# Calling All Gamers! I need some names that will someday destroy the world!



## UltimaGabe (Jan 21, 2010)

Hello!

I'm in need of your help, Enworld. I'm starting up a campaign in a couple days, and I need a list of names. Not just any names, no- names that will someday destroy the world.

Allow me to explain. The PCs will, over the course of the first adventure, come across an extremely powerful magical artifact dubbed simply "The List". At first glance, it just looks like a list of names- but the catch, revealed to the trained diviner, is that this isn't just a list of names. Every name on the list is that of a person (or organization, or creature, etc.) that, if it is not killed or somehow completely incapacitated, will, someday, cause a chain of events that will eventually lead to the world's destruction. The PCs will find this list, and, after learning its purpose, proceed to systematically hunt down and kill or otherwise thwart these plans, thus setting up a simple framework for the campaign (with each adventure focusing on eliminating one or more names from the list).

When I first came up with this idea, I planned on the list itself being blank when first found, and later on names would start popping up (as I came up with adventures to fit them). However, it occured to me that it would work better if, instead, the list started off with a bunch (say, 15-20) of names pre-written on it, to give the PCs a bit of a starting point (and to make it seem less like a "let's see what hook the DM can come up with this week" game). Also, I'd like for at some point new names to be added to the list (as, of course, killing certain evil masterminds or whatnot will undoubtedly spawn copycat masterminds that wouldn't have popped up if the original had been left unchecked), and that works better if the names are there from the get-go. And, of course, it occured to me, how easy is it to find a good adventure, and simply replace the big bad's name with that of one on the list?

I could probably come up with a bunch of random names on my own, but I thought I was bound to get some interesting and original names if I asked here. So, please! Help me out! Give me some names! These could be individual people's names (such as Loris Raknian or Aelvyn T'irw'iarran or something), the names of organizations (such as The Order of the Ashen Brand or The Defias Gang), or, one idea I've been toying with, the name of a race of beings (such as, say Black Dragons- requiring the PCs to hunt down and kill every black dragon in existence, or something equally epic).

So let's get Listing!


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## Asha'man (Jan 21, 2010)

This is in the wrong forum, should be in "Plots and Places."
Great idea, though. In fact, I'd like to explore it.

Who made the list and why? How do the PCs know it's genuine? Should they be trying to find other ways to avert the threat than killing whoever's name pops up?

Or maybe it works both ways? So that you can shape time to make someone a threat to the universe by writing their name on the list? (Probably in some special way, not just with a stick of charcoal)

All types of destruction may not be bad, either...
What if the name of a Solar shows up, whom Knowledge: religion reveals to be the one thought by a powerful Good religion to usher in the End of Days and establish the Kingdom of Heaven?

As for names:

I assume you're in a homebrew setting, so campaign-spesific characters like Larloch or Iuz are off limits. That makes this a little harder. But here are a few: 
Eli Tomorast, for starters.
If you use the Planescape planes, Ely Cromlich. (Factol of the Doomguard.) 
Lashonna. (Yes, the one from AOW. Looks like a harmless elf socialite. Except, she's a vampire. Except, she's a vampiric silver dragon and in the midst of reviving the Cult of Kyuss.)
Sarrukh, if you don't mind being a little meta. (Yes, the species. It's an ancient and near-extinct one, so there shouldn't be many of them, just enough for an adventure or two. As long as they exist, there exists the possibility that Pun-Pun will one day be created.)
Acererak. (Tomb of horrors!)
Ashardalon (from Bastion of Broken Souls)
Eventually, you *must* have the name of a PC, or several, show up on the list. Probably late in the campaign, or at the very end if you don't have anything else planned for that. See how they deal with that!

I might have more later.


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## UltimaGabe (Jan 21, 2010)

Asha'man said:


> This is in the wrong forum, should be in "Plots and Places."




D'oh! I swear, I tried to find that forum. I must have missed it, so I posted it here. I'll re-post it there, and close this one. Unless the mods don't mind me having two, in which case I'll leave this open.



> Who made the list and why? How do the PCs know it's genuine? Should they be trying to find other ways to avert the threat than killing whoever's name pops up?




I haven't quite decided. The PCs will be stumbling across the last surviving member of a now-dead elven magical circle who've basically spent their entire lives- and their parents' lives, and so on- casting the spell to create this artifact. Upon walking in on essentially the final step of the ritual, the last living caster will give them the list, briefly explain what it does, and die. As far as finding other ways to avert it, I do intend for there to be ways- I haven't decided how yet- and I also intend for the moral implications of killing someone purely because of something they have yet to do to be explored, and possibly have the entire world set out to stop the PCs by the end of the campaign. In other words, their actions will either make them famous, or infamous.



> Or maybe it works both ways? So that you can shape time to make someone a threat to the universe by writing their name on the list? (Probably in some special way, not just with a stick of charcoal)




Hmm, I don't think so. Doesn't quite fit what I'm going for, though not a bad idea.



> All types of destruction may not be bad, either...
> What if the name of a Solar shows up, whom Knowledge: religion reveals to be the one thought by a powerful Good religion to usher in the End of Days and establish the Kingdom of Heaven?




Well, although that example isn't what I was going for, that type of moral ambiguity is definitely what I'm going for. I fully intend for many of the names on the list to be people who (at least from their point of view) knew they were working for the greater good.



> As for names:
> 
> I assume you're in a homebrew setting, so campaign-spesific characters like Larloch or Iuz are off limits. That makes this a little harder.




Well, you see, I wasn't necessarily looking for names of pre-existing characters- meaning, I'm not looking for people from specific adventures, necessarily. I plan on using certain popular adventures, yes, but I don't know which ones yet- so all I wanted was generic names that I could plug into said popular adventures when we come to them. Specific NPCs are fine, but I was mostly looking for just a bunch of names, not a bunch of specific characters. I'll keep your suggestions in mind, though.



> Eli Tomorast, for starters.




I don't know much about that adventure (I own it, but never read it), but I'll keep that in mind.



> If you use the Planescape planes, Ely Cromlich. (Factol of the Doomguard.)




Never heard of him, but again, I'll keep him in mind.



> Lashonna. (Yes, the one from AOW. Looks like a harmless elf socialite. Except, she's a vampire. Except, she's a vampiric silver dragon and in the midst of reviving the Cult of Kyuss.)




I definitely did plan on including part of the Age of Worms in here. 



> Sarrukh, if you don't mind being a little meta. (Yes, the species. It's an ancient and near-extinct one, so there shouldn't be many of them, just enough for an adventure or two. As long as they exist, there exists the possibility that Pun-Pun will one day be created.)




YES. I LOVE THIS IDEA. I doubt any of my players will get it, but THANK YOU!



> Acererak. (Tomb of horrors!)




Great idea.



> Ashardalon (from Bastion of Broken Souls)




Hmm, possibly. I like that adventure.



> Eventually, you *must* have the name of a PC, or several, show up on the list. Probably late in the campaign, or at the very end if you don't have anything else planned for that. See how they deal with that!




It's funny you mention that, because this entire idea started as an idea I had for an epic-level campaign- the PCs needed a piece of information, which they found could only be learned from an old witch who lived off on some distant mountain- this woman being the last remaining member of some ancient forgotten group that once kept The List. She'd send them on some errands, and over the course of the adventure they'd learn that she began to use The List to further her own goals (mainly by binding herself to the soul of a super-powerful demon the group was supposed to kill), at which point her name replaced the demon's on the list. I plan on using that character as an NPC in this campaign right from the get-go, and using this when they got to higher levels.

Thanks for the feedback!


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## TarionzCousin (Jan 22, 2010)

"Maligant." The guy is evil. Trust me on this one.


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## Trellian (Jan 22, 2010)

What you should, is have one of the names on the list be a young boy or girl, maybe not older than a toddler. It will give your players a great moral dilemma to wrestle with. Maybe the child isn't born yet, so the players can kill their parents? The old "would you have travelled back in time and killed Hitler's parents?"


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## goldzero (Jan 24, 2010)

cormin delker he could be a farmer that if not stops makes a potion to help his crops grow larger and fast but it changes all the vegitaion into living things that have imunity to fire.


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