Wacky Spelljammer campaign idea, would love feedback

[Postmodernist]

So... Spelljammer is coming out for 5E soon, and I've always thought of it as a pretty cheesy setting. But I had the idea of using it as a sort of medium for a multiverse spanning, Rick and Morty style campaign. Basic premise is that an alliance of (mostly) bad guys want to get their hands on a bunch of artifacts from various worlds in order to remake the multiverse in their image. Maybe they drain the magical power from the artifacts to fuel their ascent, or similar. They'll become more powerful than gods, able to make the deities that govern those worlds. I'm mostly considering gem-style artifacts, which can be activated on a site in Eberron. It gives the campaign an excuse to visit all the major properties in a ridiculous, Marvel-movie-style, over the top adventure. Throw in everything, including the Kitchen Sink of Planar Destiny and Garbage Disposal.

Thoughts:


Greyhawk/Oerth - Vecna as the Big Bad here. Not sure what artifact(s), but my instinct is the Soul Gem. Players can meet Mordenkainen, Tenser, Zygag, Bigby, Robilar, etc.
Dark Sun - Oronis or some other Avangion and the Veiled Alliance as the Big Bad, despite the fact that they're the good guys in Dark Sun. They're convinced Athas is dead, beyond salvation, so they're seeking some means of restoring the world to its former glory. Gonna introduce this one later on as a moral dilemma. Psionatrix as the artifact.
Forgotten Realms - spoiled for choice here, but I think Halaster Blackcloak is a good choice. Szass Tam could be as well, but too much overlap with Vecna. Crenshinibon seems like the obvious choice, but could be other stuff from the Time of Troubles?
Dragonlance - Takhesis has to be the main baddie, right? Artifacts are either Graygem of Gargath or Bloodstone of Fistandantilus.
Ravenloft - Could be Strahd, but he's pretty content ruling his domain, so my gut is to make a Darklord the bad guy. Artifact is... the gem from the winery? Not sure what to use here.
Planescape - Heart of Aoskar? Some other gem? Bad guy shouldn't be the Lady of Pain, but could be any of the other factions. Maybe the resurgent Orcus from the Dead Gods campaign? Vlaakith CLVII? The Revolutionary League throws in the with The Illuminated to remake the world in their image?
Eberron - Erandis Vol is a great option, but she's out for the same reason as Szass Tam. I'm thinking Merrix d'Cannith, gone mad power hungry. The "artifact" is the activation of the monastery towers within The Shroud in Sarlona with the various gems.



It supposedly takes 8 towers in The Shroud to activate it, so I should need 8 gems. I have 6 settings plus Eberron for activation, which leaves 2 more. Where else can I pillage? Rokugan or Birthright seem to be the best contenders, but I'm not super familiar with those settings. Are there Spelljammer options?

I'd welcome suggestions for villains, plot twists, artifacts, set piece battles, general suggestions, or absolutely anything else. This is a weird and crazy random idea, but I'd love any input you guys might have. Thanks in advance!

[Anonymouswizard]

Eberron being accessible via Spelljammer is kind of awkward, because it has such a unique planar structure that it's unlikely to be in the same physical universe as the other settings. Checking the book it's officially plonked in the Deep Ethereal, which means that your players clearly need to go on an epic quest for a planeshifting Spelljammer.

If you're willing to use MtG settings I believe that there is a certain dragon who would be very glad to become above the gods currently stuck on Ravnoca.

As to Birthright I only have access to the original box set. Pulling up ye olde pdf suggests the Gorgon, although I'd probably go for a slightly lesser tier villain as you have to update stats to 5e anyway. The Vampire maybe, or the Hag.

[solidork]

I guess my one suggestion would be to make sure that the players still feel like they're the heroes of the story and driving the action. It's not as fun as you might think to be knocking elbows with the big shots constantly.

[Postmodernist]

I guess my one suggestion would be to make sure that the players still feel like they're the heroes of the story and driving the action. It's not as fun as you might think to be knocking elbows with the big shots constantly.

Great point. Definitely need to avoid it feeling railroad-y. Any tips on that?

[Postmodernist]

Eberron being accessible via Spelljammer is kind of awkward, because it has such a unique planar structure that it's unlikely to be in the same physical universe as the other settings. Checking the book it's officially plonked in the Deep Ethereal, which means that your players clearly need to go on an epic quest for a planeshifting Spelljammer.

If you're willing to use MtG settings I believe that there is a certain dragon who would be very glad to become above the gods currently stuck on Ravnoca.

As to Birthright I only have access to the original box set. Pulling up ye olde pdf suggests the Gorgon, although I'd probably go for a slightly lesser tier villain as you have to update stats to 5e anyway. The Vampire maybe, or the Hag.

Thanks! Awesome suggestions. I'll look into these.

[Postmodernist]

I'd add in the Book of Vile Darkness in addition to the gem artifacts which could be placed anywhere. Say it contains some of the needed rituals or whatnot. Maybe consider Acererak, Lolth, and Tharizdun as big bads somewhere.

The Rock of Bral might be a good central location. Nentir Vale, Council of Worms, Mystara, Exandria, or an M:TG world? Depends on your players I suppose.

Killer suggestions. I'll look into these. I particularly like the idea of using the BoVD ass maybe a codex for the ritual necessary to cause the whole thing.

[Envyus]

Eberron being accessible via Spelljammer is kind of awkward, because it has such a unique planar structure that it's unlikely to be in the same physical universe as the other settings. Checking the book it's officially plonked in the Deep Ethereal, which means that your players clearly need to go on an epic quest for a planeshifting Spelljammer.

If you're willing to use MtG settings I believe that there is a certain dragon who would be very glad to become above the gods currently stuck on Ravnoca.

As to Birthright I only have access to the original box set. Pulling up ye olde pdf suggests the Gorgon, although I'd probably go for a slightly lesser tier villain as you have to update stats to 5e anyway. The Vampire maybe, or the Hag.

I thought it was stated to just be deep in the Astral not Ethereal.

[Anonymouswizard]

I thought it was stated to just be deep in the Astral not Ethereal.

According to Rising From the Last War p232 it's the Deep Ethereal. In the first printing at least, although I can't find a correction in the errata.

[Envyus]

According to Rising From the Last War p232 it's the Deep Ethereal. In the first printing at least, although I can't find a correction in the errata.

No you are correct, I just misremembered.

[Postmodernist]

Any thoughts on how the characters get caught up in things? Like, the inciting event that justifies them joining a plane/space/planet hopping adventure? Kidnapping/shanghai? They somehow end up in the possession of an important item and then get pulled along? Something else?

[GooeyChewie]

Ravenloft - Could be Strahd, but he's pretty content ruling his domain, so my gut is to make a Darklord the bad guy. Artifact is... the gem from the winery? Not sure what to use here.

Curse of Strahd mentions three gems, but only gives the location of two. Having the third be taken as the artifact for this campaign would tie in nicely. Ravenloft also is supposed to be somewhat cut off from normal spelljamming. Having the party hear about a Darklord who escaped with the gem might work as a good inciting incident without having the party actually go to Ravenloft itself.

[Postmodernist]

Curse of Strahd mentions three gems, but only gives the location of two. Having the third be taken as the artifact for this campaign would tie in nicely. Ravenloft also is supposed to be somewhat cut off from normal spelljamming. Having the party hear about a Darklord who escaped with the gem might work as a good inciting incident without having the party actually go to Ravenloft itself.

This is an excellent suggestion!

[Postmodernist]

Ever used the Infernal Machine Rebuild adventure? If not, that's where I'd start them... some mild spoilers below for the adventure

Have the characters start the adventure to rebuild the Infernal Machine of Lum The Mad. Zariel and Bel have agents trying to get a group of adventures to help them yada yada yada. There's stops along the way at the Tomb of Horrors way back when it was being built and also the Temple of Moloch around the same time frame. The characters could make a deal with said devil (Zariel or Bel) so to speak to find out the info from said baddies and/or in one of the 2 locations (or both I suppose), and/or even have Acererak or Moloch make an appearance to set up a future rendezvous to get things going.

The IMoLtM is basically the command console of a crashed planar craft. After it gets rebuilt you could also lead them to the location of a Spelljammer ship (maybe even find the crashed one in the past so they know where to look) and use it as a Spelljammer Helm... the rest as they say, is history ;)

Cool suggestions! $10 for a prewritten adventure is a good idea. Does bring up other complications - what level? This could easily go epic/high level, but I'd want it to be fast paced.

[JadedDM]

Where else can I pillage? Rokugan or Birthright seem to be the best contenders, but I'm not super familiar with those settings. Are there Spelljammer options?

Maybe The Spelljammer (https://spelljammer.fandom.com/wiki/Spelljammer,_The)?

[Polyphemus]

The idea of a multiverse-spanning Legion of Doom is a delightful one!

I would second the idea others have voiced of perhaps incorporating the MTG worlds we've gotten 5e books for; they might not have as long and nostalgic a pedigree as D&D settings, but I think they're fairly well developed as settings, with lore you could pull into as deep as a good number of D&D ones we've had over the years.
Not to mention I think it would help sell just how multiversal you're going, here.
I mean, if you wanted to get really out there with the multiverse, you could do something like have Golarion, the base setting of Pathfinder, as one of the worlds (with 5e mechanics, mind; having Pathfinder NPCs use Pathfinder mechanics while your PCs continue to use 5e ones would be a wild and very metafictional way of portraying this as a completely different universe, but also, that's a gigantic headache).
There's also the Nentir Vale, though that was by design a very generic setting that could incorporate dungeon crawls modularly, and I don't know of its setting-unique villains, and Exandria, which has plenty of lore to dip into, but most of the big name villains I could imagine are for our favorite band of podcasters to fight. ;P

Some have pointed out that Eberron is, usually, very isolated, planar-wise, and so communicating with it, much less getting there, is quite difficult, though I think you could easily hand wave a crack or a tiny hole in the Rings of Siberys (which are the things that separate Eberron from the rest of the multiverse, if my lore memory serves) that, either when The Stars Align or when you have someone who knows exactly what they're doing, can actually allow someone in or out of Eberron. Plus, that amount of planar security makes it harder for others to interfere and makes it almost perfect as the final destination where all the Plot Gems must go.

Speaking of which, a suggestion for a villain I would have, given all the above, would be to make some kind of original villain who is an MTG-style Planeswalker. A guy who can just shift between these planes as easily as breathing, and therefore act as the primary liaison between the members of your Legion of Doom. I'd suggest some established villainous MTG planeswalker, but I don't know them very well; most of the ones I can name are heroic, and the only bad one I can think of is currently depowered and in space jail. :smalltongue:

One more suggestion I would pitch at you, for Merrix d'Cannith in specific, is something I've done for him in my own mini Eberron campaign, which is have him build the Mechanical Beholder vehicle at the back of the Acquisitions Incorporated book.
In my Eberron, it was a schematic the Cyran House Cannith branch was working on just before the Mourning, that Merrix had some adventurers retrieve for him from a Cyran facility deep in the Mournland, preserved like a Fallout Vault. However you would do it, having him build it and fight the party in it would show off just how good he is at artificer-ing, as the head of (the Brelish branch of) House Cannith.

[Khrysaes]

I like this idea.

Personally I would make the ....league of doom? more varied than spellcasters from every sphere.

Lord of Blades and a cannith forge would be great for eberron. Particularly the part about "remaking in their image"

Similarly, to avoid overlap with Vecna, I would pick someone like Vhostym the Sojourner. I know he is a lot less known, but I find him interesting. Although, technically he is dead.

I wouldn't add a lot of MTG characters, but Nicol Bolas is basically the epitome of their villains, as a planeswalker he covers a lot of the MTG material.

Now... Technically Vecna can be from ravenloft, as he was trapped there for quite some time. I think he was also in Sigil/Planescape if you want something from there.

[Postmodernist]

Maybe The Spelljammer (https://spelljammer.fandom.com/wiki/Spelljammer,_The)?

Wow. It was right there. I mean, yeah. Duh. Good suggestion, can't believe I didn't see this coming.



You might want to work backwards by first determining what level you want to end the campaign. Say you want to go all the way to level 20 when the PCs become Masters of the Multiverse. I'd have the BoVD acquisition and ritual portion take place at level 19. Add in at least one level for each artifact/gem adventure and you're back at level 11. I'd suggest at least having a discovery adventure or two in Wildspace after the party acquires the Spelljamming Ship. The Rock of Bral etc. Make it fun! The Infernal Machine Rebuild adventure can get you there then, but you'll need to determine how high a level you want to start the PCs, how long you want the campaign to last for, and what other connective tissue you want to add along the way. Do you want the players to start at 1st level? 3rd? 5th? Which world do they start on? Have an adventure before IMR? The possibilities are endless.


I ran a campaign once called Liches and Labyrinths which used a bunch of DnD Adventure Book locations repurposed for the adventure. Depending on what stuff your group has lying around that might be an option for this sort of campaign. Good for fast-paced adventures that cut out the fluff and hit the high points. Got Rise of Tiamat? Use the Flying Cloud Giant Fortress or the end hoard/confrontation map to place your BBEG and artifact/gem. Got Out of the Abyss? Go fight Orcus for the Wand of Orcus to get the gem from that artifact for the ritual. If the encounter happens to be at the Maze Engine part of the Labyrinth, fun fun fun. And so on. Use what you got to make it a little easier on yourself. A campaign like this deserves to be finished, don't burnout!

Good suggestions. As stated, pacing is going to be a big challenge for this game. And I intend to steal all the set pieces from everywhere. Any cool location in any setting - there's gonna be a fight there.



I would second the idea others have voiced of perhaps incorporating the MTG worlds we've gotten 5e books for; they might not have as long and nostalgic a pedigree as D&D settings, but I think they're fairly well developed as settings, with lore you could pull into as deep as a good number of D&D ones we've had over the years.
Not to mention I think it would help sell just how multiversal you're going, here.

Definitely looking into which of these make the most sense. Amonkhet is a contender, I think.



I mean, if you wanted to get really out there with the multiverse, you could do something like have Golarion, the base setting of Pathfinder, as one of the worlds (with 5e mechanics, mind; having Pathfinder NPCs use Pathfinder mechanics while your PCs continue to use 5e ones would be a wild and very metafictional way of portraying this as a completely different universe, but also, that's a gigantic headache).
There's also the Nentir Vale, though that was by design a very generic setting that could incorporate dungeon crawls modularly, and I don't know of its setting-unique villains, and Exandria, which has plenty of lore to dip into, but most of the big name villains I could imagine are for our favorite band of podcasters to fight. ;P


This is a crazy idea, but in practice might be a bit too complicated to implement, and may even go unnoticed by the characters in some ways. Plus, my familiarity with Pathfinder is limited to the Kingmaker videogame.




Some have pointed out that Eberron is, usually, very isolated, planar-wise, and so communicating with it, much less getting there, is quite difficult, though I think you could easily hand wave a crack or a tiny hole in the Rings of Siberys (which are the things that separate Eberron from the rest of the multiverse, if my lore memory serves) that, either when The Stars Align or when you have someone who knows exactly what they're doing, can actually allow someone in or out of Eberron. Plus, that amount of planar security makes it harder for others to interfere and makes it almost perfect as the final destination where all the Plot Gems must go.

I may just hand wave this in my campaign. Another rationale for the finale to take place in Eberron is to take advantage of conjunctions of the moons, manifest zones, etc. Up the ante as part of a whole "it was foretold" thing in the Draconic Prophecy or something. My players are also familiar with Eberron, so this could work well.



Speaking of which, a suggestion for a villain I would have, given all the above, would be to make some kind of original villain who is an MTG-style Planeswalker. A guy who can just shift between these planes as easily as breathing, and therefore act as the primary liaison between the members of your Legion of Doom. I'd suggest some established villainous MTG planeswalker, but I don't know them very well; most of the ones I can name are heroic, and the only bad one I can think of is currently depowered and in space jail. :smalltongue:

Awesome idea. I plan on having some sort of planeswalkers (if not explicitly in name) populating the cast of characters



One more suggestion I would pitch at you, for Merrix d'Cannith in specific, is something I've done for him in my own mini Eberron campaign, which is have him build the Mechanical Beholder vehicle at the back of the Acquisitions Incorporated book.
In my Eberron, it was a schematic the Cyran House Cannith branch was working on just before the Mourning, that Merrix had some adventurers retrieve for him from a Cyran facility deep in the Mournland, preserved like a Fallout Vault. However you would do it, having him build it and fight the party in it would show off just how good he is at artificer-ing, as the head of (the Brelish branch of) House Cannith.

That sounds fun!


I like this idea.

Personally I would make the ....league of doom? more varied than spellcasters from every sphere.

Lord of Blades and a cannith forge would be great for eberron. Particularly the part about "remaking in their image"

Similarly, to avoid overlap with Vecna, I would pick someone like Vhostym the Sojourner. I know he is a lot less known, but I find him interesting. Although, technically he is dead.

I wouldn't add a lot of MTG characters, but Nicol Bolas is basically the epitome of their villains, as a planeswalker he covers a lot of the MTG material.

Now... Technically Vecna can be from ravenloft, as he was trapped there for quite some time. I think he was also in Sigil/Planescape if you want something from there.

I think LoB and Merrix d'Cannith could work together. Maybe Lob betrays Merrix, or somehow makes him a warforged, etc. Just read up on Vhotym - hates gods, wants to remake things in his image... could work! Nicol Bolas is also pretty terrifying!

Awesome suggestions from anyone, thank you all so much!

Last question in the same vein - any cool set pieces? Favorite places or locations to stage a battle? The side of a volcano, a dragon's graveyard, a top a sacrificial ziggurat, a flying castle, the boudoir of Drow queen in the Underdark, etc. all that kinda stuff.

[JadedDM]

Wow. It was right there. I mean, yeah. Duh. Good suggestion, can't believe I didn't see this coming.

Could make for a great finale for the whole thing. Maybe the Spelljammer itself is the final artifact needed.

[Postmodernist]

Could make for a great finale for the whole thing. Maybe the Spelljammer itself is the final artifact needed.

Interesting idea. I'm also thinking that maybe a Spelljammer-jacking might be necessary. Githyanki have stolen it somehow, and our players need to get it back?

[the_david]

Couldn't you just go for the Rod of Seven Parts?

Edit: Unless you want to go for all 32 teeth of Dahlver-Nar.

[Postmodernist]

Couldn't you just go for the Rod of Seven Parts?

Edit: Unless you want to go for all 32 teeth of Dahlver-Nar.

I did consider the Rod of Seven Parts, but that's essentially seven McGuffins by itself, which might be too much. And a game around the Teeth of Dahlver-Nar would be awesome... but that's gonna be even longer than I've got time for, I think.

[Polyphemus]

Definitely looking into which of these make the most sense. Amonkhet is a contender, I think.
Amonkhet is great, Theros I think is also very thematically strong with the Ancient Greek theme, I also rather like Ravnica, though it might step on Eberron's toes as the "industrialized/urbanized" magic setting, depending on how much focus you put on Sharn and House Cannith (which considering Merrix's involvement sounds like it won't be insubstantial), though if you wanted to make it more distinct you make their villainous representative someone from the Azorious Senate or Orzhov Syndicate--or if you wanted to take it in a different direction, like you're doing with the Dark Sun representatives, you could have some Gruul Clans wanting to break off and out into the multiverse where there's still some wilderness to inhabit.
There's also a pretty good Planeshift article on Ixalan, which has a Mesoamerican/Spanish Conquistador theming with dinosaurs and vampires and pirates, which is a fun confluence of ideas.


This is a crazy idea, but in practice might be a bit too complicated to implement, and may even go unnoticed by the characters in some ways. Plus, my familiarity with Pathfinder is limited to the Kingmaker videogame.
Ha, yeah, understandable. That's why if you'd do it at all you'd probably be best served looking to convert them to 5e or just find a 5e NPC stat block that's roughly equivalent, though the larger problem might be that Golarion is by design very kitchen sink-y, perhaps even more than FR is. You got a crusader kingdom fighting a forever war against a demon hellgate, next door to a land of barbarians whose towns are built atop the buried remains of an ancient alien spaceship, like there's too much going on to really have a cohesive singular thing that's identifiably "Golarion" that is entirely separate from the things it inherited from D&D in the first place. :P


I may just hand wave this in my campaign. Another rationale for the finale to take place in Eberron is to take advantage of conjunctions of the moons, manifest zones, etc. Up the ante as part of a whole "it was foretold" thing in the Draconic Prophecy or something. My players are also familiar with Eberron, so this could work well.
Oh! That's another thing you could have in the mix; in Fizban's, there was at least a sidebar about "draconic echoes", or dragons having equivalents or counterparts of themselves on other worlds in the multiverse, and with enough time and power they could actually psychically connect with these alternate selves and talk with each other/themselves. Maybe an NPC (Perhaps a quest giver/mentor type) could be a network of alternate selves of a dragon, maybe an amethyst one, since per Fizban's they generally have the greatest interest in the multiverse at large, that's trying to guide the strands of the Draconic Prophecy away from the grand multiverse conjunction thing the bad guys are trying to bring about, possibly against the wishes of other dragons who believe this path of the prophecy is the proper path of history, or whatever.


Awesome suggestions from anyone, thank you all so much!

Last question in the same vein - any cool set pieces? Favorite places or locations to stage a battle? The side of a volcano, a dragon's graveyard, a top a sacrificial ziggurat, a flying castle, the boudoir of Drow queen in the Underdark, etc. all that kinda stuff.

Hmmmm, set piece, set piece, set piece...
Depending on what planet/universe the party starts in, if they're starting in Greyhawk, maybe Vecna or one of his lackeys has extracted the alien spacecraft from the Barrier Peaks and is trying to retrofit it into a Spelljammer, or something.
In Eberron, you could have a fight on a Lightning Rail, or especially if you're going to use it as the final or penultimate plane the party goes to, perhaps they have a big slugfest with Merrix atop an elemental airship, in port in Sharn before it departs for Stormreach in Xen'drik, and after they defeat him and the Mechanical Beholder he's piloting:smallwink: they'll search him for the Planar MacGuffin Gems, and he'll hazily say, "What kind of a fool do you take me for? I had them sent ahead of me!" and he points to the elemental airship that's already disappearing over the horizon towards Xen'drik and jungle temple where the final battle's gonna be.
Dark Sun you could have some fun with like, a gladiatorial arena that the party can ignite into a Spartacus-style gladiator uprising, to escape in the confusion. Or maybe the bad guys, since your Dark Sun "villains" are Avangions who've concluded Athas is beyond saving, would be the ones who would do such a thing to cover their escape, since they're past the point of caring what consequences a gladiator revolt would bring down on the local population.

Also, if you're still looking for a Planescape villain, there's always Duke Rowan Darkwood, leader of the Fated, instigator the Faction War, and possibly the character least deserving of his officially listed "Chaotic Good" alignment. Plus, if memory serves, guy's a Ranger, so he could help round out the Legion of Doom as a Martial (or at least as a non-full-caster, anyway). I mean, if you're using him, the Faction War hasn't happened, given what happens to him there, but he's certainly portrayed as someone ambitious, power-hungry, and narcissistic enough to think he could recreate the universe in his image, considering he was trying to dethrone the Lady of Pain. The biggest hurdle is justifying why he'd be a team player, though knowing him he might just be in it long enough to get an opportune moment to stab one of his allies in the back and take the entire prize for himself.

[Postmodernist]

Amonkhet is great, Theros I think is also very thematically strong with the Ancient Greek theme, I also rather like Ravnica, though it might step on Eberron's toes as the "industrialized/urbanized" magic setting, depending on how much focus you put on Sharn and House Cannith (which considering Merrix's involvement sounds like it won't be insubstantial), though if you wanted to make it more distinct you make their villainous representative someone from the Azorious Senate or Orzhov Syndicate--or if you wanted to take it in a different direction, like you're doing with the Dark Sun representatives, you could have some Gruul Clans wanting to break off and out into the multiverse where there's still some wilderness to inhabit.
There's also a pretty good Planeshift article on Ixalan, which has a Mesoamerican/Spanish Conquistador theming with dinosaurs and vampires and pirates, which is a fun confluence of ideas.

Yeah, I'm considering all of those as good options. Heavy on the gods/god kings/planeswalker stuff.




Oh! That's another thing you could have in the mix; in Fizban's, there was at least a sidebar about "draconic echoes", or dragons having equivalents or counterparts of themselves on other worlds in the multiverse, and with enough time and power they could actually psychically connect with these alternate selves and talk with each other/themselves. Maybe an NPC (Perhaps a quest giver/mentor type) could be a network of alternate selves of a dragon, maybe an amethyst one, since per Fizban's they generally have the greatest interest in the multiverse at large, that's trying to guide the strands of the Draconic Prophecy away from the grand multiverse conjunction thing the bad guys are trying to bring about, possibly against the wishes of other dragons who believe this path of the prophecy is the proper path of history, or whatever.


Ooooh, I really, really like this. Adds in a lot of draconic options (Tiamat, The Dragon from Dark Sun, anyone from Dragonlance, any major draconic antagonist, really) could be the same enemy. They're communicating through... planar psychic vibes or something. Made a connection and then colluded. Like the Citadel of Ricks, but draconic.




Hmmmm, set piece, set piece, set piece...
Depending on what planet/universe the party starts in, if they're starting in Greyhawk, maybe Vecna or one of his lackeys has extracted the alien spacecraft from the Barrier Peaks and is trying to retrofit it into a Spelljammer, or something.
In Eberron, you could have a fight on a Lightning Rail, or especially if you're going to use it as the final or penultimate plane the party goes to, perhaps they have a big slugfest with Merrix atop an elemental airship, in port in Sharn before it departs for Stormreach in Xen'drik, and after they defeat him and the Mechanical Beholder he's piloting:smallwink: they'll search him for the Planar MacGuffin Gems, and he'll hazily say, "What kind of a fool do you take me for? I had them sent ahead of me!" and he points to the elemental airship that's already disappearing over the horizon towards Xen'drik and jungle temple where the final battle's gonna be.
Dark Sun you could have some fun with like, a gladiatorial arena that the party can ignite into a Spartacus-style gladiator uprising, to escape in the confusion. Or maybe the bad guys, since your Dark Sun "villains" are Avangions who've concluded Athas is beyond saving, would be the ones who would do such a thing to cover their escape, since they're past the point of caring what consequences a gladiator revolt would bring down on the local population.

My players have all done Eberron before, and so pirate/airship/lightning rail/Xen'drink giant ziggaurat battles have all happened. Mechanical Beholder, though... As for Dark Sun, definitely considering using Kalak's attempt at becoming a dragon through sacrificial ascension as a battle background. Basically running the classic "Freedom" opener adventure from the 2E boxed set.



Also, if you're still looking for a Planescape villain, there's always Duke Rowan Darkwood, leader of the Fated, instigator the Faction War, and possibly the character least deserving of his officially listed "Chaotic Good" alignment. Plus, if memory serves, guy's a Ranger, so he could help round out the Legion of Doom as a Martial (or at least as a non-full-caster, anyway). I mean, if you're using him, the Faction War hasn't happened, given what happens to him there, but he's certainly portrayed as someone ambitious, power-hungry, and narcissistic enough to think he could recreate the universe in his image, considering he was trying to dethrone the Lady of Pain. The biggest hurdle is justifying why he'd be a team player, though knowing him he might just be in it long enough to get an opportune moment to stab one of his allies in the back and take the entire prize for himself.

The Fated are definite contenders for Planescape antagonist, and Rowan is a great choice. I had been considering an alliance between the Fated and the Illuminated or similar.

[subtledoctor]

Where else can I pillage?

Pull Zakhara out of the Forgotten Realms and give it its own planet. Super rich campaign setting. Have to venture across the Land of Fate to find the MacGuffin in some ancient ruins in the jungles of Nog. Some genie prince or other could fill the role of the big bad guy.

[TrialsofHualnem]

I'm not too familiar with Spelljammer but if I were to play it personally, I would make sure that they'd travel not only between planets but between planes. I reckon there's a lot to explore there. Like a world inspired by the elemental plane of water - perhaps the space around the plane itself is gigantic rivers?

[Postmodernist]

Pull Zakhara out of the Forgotten Realms and give it its own planet. Super rich campaign setting. Have to venture across the Land of Fate to find the MacGuffin in some ancient ruins in the jungles of Nog. Some genie prince or other could fill the role of the big bad guy.

This is an intriguing idea. I'm not super familiar with Al-Qadim as a setting, though, aside from remembering the cool art on the boxed sets I saw at my local gaming store as a kid. Any suggestions on where to start?


I'm not too familiar with Spelljammer but if I were to play it personally, I would make sure that they'd travel not only between planets but between planes. I reckon there's a lot to explore there. Like a world inspired by the elemental plane of water - perhaps the space around the plane itself is gigantic rivers?

Also an excellent idea. I'm definitely thinking of Sigil as being a hub for a lot of these shenanigans - going to multiple planes would be a fun thing to tour.

[subtledoctor]

This is an intriguing idea. I'm not super familiar with Al-Qadim as a setting, though, aside from remembering the cool art on the boxed sets I saw at my local gaming store as a kid. Any suggestions on where to start?

You can keep it fairly simple. The basic campaign setting information is here (https://www.dmsguild.com/product/16871/AlQadim-Arabian-Adventures-2e?src=hottest_filtered&filters=45471_0_0_0_45361_0_0_0), for $5. This includes some info about foreigners who find themselves in the Land of Fate.

As far as what the players will do there, it very much depends on how long you spend in each place, but the easiest thing would be to grab one of the collections of adventures:
- Golden Voyages (https://www.dmsguild.com/product/16874/ALQ1-Golden-Voyages-2e?src=hottest_filtered&filters=45471_0_0_0_45361_0_0_0)
- A Dozen and One Adventures (https://www.dmsguild.com/product/16876/ALQ3-A-Dozen-and-One-Adventures-2e?src=hottest_filtered&filters=45471_0_0_0_45361_0_0_0)
- Assassin Mountain (https://www.dmsguild.com/product/16875/ALQ2-Assassin-Mountain-2e?src=also_purchased&filters=45471_0_0_0_45361_0_0_0)

Each of those contains about a dozen shortish adventures, some more serialized than others. But in general they are all organized pretty loosely. A few of those adventures could probably be adapted to move your group toward the end goal. (Golden Voyages has a nice section detailing several possible "Great Treasures" that could be the players' end goal; the "Seal of Fate" might make a lot of sense for this thread.)

That can be it! But OTOH that could just be the way players get their bearings on their planet, and the quest could then take them into creepy/unfamiliar areas before leaving. This could be a jungle delve into the Ruined Kingdoms (https://www.dmsguild.com/product/16878/Ruined-Kingdoms-2e?src=hottest_filtered&filters=45471_0_0_0_45361_0_0_0) of Nog and Kadar, or if you're into undead, Cities of Bone (https://www.dmsguild.com/product/16879/Cities-of-Bone-2e?src=newest&filters=45471_0_0_0_45361_0_0_0).

[Postmodernist]

You can keep it fairly simple. The basic campaign setting information is here (https://www.dmsguild.com/product/16871/AlQadim-Arabian-Adventures-2e?src=hottest_filtered&filters=45471_0_0_0_45361_0_0_0), for $5. This includes some info about foreigners who find themselves in the Land of Fate.

As far as what the players will do there, it very much depends on how long you spend in each place, but the easiest thing would be to grab one of the collections of adventures:
- Golden Voyages (https://www.dmsguild.com/product/16874/ALQ1-Golden-Voyages-2e?src=hottest_filtered&filters=45471_0_0_0_45361_0_0_0)
- A Dozen and One Adventures (https://www.dmsguild.com/product/16876/ALQ3-A-Dozen-and-One-Adventures-2e?src=hottest_filtered&filters=45471_0_0_0_45361_0_0_0)
- Assassin Mountain (https://www.dmsguild.com/product/16875/ALQ2-Assassin-Mountain-2e?src=also_purchased&filters=45471_0_0_0_45361_0_0_0)

Each of those contains about a dozen shortish adventures, some more serialized than others. But in general they are all organized pretty loosely. A few of those adventures could probably be adapted to move your group toward the end goal. (Golden Voyages has a nice section detailing several possible "Great Treasures" that could be the players' end goal; the "Seal of Fate" might make a lot of sense for this thread.)

That can be it! But OTOH that could just be the way players get their bearings on their planet, and the quest could then take them into creepy/unfamiliar areas before leaving. This could be a jungle delve into the Ruined Kingdoms (https://www.dmsguild.com/product/16878/Ruined-Kingdoms-2e?src=hottest_filtered&filters=45471_0_0_0_45361_0_0_0) of Nog and Kadar, or if you're into undead, Cities of Bone (https://www.dmsguild.com/product/16879/Cities-of-Bone-2e?src=newest&filters=45471_0_0_0_45361_0_0_0).

Thanks for the info!