D&D General The big bad evil... Red Herring

[NotAYakk]

So what you have here is a dungeon graph. You have your actual dungeon, but your adventure is a graph-dungeon. Map it out. Make sure it is all awesome.

Here is a base graph:

  [Quest for BBEG Tomb]
          .
          .
          .
   [Enter Tomb]
          .
          .
          .
   [Explore Tomb]    . . .   [ Real BBEG ]
          .
          .
          .
     [Fake BBEG]
          .
          .
          .
  [Something is Wrong]
          .
          .
          .
  [Reveal real BBEG]

with stuff that can happen in between.

Start filling in that stuff. Like, fill out exploring the dungeon and clues.

Add in "gets beat up and retreat" exits to explore dungeon, or "doesn't get to dungeon in time" nodes.

Next, you want the players to have a personal stake. This fake BBEG plan could help; how can we make the players feel something about the BBEG before they beat the fake one, only to discover it wasn't the BBEG later?

You should have multilple subtle clues, and at least one blatant one. Like they are after the ruby scepter (have a poem stressing this with other cues: Crimson with the blood of the slain), but the BBEG they fight has a sapphire one. The point of the blatant one is that it is the one you can highlight when they figure out something is wrong.

Accept they might figure it out or fail.

So the something is wrong; they are tasked to return the Onyx Scepter or Crimson Blood to a spot where it can, I dunno, deactivate a MacGuffin. They break in, get the fake scepter, exit, return to the spot to deactivate the MacGuffin, and it doesn't work, or it sort of works and sort of explodes.

"Isn't it supposed to have a Ruby, not a Sapphire" the NPC they are helping should say, shortly before it goes boom.

Other crap, like the fake bad guy is a death knight warrior type, while the real bad guy is a wizard lich, provide further clues.

So, if they find the real BBEG, killing them should release the fake one, who flees and becomes a BBEG? (Unless they already killed them).

If they do kill both, then the sceptre + MacGuffin actually corrupts the NPC who uses it, producing ... a BBEG.

Then again, do this too much and you'll end up with murder hobos. "NPC asking for us to do a quest? He'll turn evil, kill him now."

 

[hopeless]

Maybe the BBEG has clone bodies or phylacteries in case they get defeated and thats what they were supposed to be hunting down but the BBEG fooled their captors?

 

[Shadowdweller00]

Because tombs arent actually designed to be explored by interlopers and are generally put their to appeal to superstitious respect of honoured dead.

Nobody said that tombs were designed to be explored by interlopers. But putting lot of expensive carvings, paintings, and religious iconography is a good way to telegraph that there might be something worth stealing. The Egyptians themselves were well aware of this fact. Aside from inspiring awe in a living populace, their tombs were built to flatter (/honor) their deities as well. The decorations were necessary and important in their mind because of their religious beliefs.

But a prison has no need of these things. Contrast an otherwise unremarkable cave with a faded sign that says "Danger - unstable rocks" or something along those lines; without any possible hint of potential payout. Which do you imagine is more enticing to potential thieves?

 

[Lanefan]

That said, there's definitely a broad negative reaction to this! So I'll likely abandon or at least rethink the whole premise.

I'm a bit late to the party but count me as a positive reaction to the red-herring idea. It's not something you want to overdo, and can be tricky to pull off right, but when done well it can take one adventure and expand it into three or four, which is always a good thing.

Maybe once the party (think they) have done the original mission, even as soon as they get back to town have them start hearing rumbles and rumours that suggext maybe the place isn't quite as in-hand as they thought it was.

I've had to do this in the past without even intending to ahead of time. One example: a party once went into an adventure with the goal of clearing out the place as the nasties coming from there were starting to threaten civilized lands (yes, trope all the way!). They cleared out what they could find and thought they'd finished, but due to missing a secret door they left the truly significant bits untouched. A few months and a few other adventures later the PCs start hearing rumours that the place is acting up again, so off they go back to the same adventure only this time they finished it off.

Two adventures out of one - love it!