The Illithid War: The most difficult campaign I'd ever run. The Illithid, having located Avamor because of a simple mistake made in a previous campaign, had slowly infiltrated Hybrana and Karuthea. Now, all the sentient races of Avamor must fight together or be eaten alive by the mind flayers. This marked the height of the Age of the Dragon, the revelation of the Dragonmagi and Unicorns, the defeat of Hazuer and revelation that Hazuer was actually the returned spirit of Garrod selDraco, trapped by his own death-curse upon the Hartland. The Drow as an underground race were destroyed (the survivors fled to Peacewood). The scattered Elves were also reunited. The jungles of Avernia were destroyed through the machinations of the evil Dragonmage Khasil, cracking the continent nearly in half. The end of this campaign marked the beginning of a thousand years of peace on Hybrana, as the restored Empire of the Hartland spread justice and prosperity over the length and breadth of that continent. So too did Karuthea see an end to bloodshed, seized in the iron claws of Dragonmage Tassrith.
This campaign stretched over all the maps of Avamor I had created to that point. It was also my first attempt to run a prophecy-based campaign. I learned a lot about just how much trouble campaigns like that can be.
Available Races: All.
The Illithid War (TIW) was the most ambitious and difficult to run campaign I've ever attempted. If the Illithid had won, I was going to have to rewrite all of Avamor for it to be useable as a campaign world again. If the Illithid lost (they did), then I'd have to redo the entire political landscape of Avamor, redraw huge numbers of national boundaries, redraw huge chunks of campaign real estate, and redo massive numbers of NPCs - especially the long-lived ones.
Basically, I started a prophecy-based campaign. I figured that the only way I could pull it off would be if the players all helped. That meant that ALL the players had to work towards the fulfillment of a prophecy, and work even harder to not break it. For my part, I had to create a prophecy that was vague enough to take a lot of player/plotline abuse and not unravel or break. At the same time, it had to be specific enough that the players could identify what parts of the prophecy had been fulfilled already, and use what the prophecy predicted to help plan their next move.
I was very specific about inviting players in this campaign. Everyone knew up front that the only way it would work was if we ALL cooperated. Fortunately, my players were very cooperative :)
At the end of the Darkness Descending campaign, the Empire of the Hartland and Karanuk had reached an uneasy peace, partly through the efforts of the adventurers. Dread Lord Garrod selDraco of Karanuk essentially forced peace on the Empire by kidnapping the Imperial Heir. Garrod held him for the better part of two years, even going so far as to train the Heir in tactics and strategy. Garrod found the Heir an apt, and likable, student. At the end of the two years' time, Garrod personally returned the Heir, even going so far as to personally escort say Imperial Personage into the Empire, with only his personal bodyguards in attendance. He had given his word, after all. And Garrod always kept his word.
Some of the nobles of the Hartland, however, were enraged by the Dread Lord's arrogance, insulted by his presumption. They nursed a horrible desire for bloody revenge in their hearts. Desire begat plans. Plans begat actions. So when Garrod, his bodyguards, and the Heir arrived to turn over their hostage and sign the peace treaty, the nobles struck. They slaughtered the guards, and each one stabbed Garrod with his own blade, spitting on him as he fell.
Lying in a pool of his own blood, Garrod laid a death-curse on the Empire.