(all 5, sorry, couldn't help myself 😁 ) I would make the Dreamweaver a *combination*--behind the scenes (include in animatic post-story), a Lich is using Dream Magic (even make it a new Magic type! maybe it was previously a Lost type...) to begin such, but soon discovers ANOTHER force already doing so! I'd then have either a denizen of the Nightmare plane, or a dual-dimensional entity from Beyond/The Far Realm [I'm personally picturing a VERY large many-tentacled semi-flat blob--I may have seen such an image and forgotten--where each tentacle reaches out to tag a dreamer's mind, and the stronger it grows, the larger it gets and more feeding tentacles it grows]; in the end, the PCs might even have to--brace yourself--TEAM UP WITH THE LICH TO DESTROY THE OTHER ENTITY! The PCs might try to see to it that the Lich falls in the final battle as well (front lines, whatever), or deal with that issue afterwards... I like the sentient earthquake because I immediately went to "well, this affects subterranean creatures as well"; that could have very interesting politics and roleplay, and if this BBEG is being used indirectly, maybe old rifts between peoples can finally be mended to deal with this time of mutual need, it could even lead to unusual interactions between normally very solitary isolated beings and the rest of the world around them. The time-displaced future king idea has one obvious-but-not-so-obvious way that I personally would go: "History is written by the victors." So very true, and it leaves EVERYTHING open! The king has carefully studied history and knows what it has TOLD him, so he knows what he expects, but like a number of time-travel stories, it comes about in the most unexpected ways, and often, given enough time, small moments with huge impacts are either overlooked or written out for the new "improved" narrative, meanwhile the PCs trying to stop it, again like in many good time-travel stories don't understand that it is specfically the COMBINATION of both trying to stop it, AND FAILING, that make it happen! I've had the Collective idea myself but never used it...1 thing I would absolutely do is, as the party begins to draw the Collective's attention through their interference, having the Collective also try to add useful NPCs to the party! This would mean even being in on the PLANNING! Another trick (I wouldn't use both) is for the Collective to have sleeper agents they can activate that the party has already interacted with and come to trust or lots of scrying, watching the major NPCs the party interacts with and therefore again insight into the party's plans. It MIGHT even be possible to hang one or more scry-focus objects ON the PCs themselves via purchased items, allowing the Collective to watch every strategy meeting. Of course, any of these should either be used sparingly, or should cause the Collective to feel overconfident ("oh, they're planning to attack that fort, we already have it well manned, it won't be necessary to make additional preparations"), which if the party learn of that or figure it out could even be used more intentionally against it. Balance, after all. Also, defining what the link is and how it works; many clever players can use this to turn the whole campaign around. Shatter Soul--it's been done, but what occured to me is having the soul shards be ITEMS, such as crystals or gems, often inset into rings, medalions, etc. The physical manifestations of its actual apperance are actually bits of its consiousness that reside IN those items, which first appear to a PC that has one in their dreams--the DM can even use the common aspect of not remembering many details...at first--eventually the PCs learn how to communicate with those aspects at will--requires the item be on the person doing it--but go into a trance-like state. (This can also evolve over time, perhaps finding a way for multiple physical contacts with one item to all interact with it at once, or being in a more functional state while conversing.) I love the idea that many or all of the magic items in THAT ENTIRE WORLD are this sort of thing, but many are either TOO shattered to communicate, or they are ALL just recently starting to...(implying some major event coming, evil cackle), but that's just my version. Any aspects that require combat to subdue, the combat is essentially astral (can use the Astral Plane rules but for me each is its own personal space), but wounds taken appear on the PCs physical comatose body! Also, at least one other faction (I'd like to start out knowing there a actually a LOT but tracking them on the side so even as the players realize there are more groups out there, some are eliminating each other, makes it feel more organic and realistic while not requiring the party to fight all of them), and eventually the 2+ sides will fight it out to determine who has ALL the pieces of the deity (or one of the deities if you go that route), and therefore what its final nature will be! It could go have having been a benevolent god to a warlike one, based on the final possessors of its pieces! Also, an added twist could be that the main opponent faction is either trying to SAVE a benevolent god or CONVERT a previously evil one, and deal with all opposition with finality and do not listen to any claims of "but we're the GOOD guys!", so even if the party loses, the world still wins! Hope someone reads and likes any of these well enough to use the idea-seeds to make their own campaign! I have more ideas than I can ever use, and I'm sure many people can add their own spin and turn any of these into something great!
@@theGMGuide I do tend to think a bit too big sometimes; might initially sound good on paper but practical reality it might just be too much work for the payoff.
This is so good man. Thank you so much! I have a campaign born out of oneshot and it lacked a definitive BBEG and their ultimate goal. One of your concepts just clicked right into my story like a perfectly tailored Jigsaw piece. Thank you!
‘The Nightmare Lands’, the portrait of d’Polarno from Ravenloft ‘Darklords’ and time travel stuff of ‘Castles Forlorn’ - that’s exactly what I’m working now. Your developments on these ideas are brilliant. Thank you.
The dreamweaver reminds me of two things in _very_ different ways: 1. Large unscrupulous corporations or bureaucracies: negatively effecting the world around them, not caring about the damage they do. But it's hard to pin it on a single person. 2. In the Forgotten Realms cosmology there's Dendar, an imprisoned primordial serpent deity that eats people's (and gods') nightmares to get stronger and free itself to destroy the world. I don't know many details but to me this implies the state of the world NOW is _with_ said serpent eating nightmares. If it is stopped from doing so, everyone will quickly go insane from unceasing nightmares. If it isn't stopped, it will eventually destroy the world. The BBEG can't be stopped entirely, but stopping its cult and/or its manifestation would be the focus of a campaign.
For the sentient disaster, I've seen photos and videos of the Dead Man Walking, a tornado with 2 funnels that moved as if a giant creature was taking a casual stroll across the land, wreaking havoc and chaos as it moved. I like the idea of a sentient disaster that is more akin to an eldritch horror, it's so above mortals that it is unconcerned with the insects. Having the players try to stop a force of nature that is unaware or doesn't care sounds amazing.
I was thinking the results or symptoms of massive "titans" that bind the elemental plains to ours. And something has caused then to stir or fight back. They are so large you can't fight them. The ideas of the dead man walking tornado which I have seen in person makes me think of that
Can't believe that I missed this video when it came out. As it is, I'm going to offer up some comments even though the video is months old: 1. Regarding the Dreamweaver - There was actually a quest in Skyrim that played with this idea. I like the hag approach; allows it to be a low-to-mid adventure. 2. Sentient Natural Disaster - I would go with Volcano. You could even go with a Super Volcano, if you wanted. Maybe the humanoids have made a creature go extinct, and well, the world is having none of it. So it has commanded it's fire giant shamans deep below the surface of the world to make this volcano erupt. Can the heroes stop it in time? 3. Time Displaced Tyrant - Sounds like a Back to the Future scenario to me. 4. Collective Consciousness - All the individuals look exactly the same. So the party thinks they are fighting the same villain over and over again. Then they're especially confused when the enemy references a previous battle. I think I'm going to steal this one. ;) 5. Shattered Soul - I have no additions to this one. And bonus content! A BBEG doesn't necessarily need to be a BBEG. It doesn't need to be a nefarious evil-doer. The BBEG could be a situation, happenstance, or objective. Here's an example: The Song of Creation, from which all life ultimately flows, including deities, and therefore, magic, has fractured (you the GM determine how and why). The heroes encounter a small village named Melody, and all the inhabitants are living embodiments of the individual notes of the Song of Creation. They've been made manifest due to the dissonance that has fractured the Song of Creation. The party has to reconstruct the song in some manner in order to save reality.
I have a thought about the collective consciousness. They can transfer from being to being. And maybe not too many of them. Imagine three beings that take over leadership positions of various groups or factions to challenge the players. Maybe the thieve's guild for one adventure, a merchant's guild for the next. Food for my thoughts!
Great picks, one of them is right, and it's the most ridiculous. The others are good examples, except Sauron, but you got me thinking. Not mad at that connection. 😀
The Sentient Natural Disaster is a pretty interesting approach. There's even a movie that you can use as inspiration. Disney's Moana/Vaiana, is the perfect example of such storyline
Love the natural disaster idea. Currently planing a Theros style campaign been thinking of the Titans of Greek mythology. They’ve broken free from their prison and the party is given the task of taking them out
I started to run a game where the player's "first" quest was being sent to kill a Fey Princess. See one thing is always a part of another in my stories, and one thing I was struggling with a bit is " why should these characters be a party and want to be together?" So I came up with a patron, a benefactor, that erased the party's memories at the end of each quest they asked of them. The party was always well rewarded, they could see their contract with this benefactor, and perhaps the results of their "actions." Just, they only had this feeling of trust with each other, and flashes of moments working together. The Benefactor is the bigger bad guy eventually, but it's this new quest that is the story to focus on. See the Benefactor is an Archfey. An immortal nonhuman living for new things, new knowledge, new entertainment. Just to not be bored. The princess is a Fey they have also stolen memories from, and she is living in a hunting commune as just a girl with amnesia. She has no idea it's her power that is making the forest more and more like the Feywild. The benefactor has grown bored of her and decided that having the party find and kill her is the next entertainment. Telling them that a new Fey Queen has snuck into the realm and is hiding as she grows her power and creating her domain. Thus the party gets to deal with all sorts of odd material plane crossed with Feywild things. Owlbears, a fairy "gang war", absurd plant life, and other such strangeness to help the hunter's little village, and find out who and were the princess is? But is she really the baddie? What happens if they restore her memory? Will she befriend them and help them see their own memory lost situation is more nefarious than they realize? Or is she just kind without her memory and a tipping point of her power return reveals her to be just as terrible as their benefactor? Another Idea I had is two Beholder in territorial dispute. One experimenting with elemental magics, the other with undeath, are treating the midsize town as their plaything to war at each other and the party is caught in the middle. Do they negotiate a truce when they discover The Elemental beholder shakes the town with earth magics? or a firestorm happens? why some buildings seem to have the air being sucked out of them making people feel dizzy and sick? That bodies disappear with a really creepy mortician/funeral minister that works secretly for the Undead Tyrant? That pets don't seem to stay dead. Worse graves are opening up on their own? and with all the wild elemental stuff going on, there are even undead? A whole town desperate with "natural" disaster and feeling they are cursed looking for help.
The sentient disaster makes me think of the titan avatars in white wolf’s scion game. In scion there are titans that represent the basic elements of the world. Light, dark, fire, water, earth, chaos, order, time, etc. each titan has avatars that it uses to fight the gods of the various pantheons. Since the titans are the parents of the gods, the gods cannot fight them directly without risking being reabsorbed into the titan and dying so they have their half-human children fight them and their minions. The issue is those children cannot kill a titan or its avatar. Since it is a primordial part of the world, killing the titan, or an avatar which is is the same as killing the titan, will destroy that part of the world. For instance, kill the titan of fire or its avatar, then there is no more fire at all. Same with all the others. The only thing to be done is try to reimprison them in the depths of Tartarus, the place from where they all escaped.
I like the idea that you have to figure out what is causing the natural disaster which is more the continuous symptom but is a response to things in the world.
Amanda Tapping's Sanctuary TV series went a bit down the Sentient Disaster route, especially at the end of season 2 to beginning of 3. The characters interacted with it psychically. In this case it wasn't the personification of the natural force that was evil, but evil was trying to control it. The Collective is effectively a being with avatars. There are several ways to conceptualize that, but one good way to use it is to have a series of antagonists of increasing power.
I'm extremely new to DND so unsure how it could translate to DND but the second BBEG reminds me of mythology and Gods. Usually Gods of Greek mythology would be able to create natural disasters (Poseidon - tsunamis and earthquakes, Zeus - heavy storms, Hades - also earthquakes (swallowing people into the Underworld), Thor made storms etc. but these would often NOT be what they were in command of (Zeus is the God of Justice, Poseidon is the ruler of the Ocean, Hades the ruler of the underworld and Thor was about the protection of humankind)). So I'm imagining a God that was forgotten and is angry by that. One of my favourite things when it comes to the idea of Gods being forgotten is what happens to a God that is forgotten? Do they cease to exist? Well what if they continue to exist but they lose their ties to humanity. Now you have a God represented by their element (the statues of the Greek Gods, tapestries of the Norse Gods are their ties to humanity and "human forms" so when that's all gone they lose that but may still exist). Now some may do nothing about it but this God wants to be remembered and starts creating natural disasters around with it's element around the places that it was worshipped in. The way players can fight it is: these natural disasters open up these ruins with clues about this God. And the way you can fight this God is by forcing it to come in fruition (maybe the first ruin they hear a Godly voice talk to them, second ruin it's a vision, third ruin it's a weathery form of the God). Maybe it's a peaceful God and will stop, "Be my followers." If the players refuse then it gets angry and asks why not. It starts destroying the ruins and stuff - players have to get out and now there's an angry God that was refused of it's followers. Then the God strings a web and players have to find these people who are following this God and causing destruction This is a bit of a long read apologies
I quite like big villains that aren't powerful and know it. While the party are building up power so are they. Knowing the party is a threat they might offer genuine friendship, no intention of betrayal, in the hope that they might be some of that power for them. Whether smart or not they'll tend to be cautious and adaptable, which doesn't mean they need to be secret surprise villains though. As for the natural disaster villain if feel if you treat it as a creature then it's just a big elemental. To feel like a natural disaster it needs to be an environment that can think. For example, with a living bush fire you fight it with fire-fighting techniques, rather than stabbing it. But it is smart enough to know those techniques too and change its behaviour. It's the held backdrafts, travelling against the wind, hiding and restarting from embers, taunting smoke signals or burnt words, and similar that show its intelligence. Or maybe a sentient famine that can only be killed by finding its physical heart or trapping its consciousness within a sacrificial victim. Meanwhile they have to travel through it, trying to find those secrets, while also trying to keep it entertained enough to not simply shrivel up their rations and leave them desperately scrounging for survival amongst the remains of the dead. It depends on whether you see a BBEG as a big fight or a big challenge.
Absolutly love your take, just to clarify I wasn't saying these are the only type or style of BBEGs just 5 ideas, just want to make sure we are on the same page. I have a whole bother video about the normal BBEGs
So a funny take on the sentient natural disaster was actually done by Funny or Die and it's called Don Cheadle is Captain Planet. On a more serious note the were several anime that examined that paradigm from a human perspective the first two that come to mind are Project Blue Seed and the second was called Blue Gender, and no I'm not sure why they both had blue in the title, alternatively some of the forest gods (cursed and otherwise) from Princess Mononoke could serve. I think that the important part is that the sapient disaster doesn't care about us, we might be a pestilence or an annoyance or an obstacle or it might just do what it does and just give absolutely zero shits about us what we do or what we want. In the Norse myth of Ragnarok the freeing of the Fenrir would usher in a decade of winter and lead to the slaying of all the gods, but it wasn't actually the end of the world so much as the end of a cycle much like what the end of the Mayan calendar was supposed to herald in the former case the world would basically be destroyed and all the gods slain, but the Jotun were themselves older gods and the Aesir formed both the world and us from their corpses. In the later case each previous cycle of creation had people in it that were simpler and lesser than what came next men of clay were displaced by men of wood that were alive who were displaced either by us or by men that were beasts(who would then have been displaced by us) there might have been a first shadow iteration that lacked substance I don't really remember all that well, the the point is if the disaster makes a new world what new men would be made to replace us and how would the differ from us in a way that makes us inherently obsolete. I know that's light on the exact implementation of a sentient natural disaster but I really like the idea it not being any more malicious towards us than we are towards ants when we call the exterminator.
I like the idea that you see in some mythologies, that most things have a spirit in control of it. Your natural disaster could in theory take any shape. Its true form is that of the disaster you see but that isnt the best form for everything
I have thought about the disaster idea a bunch. I have been wanting to do a volcano/earthquake/ towering inferno type adventure. 1. I think there needs to be something that kills everyone if they do not stop it or get away. 2. There should be a bunch of skill challenges to move. For instance, jumping over lava or from rooftop to rooftop. 3. There should be an effect that hampers progress. Alligators from Crawl, fire elementals from fire, Sharknado etc. 4. The cause can be a druid getting people to leave, Ming the Merciless dropping Flaming hail. The Mummy with his plagues. I think it would be best as either a mystery or a challenge type scenario. Great idea.
I like having the party meet an underling of the BBEG get on the bad side of them having to go through the whole organization to get to the top. (Common movie trope) The tornado could be the result of the fall of the BBEG and yes it could be fought but you would need very powerful high level magic, a heroic sacrifice, and /or divine intervention. Love the hive mind idea perfectly devious.
I love the Sentient Natural Disaster idea. My immediate thought is there's less room for murder hobo-ing in that, because there are only two reasons you'd care about stopping the disaster: self-preservation, or preservation of others. The first would be wild, on par with a random person thinking "huh, I'm very selfishly motivated and I don't want to die. Therefore I should dismantle every nuclear weapon on earth and throw them into the sun, superman style." If you want to not get killed by it, just be very far away from it. But the latter means that if you're so intent on stopping this natural disaster, you're going to try to have as many allies as you can, especially since it will probably like an infrastructure problem, or a diplomatic effort to try to get allies who will put money and labour towards building flood defences or storm breakers or a city built not to shake in an earthquake, etc.
So in regards to the natural disaster, one way I would try to implement it would have it look as a structure or creature with a smaller sentient being acting as a power source or driver, they are regarded as natural disasters is due to being ancient and prevalent in the campaign. An example: a roving dungeon that becomes active every set period of time (something like a small city to a small mountain) that seeks out a source of energy (forests for the furnace, people souls or even collectives of magical power like items) The driver: a sentient being like a lich/wizard, a former king/architect, or an unwilling hero that tried to defeat it before. How to deal: getting in, roaming the dungeon to find/unlock the core, bargain/defeat /release the current occupier. There is an example of this already thats worth looking into, believe that modrons from the plane of Mechanus lead by Primus have an event called "The Great Modron March". You could implement that.
Maybe a way to fight against the destruction of a sentient tornado would be to lead to somewhere in which it can no longer hurt anyone or damage its surroundings
Oh, I have an idea for a sentient natural disaster. The setting could be a coast, or islands. I would introduce news of a busy storm, or hurricane season. Rumors of water, and air elementals being around harbors, or shipping routes prior to a powerful hurricane as if they are scouts. A major storm hits. But strange events like hearing voices, or better yet telepathy of an angry voice saying only a telling sailors and people on land the same thing, "A warning to leave & never return". Then turning back out to sea strong as ever, not dissipating like most storms. Then as cleric (and or cultist) of a tempest god, or did they summon a grand elemental (That must have a name, we name each hurricane in the USA) from a plane and controlled, for a limited time. Perhaps reasoned with or defeat the cult / clerics (or even druids) and the control they have of said summoned super elemental in order to free it and let it go back to its home plane of existence. Just an idea off the top of my head. Wow you can go in so many directions with this.
your soul aspect is a great way to introduce gods in the campaign, especially if you follow the Pointy Hat 2 god method(ua-cam.com/video/1AwT2GC2pe4/v-deo.htmlsi=v83hspcuqbxvDmtd): have one aspect of the god be your cleric/paladin's god, and they are trying to get their other shattered parts back together!
These are great ideas!
Glad you like them!
(all 5, sorry, couldn't help myself 😁 )
I would make the Dreamweaver a *combination*--behind the scenes (include in animatic post-story), a Lich is using Dream Magic (even make it a new Magic type! maybe it was previously a Lost type...) to begin such, but soon discovers ANOTHER force already doing so! I'd then have either a denizen of the Nightmare plane, or a dual-dimensional entity from Beyond/The Far Realm [I'm personally picturing a VERY large many-tentacled semi-flat blob--I may have seen such an image and forgotten--where each tentacle reaches out to tag a dreamer's mind, and the stronger it grows, the larger it gets and more feeding tentacles it grows]; in the end, the PCs might even have to--brace yourself--TEAM UP WITH THE LICH TO DESTROY THE OTHER ENTITY! The PCs might try to see to it that the Lich falls in the final battle as well (front lines, whatever), or deal with that issue afterwards...
I like the sentient earthquake because I immediately went to "well, this affects subterranean creatures as well"; that could have very interesting politics and roleplay, and if this BBEG is being used indirectly, maybe old rifts between peoples can finally be mended to deal with this time of mutual need, it could even lead to unusual interactions between normally very solitary isolated beings and the rest of the world around them.
The time-displaced future king idea has one obvious-but-not-so-obvious way that I personally would go: "History is written by the victors." So very true, and it leaves EVERYTHING open! The king has carefully studied history and knows what it has TOLD him, so he knows what he expects, but like a number of time-travel stories, it comes about in the most unexpected ways, and often, given enough time, small moments with huge impacts are either overlooked or written out for the new "improved" narrative, meanwhile the PCs trying to stop it, again like in many good time-travel stories don't understand that it is specfically the COMBINATION of both trying to stop it, AND FAILING, that make it happen!
I've had the Collective idea myself but never used it...1 thing I would absolutely do is, as the party begins to draw the Collective's attention through their interference, having the Collective also try to add useful NPCs to the party! This would mean even being in on the PLANNING! Another trick (I wouldn't use both) is for the Collective to have sleeper agents they can activate that the party has already interacted with and come to trust or lots of scrying, watching the major NPCs the party interacts with and therefore again insight into the party's plans. It MIGHT even be possible to hang one or more scry-focus objects ON the PCs themselves via purchased items, allowing the Collective to watch every strategy meeting. Of course, any of these should either be used sparingly, or should cause the Collective to feel overconfident ("oh, they're planning to attack that fort, we already have it well manned, it won't be necessary to make additional preparations"), which if the party learn of that or figure it out could even be used more intentionally against it. Balance, after all. Also, defining what the link is and how it works; many clever players can use this to turn the whole campaign around.
Shatter Soul--it's been done, but what occured to me is having the soul shards be ITEMS, such as crystals or gems, often inset into rings, medalions, etc. The physical manifestations of its actual apperance are actually bits of its consiousness that reside IN those items, which first appear to a PC that has one in their dreams--the DM can even use the common aspect of not remembering many details...at first--eventually the PCs learn how to communicate with those aspects at will--requires the item be on the person doing it--but go into a trance-like state. (This can also evolve over time, perhaps finding a way for multiple physical contacts with one item to all interact with it at once, or being in a more functional state while conversing.) I love the idea that many or all of the magic items in THAT ENTIRE WORLD are this sort of thing, but many are either TOO shattered to communicate, or they are ALL just recently starting to...(implying some major event coming, evil cackle), but that's just my version. Any aspects that require combat to subdue, the combat is essentially astral (can use the Astral Plane rules but for me each is its own personal space), but wounds taken appear on the PCs physical comatose body! Also, at least one other faction (I'd like to start out knowing there a actually a LOT but tracking them on the side so even as the players realize there are more groups out there, some are eliminating each other, makes it feel more organic and realistic while not requiring the party to fight all of them), and eventually the 2+ sides will fight it out to determine who has ALL the pieces of the deity (or one of the deities if you go that route), and therefore what its final nature will be! It could go have having been a benevolent god to a warlike one, based on the final possessors of its pieces! Also, an added twist could be that the main opponent faction is either trying to SAVE a benevolent god or CONVERT a previously evil one, and deal with all opposition with finality and do not listen to any claims of "but we're the GOOD guys!", so even if the party loses, the world still wins!
Hope someone reads and likes any of these well enough to use the idea-seeds to make their own campaign! I have more ideas than I can ever use, and I'm sure many people can add their own spin and turn any of these into something great!
This is one that has me thinking. Also; I honestly didn't think that it would affect subterranean societies.
@@theGMGuide I do tend to think a bit too big sometimes; might initially sound good on paper but practical reality it might just be too much work for the payoff.
Just subscribed! I already use a variation of three of these as stock BBEGs, so this video was very affirming 😆
I need to know which three? 😉😀
This is so good man. Thank you so much! I have a campaign born out of oneshot and it lacked a definitive BBEG and their ultimate goal. One of your concepts just clicked right into my story like a perfectly tailored Jigsaw piece. Thank you!
That's awesome, which one was it?
The collective consciousness one.
@@suttercane777 nice
Hey man, just wanted to say I really like what you're making on here so far. The chat with your kid was also very cute! Wishing you all the success 😁
Thanks. Hope to keep it up!
Here before 1k, this channel Is gonna go nuts
Thank you so much that is the plan. I love doing this so I look forward to serving the community
‘The Nightmare Lands’, the portrait of d’Polarno from Ravenloft ‘Darklords’ and time travel stuff of ‘Castles Forlorn’ - that’s exactly what I’m working now. Your developments on these ideas are brilliant. Thank you.
Glad to help!! 😁
The dreamweaver reminds me of two things in _very_ different ways:
1. Large unscrupulous corporations or bureaucracies: negatively effecting the world around them, not caring about the damage they do. But it's hard to pin it on a single person.
2. In the Forgotten Realms cosmology there's Dendar, an imprisoned primordial serpent deity that eats people's (and gods') nightmares to get stronger and free itself to destroy the world.
I don't know many details but to me this implies the state of the world NOW is _with_ said serpent eating nightmares. If it is stopped from doing so, everyone will quickly go insane from unceasing nightmares. If it isn't stopped, it will eventually destroy the world.
The BBEG can't be stopped entirely, but stopping its cult and/or its manifestation would be the focus of a campaign.
I like both of those a lot.
Great ideas for the setting I'm writing that goes along with a new system I am finishing.
Nice
For the sentient disaster, I've seen photos and videos of the Dead Man Walking, a tornado with 2 funnels that moved as if a giant creature was taking a casual stroll across the land, wreaking havoc and chaos as it moved. I like the idea of a sentient disaster that is more akin to an eldritch horror, it's so above mortals that it is unconcerned with the insects. Having the players try to stop a force of nature that is unaware or doesn't care sounds amazing.
I was thinking the results or symptoms of massive "titans" that bind the elemental plains to ours. And something has caused then to stir or fight back. They are so large you can't fight them. The ideas of the dead man walking tornado which I have seen in person makes me think of that
Yarrow, by Charles de Lint, has that dreamweaver thief of dreams angle.
Had to look that on up, absolute fit.
Can't believe that I missed this video when it came out. As it is, I'm going to offer up some comments even though the video is months old:
1. Regarding the Dreamweaver - There was actually a quest in Skyrim that played with this idea. I like the hag approach; allows it to be a low-to-mid adventure.
2. Sentient Natural Disaster - I would go with Volcano. You could even go with a Super Volcano, if you wanted. Maybe the humanoids have made a creature go extinct, and well, the world is having none of it. So it has commanded it's fire giant shamans deep below the surface of the world to make this volcano erupt. Can the heroes stop it in time?
3. Time Displaced Tyrant - Sounds like a Back to the Future scenario to me.
4. Collective Consciousness - All the individuals look exactly the same. So the party thinks they are fighting the same villain over and over again. Then they're especially confused when the enemy references a previous battle. I think I'm going to steal this one. ;)
5. Shattered Soul - I have no additions to this one.
And bonus content!
A BBEG doesn't necessarily need to be a BBEG. It doesn't need to be a nefarious evil-doer. The BBEG could be a situation, happenstance, or objective. Here's an example:
The Song of Creation, from which all life ultimately flows, including deities, and therefore, magic, has fractured (you the GM determine how and why). The heroes encounter a small village named Melody, and all the inhabitants are living embodiments of the individual notes of the Song of Creation. They've been made manifest due to the dissonance that has fractured the Song of Creation. The party has to reconstruct the song in some manner in order to save reality.
Thanks for the additions. Great takes!! And I agree on the bbeg
I have a thought about the collective consciousness. They can transfer from being to being. And maybe not too many of them. Imagine three beings that take over leadership positions of various groups or factions to challenge the players. Maybe the thieve's guild for one adventure, a merchant's guild for the next. Food for my thoughts!
I think that could be really fun, it reminds me of the controller is mass effect 2, like a possession mechanic
The Collective Consciousness is how Mind Flayers are supposed to work, I think, so a Mind Flayer Colony with an Elder Brain would be a great BBEG.
I can see that
1. Freddy Cruger
2. Sharknado?
3. I got nothing
4. Cybermen? B1 battle droids?
5. Sauron
Great picks, one of them is right, and it's the most ridiculous. The others are good examples, except Sauron, but you got me thinking. Not mad at that connection. 😀
@@theGMGuideyou mean Sharknado was the right one? Nice
@@Stormageddon571 yup
@@theGMGuide I'm gonna use that sometime
You could add the collective consciousness with the rise of the machine campaign idea you had in another video. Similar to the Borg from Star Trek.
D&D borg, you seriously just ruin my entire next year as I incorporate that my new world.
@theGMGuide make sure to make a video, so I can steal/borrow how you made it work.
The Sentient Natural Disaster is a pretty interesting approach. There's even a movie that you can use as inspiration. Disney's Moana/Vaiana, is the perfect example of such storyline
I'm starting to like the idea that natural disasters are a symptom and response by an entity that is sentient, and it's the only way to respond.
@@theGMGuide ties in perfectly with your World Heart campaign idea.
Love the natural disaster idea. Currently planing a Theros style campaign been thinking of the Titans of Greek mythology. They’ve broken free from their prison and the party is given the task of taking them out
I love the idea of Weather and things being influenced by larger and greater entities.
I started to run a game where the player's "first" quest was being sent to kill a Fey Princess. See one thing is always a part of another in my stories, and one thing I was struggling with a bit is " why should these characters be a party and want to be together?" So I came up with a patron, a benefactor, that erased the party's memories at the end of each quest they asked of them. The party was always well rewarded, they could see their contract with this benefactor, and perhaps the results of their "actions." Just, they only had this feeling of trust with each other, and flashes of moments working together. The Benefactor is the bigger bad guy eventually, but it's this new quest that is the story to focus on. See the Benefactor is an Archfey. An immortal nonhuman living for new things, new knowledge, new entertainment. Just to not be bored. The princess is a Fey they have also stolen memories from, and she is living in a hunting commune as just a girl with amnesia. She has no idea it's her power that is making the forest more and more like the Feywild. The benefactor has grown bored of her and decided that having the party find and kill her is the next entertainment. Telling them that a new Fey Queen has snuck into the realm and is hiding as she grows her power and creating her domain. Thus the party gets to deal with all sorts of odd material plane crossed with Feywild things. Owlbears, a fairy "gang war", absurd plant life, and other such strangeness to help the hunter's little village, and find out who and were the princess is? But is she really the baddie? What happens if they restore her memory? Will she befriend them and help them see their own memory lost situation is more nefarious than they realize? Or is she just kind without her memory and a tipping point of her power return reveals her to be just as terrible as their benefactor?
Another Idea I had is two Beholder in territorial dispute. One experimenting with elemental magics, the other with undeath, are treating the midsize town as their plaything to war at each other and the party is caught in the middle. Do they negotiate a truce when they discover The Elemental beholder shakes the town with earth magics? or a firestorm happens? why some buildings seem to have the air being sucked out of them making people feel dizzy and sick? That bodies disappear with a really creepy mortician/funeral minister that works secretly for the Undead Tyrant? That pets don't seem to stay dead. Worse graves are opening up on their own? and with all the wild elemental stuff going on, there are even undead? A whole town desperate with "natural" disaster and feeling they are cursed looking for help.
I'm down, all great ideas.
The sentient disaster makes me think of the titan avatars in white wolf’s scion game.
In scion there are titans that represent the basic elements of the world. Light, dark, fire, water, earth, chaos, order, time, etc. each titan has avatars that it uses to fight the gods of the various pantheons. Since the titans are the parents of the gods, the gods cannot fight them directly without risking being reabsorbed into the titan and dying so they have their half-human children fight them and their minions.
The issue is those children cannot kill a titan or its avatar. Since it is a primordial part of the world, killing the titan, or an avatar which is is the same as killing the titan, will destroy that part of the world. For instance, kill the titan of fire or its avatar, then there is no more fire at all. Same with all the others.
The only thing to be done is try to reimprison them in the depths of Tartarus, the place from where they all escaped.
I like the idea that you have to figure out what is causing the natural disaster which is more the continuous symptom but is a response to things in the world.
Amanda Tapping's Sanctuary TV series went a bit down the Sentient Disaster route, especially at the end of season 2 to beginning of 3. The characters interacted with it psychically. In this case it wasn't the personification of the natural force that was evil, but evil was trying to control it.
The Collective is effectively a being with avatars. There are several ways to conceptualize that, but one good way to use it is to have a series of antagonists of increasing power.
I like the idea as the having avatars or the disaster is the response to a sentient creature that is bound to the earth or avatars
I'm extremely new to DND so unsure how it could translate to DND but the second BBEG reminds me of mythology and Gods. Usually Gods of Greek mythology would be able to create natural disasters (Poseidon - tsunamis and earthquakes, Zeus - heavy storms, Hades - also earthquakes (swallowing people into the Underworld), Thor made storms etc. but these would often NOT be what they were in command of (Zeus is the God of Justice, Poseidon is the ruler of the Ocean, Hades the ruler of the underworld and Thor was about the protection of humankind)).
So I'm imagining a God that was forgotten and is angry by that. One of my favourite things when it comes to the idea of Gods being forgotten is what happens to a God that is forgotten? Do they cease to exist? Well what if they continue to exist but they lose their ties to humanity. Now you have a God represented by their element (the statues of the Greek Gods, tapestries of the Norse Gods are their ties to humanity and "human forms" so when that's all gone they lose that but may still exist). Now some may do nothing about it but this God wants to be remembered and starts creating natural disasters around with it's element around the places that it was worshipped in.
The way players can fight it is: these natural disasters open up these ruins with clues about this God. And the way you can fight this God is by forcing it to come in fruition (maybe the first ruin they hear a Godly voice talk to them, second ruin it's a vision, third ruin it's a weathery form of the God). Maybe it's a peaceful God and will stop, "Be my followers." If the players refuse then it gets angry and asks why not. It starts destroying the ruins and stuff - players have to get out and now there's an angry God that was refused of it's followers. Then the God strings a web and players have to find these people who are following this God and causing destruction
This is a bit of a long read apologies
That was awesome. I Forgotten God that was left to their rage. Only way is to find a way to let them rest. I love it.
I quite like big villains that aren't powerful and know it. While the party are building up power so are they. Knowing the party is a threat they might offer genuine friendship, no intention of betrayal, in the hope that they might be some of that power for them. Whether smart or not they'll tend to be cautious and adaptable, which doesn't mean they need to be secret surprise villains though.
As for the natural disaster villain if feel if you treat it as a creature then it's just a big elemental. To feel like a natural disaster it needs to be an environment that can think. For example, with a living bush fire you fight it with fire-fighting techniques, rather than stabbing it. But it is smart enough to know those techniques too and change its behaviour. It's the held backdrafts, travelling against the wind, hiding and restarting from embers, taunting smoke signals or burnt words, and similar that show its intelligence. Or maybe a sentient famine that can only be killed by finding its physical heart or trapping its consciousness within a sacrificial victim. Meanwhile they have to travel through it, trying to find those secrets, while also trying to keep it entertained enough to not simply shrivel up their rations and leave them desperately scrounging for survival amongst the remains of the dead.
It depends on whether you see a BBEG as a big fight or a big challenge.
Absolutly love your take, just to clarify I wasn't saying these are the only type or style of BBEGs just 5 ideas, just want to make sure we are on the same page. I have a whole bother video about the normal BBEGs
@@theGMGuide All good. Didn't assume that. This was just the first vid of yours I saw and I like commenting on videos I enjoy.🙂
@kelpiekit4002 sweet, and I love your take. Those are my favorite bad guys. Using them in D&D can take skill sometimes, but they are my favorite.
So a funny take on the sentient natural disaster was actually done by Funny or Die and it's called Don Cheadle is Captain Planet. On a more serious note the were several anime that examined that paradigm from a human perspective the first two that come to mind are Project Blue Seed and the second was called Blue Gender, and no I'm not sure why they both had blue in the title, alternatively some of the forest gods (cursed and otherwise) from Princess Mononoke could serve. I think that the important part is that the sapient disaster doesn't care about us, we might be a pestilence or an annoyance or an obstacle or it might just do what it does and just give absolutely zero shits about us what we do or what we want.
In the Norse myth of Ragnarok the freeing of the Fenrir would usher in a decade of winter and lead to the slaying of all the gods, but it wasn't actually the end of the world so much as the end of a cycle much like what the end of the Mayan calendar was supposed to herald in the former case the world would basically be destroyed and all the gods slain, but the Jotun were themselves older gods and the Aesir formed both the world and us from their corpses. In the later case each previous cycle of creation had people in it that were simpler and lesser than what came next men of clay were displaced by men of wood that were alive who were displaced either by us or by men that were beasts(who would then have been displaced by us) there might have been a first shadow iteration that lacked substance I don't really remember all that well, the the point is if the disaster makes a new world what new men would be made to replace us and how would the differ from us in a way that makes us inherently obsolete. I know that's light on the exact implementation of a sentient natural disaster but I really like the idea it not being any more malicious towards us than we are towards ants when we call the exterminator.
I remember the captain planet thing so well. But I like the idea of natural disasters as an exterminator.
I like the idea that you see in some mythologies, that most things have a spirit in control of it. Your natural disaster could in theory take any shape. Its true form is that of the disaster you see but that isnt the best form for everything
I like that take.
I have thought about the disaster idea a bunch. I have been wanting to do a volcano/earthquake/ towering inferno type adventure. 1. I think there needs to be something that kills everyone if they do not stop it or get away.
2. There should be a bunch of skill challenges to move. For instance, jumping over lava or from rooftop to rooftop.
3. There should be an effect that hampers progress. Alligators from Crawl, fire elementals from fire, Sharknado etc.
4. The cause can be a druid getting people to leave, Ming the Merciless dropping Flaming hail. The Mummy with his plagues.
I think it would be best as either a mystery or a challenge type scenario. Great idea.
I can see all that and makes total sense. Not what I was looking for but I can totally dig it.
I like having the party meet an underling of the BBEG get on the bad side of them having to go through the whole organization to get to the top. (Common movie trope)
The tornado could be the result of the fall of the BBEG and yes it could be fought but you would need very powerful high level magic, a heroic sacrifice, and /or divine intervention.
Love the hive mind idea perfectly devious.
I want to do the collective consciousness badly!
@@theGMGuide
That would be one mean cult.
I love the Sentient Natural Disaster idea. My immediate thought is there's less room for murder hobo-ing in that, because there are only two reasons you'd care about stopping the disaster: self-preservation, or preservation of others.
The first would be wild, on par with a random person thinking "huh, I'm very selfishly motivated and I don't want to die. Therefore I should dismantle every nuclear weapon on earth and throw them into the sun, superman style." If you want to not get killed by it, just be very far away from it.
But the latter means that if you're so intent on stopping this natural disaster, you're going to try to have as many allies as you can, especially since it will probably like an infrastructure problem, or a diplomatic effort to try to get allies who will put money and labour towards building flood defences or storm breakers or a city built not to shake in an earthquake, etc.
Great perspective!
So in regards to the natural disaster, one way I would try to implement it would have it look as a structure or creature with a smaller sentient being acting as a power source or driver, they are regarded as natural disasters is due to being ancient and prevalent in the campaign.
An example: a roving dungeon that becomes active every set period of time (something like a small city to a small mountain) that seeks out a source of energy (forests for the furnace, people souls or even collectives of magical power like items)
The driver: a sentient being like a lich/wizard, a former king/architect, or an unwilling hero that tried to defeat it before.
How to deal: getting in, roaming the dungeon to find/unlock the core, bargain/defeat /release the current occupier.
There is an example of this already thats worth looking into, believe that modrons from the plane of Mechanus lead by Primus have an event called "The Great Modron March". You could implement that.
Love the idea of the modron March, hate modrons, love the concept. Much reskining and designing for me, but yeah I can see that.
Maybe a way to fight against the destruction of a sentient tornado would be to lead to somewhere in which it can no longer hurt anyone or damage its surroundings
And let it exist . I like it
Oh, I have an idea for a sentient natural disaster. The setting could be a coast, or islands.
I would introduce news of a busy storm, or hurricane season. Rumors of water, and air elementals being around harbors, or shipping routes prior to a powerful hurricane as if they are scouts. A major storm hits. But strange events like hearing voices, or better yet telepathy of an angry voice saying only a telling sailors and people on land the same thing, "A warning to leave & never return". Then turning back out to sea strong as ever, not dissipating like most storms.
Then as cleric (and or cultist) of a tempest god, or did they summon a grand elemental (That must have a name, we name each hurricane in the USA) from a plane and controlled, for a limited time. Perhaps reasoned with or defeat the cult / clerics (or even druids) and the control they have of said summoned super elemental in order to free it and let it go back to its home plane of existence.
Just an idea off the top of my head. Wow you can go in so many directions with this.
Great idea off the top of your head. I love it
Godzilla is the sentient natural disaster, use the tarrasque for stats.
I can see that
your soul aspect is a great way to introduce gods in the campaign, especially if you follow the Pointy Hat 2 god method(ua-cam.com/video/1AwT2GC2pe4/v-deo.htmlsi=v83hspcuqbxvDmtd): have one aspect of the god be your cleric/paladin's god, and they are trying to get their other shattered parts back together!
I like that.