I had this campaign idea but it ended before the twist.

basically place called Tarrasque Coast. 

Evil Gnome dictator named Eldon has taken over. 

Playrs meet in tavern. Tavernkeep gives quest but an imp working for Eldon kills him right before he was about to warn them of dangers. 

Eldon hires and Elder Brain. He established a base in Mimicropolis and a secret outpost in Xorn gorge. Players cleared a dungeon that had a map of xorn gorge. Sadly at this point the campaign disintegrated. 

BUT if hey found it they might have found a mind flayer with a letter from Eldon. 

Skip forward to boss battle. As they enter the chamber they see the elder brain betraying Eldon and killing him. The elder brain is now the final boss. 

I am sad I never made it to the twist. 

I’m running a combined LMoP + DoIP campaign. To give it a true climax instead of two smaller ones, I’ve decided that at the end of the adventure, I’ll run a siege on Phandalin. The Cragmaw Goblins, Talos Orcs, Venomfang, Cryovain, and more will come together for a massive clash in Phandalin. Depending on how my players do and feel, I may throw in a Purple Worm at the end that will drop them into the Underdark.

Quote from 54MU31 >>

I’m running a combined LMoP + DoIP campaign. To give it a true climax instead of two smaller ones, I’ve decided that at the end of the adventure, I’ll run a siege on Phandalin. The Cragmaw Goblins, Talos Orcs, Venomfang, Cryovain, and more will come together for a massive clash in Phandalin. Depending on how my players do and feel, I may throw in a Purple Worm at the end that will drop them into the Underdark.

 Oh yeah, that sounds cool! (BTW check out Game Night Blog's Phandalin war stuff, I used it when I ran Phandelver and it's great)

Quote from Maestrino >>

I plan to slowly have them stumble into taverns in the towns they go to, but it's always the same tavern - The Broken Drum (you can't beat it. har har har.)

Eventually, they'll figure out the tavern is a weird sort of pocket dimension. 95% of the time you exit the door and wind up where you came from, but sometimes you exit and wind up somewhere else entirely. (At higher levels, maybe even on different planes.)

Back story? At some point, for some reason, Queen Mab decided she liked the tavern and the barkeep. So she made it so that she can enter the tavern from basically anywhere she might be, at any time, which leads to the funky multi-dimensional nature of the door.

if the party is lucky (or very unlucky) they might run into Mab at some point. And if they don't know how to act around a Fey, they might wind up owing a Fey a favor, or having a Fey owe them a favor, or having a Really Bad Time. :)

 That is such a great idea!

I have this kobold lair I designed where a stream flows through the lair, cutting off the important rooms from the entrance/trapped rooms. There are two ledges overlooking the river on the entrance side that the kobolds have greased so that invaders will fall into the river and wash downstream into the crocodile pool, which is overlooked by another room with winged kobolds and crossbows. The only way across the river without falling in a bridge that the kobolds have a lever to collapse. Will the players be able to take them out before they pull it? 

There is also another way across the river- falling in! In the crocodile pool room there is a secret door that the kobolds made so that they can get out if they slip. It leads to the important rooms side.

I have a campaign idea

Once the party is grouped together, they are hired by a mysterious but very wealthy contractor to track down some new players in the criminal underworld. Their contractor is something of a crime boss himself, if not a benevolent one, who smuggles to the rebels. He hires to track down and eliminate the competition. Since any drastic change in the underworld is bad, as it could cause gang wars, violence, and police crackdown, he also tells them they will be doing the city a service. These new players appear to be drug smugglers from out of town, selling a powerful drug that looks like small, thick grass. When chewed, it dulls the mind to pain, and allow the user to stay awake for several hours, a useful tool for any rising criminal organization. He needs the party to stake out their meetings, and eliminate their means of production. The party stakes out the meeting, gets ambushed by some druids after, but finds out where the shipments are being delivered, and along the way catches that there may be an outside backer to these smugglers, another organization perhaps? At the meeting, they realize they are in a trap, and are attacked by assassins sent by the drug smugglers, and see that their attackers bear strange, snakelike qualities, like scales and fangs. They also seem extremely efficient with poison. They relay this information to their crew, who discuss the troubling news with them. These drug smugglers are Yuan-ti, masters of infiltration and deception. Their drug operation is likely part of a larger ploy to take over the city. From here, the players will need to stealthy and intelligent to defeat these adversaries. Long story short, they find their base of operations, storm the drug lab and supply chain, and fight the final boss, a malison priest. During the fight, a powerful druidess murders the malison right before he tries to flee. The druidess tells the players that her organization needed him dead, he was too power hungry and ambitious. She then says that they will be kept alive, for now. She transforms and flies away before they can do anything.

Basically, these Yuan-ti are working together with a criminal organization known as The Circle, and extremely powerful group that uses several pawns to manipulate people and fulfill their wishes. The druids in the adventure are a splinter group from a druid community, and are known as the Darkwoods. These also work for the Circle, but more directly. They are overseeing the Yuan-ti operation in the city, and their leader, Briar, is the druidess the players will encounter throughout the first portion of the campaign. She is pretty powerful, so she will never fully engage in combat with them, or at least won't use her abilities to their fullest extent. After the final encounter, the players report to their boss, get paid, and are sent to an associate of his to complete another quest. The juicy part is, halfway in another quest, while spending the night at an inn, members of the party are kidnapped by Yuan-ti operatives, and are taken to the Yuan-ti city deep in the jungles. So halfway through another adventure, they'll have to contend with these annoying serpents once more, but now in their home turf...

Quote from Gh0styy >>

I have a campaign idea

Once the party is grouped together, they are hired by a mysterious but very wealthy contractor to track down some new players in the criminal underworld. Their contractor is something of a crime boss himself, if not a benevolent one, who smuggles to the rebels. He hires to track down and eliminate the competition. Since any drastic change in the underworld is bad, as it could cause gang wars, violence, and police crackdown, he also tells them they will be doing the city a service. These new players appear to be drug smugglers from out of town, selling a powerful drug that looks like small, thick grass. When chewed, it dulls the mind to pain, and allow the user to stay awake for several hours, a useful tool for any rising criminal organization. He needs the party to stake out their meetings, and eliminate their means of production. The party stakes out the meeting, gets ambushed by some druids after, but finds out where the shipments are being delivered, and along the way catches that there may be an outside backer to these smugglers, another organization perhaps? At the meeting, they realize they are in a trap, and are attacked by assassins sent by the drug smugglers, and see that their attackers bear strange, snakelike qualities, like scales and fangs. They also seem extremely efficient with poison. They relay this information to their crew, who discuss the troubling news with them. These drug smugglers are Yuan-ti, masters of infiltration and deception. Their drug operation is likely part of a larger ploy to take over the city. From here, the players will need to stealthy and intelligent to defeat these adversaries. Long story short, they find their base of operations, storm the drug lab and supply chain, and fight the final boss, a malison priest. During the fight, a powerful druidess murders the malison right before he tries to flee. The druidess tells the players that her organization needed him dead, he was too power hungry and ambitious. She then says that they will be kept alive, for now. She transforms and flies away before they can do anything.

Basically, these Yuan-ti are working together with a criminal organization known as The Circle, and extremely powerful group that uses several pawns to manipulate people and fulfill their wishes. The druids in the adventure are a splinter group from a druid community, and are known as the Darkwoods. These also work for the Circle, but more directly. They are overseeing the Yuan-ti operation in the city, and their leader, Briar, is the druidess the players will encounter throughout the first portion of the campaign. She is pretty powerful, so she will never fully engage in combat with them, or at least won't use her abilities to their fullest extent. After the final encounter, the players report to their boss, get paid, and are sent to an associate of his to complete another quest. The juicy part is, halfway in another quest, while spending the night at an inn, members of the party are kidnapped by Yuan-ti operatives, and are taken to the Yuan-ti city deep in the jungles. So halfway through another adventure, they'll have to contend with these annoying serpents once more, but now in their home turf...

 That sounds so cool! Yuan ti are one of my favorite races. 

Quote from queen_of_ashes19 >>

Quote from Gh0styy >>

I have a campaign idea

Once the party is grouped together, they are hired by a mysterious but very wealthy contractor to track down some new players in the criminal underworld. Their contractor is something of a crime boss himself, if not a benevolent one, who smuggles to the rebels. He hires to track down and eliminate the competition. Since any drastic change in the underworld is bad, as it could cause gang wars, violence, and police crackdown, he also tells them they will be doing the city a service. These new players appear to be drug smugglers from out of town, selling a powerful drug that looks like small, thick grass. When chewed, it dulls the mind to pain, and allow the user to stay awake for several hours, a useful tool for any rising criminal organization. He needs the party to stake out their meetings, and eliminate their means of production. The party stakes out the meeting, gets ambushed by some druids after, but finds out where the shipments are being delivered, and along the way catches that there may be an outside backer to these smugglers, another organization perhaps? At the meeting, they realize they are in a trap, and are attacked by assassins sent by the drug smugglers, and see that their attackers bear strange, snakelike qualities, like scales and fangs. They also seem extremely efficient with poison. They relay this information to their crew, who discuss the troubling news with them. These drug smugglers are Yuan-ti, masters of infiltration and deception. Their drug operation is likely part of a larger ploy to take over the city. From here, the players will need to stealthy and intelligent to defeat these adversaries. Long story short, they find their base of operations, storm the drug lab and supply chain, and fight the final boss, a malison priest. During the fight, a powerful druidess murders the malison right before he tries to flee. The druidess tells the players that her organization needed him dead, he was too power hungry and ambitious. She then says that they will be kept alive, for now. She transforms and flies away before they can do anything.

Basically, these Yuan-ti are working together with a criminal organization known as The Circle, and extremely powerful group that uses several pawns to manipulate people and fulfill their wishes. The druids in the adventure are a splinter group from a druid community, and are known as the Darkwoods. These also work for the Circle, but more directly. They are overseeing the Yuan-ti operation in the city, and their leader, Briar, is the druidess the players will encounter throughout the first portion of the campaign. She is pretty powerful, so she will never fully engage in combat with them, or at least won't use her abilities to their fullest extent. After the final encounter, the players report to their boss, get paid, and are sent to an associate of his to complete another quest. The juicy part is, halfway in another quest, while spending the night at an inn, members of the party are kidnapped by Yuan-ti operatives, and are taken to the Yuan-ti city deep in the jungles. So halfway through another adventure, they'll have to contend with these annoying serpents once more, but now in their home turf...

 That sounds so cool! Yuan ti are one of my favorite races. 

 Thanks! appreciate the positive feedback. I've always like Yuan-ti, and think they have a lot of potential on the infiltration side of things. Volo's guide was a useful tool for this idea. Does anyone have an opinion about splitting the party on purpose, under the DM's discretion? for example, in my campaign I have the party split when half of them are captured by Yuan-ti assassins, and the other half sent to aid them with the help of lizardfolk scouts. How do you guys feel about this? I know splitting the party carries some pretty bad superstition with it, but I want to know thoughts on it under DM's guidance

Quote from Gh0styy >>

Quote from queen_of_ashes19 >>

Quote from Gh0styy >>

I have a campaign idea

Once the party is grouped together, they are hired by a mysterious but very wealthy contractor to track down some new players in the criminal underworld. Their contractor is something of a crime boss himself, if not a benevolent one, who smuggles to the rebels. He hires to track down and eliminate the competition. Since any drastic change in the underworld is bad, as it could cause gang wars, violence, and police crackdown, he also tells them they will be doing the city a service. These new players appear to be drug smugglers from out of town, selling a powerful drug that looks like small, thick grass. When chewed, it dulls the mind to pain, and allow the user to stay awake for several hours, a useful tool for any rising criminal organization. He needs the party to stake out their meetings, and eliminate their means of production. The party stakes out the meeting, gets ambushed by some druids after, but finds out where the shipments are being delivered, and along the way catches that there may be an outside backer to these smugglers, another organization perhaps? At the meeting, they realize they are in a trap, and are attacked by assassins sent by the drug smugglers, and see that their attackers bear strange, snakelike qualities, like scales and fangs. They also seem extremely efficient with poison. They relay this information to their crew, who discuss the troubling news with them. These drug smugglers are Yuan-ti, masters of infiltration and deception. Their drug operation is likely part of a larger ploy to take over the city. From here, the players will need to stealthy and intelligent to defeat these adversaries. Long story short, they find their base of operations, storm the drug lab and supply chain, and fight the final boss, a malison priest. During the fight, a powerful druidess murders the malison right before he tries to flee. The druidess tells the players that her organization needed him dead, he was too power hungry and ambitious. She then says that they will be kept alive, for now. She transforms and flies away before they can do anything.

Basically, these Yuan-ti are working together with a criminal organization known as The Circle, and extremely powerful group that uses several pawns to manipulate people and fulfill their wishes. The druids in the adventure are a splinter group from a druid community, and are known as the Darkwoods. These also work for the Circle, but more directly. They are overseeing the Yuan-ti operation in the city, and their leader, Briar, is the druidess the players will encounter throughout the first portion of the campaign. She is pretty powerful, so she will never fully engage in combat with them, or at least won't use her abilities to their fullest extent. After the final encounter, the players report to their boss, get paid, and are sent to an associate of his to complete another quest. The juicy part is, halfway in another quest, while spending the night at an inn, members of the party are kidnapped by Yuan-ti operatives, and are taken to the Yuan-ti city deep in the jungles. So halfway through another adventure, they'll have to contend with these annoying serpents once more, but now in their home turf...

 That sounds so cool! Yuan ti are one of my favorite races. 

 Thanks! appreciate the positive feedback. I've always like Yuan-ti, and think they have a lot of potential on the infiltration side of things. Volo's guide was a useful tool for this idea. Does anyone have an opinion about splitting the party on purpose, under the DM's discretion? for example, in my campaign I have the party split when half of them are captured by Yuan-ti assassins, and the other half sent to aid them with the help of lizardfolk scouts. How do you guys feel about this? I know splitting the party carries some pretty bad superstition with it, but I want to know thoughts on it under DM's guidance

 It's a pleasure! Honestly I am planning to split my party up as well, I'm really nervous to do it but I feel it is the best course of action, because one of my characters needs to face his fears head on, and the others should probably save one of the PC's brother's boyfriend.  So my opinion is if it makes sense plot wise, go for it!

I think if the DM splits the party, its okay, but if the party tries to do it I would advise against it. While I believe the story should ultimately be directed (not necessarily ruled) by the players, DnD there are certain things that the DM needs to be there to guide. Yeah, if you're the DM and you decide to split, go for it. It should work as long as you have designed the adventure to work with it

In my world start out as like Grunts, Guards per-say for the BBEG, BIG BAD EVIL GOVERNMENT.they go on small missions but they get increasingly for weird/evil they are given the dirty work to raid a Dungeon that the local Religious leaders planned on putting a temple in, stuff like that slightly more evil. I really can't wait they be like oh s&%#

Quote from Maestrino >>

I plan to slowly have them stumble into taverns in the towns they go to, but it's always the same tavern - The Broken Drum (you can't beat it. har har har.)

Eventually, they'll figure out the tavern is a weird sort of pocket dimension. 95% of the time you exit the door and wind up where you came from, but sometimes you exit and wind up somewhere else entirely. (At higher levels, maybe even on different planes.)

Back story? At some point, for some reason, Queen Mab decided she liked the tavern and the barkeep. So she made it so that she can enter the tavern from basically anywhere she might be, at any time, which leads to the funky multi-dimensional nature of the door.

if the party is lucky (or very unlucky) they might run into Mab at some point. And if they don't know how to act around a Fey, they might wind up owing a Fey a favor, or having a Fey owe them a favor, or having a Really Bad Time. :)

 I love the idea of the multidimensional tavern. Totally using that

You can't walk into a magic item shop off the street. Who in their right mind would just operate a shop full of priceless invaluable objects and just let the public walk in? Such shops then, must simply not exist. Or do they?

An invite only magic item shop. The place simply cannot be seen or interacted with unless someone carries a specific magic item. Made of quality hard card-stock, embossed in silver, this business card has a dragon head logo and the name "Polished Silver". Its minor enchantment allows whoever possesses it to bypass the wards of the shop.

Inside the place are dozens of faintly-visible unseen servants, and staffed only by an older silver haired gentleman* who boasts he stocks the largest horde of magic items for sale the land has ever seen.

*is a silver dragon obviously

Essentially, each major city could have a metallic dragon or two that sets up shop. Like chromatic dragons they too want to create a horde, but unlike chromatic they often don't want to go pillaging to establish it. Instead, they engage in civilized means of wealth acquisition, and trade in magic and other expensive commodities. By cloaking these services, making them invite only, many of these proprietors evade much of the dangers that would otherwise plague a magic item shop open to the town square or whatever. For me, it solves the long unexplained questions: How do metallic dragons amass a horde while staying good aligned? And, what exactly has the actual power and intimidation to probably keep magic item dealers from simply getting rolled if they carry anything resembling a good inventory?

Anywho, all the details for the behind the scenes of this can't be shared, especially not all right up front, with the players. Though I'm not exactly subtle with the hints lol.

I'll have rum with a dash of turnip vinegar if you will.

I invented a subplot for Waterdeep: Dragonheist that involves a blackmailing cult of secrets hiding out in the Shadowfell. In the first encounter, they happen upon a noble (looks like Bard the Bowman) chasing a black carriage like mad through the Dock Ward. The carriage crashes (it was carrying a couple of agents of the cult) and the occupants jump out and try to "silence" their pursuer with a pair of daggers each. The characters helped the noble survive, after a couple of rounds of furious combat. It turned out that the noble had been having an affair, and the cult threatened to expose him unless he advocated some of their choice policies in the court (which would involve yielding to the whims Cassalanters and the Gralhunds, who have deep pockets and zero scruples about messing with this guy.) The funniest scene was when the noble, Reginald Burnshire, tried to explain to the bard (who has no concept of morals) why he felt terrible. In the next encounter, they'll witness an exchange between two agents of the cult, and gain a clue as to where they're hiding out. 

Quote from PatrickDees >>

Quote from ManOfValor >>

Thanks, man.  Unfortunately, I do think we are quite a bit further away from making the descent than I originally thought.  At least that means there is time to work on the character a bit more before he gets properly introduced I guess.  lol

Elaborate on that shared universe concept.  

 Well to begin, me and my older brothers had just finished The Lost mines of Phindelver, one of my brothers having recruited 2 named NPC Goblins (one was a dm NPC exclusively), Slee and Droop. 2 Bugbears, Klarg (with his wolf Ripper) and Mok, and two nameless Hobgoblins, (now name Dvaan and Grümpsh).

After some prologue stuff, said brother, now has 3 orcs and ogre as his new recruits, I realized, he was too strong for dragon of Icespire Peak, so I got storm lord's wrath. I was originally planning on having him be the strongest in the party, but only getting involved in fights if needed. 

But then I had an idea, why not make it a shared universe? Have my other players, my eldest brother, mom and my best friend go through DIP, and whatever effect they do effects my other brothersb progress. All culminating in an avengers style team up near the middle of SLW.

 In my Lost Mines of Phandelever campaign, I turned two goblins that hid out with Klarg loveable NPCs named Gik and Guk, who had some *ahem* "fun" with the dwarven cleric.

next session, they are gonna loot a hag's lair. little do they know, its a giant chicken house that they have the possibility of taming. they would also find the secrets if becoming vampires, and a pipe of the sewers because the bard wants to be a rat king and i couldn't resist.

I've created several NPCs for my PCs to interact with.  One I intend to join their party and eventually die to save the party.  One NPC is secretly a way for my Players to obtain neat items such as the Tinkertop Bolt Blaster 1,000, or a homebrewed magical coin purse that once a day will produce a fixed amount of their desired currency, what amount is provided changes daily etc, or a mithral plate armor and so on.  Now of course I will not tell them that this is what that NPC is for and it will not be obvious that this NPC is existing for that purpose.  Then of Course I have a failsafe NPC just in case the party bites off more than they can chew.

If you're a part of The World Isn't Over... Yet... PbP please resist the temptation to look at what I'm about to post

Here's the basic setting as of right now (by the way yes this part also includes things that I am planning for later): a planet about half the size of the moon is crashing into an earth-like planet called Sykorax. The apocalypse happens, blah blah blah. Since (some) humans are smart, instead of EVERYone dying like the dinosaurs did from the subsequent shockwaves, falling debris, and dust, only about 80--90% of all humanity has died. The players are a part of the 10% that didn't die, they're cooped up in this conveniently big bunker, complete with lead walls, a kitchen and a fully-stocked pantry,  and even a hydroponics room for the party to grow fresh produce in. I'm quite honestly surprised that the party's not suspicious of the bunker, or how it---oh I don't know---will attract unwanted attention cause of how good of a hidey-hole it is. Two NPCs (which are just two of my favorite PCs, that I've just adapted to this campaign) have already showed up at the party's doorstep looking for refuge.

But, as it turns out, the planet that crashed into Sykorax is radioactive. It produces a type of radiation that causes certain changes in the way the brain works through progressive deterioration. So, people that aren't protected from this type of radiation are susceptible to essentially going crazy (intense paranoia, low impulse control and moral reasoning, auditory and visual hallucinations, etc.). 

So I plan on slowly (and I mean SLOWLY) introducing this cult that has followed the two aforementioned NPCs because of their race. One's a fairy, and another's a changeling, and this cult essentially believes that all races other than your standard human-ish looking ones (human, elf, dwarf, halfling, gnome, half-elf) are... the equivalent of livestock. Oh, and they're cannibals. But they were made this way in part because of the radiation, in part because they weren't good people to begin with. But I plan to have them stalk the party, then when given the opportunity, they kidnap the two NPCs and the party goes on a sherlock-holmes style hunt for their missing friends... right into the lair of the cult. 

Another interesting layer I want to try and include; I heard about this new optional stat that 5e introduced called the Sanity stat. I want to try and replicate the idea, but in a different way. As in, every day a party member spends outside of the bunker (the walls are lined with lead, so as long as they're in the bunker they're safe. I'll figure out a way to coax them outside though) they have to make a WIS saving throw or suffer the consequences, which will mostly manifest itself in me twisting the language I use to make it seem like something's not as it seems (paranoia/suspicion), inaccurate descriptions of things (hallucinations), messing heavily with certain DCs to potentially create opportunities for what seems like irregular behavior, etc. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can go about replicating this, technically?

TL;DR: radioactive planet crashes into pseudo-earth. chaos ensues, radiation causes people to go crazy (this doesn't include the party... yet). crazy people are actually a part of a cult that is out to get two NPCs I introduced to the party because the cult is racist, they're cannibals, and they're bad. they start by stalking the party in the bunker they've been in since the apocalypse started

the current main villain for my DOIP campaign, a young white dragon, is gonna be resurrected by a cultist trying to turn himself into a dragon gone wrong. as a GREATWYRM. this person is actually their questgiver, who tells them to find the ingredients. he doesn't tell them what the ingredients are, and have to visit an old sage (defo not Fizban) who gives them a list. first: Frost of Icingdeath (white dragon related to icingdeath) Scale of Ashardalon (held by assasin's guild run by devils) and the feather of Fizban's Canaries (possesed by vampire) the sage is just trying to have fun, concealing the fact he is Fizban (HAHHAHA YOU GOT PRANKED NERD)

I'm usually a "by the book" type of guy

However, I've been running DoIP for about 3 groups all newbies to D&D (much like myself but even newer)

And 2 of the groups are threatening Harbin Wester... Like death threats & planning on robbing him

I'm now considering placing 2 armed guards either at his house or the Townmaster Hall

And warrant their existence in the game as "hired security" since Harbin's deathly afraid of Cryovain

Any thoughts? This will be my first time adding my own minute spin to a story/module