A little backstory, I had the idea for one of them from the moment I've created my world, and they were supposed to be the BBEG for my current campaign but when I tried to plan out the main story I could never find a good way to tie them in. So I reworked the story and built a new BBEG that tied many elements from the PCs stories together and I'm very happy with how neatly it all fits together.
I was ready to plan out the new main story when suddenly I found a way to finally tie my original BBEG to the current and even the future arcs, it worked out so well that I even managed to find a way to include the new BBEG in this, and everything about this had me HYPED.
The problem is that I can't do that since the original one is something I created as part of my world as opposed to the new one which I created out of the PCs stories, and if I have the both of them, the original (who is more powerful and a bigger threat than the new one, who is kind of working for him) will overshadow the new one and I feel like that would be unsatisfying because it's like all of the PCs stories are intersecting in this big boss fight and everything was leading up to this and- oh, wait, never mind he was just a part of a bigger, badder boss's plot that has nothing to do with the main characters.
Anyways, the way I see it now I can only choose to have one of them, aaand I really don't want to. I was wandering if anybody has been in a similar situation and has advice.
Have both of them and see which ones the players decide to go after. Or have the weaker one first lead into the big big bad. OR, more dramatically, maybe the two big bads are fighting each other to be the biggest bad, and maybe the players will need/have the option to form an alliance with one of them to take down the other.
Never be too afraid to have more than one big bad out in the world. That just offers more player choice. My current game has 3 or 4. But the trick is, when the players choose one, keep track in your notes what the others are up to while the heroes are away, and have their plans effect the world in ways that the players can notice. Instant worldbuilding.
"You've just beaten the big bad, and now we reveal the bigger bad" is a rather classic plot element for open-ended serial adventures (it gets pretty ridiculous in manga). See the Disc One Final Boss or the Big Bad Shuffle. In the context of an RPG, I would give hints that there's maybe something behind the current BBEG, and depending on how you and the players are feeling about the campaign at they time they go up against the first BBEG, either end the campaign or proceed to the bigger bad.
You can totally keep both in your campaign! Remember when Saruman was defeated in Lord of the Rings? It was a great arc, and no less significant because Sauron was still around. This is why I’m not a fan of the term “BBEG,” and prefer to think in terms of villains.
What if the villain you like better (the weaker one) doesn’t fight the characters, and instead offers them a chance to team up and defeat the main villain in a way they couldn’t without him, kind of like Gollum does? He can betray them in the end, of course!
Keep both, there is nothing saying you only have to have one main boss.
Each villain has his/her own goals. Sometimes those goals are similar and sometimes they are at odds with others. They each have their own ways to achieve these goals as well.
It is possible that they don't know that there are two of your bosses. They might think they are the same entity (or could be lead to believe).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
As others said, two bosses is an option. It’s actually the more interesting one. The PCs can try and play them off each other, or tackle them one at a time. They can run into agents of one working against agents of the other. Or find the two groups in an alliance of convince, but looking for a chance to to get an advantage.
And there’s an easier way of one working as a lieutenant of the other. But multiple bad guys is way better. Makes the world feel more realistic with different groups each working toward their own end. Lots of different people each trying to rule the world, or whatever, seems better than just a binary one good group, one bad group.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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A little backstory, I had the idea for one of them from the moment I've created my world, and they were supposed to be the BBEG for my current campaign but when I tried to plan out the main story I could never find a good way to tie them in. So I reworked the story and built a new BBEG that tied many elements from the PCs stories together and I'm very happy with how neatly it all fits together.
I was ready to plan out the new main story when suddenly I found a way to finally tie my original BBEG to the current and even the future arcs, it worked out so well that I even managed to find a way to include the new BBEG in this, and everything about this had me HYPED.
The problem is that I can't do that since the original one is something I created as part of my world as opposed to the new one which I created out of the PCs stories, and if I have the both of them, the original (who is more powerful and a bigger threat than the new one, who is kind of working for him) will overshadow the new one and I feel like that would be unsatisfying because it's like all of the PCs stories are intersecting in this big boss fight and everything was leading up to this and- oh, wait, never mind he was just a part of a bigger, badder boss's plot that has nothing to do with the main characters.
Anyways, the way I see it now I can only choose to have one of them, aaand I really don't want to. I was wandering if anybody has been in a similar situation and has advice.
Have both of them and see which ones the players decide to go after. Or have the weaker one first lead into the big big bad. OR, more dramatically, maybe the two big bads are fighting each other to be the biggest bad, and maybe the players will need/have the option to form an alliance with one of them to take down the other.
Never be too afraid to have more than one big bad out in the world. That just offers more player choice. My current game has 3 or 4. But the trick is, when the players choose one, keep track in your notes what the others are up to while the heroes are away, and have their plans effect the world in ways that the players can notice. Instant worldbuilding.
"You've just beaten the big bad, and now we reveal the bigger bad" is a rather classic plot element for open-ended serial adventures (it gets pretty ridiculous in manga). See the Disc One Final Boss or the Big Bad Shuffle. In the context of an RPG, I would give hints that there's maybe something behind the current BBEG, and depending on how you and the players are feeling about the campaign at they time they go up against the first BBEG, either end the campaign or proceed to the bigger bad.
You can totally keep both in your campaign! Remember when Saruman was defeated in Lord of the Rings? It was a great arc, and no less significant because Sauron was still around. This is why I’m not a fan of the term “BBEG,” and prefer to think in terms of villains.
What if the villain you like better (the weaker one) doesn’t fight the characters, and instead offers them a chance to team up and defeat the main villain in a way they couldn’t without him, kind of like Gollum does? He can betray them in the end, of course!
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Keep both, there is nothing saying you only have to have one main boss.
Each villain has his/her own goals. Sometimes those goals are similar and sometimes they are at odds with others. They each have their own ways to achieve these goals as well.
It is possible that they don't know that there are two of your bosses. They might think they are the same entity (or could be lead to believe).
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
As others said, two bosses is an option. It’s actually the more interesting one. The PCs can try and play them off each other, or tackle them one at a time. They can run into agents of one working against agents of the other. Or find the two groups in an alliance of convince, but looking for a chance to to get an advantage.
And there’s an easier way of one working as a lieutenant of the other.
But multiple bad guys is way better. Makes the world feel more realistic with different groups each working toward their own end. Lots of different people each trying to rule the world, or whatever, seems better than just a binary one good group, one bad group.