Dooooom! (Ending existence and stuff)

[Captainspork]

Good morning playgrounders,

I have been DMing a game off and on for ~4 years now, and my players find themselves chasing an evil Wizard (aren't they all) intent on summoning the most evil kind of elder evil you can possibly imagine!! Except, there's one small problem...I don't know what that elder evil is...:smalleek:

Originally, I had planned for this Wizard to summon Atropus by means of mass destruction (very similar to the EE write up). It was a plan that I've found a bit lacking as I've gotten closer to it, and I'm afraid my players will feel the same way.

The Wizard has in his possession a gem (a soul stone of sorts) that contains the power of a lesser demon god (his former master, who he betrayed in front of the PCs in dramatic fashion ). My original intent was to use this power to cause enough death/destruction/etc./etc. that atropus would show up and scare people. While I would like this Wizard to remain involved, I would like his intentions with the gem to be more original than "blow up the world raar!!"

We are a very laid back group, so any homebrew ideas are welcome. I can always find ways to make things work later. For now, I just need a bit of inspiration to get the creative juices flowing again. (??)

Thanks in advance!!

[John Longarrow]

What is the wizards motive?
Power? Immortality? Love of an Honest Woman?

Depending on what the wizards wants to do, we can give you a better idea of what would be a fitting evil.

[Captainspork]

Good question. His motives are subject to change, I suppose. As far as the PCs are concerned, his motives have yet to be defined.

As I said before, the initial plan was to bring atropus to this world. That being the case, his motivation is to bring an end to existence as the PCs know it. He has used the PCs (unknowingly) to further this goal almost every step of the way, as the PCs played a significant role in both retrieving the gem and helping him betray his master.

As a character he relishes in the game that he has played with the PCs, tormenting them as they further his goals (he condemned one npc to jangling hiter, and mind raped another). He has also used the mind rape spell on two of the PCs, but it was done in such a way that a) very little was actually done to them and b) they sort of knew it was coming. I didn't get any books thrown at me, so that was a plus XD

As a caster, I have tended to make him very illusion based, as it tends to favor the type of character he is. The PCs once encountered a of statue of him, gazed upon it, but as soon as they looked away could remember nothing about it (Dr Who?). That is sort of the theme of his design.

I feel as though this character is definitely strong enough to be my BBEG, and atropus was the tool he was to use to end existence. Now I just need a new, more interesting tool. >.>

I hope that helps. This character and campaign have been 4 years in the making, so trying to provide enough information without providing too much is tricky :(

[Captainspork]

Perhaps I should re title this thread: "How to end existence for dummies"

[John Longarrow]

Illusion based? Enjoys his game with the players? Trying to make everyone think he's out to destroy the world?

You do know that your running the Joker don't you?

His motive has nothing to do with destroying the world. His whole motivation is to destroy everyones belief in good and "Happy ever after". Killing people is no where near as good as destroying their hopes and dreams.

His motive for doing so? Its FUN!

[iceman10058]

i like the joker idea. maybe have him discover a way to encompas the world in a permanent amf?

[Captainspork]

Illusion based? Enjoys his game with the players? Trying to make everyone think he's out to destroy the world?

You do know that your running the Joker don't you?

His motive has nothing to do with destroying the world. His whole motivation is to destroy everyones belief in good and "Happy ever after". Killing people is no where near as good as destroying their hopes and dreams.

His motive for doing so? Its FUN!

This....is true. Much of the character was inspired by The Dark Knight version of the Joker (R.I.P.), and his desire to "watch the world burn". Although truthfully I didn't appreciate how eerily similar they were until you mentioned it.

Maybe you're right. Why end existence when you can take all that is good and corrupt it. It's certainly more original than just destroying everything.

How far can we go down this rabbit hole?

[Yawgmoth]

Why end existence when you can take all that is good and corrupt it.
How far can we go down this rabbit hole? Look at Ragnorra, possibly Father Llymic. Both are very much in this vein.

[Telonius]

Throw in a dash of Simon from Die Hard. What's the only thing better than blowing up the universe? Making everyone think you did.

[John Longarrow]

Even better than ending the world is convincing a group they need to do something HORRIBLE to save the world, then letting them discover (on their own) it was a trick...

[Zweisteine]

The evil wizard tried to use the power in the gem to try to control an Atropal, and this drew Atropus' attention. Now he's trying to control an Atropal.

He wants to awaken and control the Leviathan, not realizing its true size. He thinks it'll cause some big waves and let him control the world. It's a bit bigger than that, though. Actually, it's about a world bigger.

The "control an elder evil" works pretty well for any of them. Importantly, he doesn't realize that Elder Evils have a terrible impact on the world simply by virtue of their presence.

Or maybe he's a misguided hero who wants to free the poor creatures from their prisons and release them into space.

[Leviting]

Or maybe he's a misguided hero who wants to free the poor creatures from their prisons and release them into space.

So would that make him a chaotic evil joker Obligatum VII? Now that is an interesting image.

[JeminiZero]

How far can we go down this rabbit hole?
How far are you prepared to go? :smallcool:

Maybe pull off a larger version of the Two Ferry Experiment: He sends the PC's the trigger device for summoning an Elder Evil... to another World (say, Eberron). The other world has a similar device that will call the Elder Evil onto the PC's world. Who blinks first?

[Darkz0r]

Even better than ending the world is convincing a group they need to do something HORRIBLE to save the world, then letting them discover (on their own) it was a trick...

That's a great idea...now that you mention it, I might use that to change what my original plot once was.

Instead of summoning Atropus, you could make the wizard open a portal to a different cosmology and make them invade. It's totally plausible since you have liberty to say how many planes exist and what sort of connection there is between the planes.
The gods from the PCs cosmology could have sealed away several evil beings in another cosmology or system of planes (maybe just another material, astral and shadow) and they can't wait to leave there and get revenge. That would be a giant mess...the wizard could be the last person alive that knew or found out about these planes and somehow he found a way to access them.

There's all sorts of planar stuff you could use by going that route. And it would provide an infinite amount of baddies.