Soooo, In a new campaign I have coming up, the party is going to begin on a fancy ship. I have a scene I want to do, but I'm not sure what to do with it lol

I want the introduction/New-Character-Icebreaker to be a Masquerade. For a bit of context, the party is on what is ESSENTIALLY a cruise ship where all their expenses have been paid for by a benefactor with the assumption that they work as "problem-solvers" on the ship (hired adventurers). 

During the masquerade I want there to be a scene where a host is all like "And now presenting our keynote speaker, [INSERT NAME HERE]!!" and the curtains open revealing the dude stripped and tied to a chair and a voice over "ye olde fantasy intercom system" announces his crime and is like "stop me if you can! *wink*" I want this "villian" to be incredibly dramatic and full of flair, and I know that THIS is the scene I'm trying to set, but idk what crime he did yet lol.

I honestly have no clue why he would tie up this guy, who the tied up guy is, or what tying him up has to do with this crime. I just know I want this scene lol

Any suggestions?? 

he's gonna sink the boat with all of the fancy rich people on it and the tied-up man is the captain

you could go for the cult approach, and tied up guy saw something he wasn't supposed to or spoke blasphemy

that or it's a test of loyalty for the adventurers; they gain favour with the villain or don't depending on what they do with this guy (i.e. kill him)

I'm struggling to put this together right... as it ready, you're presenting the villain as a dude tied to a chair, with his crime announced, then he winks and says "catch me if you can"?

I'm guessing the intent is for the Keynote Speaker (Let's call him Jeff Jefferson) to be announced, and then the curtain opens to reveal Jeff on the chair, and a "phantom voice" of the villain (now called Susan) challenges them to "stop her if they can", is that closer to the mark?

So, assuming that Jeff is the speaker, Jeff is going to be someone important or interesting. Jeff might be the person who owns the ship, or someone who wrote a book, or the guy who invented a potion to help aid men with their... ...issues. Whatever you pick, you need it to interlink with the story of Susan. I recommend working out:

• What is Susan trying to do? Crash the ship? summon a kraken? kidnap the princess who is on board and ransom her? hijack the ship to get her own group of people to an island which the ship happens to pass? sell all the passengers as slaves? rob the passengers and then make a getaway?
• Why does Susan hate Jeff Jefferson? Was Jeff the owner of the shipyard, and he fired her for threatening to expose his shady budget cuts? Was Susan the true author of the book, and Jeff stole the credit? Did Susan invent the miracle potion to treat Pulmonary Hypertension, only for Jeff to start selling to men with... ...issues? Or is Jeff the only one who can stop Susan? Did he have something on his person which has been stolen, like the handbrake for the ship? Perhaps the ship has a security system of Shield Guardians, which are controlled by a talisman now in the control of Susan? Did she just want to humiliate him out of personal spite, or does she think her position unassailable so is just having fun with Jeff?

I approach the missions I'm writing as a plot which has led to the current moment - what the villain is doing, has done, and plans to do, and then inject the adventurers with a rich backstory and villains with a plan, and see how it interacts.

This is your opening scene, so what is the adventure you have planned? Is there a zoo on board the cruise ship which is going to get loose (using Jeff's key, stolen by Susan) and the adventurers need to put them back or fight them off? If that's the case, then make Jeff the zoo owner, and make Susan an animal rights activist druid who is trying to get the animals to their own island where they can live as a happy little ecosystem free of the tyranny of people. Does she want to ram a lighthouse to get revenge on the lighthouse keeper who let her husband die by getting drunk and letting the light go out?

Motives and plans! that's what you need!

Thats exactly what I needed lol You got the situation right, Jeff is going to be the intended speaker, curtain reveals him tied up, disembodied susan announces herself, party ensues introquest. 

The actual campaign has nothing to do with this, its mainly going to be a short little prologue mission (introducing this susan character who I'm intending on being a reoccuring nuisance villian. Think like Team Rocket from pokemon, not a very good villian, just an annoying reoccuring one lol). 

The party's benefactor (not on the ship with the party) is actually a famous writer in-world so it would be a good call to have this susan be a rival writer. I could see her reasoning being:

1. She knows the party is working for Jack (The benefactor)

2. She knows Jack NEEDS the party delivered too him (the reason they're on the cruise ship)

3. She wants to hinder Jack in anyway possible. This time by either getting rid of the party, or convincing them to leave. 

4. She wants to lure the party, and Jeff was an easy target to make a show out of

5. She's hella extra and liked the drama of an ultimatum with a hostage (maybe have Tied up jeff vanish and her say "if you want him back meet me at x-place at y-time")

Just so everyone knows, I don't normally plan this way lol
usually I make the character's goal, and then plan how they do it, but this just came to me in reverse this time lol

That's one way to look at it, but I like to (and as such, ti's my opinion and you can disregard all of it) try and make the world seem like it would be there whether the adventurers were there or not. So instead of her stopping the party from arriving, she's instead stopping a shipment from arriving, or she's stopping Jeff from arriving. To quote scooby doo, she would have gotten away with it if not for those meddling adventurers.

The next question is how do you want the adventure to play out? Is this supposed to be a mystery, or is it meant to be combat oriented, or what? what are you going to get the players to do?

For an example - Jeff is a key part of Jack's plans, and as such Jeff needs Jack to tell him what he knows - Jeff has knowledge, Jack wants the knowledge, and Susan wants to stop Jeff from telling Jack what he knows.

so she's tied him up on the main stage, in front of everyone. To me, this is a distraction tactic. Everyone in the room will be looking at the stage. Also, after she has declared her war on the passengers and the party, they will all be looking for her everywhere, so places which were guarded might be less guarded. Or, maybe she is counting on Jeff doubling the guard at the place where the item she wants is being stored - and so revealing to her where it is.

Personally I'm a fan of the idea of the ship having Shield Guardians to keep order, and the Captain being the one who is tied up, and the amulet which controls the shield guardians stolen. This way the party has to work out where Susan is, and also avoid or combat her shield guardians to move about the ship.

So, why is she doing it, and what does she want to accomplish. If she wants to stop the party from getting there, she wants to sink the boat - if they work it all out during the cruise, she's accomplished nothing.

her just wanting to hinder Jack is a little loose, it would be more interesting if she and Jack have conflicting plans, and this is her stealing an artefact or silencing a talkative person, stealing an ancient map, that sort of thing.

So what happens when the party arrives? what does Jack want them to do, and aside from preventing the party from arriving, what could Susan be up to on this ship to make that difficult for him?

This is where it gets convoluted lol

WORLD INFO!!!! 

The campaign is going to primarily be set on a newly formed island (part of the mystery will be how it got there) that is currently THE place for people trying to make their fortune, or escape, or explore or whatever (currently referred to as "The Frontier"). The island has 4 primary factions: Clearwater, a industrial city founded by a company (think a walmart sponsored city). Calisburg, city founded by a trade company from the mainland, the first and biggest settlement, trying to monopolize importing and exporting from The Frontier. The Arcansa Research Facility: Scientists and wizards from the mainland Academy set up in the heart of the largest mountain range. Researching the natural resources of the area as well as the possible magical origins of the island. The Mines: The "be-all-end-all" in terms of making a name. Near unlimited wealth in the form of Manakyte (enchantable material) The Mine is massive, sprawling underneath the mountains and is completely controlled and operated by the mysterious Never-Seen figure "BB". pretty much, for a settlement to "make it" they need some kind of claim to the mines, either by documentation from BB, or inheritance or whatever.

Jack is an eccentric,  naïve, wealthy older man who spent his life writing adventure novels and now that he has accumulated incredible fortune, wants to live his dream of setting off to new places. He is funding a privately owned settlement on The Frontier that consists of a mix of random civilians, and people he personally knew and invited. The players are all starting the adventure having received an invitation (by various means) from jack inviting them to be what he's calling "Problem-Solvers". Little do they know, the little settlement he's made (Bluerock) is a joke. There resources are low, they have no trade or income, nothing to export, and on top of all this, they're being harassed by the local bandit lord and his crew.

awesome, sounds like a really cool basis for a campaign!

So, we have a mysterious island, and an eccentric millionaire making his own settlement which is going downhill fast because he doesn't know how to run one.

So, potential reasons (off the top of my head) for Susan to want to make problems for Jack, which will lead to some string of cool quests:

• Susan was outbid for the site of Jacks settlement. Jack was bidding solely on the basis that it was fairly flat, has a freshwater river and sounds like it's going to be good for farming - he had the soil tested and found it to be rich and fertile. What he didn't notice (but Susan and Jeff did) is that the soil contains high concentrations of Manakyte, and could be a seam to rival The Mines. Jeff was on his way to tell Jack, and Susan wanted to stop him. Susan plans to disrupt everything for Jack, and make him quit this dream, move back to the mainland and sell the land, which she will buy, and then she can mine it and make a fortune.
• Susan is part of an ancient organisation which has been awaiting the prophesized island's arrival, only to see it snapped up by big corporations and mines. She, and her organisation, seek to drive people off of the island, and their first mission is to sink all supply vessels coming onto the island - cut it off, then methodically clear out the settlements.
• Susan is part of an ancient organisation, which has been dreading the arrival of this island, as it brings with it a terrible evil. They are seeking a way to sink the island again, but Susan is in love with Jack, and couldn't bear for anything to happen to him. Sworn to secrecy in the strictest sense, she cannot warn him, so she is attempting to drive ******** the island. Jeff was bringing with him the second half of Jack's payment for the site, and Susan has stolen it to stop him from building his settlement, so she can get on with sinking the island again (somehow).

That gives me a lot to think about!! I'm really liking the idea of an ancient society that knew of the coming of the island! Even though I may use the first of your suggestions for this particular instance, I think I'm DEFINITELY going to use the secret society thing as a major plot point. I never even thought of that! AAAAAND that'll give me a few ways to connect this current campaign to the previous one that (took place on the mainland of this same world) just ended!

Glad that I could assist! It's always good to link things together - my goal in worldbuilding and making plots is to make it so that the world exists and things happen whether the players intervene or not. I'm hoping my approach makes it easier if players derail the intended story (EG siding with Susan) - I know where the plot was going to be going!