I need an adventure to start my campaign!

[the_david]

I've had this idea for a campaign and I'm still figuring out the specifics but I've worked out most of the plot.

The BBEG is a man who is afraid of a slumbering Elder Deep One. This man just happens to be in a position of leadership. His plan is to prepare a bunch of adventurers for a battle with the Elder Deep One. The catch is that he's prepared to do evil for the greater good.
He starts by setting up some catastrophe to recruit adventurers. After that the players will have the option to explore a sandbox/plot point campaign. In the end, the heroes will figure out what's going on (hopefully), defeat the BBEG and go on to defeat the Elder Deep One. (So basically, he's Ozymandius from Watchmen or the Glass Man from Unbreakable.)

Now my problem is that I don't have an idea for the start of this campaign. Well, that's not entirely true. I know that it must threaten the lives of good citizens in order to create a new batch of "heroes".

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what would be a good idea for a low level adventure?

[Elysiume]

Is the BBEG trying to target a specific, pre-existing group, or cause a general crisis and then start targeting the best responders?

[the_david]

The general crisis option. I guess this could also create a rival party then, but I already had a single rival in mind.

[Uncle Pine]

If I remember correctly, fungal creatures (Advanced Bestiary) are usually tame for most of the year, but will go into a blood frenzy during mating season as they try to infect the largest number of living creatures with their spores. Having a small group of people trim down the local population of fungal lizardfolk living somewhat close to a small village right before mating season couldn't possibly make them angrier and more likely to get out of their forest/swamp to hunt down a larger numbers of creatures, threathening the very existence of said village, am I right?
It works similarly well with any kind of territorial creatures that live in packs, in case you lack the book or want to avoid 3rd party material. The weirder you can make the creature without going entirely bonkers, the easier it'll be to turn this adventure into something that feels different from "generic tribe or packs of goblins/orcs/wolves attacks generic small village in the countryside", even if it's essentially exactly that.

[the_david]

Bestiary 4, actually. Other than that, this seems like a good idea. I suppose this would make the standard rat problem quest a bit more bearable. I'll have to think this through some more.

And thank you for reminding me of the Advanced Bestiary. I kinda forgot I recieved it with that Humble Bundle... I'm sure it'll come in handy.

Edit: I might just use the Yellow Musk Creeper instead, turning Rats, Dire Rats and Rat Swarms into Yellow Musk Creeper Zombies. This should result in a plague that causes less constitution damage...

[the_david]

Actually, I think I'll go with tiny devils instead. Something like a small rift to hell needs to be closed or else all hell breaks loose. It fits better with the BBEG who is willing to make a deal with the devil.