my first "recurring" villain was a lich that, instead of just coming back from the dead, had a misshap in his transformation seperating his soul into 4 different vessels. So everytime the party encountered him, he didnt just "come back" they also made him more powerful as his essence became more and more focused. In the end they manage to Destroy 3 / 4 vessels before facing the Thing the lich was preparing to fight. Which means. The Lich is still active somewhere, finally at full capacity and power :D

@nathangerber1547

Ай бұрын

Oh, that’s brilliant. Did he have a snake nose perchance as an homage to a certain split souled wizard?

@danrope6160

Ай бұрын

It's a cool idea but the fact that you kinda penalize them for their victories is something I don't like.

@ezlomacks6533

Ай бұрын

idk if I'd consider that penalizing, they still got the loot and xp, prevented the current problem from manifesing itself, and had memorable encounter.@@danrope6160

Can confirm public figure is delicious. My act 1 bbeg was the city's mayor. Having him show up in public spaces and the party knowing they can not engage him. Made for some incredible tension building and role play.

Barbarians backstory Mom gave me a small trident to fight these things called vegetables and dad said he was called a formal fighting against the veg so they said make sure you eat all your veg on your plates

In my new campaign setting, there is a group of Druids that are avatars of the world’s pantheon. The villain is a fallen god who was kicked out of the pantheon for in fighting and now wants revenge on the gods who exiled him.

@TheEncouragementKid

23 күн бұрын

Cool!

The campaign I am currently running will be checking off two boxes that I have been dying to play around with. First, the BBEG is a group of incredibly powerful supernatural beings, and secondly, because they merged their consciousnesses with an elder evil, they exist so long as that elder evil does and effectively cannot die. They seek to do its will, and will hunt down the party wherever they go unless the party learns how to sever their connection to their host.

My first recurring villain was supposed to be a throw away mini boss. When players busted up a thieves' guild hideout they were introduced to THE BOLD BLOODHAWK!!! an orc warlord who a dumb parody of Hulk Hogan and he always spoke in the third person. When my players blew up his bar one of my players casted spare the dying ever since then he was on a quest for revenge since they killed his pet crag cat Mr. Mittens.

Im running a campaign where the pcs are going up against an alliance of bbegs ironically i can assign each of them to the kinds in this list. Thank you.

@TalesArcane

Ай бұрын

I've never done a full evil alliance, but that's a great idea. Sinister Six vibes.

@thatdmguy4512

Ай бұрын

@TalesArcane its been great im really proud of my players dor their victories against them. Particularly the vampire lord who they just beat.

@knowingapeow6845

Ай бұрын

What were all the villains? Who are they and what are they? How did the villains die?

@thatdmguy4512

Ай бұрын

@knowingapeow6845 first was a wendigo, second was an atlantian prince trying to destroy the land (timed with aqua man) third was a vampire lord trying to destroy the high elves. The players defeated them in combat but the vampire lird required them hiring a necromancer to call an army of skeletons to fight the army of zombies. They now have a choice of an anti elf cult, greek demons imprisoned under a mountain, a mind flayer who feeds of democratic arguement, the unsealie court of fey, jack the ripper or a villian from a book i wrote on Croatoan.

Timestamps: 0:56 -- The Public Figure 3:52 -- The Escape Artist 6:12 -- The Resurrected 10:27 -- The Puppet Master 13:21 -- The Posessed

Amazing advice as usual! Nothing beats a well-made nemesis!

@TalesArcane

Ай бұрын

Thank you! I love a long-term rivalry that builds up over time, makes for an amazing showdown eventually.

@raggarex

Ай бұрын

Do you know what "nemesis" means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent. Personified in this case by an 'orrible DM... me.

I had a pair of sisters in a campaign that where recurring villains. I introduced one of them as a damsel in distress that after being rescued help the party get to where they were going… and right into a trap. The party survived the trap and managed to throw the woman from a tower and leave her for dead. Only to find out in a cut scene that her sister was part of the same band of mercenaries that trapped them and left her post to help her sister and both survived (the encounter was getting rough for the players and I wanted to reduce the number of enemies). Later in the campaign, when they contacted a town Thieves Guild to ask for help, the two sisters, one of them in a battle wheel chair now, were part of the help. They were forced to work together, but obviously the distrust made them fight again after the mission. The sisters managed to escape (I guess they fit in the escape artist bucket) and swear vengeance. Later, in the celebrations of that campaign arc, the sisters attacked the party with an airship, very fun encounter where one of the sisters died but the other escaped. Never got to use her again, but the party was always on the look out and where scrying for her constantly. Fun.

You mentioned how useful some of these are for horror-themed games, but it occurs to me that recurring villains are a great idea for games with a lighter tone, such as campaigns to run for children. It's possible to create an airy, lightweight campaign -- more Oz than Westeros -- where people generally get along, but some bad thing out there has been freed and is causing people to do bad things. The party have to deal with its attempts to fill the world with evil, setting back its schemes, but always needing to move on in search of a way to permanently end its influence in the world. You could actually make a campaign that feels like a 1980s afternoon children's cartoon this way, without necessarily needing to resort to murderhobo behavior. The players can be merciful to minor opponents because the real evil just manipulated them into being bad -- and the real goal is the Big Bad.

In my experience, having a villain escape even once can frustrate many players, but sometimes that's necessary. Much like it's Human nature to optimize the fun out of a game, players will often want to win constantly to the detriment of their own engagement and investment.

@Juhno

Ай бұрын

Once should be fine, if it's somehow interesting escape. But especially if many sessions have been spent tracking, preparing and getting to the enemy... I understand well why players might be "a bit" salty after the second escape.

I run a post apocalyptic game You just KNOW I got myself a resident-evil style unkillable enemy

For a resurrecting villain I recommend the Darkonda approach. Darkonda is a secondary villain for the In Space Power Rangers. He's a cruel and slimy Bounty Hunter. Always plotting to hurt enemies and allies. He was granted 9 lives by Dark Specter, the Gran Monarch of Evil in the universe. Darkonda is very powerful and very smart, too smart for the Rangers. But he still manages to die a few times, by underestimating the Rangers and their courage. He's also so untrustworthy that some of his deaths come from the allies he constantly backstabbs. After a few encounters, the Rangers become stronger and smarter and catch up to him. Darkonda finally sees the threat and as his lives are way too low, he becomes desperate and plays with fire, trying to betray every single ally, even the one that gave him his 9 lives. Finally his demise is poetic and feels well deserved by the Rangers, the audience and even his allies. Darkonda is such a slime that he makes you feel simpathy for other villains that happen to be next to him and have to work along side him.

Weirdly enough i was googling this last night and couldn't find a great answer. You came right on cue!

I have a recurring necromancer. Players have managed to unalive him once, but every other encounter he managed to get away. Players know that Orcus is the big bad puppeteering every campaign I've run so far, but none of their characters know. So first time they encountered again after his death, players were all like "wtf we k!lled him!" "Yes, you did. But he's back, roll initiative."

I'm still in the rookie year of DMing but I have a succubus that's been homebrewed I didn't mean to but when I set up a tournament, by the rolls of the dice a different reoccurring enemy (that almost TPKd them) was one shot and dead from the succubus They were all afraid of her and I realized I had something They DESPISE her and I love throwing her at them

slowly working on a StarFinder campaign that combines your ideas of recurring villains of the Puppet Master and Possessed. The game revolves around a ancient machine that was awakened deep in unexplored space. This machine is able to create its own army and is smart enough to manipulate living beings to do its bidding to bring the end of the galaxy and once again place its creators in charge of it. If it sounds familiar its because im borrowing the ancient machine and army creator as a World Devastator from Star Wars and the manipulating from the Reapers of Mass Effect. As well as recently been on the Battlestar Galactic (2004) kick and getting some idea from there too. Its slow going but my group is somewhat excited and concerned about what to expect. My problem is that I wish to have the main villain hidden for a time, like how BioWare did with Sovereign in Mass Effect 1

In my current campaign, I just introduced a villain's minion that has his soul indentured to the villain. The villain has multiple bodies made like Flesh Golems for the minion's soul to possess. If he dies, his soul moves to another body. He was once dedicated to the villain and willing to do his bidding loyally but his resolve has eroded over time and now just wants to move on to the afterlife. Can the heroes fulfill his request? We shall see.

Very helpful video!

Always wondered what happened to McLovin after Superbad

I enjoy all of Tales Arcane videos

@TalesArcane

Ай бұрын

That's what I like to hear! 💪

My current campaign features the escaping villain, the returning dead and the puppet master. The puppet master is a vampire who rules a city through fear. The returning dead started out as an eldritch knight/warlock who made a pact with the vampire. Unfortunately, the fine print of the pact didn't have an end date. The first time the players met the warlock, he escaped at the last moment (I handled it poorly and would redo that if I could). The second time they met him, they killed him. The puppet master brought him back to life to serve again. One of the players (who had a back story connected to this individual when he lived in the vampire-ruled city) dreamed of the warlock being forced back to life to continue serving. Tonight, they will meet him for the third time, and hopefully kill him. Before they do, he will specifically recognise the player character and call to him. I plan for him to come back on more time after this, where he becomes a tragic figure who begs to be released from his service before being forcibly controlled by the puppet master... which is actually like a form of the Possessed. Whoops! That's awesome and unintentional. My ultimate hope is for a showdown between the players, the puppet master and the warlock where the warlock goes full Darth Vader and helps the party kill the puppet master, knowing that he will also die. I hope it plays out that way!

I'm actually planning to run two different recurring villains in the same campaign I'm about to run: Hidden puppet master, and the escape artist. The escape artist will be at the forefront of the campaign, very obvious and in the party's face. He definitely has some incredible power with necromantic magic, and using hordes of undead as well as cult members at his beck and call to use when undead just won't do. The puppet master's influence is felt behind the scenes, and would need a more keen eye to determine that there is a secondary antagonist in the first place. Any move made against the party will feel significantly different as it's more calculated and in a way, feels overplanned with a Plan A, B, and C. I'll probably spring a more direct action against them at about level 3 where they've likely proven themselves to be a nuisance to the puppet master.

Great video! I will be using some of these themes for my next bbeg

@TalesArcane

Ай бұрын

Thank you mate, glad you enjoyed the video! Good luck with the big bad 😁

A villain who always comes back, but doesn't invalidate the party's efforts.

What about someone the _players_ are convinced is a villain and are just waiting for the other shoe to drop? :) When my ongoing campaign broadened in scope after Lost Mine of Phandelver, I introduced the aunt of our Loxodon rogue arriving in Neverwinter as an ambassador. The rogue was terrified, and quickly shared with the party that she was a commandant of elite Loxodon warriors called the Broken Tusks. So far, the only hint of scheming is to establish a Loxodon enclave in Neverwinter Wood, and it's no secret. She's hosted parties, worked with Lord Neverember and is close friends with another party member's mother (an actual leonin ambassador); all this with a firm but fair demeanor. She's even become a patron of the players' backup characters (who we run when someone is out) and pays them handsomely for their work. All I had to do to scare the players was describe her smiling as she handed them each their payment for the latest quests, and I could see them squirming. Honestly, I don't know how they'd end up fighting her, but I'd be lying if I said the Noble template was still on her sheet. ;)

The only problem with this video is its making me rethink one of my "benevolent" NPCs.😂 It could very well be more interesting if they turn out to secretly be a terrible person.

@TalesArcane

Ай бұрын

"Oh you like that tavern keeper? It'd be a shame if he turned out to be a husk of a man, animated by an ancient evil from beyond the realms of mortal ken 😇"

@talscorner3696

Ай бұрын

What if they were a well meaning person who has done terrible things for good faith reasons?

@raggarex

Ай бұрын

@@TalesArcane Now we're talking.

Two questions: 1. Would Vecna and his cult (hand and eye symbol) fall under the puppeteer category? 2. With the “unwilling undead” idea, could someone like The Puppeteer utilize a recurring undead minion?

@TalesArcane

Ай бұрын

I think yes to both of those! On the first point, perfect. They don't get close to Vecna for a long time but along the way they're seeing the symbol and with the eye there's a reinforcement of the idea that they might not see Vecna, but Vecna sees them. And I really like the idea of an unwilling undead servant to the puppeteer who is a serious mini-boss in themselves, but who longs to be free of it all. A great fit for a servant of Vecna.

I have 2 in my current campaign. A hag that specialises in turning people into other things. She was the Warlocks patron and they realised she turned people into monsters (he was a plasmoid but originally a human) and could resurrect though them if she ever died. He had to break his pact so he could take her out safely. The second is an archmage. I mentioned he's rumored to have been killed several times and his body just falls apart into twigs and roots then he springs up later. They lost an intense fight with him, he captured them and explained he was a sulimulacrum. They would have lost immediately if it had been the real mage with all his spells. The trick for a reviving villain is to make sure the players understand the gimmick and can counteract it with planning. Turns it from hax to a story beat.

The Moriarty type figure is hard to do because you have to be clever enough to fake being a brilliant mastermind Video criticism: some of your sentences get a bit cut off by the music between sections Might want a cleaner cut between transitions

🥰

Just have the villian flee before he dies. You're the DM. If you want to complicate things: they had a thing that teleports them just before death. Or it wasn't really the bbeg but an impostor. Or it suddenly uses a power the party didn't know about before. Or the session was just a dream sequence the whole time. Or my favorite, he just didn't feel like dying today so he flips all off and says "screw you guys, I'm going home." Then he just walks casually away.

Not to make things political in this comments section, but the Obiden administration perfectly matches the description of the public villain (like Moriarty). 😂 New insight into what’s happening in our world! 💥