D&D General In D&D, the Big Bad is the Main Character

[DMrichard]

This far into the life of Dungeons & Dragons, many people understand the player characters are important to the game. Without them and their antics, the game dies. However, they're not the most important characters. They are not even the main characters. The player characters may be the protagonists, but they are reacting to someone else's plots; they are the antagonists in someone else's story: the big bad.

Shocking, right? I may have just scorched the outlooks of a few people. Give it a ponder, though. It's true.

1. The big bad is the center of the plot.
2. The big bad regularly interacts with other characters, both PCs and NPCs.
3. The big bad is the most important and influential individual in the campaign or adventure.
4. The big bad's actions provide the impetus for the player characters' reactions.

In most D&D games, the big bad is the main character. They can make or break an entire game. Thus, like every great character, they need serious thought put into them. To explore this, let's analyze one of my most treasured villains...with a twist. This big bad, despite me checking every box, failed.

Meet Lazarus the Glutton.

Read the rest here: In D&D, the Big Bad is the Main Character

 

[Oofta]

I rarely have a single big bad. I don't do apocalyptic campaigns because I never guarantee that the PCs will win and I typically run campaigns from levels 1-20. In addition, I don't ever really have an overall campaign arc in mind, I have a world and various forces trying to shape that world according to their will. So sometimes I'll have a single BBEG, but it's far more likely I'll have multiple along with low-and-mid level bad guys (or organizations) that may or may not be associated with the primary BBEG. In my current campaign I've had 4 major sources of opposition. I think. It's been a long campaign. In another campaign there simply is no big bad. There are hints of a major catastrophic event coming but there's not really as simple as a big bad and there's plenty of other things in the region for the group to get involved with.

In addition, I run a very player-oriented campaign. The players always decide what plot hooks to follow or not, if a potential big bad doesn't peak their interest either the plans the big bad still happen or they just kind of fades into the background like Homer Simpson backing into the hedge.

I know my style may be different from others, it's certainly different from most modules. But there are many different styles of play from dungeon crawls to save the world from the latest megalomaniac who may happen to be a minor deity.

 

[aco175]

Kind of looking at this from a Star Wars point of view since it was the first thing I thought. Was Darth Vader the main character, or was it Luke, Leia, and Han? Would the main thread point be that the Emperor is the main character instead and that the fact that he was not really around for most of the first two movies not important? He is the BBEG holding the 3 movies together.

I'm kind of thinking that the main characters are Luke and them and that the story of Vader and the Emperor pushes the story. They could also be main characters, but it seems that the scenes of the movies are tied to the 'good' guys and the scenes with Vader or the Emperor are used to fill in for the viewer.

 

[Vaalingrade]

This is pretty much why we have the words 'antagonist' and 'protagonist'.

 

[Umbran]

This is pretty much why we have the words 'antagonist' and 'protagonist'.

Yeah. The term "main character" is not well-defined. But when it is defined, it isn't about power, or "importance" to the setting of the piece. It is about focus.

Most of what the BBEG does happens off screen. We are left to infer most of their actions and interactions. Instead our "camera eye" is on the PCs, so they are the main characters of the piece.

 

[Parmandur]

The villain being the protagonist and the hero being the antagonist from a plot structure point of view is one of the defining traits of superhero stories. Some D&D is going to follow superhero tropes, I suppose.

 

[payn]

I've moved into factional play rather than relying on big bads or single characters. It makes the game play a lot more pliable and takes the weight off a single character (PC and NPC alike). YMMV.

 

[Stormonu]

Kind of looking at this from a Star Wars point of view since it was the first thing I thought. Was Darth Vader the main character, or was it Luke, Leia, and Han? Would the main thread point be that the Emperor is the main character instead and that the fact that he was not really around for most of the first two movies not important? He is the BBEG holding the 3 movies together.

I'm kind of thinking that the main characters are Luke and them and that the story of Vader and the Emperor pushes the story. They could also be main characters, but it seems that the scenes of the movies are tied to the 'good' guys and the scenes with Vader or the Emperor are used to fill in for the viewer.

Star Wars is all about R2. If it wasn't for him, every one of the "main" characters would be dead.

 

[Oofta]

Star Wars is all about R2. If it wasn't for him, every one of the "main" characters would be dead.

One theory is that the reason it's "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" is because it's R2 telling the story.

 

[Tonguez]

Kind of looking at this from a Star Wars point of view since it was the first thing I thought. Was Darth Vader the main character, or was it Luke, Leia, and Han? Would the main thread point be that the Emperor is the main character instead and that the fact that he was not really around for most of the first two movies not important? He is the BBEG holding the 3 movies together.

I'm kind of thinking that the main characters are Luke and them and that the story of Vader and the Emperor pushes the story. They could also be main characters, but it seems that the scenes of the movies are tied to the 'good' guys and the scenes with Vader or the Emperor are used to fill in for the viewer.

Star Wars was clearly the angst and redemption of Anakin Skywalker which he found in his dog/droid R2.

but this is largely why I like the concept of Fronts as used in Dungeon World to define Campaign and Adventure dangers, portents, stakes and moves. They keep things focussed on PC reactions while allowing the world to be active and moving without the DM having to plot out a BBEG story.