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25 Epic Adventure Ideas for the World of Greyhawk-LONG
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Thu Mar 10, 2005 3:18 pm  
25 Epic Adventure Ideas for the World of Greyhawk-LONG

One of the problems facing a DM in using a high level game set in the World of Greyhawk is the assumption that all high level play centers on godslaying and gathering obscene amounts of treasure and power . In some cases one cant be blamed in this opinon as the Deities and Demigods are stated out in a sort of high level Monster Manual or players gibbering about crazed examples of 400th level wizards researching world destroying spells just to gain a level that the thought prevades about high level play being about world destroying. Part of this stems from a lack of solid adventure examples for high level characters and ignoring not only examples of epic characters in myth and legend but also allowing characters to do as they please unopposed by other epic scale antagonists.

Following the example in the Epic Level Handbook I have 25 adventure ideas I have been working on, a lot of this heavily uses the 3.5e bookline, as well as a lot of the monsters and situations from the EPH, I tried to put in situations and seeds that draws upon areas from the World of Greyhawk to develop epic characters and situations without having to overturn the whole setting in order to play a high level game with a 20+ character who has to kill a god. Wink

1. Strange psionic worms create an empire in the Sea of Dust and threaten to spread their influence.
Seed-advanced psurlons (MM2) psions and psychic warriors and psuedonatrual purple worms have sprung from ages of gnawing upon an artifact to Tharizdun.

2. A long winter prevades in the North, and groups of strange monsters and white dragons wreck havoc in its wake.
Seed-Xixecal of Telchur rises in the north on its hellish glacier in the Icy Sea, attended by an epic white dragon, shivads (Frostburn) and infernal devils of ice.

3. Travellers from the Amedio tell of bold attacks by Yuan-ti seeking slaves for some dark purpose.
Seed-an Anathema and its horrid cult of yuan-ti have allied with a psuedo natural ha-naga who demands sacrifices in the ruins of a former city.

4. Night brings terror to the people of Perrenland by dark riders who ride in the shadows of night.
Seed- Drelzna has gathered vampiric scions lairing in a demiplane to find an artifact called the Midnight Heart to plunge the area in blood and darkness.

5. Keogthom calls on great heroes to aid him in perlious quest.
Seed- Murlynd has been captured by Pazuz and is held by a pair balor sorcerers deep in the Abyss.

6. Undead rise in great numbers in Keoland in seemingly endless numbers.
Seed- an atropal from Wee Jas attended by nightstalkers, death giants and dreamvestiges (Libris Mortis) has been freed from their black crystal cyst and seeks revenge for its imprisonment.

7. Dark omens herald a doom coming from some abyssal plane.
Seed- Eclavadra and her cadre of drow and demons are freeing a feindish devastation spider from the Demonweb Pits.

8. Burning undead haunt and attack travellers near the Burning Cliffs.
Seed- Freed from Invictus Devastatus a Shape of Fire has been spawning undead in the region.

9. Strange large roachlike creatures of surprising speed attack excavators construcing a drain system near the Old City in the City of Greyhawk.
Seed-Thorcasids long encased in their cacoons have recently been freed by the excavations and seek to spawn more of their kind.

10. A spell of unheard of power and ability rampages across the North Kingdom causing horrible damage and suffering.
Seed- an archmage loosed a spell of epic power that is infused with his sentience and power before being consumed by it as the now living spell runs amok.

11. A ancient door is uncovered in a storm in the Bright Desert unopenable to any, even it is said by Rary.
Seed-passing the doors of an ancient race awakens a hunefer and its minions.

12. A mighty champion of Hextor in Ahlissa claims he is the Chosen of Hextor in the all of the Flanaess.
Seed- an epic fighter/cleric/Fist of Hextor and his epic fellows has found the Iron Gauntlet of Hextor and seeks to bring the Flanaess to its knees before the Herald of Hell.

13. Several archmages including report thefts and seek those behind the them.
Seed- an epic level etheral filcher/perfect wight steals the items for it collection and has several caches all over the planes.

14. Powerful storms and attacks by a horrible winged beast plague the Yeomanry.
Seed- an evil Storm Giant blackgaurd has found an epic item that summons thunderworms (MM2) and has enslaved a chichimec in his dark bid to destroy the Storm Lords.

15. A living storm dwells in the center of the Solonor Ocean making voyages extremely perilous.
Seed-paragon Ixixitachls sworn to demogorgon have summoned a primal elemental.

16. A powerful bard in the Granwood is hunted by an unseen enemy.
Seed-a cunning epic green dragon seeks a powerful bard to present to Tiamat to advance its status.

17.Nightmares plague several regents of the Flanaess and become real and terroize their subjects.
Seed-a covey of epic hags has conceived a dream larva and sets it loose to revel in the terror and panic it creates.

18. From the Underdark comes talk of gaining great power..how soon til the mind flayers come to the surface?
Seed- a paragon illithid has worked a bargain with a Neg-Thallu and sets its sights on the surface world.

19. Strange creatures never seen before in the Flanaess attack in Verbobonc.
Seed-a demiplane passes close to the prime and traps a hagunemnon.

20. A demiplance drifts close to Oerths reality heralding a terrible calamity.
Seed- a gibbering orb imprisoned by Zagyg is freed by the proximity of the planar confluences.

21. High level druids across the Flanaess hear a summons from the King of Trees.
Seed-an elder treant in the Vesve Forest is sickened by contact with the Far Realm as an uvuudaum passes into this reality.

22. Horrid insects attack Ull.
Seed- a verimurge attacks from the sands attended by colossal scorpions.

23. In the Pomarj a fell presence is revealed.
Seed- for decades a Genus Loci has enslaved all who venture close. (thanks to Wykthor!)

24. The Dark Sails of the Ataphads are seen near Zeif on some occult mission.
Seed-an infernal seeks the Lanthorn of Daoud last seen in Zeif and has enlisted the aid of the Ataphad and a trio of glooms to find it.

25. A crystal city is found floating high in the clouds east of the Oljatt Sea.
Seed-an archmage long since passed away has left his lair in the care of a mighty force dragon and golems.

While a lot of these are simply situational encounters they provide something to start the ball rolling and using the World of Greyhawk as a setting for epic play.
Just some thoughts. Confused
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Last edited by Dethand on Fri Mar 11, 2005 1:20 am; edited 1 time in total
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Fri Mar 11, 2005 1:12 am  

26 - A xixecal is imprisoned by oerthmagik in the Land of Black Ice, a former dalliance between Beory and Vatun and one of tthe reasons why Iuz avoids this region entirely (I've posted about this xixecal longo tima go..)

27 - In SB, there is an Amedio city called Chetanitacla, which is ruled by a selfentitled god kin, a greater gibbering mouther. It coulds be a paragon creature and a nice "low" epic adventure.

28 - In the Hellfurnaces, either accidentally or by intentional meddling, a long-time dormant volcano expels its captive - a Phaeton who can scorch entire areas


> for decades a Genus Loci has enslaved all who venture close. (thanks to Wykthor!)

Heh, I'm glad you liked the idea of the Earth Dragon being a Genius Loci (and thee is certainly room for more of these creatures on Onerth)
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Mon Mar 14, 2005 10:31 pm  
Nice work!

Excellent work Dethand, i really like how you've added each of these to remote areas or areas that havent seen full development.
One I might want to add however...perhaps the Mother of the Lerera is a Genus Loci as well???

Another interesting high level adventure could be using the Eldritch Giants from the MM3 as a small but secluded civilization held in a time wrinkle within the Barrier Peaks (ie a temporal influx of energies from the crashing spaceship from Expedition into the Barrier Peaks, generated a wrinkle in time over this area where the ship first breached the atmosphere of Oerth. )

Edit: Found another epic level monster.
The Lone Deklo; N; Elder Treant its in the Torlan Forest of the Tltavot Peninsula, Reference: The Scarlet Brotherhood, pg. 32
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Wed Mar 16, 2005 2:00 am  

Run! The Vermiurge has returned! Shocked

Man these are all great! I really like the ones involving Xixecals since I am currently involved with the cold north. Too bad I'm not doing epic! Yeah the Mother of the Lerara would be a classic one to make, how about the Mist Golem? I have ideas swirling in my head now, must keep the thread going. Good stuff!
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Wed Mar 16, 2005 2:53 am  

Hmm I know I've read something about the Mother of Lerara, can you tell me where it is described?

Duicarthan, when the MM3 was released I cursed why it hasn't on stores earlier. The eldritch giants would as good as the nightwalker in a giantish site (caves and a city in a kind of reality wrinkle/demiplane, indeed) i created some time ago (cf. "The Forbidden Caves")

Agreed with the Lone Deklo, perhaps in long bouts of hibernation?

I don't know about this mist golem. Perhaps it could use similar stats to a Primal Air Elemental?
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Fri Apr 15, 2005 5:25 am  

Wow!

While I have yet to run an epic campaign, the seeds listed above are just plain brilliant! What I particularly like is the recurring theme of something breaking free. This is good, as the idea of oodles of epic anything running around just looking for something to do just doesn't scan with me. The ideas above are rock solid and compelling. Great job!
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Fri Apr 15, 2005 7:11 am  
Mother of the Lerara

Wykthor wrote:
Hmm I know I've read something about the Mother of Lerara, can you tell me where it is described?


WOG boxed set, 1983 - Page 27 "Lost Passage of the Suloise". The
Lereara were a tribe of Suel that got trapped in Slerotin's tunnel
and they adopted the Mother - a huge, white glowing ooze. Definitely
a good place for an Epic creature, and Epic items in the Lerara
treasure.

Quote:
I don't know about this mist golem. Perhaps it could use similar stats to a Primal Air Elemental?


You could, but they seem more "angry". I was thinking of making
something like an incorporeal golem. Ohh - or it could be some
kind of swarm creature - a swarm of diminutive water elementals -
thousands of them, formed into a humanoid shape....Have to think more
about this.

Great thread all. Please, add more. :)[/quote]
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Fri Apr 15, 2005 12:36 pm  

Thanks for the explanation about the Lerara, Rob. I'll dig my box and read it :-)

> or it could be some kind of swarm creature - a swarm of diminutive water elementals - thousands of them, formed into a humanoid shape

There's such a creature in the Planar Handbook. But unless you apply a paragon or pseudonatural template, It won't be an epic monster
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Sun Apr 17, 2005 12:59 pm  

bdpenney wrote:
Wow!

While I have yet to run an epic campaign, the seeds listed above are just plain brilliant! What I particularly like is the recurring theme of something breaking free. This is good, as the idea of oodles of epic anything running around just looking for something to do just doesn't scan with me. The ideas above are rock solid and compelling. Great job!


Thanks! Embarassed

I was a little trepid about putting this one up since it seemed like it was repeating a theme of imprisoned monsters. I'm glad that you found it interesting and not redundant, as I read the ELH a lot of those creatures are things best left forgotten or have yet to be discovered.
At the time I wanted to place Epic Level threats and adventures in GH, I also wanted to make it so that there suddenly wasnt a lot of epic level monsters from the ELH showing up and wandering around looking for a 20+ level party to send them howling into the deathless void, so following a lot of the examples in the flavor text hinted that they were locked away or imprisoned in some manner, still I'm glad you liked it.

I'll try to work out some ideas with more proactive Epic adventure ideas in the future such as developing the Ataphads, the Incursion metaplot from Dragon #309/Dungeon #100 and the Demon Tree from Dungeon #122. A living dungeon that fights the party as well as a main BBEG! Good stuff Cool
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Sun Jun 19, 2005 3:22 pm  
Re: 25 Epic Adventure Ideas for the World of Greyhawk-LONG

Dethand wrote:
14. Powerful storms and attacks by a horrible winged beast plague the Yeomanry.
Seed- an evil Storm Giant blackgaurd has found an epic item that summons thunderworms (MM2) and has enslaved a chichimec in his dark bid to destroy the Storm Lords.


Similar to Dungeon #93 with the title Giant Killer: First Ever Epic Level Adventure
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Mon Jun 20, 2005 10:34 am  
Re: 25 Epic Adventure Ideas for the World of Greyhawk-LONG

DethStruck wrote:
Dethand wrote:
14. Powerful storms and attacks by a horrible winged beast plague the Yeomanry.
Seed- an evil Storm Giant blackgaurd has found an epic item that summons thunderworms (MM2) and has enslaved a chichimec in his dark bid to destroy the Storm Lords.


Similar to Dungeon #93 with the title Giant Killer: First Ever Epic Level Adventure


Very similar for a reason. The seed summary was taken from the Dungeon adventure itself. During my groups playing of the module the Storm Giant blackgaurd had escaped only to return later with a few of his displaced fellows from the Storm Giant King and had opened the vault himself, where the chichimec was imprisoned. The players had left it alone previously, and after the evil storm giant had found an item to control it and thunderworms too raise havoc across the Yeomanry again.
I'm glad that the module was based firmly in GH and made a good point of using non-core GH gods such as Phaulkon as one of the progenitors of the Chichimec. It helped me develop several threads from that alone..such as the split of the Cloud Giants along alignment lines as well as well as a conflict among air elemental entities and figuring who the other part of the chichimec was Yan-C-Bin. All in all a good adventure and a lot of fun developing.
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Wed Jun 22, 2005 4:16 pm  

Dethand, Any plans on implementing that recent 30th lvl epic adventure in Dungeon to GH?

DethStruck? Does Dethand have a new stalking friend? hehe =P
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Tue Jul 26, 2005 9:49 am  

Wykthor wrote:
Hmm I know I've read something about the Mother of Lerara, can you tell me where it is described?


Several of the "bred" races and the the Lerara were described in Dragon #237 "Legacies of the Suel Empire" (or somthing like that). I have the Dragon Archive and was looking up Suel and came across that.
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Tue Jul 26, 2005 12:01 pm  

Duicarthan wrote:
Dethand, Any plans on implementing that recent 30th lvl epic adventure in Dungeon to GH?


Sure do. I will use it as is for the most part adding Drezlna (33 LVL Vampiric Fighter) to the mix and perhaps keeping an eye on opprotunites to expand my campaign. Perhaps a hand made Phane..hmm..
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Thu Sep 01, 2005 3:46 pm  
Mother of the Lerara

I had always thought of making Her an advanced deepspawn, or possible a shoggoth from CoC. Almost ran that adventure, too...
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Tue Apr 05, 2022 12:50 am  

Excellent work Dethand, i really like how you've added each of these to remote areas or areas that havent seen full development.

One I might want to add however...perhaps the Mother of the Lerera is a Genus Loci as well???

Another interesting high level adventure could be using the Eldritch Giants from the MM3 as a small but secluded civilization held in a time wrinkle within the Barrier Peaks
ie a temporal influx of energies from the crashing spaceship from Expedition into the Barrier Peaks, generated a wrinkle in time over this area where the ship first breached the atmosphere of Oerth.
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