The Anti-Heroes campaign began as a descent into Hell and became something much larger.
At first, the story was about survival. A city had fallen into Avernus. Devils, demons, war machines, soul coins, broken angels, and impossible bargains surrounded the party.
But the longer the campaign went on, the clearer it became that this was not only a story about saving places.
It was a story about what saving something costs.
The party entered Elturel after the city had been dragged into Avernus.
There, they found a city under siege, survivors hiding in fear, devils and demons fighting in the streets, and the hollyphant Lulu struggling to recover memories tied to Zariel and the Sword of Zariel.
The party crossed the wastelands of Avernus, dealt with warlords, infernal machines, devils, demons, strange bargains, and the consequences of Zariel’s fall.
Eventually, they reached the Bleeding Citadel and found the Sword of Zariel.
The fate of Elturel, Zariel, and the party changed from that point forward.
Read more: Descent into Avernus
The party returned from Avernus powerful, famous, damaged, and dangerous.
They were no longer unknown adventurers. People recognized them. Some called them heroes. Some feared them. Some wanted to use them.
Their return did not bring peace.
Instead, it exposed how unstable the world had become.
Baldur’s Gate was changed. Cults had risen. Families had suffered. Old choices followed the party home.
The campaign eventually moved into Waterdeep, where the party’s fame, wealth, and influence began to grow.
They gained a tavern, attracted attention, made powerful contacts, and became involved in mysteries tied to noble houses, criminal powers, hidden wealth, and the Stone of Golorr.
At this stage, the original Anti-Heroes were no longer just adventurers taking jobs.
They had become people other adventurers came to for work.
That changed the shape of the campaign.
Read more: Waterdeep and the Rise of the Anti-Heroes
As the original party became busier and more famous, adventuring groups began coming to their tavern looking for work.
The Anti-Heroes hired a new group to continue the investigation in Waterdeep while the main group prepared to leave for Baldur’s Gate.
This new group included François, Kate, and Mara.
Their arrival marked a major handoff in the campaign. The story did not restart, but the focus shifted. The new party inherited the consequences, enemies, mysteries, and unfinished business left behind by the original Anti-Heroes.
From here, the Waterdeep investigation became their problem.
The hired group became tangled in the search for the hidden hoard of dragons.
Their investigation pulled them into danger involving the Stone of Golorr, Dalakar, the Gralhunds, Manshoon, Xanathar’s Guild, and the wider struggle over who would control the gold hidden beneath Waterdeep.
This part of the campaign tested the new party quickly.
They were not protected by the reputation of the original Anti-Heroes. They had to prove themselves while dealing with threats much larger than they were ready for.
The Cassalanter chapter became one of the darkest parts of the campaign.
Infernal bargains, family secrets, devils, children, sacrifice, revenge, and brutal choices collided.
By the end, the party had crossed lines that could not easily be uncrossed.
Some choices were made in anger. Some were made in fear. Some were made because the party believed there was no better option.
This was one of the chapters where the name Anti-Heroes felt most accurate.
Read more: The Cassalanter Disaster
The campaign eventually rose from city politics and infernal bargains into a cosmic threat.
Vecna’s plan was not only conquest.
It was reality itself.
The party became part of the struggle to stop him, but the struggle ended in catastrophe.
Vecna won.
The world was rewritten.
Read more: Vecna Breaks the World
The current campaign continues after Vecna’s victory.
The surviving party awakens in Grim Hollow’s Etharis, a dark false world created by the rewriting of reality.
They still remember the old world.
They still remember each other.
But the false world has given them new lives, new histories, new reputations, and new wounds.
If they take too long, they may stop being the people who survived the rewrite.
Their goal is no longer just to defeat a villain.
They must learn how reality was pinned into this broken shape, gather what is needed to undo the overwrite, and force the false world to remember the true one.
Read more: The Broken Road Home