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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mordane76" data-source="post: 2850909" data-attributes="member: 7172">I use what I think of as an 'intersecting webs' method for bad guys; people who've played World of Darkness games will be familiar with some of the concepts/terms I'm throwing out.At the center of my web, there are nigh-improbable characters; antediluvian beings that wield power the player characters can't presently hope to surmount in their wildest dreams.  Should the characters attempt to directly confront these characters in the physical arena, they would simply be decimated without any need to move to combat rounds.  These are the power-brokers and shadow conspiracy leaders of my worlds.  Depending on the plotline(s) unfolding, the players might even have contact with these characters and not know it immediately.  Sometimes, there are more than one cluster of these unstoppable beings, and thus their webs intersect at key points (as I describe below).  These individuals are also usually Epic characters in the upper 20s to mid 80s.As you move away from the center, you come in contact with the high-power NPCs that are out in the open - these people usually work for those in the center, but not always; sometimes they work (either knowingly or unknowingly) for more than one power center, or they arise as mini power centers in their own right.  The player characters MIGHT be able to thwart these characters directly, but most likely not immediately.  These characters are usually high level NPCs in the mid teens to low 20s (low Epic).Further from the web are the moving parts of evil - the upper henchmen and the grunts.  They provide the greatest degree of web intersection for the multiple power-brokers above them and provide the immediate threat the PCs must confront.  These characters are usually between levels 6-12.The whole purpose is that, as the PCs grow in levels, there is always a deeper point to penetrate into the web(s) of evil, and powerful individuals are always insulated from direct confrontation by layers of underlings, red herrings, and the unfortunate intersection point players from other power-bases.  In this way, I can keep the PCs from inadvertently going for the source of evil before they can handle it and can do so in a way that doesn't require direct railroading to keep them alive.In my current campaign, the PCs began as two small groups - a threesome connected to a female wizard and a threesome in the employ of a procurer of antiquities.  The female wizard is a connection to a web of incredibly powerful individuals who share a common goal, but they are only one of three parallel power-bases that immediately exist.  As some of my players read this board, I cannot go into a lot of details as to who these characters are, their power levels, and who/what/which power-base they belong to, because then they'd know too much... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

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