Which is the best villainous organisation in D&D?

[Algolei]

I have to go with a DM I used to know, I think his name was Tim or something like that. Tom. Tum. Whatever; he was just one man, but he was utterly devious and extremely organized. After just one three-hour gaming session, he knew enough about me to guess which of the mixed nuts to infuse with cayenne powder for the next time we played.* And he knew how to select certain numbers of certain flavours of jellybeans to make them combine into the taste of doggy doo, and he'd leave them in a small pile at the bottom of a very large dish as they were the very last handful of something so delicious it was going faster than hotcakes, so if you were a greedy pig you would scoop them up and pop them all into your mouth at once and starting gleefully chewing away.

Ugh, that was nasty.

Plus I think he kicked dogs. No one ever saw him do it, or if they did they were too intimidated to speak out, but there were plenty of dogs around his neighbourhood and he was just the kind of guy to go around secretly kicking 'em. Heck, I bet the dogs didn't even see it coming. "I'm a dog, dum-de-dum, I'm so happy peeing on this tree. Gee, I wonder why my ribs hurt? Oh look, my tail's wagging! Lookit it go! Gee, I wonder why my ribs hurt? Hey, I think I'll lick myself! Gee, I wonder why my ribs hurt?..."











*It was the almonds. I can't resist picking them out of the mix.

 

[Wild Gazebo]

Yugoloths.

On a side note--I've never considered The Order to be villianous. At least no more villianous then say a druid organization.

 

[rln]

I had to vote for the Emerald Claw, mostly because we just got our butt kicked by them.

The other organisations we've had to deal with is The Cult of the Dragon and the Zhentarim/Banites. However, we kicked their butts so they can't be that dangerous, now can they? ;-)

I've actually taken over DMing this campaign... one of my NPCs (a Paladin) died from the touch of a spectre earlier, and he has returned as some kind of undead blackguard sworn to the service of Bane* which will continue to cause problems for the PCs in the future!

* = Long story, most of which can be found here.

 

[diaglo]

No Contest

By far the biggest .. BBEGuys in D&D are:

a Whizzers on the Coast, a Hasbeen subsidiary, with their OGL.

d02 killed D&D

 

[Dark Dragon]

Hmm, so many choices....

I like the Zhentarim, lots of background (FRCS, novels, and so on), and it is quite easy to build a James-Bond-like story around the organisation.

At the moment, I'm using the Twisted Rune as an opponent to the PCs. The Rune's members are all epic and they have a lot of carefully built plans. It's more about intrigue than open fighting.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Had to go with the Scarlet Brotherhood just because of fond memories and overall coolness.

Lots of good choices on the list though.

 

[Ryltar]

Other: The Yugoloths, plain and simple, because every single other organisation pales in comparison to their deviousness and the depths of their schemes.

The Doomguard, BTW, should not be listed as a villainous organisation (because, per se, they aren't - even their goal, entropy, is just chaotic, not necessarily evil).

If you have to include Planescape, choose the Yugoloths. It is for your own good.*

* This is the Bureau of the Oinoloth, and I approve this message.

 

[Joël of the FoS]

I voted for the Kargatane, but my second choice would be the Scarlet Brotherhood - nice bunch of people you don't want to invite to your next BBQ.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

The Dark Plea, no question. A planet-destroying godmind with a huge organization of dark beings of Dream, reaching back through time to ensure its own creation? Yes, please!

 

[HellHound]

The church of saint cuthbert.

I love using traditionally 'good' organizations (in the minds of players at least) and taking full advantage of their actual alignment. As an inherently chaotic person, I have issues with Law when it isn't also Good. And I play this to full effect in some games.

Lawful Neutral is only a step away from Lawful Evil... and Lawful Evil is seen by many as the most evil of evils.