of the rest of the underdark inhabitants while taking out any possible resistance on the surface.
I like this suggestion. The reason behind collapsing the roof of the Underdark is to simultaneously escape the Underdark/make a large enough opening to march a massive army out quickly as well as weaken major kingdoms on the surface. The goal is to gain quick access to the surface world and reclaim their lost kingdom and any mess that the fissure creates as result on and under the surface is just icing on the cake. The destruction was never the real plan, just a well thought out and fortunate side effect.

[veti]

That's kind of the train of thought I was going with. Before "recorded" history there were dwarves and giants. The elves were still a very young race and orcs and humans didn't even exist yet. The dwarves and giants both had great kingdoms atop and under the mountains and hills of the world.

As you like, of course. Personally, to me that looks at least as hackneyed as "ascend to godhood", but hey. Pretty much anything has been done before, it's all in how well you sell it.

I also still like my previous idea that leylines on the surface are actually holding up the roof of the Underdark. DK could be moving them about strategically to strengthen the roof above his bit of kingdom, while weakening it above his enemies.

This appeals to me because it puts DK permanently out of reach - he has no reason to come to the surface at all, ever. If the players want to stop him, the only possible way is for them to go to the Underdark and take him down there.

A possible campaign structure would look something like this:
Levels 1-2: Investigate weird humanoid activity (moving landmarks around).
Levels 3-4: An earthquake strikes. Employer's pet wizard Divines that it's related to the players' existing mission, though he can't tell how. It becomes imperative to find out exactly what these weirdos are doing. Go interview sundry goblin shamans and the like.
Levels 5-7: PCs are hired (by town council) to clear out a necromancer's lair. If they look at a map, they might spot that this lair is almost on a straight line between the sites of 3 of their previous encounters. Unbeknownst to everyone, the town council has been manipulated by small-time wizard whom DK has visited in dreams and promised Elevated Henchman status to, if he can build a ley-point there - and the necromancer is in the way.
Levels 8-12: More seismic activity. Wizard-mentor dude has consulted with colleagues in other areas and concluded that more than one leyline is being manipulated. Unfortunately, there's only a few people who have any viable theories about what leylines are or what they do - a druid, a wizard, someone else - and they're all either insane, or a ridiculous distance away, or both. Go talk to them. Each of them, coincidentally, is (in varying degrees) besieged by undead hordes, so good luck getting their attention.
Levels 13-14: The crazy wizard chick has a theory that leylines are lines of physical strength that hold the world together. The druid thinks crazy wizard is crazy, but there's this tribe of stone giants whose shaman might have better ideas. Coincidentally, they live at a convergence of leylines (which makes their home fortress totally impregnable, or did until someone moved a couple of their landmarks). The stone giant shaman wants their landmarks put back before he'll share what he knows.
Levels 15-17: Stone giant shaman tells them tradition about Donkey Kong. Not sure how to get to him. There are only a handful of ways into the Underdark, and not a lot of people have been there, and even fewer of them (a) are willing to go back and (b) know their way around when there. Good luck finding one.
Levels 18-20: Journey to the Underdark and stop DK once and for all. (Drow or duergar authorities will actually help with this, if asked, because they're getting pretty worried too. Of course, doing deals with them is Not Safe.)

Of course, it's your campaign, not mine - I'm just thinking aloud here. Feel free to take any of that, or none, as looks useful to you.

[Galazgru]

As you like, of course. Personally, to me that looks at least as hackneyed as "ascend to godhood", but hey. Pretty much anything has been done before, it's all in how well you sell it.

I also still like my previous idea that leylines on the surface are actually holding up the roof of the Underdark. DK could be moving them about strategically to strengthen the roof above his bit of kingdom, while weakening it above his enemies.

This appeals to me because it puts DK permanently out of reach - he has no reason to come to the surface at all, ever. If the players want to stop him, the only possible way is for them to go to the Underdark and take him down there.

A possible campaign structure would look something like this:
Levels 1-2: Investigate weird humanoid activity (moving landmarks around).
Levels 3-4: An earthquake strikes. Employer's pet wizard Divines that it's related to the players' existing mission, though he can't tell how. It becomes imperative to find out exactly what these weirdos are doing. Go interview sundry goblin shamans and the like.
Levels 5-7: PCs are hired (by town council) to clear out a necromancer's lair. If they look at a map, they might spot that this lair is almost on a straight line between the sites of 3 of their previous encounters. Unbeknownst to everyone, the town council has been manipulated by small-time wizard whom DK has visited in dreams and promised Elevated Henchman status to, if he can build a ley-point there - and the necromancer is in the way.
Levels 8-12: More seismic activity. Wizard-mentor dude has consulted with colleagues in other areas and concluded that more than one leyline is being manipulated. Unfortunately, there's only a few people who have any viable theories about what leylines are or what they do - a druid, a wizard, someone else - and they're all either insane, or a ridiculous distance away, or both. Go talk to them. Each of them, coincidentally, is (in varying degrees) besieged by undead hordes, so good luck getting their attention.
Levels 13-14: The crazy wizard chick has a theory that leylines are lines of physical strength that hold the world together. The druid thinks crazy wizard is crazy, but there's this tribe of stone giants whose shaman might have better ideas. Coincidentally, they live at a convergence of leylines (which makes their home fortress totally impregnable, or did until someone moved a couple of their landmarks). The stone giant shaman wants their landmarks put back before he'll share what he knows.
Levels 15-17: Stone giant shaman tells them tradition about Donkey Kong. Not sure how to get to him. There are only a handful of ways into the Underdark, and not a lot of people have been there, and even fewer of them (a) are willing to go back and (b) know their way around when there. Good luck finding one.
Levels 18-20: Journey to the Underdark and stop DK once and for all. (Drow or duergar authorities will actually help with this, if asked, because they're getting pretty worried too. Of course, doing deals with them is Not Safe.)

Of course, it's your campaign, not mine - I'm just thinking aloud here. Feel free to take any of that, or none, as looks useful to you.

I really like quiet a few of these ideas Veti, and I to have just been thinking aloud; it helps my solidify ideas. I think my favorite thing you've mentioned is the idea that the leylines are influenced by landmarks and that you can manipulate lines by moving physical structures. You idea of goblins moving a temple brick by brick makes me chuckle. The reason I'm shying away from the godhood thing is just because I've personally run campaigns that featured that in past and have played in several recently where that was the BBEG's plan all along. Want to do something a bit different this time even though it as well is an oldie but a goodie. I will have to ponder this for a bit.

EDIT: Also love the campaign breakdown per level. super helpful.