Cosmic Conflicts: Worldbuilding and Campaign Creation in 5e Dungeons & Dragons and TTRPG - Web DM
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- Опубликовано: 7 авг 2018
- When you're a DM creating a campaign, you have to balance UNIVERSE-ALTERING EVENTS with the itty bitty personal world of your player characters. It can be tough, but it's so worth it! Here are our tips. Don't forget to subscribe, comment & share. New episodes every Wednesday.
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Web DM do a video on magic technology, would love to hear your opinion on the subject (that's me asking for help for my shit campaigns)
Like magic guns and stuff? What do you mean?
Web DM magic and machine's fused into one, so basically like flying machines run on magic and all that stuff, from a little magic robot all the way up to a magic mech suit. Imagine a society ran by artificers who stick magic and robots together for a greater nation
Plz do a pathfinder 2 down the road. Some people hate it and it need some love
Hey Web DM, Love what you guys do. I personally have not DM'd much outside of the Forgotten Realms setting. Would love to see a video series about the different D&D realms, Greyhawk, Dark Sun, Spelljammer, Al Qadim, etc. You guys have really opened my eyes on how to be a better DM.
I really want Pruitt to publish his Spelljammer setting
The Spelljammer setting's copyright is locked up and no one can publish a new version. But if you look through all of the WOTC 5e books, you will find everything you need to build 5e Spelljammer.
Maybe Prior could publish it for free as a blog post with page references to the original books, but nothing beyond fair use quotes.
He'd have to use new names for everything... But hell I'd buy it.
When it comes to the Blood War and the Yugoloths, I've always liked the idea of them being the ones who play both sides and manipulate events in a way that never leaves either side with a clear advantage. Because they (and everyone else in the planescape) knows that if either side ever won the Blood War and no longer had to focus like 75% of their attention inward, they would focus all their might outward and no one would be able to stop the winning side from completely overrunning the rest of the planescape.
Which honestly could lead to some super interesting plotlines. Like, say, the party helping agents of the Yugoloths sabotage one side or the other to keep them from carrying out some plan that will give them a huge advantage. Maybe it's even an extremely secret joint operation with Celestial agents, who obviously despise the Yugos but understand the need for cooperation in order to keep the Blood War going at all costs.
Devil: The Silvertongue Yugoloth: The Middle Man Demon: The Beast
I know it's been a year, but I really like this interpretation.
I always used them as hidden manipulators for the side of good. They were Manchurian candidate spoilers designed by some good Power to keep everyone evil fighting each other.
I honestly prefer the Pathfinder Yugoloth equivalent, the nihilistic soul devouring Daemons, who are so incredibly unsettling that I had to put down their source book for a little bit. It doesn't help that their stated end goal is the destruction of everything, beginning with all mortal souls. Their leadership, the Four Horsemen, are also incredibly interesting and unique compared to the arch devils and demon princes.
Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same. And now it's here.
Or should I say, I am
Where's that quote from? I can't put my finger on where i heard it.
Also you are the very first person (outside of my family) with the same sur-name as me.
Its like Thanos' first line in Infinity War. If not one of the first.
We're in the endgame, now.
This day extracts a heavy toll..
My rule of thumb for earthshaking conflicts is to go full Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, starting off somewhat smaller, just a basic goal at first, and then continually ratchet up the stakes more and more as it goes on until by the end the literal fate of the literal world is on the line.
This.
My party is tacking down a magic sword owned by the tyrant of their city.
That sword actually belongs to the Sentinel of Fate who keeps the gods in check.
And then get to the point where the enemy is coming trough time while you're travelling on liquid-space?
And then the whole party combines into a cosmic-sized entity with a drill that pierces the multiverse.
Dont forget the part where you throw galaxies at one another during the BBEG Fight
My players failed to stop an Archdevil the other night and subsequently allowed the evil god of the spurned to come into the Material Plane, causing the total extinction of humanity. Now the kingdoms and governments across the world are in total ruin as devils overrun the Material Plane.
Luckily, there were only two humans in the party, one of whom died during the fight with the Archdevil when she failed a Wisdom save and ended up committing suicide out of sheer despair while the other was an NPC who died with the rest of humanity.
Now they’re level 16 and gathering their strength as they regroup in Mechanus, traveling the world to find artifacts of great celestial power to defeat the evil god once and for all and, hopefully, restore the world to its previous state.
Oh, and they’re hoping to recruit other gods. They’ve already got Thor and the Primus of Mechanus. Should be a lot of fun.
KamsBizarreAdventure fuck me that sounds cool
Jack Hail To The Kid It’s basically become Infinity War at this point.
I'll say just one thing.....daaaammmmnnnn that sounds sick.
@OrangeManBad Notice how only the humans were killed. Still plenty of other races to subjugate.
I'm watching this vid super late and reading this well afterwards, I must ask. . .
How'd it go? Because that does sound duper awesome!
Oh man... I take a break from RUclips for a week and now the Fish Demon is here! Unfair
During the play testing of 5E my long time forever DM went through many mini campaigns even until the actual books released, some finished in one form or another but many of them would abruptly end. This year I'm going to surprise him by making a long campaign. I call it "Rift", a campaign where we revisit his worlds (with my DM now as a player) and finish the storylines that were left in the wind. It helps that I take extensive notes....VERY extensive.
I have a well intentioned feedback, be aware that what you're making was originally your DM's material, and they may (depending on what they are like as a person) like or dislike changes being made to their original source material. I would be fine with one of my players taking something and running with it, but I know one of my friends who would be very upset if I added to one of his partial campaigns.
Hope all turns out well.
inkblotCrisis great idea
inkblotCrisis if someone finished my story and toke my material and expanded them, I would be sceptical, so try to tread carefully and think of the natural progression of what happened, if you do that (and your forever DM isn't an ass) it should go very well
@Papa Bear During the last time I played with him (had to move and it's just not the same table online) he'd been nostalgic about our old games. I threw the question as a "What if?", he was enthusiastic about it.
@Jack Hail To The Kid We have a very fluid homebrew campaign style where a player can basically madlib what we feel is needed into the story. DM actually likes to play in this style as he can also keep his creativity up and has a way to actually engage his players into the campaign itself. It's as much our world as his at the end of the day really, but I always put his world in reverence.
I wish you guys had a whole episode on just world building and city making and all that
Just incase no one has told you yet today , I love you .
Aw
Omg the "would you like to know more" reference in the intro caught me off guard! Love it!
Was looking for someone else who caught the reference, too. Thanks for affirming that for me lol
...Was that a Starship Troopers reference, Pruitt? *Slow clap* Well done, sir. Well done!
I kind of imagine that most of the cosmic conflicts in D&D have reached an uneasy stalemate where no one really wants to overcommit to an attack on one of their enemies lest another attack them from behind, and no one really wants to intervene in those conflicts that are going on because it keeps the attention of the combatants away from everyone else. So it's probably a case like WWI where everyone is looking for that one thing that can break the stalemate and tip the scales in their favor, but no one can really commit to a full frontal charge into enemy territory.
However, an epic level party with multiple artifact level items would be a pretty hot commodity, depending on how epic your deities and archfiends are.
For good versus evil cosmic conflict on the material plane I feel the show Supernatural does a good job. Angels are often as brutal and uncompromising as demons and whole villages can be destroyed in the clash.
Alexander Greene
there was the civilization mod called fall from heaven where the good vs evil conflict was central
the angel of Justice was a tyrant, and his cult was a power structure that shook the world
Graven The Red that sounds great. I have never played Civ but it’s been highly recommended to me by many people. Do you have a favorite version?
I like that Jim and Pruitt both in this video, as well as on their Celestial and Angel and their Dragon episode point out that unflinching good plus extreme power can quickly turn to tyranny. I think Castiel in Supernatural when he gets Godlike power and starts iceing angels left and right is a good show of this.
that was civ iv
Supernatural has big conflicts, but never really steps beyond local reality, for truly cosmic conflicts think bogey
it does a good job with power corrupting though
Nice Gloryhammer reference! I'm planning on seeing them live next month.
ONLY A SITH DEALS IN ABSOLUTES
I've always wanted to ask Yoda if he was afraid of being afraid.
Space Wizard that's the most nornie thing you could have said XD
@@rollingon5566 Did you only watch the prequels?
In terms of the battle between good and evil, I would play it kind of similar to the battle between the Shadows and Vorlons in Babylon 5. Both sides are huge, powerful, and when they start battling around the smaller mortals, they crush them in passing. And they wipe out entire worlds when they deem them not in line with their ideology. That's where the PCs could get involved. Their homes come under assault, maybe by the opening heralds, and that's when they're dragged into the conflict between two absolute ideologies.
This was my immediate thought. Babylon 5 is a really well written version of a Cosmic Conflict, especially things like the Shadows manipulating and corrupting the "lesser" races through petty politics, or how... unforgiving the Vorlons were with those who entertained the Shadows.
Whether it's an alien race you've just encountered, or somebody knocking at your door at 2 AM, the questions are exactly the same: "Who are you, and What do you want?"
i am ashamed to say it took me a beat too long to recognize that joke, but it is perfect. thank you.
I feel like I took an easy way out now lol my “world conflict” is that anyone can become a god if they figure how to and the actual pantheon is trying to stop it because they are sick of dealing with all the other lesser gods
Ps you guys are amazing
That can be fun! That used to happen on Xena Warrior Princess all the time!
This sounds amazing! Can I steal it?
Jos van Winkel of course you can lol
Fabius Maximus 1st add me if you play osrs lol MemeTaco420 and 2nd it’s a little different most humanoid races in the campaign world can ascend to god hood they just don’t have the ambitions too or they grovel to another god or in some cases the main pantheon is attempting to kill or subjugate them so they can’t ascend
I've been wanting to run Out of the Abyss for my group, and I've been thinking about including devils into the campaign to assist the players in defeating the demons due to their rivalry in the Blood War. This is going to help.
Talk about timing. Just started a campaign where the blood war was a Vorlons vs Shadows type conflict over the multiverse, "finishing" over 2000 years ago. The PCs have now found ancient tech (current tech is magic with spelljammers) and are about to reignite the war accidentally... This is really helpful! Thank you!
My players just recently hit level 14.
They just finished destroying a yuan ti temple, containing the portal within to the Fugue plane, where Dendar awaits it's awakening. However...
The wizards from the Organization of Arcane Scholars kept the portal (they had to contact someone who could contain it, only a warlock in the party as a caster (with a hexblade build even)). Also, there are more temples around. They haven't moved much, so they don't know about the angels working with the only pantheon in that continent, or about the Devils vs Demons conflict, contained by a very thin alliance against the angels, because they have too much power. Once they touch that beehive...
So... Yuan ti are bringing doom, angels/religion is controlling a lot of the world, the wizards have a very dangerous portal and the fiends are plotting against the angels.
Also, they found the Terrasque, guarded by a Solar. It's sleeping.
For now.
Needless to say, nobody wants that thing to wake up, so the cosmic stuff is not exploding in war because of it.
Or you go the one punch man route. Start the party at level 20 with each of the main stats set to 26 and give them 3 to 5 feats each. Then give them a quest where literally all they have to do is go grocery shopping.
On the way to the store the random encounter is Orcus.
The random encounter that hits while they're in the checkout line is an invasion of Githyanki warships.
The random encounter on the way back to their homebase/one room apartment is either Asmodeus or Lolth.
Love the Gloryhammer lyrics at the end. I am currently building an entire campaign based on their albums and specifically watched this video to get some tips about the "1992" part. So happy to hear those lyrics at the end. Keep up the great work guys!
That campaign sounds really cool. I've been running something for a long time (since 1999?) that's gotten very cosmic now, Rod of Seven Parts, the PCs currently at the field of the Battle of Pesh. They are currently in an observatory built from the leg bone of a fallen titan.
I think my next campaign might be much less cosmic, though.
I think my favorite cosmic conflict right now is in The Strange, the forces of chaos seek to collapse all of these alternate worlds together onto each other and its up to the party to keep things apart
8 sessions for a side quest?! Damn bro. My side quests are usually 3-4 sessions at most. Jim was talking about "the main quest" and I've recently been running a home brew 5E campaign where I've avoided the idea of a main quest. Instead, I created a growing world and populated it with people, creatures, and places, and then fleshed those things out (and still continue to). It lets the group pursue their interests and allows me to learn how they want to play.
Do Great Old Ones and Aberrations
Now my setting has finally ended, they saved the world from the impending doom of Othea, the once mountain range and now awakened deity. One of my players want to find a necronomicon type book. Eventually, years in game, I'll have to book tie in a trio of plane eating entities, similar to the Eldrazi Titans which are Lovecraftian inspired
Cool.
Ofcourse you drop an episode on this topic while I'm in the middle of re-reading The Chronicles of The Black Company. Fuck, I love you guys.
I like the idea of a mysterious artifact that inspires quests and great searchers and conspiracy theories. Real life, the holy Grail, arc of the covenant, for big ones and War gold and Oak Island for small. Not to mention wand of Orcus, Mysterious swords and various rings.
Levels 1-5: accept all the side quests.
Levels 6-10: maybe I should check back in on that main quest prompt.
Levels 11-15: "Game over man!"
Levels: 16-20: "We're in the endgame now."
I'm going to be having the war between the Gith and Illithid feature in my current campaign. Players are brand new to dnd so I hopers give them an epic experience or discovering hidden gith ruins (they ruled the earth for a brief time in my world - I used the dead empires tips from one of your videos), and the world is a steampunk setting. The Illithid have been enslaving yuan ti by telling them they are helping bring about the awakening of dendar, but they are trying to build a weapon to assault the Gith stronghold in the astral sea. The creation or near-creation of this weapon (thwarted by the players potentially) acts like a "signal" to the Gith who return after detecting that level of technology on this earth. Then begins the alien invasion.
Nice
Just started the video and I like to cosmology of the 4E Points of Light campaign setting, especially the primal power expansion that detailed how the primal spirits rose up and cast out both celestial and elemental forces from the prime material plane and are primary in maintain that separation.
Both my current games have a cosmic conflict of the greater gods who have been silent for around 500 years are slowly coming back. One party is evil and becoming the avatars of evil gods while the other is their mirror.
Neither party knows about the other yet.
Please say they will fight one day
Web DM I cannot confirm or deny this
@@TheAlhouk57 It's been a year 😤
I find this video inspiring for my current homebrew-homescratch setting's cosmology.
Goliath race video, pleeeeeaaasseee!?
Does anyone know if jim Davis still works on Garfield or is he just strictly d&d Now?
i believe that the garfield writer jim davis and the webdm jim davis are two separate people with similar names
I enlisted in the Space Force for the cosmic conflicts. 😎
God. Land Between Two Rivers is so fucking cool. I'm probably going to shamelessly at some point when I start my next campaign sometime next year.
Not really on topic but I'd love a video on how combat and how to run it in general
Fionn Connor - Jim Murphy has good stuff on this.
Great video I love all your stuff. You guys really inspire me when thinking about my own world building.
Sometimes you guys cover topics that are just beyond interesting and you cover them so eloquently. Well done dudes:)
Really great job, guys. Previously Pruitt mentioned having a campaign to invade Hell. I was hoping beyond hope you two would have expanded on that thought here. But I was still impressed about the topic.
On another note, from that one mention of invading hell, I am putting together a small 1/2 or 3 shot for my friends dealing with that situation. I know you guys don't really read the comments, but if somehow you see this; firstly thank you for the idea. Secondly I would love some thoughts on what either of you would like to see in that quest line. And thirdly, if you'd like I will tell you how it went once we wrap.
this gave me a missing piece to my world that I'm creating! Thanks guys!
Great job guys!
One of your best yet. Fascinating subject. Thanks!
Oh what a pleasant surprise, I think ( when in reality I have been checking RUclips all day just waiting for what keeps me from doing anything on a Wednesday)
My life is sad
I really love it when you guys use colourful thumbnails. It adds a nice touch.
I just wanted to tell you guys, i really love your crazy thumbnails
I like this video some thoughts that aren't brought up often. I will come in with a rebuttal against why the "blood war" isn't the center of the campaign.....Game of Thrones. Even though winter is coming and the south has been warned on numerous occasions of the white walkers and undead magic to come. It's just not inportant to them. They are wrapped up in their own world and their own scheming and goals then something that "doesn't exist". You can also think of some of the larger conflicts and issues in the world that we SHOULD focus on but we just don't care
SRD - Second Rate DMs I say the game of thrones issue is much different since white walkers were only a legend and the true king in game of thrones is barely talked about. People in dnd are more superstitious to magical beings and deities because Magic is in abundance in dnd so they'd be more scared of the devils then each other. Plus white walkers come from one direction where the bois from hell can come from a fair few places meaning you can't pull a cersei.
You can just homebrew tho.
I like your long pause then homebrew lol. Homebrew is where we live, have lived for many years
SRD - Second Rate DMs even my first adventure was homebrew, but on a series note, game of thrones excuse still works, just need to do building to get there
I love the reference points here for the backgrounds of Land Between Two Rivers and Starward Bound. I've been fascinated by the little bit of Land Between Two Rivers that I've seen thus far, and watching this makes me want to go back and watch more. And also start watching Starward Bound.
Very good thoughts on how to incorporate the cosmic conflict without shoving it down the players' throats. I've only been in a couple of campaigns so far and neither one had any satisfying buildup to the epic conflict, and I'm definitely ready to play something else by now. These ideas really justify a campaign I've been working on in a viking-inspired world where the players start off as small-time traders and raiders but gradually get drawn into the machinations of gods and the buildup to Ragnarok.
If you ever want more inspiration for cosmic level conflicts, I recommend reading a webcomic called "Kill Six Billion Demons". Not only is it a really good comic on its own, but it is multiversal in scope. I don't even know where to begin describing it.
Planescape had a campaign box set solely about the Blood War. It was great reading. The speculation was that the Higher Planes encouraged the Blood War because it kept the bad guys busy.
The fragile reality in a post-apocalypse reminds me of Midworld in the Dark Tower.
Thank you for this episode, because my brain just had a creative EXPLOSION realizing the things I could do by expanding the world beyond the single planet/sphere of the setting. I think I've had Sci-fi and Fantasy stratified a little too strictly in my thinking for too long - which is weird thinking about it now, because I played Warcraft 3, which features other planets in it despite being a strictly Fantasy setting.
I also appreciate your thoughts on the Blood War. It really is the kind of thing that you would think would be present in the campaign world, even if not everyone is fully aware of it.
I can imagine a 20th level forge cleric just going up to a God and going "hey bro you need a weapon"
I always conceptualized the Blood War as an absolute and total stalemate, with Devils and Demons matched perfectly against each other and the Good-aligned forces all tied up keeping it from affecting the mortal world. Like the triangular stalemate of Dune, leading to a long-term lack of motion
You know, I think like every high-tier play should have some snip of an Otherworldly Conflict.
Because, you know, how the heck the DnD world can stay stable with all this supernatural magical shit existing in it?))
as some one who is working on a campaign were the final battle between good and evil happens and wiped out all the gods and (most) of the Devils/demons are dead were players are trying to become the new gods, this episode had perfect timing
You mentioned the infinite stones in the marvel unniverse and my mind wandered to another cosmic conflicts in pop culture. I came up with some (I'm not a expert in none of them).
-Star trek: It is not really a conflict, I guess, but everything around Q is very cool. In the Voyager serie there is a episode that shows his people and how they are immortal onipotent beings that is so beyond the voyager crew comprehension that he has to make an mental interface to them.
-DC You put in the tumbnail a reference to new genesis and apokolips that can be somewhat understood as a cosmic conflict, specialy when you consider the goals of darkside.
-Lord of the rings: The lord of the rings is kind of the end of a cosmic conflict where Melkor would try to mess things up and the good valars and the good people of the earth would try to opose it.
-Cthullu is, for me, the classical example of cosmic entity. It doesn't require much of a stretch to imagine that there are wars and disputes among creatures like cthullu and I went insane thinking how it would play out.
-Interesting enough, I don't thing there is cosmic conflict in star wars. In my understanding the dark and the light side of the force is, as said, sides of the same cosmic entity, the only conflict is between people.
Edit: how could I forgot animes?
-the new Naruto show is in a more cosmic level. So I heard is some of the new dragon ball material.
-teggen Toppa guran laggan makes a good job slowly building the cosmic aspect of the conflict.
I run a game in the Marvel comic universe. Not only did the players have to collect the Infinity Gems, but one of them has been carrying one of the gems around for the two years since then. The other gems are constantly on the move. Each of the people carrying an Infinity Gem are hesitant to use them because they draw attention. The one the party has is the least mobile of them all. It is a constant concern even when it is not active. The Phoenix Force possessed a player character for a while. The party had the Cyttorak Crystal for a time. A player character gave birth to a cosmic being. The baby shower resulted in gifts such as a No Prize from Stan Lee himself. It's the one game I run where the players do not ask for loot. They actively turn it away. This game started as teenage mutants just discovering their powers.
We still have relationship drama. For instance, CPS is moving right now to take custody of the cosmic kid I mentioned along with his twin from another dimension that the player character went through the trouble to ensure she was legally responsible for him as well. CPS does not know the toddlers are cosmic. They honestly believe the kids are in danger with the team. A woman with the child of the fiance of a player character showed up not long ago making a scene for the media outlets. The sister of one character was anti-mutant for a while as she idolized the player character, and the character did something that shattered the sister. They are still expected to socialize. They get dragged out to go shopping or to concerts and whatnot. A couple of parental figures of the player characters have gone at it. A player character took a parent off of life support not long ago. One of the player characters stands a good chance to be a write in on an upcoming election ballot in a small nation founded by Magneto. All this while the team is currently working to prevent multiple elder gods from coming to Earth while they are hampered by a corporation looking to make a profit.
The big stuff is what the group says the campaign is about, but it is those little things that make the players feel something. I think that is important to keep in mind whenever doing a game where the problems seem too big for the universe let alone the party of player characters.
As an alternative way of explaining why the blood war isn't everywhere, maybe the it's expanded to the point that single worlds are so small to be irelevant in it.
Speaking of. I have an on going campaign where my players are dealing with the aftermath of the undead unicorn invasion of Dundee
This video reminds me of a planar campaign I had planned to run a few years back (only made it a few sessions in before life got in the way yet again) where the PCs each had lost a year of their recent memories (they were on the Sword Coast in Faerun). They learned early on that they were each branded by the Stygian Mark, an invisible magical mark that an individual receives when they have been affected by the waters of the Stygian river. The truth was that they were all assembled by a disguised celestial (a Movanic Deva serving her friend's cause) to adventure for a particular "key" that led to an artifact hidden in Chult. When the PCs found the key, the disguised Deva shared a victory toast with them, where she had spiked their drinks with a single drop of Stygian water: just enough to wipe a year's worth of memories.
The actual adventure started off with them following the bread crumbs that they inadvertently left behind during the missing year, from hazy memory-dreams to physical clues to people they clearly had met but couldn't remember and so on. The campaign had to end before they could follow those clues to their end, but it would have led them to a particular ruin in Chult, where another band of adventurers were mostly slain by a friend of their employer (the same Movanic Deva had to rendezvous with a Ghaele Eladrin co-conspirator who had no compunctions with killing mortals to silence them like she did). That was where they would eventually have discovered the plot: that a rogue celestial and his loyal friends were assembling artifacts from across the planes in order to seal off the Lower Planes from Sigil and the rest of the universe (specifically the Material Plane), regardless of the immense destruction that same action would cause, potentially destroying much of the known and unknown universe. The rogue Movanic Deva (different one from the aforementioned one that the PCs "interacted" with) had become so disheartened and desperate with the constant struggles of celestials and mortals everywhere against fiends and other dangerous beings that he eventually set into motion a plan that required the assembling of 11 specific artifacts - all strewn throughout the planes - in order to build a single great plane-spanning structure (with the help of the plane of Mechanus, which would require payment in the form of some of the more alignment-bound artifacts) that actually could threaten the Lady of Pain in order to force her to permanently seal all doors to the Lower Planes.
Yes, all the artifacts were proper artifacts, such as the All-Knowing Eye of Yasmin Sira, the Apparatus, the Book with No End, the Codex of the Infinite Planes, the Rod of Seven Parts, and the Throne of the Gods. Serious stuff for a serious campaign. ;)
Admittedly, this campaign idea was inspired by the Vecna Lives trilogy (particularly Die Vecna Die), Lunar: the Silver Star videgame, and a few other lesser sources. Mostly, however, I've wanted to run an AD&D 2E campaign that spanned the planes, and this was sort of what came of it. I was preparing for the players to go to any three or four planes from a list that I had compiled, depending on how long they took and what clues they decided to follow. Acheron, Athas, Baator, the Beastlands, Mount Celestia, Pandemonium (personal favorite), Ravenloft (required to be the last stop before endgame to find the Apparatus), and Zakhara were all listed since each held a specific artifact that the Movanic Deva had yet to acquire, but I probably would have included other places as well. I even dabbled with the idea of other worlds being on the list since uncontrollable plane travel would be involved, such as a destroyed and nearly unrecognizable Norrath (the world from *_Everquest_*), where the evil gods reign supreme and have shattered what remains of the world.
Ah well... maybe someday I'll run it to completion. :)
Concept: The Blood War is fought between Lawful Evil, wielding angelic weapons and Chaotic Evil with angelic "militrary advisors" and is essentially a proxy war between the much more powerful Lawful and Chaotic Good planes.
One of the campaigns I'm involved in has both the traditional "Good vs. Evil" and the Blood War as background elements that have been in play since mid Tier One. My Oathbreaker entered the campaign at level 3, backstory was that he was working with a Rakshasa, assisting the Good-aligned party in order to prevent the influence of a Demon from spreading. In the middle of the first session with the Oathbreaker, the group ran into a group claiming to be a scouting party that was led by a person my Divine Sense picked up as a Celestial.
I'm predicting this coming to a head at some point around level 13, especially if the Oathbreaker figures out that the Rakshasa can cast Suggestion, or that it really doesn't have the ability to give him the power he sought. He really doesn't like getting played.
i love the idea of having some kind of cosmic conflict happening in the background of the PCs actions that they can choose to engage or run from it till they're high enough level.
One set of artifacts i once thought of is a set of magic rings(original, i know) that were made to open portals between the various magical planes and the prime material, but the rings are intelligent and so could only be used by entities connected to that plane that the ring recognizes as worthy, such as rulers or heroes from that plane or whose power is derived from it, such as high level genasi for the elemental planes, shadow sorcerers for the shadowfell, feylocks for the feywild, etc. The partys would then have to decide what to do with it, either keeping it for themselves, finding worthy bearers they trust, or even trying to destroy or seal them.
Always love your content! Can you guys make a video on the Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron?
Spelljammer; The Imperial Elven Navy vs a resurgent Scro and have the conflict happen across several crystal spheres.
Hey y'all, love the videos,
Can y'all do a video on non magical healing? Like a healer using a tourniquet on an arm or leg. Or using chest seals on a hemo-pneumothorax. How would one write a rule for healing under fire would work when there aren't potions.
I once read a novel with a part being in a d&d world which was pretty interesting. In this novel all the beings stronger than demigods had their powers suppressed by the world will (overgod) when they were on the prime material plane. The suppression was to that extend, that a group of legendary mortals could battle with the avatar of a real god.
-Warlock of the Magus World
I'm about to start a campaign once I get back to school and it's heavily based on IW. The main villain is Primus from Mechanus and he seeks to destroy all non-lawful beings in the multiverse, using a series of magic artifacts that each represent one of the six attributes pretty much like the Infinity Stones
That intro was great.
in regards to the question of why don't the angels and celestials join in the battle of the blood war, I believe I read somewhere in one of the fiendish folios for 3rd edition, that the angels are so grossly outnumbered by both factions. The only thing keeping the cosmos safe and at balance is the fact that the demons and devils are battling each other in an unending flux.
When I think of Cosmic Conflicts...I think of the War between New Genesis and Apokolips, Darkseid is the best example of a true cosmic threat. "New Genesis is a stinking cosmic sewer! I have fouled Paradise beyond repair and broken in the mire the shining cities of the Gods! I have won! Is this vanity? Then I will remake the entire universe in the image of my soul, Desaad. And when at last I turn to look upon the eternal desolation I have wrought...I will see Darkseid, as in a mirror....and know what fear is."
I've got a couple of ideas for some Cosmic Conflicts for my current campaign which is based around the Spelljammer setting, one of which involves some PC backstory that essentially created the seed of all said conflict and another which I have actually been carefully seeding since the first campaign I ever ran, popping up more in some games than others. I don't know if the latter conflict will come to full fruition in this campaign, but I already know the first event which I'll be slipping in.
I don't want to post too many details just in case, but it certainly involves a little... Cosmic Horror. >:D
Love the football reference!
I understood that reference. "Would you like to know more?"
A good example of a simple smaller scale cosmic conflict is Zelda Breath of the Wild. Ganon won 100 years ago and now Hyrule is gone and all the kingdoms and lands around Hyrule are screwed. You have artifacts, warring cosmic factions and all that good stuff.
Just saw gloryhammer last week and they did indeed play the unicorn invasion of dundee
My players are fighting exarchs of both Tiamat and Bane, who are unleashing their plans at the same time and using each other as distractions. The followers of Bane just managed to summon the Horseman of War to the material plane, which is making everyone aggressive.
A good example of the “angels coming down and it being just as bad” is the recent season of Supernatural. Michael was still very Lawful Good, but had subjugated the entire Earth 2 for being impure.
You guys like gloryhammer?! Definitely my favourite band - saw them last year. Was pretty fucking epic
At 13:30 you guys start discussing witch hunters being pawns in the blood war. I can easily see there being a unified devil cult following a hierarchy as strict as the Nine Hells and demons and demon lords sponsoring various adventures to fight the cult and each other.
Awesome episode guys! Definitely need to consider these things for my campaign, whether I want to get into the cosmic or just leave it alone. Any chance on a show about the 5e Eberron PDF that came out?
We have talked about Eberron and the new release on our podcast! Patreon.com/webdm
My explanation for why the cosmic war doesn't come to the material realm is the two sides agreed they may influence, but not act. So every courts can ask to have an angle of lawful good come to their court, but they must also accept a demon of chaotic evil. Or vice versa if they want a Lawful Evil devil, they need to accept a Chaotic good. To ensure there is some degree of balance, and status quo.
There is also the factor that neither side wants to bring in the celestials as an enemy to tip the scales. Though I wouldn't put it past the devils to attempt a frame job.
19:31 THE GIANT HAND OF PRUITT THE GARGANTUA
ahh, so this is where descent into avernus came from
I had an idea for a DnD campaign a short while ago and would like your thoughts on it. The time has officially come and all if the components and necessities have come to pass and Cthulu/great old one being is on the verge of awakening to turn the universe back into the primordial soup and the party must stop it or quite literally everything will be destroyed. How would you go about a campaign like that?
I like how the witcher does it by having monsters pale in comparison to the humans evil. You're campaign can be hack and slash and just include devils invading. Or it can be intrigue, with devils incognito as the lord of the land, businessman, and bankers. An angel might be a poor peasant who points you in the right direction.🎉
Awesome video guys! So wouldn't warlocks be a huge thing for recruitment in those mass scale cosmic fights? Like the fiendish pack could have devil warlocks fight demon warlocks and here comes the celestial pack lol.
I have been wanting to incorporate 40K into a campaign for some time now ...
An angel in majestic armor and enough weapons to make entire armies blush arrives heralding the Emperor of Man, and the doom of the shadow in the warp. The great devourer approaches, and we're all FUCKED!
It would be horrifying and terrible, but amazing.
This video gave me a great idea of a campaign setting. What if the world were entirely inhabited by beast races (Tabaxi, Lupines, Ibixians, etc.) and was already ongoing when millions of the PHB races were transported there as refugees from a dying world? This could have happened recently, or in the distant past. Conflicts or cooperation could have followed. Maybe the Dwarfs found kindly refuge with the Ibixians in the hills and mountains, while the Elves had to war with the Tabaxi of the forrests or jungles to eke out a place to rebuild. Who got along with whom, or not, and why? What are the results now in the game?
Get Pruitt a fidget spinner so he doesn't play with the dice on set XD.
When my players start caring about the cosmos, I’ll add it. I’ve tried inserting bits about the Gods, Fey, Devils and the like, and they typically say, “yeah, cool. So, I’m gonna bang (insert NPC) and then kill (insert monster). K? Great.”
Basically what i wanted to do, i have an Immortal Godlike beholder BBEG and used the Dream Origin theory and tweaked it so that a Greater being's nightmares can spawn them and this particular is the spawn of a goddesses nightmares and doubt as she was unifying the Mortal world, and he is amassing an army to bring insurrection to the order the goddess and her apostle worked so hard to achieve, because he feels he should be at the top, the one true god. He has scouts, agents,and cults. He also has connections to demons, devils and the like that influence the world and its inhabitants. The only way to kill him is by making the goddess mortal since they are connected and one of the players can choose to take her place as god. This is what i baked into my campaign
What about chaotic good v. Lawful good cosmic conflict?
The problem with the Blood War being a cosmic game of chess is that there are *literally infinite* demons (not devils, just demons), so if the devils use a gambit to bring a particular Abyssal army out of the field, that only creates room for another Abyssal army to advance into the vacated space. The tactics need to be structured differently, in order to make it make sense that the side with INFINITE resources hasn't already won a thousand times over.
EnvisionerWill Well granted remember the side with infinite resources isn't a unified effort, I mean the Devils occasionally infight but not in comparison to the Demons, Demogorgon might have an massive demon hoard but so does Orcus and Grazz't and they all absolutely fucking hate each other.
Right, so Demogorgon commits fifty billion of his infinite demons to battle against fifty billion of Orcus's, and another fifty billion to battle against fifty billion of Grazzt's, and another fifty billion for Lolth and another fifty billion for Baphomet and another fifty billion for Yeenoghu, etc. etc. etc - and he still has infinite demons left, so he can easily commit fifty billion more against each of the Nine Hells, with an extra fifty billion in reserve. Given that the Nine Hells might have fifty billion devils IN GRAND TOTAL, or perhaps a bit more than that, but still not infinite, it still can't help but result in the demons winning, unless the devils have some sort of way of structuring the battle in their favor.To use the rules of Magic the Gathering as an example, if the Abyss's deck has the ability to generate "infinite mana", then it can use that mana to create infinite creature tokens, give them all an infinite number of +1/+1 counters, not to mention deal infinite direct damage, etc. etc. The only way the Nine Hells deck can possibly survive against all those infinities is with a "rules setting" card; you can counteract infinite creature tokens with a rule of "each player may only attack with one creature each combat", counteract infinite size of that one attacking creature with "target attacking creature becomes blocked" or "is removed from combat" or "is destroyed and can't regenerate". Against infinite direct damage, depending on whether it comes all at once or 1 point at a time, you might have either "prevent all damage to you from one source" or "whenever a source deals damage to you, prevent 1 of that damage". In all cases, infinite resources cannot ever be countered by finite resources; they can only be countered by shifting the battlefield so that the infinite resources can't be freely deployed.
Are you going to talk about the new Eberron book WotC has released?
Seriously though playing in the Gloryhammer setting would be ridiculously fun if you just want a power fantasy.