NOW LIVE! -- ZEITGEIST: Death of the Author for D&D 5E on Kickstarter! Murder. Conspiracy. Secrets. A remote manor. An adventure for D&D 5E.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 8249952" data-attributes="member: 16814">The key is to have a goal -- what does the villain want?  AW/DW does this with Fronts, Blades does it with clocks, but both of these are player facing trackers to show how this danger is advancing.  So, let's say we have Dr. Bob, Evil Mastermind.  Dr. Bob's plot is to "Destroy Metro City!"   You put this out in front of the players in bold marker, and when appropriate, you tick it.  When you tick it, you should advance the fiction some, but this really depends on what's happened up until this point in the game, and should aim at or harm the PCs.  Think of it as a series of soft/hard moves that advance the villain's plot.  You do not need to plan these, they should occur in the sense of the game, but it's okay to do some 'offscreen thinking' here and have a loose idea what what "Destroy Metro City" looks like. Just hold onto it lightly.  When you do this, then the players are on notice that bad is happening.  If you've made sure that Dr. Bob speaks to the PC's needs, then they should go after Dr. Bob without you prompting much.  This is why it's also helpful to have Bobblob and Duke Bob also having their plots that speak to the PCs.  That way, you'll always have something ticking towards doom.  If I were doing a supers game that didn't already have a nemesis/rival creation as part of PC creation, I'd absolutely borrow from Blades here and have every hero have a rival that they have a personal stake in to use, as needed, as villainous plotters.</blockquote>

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