Ever had an a ha! moment about the crux of a campaign.

[doublejig2]

I'm working on a campaign which features 8 cities connected by intercity dimensional gates. Yddo the Sorcerer (alpha villain) wants to extort the cities for bullion, magic items, and sacrificial slaves to sate Zamora's voracious gods. To do so, feigning innocence he first sends 5 flesh golems to each city's interdimensional gate, ostensibly for added security of these portals, which are used for pilgrimages, diplomacy, and trade. The golems are outfitted with plate mail. Then he sends 2 additional flesh golems each month. As the number accrues so does the threat within the city walls; a flesh golem in plate armor is no joke let alone 10 flesh golems in plate. This inward pressure and the outward threat of war with Yddo aligned plate mailed hobgoblins drives the action. Campaign events and pace follow on, and they reach a feverish pitch after the first city is sacked for non-compliance with Yddo's demands. With this insight the entire campaign, levels 1 - 11 fell into place and the action is anchored into temporality based on what's up at the gates. Beginning adventures occur before the golems arrive at the gates. At this point Yddo may be aware of the adventurers but they are not aware of Yddo. Midlevel ones cover the time between the arrival of golems at the gates and the sacking of Nemedia for non-compliance. Diplomacy is tested and the adventurers are encouraged to take a role. Upper level adventures involve Yddo's broad and deep network of villainy directly. For someone has to stop Yddo! And it all started with a scribbled note on gates between cities and the idea that plate mail can really buff up some monsters.

[doublejig2]

A second a ha... House Rol Pol which is a syndicate bent on its thieves guilds in all 8 cities is headquartered in the city state of Shem. Why not rework JG's Thieves of Fortress Babagaskor as this urban encounter. Perfect!

[doublejig2]

More generally, for the game table, in a addition to running hombrew I've converted to 1e and run Crucible of Freya and Morrick Mansion from Necromancer Games. And I will run Tomb of Abysthor and Gray Citadel also from Necromancer Games, and maybe others. A customization, the end games of any module that the adventurers skip over becomes a fact and chatter in the campaign milieu (or, it's handled with notoriety by rival adventuring parties). Then the idea of locating the fabled Thieves of Fortress Babagaskor as is to head an intercity syndicate (and level appropriate) in the warehouse district of a decadent city, that felt good! I think that it's worth making room for the acclaimed adventure. It's good to pay this kind of respect to the old game. It can anchor a campaign. As an aside, I feel that same way about JG's Caverns of Thracia, Citadel of Fire, and Dark Tower.