Hi, I DM a long-term high fantasy campaign for 4 players. We play once a week. They are currently level 8. The BBEG is a lesser god who controls minions and corrupts worlds via these purple crystals, which are like an infection/virus. The players are currently working towards finding a cure for these crystals, and have talked to the local apothecary, who told them about a tribe on a different continent that could have the ingredients they were looking for. One sea travel montage later, they find where the tribe should be, only to discover their city has been taken over by the purple crystals. They went around gathering information from other tribes instead and talked to a fae who offered them a portal to another world where the BBEG and the hero is basically reversed.
They went through the portal to a medieval mundane world where Magic was seen as this evil virus and the same purple crystals were used to make weapons, tools, medicine and most importantly, remove magical curses. My goal with this was to hint to the players that in their world, Magic would remove the crystals and hopefully they would talk to the fae again about a spell they could use. Unfortunately, I don’t think I made it obvious enough because the players did not pick up on that at all. Now they’re back in their world and still no closer to finding a cure. Ideally I’d like to wrap up this campaign for Christmas since it’s been running for almost 2 years now, but I want to give it the ending it deserves and have the players feel completed, not confused. If that means it’ll take longer I’m fine with that. I’d love some feedback on more clues or plot hooks I could throw at the players to help them find a cure and eventually confront the god. They still don’t know there’s a person behind it all, but have theorised about a god since one of the players is a Paladin who had a vision of their god slowly being corrupted by the crystals. They believe the only thing powerful enough to corrupt a god is another god so that’s one step in the right direction. The only thing I can think of that’s currently in the game that could provide them with more hints is an old lady they kidnapped (don’t ask me why) from the mundane world and brought back to theirs. I’m happy to introduce new NPCs or quests if needed.
I’m a little unclear is the problem that they’re not picking up on the clues you’re leaving, or that they’re not looking in the right place?
If it’s the first, leave some more explicit tips. Finding notes that point them straight where you need them to go is a fairly simple option. Or some ancient text that lays it out for them what’s happening, you can always make it hard to translate if if you want them to really earn it. Or an NPC who tells them to go there, or maybe a messenger from a god or other powerful outsider who is sympathetic to them
If they’re not looking in the right place, you can either move the place to put them in the right spot, or, once again, give them clearer instructions about where to go.
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Hi, I DM a long-term high fantasy campaign for 4 players. We play once a week. They are currently level 8. The BBEG is a lesser god who controls minions and corrupts worlds via these purple crystals, which are like an infection/virus. The players are currently working towards finding a cure for these crystals, and have talked to the local apothecary, who told them about a tribe on a different continent that could have the ingredients they were looking for. One sea travel montage later, they find where the tribe should be, only to discover their city has been taken over by the purple crystals. They went around gathering information from other tribes instead and talked to a fae who offered them a portal to another world where the BBEG and the hero is basically reversed.
They went through the portal to a medieval mundane world where Magic was seen as this evil virus and the same purple crystals were used to make weapons, tools, medicine and most importantly, remove magical curses. My goal with this was to hint to the players that in their world, Magic would remove the crystals and hopefully they would talk to the fae again about a spell they could use. Unfortunately, I don’t think I made it obvious enough because the players did not pick up on that at all. Now they’re back in their world and still no closer to finding a cure. Ideally I’d like to wrap up this campaign for Christmas since it’s been running for almost 2 years now, but I want to give it the ending it deserves and have the players feel completed, not confused. If that means it’ll take longer I’m fine with that. I’d love some feedback on more clues or plot hooks I could throw at the players to help them find a cure and eventually confront the god. They still don’t know there’s a person behind it all, but have theorised about a god since one of the players is a Paladin who had a vision of their god slowly being corrupted by the crystals. They believe the only thing powerful enough to corrupt a god is another god so that’s one step in the right direction.
The only thing I can think of that’s currently in the game that could provide them with more hints is an old lady they kidnapped (don’t ask me why) from the mundane world and brought back to theirs. I’m happy to introduce new NPCs or quests if needed.
I’m a little unclear is the problem that they’re not picking up on the clues you’re leaving, or that they’re not looking in the right place?
If it’s the first, leave some more explicit tips. Finding notes that point them straight where you need them to go is a fairly simple option. Or some ancient text that lays it out for them what’s happening, you can always make it hard to translate if if you want them to really earn it. Or an NPC who tells them to go there, or maybe a messenger from a god or other powerful outsider who is sympathetic to them
If they’re not looking in the right place, you can either move the place to put them in the right spot, or, once again, give them clearer instructions about where to go.