Hey guys, first campaign and I basically am stuck on one piece of my story. Long story short, I want my main villan to be hidden in plain sight type of deal, and I don't know how to introduce them. I didn't want to write a novel explaining the setup unless it would help, but a condensed version would be "villain wants several magic maguffins scattered throughout the land, and poses as a friendly npc to the party to trick them into getting them for her. She's actually an ancient evil fey. I can explain at length, but she's not the only one after them.
Here's an idea. Each McGuffin does something special, and a local entity wants each for that reason, e.g., a Wand of Mining Real Good that the local (evil, bloodthirsty) dwarves want. The BBEG uses that as an excuse to commission the party to retrieve them all. So, the party knows the BBEG because of the quest given by them. Turn in the last (or next to last) McGuffin and BAM, out comes the evil plot.
Edit: The point is not the detail of the quest, but the idea that the BBEG spins it to pit the party against other local groups, even if the information is false. You then have control (or, the players have control based on what you tell them) over when/how the ultimate reveal is done. It could be done spectacularly at Last McGuffin Time, or it could be slowly after each few McGuffins. "Hmmm, the dwarves that we slaughtered didn't seem very bloodthirsty to me."
You could base it around the old artifact called the Rod of the Seven Parts (also called the Rod of Law). Basically its a powerful artifact that was split into 7 parts and when combined creates a stupidly powerful staff. So the BBEG, under the guise a local noble, could hire the party to retrieve the various parts so the duly designated ruler can use it to overcome something (a curse, end a famine, avoid a war, solidify their rule etc). The BBEG may have even stolen the identity of a noble from court and be able to introduce the party to the rest of the nobles. Should the party retrive all the parts then the staff could turn out to be something more nefarious or may be the real Rod of the Seven Parts and the BBEG uses it to usurp power.
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* Need a character idea? Search for "Rob76's Unused" in the Story and Lore section.
Hey guys, first campaign and I basically am stuck on one piece of my story. Long story short, I want my main villan to be hidden in plain sight type of deal, and I don't know how to introduce them. I didn't want to write a novel explaining the setup unless it would help, but a condensed version would be "villain wants several magic maguffins scattered throughout the land, and poses as a friendly npc to the party to trick them into getting them for her. She's actually an ancient evil fey. I can explain at length, but she's not the only one after them.
Is the campaign starting from scratch, or have the party already gone on adventures? If the former, then the villain can just be introduced in game setup as the person who got the PCs together to do things for them. "Mentor/employer is actually evil" is so common as to be a bit cliche, but that's good, because you want the PCs to figure it out eventually.
If the game's already established, you need a bit more work to set up the same scenario. If they already have a mentor/employer figure, she can be introduced through that person, who has been fooled/controlled (and who can later end up dead, obviously the work of the other forces hunting the mystic doodads). If they don't, you can introduce her as a recurring quest giver, either in the "I have a job for you, noble heroes" or "I'm desperate, and I need help" mode, depending on which fits the party better. (Don't immediately have her jump on the magic goober quest; build up trust with some clear, obviously good jobs before she goes for "I've learned the forces of evil are after the Ancient Bookends of Elmenkainen")
The best thing you can do to start: Do not introduce them. Do not even know in your own head who the main villain is for a couple of sessions. A campaign with an intrigue and betrayal subplot is heavily dependant on your players buying what you are selling - that means you want them to trust and like an NPC before the betrayal is revealed.
The kindly person who sends some folks they don’t know on a fetch quest to find some powerful things? That sounds like someone untrustworthy or badly written. So skip that - introduce your players to a lot of different NPCs by doing something tangentially related to your main plot (maybe they have to save a town from goblins, and, in the process, find the first item). Judge which NPC your players like the most… and then have them secretly be your Fae. Yes, this means that, going into the session you might have a half dozen or so possibilities for your BBEG’s disguised self, but the NPC you ultimately choose will be the one the party trusts and liked the most, making the betrayal all the more surprising. Once they like that character, the character can start asking for help - it makes more sense for a friend of the party to ask the party for help than it would a stranger.
Everything else about your BBEG you can plot out in advance - it is only the mask which you would be changing rapidly.
Also, never tell your players that you did this - it will ruin the illusion in their minds that you manipulated events to make them like the NPC who was ultimately the traitor, giving them a fond memory of how well the intrigue was done.
I would put the party in a situation where they need to seek out a learned wise sage wizardy type person. Then, I would introduce two characters at around the same time both of them learned wizardy type people. I would make one of them a super, duper ****** cannoe, like, really really douchy. Just the douchiest. Someone to whom the players will take an instant dislike. Make the other one Kinda nice, who dislikes the ****** bag. That second NPC can openly punk the ******bag which will endear them to the players. That’s your BBE. (That’s actually a classic con, I don’t remember the name of it though.)
As for the maguffins, I would like to echo Rob76’s suggestion of the Rod of 7 Parts.
The kindly person who sends some folks they don’t know on a fetch quest to find some powerful things? That sounds like someone untrustworthy or badly written. So skip that - introduce your players to a lot of different NPCs.. .
For a "first campaign," I think that's off the mark. Keep it simple at first. 2 or 3 NPCs are a lot for a new DM.
The party should want adventure or quests or somesuch so introducing people to hire them is relatively easy.
Give the NPCs personalities that are convincing - think of people you know and have the NPCs act like them - you favorite check stand person or waitress or the book store girl or something like that. You DO NOT have to choose the identity of the BBEG yet.
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"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?"
My brain couldn't help itself last night and I got to thinking about 7 quests to retrieve the 7 parts of the rod of 7 parts, feel free to use them if you want to, here we go but these don't need to be in any particular order, for refernece, I am imagining the BBEG as a Hugh Laurie/Dr House style individual:
1) The first part is located in the heart of a Druid grove. Lynders Farm is an island reknowned for its farming of both crops and livestock. In the middle of the island is a Druid grove (functions as per the spell from XGtE) and in the middle of the grove is a large tree, within the heart of the tree lies one of the parts of the Rod of Seven Parts and the magic of the rod empowers the grove. Removing the Rod would break the enchantment on the island meaning the farms would not be as successful as they have been and leave them susceptible to all teh common ravages that might blight a famer.
2) The second part lies in the hands of the Order of the Rose; a lodge of Knights that are sworn to uphold and protect an ancient light (their all on the road to being Oath of Ancient Paladins). This particular part of the rod forms the grip, guard and pommel of the sword of the Orders leader, the sword happens to be a Holy Avenger and the rod would need to be seperated from the blade in order to be combined with the other parts of the Rod.
3) The third part is kept in a museum to "the Dark Arts". The museum is run by a former teacher at a mages school (and is a Sorcerer or Warlock) and the rod is used as a mystical lock on a glass case that houses a "possessed" doll (think Annabelle or Chucky) that, if it was released, would bring great evil to the land.
4) The fourth part is located in a place where sunlight never shines and its location can only be revealed when the sun is at its zenith. The party need to travel to a ruined city and travel through it to an old church. In a courtyard there is a Sun dial on the edge of a reflecting pool. At Noon each day a single ray of sunlight strikes the sundial for 1 minute and in the relfecting pool can be seen a shadowy version of the churuch courtyard. Emaciated humanoids of vrious types shuffle and wander around the courtyard and the sundial in this shaodw realm glows faintly. For this one minute the reflecting pool becomes a portal to the Shadowfell, the party would need to go through the portal and cast either a Light or Daylight spell on the shadowfell version of the sundial to retrieve the section of the rod. However, doing so causes all the creatures in the courtyard to turn hostile and pursue the party through the portal and into the material plane. Rather than do this as a combat encounter I thought it would make a good Skill Challenge, each player takes a turn to say which skill check they would like to make and how it will help them (for instance a wizard might say they will use arcana and it represents them tossing Firebolts over their shoulder as they run, a Ranger might use Survival to find shortcuts throught he ruins etc) the party need to acquire a total of 50 points off skill checks in orer to escape so when the players roll their checks you just narrate something appropriate and keep a running total of their scores.
5) The fifth part is part of a building, it was laid as a part of the foundation to bring a blessing of stability. The party need to locate the building and find a way to retrieve the rod.
6) The Sixth part is in a prison of of shapelssness. Deep in the underdark, in a crevasse many hundreds of feet deep, lies an avatar of Juiblex. This avatar swallowed an adventurer who sort ot use the Rod to send it back to the Abyss and it now tries to dislove and consum its power. The Rod is far more reslient and cannot be dissolved by its acid.
7) The final part is being used by a Wizard who thinks it is merely an Arcane Spell Focus. This part of the Rod was enchanted many years ago with a Nystul's Magical Aura spell to hide its true nature. The party need to locate the wizard, obtain their spell focus and dispel the enchantment. This is of course a ruse and should priobably be the last quest the party are sent on. The BBEG already has the part and it is indeed enchnted witha Nystuls Magical Aura, the Rod is the walking stick he has been using since day one. The Wixard the party are sent after could be a rival or just some powerful spellcaster that the BBEG wants removed.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
* Need a character idea? Search for "Rob76's Unused" in the Story and Lore section.
I'm gonna go ahead and give a condensed version of my plot I've written so far. Im kinda proud of it, but again, it's my first campaign. I'll keep it as short as I can.
Basically I have an island appearing off the coast of amn. It was trapped in the Astral sea for untold millenia.
The fey thats the villian attempted a ritual that drained power from several different planes to become a diety. (I'm aware this might not be lore possible or accurate but im handwaving it for fun) the ritual was thwarted by ancient heroes and the backlash sent the whole island to the Astral sea. The island also has several regions heavily affected by the ties to the planes used in the ritual (fire plane, water plane, air plane, fey wild, earth plane, the hells, the abyss, and the shadow plane). With each area having the wildlife and people affected. Basically all of the island inhabitants are genasi, fey or things from the planes.
The players are part of a group of guilds who are like the first explorers from the sword coast.
Basically the villians goal is to reopen the seals on each of the regions and continue the ritual, and she needs the artifacts in each dungeon to do it, but because of the seals she herself cannot. She plans on posing as an ancient good fey of the forrest to gain their trust, kinda taking influence from the fey villian in pathfinder kingmaker
Thats basically the cliff notes. I didn't write a plot too much, because as a player, I know that too much plot writing will be wasted, because players are not going to do what you want a the time. And that's not the point. I tried writing a beginning with backstory, and have a vague sense of what the ending could be, but I want the story to unfold organically.
My main problem is, im not sure how to introduce the fey villian in the story without tipping off that she's the main villian earlier than I want.
Hey guys, first campaign and I basically am stuck on one piece of my story. Long story short, I want my main villan to be hidden in plain sight type of deal, and I don't know how to introduce them. I didn't want to write a novel explaining the setup unless it would help, but a condensed version would be "villain wants several magic maguffins scattered throughout the land, and poses as a friendly npc to the party to trick them into getting them for her. She's actually an ancient evil fey. I can explain at length, but she's not the only one after them.
Here's an idea. Each McGuffin does something special, and a local entity wants each for that reason, e.g., a Wand of Mining Real Good that the local (evil, bloodthirsty) dwarves want. The BBEG uses that as an excuse to commission the party to retrieve them all. So, the party knows the BBEG because of the quest given by them. Turn in the last (or next to last) McGuffin and BAM, out comes the evil plot.
Edit: The point is not the detail of the quest, but the idea that the BBEG spins it to pit the party against other local groups, even if the information is false. You then have control (or, the players have control based on what you tell them) over when/how the ultimate reveal is done. It could be done spectacularly at Last McGuffin Time, or it could be slowly after each few McGuffins. "Hmmm, the dwarves that we slaughtered didn't seem very bloodthirsty to me."
You could base it around the old artifact called the Rod of the Seven Parts (also called the Rod of Law). Basically its a powerful artifact that was split into 7 parts and when combined creates a stupidly powerful staff. So the BBEG, under the guise a local noble, could hire the party to retrieve the various parts so the duly designated ruler can use it to overcome something (a curse, end a famine, avoid a war, solidify their rule etc). The BBEG may have even stolen the identity of a noble from court and be able to introduce the party to the rest of the nobles. Should the party retrive all the parts then the staff could turn out to be something more nefarious or may be the real Rod of the Seven Parts and the BBEG uses it to usurp power.
Is the campaign starting from scratch, or have the party already gone on adventures? If the former, then the villain can just be introduced in game setup as the person who got the PCs together to do things for them. "Mentor/employer is actually evil" is so common as to be a bit cliche, but that's good, because you want the PCs to figure it out eventually.
If the game's already established, you need a bit more work to set up the same scenario. If they already have a mentor/employer figure, she can be introduced through that person, who has been fooled/controlled (and who can later end up dead, obviously the work of the other forces hunting the mystic doodads). If they don't, you can introduce her as a recurring quest giver, either in the "I have a job for you, noble heroes" or "I'm desperate, and I need help" mode, depending on which fits the party better. (Don't immediately have her jump on the magic goober quest; build up trust with some clear, obviously good jobs before she goes for "I've learned the forces of evil are after the Ancient Bookends of Elmenkainen")
The best thing you can do to start: Do not introduce them. Do not even know in your own head who the main villain is for a couple of sessions. A campaign with an intrigue and betrayal subplot is heavily dependant on your players buying what you are selling - that means you want them to trust and like an NPC before the betrayal is revealed.
The kindly person who sends some folks they don’t know on a fetch quest to find some powerful things? That sounds like someone untrustworthy or badly written. So skip that - introduce your players to a lot of different NPCs by doing something tangentially related to your main plot (maybe they have to save a town from goblins, and, in the process, find the first item). Judge which NPC your players like the most… and then have them secretly be your Fae. Yes, this means that, going into the session you might have a half dozen or so possibilities for your BBEG’s disguised self, but the NPC you ultimately choose will be the one the party trusts and liked the most, making the betrayal all the more surprising. Once they like that character, the character can start asking for help - it makes more sense for a friend of the party to ask the party for help than it would a stranger.
Everything else about your BBEG you can plot out in advance - it is only the mask which you would be changing rapidly.
Also, never tell your players that you did this - it will ruin the illusion in their minds that you manipulated events to make them like the NPC who was ultimately the traitor, giving them a fond memory of how well the intrigue was done.
I would put the party in a situation where they need to seek out a learned wise sage wizardy type person. Then, I would introduce two characters at around the same time both of them learned wizardy type people. I would make one of them a super, duper ****** cannoe, like, really really douchy. Just the douchiest. Someone to whom the players will take an instant dislike. Make the other one Kinda nice, who dislikes the ****** bag. That second NPC can openly punk the ******bag which will endear them to the players. That’s your BBE. (That’s actually a classic con, I don’t remember the name of it though.)
As for the maguffins, I would like to echo Rob76’s suggestion of the Rod of 7 Parts.
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For a "first campaign," I think that's off the mark. Keep it simple at first. 2 or 3 NPCs are a lot for a new DM.
The party should want adventure or quests or somesuch so introducing people to hire them is relatively easy.
Give the NPCs personalities that are convincing - think of people you know and have the NPCs act like them - you favorite check stand person or waitress or the book store girl or something like that. You DO NOT have to choose the identity of the BBEG yet.
"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
This is all great advice, and im taking notes from every comment. I still have a good deal of writing to do.
My brain couldn't help itself last night and I got to thinking about 7 quests to retrieve the 7 parts of the rod of 7 parts, feel free to use them if you want to, here we go but these don't need to be in any particular order, for refernece, I am imagining the BBEG as a Hugh Laurie/Dr House style individual:
1) The first part is located in the heart of a Druid grove. Lynders Farm is an island reknowned for its farming of both crops and livestock. In the middle of the island is a Druid grove (functions as per the spell from XGtE) and in the middle of the grove is a large tree, within the heart of the tree lies one of the parts of the Rod of Seven Parts and the magic of the rod empowers the grove. Removing the Rod would break the enchantment on the island meaning the farms would not be as successful as they have been and leave them susceptible to all teh common ravages that might blight a famer.
2) The second part lies in the hands of the Order of the Rose; a lodge of Knights that are sworn to uphold and protect an ancient light (their all on the road to being Oath of Ancient Paladins). This particular part of the rod forms the grip, guard and pommel of the sword of the Orders leader, the sword happens to be a Holy Avenger and the rod would need to be seperated from the blade in order to be combined with the other parts of the Rod.
3) The third part is kept in a museum to "the Dark Arts". The museum is run by a former teacher at a mages school (and is a Sorcerer or Warlock) and the rod is used as a mystical lock on a glass case that houses a "possessed" doll (think Annabelle or Chucky) that, if it was released, would bring great evil to the land.
4) The fourth part is located in a place where sunlight never shines and its location can only be revealed when the sun is at its zenith. The party need to travel to a ruined city and travel through it to an old church. In a courtyard there is a Sun dial on the edge of a reflecting pool. At Noon each day a single ray of sunlight strikes the sundial for 1 minute and in the relfecting pool can be seen a shadowy version of the churuch courtyard. Emaciated humanoids of vrious types shuffle and wander around the courtyard and the sundial in this shaodw realm glows faintly. For this one minute the reflecting pool becomes a portal to the Shadowfell, the party would need to go through the portal and cast either a Light or Daylight spell on the shadowfell version of the sundial to retrieve the section of the rod. However, doing so causes all the creatures in the courtyard to turn hostile and pursue the party through the portal and into the material plane. Rather than do this as a combat encounter I thought it would make a good Skill Challenge, each player takes a turn to say which skill check they would like to make and how it will help them (for instance a wizard might say they will use arcana and it represents them tossing Firebolts over their shoulder as they run, a Ranger might use Survival to find shortcuts throught he ruins etc) the party need to acquire a total of 50 points off skill checks in orer to escape so when the players roll their checks you just narrate something appropriate and keep a running total of their scores.
5) The fifth part is part of a building, it was laid as a part of the foundation to bring a blessing of stability. The party need to locate the building and find a way to retrieve the rod.
6) The Sixth part is in a prison of of shapelssness. Deep in the underdark, in a crevasse many hundreds of feet deep, lies an avatar of Juiblex. This avatar swallowed an adventurer who sort ot use the Rod to send it back to the Abyss and it now tries to dislove and consum its power. The Rod is far more reslient and cannot be dissolved by its acid.
7) The final part is being used by a Wizard who thinks it is merely an Arcane Spell Focus. This part of the Rod was enchanted many years ago with a Nystul's Magical Aura spell to hide its true nature. The party need to locate the wizard, obtain their spell focus and dispel the enchantment. This is of course a ruse and should priobably be the last quest the party are sent on. The BBEG already has the part and it is indeed enchnted witha Nystuls Magical Aura, the Rod is the walking stick he has been using since day one. The Wixard the party are sent after could be a rival or just some powerful spellcaster that the BBEG wants removed.
I'm gonna go ahead and give a condensed version of my plot I've written so far. Im kinda proud of it, but again, it's my first campaign. I'll keep it as short as I can.
Basically I have an island appearing off the coast of amn. It was trapped in the Astral sea for untold millenia.
The fey thats the villian attempted a ritual that drained power from several different planes to become a diety. (I'm aware this might not be lore possible or accurate but im handwaving it for fun) the ritual was thwarted by ancient heroes and the backlash sent the whole island to the Astral sea. The island also has several regions heavily affected by the ties to the planes used in the ritual (fire plane, water plane, air plane, fey wild, earth plane, the hells, the abyss, and the shadow plane). With each area having the wildlife and people affected. Basically all of the island inhabitants are genasi, fey or things from the planes.
The players are part of a group of guilds who are like the first explorers from the sword coast.
Basically the villians goal is to reopen the seals on each of the regions and continue the ritual, and she needs the artifacts in each dungeon to do it, but because of the seals she herself cannot. She plans on posing as an ancient good fey of the forrest to gain their trust, kinda taking influence from the fey villian in pathfinder kingmaker
Thats basically the cliff notes. I didn't write a plot too much, because as a player, I know that too much plot writing will be wasted, because players are not going to do what you want a the time. And that's not the point. I tried writing a beginning with backstory, and have a vague sense of what the ending could be, but I want the story to unfold organically.
My main problem is, im not sure how to introduce the fey villian in the story without tipping off that she's the main villian earlier than I want.
Sry for the length, any advice helps
I will definitely be using some of these ideas, they are great