D&D 5E - 20 labors/quests/trials - Help!

[ub3r_n3rd]

For an upcoming game (next year) I'll be running a level 1-20 campaign in a new world in which the players themselves were Gods before the Fall. Technology and magic have replaced the Gods, there is NO divine magic, no clerics or paladins of gods. It's been 1,000 years since people worshiped the gods. They've been forgotten, they were no longer needed, but the time has come where the Gods are reborn as mortals and must walk the earth and regain their powers, regain their followers, and regain their godhoods!

 

This is the premise for my next game. The players will all be a bit more powerful than standard adventurers, they will 'unlock' some of their memories of their former selves every level, they will find ancient texts and temples to themselves, they will have Divine Powers which will unlock at certain tiers that deal with their chosen domains (chosen at character creation). Divine magic is only held by these Broken Gods as they harness it from their selves, there will be other evil Broken Gods trying to complete these labors/quests before them and ascend as well, they will be the only others with divine powers in the world.

 

The help I'm needing right now is that the idea I have is to give these Broken Gods "trials," "quests," and "labors" (think the Labors of Heracles) for them to complete at every level from 1-20. I'm thinking they obviously get more complicated/difficult every level starting with very simple and easy at level 1 to proving they are truly god material at level 20 to finally ascend back into the heavens.

 

What I'm asking for are your best ideas about what kinds of quests, trials, and labors I could toss at them whether they are to kill a mythical beast, recover a certain artifact, save a prince/princess, etc and what level you think would be appropriate, remember they are going to be more powerful than normal adventurers almost gestalt types.

 

I'll choose the 20 best ideas and place them into my game!

[TGP]

How about kill a mythical artifact... (1)

 

Then

 

Recover a mythical beast from extinction? (2)

[TGP]

Mythical artifact.

Something like The Elder Wand from the Potter books. It needs to be found, hunted down, and snapped in two (or melted or something).

[ub3r_n3rd]

How about kill a mythical artifact... (1)

 

Then

 

Recover a mythical beast from extinction? (2)

 

Any idea on more specifics? 

 

Mythical artifact.

Something like The Elder Wand from the Potter books. It needs to be found, hunted down, and snapped in two (or melted or something).

I like this!

[TGP]

Mythical beast.

Make the beast something mostly nice like a Ki-Rin or a Foo Dog. And it's frozen in a block of magical tourmaline or something, but to bring the species back a second one needs to be found...somewhere.

[TGP]

Some of these things can be linked together. Like the ashes of the Elder Artifact are needed to dissolve the magical Tourmaline to free the critter. Accomplishing task 20 needs a small batch of newly (hatched?) critters (Sprite Dogs - Foo Dragons) to help break into The Invincible Fortress... (task 20).

[Pegazus]

Congratulations! You've earned the "One Follower" achievement!

 

I would think that would be a Level 1 trial/quest: Get someone to believe in them. Maybe by performing a miracle, or something of the sort.

 

Heal the sick. Save the good. Smite down the false idol. Transform into a spiritual avatar (burning bush, talking donkey, animated candlestick). Correctly predict the future. Pass through a solid object. Fly. Convert the evil. Build a new temple. Have five followers. Mystically write a holy book. Walk across a lake of fire. Walk from one side of a lake to the other... In a direct path along the bottom. Call down an act of nature to defeat a foe. Cause an earthquake/volcano. Remain sober after drinking a bar dry of alcohol. Consume as much food as alcohol. Have animals come at your bekon. Create a pillar of permanent holy flame. Achieve invulnerable skin. Tow a ship out of the ocean. Capture a star. Consume a fey. Throw a mountain. Extract a still beating heart. Acquire a crystal skull. Create a diamond by crushing coal in ones hand.

 

I'll post more when my creative meter registers in the positive again.

[Arc 724]

• (level 1 Trail) Recovery of the lost Sword of Amber.
• (level 2 trail) The relinquishing of that sword to the it's rightful owner.
  • The sword has a "magical" pull on it that makes you want it... think "the one ring." The trail would be a test of your honor or will power. to return it to the one who can not live any longer without it. 
• (Level 1 Trail) You could make that other person another player(player B). Their(Player B's) trail could be to recover the weapon(the sword of Amber) that binds them and makes them a whole person. The difficulty being if the other play(Player A) is willing to give it up or if has to be forcefully taken from them.
  • The End result could be Play A & B having a common "thing" they share: Recover-er & Receiver. This trail could make them understand one another better, understand the plight they have both shared.
  • Or the end result being they have a continuous suspicion of one other until the end when they ascend and have full understanding... etc etc.
• Level 3 trail) The death of a saleman: The soul of a wondering tradesman is trapped in the [unspecified location]. The quest seems minor but once there... The soul is used to hold together a magical lock that keeps a roving banshee in check. Do you recover the soul or keep the Banshee locked up.
  • This quest would also tie into the others.::: If the banshee is unlocked the only thing that can kill it is the Amber sword, but It must be wielded by the owner. Therefore if the decision to give the sword up (which could be a will save roll) has not been made. Now the decision must be made. The party parrying, blocking, etc. while the two (player A & B) roll die back and forth trying to make it happen. 
  • The Killing of the Banshee could be a level 2 or 3 trail.
• Leve 3,4 trails: The Hexagon trap. : 5 heroes must stand in the hexagon trap and endure the torture... Each one adapting to that persons fears, etc etc. In DM terms that means tailoring a "micro-quest" in a freeze frame of time.
  • Much like in Elder Scrolls when you walk into another dimension.
  • If a hero is missing the Soul of the Salesmen from the above trail can be used. If it has not been returned yet. Or if the saleman is super grateful and travels with the group for a while helping them get lower cost on items. Or like "Leo" in Lethal Weapon. LOL.
• LEVEL 10. Destruction and Purple knight of Norris: On the road back from another trail/quest a strange Green knight rides up. His eyes glowing bright green from under his silver helmet. "I long for death travelers" which seems strange that a guy would just ride up, stop you in your tracks and speak in a booming voice. "In the ancient crypts of Decatur is a knight possess by many demons. Long ago I was charged with destroying this knight and freeing the person trapped there. I have found for X number of years without success. Many have tried to help, none have come back alive."
  • This trail could involve other trails that ascend the players to level 9 and then 10 by the end of it.
  • This trail is a dark one: The idea is that the green knight needs to make the final blow. Once done the two knights die. The Green knight and the purple knight are then visible in spirit. come together in love.
• Level 15 trail: Bonded together by Love: Two Demi-God as on their final ascension to heaven. Their trail is to show a true example of Love. sacrifice  , etc etc..(or whatever)
  • ​This one is kind of an allusion to the final trails that the players will be facing. 
  • I figure this trail is more about the players ability to tell a good story (and some persuasion rolls, etc) 
  • The previous trail above could be a story they tell. Other trails such as the Amber sword (depending on the out come) could be one. But the idea is to retell the story. Further embodying this gaming experience in the minds of your players. IN a good way.  
  • END result. The players watch as the two Demi-God ascend. Maybe even have all the hero's gain a Plus one to something because they are being hit by the light of this ascension. Or the two leave their weapons and armor or something.
  • The other end of this is a reverse. Demons descending into the pits of hell, because they want to get away from their current existences. 

 

Anywhoo..... These are the ones on the top of my head. I read your post and just started typing... AHHH! As you can see I like the idea that a lot of the trails are linked/depend on one another. 

 

 

 

[ub3r_n3rd]

Congratulations! You've earned the "One Follower" achievement!

 

I would think that would be a Level 1 trial/quest: Get someone to believe in them. Maybe by performing a miracle, or something of the sort.

 

Heal the sick. Save the good. Smite down the false idol. Transform into a spiritual avatar (burning bush, talking donkey, animated candlestick). Correctly predict the future. Pass through a solid object. Fly. Convert the evil. Build a new temple. Have five followers. Mystically write a holy book. Walk across a lake of fire. Walk from one side of a lake to the other... In a direct path along the bottom. Call down an act of nature to defeat a foe. Cause an earthquake/volcano. Remain sober after drinking a bar dry of alcohol. Consume as much food as alcohol. Have animals come at your bekon. Create a pillar of permanent holy flame. Achieve invulnerable skin. Tow a ship out of the ocean. Capture a star. Consume a fey. Throw a mountain. Extract a still beating heart. Acquire a crystal skull. Create a diamond by crushing coal in ones hand.

 

I'll post more when my creative meter registers in the positive again.

 

It's funny you say that, because I am going to give all of them a "disciple" at some point who will travel around with them (as a non-combat NPC) and who will write their new religious texts. As far as leveling goes, I'm going to re-skin the experience points to become "followers." Example: 64000 XP = level 10, instead I'll call it 64000 "Followers" = Level 10. As they perform their trials/labors/quests for people they will "lock in" that level and those followers. Everything else about experience will remain the same, it's just the name that changes.

 

Like your ideas!

[ub3r_n3rd]

@Arc - great stuff!! I'll definitely use some of those! 

[sirgourls]

Defeat Xauros, king of the minotaurs.

Survive a night of revels with the Lord of the Wild Hunt.

Secure the Heart of Flame.

Stop the plague sweeping the heartlands.

Win the admiration of Titanya, Queen of Summer.

Restore the first temple of [insert god here].

Recover the Fan of Four Winds to cease the wind-drought slowly killing villages that rely upon wind pumps.

Edited August 24, 2016 by sirgourls

[ub3r_n3rd]

Defeat Xauros, king of the minotaurs.

Survive a mount of revels with the Lord of the Wild Hunt.

Secure the Heart of Flame.

Stop the plague seeeping the heartlands.

Win the admiration of Titanya, Queen of Summer.

Restore the first temple of [insert god here].

Recover the Fan of Four Winds to cease the wind-drought slowly killing villages that rely upon wind pumps.

Ooo! I like quite a few of those, thanks!

[Arc 724]

@Arc - great stuff!! I'll definitely use some of those! 

Thank You sir! Glad you liked them. Hope you guys have a great game. You should write up the final thing you come up with and put in a PDF. Would be cool to play.

[ub3r_n3rd]

 

@Arc - great stuff!! I'll definitely use some of those! 

Thank You sir! Glad you liked them. Hope you guys have a great game. You should write up the final thing you come up with and put in a PDF. Would be cool to play.

 

Yeah, I'm putting together a Google Document right now with ideas I have, rules, creation of characters, domain powers, encounters, NPCs, descriptions, etc. Trying to get it all sorted before we start that game a month or two after I move into the new house. It's a lot of things to do for a campaign of this magnitude.

[Arc 724]

 

 

@Arc - great stuff!! I'll definitely use some of those! 

Thank You sir! Glad you liked them. Hope you guys have a great game. You should write up the final thing you come up with and put in a PDF. Would be cool to play.

 

Yeah, I'm putting together a Google Document right now with ideas I have, rules, creation of characters, domain powers, encounters, NPCs, descriptions, etc. Trying to get it all sorted before we start that game a month or two after I move into the new house. It's a lot of things to do for a campaign of this magnitude.

 

Cool, Well hey if you need any help with anything else I'm able and have more time on my hands then I probably should. LOL. Editing, minor graphics, etc.