A pair of elves are trying to change the Material Plane into a chaotic paradise similar to the Feywild.  How can they do that?  Thus far, they’ve been opening portals to Faerie, and empowering forces of chaos, such as monsters and paranoia.  Now that I’m ready to start the plot in earnest, however, I realized that I can’t figure out how to get from point A to point B.  I’m not even sure where point A is in the first place!

I should probably mention that there is an opposing force getting started: a group of Order clerics, who believe in Absolute Law as the best version of civilization.  They have noticed that the world is growing more chaotic, and suspect that it’s deliberate, but they don’t have any specifics.  All that the Order of Law has done so far is get an inquisition started, but even that hasn’t really gotten its feet under it yet.

They players are not yet aware of either group.  So how can I get the plot started?  I’ve been working on it for a couple of months, and have yet to have any workable ideas.

Well, the typical way would involve some kind of relic or ritual which does what they want. You just homebrew it. You don't even need to develop much in the way of specifics for it, just, if they get it and have time to use it, it will work. The elves are trying to find the various parts, and the order clerics are either actively trying to stop them, looking for those same parts or maybe just already in possession of some or all of the parts the elves need. The clerics might not even understand what they have.

Heck, the elves might not even know what they're doing, either. Could be they've been going around opening these portals, knowing it won't really work, but its all they could do, so its what they do. Then in the course of doing that, stumbled upon some myth or riddle that points them at this relic/ritual, and now they're focusing their energies on it. Or some higher power tipped the elves off to the existence of the ritual, and they're using the elves as patsies. In that case, real BBEG is the one pulling the elf's strings. Or they tipped the elves off to create chaos, either for their own ends, as some kind of distraction, or because they're just a rascal.

One of my bbeg's was capable of doing a somewhat similar action by controlling the motion of planes to allow the transfer of planar energies.Yes the BBEG can move planes who cares.

Well, the way they do it is via Plot Device, though that doesn't help you very much. The traditional D&D choice is that the bad guys need to acquire some artifacts or components and the PCs are racing to get them first, since that conveniently permits you to have a set of dungeons to run the PCs through. Might start things off having the first artifact being stored in a museum or other location the PCs can be conveniently near when the BBEG's minions attempt to steal it.

Sigh.  I‘ve thought about the classic “fetch the artifact” story, and I think it would be fun, but I just don’t have any ideas.  What could be used to create such a massive shift in the nature of the Material Plane?  How do I introduce that plot without railroading my players?  I have a couple of powerful NPCs who can give them information, but that’s not very interesting, and it doesn’t explain why said NPCs don’t just go obtain the artifact themselves.

I’m starting to wonder if this idea is too ambitious, for now, at least.  I could try letting the PCs discover the Order of Law first, and work with that.  I need to give them a greater purpose soon, as they’re getting a little too comfortable with the world in general.  I don’t know why this is being so hard for me; I have no trouble creating fun, interesting quests and lore.  I just can’t get a grip on this one stupid story!!

Does it need to be a switch?  First prime material mundane reality then POOF! Feywild?  I dunno.

Have you looked at other forms of planar incursion and thought of building out a Fey analogy?  Mord's Tome of Foes gives a pretty good pathology of how the Abyss consumes a prime material world.  Environment isn't railroading, necessarily.  Basically you have your prime material world which already has Fey crossings presumably.  Fey energy metastasizes in those area and as they grow the border areas become Fey crossings.  So I'm thinking sort of something like the expansion of the Southern Reach if you're familiar with Annhiliation and that whole series of novels.  So for me, my problem wouldn't be so much how the BBEGs do it, it would be what agency can I grant the PCs to stop it?  Stopping a planar encroachment at the level where the world is feeling it is rarely a one party job.  So you could have a campaign of alliances to contend with the extraplanar threat.  I suppose "stopping it at the source" could be a one party affair.  Basically the PC would have to inflict some great injury on the Feywild so grievous that powers that be in the Feywild, regardless of the BBEGs designs, recoil and cut off the world from the Fey (which might make the party very unpopular in some circles in the material world ... perhaps some sort of reconciliation between the material and the fey would be the stuff of campaign 2).  Another option would be "do onto them as they've done to us" and ally with an extraplanar enemy of the Fey (maybe a faction of Fiendish hags which to secure the Feywild for their lower plane designs) and aid that faction in similar encroachments into the Feywild.  This new front would require the Feywild to retreat from the material world to contend with the lower planar threat (and as in the first case, PC reps may suffer in some circles, and future campaigns can deal with the fall out of whatever happened).

I sort of like "invasion" (Feyvasion?) plots because you get to deal with the politics of alliances (some which may be shifty, maybe a change in Elven leadership puts them in different camps as the campaign grinds on), questions of "right action" (think of the xenophobia that's occurred in real world times of war and the wrongs inflicted on local populations as a result).  

So rather than a "plot device" per se, I'm offering a "plot" I guess.  Maybe it's not what you're were looking for, but hope it helped.

Quote from HazelSage >>

Sigh.  I‘ve thought about the classic “fetch the artifact” story, and I think it would be fun, but I just don’t have any ideas.  What could be used to create such a massive shift in the nature of the Material Plane?  How do I introduce that plot without railroading my players?  I have a couple of powerful NPCs who can give them information, but that’s not very interesting, and it doesn’t explain why said NPCs don’t just go obtain the artifact themselves.

I’m starting to wonder if this idea is too ambitious, for now, at least.  I could try letting the PCs discover the Order of Law first, and work with that.  I need to give them a greater purpose soon, as they’re getting a little too comfortable with the world in general.  I don’t know why this is being so hard for me; I have no trouble creating fun, interesting quests and lore.  I just can’t get a grip on this one stupid story!!

 Maybe they need specific items to open a permanent Fey Crossing that will continue to expand until it covers everything? Of course, these items will be... weird. They could be things such as a newborn child's laugh, a sense of nostalgia for a past life, or deja vu. Perhaps a hag has been taking advantage of these portals to the Material Plane, but they don't want a permanent Fey Crossing, which would make them lose their monopoly on access to mortals. So, in the guise of a shaman or fortune teller, she tells the players about the elves' plan, conveniently forgetting to mention her true identity. In the final confrontation with the elves, it could be a cruel twist for them to reveal who the hag is, and how the players have been manipulated (even if it's into doing the right thing).

Quote from MidnightPlat >>

Does it need to be a switch?  First prime material mundane reality then POOF! Feywild?  I dunno.

Have you looked at other forms of planar incursion and thought of building out a Fey analogy?  Mord's Tome of Foes gives a pretty good pathology of how the Abyss consumes a prime material world.  Environment isn't railroading, necessarily.  Basically you have your prime material world which already has Fey crossings presumably.  Fey energy metastasizes in those area and as they grow the border areas become Fey crossings.  So I'm thinking sort of something like the expansion of the Southern Reach if you're familiar with Annhiliation and that whole series of novels.  So for me, my problem wouldn't be so much how the BBEGs do it, it would be what agency can I grant the PCs to stop it?  Stopping a planar encroachment at the level where the world is feeling it is rarely a one party job.  So you could have a campaign of alliances to contend with the extraplanar threat.  I suppose "stopping it at the source" could be a one party affair.  Basically the PC would have to inflict some great injury on the Feywild so grievous that powers that be in the Feywild, regardless of the BBEGs designs, recoil and cut off the world from the Fey (which might make the party very unpopular in some circles in the material world ... perhaps some sort of reconciliation between the material and the fey would be the stuff of campaign 2).  Another option would be "do onto them as they've done to us" and ally with an extraplanar enemy of the Fey (maybe a faction of Fiendish hags which to secure the Feywild for their lower plane designs) and aid that faction in similar encroachments into the Feywild.  This new front would require the Feywild to retreat from the material world to contend with the lower planar threat (and as in the first case, PC reps may suffer in some circles, and future campaigns can deal with the fall out of whatever happened).

I sort of like "invasion" (Feyvasion?) plots because you get to deal with the politics of alliances (some which may be shifty, maybe a change in Elven leadership puts them in different camps as the campaign grinds on), questions of "right action" (think of the xenophobia that's occurred in real world times of war and the wrongs inflicted on local populations as a result).  

So rather than a "plot device" per se, I'm offering a "plot" I guess.  Maybe it's not what you're were looking for, but hope it helped.

 I like this.  Maybe an Archfey gone rogue is helping the Chaos Elves with their project.  I’ve already established that the good-aligned gods have banded together to condemn the plane transformation, as well as exacting a promise from both the summer and winter courts that they won’t aid the project.  In fact, one of my players is a Archfey warlock, and the patron she chose is Titania, the Summer Queen herself!  Her background is Hermit, and we’ve already decided that her Discovery is the knowledge of how to open portals to the Feywild.  Maybe I’ll write it into the story that she’s capable of recognizing the effects of planar incursions, since she’s a (homebrew) faerie race, and has previous knowledge of the plane of Faerie.

Quote from Thauraeln_The_Bold >>

Quote from HazelSage >>

Sigh.  I‘ve thought about the classic “fetch the artifact” story, and I think it would be fun, but I just don’t have any ideas.  What could be used to create such a massive shift in the nature of the Material Plane?  How do I introduce that plot without railroading my players?  I have a couple of powerful NPCs who can give them information, but that’s not very interesting, and it doesn’t explain why said NPCs don’t just go obtain the artifact themselves.

I’m starting to wonder if this idea is too ambitious, for now, at least.  I could try letting the PCs discover the Order of Law first, and work with that.  I need to give them a greater purpose soon, as they’re getting a little too comfortable with the world in general.  I don’t know why this is being so hard for me; I have no trouble creating fun, interesting quests and lore.  I just can’t get a grip on this one stupid story!!

 Maybe they need specific items to open a permanent Fey Crossing that will continue to expand until it covers everything? Of course, these items will be... weird. They could be things such as a newborn child's laugh, a sense of nostalgia for a past life, or deja vu. Perhaps a hag has been taking advantage of these portals to the Material Plane, but they don't want a permanent Fey Crossing, which would make them lose their monopoly on access to mortals. So, in the guise of a shaman or fortune teller, she tells the players about the elves' plan, conveniently forgetting to mention her true identity. In the final confrontation with the elves, it could be a cruel twist for them to reveal who the hag is, and how the players have been manipulated (even if it's into doing the right thing).

 I like this, too.  They’ve already run afoul of Jenny Greenteeth (I ran a Forgotten Realms module before moving into homebrew), and I’ve been planning to reintroduce her at some point, possibly as a night hag instead of a green one.  Why on earth did they make green hags such a low CR?!

Maybe it’s not fetch the artifact, it’s make the artifact. They’re the ones people will talk about in centuries to come who created this thing. They thought of this thing no one had ever thought of before. So while they are gathering ingredients for it, no one knows quite why, or what they could do with them — they see all these pieces, but don’t even realize there’s such a thing as a puzzle. The NPC allies lack the imagination (easy to believe order clerics don’t have brains that work like that) to even consider that someone would want to do this, let alone that it could work, so they don’t have the time or interest in stopping them.
And the elves are gathering their power (grinding up levels) as they go because they know they are not yet strong enough to do it.

Okay… what could I use as ingredients?  Maybe a Feywild shard from Tasha’s, wings of a pixie, leaves from an Eladrin or dryad, water from a sacred spring that is home to naiads, gold hair from a Korred….  Any ideas?

Those are good starts. Maybe the tuning forks you'd use to cast plane shift (one for each of the planes they're trying to meld together). Sovereign glue to bind the forks into one. 

Some kind of cauldron forged from metals native to each plane, cause there always has to be a cauldron. I'd see it being different things from each plane that need to be bound together as representative of the planes they are trying to bind. Maybe go with the classic elements -- fire, air earth and water (toss in wood if you like, and the metal in the cauldron) -- from each plane. Parts of powerful creatures, but in balance, something from one means something from the other so its even. That's why they keep opening these portals. They get something from the prime, and now they need to go find a counterpart in the feywild, or vice versa.

Cauldrons are definitely a necessity!  I’m also considering adding items from the Shadowfell, since that’s (I think) the mirror of the Feywild, and having the PCs smelt them into a sphere or disc that represents the configuration of those planes.  And then they have to activate it somehow.  Maybe it requires blood or tears to be worked into the object?  Or maybe that’s what the tuning forks could be for?

I really appreciate the help you guys are giving me with brainstorming!  I don’t have many friends, and the ones I do have all play in my game (a total of five players), so I can’t use them for ideas and help.

Quote from HazelSage >>

Okay… what could I use as ingredients?  Maybe a Feywild shard from Tasha’s, wings of a pixie, leaves from an Eladrin or dryad, water from a sacred spring that is home to naiads, gold hair from a Korred….  Any ideas?

 Keep in mind that the Feywild is the plane of emotion, opposite the Shadowfell, which is the plane of compulsion. Because of this, consider using certain feelings or emotions as one or more of the ingredients, and adding a variation to the standard-yet-compelling "collect the plot coupons" trope.

I’ve actually been thinking about that.  Hedonism from a satyr or fey ball, and apathy from a Shadar-Kai… hope vs despair, excitement vs boredom, love and/or hate vs indifference… and I think I just remembered that there are some creepy Shadowfell monsters in Volo’s that are embodiments of emotion gone wrong.  I’ll have to go look those up.

Does anybody have any ideas on how to make the smelting/building process more interesting?  I suppose I could require them to forge each piece in its respective home plane.  Maybe they need a formula, or access to a special place, which they have to pay for with favors..  but I will nonetheless shamelessly steal any more ideas anyone offers!

Edited to add: it just struck me that I don’t have the faintest idea of what the finished artifact does.  Maybe it’s actually the artifact needed to change the planes in the first place, and the party have been tricked into forging it, but how would that work?  

Quote from Xalthu >>

Maybe it’s not fetch the artifact, it’s make the artifact.

 Problem is that you have to make the components unique enough that the PCs can practically prevent them from getting enough (they shouldn't need all the components or PCs can foil the plot by simply getting one of them. A classic would be something like 7 components of which the bad guys need 4, and you have the bad guys getting them a fast as the PCs, so it ends up with a grand climax of both sides converging on the last artifact).

Quote from Pantagruel666 >>

Quote from Xalthu >>

Maybe it’s not fetch the artifact, it’s make the artifact.

 Problem is that you have to make the components unique enough that the PCs can practically prevent them from getting enough (they shouldn't need all the components or PCs can foil the plot by simply getting one of them. A classic would be something like 7 components of which the bad guys need 4, and you have the bad guys getting them a fast as the PCs, so it ends up with a grand climax of both sides converging on the last artifact).

 You don't have to. It all depends on how easy you want to make it on the PCs. And realistically, the bad guys will get their bits at the speed of plot, regardless of what the PCs do, unless the DM is going to run a solitaire adventure to see if they succeed.

Quote from HazelSage >>

I’ve actually been thinking about that.  Hedonism from a satyr or fey ball, and apathy from a Shadar-Kai… hope vs despair, excitement vs boredom, love and/or hate vs indifference… and I think I just remembered that there are some creepy Shadowfell monsters in Volo’s that are embodiments of emotion gone wrong.  I’ll have to go look those up.

Does anybody have any ideas on how to make the smelting/building process more interesting?  I suppose I could require them to forge each piece in its respective home plane.  Maybe they need a formula, or access to a special place, which they have to pay for with favors..  but I will nonetheless shamelessly steal any more ideas anyone offers!

Edited to add: it just struck me that I don’t have the faintest idea of what the finished artifact does.  Maybe it’s actually the artifact needed to change the planes in the first place, and the party have been tricked into forging it, but how would that work?  

How interesting does the process have to be? The only parts that really need to be interesting are those the PCs encounter. You don't need to write up a whole description for how each part will work, just the parts the PCs might be able to stop. The bad guys need to be able to complete, or have completed, at least a couple parts of their plan in order to build tension.

I thought the finished artifact will allow the elves to join the planes together. Or, if you want to give a little more of a safety valve, the artifact will allow them to complete the ritual that will bring the planes together, so if the PCs drop the ball on stopping the artifact from being created, there's still one more chance for them to stop it from happening.

Quote from Xalthu >>

Quote from Pantagruel666 >>

Quote from Xalthu >>

Maybe it’s not fetch the artifact, it’s make the artifact.

 Problem is that you have to make the components unique enough that the PCs can practically prevent them from getting enough (they shouldn't need all the components or PCs can foil the plot by simply getting one of them. A classic would be something like 7 components of which the bad guys need 4, and you have the bad guys getting them a fast as the PCs, so it ends up with a grand climax of both sides converging on the last artifact).

 You don't have to. It all depends on how easy you want to make it on the PCs.

 You have to make it possible for the PCs. If the bad guys have a thousand choices for a component, there's no practical way the PCs can stop them on that component (might be able to stop them in a way entirely unrelated to preventing them from getting components, of course).

Quote from Xalthu >>

Quote from Pantagruel666 >>

Quote from Xalthu >>

Maybe it’s not fetch the artifact, it’s make the artifact.

 Problem is that you have to make the components unique enough that the PCs can practically prevent them from getting enough (they shouldn't need all the components or PCs can foil the plot by simply getting one of them. A classic would be something like 7 components of which the bad guys need 4, and you have the bad guys getting them a fast as the PCs, so it ends up with a grand climax of both sides converging on the last artifact).

 You don't have to. It all depends on how easy you want to make it on the PCs. And realistically, the bad guys will get their bits at the speed of plot, regardless of what the PCs do, unless the DM is going to run a solitaire adventure to see if they succeed.

Quote from HazelSage >>

I’ve actually been thinking about that.  Hedonism from a satyr or fey ball, and apathy from a Shadar-Kai… hope vs despair, excitement vs boredom, love and/or hate vs indifference… and I think I just remembered that there are some creepy Shadowfell monsters in Volo’s that are embodiments of emotion gone wrong.  I’ll have to go look those up.

Does anybody have any ideas on how to make the smelting/building process more interesting?  I suppose I could require them to forge each piece in its respective home plane.  Maybe they need a formula, or access to a special place, which they have to pay for with favors..  but I will nonetheless shamelessly steal any more ideas anyone offers!

Edited to add: it just struck me that I don’t have the faintest idea of what the finished artifact does.  Maybe it’s actually the artifact needed to change the planes in the first place, and the party have been tricked into forging it, but how would that work?  

How interesting does the process have to be? The only parts that really need to be interesting are those the PCs encounter. You don't need to write up a whole description for how each part will work, just the parts the PCs might be able to stop. The bad guys need to be able to complete, or have completed, at least a couple parts of their plan in order to build tension.

I thought the finished artifact will allow the elves to join the planes together. Or, if you want to give a little more of a safety valve, the artifact will allow them to complete the ritual that will bring the planes together, so if the PCs drop the ball on stopping the artifact from being created, there's still one more chance for them to stop it from happening.

 I thought we were talking about having the PCs forge the artifact, and then let them deal with the consequences.  Or maybe let them figure out what they’re doing, and have to decide what to do with it.  Now I’m trying to come up with reasons why the PCs have to be the ones to forge it, or at least find the ingredients; as usual, I’m drawing a blank.

Quote from HazelSage >>

I’ve actually been thinking about that.  Hedonism from a satyr or fey ball, and apathy from a Shadar-Kai… hope vs despair, excitement vs boredom, love and/or hate vs indifference… and I think I just remembered that there are some creepy Shadowfell monsters in Volo’s that are embodiments of emotion gone wrong.  I’ll have to go look those up.

Does anybody have any ideas on how to make the smelting/building process more interesting?  I suppose I could require them to forge each piece in its respective home plane.  Maybe they need a formula, or access to a special place, which they have to pay for with favors..  but I will nonetheless shamelessly steal any more ideas anyone offers!

Edited to add: it just struck me that I don’t have the faintest idea of what the finished artifact does.  Maybe it’s actually the artifact needed to change the planes in the first place, and the party have been tricked into forging it, but how would that work?  

 I was assuming that the finished artifact would be what the elves needed to complete the ritual. The PCs would be trying to anticipate where they were heading and catch them before they acquire the ingredients. And, fo course, getting to each place would be half the adventure. After the elves obtained all the components, they could initiate a ritual that would allow them to gradually spread a fey crossing across the entire world. The players would have to stop them, on unfamiliar terrain, before the effects of the ritual permanently damaged a city or town.

Just pointing out that Tasha's introduced shards of the feywild, shadowfell, etc as magic items.  Maybe a shard of the planar opposite, the Shadowfell, inserted into the manufacture can disrupt/negate it's intended power.  The final ritual will therefore be a fizzle, so the high drama would be the infiltration of the shadowshard into the process.  Maybe even disguising some how as a fey shard.  Kinda a mocking bird approach