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View Full Version : Destroying the World in Order to Save It [Idea Thread]



Leliel
2007-09-22, 12:13 PM
During my musings, I thought about how I could use Hindu and Buddist cosmology for D&D pleasure. It was there I thought "Hey, what if all those "Dark And Powerful Eldrich Rituals Ment For Armageddon(TM)" were actually created to recycle the world(which it would have done eventually) early? Like say, a Prime world had fallen to evil for so long, that the Powers That Be(Old Ones, Creators of The Universe, Gods of the Gods, Ao's bosses, etc.) decided that the only way to restore the natural cycle would be to metaphorically 'hit the Reset button', as it were? Thus the afromentioned DAPERMFAs, reasoning that the good and neutral aligned mortals would ally and bring it about if this actually happened?" Then I thought "What if I could make a campagin out of this, with the PCs as the enacters of the will of the Dark Prognosticus(To use a Super Paper Mario metaphor), and heralds of Shiva?" Thats where this thread comes in as I then thought "Where are you going to get all the materials needed to create a romance between, and I quote "A beautiful and pure princess, and a terrible and furious monster king", and how do you prepare the disco for the Lord of the Dance? More importantly, how are you going to do this without getting killed, and/or otherwise destroyed by somthing worse than that(while trying to stave of suicidal depression and emo culture after realizing what you(having you know, morals) are going to do)?" So my question is:

How would you, the responders set up a campagin for non-evil PCs where your goal is essentally "destroy the world"?

Of couse this does not mean "destroy everyone in the world". The players, of course, are going to survive so that they can see that yes, the world that replaced the destroyed one is indeed better than the old one(Especally since they will probably be the leaders of the re-emerging civilization that forms). They should also be able to protect anyone they feel is okay(Since when is your average Paladin going to leave those poor "rebels fighting for a lost cause" behind?). I also think they should be able to bring artefacts and even locations with them(Are you going to destroy the city that contains all the tecnology that was invented to cure diseases and cook food? I doubt it). Also, the most pressing question of all is "What are you going to do to bring all of this about(Materials, artifacts, incantations, evocations, cojurations, the directions to preform said incantations, candles, runes, utensils etc.?)?"

*big deep voice* RAIN THE RAGING FIRES OF HELL UPON THEM!!!!:furious:

*normal voice* In other words, thank you for your answers.:biggrin:

tahu88810
2007-09-22, 12:20 PM
By the time I was done reading the first paragraph all I could think about was Leimrey from Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth. lol

---
Now thats out of the way:

Well, even if they are good. They will have to do some evil acts, and I'm sure that if the situation is truly dire enough to destroy the world, gods will understand.

First off, I'd have them have to find a Wondrous Location (probably Incarnum related).
Second, they're going to have to a sacrifice a pure soul.
Clause to 2nd: If they want to survive/other places to survive/etc. then they will have to discover the correct incantation that will protect these things.
Third: Activate incredibly powerfull CG artifact and an incredibly powerfull CE artifact at the same time.
Clause to 3rd: Activating these artifacts can, infact kill you, and there is a 90% chance that you will die.
Fourth: Artifact's summon the most powerfull TN god, probably homebrewed. It destroys the world and creates a new one, leaving those protected by the enchantment in place.

Note that a lot of this would require lots of questing.

Weirdlet
2007-09-22, 12:34 PM
Hm- that does bear some thought. Off the top of my head, you could be questing to set free the destructive spirit that will destroy the world for you, slumbering in chains at the bottom of the world, perhaps?

Is it possible to destroy and reset the world without destroying all the innocents in it, or will they be rewarded and returned to material living after the world's been cleaned up a bit?

I also recall a short story I read once, in which there was a song/spell that would drain all the magic, and therefore all the life, out of the world and into the player so that they could start anew, playing things into existence or simply holding their instrument to the wind and letting the world have its own say in how it was remade. I think the anthology was called Space Opera...

Just some thoughts.

Lapak
2007-09-22, 12:40 PM
Setting up the campaign?

Start them out in a relatively ordinary Evil Dictatorship. Over time and adventuring, make it clear that that's the rule, not the exception, and that every time they make progress it gets reverted - they lead a revolution to overthrow the dictator, and find themselves ousted by a new one or a confederation of invading ones. The only possible solution is the legend they uncover about a great cleansing force, that will wipe out all evil in the world.

It'll also wipe out most good, but them's the breaks.
Arc One (The Problem) Complete.

Perhaps the triggering event is simply to wake the Ender of All Things - that there is a key destroyer-figure who slumbers until it is time to unmake creation, and they'll need to wake Him or Her. Proceed to having them track down the information about where they need to go and what rituals they must perform to achieve this, and make sure it's a ritual that requires more than just the party to be present - ten thousand worshipers in the secret temple at the end of the earth all pleading for the god to awaken, for example.
Arc Two (The Solution) Complete.

Then they have to gather Good people to perform this rite, trying to avoid letting any spies find out what the plan is while essentially putting together a mass emigration, getting the people where they need to be, and defending them while they do their thing.
Arc Three (The Exodus) leading to the finale:

Maybe put the temple deep in the earth (that's where dark rituals always take place, right) with a bottleneck that the PCs can defend to hold off the massed armies of darkness for the hours/days necessary for the Waking to occur.
Finale: Last Stand Against the Dark

Then the Unmaker awakens, and devours the entire world except for the temple, remaking it from scratch afterwards. The ten thousand move on out and start reclaiming/repopulating. As do (maybe) the PCs, provided they were in the temple at D-Hour.

Citizen Joe
2007-09-22, 12:52 PM
One of the tricks to recycling the world is an attempt to make it better the next time. To that end, you need a way to pass the wisdom of the ages on to the next generation. So figure out how to store and protect that, then worry about the destruction of the world.

Leliel
2007-09-22, 06:10 PM
[QUOTE=tahu88810;3231886]By the time I was done reading the first paragraph all I could think about was Leimrey from Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth. lol

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[QUOTE]

Who's Leimery?:smallconfused:

Mike_Lemmer
2007-09-22, 07:31 PM
Well, hmmmm... you could pull a Terranigma on them.

First, some calamity happens to their world. They need to activate rituals to create a new world to bring life back to the old one.

Then they're asked to help influence key events in the new world's development. Thus, they get to know the new world and grow fond of it.

Next, reveal that the worlds are clones of each other, right down to the NPCs & even the PCs themselves. ("Hey, aren't you familiar?") The old world is slowly being corrupted or overcome by darkness. The new world is looking promising, but evil from the old world is beginning to seep in.

Finally, when the PCs try to figure out how to stop it, they discover that both worlds are sharing the same lifeforce and one will eventually fade from existence. The PCs get to choose which one fades. Do they destroy the promising new world while taking a few things from it to fight back the old evil, or throw away the old world before it can corrupt the new one?

Nerd-o-rama
2007-09-22, 07:42 PM
Suggested reading:

Watchmen by Alan Moore. (Or watch Heroes for the Disney version)
A certain viewing of the last two episodes/movie of Evangelion. Though I side with the non-nihilists on this one.
Elric of Melniboné
Escape from L.A.

Of course, the first one is just destroying a city full of people and the last two are merely destroying civilization as we know it, but the principle's the same.

Proven_Paradox
2007-09-22, 09:49 PM
Have you played Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne? (Lucifer's Call to our European friends, I think.) You can find a few good idea for how to handle the rebuilding of the world and the problems that come in the transition there. Plus, it's a good game. I can give you the short of it, if you like.

I've been interested in running a campaign with a similar theme myself. I think one thing that is absolutely essential, if your characters are mostly good, is to have another good force opposing them. Sure, taking down the evil in the world is one thing, but it's a lot harder to cut down the forces of good that think the world is still worth fighting for. That would add a rather pointed aspect to the game that I would love as a player.

Basically, just as hard as the actual physical barriers to thier goals should be the emotional/moral questions. If the PCs don't sit back and seriously, SERIOUSLY question whether what they're doing is right sometime in here, you haven't achieved the highest effect. These are good people who are trying to do something that a good many people would call one of the most horrible, evil things they could have done. They need to feel that. That should mean having to commit a seriously terrible crime to get it done. Sacrificing a pure soul was a good suggestion, for example.

Aside from that, I would set this up as an artifact hunt. Perhaps along the way, they have to convince the gods themselves that it's time to hit the delete button--for some, that would be an easy sell, but for others, not so much.

Leliel
2007-09-24, 12:35 PM
Have you played Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne? (Lucifer's Call to our European friends, I think.) You can find a few good idea for how to handle the rebuilding of the world and the problems that come in the transition there. Plus, it's a good game. I can give you the short of it, if you like.

Sure. I'm interested.

I've been interested in running a campaign with a similar theme myself. I think one thing that is absolutely essential, if your characters are mostly good, is to have another good force opposing them. Sure, taking down the evil in the world is one thing, but it's a lot harder to cut down the forces of good that think the world is still worth fighting for. That would add a rather pointed aspect to the game that I would love as a player.

Ah, anti-villains. *sings* Those are a few of my favorite things (in a story).

Basically, just as hard as the actual physical barriers to their goals should be the emotional/moral questions. If the PCs don't sit back and seriously, SERIOUSLY question whether what they're doing is right sometime in here, you haven't achieved the highest effect. These are good people who are trying to do something that a good many people would call one of the most horrible, evil things they could have done. They need to feel that. That should mean having to commit a seriously terrible crime to get it done. Sacrificing a pure soul was a good suggestion, for example.

How about a few visions of the destruction of the world if they succeed? I think that would be rather poignant(not to mention an excellent excuse to show of gothic art).

Aside from that, I would set this up as an artifact hunt. Perhaps along the way, they have to convince the gods themselves that it's time to hit the delete button--for some, that would be an easy sell, but for others, not so much.

Actually, Pelor would be one of the easiest gods to convince of this fact: Just show his avatar around the average city. This is also a good way to acquire the needed "Salt from the Tears of A Thousand Angels", if he decides to bring his own escort.


Good ideas. Keep em' coming.:smallcool:

Chaos Bringer
2007-09-24, 12:53 PM
I'd go with something along the lines of building a whole seperate world (or plane) to take every one you want to, then let the PCs go find the world ending artifacts. Also you, dont need to totally end the world, just fundamentally change the entire thing. Like in Escape from L.A. kind of. Say the PCs turn off or completely scramble the entire magic system, or everything metal immediatly turns to rust. You can "end the world" without cracking it open.

Indon
2007-09-24, 01:26 PM
You'd let the PC's live? That's very nice of you.

If I were running such a campaign, I'd make it an exalted campaign (from Book of Exalted Deeds; an Exalted character is essentially extra-good) and make it quite clear that success means death for them, too.

Yakk
2007-09-24, 01:47 PM
If you want it to be "easier", you could do the entire "civilization under siege".

Something like:

Long before humans, long before elves, long before even the dwarves, beings walked the earth.

The dwarves awoke and survived by burrowing under the ground. They claim to have brought about the younger races -- the gnomes, elves, hobbits and humans -- although the elves dispute this.

From their citadels deep in mother earth, they forged weapons and defenses against the dark. The elves drew this same power up from the ground, and built forest fortresses. And mankind built cities and pushed the night back.

Civilization has been growing for millions of years, in a constant struggle against the shadow. But it has only survived because it wasn't worth noticing by those ancient beings who own the universe.

And they have started to notice.

A million years is but a blink of an eye to these beings, but they have seen the glimmer of hope, love and civilization. And now the shadow falls.

Cities snuffed out. Forests turning against the elves. Entire nations swallowed by storms of dust and darkness. Over the last thousand years, civilization has stopped growing, and has started dieing.

There are those who accept this, and worship the elder beings whose idle swipe has suffocated the light of civilization. Fools -- they care not for the worship of mere humanoids. Even their wish -- to be the first to be consumed -- means nothing to the elders.

There are those who reject this, and do battle against the beings whose breath is death. Fools -- the elders cannot be fought. The greatest heroes of history, wielding the artifacts and weapons of magic that a million year old civilization could produce, where crushed like a bug when they tried to fight.

There are those who pretend it is not happening, who cannot see that the light is growing dim and the darkness descends. Blind fools, little more than animals.

There is only one option. We must end it. Tear a small part of the world still lit by civilization out of reality, and destroy everything else, then rebuild reality itself. This seems impossible -- and if it was, it would be foolish. But it can be done.

We must destroy the world before all is swallowed by the shadow.

PnP Fan
2007-09-24, 01:50 PM
A few thoughts that may save you some headaches.

Frequently in RL religions that have traditions about the "end times" or "ragnarok" or whatever, the destruction event is not in the hands of humanity. The destruction event is controlled by the deity in question. Mankind is tasked with behaving correctly during those end times (living a moral life, or fighting the titans and loki, for example).

Instead of giving your players the opportunity to completely screw up your end of the world scenario, by choosing to fight against the evil instead of destroying everything, let them know that the end is coming, regardless of what they do to stop it. Let them know that it is a good thing, a cleansing. And then give them a role to play, maybe several roles. For example, saving the accumulated wisdom of civilization or protecting the people who will become the first men and women in the aftermath. You can still make it epic, but you've now given them a way to do something positive, rather than an opportunity to not bite your campaign's plot hook. There's bound to be someone in your group who does not buy into your vision of saving the world by killing it. Especially someone who is playing a good character. They will likely argue that "deciding the world is better off dead is not unlike despair, which includes a lack of faith in the powers that be, and a good character, particularly a faithful one like a cleric, wouldn't do that."

Just a few thoughts. Take it or leave it. Good luck whatever you decide to do.

Merlin the Tuna
2007-09-24, 02:57 PM
A certain viewing of the last two episodes/movie of Evangelion. Though I side with the non-nihilists on this one.There is no situation that watching Evangelion can make better.

Randel
2007-09-24, 03:06 PM
One idea:

The world has been 'reset' a few times before but each time it is inevitably corrupted again. Heros have tried battling and slaying the evil people that arise but these are always replaced by more evil people.

It turns out that the abyss that is filled with demons, devils, and other such nasties is connected to the prime material plane and the demonic inhabitants are greedy for the life and beauty in the world. The abyss is nasty ugly and barren and they want to have the things in the material world.

The PCs could, instead of fighting and driving back the devils, could summon them into the martial plane (which is already filled with corrupt dictatorships) and then 'banish' the good humans and creatures into the abyss. Could be done through a summoning spell that switches one good soul with one evil soul.

However, they create a city in the abyss and teach the people banished there how to survive and cleanse 'Hell' by farming the soil, drive out the sickness in the air, and grow crops and animals. Meanwhile the devils are busy fighting and squabbling in the Material Plane over who gets what natural resource.

Eventually, all the good people are in a Hell which is slowly being cleansed and purged of Evil while the devils are all on an Earth they have turned into a living Hell. Then, set off some doomsday device, killing everyone on the Material Plane (which now consists entirely of evil people and demons) then wait while the people in Hell clean up the abyss and then return to the barren Earth to repopulate and clean it up.

Crazy_Uncle_Doug
2007-09-24, 03:12 PM
Reminds me a lot of the end of the Elric Saga. There alone one has a scenario of "Destroying the World in Order to Save It."

In that work, the gods of Chaos throw in support for the sorcerers of Pan-Tang. Elric gathers his strength, his demonic weapon and in the end, the world is essentially saved, but the old world is gone and everyone from it, dead.

Nerd-o-rama
2007-09-24, 03:21 PM
There is no situation that watching Evangelion can make better.
Oh, I don't know. It makes Martian Successor Nadesico a hell of a lot funnier when you get all the references.

(For bonus points, watch the dub of both. Notice any familiar voices?)

martyboy74
2007-09-24, 03:26 PM
There is no situation that watching Evangelion can make better.

Looking like a love-crazed, child-abandoning, genocidal bastard?

Tokiko Mima
2007-09-24, 04:39 PM
I don't think you necessarily need to destroy the universe itself to have an effect, and you can present the needed destruction as a necessary part of the world. For example, This Ugly, yet Beautiful World involved an alien life form that returned to earth every million or so years to keep life on track. It would cause mass extinctions of virtually all life in order to clear the way for the next stage of life to happen. Indeed the mass extinction of the majority of life on Earth has happened on a very regular basis. Imagine what would happen if a powerful god-like being announced that not only was life on earth about to mostly end, but they were tasked to help?

You could also try and trick them into getting involved. Say that they are going to purge the world of all evil in one fell swoop, only to reveal later that good and evil are not black and white. Mortals by definition contain both good and evil in their hearts. Let them keep going, but don't make it easy.

Leliel
2007-09-24, 04:59 PM
I don't think you necessarily need to destroy the universe itself to have an effect, and you can present the needed destruction as a necessary part of the world. For example, This Ugly, yet Beautiful World involved an alien life form that returned to earth every million or so years to keep life on track. It would cause mass extinctions of virtually all life in order to clear the way for the next stage of life to happen. Indeed the mass extinction of the majority of life on Earth has happened on a very regular basis. Imagine what would happen if a powerful god-like being announced that not only was life on earth about to mostly end, but they were tasked to help?


Yeah, thats what I was thinking. The end of the world naturally occurs every 50 million years or somesuch in order to prevent stagnation and corruption, but Giant, Unbelievably Sadistic Organization/Alien Race has caused the natural order to become whacked and the world needs to be destroyed early to prevent them from doing any damage to the universe at large or permanently tainting the world with their essence. Sort of like amputation. You don't want to, but your going to die of an infection or live in an infirmary the rest of your life if you don't, so you kind of have to. At least in the case of the universe, your limb will grow back, though with slightly more or less fingers and in different places, but still functional.:smallwink:

Eldritch_Ent
2007-09-24, 07:41 PM
Well, keep in mind that there would be many different views of "good". At the very least, there's The CG, NG, and LG alignments all wanting their "good" to be how the world is remade. Let alone Dwarven Good, or Elven Good...

But there's also people Who don't want good to be the way things are done. Assumably, the current Material Plane is, in fact, True Neutral- (Case in point Druids worship nature and the underlying "way things work" on the material plane- They'd probably want to maintain that.)

And even Evil. Hey, Mind Flayers, here's an opportunity to remake the Material Plane in your image and restart the Illithid Empire! Sounds groovy, no? Kobolds- always sick of those mindflayers showing you up? Hey, let's make a KOBOLD empire!


The main thing people will be contending with is the other factions- with the strongest and most clever being the one that proves itself the most worthy and, in the end, comes out on top. (IE this is how the gods are deciding how to remake the world, by simply pitting them all against each other.)


Or at least, that's how I see it.

martyboy74
2007-09-24, 08:28 PM
So, actually, you could have the amusing circumstances where everyone is fighting to destroy the world first, because doing so lets you choose how it is reborn.


And, look, Evangelion comes back. :smallamused:

Otakutaylor
2007-09-24, 09:54 PM
Tharizdun, a deity that was supposedly spelled out in earlier editions of DnD and left out of 3rd (though he is mentioned in complete divine), Is a deity of total destruction. The gods themselves locked him away in an alternate dimension or some such prison, to ensure he did not unmake the world as it were.

Although he is locked away from all planes of existance his followers still manage to gain their spells from praying to him, albeit that is supposedly the only thing he can do as of now.

His followers range from the psychotic, to the pessimstic, to the few people who believe Tharizdun will not just destroy the world but remake it better than it was before. (and give them seats of power as well.)

Personally I made a short range of characters for fun once who were followers of Tharizdun because they believe that there is a change that needs to take place in the world, but cannot come to pass. The doing away with evil, or the trifles of nobility, or even the idea of predetor and prey. These ideals obviously cannot come to pass in the normal world, even if these followers reached epic levels of strength or became deities in their own right they could not truely do away with them. Releasing Tharizdun, and thus destroying them utterly with a small chance of the world being remade correctly seems like the only way.


You could base a large series of games off of this idea. Perhaps the PC's follow Tharizdun like is pessimistic clerics, believeing that releasing Tharizdun and destroying the world destroys that which poisons the world, even if it takes what the world is made of in the process. Perhaps they believe that the world is doomed to be destroyed anyway, when Tharizdun is eventually released and that the powers that created the planes will remake the worlds better the next time, effectively forcing the true godly being to take a second shot at creating the universe. Or maybe even that the Pc's adventure in Tharizdun's name but not particularly to release him, they know he will be released and believe it is still the right thing to do; they search for an artifact, a spell, anything that will garuntee that once Tharizdun has his fill of the universe that the worlds will be remake once again, but without him in it (he's already destroyed the world once, he doesn't need to do it again).

(Spell check on Tharizdun, I doubt I spelled that right)

TimeWizard
2007-09-25, 04:06 PM
Eight whole posts before Watchmen was mentioned? wow. Go go Veidt. Anywho- what you're suggesting isn't exactly a new idea, and has been used in contempory sci fi/fantasy several times, but still, no new stories exist right? The version of this I like the best is commonly know as "Drop the Pillars", in which the protagonists journey around destroying/saving X number of Nexi (nexuses?) that keep the world in existance; so named for some old epic way back about people being pillars that held the world up. Does this sound familiar? Maybe you've read the Order of the Stick web-comic, or played one of the Legacy of Kain/Soul Reaver games, or read one-of-those books. The Nexi can be people (LoK/SR), or places (OotS), or artifacts (T.N.T.C.) or any combonation. One of my long running games was about the PCs destroying all types of Nexi thinking they were essentially evil magnets before they realized the BBEG's evil plan was to destroy these "pillars" and drop a permanent Dead Magic Zone on the world. (Ironically he was an epic Mystic Theurge, and hated magic due to backstory issues, yada yada yada)

Leliel
2007-09-25, 08:26 PM
Tharizdun, a deity that was supposedly spelled out in earlier editions of DnD and left out of 3rd (though he is mentioned in complete divine), Is a deity of total destruction. The gods themselves locked him away in an alternate dimension or some such prison, to ensure he did not unmake the world as it were.

Although he is locked away from all planes of existance his followers still manage to gain their spells from praying to him, albeit that is supposedly the only thing he can do as of now.

His followers range from the psychotic, to the pessimstic, to the few people who believe Tharizdun will not just destroy the world but remake it better than it was before. (and give them seats of power as well.)

Personally I made a short range of characters for fun once who were followers of Tharizdun because they believe that there is a change that needs to take place in the world, but cannot come to pass. The doing away with evil, or the trifles of nobility, or even the idea of predetor and prey. These ideals obviously cannot come to pass in the normal world, even if these followers reached epic levels of strength or became deities in their own right they could not truely do away with them. Releasing Tharizdun, and thus destroying them utterly with a small chance of the world being remade correctly seems like the only way.


You could base a large series of games off of this idea. Perhaps the PC's follow Tharizdun like is pessimistic clerics, believeing that releasing Tharizdun and destroying the world destroys that which poisons the world, even if it takes what the world is made of in the process. Perhaps they believe that the world is doomed to be destroyed anyway, when Tharizdun is eventually released and that the powers that created the planes will remake the worlds better the next time, effectively forcing the true godly being to take a second shot at creating the universe. Or maybe even that the Pc's adventure in Tharizdun's name but not particularly to release him, they know he will be released and believe it is still the right thing to do; they search for an artifact, a spell, anything that will garuntee that once Tharizdun has his fill of the universe that the worlds will be remake once again, but without him in it (he's already destroyed the world once, he doesn't need to do it again).

(Spell check on Tharizdun, I doubt I spelled that right)

Isn't Thrazidun uh, Evil? And I specifically pointed out that these guys are um, Not-Evil? Fully read the post next time before you reply, ok? Sorry about being snippish, just pointing that out. I hate it when people don't fully read my stuff.

Otakutaylor
2007-09-25, 09:54 PM
I did read the post, not to be impolite. I brought up Tharizdun because I'd simply had the idea that since there's few things in the world that are good aligned and willing to blow everything to tiny bits. the easiest way (if immoral) to accomplish it would be to use something evil.

Including the fact (now that I think about it) If the PC's goal is to remake the world, they have let their wildest dreams come true before hand. because they aren't just destroying (and hopefully remaking) the world, but they're changing the history of it. they could remake the world so that anything and everything they did that was evil to cause this to come to pass is written out of existance. Sneaking into the goodly princes castle to steal his helm of power, only to cause the deaths of many guardsmen and the prince himself. They could just remake it so that any of it never happened. Perhaps for the better of the world, if they so believe.

If I were to run a game where the PC's had to destroy the world to save it that's what I'd do. The PC's are lead down the path to tharizdun, weither they believe in his ultimate justice or their own ability to remake the world after. Of course with the qualifier at on the new world that they "use the true souls of the departed form the original world to populate the new one, good guys get to live as they were, bad guys are like... trees or something."

It's up to the PC's weither they obey their morals, even after the world is doomed (by their own hand no less) or act on urges and do whatever they like or feel nessicary and quickest to get the job done.

:: mental picture of the party rogue making the rest of the party wait when they finally reach the world destroying level. He runs back all the way to the biggest kingdom he traveled through, sneaks into the castle, and steals the pants off the king. Just to prove he can do it. "Told you I could." ::

Taliesin
2007-09-26, 01:24 AM
How about "The Nine Billions Names of God (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nine_Billion_Names_of_God)" by Clarke?
Quite an interesting idea for a doomsday.
Only, writing a computer program isn't, well, a very interesting campaign idea. Although, in a pseudomedieval world, acquiring such a computer capable of computing the name would be also quite a feat.

Anyhow, I just love the campaign idea. Plus the fact that there'd probably be anti-villains and villains of many different sorts. (especially if there are some evil forces that are powerful in this world and wouldn't want to lose their power who will cooperate with some good anti-villains who still believe that there is hope for this world). Mmmmmm, I like this. Now please excuse me, I need to make a Will Save for not making such a campaign.

Kami2awa
2007-09-26, 05:14 AM
The first world the gods created was perfect, quite literally a work of art; a perfection matched only by its monumental failure...

Leliel
2007-09-26, 12:24 PM
I did read the post, not to be impolite. I brought up Tharizdun because I'd simply had the idea that since there's few things in the world that are good aligned and willing to blow everything to tiny bits. the easiest way (if immoral) to accomplish it would be to use something evil.

Including the fact (now that I think about it) If the PC's goal is to remake the world, they have let their wildest dreams come true before hand. because they aren't just destroying (and hopefully remaking) the world, but they're changing the history of it. they could remake the world so that anything and everything they did that was evil to cause this to come to pass is written out of existance. Sneaking into the goodly princes castle to steal his helm of power, only to cause the deaths of many guardsmen and the prince himself. They could just remake it so that any of it never happened. Perhaps for the better of the world, if they so believe.

If I were to run a game where the PC's had to destroy the world to save it that's what I'd do. The PC's are lead down the path to tharizdun, weither they believe in his ultimate justice or their own ability to remake the world after. Of course with the qualifier at on the new world that they "use the true souls of the departed form the original world to populate the new one, good guys get to live as they were, bad guys are like... trees or something."

It's up to the PC's weither they obey their morals, even after the world is doomed (by their own hand no less) or act on urges and do whatever they like or feel nessicary and quickest to get the job done.

:: mental picture of the party rogue making the rest of the party wait when they finally reach the world destroying level. He runs back all the way to the biggest kingdom he traveled through, sneaks into the castle, and steals the pants off the king. Just to prove he can do it. "Told you I could." ::

Ah. Sorry. Good ideas though.

Cade Shadow
2007-09-26, 02:08 PM
@OP

If you run a game like this, I'd love to play. Anyone else who might run a game like this too.