I would be extremely bored as a player, if I knew every time I played, we were the end all be all of saving the world. I can only think of a few campaigns that I did like that and I found it very blah to DM. Just create a starting point. Give them 5 hooks to some adventures. After they decide from there, just build off it. The BBEG doesn't have to be somebody from another dimension trying to rule the world. It could be simply a Duke trying to do a land grab (against another duke within the same kingdom or something of the like) while their kingdom is at war versus a rival kingdom. See they aren't really part of the main war. They aren't even the saviors of the kingdom. They are simply trying to stop a power hungry Duke taking advantage of a bad situation. Is the Duke a powerful being themselves, who knows, with that much wealth he doesn't have to be. However, he has a lot of resources to throw at those who oppose them.
In my campaigns, most times there isn't a BBEG over the whole campaign. Remember, just like in real life there is no shortage of bad people walking around. There is always someone willing to take the place of the king of the hill. However, even then they are big fish in a small pond. Once the characters start venturing out more they will find larger fish to deal with. Plenty of big fish in the sea.
I would be extremely bored as a player, if I knew every time I played, we were the end all be all of saving the world. I can only think of a few campaigns that I did like that and I found it very blah to DM. Just create a starting point. Give them 5 hooks to some adventures. After they decide from there, just build off it. The BBEG doesn't have to be somebody from another dimension trying to rule the world. It could be simply a Duke trying to do a land grab (against another duke within the same kingdom or something of the like) while their kingdom is at war versus a rival kingdom. See they aren't really part of the main war. They aren't even the saviors of the kingdom. They are simply trying to stop a power hungry Duke taking advantage of a bad situation. Is the Duke a powerful being themselves, who knows, with that much wealth he doesn't have to be. However, he has a lot of resources to throw at those who oppose them.
In my campaigns, most times there isn't a BBEG over the whole campaign. Remember, just like in real life there is no shortage of bad people walking around. There is always someone willing to take the place of the king of the hill. However, even then they are big fish in a small pond. Once the characters start venturing out more they will find larger fish to deal with. Plenty of big fish in the sea.
The question is less about the scale that the PCs are dealing with than it is about the scale of the world relative to the PCs. If the PCs are dealing with a power hungry duke, it's unlikely that world ending catastrophes are being averted without them.
There are only two cases I can think of where that would be likely. The first is when you have multiple campaigns in the same world, whether they're being played at the same time or just set to take place in overlapping time frames. The second is if you have an established world with a timeline that doesn't depend on the PCs in any way.
Pretty sure this isn’t what you’re asking, but I’ll share my thoughts.
In my experience, the best way to handle it is to play it like almost all npcs have a class. In your world, every soldier might be a fighter, most priests could be clerics, many scholars could be wizards, any thief could be a rogue. Even the most mundane commoners might be a bit more interesting. From this standpoint, PCs that are just starting their adventure won’t be too epic. They’ll be just another soldier, scholar, priest, noble, tribesman or thief. This still allows them to get stronger as their adventures progress and they gain levels. They can truly become heroes of the realm if they have the ambition to do so. It just gives them a more grounded start.
I would be extremely bored as a player, if I knew every time I played, we were the end all be all of saving the world. I can only think of a few campaigns that I did like that and I found it very blah to DM. Just create a starting point. Give them 5 hooks to some adventures. After they decide from there, just build off it. The BBEG doesn't have to be somebody from another dimension trying to rule the world. It could be simply a Duke trying to do a land grab (against another duke within the same kingdom or something of the like) while their kingdom is at war versus a rival kingdom. See they aren't really part of the main war. They aren't even the saviors of the kingdom. They are simply trying to stop a power hungry Duke taking advantage of a bad situation. Is the Duke a powerful being themselves, who knows, with that much wealth he doesn't have to be. However, he has a lot of resources to throw at those who oppose them.
In my campaigns, most times there isn't a BBEG over the whole campaign. Remember, just like in real life there is no shortage of bad people walking around. There is always someone willing to take the place of the king of the hill. However, even then they are big fish in a small pond. Once the characters start venturing out more they will find larger fish to deal with. Plenty of big fish in the sea.
The question is less about the scale that the PCs are dealing with than it is about the scale of the world relative to the PCs. If the PCs are dealing with a power hungry duke, it's unlikely that world ending catastrophes are being averted without them.
There are only two cases I can think of where that would be likely. The first is when you have multiple campaigns in the same world, whether they're being played at the same time or just set to take place in overlapping time frames. The second is if you have an established world with a timeline that doesn't depend on the PCs in any way.
Pretty sure this isn’t what you’re asking, but I’ll share my thoughts.
In my experience, the best way to handle it is to play it like almost all npcs have a class. In your world, every soldier might be a fighter, most priests could be clerics, many scholars could be wizards, any thief could be a rogue. Even the most mundane commoners might be a bit more interesting. From this standpoint, PCs that are just starting their adventure won’t be too epic. They’ll be just another soldier, scholar, priest, noble, tribesman or thief. This still allows them to get stronger as their adventures progress and they gain levels. They can truly become heroes of the realm if they have the ambition to do so. It just gives them a more grounded start.
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