Lots of Epic Story Ideas

P

Persell

Ten Thousand Club
Well, I think this could be helpful, since Exalted is what it is. Essentially, VERY epic ideas for a campain.


Examples:


The Death of Chejop Kejak


Yu - Shan is in disarray. The political chaos is simply staggering, as alliances shift, and the Gold noticeably increases in power. In Creation, the chaos is more subtle, as suddenly The Mouth of Peace regains some of her senses, and many secrets and such are lost.


Perhaps he was murdered?


But who has the raw power to do so, and incitament enough to even begin planning such an act? Surely, it was not a fit of sudden rage that slew Chejop.


The Fourteenth Deathlord


The Thirteen Deathlords are all summoned to a congress in Stygia, where the Fourteenth Deathlord shows up from the Labyrinth, commanding a vast army of thousands of spectres, hundreds of hecatonchires and stranger things, born from the nightmares of the Malfeans. He has several Deathknights, all of whom are gifted with strange powers and artifacts of vast power. Maybe a bunch of Sidereals, Solars, Lunars or something are sent to Stygia for some reason, to investigate. Bleach is a wonderful inspiration for such a scenario, namely the Soul Society arc.


Or perhaps they manage to cast a spell that tears a hole between The Blessed Isle and Creation.


Birth of a Being Beyond Comprehension


The Wyld shakes, as something... new is born.


A new Primordial has come to stay.


First, it simply watches. It tries to comprehend its situation, and the state of reality. Considering its intelligence, this will not last long. Then, it acts.


This can be any kind of campaign: perhaps the Primordial feels duty- bound to help its imprisoned brethren (for a lack of a better word), or maybe it wants to create a new Creation, whose inhabitants then become entangled in a conflict of Creation. Or maybe, it goes to Yu - Shan and reigns it, or perhaps it helps Solars. It might even join the Lunars, for some incomprehensible fashion.


Another Creation


Let's face it, the Wyld is vast. Limitless. And it contains endless possibility. Needless to say, there might be another Creation out there. Either, the characters stumble upon this place after a trek a tad bit too far out in the Wyld, or maybe they encounter people from the Other Creation. The political, geographical and maybe even metaphysical order of Creation will be creatly changed, should the two join, either from a 'bridge' of stability created  by the characters, or some other means. Another possibility is that suddenly, the Wyld around Creation dies. The endless possibilities reached the dreaded one: stability.


Dragon- Get's Demise


A strange disease kills all Dragon- Blooded within a matter of months. It may be the work of the Deathlords, Yozis, Sidereal fate- manipulation gone too far, or perhaps a Twilight circle of Solars.


Be free to fire away with all manner of craziedness! I'm also rather lacking in the 'Things to Do' department, so I'm happy to create campaigns for the community, should they come up with an idea. Or (more incredible) find one of my ideas amusing.


However, don't pin your hopes up. I'm lacking in the 'Can Come Up With Interesting Campaigns' department and 'Yeah! Let's do this quick!' department, too.
 
.. Assuming that they are aware of the importance of the being called Chejop Kejak, one would think the Deathlords and their Abyssals would have a reasonable shot at assassination.


After all, the Siddies can't predict the fates of those bound to the Underworld...


(speaking of which... the Pattern Spiders must have one hell of a job since the appearance of the Abyssals. I mean, fates are shifted or ended for seemingly no reason, and the weave must accomodate those changes).
 
They coped with the contagion, and 9/10ths of Creation lost to the Wyld. That must have made almost every thread in the loom snap. I think what the Deathlords have gotten up to so far is child's play.


-S
 
There was the kooky idea that I tossed around for a while--that the Primordials were Arch-Magi who tried to get away from the Traditions and the Technocracy, and retreated into the Wyld to form their own universe, and became the Creation's Primordials, and the rest was history as it were.  Though, perhaps with a comparatively accellerated time flow so that the Arch-Magi could watch their toys advance better.  


The Creation-As-An-Ant-Farm hinges on its discovery by others.  Demons, real ones, not the nightmares born from an Arch-Magi's madness, discover the Creation.  The Technocracy discovers the faux Autocthonia, or the Creation and sees potential for all that free Quintessence.  Or the Nephandi, fleeing a crushing defeat fall into the Creation and when they try to commune with their dark lords, discover that the Dark Ones they know are unreachable, but the locals can be contacted, and worked with.  Another Arch-Mage wanders into the Wyld, this one quite mad, and discovers the Creation.  Enter a mad Primordial, in all his power, and this time, no Gods to help the Exalts...and with no desire to free the others, just a desire to "play" with their Erector Set...
 
Yes, that's a cool idea. I'm not very well versed in the WoD, though, and probably never will be. While I like the idea of modern day, 'real world' supernatural gothic punk, my players do not.


Sad thing, really...


Anyways, more wacky ideas are welcome. While I do not need any as of yet, I'm sure others do, and these sorts of things are excellent for flexing the imaginative muscles.
 
I am currently reading Gilgamesh for one of my classes in college. That right there is a perfect epic story. Gilgamesh born of the Sun God and a human mother, 2 parts god, 1 part man comes into the world. Has amazing power and nothing can satisfy him. Enter a "wild man" covered in matted hair that lives with the animals to be his best friend (Solar + Luner).


They go off to fight the guardian of the forest, in doing so they make some of the gods extremely mad, and one must die. Meanwhile Ishatar, the god of love, complains to the elder gods and checks out a bull of heaven.


She then attacks gilgamesh & his friend but they wipe out the bull of heaven.


Friend gets an infection and begins to die, Gilgamesh goes on rampage and then passes away.


Sounds like an epic story to me.


Having you group take on an anciet guardian of somesort and anger the gods. Add water and see what happens!
 
Kaiserpingvin said:
The Fourteenth Deathlord


The Thirteen Deathlords are all summoned to a congress in Stygia, where the Fourteenth Deathlord shows up from the Labyrinth, commanding a vast army of thousands of spectres, hundreds of hecatonchires and stranger things, born from the nightmares of the Malfeans. He has several Deathknights, all of whom are gifted with strange powers and artifacts of vast power. Maybe a bunch of Sidereals, Solars, Lunars or something are sent to Stygia for some reason, to investigate. Bleach is a wonderful inspiration for such a scenario, namely the Soul Society arc.


Or perhaps they manage to cast a spell that tears a hole between The Blessed Isle and Creation.
Click to expand...
I always theorized that the fourteenth Deathlord is the Empress. Why? The ebon dragon (the one who has her) is in charge of freeing the yozis of their prison, or at least to fulfill their goals outside of it.


Where does the Empress fit in?


The Yozis realize their closest proxy into Creation are their dead brothers, and sign a pact with the Malfeans (or some of them) to co-operate to bring Creation tumbling down (The malfeans want oblivion, the yozis not so, but this is something to be fought of later, they all want creation /down/).


The prophecy says a mighty 14th deathlord will dominate everyone else and destroy creation, bringing it all into the void? Grand!


The Empress is ritually killed, empowered first as a Deathlord, like every other deathlord, and then through occult means also empowered as an Infernal. Carrying the blessings of both Malfeans and Yozis, The Empress of Fire and Void is by far the most powerful of the deathlords in raw power, and after a few centuries of training, also in every other way. She unites them beneath her in an iron grip, like in life, and in her wish for eternal life destroys Creation which she fought so hard to protect.


Meow, I love my ideas.


Levi
 
I doubt the Yozi would sign on to a plan to drag everything into Oblivion.


-S
 
t


Of course they wouldn't. They just want Creation and the Gods to lose their power, to perhaps have a better chance at escaping their prison. They probably plan to fight their brothers over throwing Creation into Oblivion or not. Though in truth? I think being free is more important to them than having Creation. They can always create a new one, or a hundred, but they have to be /out/ to do it, and, well, if my flesh was turned outside in and all that? I bet my first priority was to stop that, other things later.


Levi
 
I'd have 2 problems with this.


The Yozis want nothing much to do with the Deathlords, especially creating a SUPER-POWERED one.  Okay, they'll toss 'em some info on how to twist shards, but that's only cos they got shards of their own outta it, and I get the feeling they're going to do something a whole lot more constructive with theirs than making some Deathknights.  The Abyssals are just an irritation to creation; it's unlikely they're going to be the instruments which ultimately drag it to the void.  The Deathlords however... maybe.  A SUPER POWERED Deathlord however?  Almost certainly.  I don't think that's something the Yozis want the Malfeans to have.  It lays the game far too much in the Malfean's corner.


2nd problem is, why the Empress?  Surely she's much more valuable coming back as herself?  She rules the Realm for God's sake.  Break her mind.  Make her yours body and soul.  Then send her back with orders along the lines "slowly take the Realm's army apart and break all the defences and then prepare our ritual of re-emergence" or what-have-you.  They have plenty of Akuma-Solars they could turn into DLs if they wanted, I'd expect.
 
Though it would certainly please the Yozis no end to agree to the Malfeans' plan...with one teensy modification--the Empress becomes an Invested before conversion to a Deathlord-Infernal hybrid. The Malfeans infuse the Invested Empress with their own energy in preparation for the conversion...


 ...and are double-crossed by the Yozis. The Yozis retain control of the Empress, and she has extra nifty powers.
 
On the other hand, I think the Malfeans would expect treachery. And I don't think the Yozis would like being double-double crossed, nor have the Malfeans know about their Dragon- Blooded trumph card.
 
Another Creation
Let's face it, the Wyld is vast. Limitless. And it contains endless possibility. Needless to say, there might be another Creation out there. Either, the characters stumble upon this place after a trek a tad bit too far out in the Wyld, or maybe they encounter people from the Other Creation. The political, geographical and maybe even metaphysical order of Creation will be creatly changed, should the two join, either from a 'bridge' of stability created  by the characters, or some other means. Another possibility is that suddenly, the Wyld around Creation dies. The endless possibilities reached the dreaded one: stability.
Click to expand...
Personally, this one is my favorite. I love the idea of other places, other Creations. Plus there is the craziness that is other Universes as well ^_^
 
Surely though, if the Wyld is, in fact, a place where every possibility is played out at some point in its vast infiniteness, then there is in fact, another creation out there, and not only that, but there is another set of primordials, in fact there are BILLIONS of sets of primordials and creations out there... if you follow the idea that every possibility occurs SOMEWHERE out there in the wyld...


If the Wyld is the place where everything DOES happen, then there must be a creation out there for every decision that was made...


That's a hella lot of Primordials...  unless, like someone, I think it's Jakk, has said before, that the Primordials we see in creation are actually just projections of the Primordial's true self, and they have one of these projections in every possible universe? :S


Now I've just confused myself :P
 
Actually I was just about to say that. Jakk's idea makes sense and it's a great one. I was only ever going to have one set of extra planar Primoridals, the Yozis merely being one facet of their existence. And yes...you've even confused me a little @.@
 
Cthuhlu said:

And yes...you've even confused me a little
Click to expand...
Hardly suprising.


Extrademensional shit usually messes my head too. All I know about that is if Chuck Norris, due to some bizzare and unlikely extra demension thingy, ever happened to fight himself, Chuck Norris would win. Period.
 
I find, that epic plots really tend to come from the players, especially in a game like exalted.


The best way for a truly epic plot, is to choose a more simple goal that's already built into the setting. The trick is just to have the right players.


Ambition is where it all comes from. You've got to inspire the players. You've got to make them Want
 
Oh trust me, I know. In one game they wanted a fucking lot and went toe to toe with my new Emperor on the throne and his budding ambition for a grand empire. It was the most epic thing I've ever run with over eight Solars (of varying power levels) and two ambitious Dragon Bloods.


From Rathess, to the Invisible Fortress, from the Threshold to Heaven, and ending in a climactic battle on Meru, 600 miles in the sky...oh yeah, it was good.


Magnificent.
 
Can I play in that game?


All Samiel will ever let us do is beat up hungry ghosts and run away from things.
 
LoL, I've got a big taste for the epics my friend. A lot of games I've run have started small and run big toward the end. Hell, in the last one, the DB emperor was changing into something Else, and well...he was a scary sombitch to my players. It was good times. I've been told I can run a mean epic ^_^
 
I've played in one epic game and listened with envy to stories from another.


I'm hoping that, given time, my current games will both ramp up into Epic Meter but based on the player groups in both, there's gonna be some serious motivatin and educating required.
 
Honestly, I didn't have much education when I started my epic, but I have almost all the books, so I read up and ran with it. I threw so many damned plot hooks into that game. Like whoa. I had at least thirty five sessions in that game with in six months. Probably more now that I think of it. At least four characters died before we settled into the final group.


It was a wild, wild game. The war with MoW, and all that. It was great, Rathess was a shitload of fun, like wow. I loved it. There were so many factions in that city, Infernals, the Realm, Saloy Hin the Outcaste (who was in possession of the Eye, long story) and the city was half leveled by the time it was over.


Old Gods were killed beneath the city, the old Dragon Kings were awoken, and it was awesome. That part of hte game was wild, especially the battle with the Wyld Hunt x.x Jesus, that was...a sick fight.
 
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