BBEG design tips

[Dannyalcatraz]

There is nothing a GM can do for his campaign and the gamers in it that is better than giving them a really good, memorable villain for them to test their mettle against.

This thread is for sharing some of the lessons learned on how to design and run truly memorable villains.

1) Flesh them out. Just like people in the RW, giving a villain a fully rounded personality makes them that much more fun to battle against.

Sometimes, that's as simple as giving them hobbies. A serial killer who builds ships in a bottle could seriously creep your players out. Especially if the hobby somehow relates to his evil...

For "Master Class" level BBEG design, though, you might want to do more.

A well known African dictator first gained international attention when he liberated his people from white-minority oppression. He really was a hero to his people before absolute power corrupted him, transforming him into one of the modern world's most despised leaders.

Depending upon where in the timeline you base your design, a BBEG based on such a model presents the PCs with the challenge of taking down someone who could be considered a national hero.

2) Play them intelligently. A BBEG rarely rises to the top by being stupid, unless their rule is based on sheer power and brutality. Why should they fight to the death when they have minions to do that for them? Most BBEGs should have a number of preplanned escape routes.

Furthermore, the most powerful of them should have some kind of mundane and/or supernatural intelligence gathering capabilities. By the time the PCs finally meet the BBEG in a battle, he should have some kind of idea as to whom he's fighting. If they've encountered him several times, he should know them almost as well as he knows himself or his minions..and should be prepared for their tactics.

3) Give them a schtick. Make your BBEG do something, directly or indirectly, that lets the PCs identify him- a signature, a modus operandi. Its no fun for your BBEG to have all of his machinations going on when your players can't see that he's the driving force and move to stop him. Maybe he has a calling card. Perhaps he is obsessive about a particular lost culture and their magic and artifacts. Perhaps its as simple as a love for using force spells, or always using a Jovar for killing someone.

 

[pogminky]

(are we sticking to numbers....)

4) Have the PCs really hate them. I remember one BBEG who'd killed a number of NPCs I liked, plus had killed three PCs! Boy, I wanted him to die and bad.

 

[Eyada]

5) Have them be a source of PC guilt. (Note: This is a tactic that should be used sparingly to preserve its potency.) Nothing makes the villainy of a BBEG more memorable to the players than when the players are responsible for enabling the BBEG to do all those evil things in the first place. Traditional Fantasy is awash with tales of people stirring up dark things best left alone while exploring places that weren't meant to be explored --a trope that is just begging to be used in a game where the protaginists spend the majority of their time poking around in places they shouldn't be.

The ancient, formerly-bound Demon rampaging through the world after the runic circles maintaining its prison were scuffed away by the careless foot of the party's Rogue; a beautiful, seemingly innocent woman revived by the heroes who turns out to be an ancient, mighty practitioner of fell magic who had been slain so long ago she had practically been forgotten by history; or an ancient force of pure elemental evil, sealed away long ago by a now-dead God during the ancient war between the Primordials and the Gods, released onto the world when the heroes unwittingly weaken its prison while delving into ancient ruins --all typical examples of this type of BBEG.

When used sparingly, they can be memorable. If overused, it can lead to feelings of railroading ("I don't want to go into the ruins, because the DM still hasn't introduced the main villain yet, so it's probably down there, imprisoned, waiting for us to set it free so it can cause destruction.").

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Nice suggestions, y'all!

 

[Corjay]

Great stuff. I especially like the "shtick", the "hate them", and the very creative "PC guilt". PC guilt is definitely a great fiction tool, which gives them more reason to hate the BBEG, for both the guilt and for allowing him to lead them as if calling eager pups. Shred him, hurt him, make him bleed.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Side note: almost any of these suggestions work well for higher-level henchmen.

Consider any of the James Bond movies- some of the arch-henchmen are as memorable (or even moreso) than the BBEGs they supported. I mean...Jaws (Richard Kiel) was in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker...who remembers both of his bosses? (For the record, Karl Stromburg and Sir Hugo Drax, respectively.)

 

[Doug McCrae]

released onto the world when the heroes unwittingly weaken its prison

As a player I find this annoying. The key is the unwitting part. It's unfair, imo, for the DM to lay a guilt trip on the PCs (and often it seems to be laid on the players too) when the consequences are unpredictable. Unless it's a sandbox-style game, and most games aren't, the PCs have to go down the dungeon the DM has prepared. They're trusting the DM that there will be interesting stuff there. It's an abuse of that trust for the DM to then say "Ha ha! You broke the world, you fools, now you have to spend the rest of the campaign fixing it!"

Imo, the way to do it right is to have the players going in with open eyes. Predictable consequences. The PCs know what erasing the protective circle will do. A scenario I have planned features a great spirit of evil kept sealed in by a large gem or piece of jewellery. The PCs can choose to take the gem, but doing so will release the demon. This means the players have a real decision to make and the campaign world will be very different as a result of that decision.

 

[Tortoise]

Imo, the way to do it right is to have the players going in with open eyes. Predictable consequences. The PCs know what erasing the protective circle will do. A scenario I have planned features a great spirit of evil kept sealed in by a large gem or piece of jewellery. The PCs can choose to take the gem, but doing so will release the demon. This means the players have a real decision to make and the campaign world will be very different as a result of that decision.

I'm of a similar opinion most of the time since once in a while a little "oops, what did we accidentally let free" can be fun.

I prefer the either/or situation where they know they might free something nasty in order to accomplish defeating something else nasty. Give them a choice between acquiring Widget A to make their battle with BBEG B less troublesome while letting out Nasty Critter C, or leaving C where it is, not getting Widget A and thus having a harder time with BBEG B.

 

[Wyrmshadows]

5) Have them be a source of PC guilt. (Note: This is a tactic that should be used sparingly to preserve its potency.)

This one is very good if used sparingly...such as once per entire set of given PCs or once per entire campaign if the damage that occurs is truly terrible.

However, having said that, as much as I believe that heroes can make meaningful choices, there are forces and greater realities (gods, fate, destiny, bad luck, etc.) that can causes heroes to apparently accidently set into motion events they never could have forseen. C'est la vie... happens and all that. This occurs in fiction of all kinds and is great for an intense and dramatic campaign. Just don't go overdoing it because it would be a bit wierd if these heroes kept unwittingly unleashed devastating evils upon the world.

Here are a couple other options:

6.) Good hero turned bad. The tragic nature of the fallen hero is always good for a dramatic enemy. Allow the PCs to get a sense of who the villian was thereby allowing them to connect with the sorrow of his/her fall from grace. Lord Soth of Dragonlance was such a villian.

7.) Old master/mentor turned bad. The great warrior/mage/priest who taught one or more of the PCs everything they know falls into darkness and now they must put an end to the evil of someone they once love/trusted/respected. This is similar to #6 but more personal.

8.) A bad guy they can sympathize with - Lets face it, on a gut level, there are those roguish types that are bad guys, but they have enough style and charisma to make you sort of forget that they're really rat bastards deep down inside. Plus, if you couple this with a "good" society whose laws seem repressive to the good-guy PCs you have a villian that the PCs can even kind of relate to or even like even of they have to take him down.

Ahh...the joys of GMing are myriad and satisfying indeed.


Wyrmshadows