Inserting a Villain

[Waylander the Slayer]

I recently planted a villain into the party. I had a friend of mine from a different game join the current group as a PC/ the plant.

The group had already met the character prior to the insertion and recently "rescued" the character (she knew the PC's were on their way to the thieves guild and pretended to be a prisoner- she is in fact the head of the thieves guild; she wanted to be able to ambush them).

I did this so that the players would'nt metagame and also so that the villain would be played up to the full capacity. The plans seems to be working all too well with the possibility of a TPK. Was this a bad idea on my part? A bit too ratbastardly?

The players were and have been suspicious, but have dismissed the possibility as being "too obvious."

 

[Quartz]

Are they having fun? If they are, leave it as it is.

 

[ChimericDream]

I actually did this in one of my campaigns, and I think it went rather well. The party came across the new member as he was unconscious after a gargoyle attack. He adventured with them for some time, helping them find and recover powerful magic items that their various orders had sent them to retrieve before some "unknown wizard" got hold of the whole set. It built up for several months, and the final battle was rather interesting when the plant attacked the party from behind in his own throne room.

I don't remember now whether it was a TPK or if they actually won, but the player with the BBEG character had planned very carefully to make sure he was resistant to most of the party's tactics.

 

[Waylander the Slayer]

I actually did this in one of my campaigns, and I think it went rather well. The party came across the new member as he was unconscious after a gargoyle attack. He adventured with them for some time, helping them find and recover powerful magic items that their various orders had sent them to retrieve before some "unknown wizard" got hold of the whole set. It built up for several months, and the final battle was rather interesting when the plant attacked the party from behind in his own throne room.

I don't remember now whether it was a TPK or if they actually won, but the player with the BBEG character had planned very carefully to make sure he was resistant to most of the party's tactics.

It's a very similar situation for me. The player that plays the bad gal is very good tactically and has been taking stock of the group and planning accordingly. Was the group mad because you "mislead" them? My primary worry is that this might strain player-GM trust.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Remember that players often metagame in a good way when a new player joins. They are implausibly trusting of the newcomer to make the game work, after all the new PC must always be able to join in as soon as possible. Some may feel you're unfairly taking advantage of that.

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

I second Doug. Nine times out of ten, when a new PC joins the group, there's no reason for the group to take them, other than the magical PC metatag that is floating over their heads.

This sort of plant can still work, I think, if you make sure to lay down strict terms with the player who's got the villain. They need to know that it's a temporary character that exists, not to win or to destory the party, but to give the party some trouble before ultimately being defeated.

I think the best thing to do would be to work out a time for betrayal that the villain thinks is perfect, but actually isn't devastating to the party due to either fortune or miscalculation. Another option is to have the villain lure them into a trap or turn them over to an NPC, rather than simply sneak attacking a PC suddenly during a fight. This way, the villain can get away and the PCs can chase after them again.

No matter what, expect this player's next PC to be watched very carefully by the rest of the party.

 

[Quartz]

An alternative you might like to consider is have a romance develop between the villain and a PC - this works best if the players are husband and wife IRL - and have the PC redeem the villain.

 

[William drake]

I recently planted a villain into the party. I had a friend of mine from a different game join the current group as a PC/ the plant.

The group had already met the character prior to the insertion and recently "rescued" the character (she knew the PC's were on their way to the thieves guild and pretended to be a prisoner- she is in fact the head of the thieves guild; she wanted to be able to ambush them).

I did this so that the players would'nt metagame and also so that the villain would be played up to the full capacity. The plans seems to be working all too well with the possibility of a TPK. Was this a bad idea on my part? A bit too ratbastardly?

The players were and have been suspicious, but have dismissed the possibility as being "too obvious."

Ok, bad things could happen.

Now you've really put your self in the seat to save the players, unless you want them to die.

1) if the players ever fall asleep, they could be dead?
2) if the PLANT ever gets out of site while in a city *time to find some fun and nasty things to use on the players: in their food, drink, while their sleeping* the players die.

I could go on, but this could really end blowing in your face.

I know, I did this before. I let one guy I knew play in the game, he was the villian, and once he got playing, he wanted to do it all. He wanted to set the players up, and make them fall. Now, it worked, but the players did end up killing him, but it was all rolled out and the game could have very well ended that night. I once said "hey, take it easy on them." and he answered, "you asked me to play a con man/street thug/ killer in a party where I want to use them. And, if they ever found out about me, I'd be the type of guy to walk them out and put two rounds in the bakc of their head..." It was true. So, to play it any less would've been weak. Now, I didn't just let him do what he wanted. He had to deal with his own issues. Many of which didn't involve the players since it wasn't really hard to hide his affaris from them. See, I could've dropped hints, and moved them into positions to figure out who he was, but he did a good job at hiding himself....you see where this is going.

Just saying. Watch out.


Game On

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

The biggest challenge when inserting a player-run NPC into a group is that the player very often treats the character as their own PC. Players want their own PC's to "win" by overcoming their enemies. What you actually want, as DM, is for the player to act as an assistant DM; they should be operating on the assumption that their job is to create an NPC that will be memorable when the PC's eventually defeat them.

Make sure your player/NPC realizes they're there to enhance the game, not end it.

 

[Waylander the Slayer]

I did a little double cross action to sort of even the odds a little; it seems to have worked out fantastically.