GREAT GM: Creating the Ultimate Villain NPC for your RPG session - game master tips

[@dankatz5224]

Here's an insane idea. Sorry it turned into a bit of an essay! You run two separate campaigns with different players, but unbeknownst to them they are on different sides of the same conflict. News of one group's movements reaches the other group and vice versa, but they believe they are hearing about the exploits of NPCs to move on the story. Your friendly character (who will turn out to be the villain of course!) is common to both games and becomes trusted by both groups of players under a different alias. Perhaps they tell one group they are a journalist covering recent events and can be used to give information, and they tell the other group they are an undercover agent infiltrating an arms trading organisation, so they can shower them with powerful equipment. Once trust is gained in both groups, you engineer a scenario where you take one player from each group and swap them around to go "undercover", probably at the behest of a different NPC; maybe an embittered henchman who has turned against his master and wants to see his deception thwarted. You tell the other guys in the group that "John can't make it next Sunday, but I was explaining the story to my other friend Mark who's up for stepping in as a new character". In the farewell game to John (with John's prior knowledge), to 'kill the character off' conscientiously, you spin a narrative where John's character is called off on secret ops behind enemy lines and is not heard from again. This is agreed between yourself and John before the game, when you explain that there is a second parallel game which has been playing the enemy all along and swear him to secrecy for his farewell session. Unbeknownst to the other players, John really is going behind enemy lines to glean information from and unsuspecting player group! And so is the new player, Mark, under the same pretense as John. You do this in both games and thereby swap one member from each team to spy on the other, with nobody else any the wiser, except maybe for the new player who might learn of his opposite number's mysterious disappearance from the game and suspect a double agent. Then you plan a session to which you invite both groups, let them discover for between themselves that the villain has been playing them against each other all along. After a successful mission, you could say to one group at the end of the previous session: "[friendly villain alias 1] packs the seized contraband into a container to send to the police force as evidence. A job well done!" whilst in the other group, [friendly villain alias 2] arrives with fresh equipment to fight the good fight. Both groups realise simultaneously that they have been played, that the very same character has been going by 2 different names and is in fact the criminal they have been looking for. Their causes are united for the first time, and from act 2 onwards their characters will all be part of the same game. Meanwhile the nemesis escapes with his tail between his legs. The players later find the disgruntled henchman (who set up the chance encounter) tortured brutally to death and vow to catch and destroy the three-faced super villain!

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

That's a hell of a set-up. I've done something similar once. Two groups - same world. However in my town everyone know's who sits at my table so there is no surprise changes etc. The two groups were neither enemies nor allies but when one of them went back in time and changed the view of a god (they basically met Zeus as a boy and installed human centric values by mistake whilst babysitting him) the other group found themselves in a very very different world (since they were in the present and suffered the wrath of a 'new Zeus'). It was amazing fun to watch as everyone tried to solve the issue from both past and present. I have also had a convention module run where a character from the game randomly swaps with another character from another table! That was amazing - especially become con-games are often very... isolated events. But thank you for sharing your cool idea and if you ever pull it of let me know!

[@dankatz5224]

+How to be a Great Game Master That Zeus game sounds brilliant! Reminds me of the old LucasArts point & click adventure Day of the Tentacle. That would be a zany setting for a game in itself with 3 players sharing the table but in different time zones affecting each other's gameplay! Thanks so much for replying, and for putting out such a succinct and comprehensive series. I've never GM'd myself but I have a group of friends and we all read the Warhammer 40k novels so I thought that would be a good place to start. But your videos always give me a "what if..." to think about, maybe instead of babysitting Zeus, I could put the immortal God Emperor of Mankind in a care home!

[@Tmanowns]

It's pretty much going on in a campaign I'm in right now. We've got about 20+ players total, who play on 5 different nights a week with two DMs. One of the groups is an evil group and apparently has been doing things across the world with a plan, and one of them is a paladin that was in my group until real life scheduling was conflicting for him. It's honestly really awesome, but a ton of work for the DM's, so we players help a lot with ideas and world building.

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

That's a great set-up... IF (and a really big "IF" there) you can get the scheduling to work. The last time I was able to pull off something even similar was back when I was in the Navy... Being all assigned to the same ship, it was only rotating watch-sections (civilians call it "shifts") that ever got in the way of scheduling... When it works out, it can be done really well, and the big reveal is usually fantastic... When it doesn't... it can be even more awkward than a "big fizzle". :o)

[@ijk9492]

holy shit

[@Co27Enigma]

_GASP_ "LYSANDEROTH, you were behind all this!" "Yes it was I. My machinations lay undetected for years for I am a master of deception and"

[@ethanotoroculus1060]

*[DEAD]*

[@monke1599]

*takes off shirt* "Sexy..." Lysanderoth purred

[@jowhy7243]

i literally just watched a ProZD compilation before watching this video

[@darienschnucker7354]

Why he not say about the Nemesis being the Lover

[@guicaldo7164]

King Dragon sends his regards!

[@remnantryku7112]

Nemesis goes to “prove himself” and accidentally dies. Guess it’s an open world story now boys.

[@omiorahman6283]

Ryku Isaigana lol interesting

[@Haurent]

When you enter into an open world story you know the GM is at the ropes lol

[@ancapftw9113]

"Who would believe the bumbling idiot is the ultimate enemy?" >insert Darth Jar Jar meme.

[@an8strengthkobold360]

He will always be a sith lord in my eyes.

[@diddleriddle8921]

Truth is...game was rigged from the start

[@lunargamer5261]

I believe this is the plot of Scary Movie, too.

[@sgtflamingo6532]

Kefka in ff6

[@bainbonic]

Okay but playing the character at 6:16 straight and making him genuinely an innocent bystander with fangs who wishes to help would be fucking hilarious.

[@mordirit8727]

After coming back to a town they once saved, my PCs found out that the only priestess to Melora in town is a poor young woman who was among the people they saved from the orcs a year ago. The poor, poor girl claims to have lost her left eye and left hand on the hands of the cruel orcs, but is still very happy and grateful to the heroes who saved her life, and they all were quickly heart warmed by this figure. So happy that none of them thought of trying to remember if she really was among the dozens of citizens they rescued. They were desolated when she died on the third game, but were overjoyed when they found out in her temple a prepared spell glyph that only required adding a diamond to the center (which was also on the temple) to restore their dear friend to life. So overjoyed that again, no one thought to ask about why a mere acolyte of Melora has a powerful necromancy spell prepared in her house. Easiest inclusion of a Vecna worshiper in a group I've ever done =p Can't wait for her to kill one of them to usher the return of her King.

[@magiv4205]

"missing left eye and left hand" Me: haha NOPE! *warning sirens going off in the distance*

[@TheHalo3vidmaker]

Wait a minute... Sponsors the players with magic items, keeps close track of the players adventures making sure they tell him everything, sends the players out to help him while they adventure, has a romantic relationship with one of the players... HOLY SHIT GILMORE HAS BEEN A VILLAIN THIS WHOLE TIME!

[@krzysztofbandyk168]

A Rakshasa to be exact.

[@KyrstOak]

Gilmore? Not Gilmore Girls.

[@louthinator]

@@KyrstOak it's a critical role reference

[@KyrstOak]

@@louthinator Ah, thanks.

[@magiv4205]

*gets almost killed by a dragon and only survives because the players decided to go look for him first thing in the morning after taking a long rest* 'TIS AS I PLANNED! A FOOLPROOF RUSE! *coughs blood and passes out*

[@BrianRabadue]

You mention the inconsistencies in the nemesis' character a lot, and I really wanna stress that those are vital. If the betrayal comes too suddenly or out of nowhere, it might feel cheap, or like you just took a good guy and made him the villain, you need to be able to point to those flaws and moments of doubt so that the PCs don't feel 100% cheated.

[@Boom__6678]

Cortana in halo 5 (what were 343 thinking) is a good example of the cheap betrayal

[@guy3480]

so i did the "join me" cliche that villains do and the group i was DM for actually joined him... yeah I had this whole epic final battle planned out involving the players losing their weapons and needing to have a fist fight to the death with this orc overlord... nope they joined him and committed genocide against the elves and wiped them off the face of the entire universe instead. I literally did everything i could possibly think of to try and make them turn back against him. Killing elf children, slaughtering innocent villagers, killing other rebelling orcs, torture, I made him abuse women, mutilate babies, he had sex with corpses of those he killed, raped more than I could count... and they still saw the campaign to the end. That was probably the most brutal evil campaign I had ever been through as a DM. They said it was one of the most amazing dnd experiences ever so whatever as long as they had fun...

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

guy3480, You are not alone... Many is the GM who has tried a "tropish hook" to twist the story for just a moment, or thought of a great joke to give the party pause... ONLY to find himself trudged through the god-awfulest, mind-warping muck imaginable... coming out of it only permanently, emotionally scarred and wondering "What the hell kinds of people do I hang out with???" I know all to well and somehow vaguely remember feeling your pain... some time in the distant past, when I (myself) might've had something like innocence. BUT that's Role Playing for you... And then the players will actually have the unmitigated gall (later) to ask how YOU got so twisted??? :o)

[@wildebur]

Yes, cutting of the arms and legs of the PCs and literally having their characters raped in-character sounds like BRILLIANT idea. What is wrong with you!? Legit, not trying to be a dick, but that's the literal WORST Game Mastering idea I've ever heard of, right above "TPK the players because they're not on track with the story.". What's next, is the villain gonna MUDA MUDA MUDA punch every character to death, then their souls go to Hell and get molested by Satan?! What kind of GM are you?! Of every goddamn way to "punish" the player characters, you think the orc should've FUCKING RAPED THEM AND LEGITIMATELY CUT OFF ALL THEIR LIMBS. What is wrong with you!? I dare you to try that shit with your friends' characters in a session, and see how they react. Fucking Hell, one of the main rules GM's always harbor is to let the players have as much fun as possible, not fucking drag them into a proverbial snuff film where their players are the main victims, being "punished because they trusted the villains" so they all feel like shit/are extremely creeped out and leave.

[@dr.calibrations7984]

Gryphon Phelps The Orc enjoys torture and rape. I'm the fucked up person for making him turn his sights to the exreamly powerful people who are aligned with him currently? I didn't make the guy. Hell if I were in the scenaro OP had put forth I probably wouldn't have let it get that far as I would just go down a genocide route not a Rape/tourture route. The OP tried and tried to get the party to betrey the dude by making him a gleeful rapist, a torturer, a genocidal dictator. But it crosses boundaries when i make the *Super evil dude* do something evil to the PC? In a universe where bringing someone back from the dead is possible? Lets not mention that they are *IN CHARACTER* okay with, and possibly partaking in this rape. Personally I dont care, If someone did it to me I would conclude that the guy who has been getting progressivly evil was probably going to do evil shit, and I probably should have picked up the warning signs that betrayal is oncoming. Bad guys tend to be untrustworthy, and considering that rape was established as fair game when they let it happen before then its fair game. They could have betrayed the villian like a villian does and continued their genocidal campaign. The OP was commenting on how disturbed he was by what they were doing and condoning. So I suggested that they reap what they sow. I dont understand why rape *suddenly* becomes taboo when it is lashed upon the PC? So theoretically you should be able to rape random villagers but not have that happen to you because its not okay? Thats like saying "I can stab anyone but its not okay for me to get stabbed back." As someone who has been raped IRL I can say it's not fun, and I probably would ask for the entire subject to be avoided, but i also wouldn't throw a fit if i said nothing and didnt even have my character intervene in a rape and then my PC does in fact get raped. The door goes both ways, if rape is in your DnD campaign then that means PC can get raped, same for tourture, drug addiction, STDs and any other taboo subject. Your a character in this world, meaning that you arent above the rules, if so why are yoy even playing this game? If you want to roleplay as this omnipotent God, then fanfics are far superior.

[@wildebur]

The thing is, though, I don't like playing as an omnipotent god. I want my characters to die if they deserve it, and I want the same for my PCs (i wont DM any that wont let their characters die). Being subject to the rules of the world is bloody important. I cover all sorts of terrible shit, and most of it is fine by me if it happens to the players, too. But really, you don't have to be playing as an omnipotent god for the GM to keep your characters out of rape. But... You have a good point with "I don't understand why rape suddenly becomes taboo when it is lashed upon the PC?". Perhaps if they've let it happen to others, then it's only logical that it could happen to them, sure. Personally, I would clarify to the PCs that they should be alright with the possibility of these things occurring to them, à la "You guys realize, if you're gonna let this shit happen in the campaign, it can happen to you, too, right? Realize that if I let this subject off the taboo list for NPCs it can happen to you guys too.", something like that, though really they should realize it on their own. Maybe that's too generous, heh. In this whole situation, though, you've convinced me that it's justifiable to rape the characters... I still wouldn't do it, though.

[@dr.calibrations7984]

Gryphon Phelps I'm glad that we are resolving this in a nice way. I would certainly make sure everyone is aware that if it can happen to an NPC then it can happen to you. If someone at the table were to say "hey I'm not cool with rape, drug addiction, tourture, ect." Then the topic wouldnt even be broached but if nobody sets a boundary and someone decides to make it a thing (I.E. they make their PC rape an NPC) then that opens everyone up to have it happen. But it would have long been stated that whatever befalls the NPCs is a potential PC issue as well. I'd probably even ask them if they're sure they want to take the story there. But if it's gonna be dark and twisted then Berserk rules apply. Personally I avoid that shit. I'll do gore and gritty easily even torture. But rape is just, terrible.

[@kainan613]

My head! It cannot contain the ideas! MUST. WRITE.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

+kainan613 Yes! Get it out there!

[@angelvega2937]

"How to create a cancellor Palpatine in a RPG" hahaha

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Goood... good... I can feel your ... power! Let it flow through you! Embrace the Dark Side.

[@hunterlaven5113]

Angel no it Griffith

[@hindscarth360]

Palpatine - "I am the Senate!" Mace Windu - "Not y- What the hell?!" *Palpatine screams as he blurs out of existence, a swirling portal opens mid-air and a cyborg-Palpatine steps out and turns his bionic eye on Windu* Cancellor Palpatine - "I AM CANCELLOR PALPATINE, THE INFERIOR CHANCELLOR HAS BEEN CANCELLED. THIS TIMELINE IS NOW MINE" *Proceeds to Ultra Sheev Spin*

[@omiorahman6283]

hunter laven Griffith did nothing wrong

[@Boom__6678]

@@HowtobeaGreatGM nah I'm good

[@Demadragon]

I love playing my villains as "oh, he is totally a bad guy, there is no way to misunderstand that, but right now he is allay to players". It feels pretty good when "well, i dont want to do what this obviously evil guy tells me to do, but on the other hand - he asks us to save city from famine... We should work with him to get what is he trying to do!" It shifts dynamic in a fun way. "Winning" transforms from "dont let bad guy do his thing" into "get information about his thing before it becomes too late, and you were part of it."

[@gambent6853]

Aw man, this brought back some memories. I was in one group where our party was doing everything they could to stop this great and powerful evil that was going to engulf the world. We had a patron wizard who helped us throughout the majority of the campaign. We had been led to believe that in order to save the world, we needed to open the sealed portion to the Abyss and then kill the guardian on the other side. Turns out it was just our Patron Wizard's ploy so he could gain more power for himself; he was the evil we had been warned of, and the signs were there, but no one had caught on. He TPK'd us in a round and that's how that campaign ended. It was brutal, but memorable. The villlain who was once considered a friend is one of the most memorable antagonists there are. Awesome content by the way! I'm definitely subscribing!

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Welcome to the table man! Sounds like an epic campaign! And such a tragic ending.

[@TriMarkC]

Gambent Aaaaand “he TPK’d is all in one round”! Wow! Brutal ending is right! In one round!! Now, if the GM allowed the players to carry on the fight as the progeny of those 1st chars (ala InfinityBlade), that would be epic! They’d know BBG was brutal (the players were there!), and they come thinking they’re prepared! Ha!

[@minecraftcdiddy]

So I played as the villain while GMing my game of GURPS, my character was a "galactic sheriff" but was truly the emperor of the most important evil faction. When my character turned and killed my baddest player, their faces of shock literally were straight out of the movies. Thanks again for your content and will continue to write my games with your advice.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

That sounds sublimely wonderful. Thank you for sharing! I'm glad I can help in a small way to make your games a touch better :)

[@Roterstaub]

I have a lawful good villain... Pitched him to a friend and their response was 'Holy shit it's ISIS'

[@Chiller31916]

Wouldn't that be lawful evil? O.o

[@whiskeyfur]

I think we have different definitions of masterminds... I call those types horde controllers. That's their only power, they control hordes of people and run over people/institutes/countries with them. And that's all they're good for. subtle? They are not. A true mastermind treats the world as a chess game. If he has to ingratiate himself with the characters, so be it. There's an another type you missed: The Other Guy is Worse. He's a villain, he's obvious about it, but he's been drafted to help the players because the other guy literally is the end of the world so.. it's kinda obvious who he'll ally with because after all, can't enjoy power if you are dead... And the players could be very clued in on that! they KNOW he's a bad guy. They KNOW he's going to game it to his benefit... hell, the paladin may be willing to kill him on sight! BUT....they NEED him for some reason to knock off mr. world destroyer. so it becomes a fun RP challenge for them to watch/convert him even as he's helping the party with the ultimate intent to take power.. or if he's smart about it, just ensure that world destroying isn't on the table anymore, then he makes his get-away. I did have the players surprise me by not only taking one such villain in but two.. recruiting the second as well. And they used the two villains against each other so neither had the advantage when mr. world destroyer finally died. And I'm sitting here looking at the players and thinking "well played guys, well played."

[@magiv4205]

One word: Raishan.

[@Puptoon2022]

Once my secret villain was a shopkeeper that they bought magic items from for a high price. “Wait he used all that money we gave him to summon Tiamat? Ohhh so that’s why he had so many magic items!”

[@OFTRVlog]

good advice, gave me a lot of good ideas on playing Strahd by having him help the players along before revealing his true form.

[@dienekes4364]

One of my favorite characters was a Lawful Evil Drow Assassin (D&D 2e). I also had a Mage/Cleric (Lawful Neutral) that got powerful enough to take control of a city-state. The Mage commissioned the Drow to be the head of his secret police. It worked out SO well. Anyway, he was running in a party of characters where he was the lowest level character. The Lawful Good Ranger was constantly giving him crap, talking down to him, distrusting him, the usual racist stuff against the Drow. Daggar saved every member of the party at least once, most twice, and the Ranger 3 times during the several-session campaign. During the very last session, within a matter of about 20 minutes, every character died a horrible death. The Ranger was the last to go. Except, of course, Daggar, who just walked away. Everyone was PISSED. Oh, did I mention the player running the Ranger was my brother? Anyway, we were driving somewhere a few days later and my brother was still moaning and groaning about how unfair the DM was. On and on he went. I finally had to admit, just to shut him up, that Daggar had been commissioned, from the very beginning, to kill the party. I tried REALLY hard to find an excuse not to, to justify letting them live, but they treated my character so poorly that he was fine with just destroying them all. And the absolute beauty of the whole thing is that NO ONE knew that it was Daggar that slaughtered them all except the GM and me. I usually don't like running Evil characters, but that day was _GLORIOUS!_

[@SupLuiKir]

Jar Jar Binks is the Sith Lord above Palpatine. George Lucas is a pussy for folding after the terrible reaction of Prequel Episode 1 and opting out of the Jar Jar Binks as Sith reveal and inserting Count Dooku in his place for the Yoda fight. It's such a grievance that the prequel movies that Lucas made can't be canon and are instead only illegitimately legitimized head-canons of the movie reviewers for episode 1. The real canon, which unfortunately doesn't have movies made for it, is the one where Jar Jar Binks is revealed as the Sith Lord.

[@joshhaworth2155]

Meesa going to destroy the Jedi now...

[@breezeark9154]

It's a legitimate grievous.

[@ganema9]

I just held my first adventure as a GM where the villain was a Necromancer survivor from a war between Necromancers and, well, the good guys. She was a bit manical and crazy and had a Vampire, evil Cleric and a Death Night under her bidding, along with a bunch of undead. She wanted an orb that which had powers from the world itself. She was supposed to be the typical villain; however, after looking through the Monster Manual, I stumbled across the pages with Succubus/Incubus and I was like: aaaaah... So suddenly, this evil, lonely Necromancer was charmed from many years back to do this devil's bidding and in the end, when she was to be finished off, the charm ended and the PC's chose to spare her and trust what she was saying, they killed the Incubus and she made everything right. Well, until the authority captured her and executed her publicly and thanked the group for helping them all :P

[@TheMento98]

So less of a villain and more a tragic hero npc? At least my take away based on the end with the public execution.

[@beatthegreat7020]

I’m still convinced that you and Shad are the same person.

[@Deppability]

I literally thought that too! :D

[@Basiritz]

On the other hand as the PC's get attatched to the Nemesis, the nemesis might find themselves getting attatched to the PC's.

[@Jake007123]

Yes, and that's why he tries to kill his lover first "So you don't have to endure the pain of watching all your companions die, my love. BYE", with a little smirk. Remember, he's the villain bastard who wants to destroy/conquer/etc the world/city/galaxy/etc. He is not a good guy and he is not going to throw away his years of planning for a simple feeling such as friendship or love.

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

Yep... emotions... double-edged sword if the heart isn't strong enough to deal so well with them... Maybe somebody should make a law or something... :o)

[@bibbobella]

I could see him getting them into a trap where he could very easily kill them but instead plead for them to follow his plans. Not in a "You need to do this or you will die!!!" kinda evil way but in a "Please don't make me kill you! Just join me and we can rule together! I will even allow everyone you love to live!" Make a kind of sympatic leader that is so far out it is almost impossible to really back out at this point. Then when/if the players say no he will walk away despite knowing full well there is a great chance they might not actually die saying something like "Fine but I wont watch you get killed.." It could make him into one hell of an interesting character that the PC's might find hard to kill as well.

[@KyrstOak]

@@bibbobella Yeah. I like that idea.

[@chrizzle45]

Essek, if you know you know

[@thornfalk]

I wasn't sure how to do the forsaken god nemesis I've had planned for months now, and this just gave me the perfect idea. He;s just going to pit the lesser forsaken gods against the party and keep informing them until he's allowed inside their stronghold, from there he will keep showing up randomly sketching out the walls. Being the god of knowledge he'll say something like "Oh , im just admiring the architecture. Things have changed in the past 200 years." Once they not only trust him, but let down their guard around him he will give them one last tip and demand he go with. The god they are currently gearing up to fight (Chaos god) will suddenly be at their door while the party is off on some menial task. When they return all will be well when the nemesis is suddenly impaled and "killed" wherein he will lie to the party about how he has some long last magic allowing him to stay alive through merging his soul with someone else's. If anyone takes the bait I will give them 2 resist roles if they fail both, they die and get a note saying "You have died. You are now the god pretending to be you." By the end of the session the reveal should come naturally with the player being visibly messed up, and the character being awkward and off kilter. If they do pass the check the guy stands up, snaps his fingers, and an army of demons will show up while he monologues about how stupid the party is and how hes the mastermind and none are better than him.

[@Blueeyedguy2369]

I’ve got my campaign where the king and queen are actually part of the team of the main villain. But they seem so sincere because of their stories that have been passed down for a couple centuries about how they defeated the main villain.

[@llamallamapajama9571]

18:24 ...unless it's Call of Cthulhu. Then EVERYONE dies.

[@Blackwing2007]

A major campaign takes this to another extreme. There are multiple "super-villain's" each with henchmen hatching plots on their behalf (perhaps there is even a henchman or two that is a double agent between them) as they compete for the same, or conflicting, goals. At first the PC's are just the Scooby-gang. A bunch of meddling kids that keep thwarting unimportant lackeys in the grand scheme of the super villains. but utterly annoying to a henchman or two as they take out underling after underling. Then they take out a few henchmen, and catch the attention of the major players, who turn their resources more directly towards the nuisances. But then as they prove to be bigger and bigger threats to the super villains, some want them utterly eliminated, while others want to use them to eliminate rivals. Still another wants to corrupt them, and turn them into a weapon. In the end, the PC's have finally identified a super villain or two, and move to eliminate them, only to discover that the third super villain now has nothing but them to hold them in check. And who knows what other forces are now eyeing the power vacuum they have created.

[@whensomethingcriesagain]

My golden rule is show them early and show them often, really develop them as a character

[@GirlPainting]

best example for a villan inside a party is on the show critical role....spoiler alerts.....clorota, the mind flayer. he uses the players to defeat the evil kavarn who enslaved his tribe of mindflayers, and once kavarn is defeated, he emediatly turns on the players "you served your purpose, and now its time to feed" ^^

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

+GirlPainting That is a great example! I think the challenge one has in that kind of situation is that DnD often prescribes 'alignments' for races. For example mindflayers are all evil... this makes it difficult for a party of experienced players to see the flayer for the evil. Matt is a great GM and so he managed to pull it off. I know my players would need a major reason to trust a mind flayer - even though I purposely ignore alignment for races. But yes. Good example.

[@GirlPainting]

in that case it was an accident that he evan endet up in the party in the first place. he was a random encounter planed for a later meeting. the players themselfs took the diplomatic aproach instead of an combad encounter because they had no f ing clue what to expect from a mindflayer. but they knew the hole time that his allignment is evil. but the enemy of my enemy is my friend took place in this case and so they went with it. the best part in my opinion was when they evan defendet him against lady kima and trusted him absolutly. that made the betrail at the end so much more rewarding.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Ah beautiful! Love it when that kind of play happens!

[@Ultrox007]

So, just like the assassins guild from Knights of the Old Republic?

[@michaelc1626]

Lol I just started watching CR and when I watched this video I thought Gee that sounds exactly like what's happening with Clarence so I bet he's the real villain. Kinda as if Mercer watched this video and took notes. Spoiler for Matt Mercer he's not as much of a creative genius as everyone thinks

[@qloun]

I feel so bad for my players now. Thank you so much for those great (and evil) ideas! subscribed and liked!

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

+Zulhilmi Mohd Nor Welcome to the table!

[@bankasai3120]

Player Nemesis, I had the players assisting an otherworldly patron who up until that point, fed them power and rewards. However, upon defeating my “Villain”, I had the players betrayed, losing half their levels because they lost the favor of this Patron. The patron, a Jester in disguise, who turned out to be a Tiefling who was attempting to become a god, then sent several assassins to handle the players, and the betrayal was unexpected because of their Patron’s “Holy” Powers were unmatched and righteous. Made for an interesting TPK, that was followed by an actual god reviving them to deal with their blunder.

[@shannon8847]

I'm reminded of a story of a wonderful villain someone created. I'll try to do it justice. They started off with these level one PCs that discovered this terrible evil and an npc that employed them to defeat it. Overtime this NPC became a sort of den mother appearing randomly to help in there time of need and just as quickly disappearing. Eventually they became strong enough to fight the major villain and the beloved NPC of course comes to help. When they get into the final room of the castle the NPC reveals that his mind and body is being controlled and the reason he disappears is because of the control. He's been grooming them to defeat him and the players realize they have to kill their friend.

[@JohnAWoods-ui3gp]

I know this is an old post, but hopefully either the OP or someone else may read this and be able to help. I have been searching for a post that I saw in the past that was similiar to this story you mentioned. What I remember is that the land had an evil king and the party was questing to defeat him. Along the way they met an NPC who became a companion of theirs and would help them, teach them, guide them, etc. He would leave the party periodically, and return soon after. (When he was away the party would either hear of another evil act of the king or would actually see the king.) Eventually they are ready and reach the evil king and find that he is the npc that has been helping them prepare. He is being controlled or influenced and in his moments of sanity he does everything he can to help them defeat him. He has spent the entire campaign preparing them to kill him because he know that he must be stopped. I'm not sure if we are talking about the same story, but either way if you can point me towards the post that you were referencing it may help me with my search. Even if it doesn't help I think it will be a good read nonetheless.

[@GregTom2]

I'm planning to eventually run a game where the villain is the Quest giver. The players are gradually witness to more and more questionable actions as the guy goes on a slippery slope, with a motive that seems quite good at first (finding some way to cure his young daughter) and actions that seem rather harmless (laying a trap for a werewolf hiding in the village), but progressively degrade (think very disturbing medical / magical experiments, and hiding his deeds from the local mages guild by fabricating evidence to get others arrested). There would be two quests planned. One where the players follow along with his instructions, and are made to do absolutely awful things. One where they ditch him and report him to the competent authorities are help bring him down. The players wouldn't know about the two prepared storylines, so the whole fun for the GM would be to see how far the players are willing to go before they think "hang on one moment... why are we doing this again?", and how they deal with a villain that is actually betrayed _by them_ .

[@dragonstryk7280]

Player Nemesis: I've used this one, and it is AWESOME. Okay, so my idea was that the villain was wearing an amulet that made his alignment undetectable (Most PCs only ever use Detect Evil, especially if they have a Paladin). So what he did was hire the PCs as a part of the church of Abyiar (Goddess of healing). Their mission was to go down into dungeons filled with evil things, destroy them, and retrieve various artifacts for the church, either to be preserved in the case of holy relics, or destroyed, in the case of ancient evil things. Oh yeah, they fully armed the bad guy, and provided his whole bankroll. I kept this going all the way from level 1, until level 10, when he straight up murders the party's cleric (She had been pursuing a romantic relationship with him. Not on me, this was her push, I just went with it. Yeah, they were married, and had a kid, which he took with him). The group survives solely on the Rogue having Boots of Teleportation, but the cleric had to be left behind. Using his newfound powers and monetary might, he begins to crush all before him, and establishes a dark kingdom. I remember the Paladin being the one to work out where he'd gotten the funding for everything. God they were enraged. *wistful smile*

[@masonnash9396]

I was so excited when Guy mentioned White Collar. That has pretty much been my inspiration for writing interesting complicated campaign plots that span between adventures.

[@liwendiamond9223]

I'd like to add one more type of "Villain" to the list that's not use all that often, but if used well can make for some really interesting stories : The Calamity Something is about to happen or is happening that the players have no realistic chance to stop entirely or at all. Their primary goal is not to defeat the Calamity, but to endure it and help others endure it as well. We're talking stuff like : An island nation is set ablaze by the sudden eruption of a volcano. A divine war between Heave and Hell spills into the material plane. (The premise of Diablo for instance) The Fallout scenario, where nuclear war turned the entire world into a hostile wasteland and the game is about day to day survival. These type of scenarios don't require a overarching supreme vilain in the classical sense. You can add one, as it never really hurts to have good physical vilains to defeat, but the point of the Calamity is that this vilain is the premise itself. Its the setting, the very nature of the world in which the PCs must carve a life of their own.

[@jerymaster]

Sorry in advance for my english. Here is my best Villain so far: A villain in plain view. he was a bard that gave to my players information about the artefacts they were all looking for, while not talking about most of the obstacle or problems on the way to them. His goal being to steal them, without putting a finger in the effort to get them. Of course, most of the time, the players came back angry at him, one of the player even saying in plain view that he was manipulating them, the others, while agreeing with his view, still agreed to use his information since well, what could he do anyway. He never had the upper hand, his information, while lacking in the "obstacle" departement was still accurate and they had the sensation to get closer and closer to the objective they all had fixed for themself. Until the very end they knew he was using them, and still they had the conviction they could be the ones using him, and he proved them wrong. That is, for me, the best villain i've created.

[@liwendiamond9223]

One of the greatest vilains is the vilain that is actually quite reasonable and doesn't mind joining force with the players : Vilain 1 : Wants to pull a revolution a take over the kingdom. Kingdom ain't necessarily evil. Neither is the vilain, he just has thing personally against the current King, and the PCs are working for said King. Vilain 2 : Wants to utterly annihilate said kingdom with a super weapon. Vilain 1 goes to PCs and be like, "we need to work together to stop vilain 2, otherwise there won't be anything left to fight over." PCs be like "Okay" Then they kill Vilain 2 and gain access to the Super Weapon Then they fight over it against Vilain 1 and the PCs win again. Then, naturally, the PCs use the super weapon repeatedly to blow up not just this one kingdom, but also the entire world for the evil lulz, because Murder Hobos.

[@Awesome_Force]

Great video and ideas. I've always enjoyed running evil characters myself, so having a diabolical nemesis plotting like that will help make running a game more enjoyable for me. Thanks for the ideas.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Anytime! Happy to help!

[@JeremJarnex]

the sponsor the party thing is really good for if you make your villian a triple agent, have him /actually/ being evil but claim to the heroes that he is a double agent it's a bit obvious though since inception kept hammering in that plot device and i'm sure it's still stuck in our heads

[@JeremJarnex]

+Reiza oo! i didn't watch any harry potter until two years ago but i remember they used that bumbling idiot deal in their first movie

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

+Reiza Yup. None of these ideas are new, it's how we execute them that makes them special!

[@TriMarkC]

I’ve been planning on using the party’s Benefactor as the Mastermind, but now I’m going to leave the door open with a few clues that perhaps the quiet bumbling liaison is the actual Mastermind. Gives me options later.

[@harmonlanager2670]

My favorite nemesis was in our Call of Cthulhu game. At this point, the PCs have stopped a few Great Old Ones from coming to Earth (Hastur and Cthulhu specifically). The Mythos took notice and Nyarlathotep, the Trickster God, came after them. He was an absolute delight to use in the campaign because, unlike the other threats they faced, he came after them personally. He'd kidnap loved ones, turn insane PCs into cultists, and would play them against each other.

[@jackekal3305]

For a campaign I’m currently running I had my gf create the “big bad” character the players would eventually encounter, and we had little sessions here and there behind the scenes to establish what she as the villain was doing while the players did their thing, and what she knew about them. A few sessions in though, things went sideways, and long story short the party met her earlier than expected and actually JOINED her to conquer the world. Unexpected evil campaign was unexpected!

[@macoppy6571]

Step 1) Build trust of PCs. Step 2) Betray them. Step 3) Run like hell.

[@EnzolioLP]

Sponsor Villain: Players go and shootup a bar chain because they got drug stashes in them. They were sponsored by a misterious figure in a dinner late at night and with no other choice they said yes. (characters were REALLY run down by that point and I just had to pick them up) Turns out that the "sponsor" is a Gangster that wanted to have other gangs irradicated to get his business started. With noone else left to sell purple Mint, they have now helped a Crimelord become the King of the city they swore to protect. Chaotic John Wick Hijinks ensues.

[@amitblumenfeld7663]

Greate poits, the only problem with the last kind of viliam, is when you players are paranoid and ploting to kill one each other.... i love my players ^_^

[@prestonpowell9222]

More solid advice as usual. I think the best part about your GM videos is that they aren't really specific to one game system, or a certain level of experience. Your suggestions seem useful to veterans and novices alike, and I can't think of any other KZbinr that I could say the same for. I daresay you've cost a few of your peers some views, and rightly so, as this channel seems almost tailor made for the kinds of issues I run into myself. I've been ruminating on how to have an overarching villain in my game, and lo and behold I find a video addressing exactly that subject.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

+Preston Powell Firstly thank you for the compliment. Secondly if you have more topics you'd like me to discuss please share with us, as most of the video's are motivated by you guys leaving comments. A lot of people don't like my videos for the same reason: I'm not system specific. For me the system is really whichever one gets out of the way of and let's role-playing happen. Hence I HATE DnD 4th ed. Where you have to use mini's and it's basically a boardgame. But thank you, and I'll continue to try to live up to this standard :)

[@wotmot223]

I'm liking your channel. One thing I had in a game I ran was where the " friend " nemesis betrayed them, was where the nemesis seemingly died when everything went wrong ( players were framed for crimes and badly injured). Seven game sessions later one of the players saw their dead " friend " leaving an inn. It made for about a dozen more good game sessions as they hunted down and killed their former friend.

[@Uratoh42]

I once had an NPC secondary mastermind villain win, accomplish his goals, and full on retire after defeating but not killing the PCs. he left them alive as a thank you, for dealing with all the obstacles in his path to becoming a high ranking member in his church. He did in fact use a side plot of a racial supremecist organization targeting people of his race to get in with the PCs, disguised, and did genuinely need their protection for the time being, he just spun it to his advantage. I must give my players credit for going with t heir failed sense motive checks. Was quite a nice arc, and the players complimented me on running it well, etc. he didn't just beat them, he set up a scenario in which their tactics as usual were at a disadvantage because he'd been watching/fighting along with them for quite some time, so he knew 'this one likes to fly and shoot magic', etc. The players ultimately decided to not go after him further because he was, effectively, happy to be high ranking evil church management and wasn't interested in going after the players further for the aformentioned 'thank you for taking out my competition'.

[@Kaboose666]

I know this is an older video, but I wanted to share a "nemesis" story from the homebrew western I lead a few years back. Two player characters had it in their backstory that they had been farmhands in debt, practically slaves, to a plantation owner. The game had been going on for several sessions before they had a chance to choose if they wished to keep on the chase and tail the villain of the story that was set in the first session or go to act out personal revenge against a minor villain from their backstory (who they had never met in the actual game) by taking a detour that would give the actual villain a better lead. I had planned for the possibility that they would do the detour for revenge, though they split the party with half going to act out the revenge and half to keep tabs on the main villain by giving chase, but I didn't force their hand nor guide their decision more than by saying "the next possibility to revenge the past wrongs can be a while." As they planned their murderous scheme I gave information that the previously enslaved characters recall how the evil plantation owner had a female bodyguard who is a gunslinger turned bounty hunter. This female gunslinger became the nemesis for the group in the future, or rather a "frememis" (friendly nemesis) as they prefered to call her in the end which I shall explain later on. All they knew was that the plantation will be guarded by regular guards and the gunslinger who presumably only works for money and has no actual loyalty for the owner of the place. When they managed to break in and sneak to the villain's room a fight begun and as it progressed the gunslinger realized that no matter what she would do she wouldn't be able to save her employer in time and she just left the scene as she knew no one would pay for her additional troubles fighting the players. So the players managed to revenge the past wrongs done by this minor backstory villain, but when they moved on to meet up with the other half of the party in a nearby town they met the gunslinger from the plantation. Given that they had also looted the whole plantation and had a lot of money to throw around they decided to hire the female gunslinger to their party with the knowledge that the moment someone else does a better deal she will turn on them. They get to travel at least two sessions, which inculuded combat that only made them like the gunslinger more despite losing money since they had to pay for each kill they made, before they came to another cross road in the story. They had an option to take a shortcut through a rocky desert into another town with a good assumption that the main villain they were chasing after would go there as well, but they weren't 100% sure and knew that if the whole party would take the shortcut and their assumption was wrong they would lose them.. So they had more than half of the party take the shortcut with the attempt to organize an ambush for the main villain before they would make it to the town they were traveling towards while the rest went to tail the main villain to keep tabs on them if their assumption was wrong and they would be heading to another place so they wouldn't lose them after all by having the small group deliver the news of the change in plans if their initial plan and assumptions weren't gonna work. This smaller group who went to ensure they wouldn't lose the villain took the gunslinger with them since they thought that the main villain was traveling with a group of at least 20 men and the best shooter of the player group was good to have around. However when they found the villain and made camp further away from theirs failed the dice rolls to notice the guards who villain had patrolling the area.. When they were caught and a firefight was about to start the gunslinger turned on the players in moments notice and shot them in back (to wound them, not to kill) and then proceed to get the main villain hire her to their group instead after coming to their camp with guards and the imprisoned players. The players knew from the start the female gunslinger would betray them but they had just assumed she would only betray them if someone else would make a better offer.. They hadn't even entertained the thought of her betraying them in the face of trouble that might be more than her pay was worth without any ensured deal suggested by the bad guys before the possible betrayal and then proceed to use the act of betraying the players as a "pitch talk" for her to get employed by the main villain instead. It was a betryal that hurt, yet the players realized that they couldn't really blame anyone else for it than themselves. However what hurt more was how the main villain then interrogated the imprisoned players who spilled the beans about the upcoming ambush that was being prepared by the majority of the players and whenever they tried to lie to the main villain the gunslinger fact-checked them with whatever knowledge she had learned about the players during their short journey together (with some lies going through as "facts" since she didn't know them that well). The main villain didn't only get to hear their plans and how many players were there to attempt to do this ambush, but he also got to learn what kind of weapons they carried and he was these "mastermind" type of villains who went as deep as to ask the relations of the player characters (and the few side characters) who traveled together. So he knew all their plans and mostly how to manipulate each and one of them after the imprisoned players had told everything they knew. From there the main villain got to do this improvised "darkest hour" moment for the player group that was fueled only by their own miscalculation and the betrayal they should have seen coming when the majority of the party were attacked during the night instead of them managing to ambushing the villain as planned. During the attack the players found themselves in a house set on fire where they had been sleeping in while being forced to stay inside by the villain and his men (along with the female gunslinger who now fought for the bad guys) who kept aiming towards the door and the windows with revolvers and rifles to prevent the players from escaping. However I let the main villain be close enough for them to try to kill him but trying to do so would leave them open to be fired upon by the henchmen.. One player took this chance, had a succesful roll and wounded the main villain with a lucky shot to the head (though they actual damage roll was terrible). While he drew first blood of the villain who only got a scar out of it the player who did it were shot to oblivion and were critically injured for it. They got to have a small moment of victory during their darkest hour where one player and one npc almost died while one npc actually died with rest of the group getting injured badly.. And the little sister (npc) of two brothers (player characters) was kidnapped by the main villain during the chaos. Yet somehow they pulled through and the villain retreated. From there the players had to sneak to the town to see a doctor (since the villain was staying there as well) and there one player met the female gunslinger who had betrayed them and in a way caused the whole mess along with one liked npc getting killed and sister npc being kidnapped. She said she didn't regret what she had done and warned them that if they will keep chasing the main villain she has no choice but to shoot them, but it wasn't personal for her but since she warned them the players did realize she was more of a "reluctant henchwoman" who didn't like the idea of shooting at the players but will absolutely do so from now on since she was on the villain's payroll. Rest of the group learned that the villain was about to head towards the mountain and if they wouldn't go after him right now they would propably lose him for good. So all of them decided to give chase despite all the characters being barely in shape to fight, but they knew that the villain had lost a few men during the attack as well so they had a slim chance to win and attempt to save the kidnapped sister. In the end their chase took the group to the mountains a day or two before snowfall and there they fought against the gunslinger and few henchmen who were left behind to take care the players who he knew were badly hurt and a small group could deal with them given that the bad guys had high ground in a mountain forest. The players won the fight and critically injured the female gunslinger who laid down on the ground bleeding to death as they thought what to do with them. One player wanted to just leave, most wanted to grant them mercy and put them out of their misery accompanied kind words.. They gave the female gunslinger peace and actually granted her wish of "shoot me in the heart, I want to be beautiful when I die" and despite knowing that the main villain was getting away they took time to properly bury the gunslinger who had betrayed them in the past. She was this minor character who I hadn't planned to use more than in the revenge plot at the plantation (which was a thing they could have skipped) yet I thought bringing her back for a nice call back would be more fun and then the players decided to hire her.. And as they say rest is history. One of the best "nemesis" or "friendly nemesis" type of characters I have had the pleasure to play as and improvise with as a GM. ...If anyone is interested for the rest of the story: The players finally met the main villain and defeated him, freed the kidnapped sister npc and barely survived without losses after the fight was done at the shore of a mountain lake. When they finished off the main villain the snow start to fall.

[@deusexmaximum8930]

I'd love to listen to this guy do an audiobook.

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

I love this kind of thought-worthy content. It's great advice/suggestions for real working and functional campaign related material. I would like to point out (regarding truly remarkable villainy) that practically speaking, there's really no substitute for a confederate player... Pre-agree and discuss regularly with said confederate the role of the villain, and how it pertains to actions in the game as well as the general politics and surroundings... The best trick is to manage most of these conversations AWAY FROM THE ATTENTIONS OF OTHER PLAYERS... At least, try to avoid unwanted attention before the "grand reveal"... It should be understood (of course) that the confederate's character is very likely destined for a miserable demise... SO no hard feelings and a "workable relationship" with a player might well be worth "valued in-game rewards" for his character(s)... even to some degree in future games (it was a fairly popular incentive when more than one player figured out how the "favoritism" worked during character-building)... Suddenly, I was up to my eyebrows in treacherous bastards...lolz. (so do be fair while you're at the instigating)... Another fine point around this, (particularly from HOWTOBEAGREATGAMEMASTER) is what might your feelings be in regards to a "Co-GM"??? That is to say, two GM's technically partnered to help run the campaign... Whether it's a seasoned GM' veteran aiding in rule-deciphers and some "suggestions" along the judgment calls while a "Noob-GM" is actually "running the game" all the way to a tailoring of game-style that eve allows some party-splitting antics (as long as the two GM's stay relatively on-task)... like splitting up in a castle or maze/dungeon crawl. :o)

[@hfrancis8132]

I had a quasi NPC/player nemesis in a campaign like 20ish years ago. We had a smaller group 3-4 players. We use to have multiple characters each to control. Well one campaign I only allowed the players to make 1 custom character each ( with a few bonus points to attributes cause they are a Hero character, bait to allow them to want my new system ) then provided them a pool of NPCs who they can control. Each having their own background and what not but made by me, they could choose or vote who they wanted to use. They would level and grow attached to the characters for a few years. I made it a merc based group rather than adventurers At a pivotal point I used one of those as a hidden evil and killed off some beloved NPC group characters later. Love interests, what not. Which snowballed into more tragedy. Even though they didn't make these characters it was a sad tragic event since they controlled, learned their history and bonded with them for years. There was hints it would happen and betrayal wasn't unknown. Everyone was use to the merc business so most people had their dark past. But that betrayal hurt the most. The rest of the campaign was to seek vengeance upon the character and it was pretty awesome. It pretty much turned the mercs into heroes/adventurers at that point since it was no longer about money or gear to stop the nemesis. Which led to stronger character development. Ahh good times. The game itself lasted like 8 ( real life ) years with the basically the same evil force at work and generations of player characters. Even temporarily reviving old player characters for the final chapters end battles. Though it got a little anime-ish at the end on the power scales. Miss these types of games ( been like 15 years since our group disbanded ), thanks for the training course as I prep a new game! Wish I had your videos back in the day.

[@jaedenn_]

Something one of my players said when I did a player betrayal was "The worst thing about betrayal is that it never comes from your enemies." I think that shows how they thought about the player before the betrayal.

[@Galus999]

I'm very happy I found your page! I used to GM a lot of games back in the day but I gave it up around 2000 and just became a player. I've been wanting to get back into GMing and these are helping me forge my story! Thank you!

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

That's awesome! Welcome back!

[@BenemitC]

One of our players was actively playing the villain for some quests until he openly turned against us. The GM talked with him about it beforehand. It was a long con. This was the most shocking reveal I ever experienced.

[@steamtasticvagabond474]

An alternative to a villain orchestrating attacks on himself is a villain that is actually being attacked.

[@TheTSense]

After 8 weeks in rl my group found out that the forest guardians they are helping mean with "harmony of nature" nothing else than "total genocide of man" and the undead they are fighting were the man, woman and children murderd by the forces of the forest. The Villian, the undead "Champion of Old" was actually a hero from 600 years ago, given life again by hope and preyers of the people to protect the world from darkness. It sure was strange when this undead used so many holy skills and never tried to kill the players, only to stop them.

[@boredfangerrude]

Prince Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender is a perfect example of a repentant bad guy.

[@Mathignihilcehk]

What do you do when your players unintentionally become the super-villains? My party burned a village to the ground, enslaved the survivors, murdered almost everyone they met, and also sent one of their allied teams on an impossibly dangerous scouting mission that got them all killed. If the party started maniacally laughing, I would've known things were going exactly according to plan, but alas they thought they were the heroes... somehow. How do I either come up with someone MORE evil than routine genocide, or show the players that they are evil without giving up the campaign?

[@xdragoonzero0]

mathig nihilcek That's when you send the real heroes to stop them. If they still think they're they're heroes after slaying a team of good clerics and paladins (or w/e), they're still clearly not.

[@Mathignihilcehk]

The party had the advantage on level, had a dragon and a vampire as companions, and were, by default, 5 members. Even against 8 heroes w/ companions, I suspect they would've been engaged at long range, before they even had a chance to speak, and once they were killed, their home country would've been toppled leading the way to a very real chance for the party to literally take over the entire world. The alternative scenario I came up with was for the entire world of humans to immidiately band together to eliminate the greatest evil ever known. The dragon nation noticed this, and six dragons flew in to abduct the party. Half the party instantly threw down their weapons, because they liked the dragons, not because they were afraid. Ironically, those same half betrayed the dragons' trust and were basically executed by the dragons shortly therafter. I ended it just before (the next session would've opened w/ the execution) said execution could take place. No point in rubbing in their faces that the remaining members of the party were enslaved against their will, and hated by all of humanity. The enslavement wasn't that bad, though... they were basically gladiators, forced to fight pointless battles with no preparation or reward.

[@Tmanowns]

You already did that alternative? Because I was going to say maybe pull aside a player and ask them if they would be willing to play a player villain, and have them betray the party. After all, they're convinced they're the good guys. Have a god of justice essentially imbue them with divine power so that they can actually face the others and stand a chance, and really drive it in that they are evil. Alternatively have someone reveal themselves to be an evil necromancer overlord who thanks them for creating his new legions, and leave them be while laughing. After all, if he just leaves them be they'll just create more undead for him.

[@colegaynor3638]

"Unintentionally." Hehehe.

[@talkingplant6581]

mathig nihilcek make a “villain” who is obviously a good guy. *cough cough* undertale genocide route kinda. *cough cough*

[@seanfeezor4575]

Now I need a video on doing a proper "never-there" villain

[@HunterDaggers]

The campaign I'm currently running is pretty complicated in terms of layers and villains, but I'd still care for some feedback if this is seen. I'll just summarize the points I've worked on. So a bit over a year ago me and my friends did a short one off where we were adventurers seeking after the ancient treasure of a long forgotten pirate bay. Pretty straight forward, at first. We explored and researched what we could and eventually found out that their were these strange artifacts and an assortment of gems needed to find and access this treasury. Our characters fought tooth and nail over several countries to find these gems, and throughout our journey we, without ever meaning to, became corrupted by our journey. The choices we made as players became more and more questionable as we went. Eventually we were borderline villains ourselves, on a path of destruction that resulted in the countries we visited sinking into chaos and war. Well, we ended up breaking away from this campaign as it became convoluted. But, for this campaign now, I was thinking of bringing it back. Albeit secretly. If that makes sense? Over the course of our campaign we found out that they were ancient stones that actually granted godhood and great power to their wielders (think infinity stones). However they corrupted anyone not pure and virtuous. So for this campaign I've jumped the time line about a thousand years after this long done campaign. The old characters found all the stones, destroyed all of the civilizations around them in the process, and ascended to godhood. But they were corrupted and dark by this point. By the end only 3 stood. A Dwarf who sought acceptance and political standing, a Gnome who sought money and prestige, and an Elf who sought conflict and challenge. After collecting the stones they pushed on to claim their prize. But before they could locate the location, an elder god came down to them and informed them of the truth. That the Gate they seek must never be opened, and that as the Champions of the Stones of Gaia it was their responsibility to guard the Gate from any who may wish to open it themselves. The adventurers didnt care for this however, and they killed the god, angering many other deities. An Elven Goddess descended to the realm and waged war on the adventurers. But they had become too powerful, and the extent of what she was capable of was to simply bind them to the ground that they ruined. They could not leave the country they tarnished. So, trapped, they decided to make the best of their situation and remade society in their image. They didnt want people to know about them, and in turn the stones, so they kept their influences secret. So leap to the current time, and these powerful monsters still reside in the country. No longer together, however. The Gnome, the most cunning and manipulative of his comrades, betrayed them. Stealing their power, though he couldnt take the immortality, with their Stones, along with all that they had built and oversaw in the realm. He stole all power. The 2 betrayed sought refuge in an abandoned keep, waiting for an opportunity to make a move against the traitor. But they have yet to think of way, considering the traitor, of course, was the brains of their group to begin with. The heroes (current PCs) have been sent a vision by the Gods of what is to come. Not of the new gods that live among them, but of the horrors that lie behind the Gate. Prophecy states it will open soon, though no one knows how or why, and the literal destiny of the event weighs on the boundaries between the realm of the living and the realm of shadows. I'm implementing a sort of Lovecraft-esque vibe to this part. Long ago a race of all powerful Titans sieged the realm of the living from their native plane, bringing great destruction and death. It took the conjoined efforts of every God and Goddess to subdue them, but they could not defeat them. The only way they could stop the imminent destruction was to create an intricate seal to lock the passage between dimensions. A Gate. They formed the Gate and the Stones to act as keys, bestowing the power to choose protectors upon them, and sealed the beasts away. All but one. A cunning pygmy. A dark and twisted entity far more intelligent that his brothers and sisters. Without the Stones, and the Champions who wield them, he cannot open the Gate himself. So the Pygmy chose to hide himself away, where even the Gods couldnt find him, deep within the sea. He slumbered. However, recent events have awoken him. The seas recede, and the conflicts of the shores feed him. He has awoken and is now plotting ways to manipulate this world so that he may free his siblings once again. And prophecy says that he will. So, basically, I've got a layered handful of villains. Theres these massively powerful and imposing Titans that no one actually knows about, the young gods ruling the country that no ones knows about but can find hints at strewn throughout the country, and then a slew of minor villains, bandits, rivaling adventurers, etc. A psychopathic Oracle who has created a systematic human farm that creates soldiers and food for a nationspread family of vampires is one of my favorites. So theres many different layers of imposing threats, with the largest threats being the least noticeable.

[@petersenior5432]

Thank you so much! I've been trying for days to think of a way to make my villain last past the point of "hey guys I just conquered your city using this huge army of giant constructs immune to everything but adamantine damage", and now I've finally got it- He has his *army* conquer the city and then saves it as the party are returning with a few dozen adamantine weapons and ammunition, gaining their trust and pinning it on X villain elsewhere and also gaining the trust of the lord of the town.

[@badsamaritansofficial6704]

I have a feeling our DM placed one of these in our Cyberpunk Red campaign after watching this. We found a washed up borg in the water whilst at sea called Scotti. He happened to be jacked up with cyberwear, mostly lethal cyberwear and demanded Whisky, talking about surfing and other such dudebro things.. He has been paying for drugs and drinks, even though he never has any possessions on him, and NPC'S always give him shit he needs, which is real handy for when you want to build a motorramp and build a motorcycle to jump off it whilst at sea. My character recently got asked by people if I'm with him a lot. But as in with his crew... I later found out this submarine is on the way to our location and confronted him, asking if we can hitch a ride. He said he's not sure I'm cool enough, hence why we started building a motorramp in the first place, to prove to him I'm cool enough. Next sessions jump will determine if we get passage on the submarine or not.. as he deemed the other PC's useful or cool enough. My character is a bit of a brute, murder hobo, which is why some of the things he does don't vibe with his peeps. Are we being played here?

[@ycylchgames]

Ultimate villain, in my opinion, was Little Finger. Why? Because he tells Ned he's the villain constantly, doesn't even hide it. Sometimes if something is that obvious and in your face, your mind somehow rejects and ignores it, you kind of think he's joking. But he's not, he's literally telling Ned not to trust him but he does. Brilliantly evil.

[@callmequaz9052]

I know this is a bit old now, but this was really helpful. Been struggling to properly flesh out my villain and this gave me a few diabolical ideas which I think is going to be very fun to play with.

[@erinbecker4057]

This is such good advice for story writing as well as D&D! Glad i stumbled across this channel. One element i would ad to this list of good ideas is to give your villains a just slightly redeemable, or at least understandable motivation. Its no good to get to the climax and the villains plan revealed only to have him say he did it because...idk, im just evil i guess. A great example is one our GM came up with which was an unusually intelligent goblin who when he met our characters claimed that he'd been driven away for not being as ruthless and violent as the rest of his kind, and asked if he could journey with us into the town. In truth this goblin simply used us to vouch for his civility and entrance into the city so he could cut the chain on the portcullis, trap everyone inside and burn the city to the ground. Why? Because he was in fact the king of the goblins who was starting an insurrection against all other races who routinely invaded their mountain caves looking for their treasure and killed them like vermin You can feel a twinge of guilt and sympathy now right? How many times have we all gone about our quests murdering goblins or falmer or supermutants in our selfish pursuit of gold and quest items? The evil the goblin king does now has a justification in his mind and the added motivation of vengeance that adds depth to the character beyond mere money or chaos or world domination. When we finally found the goblin kings lair, all of us had reservations about killing him. And even though we did, it wasnt a triumphant moment but one of uncertainty and solemn reflection. Thats the stuff of deep, meaningful stories and great role playing.

[@frogfellow9554]

One of my favorite things to do is to make my ‘villains’ not so villainous. One of my favorite villains is this drow(Sylf) I created that took the party in for several campaigns, ran a clan, helped them out, provided them with connections and jobs, and then he does something that is, by all purposes, and evil action. You see, there’s this human, Ellis, that Sylf was dear friends with but thought dead. Ellis returns, and tells of how an opposing clan had captured him and just sort of kept him as entertainment for the past couple years before he escaped. Sylf, who we know at this point is protective to a degree, but not to what degree, goes crazy and slaughters the entire clan, torturing and killing every member. And then the party returns, shocked and disgusted by what has occurred. What I love about this is how Sylf is someone you trust and love, and someone who genuinely believes he’s doing the right thing. What do you do? Do you leave the clan, perhaps splitting up the party? Do you fight against Sylf’s clan? Do you ignore it?

[@coffeeknight6148]

I run an RP server inspired by the bnha world, more or less but nothing canon. There's 40+ members (about half of that RP regularly). So basically all the staff have OCs and join in the events and RP too, including myself. We moderate the RP and have been doing so effectively for a while now but as you might've already guessed, it's difficult to moderate an event or RP you're a part of. So I kinda need someone who can be somewhat of a Grand Game Master and oversee all RP and events ( stuff like deciding if actions are possible and NPC responses.) The main reason is this: if I'm a member of staff and a villain in RP and decide to rob a bank, naturally I won't call the cops on myself and even if I agree that the cops show up, I'll find a way to get myself out unscathed. I kinda need someone that will command situations like that neutrally and unbiased. I figured since you're not really into RP you can maybe help out and be the neutral that oversees these events and makes sure everything that's meant to happen happens. Of course it would entail getting conversant with our lore and methods and stuff but people have mastered those in minutes. And RP responses and such are slow and have a pace that would make it easy enough for you to follow what's going on without being online forever.

[@letters_from_paradise]

Palpatine is THE villain to look to when it comes to manipulation. He managed to worm his way into controlling an entire republic.

[@margaritakouzi5630]

Another way to get a nemesis in a party is to make a very hard battle, have the players lose, and the nemesis comes outta nowhere and saves them....so this time there's a HUGE boost of trust and thus making it even more surprising when they get betrayed

[@fluxshaman8251]

In Basic Training I was in a campaign where the friendly merchant who happened to be in every village the PC's went to and would greet them with a kind smile and great gear for the team. He was a djinn seeking godhood and he almost TPK'd the party but stopped just beforehand and he is currently a God of Mischief who still fucks with one of the party members

[@lh-drummer1630]

Idea for main villain group (that I am using in my campaign) In the campaign I am running, I have created a group known as the faceless who are the main villains of my campaign, they haunt my players dreams after their first encounter with them. They tall dark figures wearing black robes with white plain masks, behind the masks where there would be facial features is nothing but skin which has been sewn on, and at the bottom of the face, the open maw with razor sharp teeth, rows and rows of teeth, giving off a unbearable stench.. The faceless are a cult who wish to bring about Landfall (an event that will end the world) in order for them to return to their former form, Et'Ilada (immortal beings) and do this through several means: 1. The first story arc I put my players through - the faceless align themselves with the crimson hounds, a pack of werewolves attempting to summon Laarak, (custom god) the Godfather of lycanthropy. (Prophesised to bring about the end of the world at the bloodmobile 2. The second group the faceless will work with that I will throw at my party (later on when they level up more, they are currently level 5.) Illithids - illithids are traditionally trying to stop their future empire crumbling and therefore have an agenda to ensure their future empire they have does not crumble. The illithids live in a city known as the city of glass, where they are plotting their next move against humanity. 3. The dream witches of the haunt - the haunt is a large forest in Avantis (the name of my world) and the dream witches are a powerful coven whom the faceless are trying to work with to bring about Landfall. I am new to DMing but I have a lot of fun writing this stuff, hopefully this helps some of you and if you read that all then thanks lol

[@lux8398]

Bravely Default. Those of you who have played it know exactly whom I'm talking about. I designed my own nemesis greatly after them and it worked like a charm.

[@MrSephirothJenova]

where the Fairy Flies, am I right?

[@lux8398]

Silverman Yeah. Great game with a fun plot line.

[@jordank6961]

I subscribed almost immediately just because this guy's accent is very delightful, and plus his videos are nice and full information.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

+Jordan Kalmov Why thank you ;) Glad to videos are useful! Welcome to the channel!

[@ieuanhunt552]

Here is something that might be fun. Turn one of your PCs into the nemesis have private conversations with them so that they can be the diabolical villain. Then you don't have to come up with excuses as to why there is a single NPC that is always with them. You could even drop hints that SOMEONE in the party is a traitor and they start distrusting each other.

[@pyro-toxin5102]

my players have a message to give you. I won't say it cause it's rude. But me though.... THank you for all your diabolical help >:)

[@hammond1994]

What is you had a henchman that kept getting away? He's never noticed, he's a total coward, but he moves from the service of one Villain to the next, and the player only ever see him as a low level threat that runs away. Eventually the PC's begin to recognize him, maybe see him in a tavern, or pass him on the street. He may or may not have anything to do with the current adventure. It will prove interesting to see how the players respond to him.

[@timcampbell2764]

In one of my games one of my players played the evil master mind. He worked with them from the very beginning. They never knew until the last couple of adventures.

[@funnyblog100]

I have a good idea for a villain if I ever decide to dm. He is a terrifying and otherworldly creature known as the shadow king. This is a lich so evil that the only thing that keeps his minions at bay is the light. So you cannot fight him or his minions directly with your weapons and you have to use the light of a torch or lantern to actually keep him at bay. I mean I read about the shadow sorcerer in Xanthar's guide and thought this could make for a truly threatening villain. I mean you are fighting an unseen force that does not even have a physical form to engage with your blade and only light can keep him at bay. It is meant to make the players feel helpless whenever they run out of lantern fuel or when a cleric has used up all his spell slots keeping this thing at bay.

[@timgreen6384]

Good story hooks and character tricks. As I said my party will all be new so I will not be able to put the Nemesis into the party righty away but your ideas are stirring creative juices for the next Nemesis they have to face.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Makes me happy to read these kind of comments - I do appreciate the feedback!

[@WilliamWizer]

if the mastermind is a truly mastermind, it's perfectly possible that not even the henchmen know he is the mastermind. he just contacts with his army of henchmen using a trusted proxy (or a few of them) the mastermind may even fake the role of being an average villain/henchman that the PC believe they managed to kill but he is alive and just changed his/her look to enter again the party as somebody else. rinse and repeat until the party doesn't trust their own mothers.

[@donovanmcdonald167]

For me the greatest villain is one which gets the characters to make the hardest decisions themselves such as prioritising personal gain over others losses be it their life, love or even possessions. Sometimes forcing them to make split decision which they may regret later and which may tarnish they perspective of themselves and where they stand when it comes to good and "evil" or which may push them even harder to prove that they are better than the villain, the "good" guys... ;)

[@TheDwarvenMiningTeamWow]

I wrote an npc with this idea in mind (The traitor) and this helped sooooo much- thank you

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Glad to hear it! Thank you for commenting!

[@oxidiana93]

the way you talk, explain, categorize is great! Awesome video, i'll see soon the others

[@cenderdragon]

Just saw this vid and had a great idea for a villain in my current campaign I am running. Thanks a bunch

[@TerminalBloodshed]

See. I've started GMing Monster of the Week. We may play for a long time or for a short time. Not sure. Regardless, I'm trying to make a situation where, while there is something behind it all, the individual occurrences are compelling enough on their own that each one feels like a complete story. I don't like cults and I don't really like humanising threats in general, unless I can do it retroactively. So I use inhuman monsters. For the game we played so far, it went quite well. The players discovered several bodies of dying miners being taken out of a mine, found out the history of the town and the artifact in the mine, fought a horrible creature in the mine guarding the artifact and then found a room behind it. In that room, I put too beds. One unmade, one unused and a diary. The diary was from the perspective of two children who came down to the mines and played in the water where the artifact was left. It talked about them slowly changing in ways that revealed that the monster they just killed having been the younger brother of the person who wrote the diary. At the end, there was a short note, describing the writer's wish to see what all the noise was coming from above. The hint from that, which the players got was that some creature they'd never seen had already left and was at least human shaped enough to write in a diary that morning. The reveal was that one of the suited miners they'd seen at the start of the story was the second creature. I won't go into further detail beyond the fact that I never had either of the creatures actually speak. Now, this is really my first time being a GM beyond a few campaigns of reading out of a pre made book. Basically I just want to know if this general idea seems like a good thing to build upon. Should I attempt to throw them off by making a game one week that is more simple? It feels wrong to me to use a traditional villain, but it is fairly common in an actual monster of the week show. I feel compelled to make mysteries, but I fear the players might get burned out, or, too cynical of everything and end up discovering the answers far too early. This sounds very pretentious of me to type out so much for no reason now that I read it back. I'm not sure I explained myself very well. I don't know, what do people think? Should I make some very basic scenarios sometimes, or try to make something weird for every session?

[@Mr.Monster1984]

I once was DMing a demon campaign for only one player. He was my sister's boyfriend and we played every night . His character saved a mortal girl from becoming a vampire's ghoul. They fell in love and was really emotionally invested, since we played everyday and he was the only player. After they went through many adventures and stuff, I had him discover she was the villain. He got so angry and emotional confronting her in game that I changed all my plans and had her show proff she was beeing framed and she was innocent, he was really relieved. That wasnt what I had planned but I didnt have the heart to do it.

[@flyingturret208thecannon5]

I'm starting my first game with a player nemesis, the method I used for getting them as part of the story was them being involved in each backstory helping during the worst parts of their backstory, dragging them to assemble the party, from there they will create the villains as the player nemesis is a multiversal god, any problems in existence would be caused by this player nemesis, although his reasons are to have fun.

[@flyingturret208thecannon5]

a way to describe it is if The Machine from PoI was the one who caused all the numbers

[@ArawnNox]

This was pleasantly insightful and also highlighted one of my BIGGEST headaches when I was attempting to run Princes of the Apocalypse. None of the villains at any level of the game (the henchmen in the keeps, the villains in the dungeons and the prophets behind it all) had any real motivation. Heck, they were all lacking that basic "wants something and is having trouble getting it." The campaign, as presented is just so... stale, with everything just sitting there quietly until the PCs show up.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Glad to have brought some insight! :)

[@Vigilanteblade]

I've actually once had to deal with protagonists doing something relatively evil (despite them acting relatively good most of the time). I turned a "good aligned character" into a nemesis, because of their actions lol.

[@TheDryfus]

THIS!!! This has given me some very Good(bad) ideas. The guy that is helping the PC's right now,and has helped them before, sent them on missions, given advise, just WOW, Can't wait to see the look on the face of the players when I turn it around on them. This is why I. LOVE. THIS. CHANNEL!!!!!

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

AND WE LOVE YOUR REACTIONS TO THIS CHANNEL! :) Let us know how it goes, but please remember... you must give them a couple clues first that he may be dodgy, otherwise it will feel hallow! So patience young padawan... patience!

[@TheDryfus]

yes, already trying to figure out how to do that, and keep it subtle( I'm not very good at subtle.).

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

It's the little things... slavery, murder... extortion... you know... lol

[@TheDryfus]

LOL

[@jcl745]

I actually have a warcraft-based campaign where one of the players is secretly evil and describes himself as "secret hitler". He is a mage that considers non-casters weak and inferior but keeps it all to himself, so it doesn't affect the party for the moment.

[@railbaron1]

The best villains are shapeless, formless, They can be a friend or they can be an enemy, They can be a man or a monster.

[@technowitchjune]

This gave me an amazing idea for the campaign arc villain, thank you these videos are very underappreciated but are incredibly helpful

[@andorfedra]

9:18 In writing and role-playing this is the most devious and diabolical of the methods that a true villain can take to ingratiate themselves with the PCs/Protagonists. I LOVE IT!

[@Crozierization]

Can also ally a known villain with the party using a Greater Evil. Like the way Thor and Loki ultimately have to team up to stop Thanos

[@hannibalscipio10]

Great ideas! My villain ideas are more fleshed out now.

[@Maximillian1329]

I had an idea for a Nemesis for my group, I was wondering what you think of it. They're fairly new players, this would be their second campaign. The premise is that they are part of a guild in a large, prestigious city, a guild that is paid to go around the continent and assist others with their problems. Since the PC's are starting at level 5 (Pathfinder system) they're obviously low ranking guildmembers, apprentices of a sort. So they have a mentor who's a much higher rank than them. This mentor goes with them on quests and aids them, becoming their friend along the way. But, in reality he's actually got far more sinister ideas in mind, and perhaps after the third or fourth scenario quest, he betrays the PC's and attempts to kill them / leave them for dead while returning to the guild and blaming them for betraying him (he'll have an accomplice that will act as a witness) so the PC's get kicked out of the guild if/when they return (It will be very far away from the town, probably requiring a long journey) and thus they will have this character that they hate, one who they thought was their friend. Obviously PC's are unpredictable, and this will likely not go exactly as planned, and possibly not even remotely close to what is planned, but that's the general idea I'm hoping to work around. Tell me what you think!

[@jakemorse6320]

my current villain is a teenage inventor they helped in the beginning and he ended up working for the king. the king executed his father when he refused to build him weapons so he turns his inventions on the king and takes the throne.

[@deathhog]

my own personal thought process at 11:14: "and so is the players begin to trust him more and more, he sends a letter up to offer congratulations on the most recent mission and an invitation... Only for the party to enter his abode, and find his mutilated body, a note stuffed in his mouth. 'Come get me.'"