Name Level Druid - Almost there....

I've been running my 1st edition AD&D game since January 2000. It has taken 15 loooooonnnngggg years to get the party druid to 11th level (just shy of 12th by about 750 xp). "What?", you say. "Why so long?", you ask. Well, we've been on and off a few times - medical emergencies, family matters, holidays, etc. We haven't had a good long run of consecutive games since the beginning of the campaign. Also , it's hard to give out Experience Points when the party insists on going to the furthest reaches of my campaign world to scour dungeons for treasure (which they rarely found). Add to this the number of level drains we had in the Desert of Desolation and you can see why it took so very long to get to this point.

Now, due to a Libram of Silver Magic, the magic-user is an 11th level Wizard and the druid is about to become a name level Druid of 12th level! This means that all the end-game stuff I've been putting off for so very long has to be designed NOW!! The ranger just made 9th level, which means he'll be seeing followers after he makes the next level. The cleric is also 9th and can get followers whenever she decides to settle down and build a church. I'm gonna be a busy DM for the next few months I can tell!

I've been agonizing over the druid hierarchy for a little over 2 weeks now. I'm not sure how to proceed since the player wants to keep playing in the group while enjoying all the perks and responsibilities of being a name-level character. I don't blame him - he's waited 15 years to play with the "big boys" and now that he has all this firepower, he can't wait to use it on something. The endgame material Gygax built into the game to basically force the characters to retire at or soon after name level is causing the druid grief. He wants to forego the followers (who he sees as nothing more than useless in a high-level dungeon setting) and doesn't want the Archdruids to boss him around. I see this as more of a role-playing opportunity to link him into the world and the grander scheme of things. But, of course, the anarchistic player wants his own rules and wants to do his own thing. And here I thought I had purged that "must win at all costs" mentality from him a while ago. Sigh.

The hierarchy seems to be divided into a local group and a world group. The local groups each have their own Great Druid and are separated by geographical regions. The world groups is headed by the Grand Druid who has his own Druids and Archdruids to attend his needs. The local groups seem more preoccupied with the defense of nature on the small scale and the tending to the flocks of worshipers. The world group seems more focused on defending the world from catastrophic changes and elemental disasters. I can work with the world group, since this is the route the adventures are taking. However, the Grand Druid selects his candidates from the ranks of the eligible Druids of the local groups, taking the best and brightest if you will. Now, I consider the player character's Druid to be one of these elite types who has been watched for a while. Ever since the Hierophants directed the PC druid to Haven to help out Princess Argenta (B3) I've been planning to make a big deal of how he's been groomed and watched to become a member of the worldwide druids. It seems to be what he's interested in as well. However, I see his initiation as a servant of the Grand Druid being blocked by the necessity that he has to first prove himself in combat. Should I allow him to bypass the local group first and go directly to the Grand Druid's entourage? Perhaps. But he will have to FIND the Grand Druid first. I don't suppose he should be easy to find or easy to get to. After all, he has an entire WORLD to watch over and may not even be humanoid!!! It would be interesting to have a treant as the Grand Druid. I'll have to look into this. Otherwise, I could see an elf or human occupying the spot - like a crusty old Radagast in the Hobbit movies. Perhaps the Grand Druid is a nomad - living off the land and carrying only those things he truly needs with him. He would be followed by his attendants, of course, and might show up in the darnedest of places! This could be a means of getting the characters out of the Karameikos/Selenica rut they've been stuck in for the past few years. Geez, there are so many other places to see in Mystara and they keep going back to the same two cities....