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<blockquote data-quote="Grand_Director" data-source="post: 3749325" data-attributes="member: 11847">One way I highlight a villain from the beginning is to showcase his actions behind the screen in a &quot;cut scene&quot;.&nbsp; As long as the the mystery of the game is not figuring out who a bad guy is this is a great way for your player (as opposed to the characters) to get to know the bad guys.&nbsp; And these cut scenes need not give everything away; they can be used to show the bad guy gathering forces for &quot;something&quot; and when the &quot;something&quot; hits it resonates with the players.&nbsp; I also use the cut scene to show the effects of a player victory over the bad guy.&nbsp; The cut scene was also a way for me to let the players know that a particular bad guy was not the be all and end all when he answered to a shadowy master the audience could not see.&nbsp; I came up with idea because I was running some modules with great bad guys who were interesting not only mechanically, but thematically as well.&nbsp; They had rich backgrounds that intertwined with each other and drove their actions.&nbsp; They were fascinating and beautiful and the players would know none of it because the bad guys would live for five rounds of combat and be done.&nbsp; I tried to think of a way to communicate the intricate backgrounds and personalities of these NPCs and first thought about journal entries found after the fighting was done.&nbsp; But that would not work because by that point the adventure would be over and the players are already moving on.&nbsp; In the end I decided that what I lost by revealing who the bad guys were out of game was off set by what the players would gain from the story telling and it worked.&nbsp; +I also used this story telling device on a lesser bad guy would happened to flee from the last fight.&nbsp; It was still early in the campaign (level five) and I wanted to use him again.&nbsp; Of course&nbsp; it would have been neat to sit on this guy for a while and spring him on the players ten or eleven levels later &quot;remember me?&quot;&nbsp; What I risked was a group of players who didn't care.&nbsp; So I kept the players in the loop every few game sessions; the bad guy recruiting other bad guys the players let escape, the bad guy taking actions to fund his organization, the bad guy forcefully taking out a rival.&nbsp; These asides took the form of short stories that I would use to either start a game &quot;letting the players sit there and get into the mood&quot; or to cap a game right before going home.&nbsp; By the time the bad guy launched his surprise revenge plot (and the players had no idea what is was going to be, just that it was going to be bad for them) they were inspired to finally be able to deal with this loose thread.&nbsp; It was a great fight and the players still talk about it. Of course, this advice does not help &quot;in game&quot; interactions and there I am stuck.&nbsp; I try to have the BBEG deal with the characters and make his get away and if he doesn't make it, I move on and create a new BBEG.&nbsp; But I found the best way to have a BBEG that is a constant in game thorn to the characters is to have the character that the players can not touch.&nbsp; The respected lordling loved by all and the characters can not prove he is the master of a vast thieves guild.&nbsp; This BBEG loves to taunt the characters in public knowing they can not strike him down.&nbsp; But that's all I have.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Grand_Director, post: 3749325, member: 11847"] One way I highlight a villain from the beginning is to showcase his actions behind the screen in a "cut scene". As long as the the mystery of the game is not figuring out who a bad guy is this is a great way for your player (as opposed to the characters) to get to know the bad guys. And these cut scenes need not give everything away; they can be used to show the bad guy gathering forces for "something" and when the "something" hits it resonates with the players. I also use the cut scene to show the effects of a player victory over the bad guy. The cut scene was also a way for me to let the players know that a particular bad guy was not the be all and end all when he answered to a shadowy master the audience could not see. I came up with idea because I was running some modules with great bad guys who were interesting not only mechanically, but thematically as well. They had rich backgrounds that intertwined with each other and drove their actions. They were fascinating and beautiful and the players would know none of it because the bad guys would live for five rounds of combat and be done. I tried to think of a way to communicate the intricate backgrounds and personalities of these NPCs and first thought about journal entries found after the fighting was done. But that would not work because by that point the adventure would be over and the players are already moving on. In the end I decided that what I lost by revealing who the bad guys were out of game was off set by what the players would gain from the story telling and it worked. + I also used this story telling device on a lesser bad guy would happened to flee from the last fight. It was still early in the campaign (level five) and I wanted to use him again. Of course it would have been neat to sit on this guy for a while and spring him on the players ten or eleven levels later "remember me?" What I risked was a group of players who didn't care. So I kept the players in the loop every few game sessions; the bad guy recruiting other bad guys the players let escape, the bad guy taking actions to fund his organization, the bad guy forcefully taking out a rival. These asides took the form of short stories that I would use to either start a game "letting the players sit there and get into the mood" or to cap a game right before going home. By the time the bad guy launched his surprise revenge plot (and the players had no idea what is was going to be, just that it was going to be bad for them) they were inspired to finally be able to deal with this loose thread. It was a great fight and the players still talk about it. Of course, this advice does not help "in game" interactions and there I am stuck. I try to have the BBEG deal with the characters and make his get away and if he doesn't make it, I move on and create a new BBEG. But I found the best way to have a BBEG that is a constant in game thorn to the characters is to have the character that the players can not touch. The respected lordling loved by all and the characters can not prove he is the master of a vast thieves guild. This BBEG loves to taunt the characters in public knowing they can not strike him down. But that's all I have. [/QUOTE]

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