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Pinjata
2019-02-24, 12:20 PM
Hey guys,

There are no official lvl 15 - 20 campaigns for 5e, so I was thinking of coming up with a plot myself. I failed. I'm ok with stats and stuff but I'm one of those people who just need pre-written plot in order to run a campaign. Also, I've never so far run such a campaign. I mostly ran lvl 1 - 10 campaigns. Last one was Tyranny of the dragons which ended with Tiamat being banished back to Nine Hells and five brand new lvl 15 heroes on Sword coast. In the fall my party wants to continue their adventures. I'm wondering ... would playground be willing to help me patch together point-by-point plot for such high level characters?

I was thinking Illithids to be main protagonists, since they had a really badass empire at a certain time, but beyond that ... I just fall into "dragon is threatening the town, are you bad enough lvl 10 to stop him".

I'd appreciate any advice, scenarios, plots. :)

DeTess
2019-02-24, 12:53 PM
I'd take a look at the 'elder evils' book for inspiration, as the challenges included are fairly high-level (though might still need some upscaling), but also pretty world-wrecking, meaning that after that campaign you'd pretty much have to start anew (which sounds like it'd help you, as otherwise you might end up with players wanting to start doing epic level stuff).

That having been said, this is the level where players should be meddling beyond mortal affairs. Maybe check if your players are interested in going for ascension to god-hood, and prepare a campaign around the kind of feats that would require.

Another possibility would be the blood war spilling over into the mortal realm through a previously sealed the gate. The twist being that theyc an only seal it from the inside, and it leaves them stuck in the hells/abyss for a while (make sure sealing the gate prevents plane-shifting for at least a period of time), and then let the players decide themselves what they want to do (and remember that at this level 'kill the top demon and take over' is a pretty reasonable thing to attempt).

edit:...oops, I'd missed that this was for 5e and blindly assumed 3.5e. My first suggestion in particular still stands though. 5e's power level might be lower, but adapting one of the elder evils over would give them a nice high-level challenge.

Tron Troll
2019-02-24, 01:36 PM
How about:

Peace negotiations between Thyatis and Alphatia are about to start, and the King of Norwold asks the player characters to get information about a previous agreement at the library of Edairo on the Isle of Dawn. At the library, the party receives clues and then travels to an ancient temple where there are puzzles to solve. From there, they seek the lair of the Night Spider and an ancient artifact. When the party returns to Helskir for the summit, they are framed for the kidnapping of the Emperor and Empress. The party must travel through the Outer Planes to the Sphere of Entropy and Entropy to rescue the royals and avert a world war.

zlefin
2019-02-24, 02:45 PM
since you say you're good with stats (which I assume to mean encounters and balance) I'd go with a simple solution: just lift the plot directly from some earlier edition module/AP; pathfinder and 3.x have tons of those. And then just edit the encounters to fit with 5e's standards. I don't know enough to recommend any particular one.

BWR
2019-02-24, 03:11 PM
How about:

Peace negotiations between Thyatis and Alphatia are about to start, and the King of Norwold asks the player characters to get information about a previous agreement at the library of Edairo on the Isle of Dawn. At the library, the party receives clues and then travels to an ancient temple where there are puzzles to solve. From there, they seek the lair of the Night Spider and an ancient artifact. When the party returns to Helskir for the summit, they are framed for the kidnapping of the Emperor and Empress. The party must travel through the Outer Planes to the Sphere of Entropy and Entropy to rescue the royals and avert a world war.

I ran my players through this adventure last year. It was fun and challenging. I had to adapt a few elements to make more sense for the rest of the world and updating it to Pathfinder from BECMI took a bit of time, but entirely worth it. Of course I had run the preceding Master level adventures with the war in Norwold first so there was a much greater feeling of commitment and interest in resolving the conflict and getting involved, which helped.

Glimbur
2019-02-24, 08:46 PM
Add some consequences to their previous adventures. We had some PC's kill the illithids hiding inside the Good city, which made it stop flying. It also meant the neogi stopped avoiding their planet which led to more issues. So, maybe you killed a bad thing but it was keeping something worse in check.

Pinjata
2019-02-25, 06:53 AM
Taking a campaign from previous editions sounds really cool. Would you guys recommend any campaigns from any edition so far?

BWR
2019-02-25, 12:39 PM
Taking a campaign from previous editions sounds really cool. Would you guys recommend any campaigns from any edition so far?

Tron Troll quoted the blurb from "Talons of the Night", from the M series of modules for BECMI. These are all set in Mystara, and many are quite thoroughly localized, so translating to FR will be difficult, to the point of having to rewrite either the Realms or the adventures to the point where there isn't much left. That aside, the M series is full of good high level stuff, and it being BECMI should be easier to convert to 5e than 3.X.
Three of the M series are a basic storyline that sets the PCs up as barons in the wilds of Norwold, an expansion of one of the two major empires in the setting, and you run through various threats to your realm, a war breaking out between the aforementioned Thyatis and Alphatia, with Norwold caught in the middle. The second module also makes use of the War Machine rules for mass combat, so this may or may not be interesting.
In any case, there is enough gonzo high-level stuff to adapt from both the CM (Companion) and Master (M) series of modules. Something like "Tree of Life", "Death's Ride*, "Saber River", "Into the Maelstrom" (if you like the Classics) or "Where Chaos Reigns" (if you aren't afraid of some sci-fi in your D&D). "Twilight Calling" could rather easily be adapted to FR, come to think of it - just replace the Carnifex with the Sarrukh and you're good to go.
Note that while I love these modules, some need a bit of work to have them make a bit more sense, and they show their age in some respects.

Pathfinder Adventure Paths are generally pretty entertaining as long as you don't mind them being a bit railroady, but they are set in Golarion and are designed to run from 1st to ca. 16th level - so those are probably not particularly useful for you.

Anyway, it's not as though the Realms don't have their share of big players to go up against. Depending on how and when you play, the Red Wizards, the Zhentarim, the Twisted Rune, drow, Shade, phaerimm, Hellgate Keep, etc. can all be the focus for ongoing adventures. The important thing is to always think of consequences and continuation. Just because you foil one plot doesn't mean you've stopped and enemy organization for good. Interfere with too many and you will get hit squads coming after you. So the heroes stopped Tiamat once - why can't she try again? Why can't she send dragons to kill the PCs as revenge? Why can't she manifest in some other world and use its resources to mess with the PCs? Maybe she enlists aid of some other people - this would be a great way to kick off the Incursion campaign from Dungeon 100.

Quertus
2019-03-02, 08:35 PM
I was thinking Illithids to be main protagonists, since they had a really badass empire at a certain time,

Well, of course we Illithid are the main protagonists - we're the top of the food chain, intellectually and culturally superior to all other "intelligent" races, and immortal through merger with the Elder Brain. Our empire was so boringly perfect, we traveled back in time to bring enlightenment to you lesser races, and new challenges to ourselves.

As to suitable plot ideas... We are currently in "negotiations" with a race known as the "Nyfftalym" regarding the disposition of one Tarrasque. We are preparing ritual #42,376 to extinguish the cursed Daystar. We are seeking a cure for vampirism for those poor Illithid who have been cursed with the condition. And one of our number is searching for an entire community that has gone... missing.

Tasty morsels are, of course, welcome to drop by for lunch any time.

Papa_Hewi
2019-03-05, 03:57 PM
With Tiamat banished, her bastard son can launch his own campaign to conquer the world. Pick any colour of the rainbow for which type of dragon you want to use, and select some good minions. Maybe an evil order of Dragonborn who follow their forefather without question? I dunno, there's plenty of options. Lol

I'm not sure how effective Mind Flayers are at endgame in 5e. If you want to use them, I would put a hidden cabal in charge of the kingdom they just saved. Use the cabals influence to undo the goodwill the party has acquired through propaganda and lies. Even a high level party is going to be in a difficult situation if every commoner thinks they're responsible for the nation's hardships.