Who/What are your campaigns big villains?

[blackshirt5]

Just as it says. I'm trying to get an idea for more villains to spread throughout my campaign world, so I'll start with what I've already got covered:

Tremayne: A former Inquisitor of Calvadia, Tremayne deposed King Albrecht Dunnedel during a bloody event known as the Darkest Days, when most of the world's heroes were betrayed and murdered or assassinated. He has mastered the art of breaking people's spirits, and uses this to great effect, turning ordinary farmboys into brutal vicious killers, and then getting them assigned to his legions as knights. He also has a certain unpleasant fondness for very young girls, and used his powers of persuasion on Albrecht's daughter Anya to get her to marry him, that being how he laid claim to the Iron-Shod Throne(as the kingship of Calvadia is called).

Theodren Jerle-called the Usurper by loyalist dwarves, Theodren comes from a long line of dwarves who were respected for their talent of arms, but disliked because they were unpleasant to be around. As it turns out, Theodren's clan engaged in infernalism, making pacts with the demon lords long long ago and still standing by those pacts now. Theodren's father laid claim to the Kingship of Khazak-Urborg after Greymore's father married an elf maiden and brought her to the mountains; Theodren's father claimed that the Lau Clan(as Greymore's family had come to be called; it's a shortening of their original family name) was unfit to rule, as this elf maiden's presence only proved what their ancestors showed when they lost the legendary Shield of Garrack Laugenor 2,500 years ago! Theodren is a powerful infernalist, and surrounds himself with demons, demonologists, and blackhearted warriors. He's also an isolationist, but can see the advantages in making pacts with humans like Tremayne, who can serve to provide him with easy sacrifices to the demons, such as children.

I've got others, but they haven't really been revealed yet. Any input would be appreciated.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I don't really have on single BIG villain...instead, I have an entire group of them.

Mind Flayers.



They've destroyed an entire range of mountains and got it blamed on Orcs...they've got a Dragon Cult started up by a crazed Drow who thinks he's in charge...there's even a huge war between Orcs and other Goblin peoples against the main Core races just about to start...why?...because of the Mind Flayers...who have manipulated the Drow...who have manipulated the Orcs....bwahahahaha. My players know nothing of this...and will hate me for it.

 

[blackshirt5]

Well, unbeknownst to my players, all the villains(at least, the big ones) are in on this together, the Darkest Days, when they had all the heroes killed, with the exception of a few who made it away(the PCs and a few others). The thing is, since none of the villains have much in common(Theodren is perfectly willing to carve up and butcher a child if it pleases his fiendish patron Behemoth, but thinks that what Tramayne does with children is perverse and disgusting, for example), eventually it could get to the point where the players have to make a choice between the lesser of two evils, or something of that nature.

Hee hee, I love being an evil DM.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Hee hee, I love being an evil DM.

It is very refreshing. Especially when you see the looks on the PCs faces when they realize what's going on.

 

[fusangite]

I've really fallen in love with the longest-term villain of my campaign. Unfortunately, so have my players. Even last episode when he threatened to kill them, they still found him irrepressably likeable.

-- Which is a problem for them. He is literally pure evil -- neutral evil drow elf, monomaniacally focused on opening the gate to hell. However, he's so focused on his evil objective, he is perfectly willing to be fair, just and popular in order to maintain his ducal throne and have the resources necessary for his ultimate project.

You see, the duke is willing to let good be done if it serves his ultimate evil goal. This has blinded the paladin, in particular, from seeing just what a terrible threat the duke constitutes. Even when the duke lies to him, he is unable to even be annoyed, recognizing that this fellow is doing a superb job of governing the city. Of course, it also helps that the duke often allies with the characters when some evil upstarts try to take over the city (and, more importantly, take his throne).

I, personally, love my villain because so often, in attempting to do something evil, he inadvertently does something good. So often, in my own life, despite my pure and altruistic intentions, I have actually caused evil while wishing nothing but the best for others. The duke is, in many ways, my mirror image -- a wholly evil being who somehow keeps causing good things to happen. Of course, the duke is also like me in other ways. He's just made his second public speech about what great heroes the characters are and showered civic honours on them. (I've had to make my share of nice speeches about people I despise.)

However, unless the characters mend their ways, I am going to stop frustrating and stymying the duke's efforts. In 15 days (real time), the duke is set to open the gate to hell while the characters valiantly hack away at the vampires he's set them on.

 

[Silver Moon]

The top three Big Bads are:

Pamela, High Priestess of Loviatar.

Louella, A man-hating High-level Druid, who is also the mother of one of the playing characters.

Vaughn, A mentally unstable wizard from a futuristic world.


Interestingly enough, all three are humans.

 

[Zappo]

There was a thread about "posting your big bad evil guys" a few days ago.

My campaign villains tend to be evil spellcasters. I like them because they are deranged, unpredicatable, and can do all kinds of very weird stuff. You can pull out a thousand evil spellcasters, and they'll each have a different evil plan to world conquest

 

[Angcuru]

Well, unbeknownst to my players...

Maybe, JUST MAYBE you should have put a (MY PLAYERS STAY OUT!) attachment to this thread.

And BTW, it IS known to the players, and was made VERY obvious when Angcuru&Company spotted and killed several dwarves who were aiding the warriors of the Iron-Clad Throne(whom we refer to as Dragon Warriors, due to their insignia, and the fact that we don't know what they're actually called) in the sacking&burning of Arboreon.

And WHY did you not mention Brei Dhala? I have a big grudge against that bastard...

 

[Angcuru]

The duke is, in many ways, my mirror image -- a wholly evil being who somehow keeps causing good things to happen. Of course, the duke is also like me in other ways.

God, this guy's like Garland...but actually dangerous!

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

Well, my campaigns have several "big bads".

1) In my trilogy of western campaigns, the big bad was none other than Mammon himself, who found himself exiled to the Prime Material after a shakeup in the powers of Hell, possessed the body of a fallen paladin, and set about laying claim to a huge piece of land in the north.

2) In my Oriental Adventures campaign, it was Tonbo Buriko, a shugenja from a decimated clan. She got a hold of an extremely epic spell and was all set to exile the goddess Amaterasu and send the eastern lands into a new ice age when the PCs stopped her.

3) In my Celtic campaign, it was Moroughdraid (Mordred, get it?), a war-leader among the Eldritch (an ancient collective race (spell weavers, mind flayers, and aboleth) that inhabited the same caverns later claimed by Mammon, above).