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i hope you dont mind me asking, i do without ill intend, but the thing in your eyes, what is it? are you ok? everytime i see your videos i ask myself. also besides that, i would love a game like in the video
This is actually kinda how my last DnD character went. He was a politician who was only saving the kingdom with the party to advance his own career by becoming a hero. After, the campaign ended he was so annoyed by our low Int cleric who seduced the queen, that he created a public education system just to insure he'd never have to meet another idiot like that again.
No kidding, till this day, my favorite moment at the table was that my players sympathised so much with my BBEG, that they actually joined him and made the Peninsula a better place, I wanted my players to feel conflicted, but never expected that turn of events. Made a rather interesting revelation about 3/4th into the fight. Nothing will probably topped how I felt back then.
I had a Campaign where all NPCs were such ungrateful bastards, our characters chose to accept serving the Evil God as his Servants rather than save the World. We literally brought upon the End of the world because we were so done with the Setting and our DM was surprised we would do that XD After talking to him he agreed that he wrote the NPCs a bit too similiar and that all of them were indeed just jerks.
I have a campaign I'm working on for my group inspired by actual exploits by people in history like Oda Nobunaga and King Kamehameha. I'll have a few areas that are at constant war because they all have some resources the other wants and then I'll have my BBEG be a conqueror fighting a cruel war of unification to establish trade so there can be prosperity in the area.
@@alithanar8 welcome to international paper, hope you like folding boxes 8 hours a day, also I hope you like working in a warehouse with dodgy cooling and heating. And by dodgy we mean two big fans in summer, and central heating in winter
I've actually thought about running a campaign like this where all the "villains" actually have plans that will improve everyone's lives but depend on some bad things to be done first in order to make it happen. Just to have a campaign where the players are constantly having to deal with and make decisions where they're stuck thinking "if I stop this person from doing this thing that will hurt some people, I'll be sentencing countless people to suffer". Make them have to always think about whether they're actually doing the right thing or not.
Not having a justified motivation against the main villain(s) often leaves the players sorta feeling dissatisfied after killing them, there isn't much of a "horay we did it" but more of a "well that's over". (from personal experience)
@@Valsorayu There is a justified motive, the "villain" is doing something bad for a good reason the players experience the bad without knowing the reason. So they develop a point of view that this person is bad and most be stopped. This gives them a justified motive. Then over time depending on their actions and choices might start to learn bits and pieces of the truth and eventually either in the final confrontations or before realize the truth of what's been going on. And they are now left in a position of do they stop them, leave them, or help them. They have to weigh the actions with the intentions and decide. They have a motive and overtime that motive can change Here's an example campaign: There is an ancient myth of something known as Genesis of Divergence. A myth passed down throughout the ages that through the interactions of magic and magical energy an imbalance begins to grow within the worlds magic. Over time this imbalance grows to a point in which magic becomes unstable and in this instability a Genesis of Divergence can occur. When it does the unstable magic can collapse and cause the worlds magic to rupture. This causes extreme magical catastrophes around the world as magical energy separates from itself and bursts into the material plane. Such as elemental magic condensing in areas converting lush and verdant forests into volcanic hells; bursts of magic that can wipe out cities; or condensing and merging with animals, monsters, or even people. In the present day this is a myth few know about, long since forgotten by the masses. The king of one the worlds kingdoms learns about Genesis of Divergence and tasks his mages to delve into it. Eventually it's learned that they are real and in the most recent one to occur 1,200 years ago it fused with a powerful Mind Flayer and drove her mad twisting her into an abomination, seeking out to consume all life. A group of heroes joined together to stop her and had thought they succeeded. However in a near death state had escaped and found a place to hide and recover. Using her magical and psionic power she closed off her sanctuary from the world and bound the magic to the bloodlines of the people born within it's region. Discovering that a beast that would seek to consume everything was within his kingdom he set out to stop it at all costs. However that cost would be the lives of everyone connected to the region. So in secret the king begins to search out everyone in the kingdom from the region and kill them in secret. This leads to the players getting their first connection to the story they hear about these people being randomly killed or going missing. Over time they would begin to learn that the killings and disappearances are happening all over the kingdom. At any point they can begin looking into what is occurring and eventually discover the people are all connected and even find out the King is behind it. They could choose to reveal it to the people which could lead to a revolt or the King taking his actions into the light and sending his troops in to kill no longer keeping it secret and hidden. Or they could keep it secret and fight against him in secret. Eventually they could discover that there is some kind of being in the region and the people have something to do with it. And when they confront the king finally learn the final pieces that he's killing these people to gain access to the Sanctuary before the creature can regain it's strength or while it still slumbers. The players would of experienced a whole campaign of people going missing and being killed building up anger and resentment to this and when it finally culminates in the confrontation with the King they're left with a smack in the face that the King was doing it to save everyone else. So what do they do? They could stop him and hope the beast never awakens, leave him to what he's doing, or help him stop it. So the final confrontation no matter how it ends is a grey area leaving the players with tons of conflicting emotions about do the ends justify the means, is the easiest solution really the best, did they do the right thing, and more. And if they choose to help it can bring them to the true final confrontation where they fight the entity. And this fight has even more emotion and weight to it because the lives of countless people were paid to lead up to it and should they fail all those innocent peoples lives were wasted for nothing. (Don't be too harsh on this just came up with it in a couple minutes)
@@-Offstar That's a lot and I'm not reading it all but, as a whole I call this a 'Grey Campaign' and I'm trying to run one now. It's pretty hard. You have to really be able to judge the moral compasses of your players, and you'll always get that one guy who is just twisted for the sake of being twisted. But yeah, even something simple - this group wants to stop knowledge of (nuclear weapon equivalent) from reaching the masses, this group wants the opposite and suggests that knowledge should be open and shared; and they both want your help. Or, this group seems to be evilly dominating the governments of the world, but later you find out they're just doing what's necessary to prevent eldritch horrors from invading, a few sacrifices a month is nothing compared to what could come through
@@Dimencia yeah imo the "grey campaigns" only work if you introduce both decisions to the players, both decisions has some good and bad things, and the players will have to weight those things to decide. If you introduce just one BBEG of that type, the decision is fight him or stop the campaign basically
So how did your players react to that? They stoped fight and abandoned everything that they have done? I think it's very controversial thing to do in real campaign. Also XP to level 3 have video about twists like that and he says that this is a bad idea
@@ВалентинПрокопец-з9ю Well yeah xp to lvl 3 is a nice guy but never say never. You don't know the people OP ist playing with. If its just a midway twist i dont See any harm done. But yeah. Making the endboss too sympathetic can be dangerous because players feel dissapointed If they have nothing left to do or If THEY are the evil guys now for trying to stop the Boss. Depends in what follows next
@@ВалентинПрокопец-з9ю well the warlock and the bard listened to him while the ranger was bleeding out in the previous room from fighting the bbeg's main guard and as they were going to accept the offer the rouge rolled a Nat 1 going to shake his hand so I may okay have not used his addiction to assassins creed against him (cuz his character was basically Ezio so he had a hidden dagger at his wrist and at the previous session he put poison on it) so I said that the dagger flew out at high speeds and stabbed him right into a blood vien killing him on the spot. Later on they found out that not only his death stopped all the good he was doing but also the bbeg was the ranger's long lost son. I know I'm a horrible person :)
“Oh, be careful! Love you.” “Love you too.” This was the best! The ending to the video still has me giggling. One of my favourite videos of yours ❤️ Thank you for all the hard work you do! 😁
Twists like sympathetic villains (especially when you get all the important details on them so far into the adventure) can be great if used properly. One Eberron campaign story I had used Erandis Vol/Illmarrow as a major villain. The party's goal became getting into her stronghold and assassinating her. But I took a detour from how she's usually presented in her current lich form as this elf-dragon monstrosity and my characters discovered the ancient, evil lich Lady Illmarrow... in the form of an undead teenage girl. It was a gut-punch realization that this evil being in the world of Eberron was just reacting (admittedly, very terribly) to losing her childhood and everyone she knew, and forcibly turned into an undying lich, just because people were afraid of this kid's bloodline.
ran an Eberron campaign where the premise was, the company was building a rail line to connect two cities, which would bring trade between said cities and allow them to prosper. The problem was it ran across Gnoll tribal homelands, so naturally the Gnolls were not happy BUT the railroad company said they had deeds to the land sold to them by kingdom B otherwise construction would be delayed by several years as they would then have to go around the Gnoll lands. So the Adventurer's job was to go down and settle the dispute. They could do it several ways, clearing out the Gnolls (quickest, easiest solution) or actually putting in some legwork to find out that the 'deed' sold by Kingdom B was actually sold under false pretenses (the Kingdom did not, actually, own the land at all) and that the company had been swindled. Instead they went an interesting route, convinced the company to hire the Gnolls as guards for that section of the train line and to pay passage rites to travel through the land because they deed proved false. The cost for this was much lower than the company would have to pay for going around the Gnolls AND it meant that train robberies would be limited in scope, effectively reducing insurance costs (yes the party did an actual costs/benefits presentation to the company...was not expecting that). It also caused an uproar that the King had swindled said company (considering they're the main transit company for the area with ties all over the world) and was an unreliable ruler who had been pocketing the money he got from the company instead of investing it into social issues like he had promised he would. The King then tries to have the party assassinated for 'sullying his good name with lies and slander' using his loyal followers, which failed spectacularly (several nat 1s on my part) and as a result caused the king to be 'removed from office' by a political rival who was being supported by the railroad company and installed to keep their interests as a focus. Was this a 'good' outcome? Kind of, the Gnolls gained employment and a stead paycheck for just doing what they'd do naturally but there was still a railroad going across their land (which they now definitely owned). The King that had caused all sorts of problems was removed BUT the railroad company effectively installed a puppet leader who was under their thumb.
@@luketfer Possibly the least destructive way that could have gone. The only one that lost anything was that idiot of a king. Was he a bit tyrannical and hoarding money for his own pockets? Probably, could have easily just been some false rumors by the company. But beyond that, no dead Gnolls, no robbed trains, more employment for the kingdom, just a few dead assassins and one ousted king.
@@thereita1052 Well, yes? Everyone on welfare is essentially dependent on someone else for their wellbeing. Giving over your wellbeing to an entity that you aren't directly involved in can lead to catastrophic consequences. Take a modern example. Everyone wants universal healthcare. Tax hikes for the middle class and the rich to have "free" healthcare. Sounds great! Now they're suggesting if you aren't vaccinated you shouldn't get care. Okay. 75% of the black American population isn't vaccinated. See where this is going? If we give total control of your food, health, and housing to an entity that's historically the most corrupt institutions that have ever existed, then bad things may, and probably will, happen. That isn't to say things like that are inherently a bad idea. Utopians tend to forget the human condition. At the end of the day, taxing people to have a welfare state is the same thing as saying "We will steal money from productive people and give to the people who are less productive." That's historically not actually helped anyone except make them dependent on the government. Then the government uses that to leverage policies that garner more and more control. In this specific case you'd be allowing a monarch complete control over your life. Don't like what the king is doing and you speak out? No more welfare for you. 🤷🏻♂️
@@gogeta667 dude this Is A DND PUN VIDEO not a political channel. Fr don't. There Is an appropriate location and time for evry discussiom but not here and now.
@@thereita1052 Politics is everywhere. What I said was just true. Also potentially useful for people who like to do political dramas in their games. If you want to be taken care of by anyone, you should first trust that person/institution, right? Not really a controversial statement to say that the governments of modern and historical nations and states have been, for the most part, kinda terrible.
@@gogeta667 THIS WAS A JOKE. I was acually making joke of pepole who think healthcare Is communism like you! (you didn't exactly reply that bit by the fact than you responded approving My comment in a serious way and the way you think your opinion is the Absolute truth I am gonna guess you are like that). Politics Isn't fun. It might be intresting or culturate but It Isn't fun and right now It Isn't (well i guess It WASN'T) the topic of the subject. Even the pepole who put like support what I say. Learn to read the room. PS: won't responde of you want to be political cz right now it's 11p.m where I am and I am tired.
... damn it, this is a briliant idea ._.' having the BBEG be actually a guy with incredible plans on how to improve lives of people and just using not very moral methods for it. Damn.
@@OnetastyJoe 1. They would only know the bad stuff and not the reason behind it as the building part would be still ahead 2. Some players just love to watch the world suffer and burn down orphanages and churches and I am still upset with them for doing so.
I'd say I'm having flashbacks to Pathfinder's Council of Thieves, but I'm still playing it. Main villains: "We're going to make people's lives miserable for a few months to create a crisis that will let us take over the underworld thieves guild, and then before the federal navy shows up to declare martial law since we cause the last leader to flee and the two military organizations in town to be more concerned with each other, we'll solve the city's problems ourselves, look like the heroes and then get acknowledgement from the military for saving the day! At that point we'll run the city. Then we're have a government has that a close hold of the major criminal organization and be more tolerant towards a race that has been spat on for nearly a century and improve this city that has been in a state of decay for seventy years!" Heroes: "No! We will stop you from- wait, what was that last part?" Main villains: "You heard us!" NPCs: "No. You have to stop them! If they win the city will be under the influence of an infernal entity!" Heroes: "You mean the one the country is already forced to worship?" NPCs: "No! A different one!" Heroes: "... So we're breaking up the monopoly and causing two bad guys to be at odds with each other rather than having one rule completely over the people with no opposition." NPCs: "Right." Heroes: "... Hold please. So, bad guys, what is other devil going to do with this down-trodden city?" Main villains: "Well, he's based on greed. So we're going to focus on pulling more and more wealth into our clutches from everywhere we can extend our vile reach." Heroes: "So.... you're going to improve trade and pull in wealth from afar. You're not going to like tax the locals into oblivion or something." Main villains: "What? You mean the people here who don't have much to begin with? How are we going to get rich off of them? They see a single silver piece and think they've won the lottery. Other than the temporary crime going on in the street to cause the crisis, most of our targets have been those in power: the former corrupt mayor, the noble families that were running the crime syndicate, the same evil knighthood you attacked way back when you were level 2, the local guards that haven't done jack-shit to help you guys out or anybody since this campaign began, etc. Heck, we've only been attacking you because you keep getting directed by those two NPCs to get in our way." Heroes: "But we did find a lot of wealth in the guild house robbed from the general populous." Main villains: "You mean the trove with a chunk of stuff from noble families in the guild house that up until a week ago was run by not-us but several noble families, many of whom we damaged the power of and executed? Heck, the most I took from the poor was from that one time you played in that gladiator fight and I was one of the few people to actually bet on you to win. I made frickin' bank that day. Thank you for that. I remember so many people in the stands pissed off over your win." Heroes: "............................ You hiring?"
Reminds me of the one about the benevolent necromancer who thought he was playing a solo campaign, but his GM was using him as the BBEG for his other group.
@@ethanwright7040 GM: Mwahahahaha I've given them a moral quandry now they - HEY HEY NO DON'T PICK THAT SIDE THAT'S A MULTI YEAR CAMPAIGN EXTENSION YOU"RE WALKING INTO! ALL THAT WORK!!!! (Technically better then my own personal experience. GM: Okay I set up that a character known by the players has gone missing in the area to lead to some bandits and that there are remnants of the slave traders in the area as well so they can go for either hoo-....NO WHY ARE YOU GOING TOWARDS THE DEADLIEST DESERT IN THE WORLD ON A LARK INSTEAD?!?)
@@ethanwright7040 new one? No now they are the bad guys and must strike down up and coming heros. But now GM you can give the heros plot armour. Let the GM run the heros and have the players run the evil org
This reminds me of when we were fighting this wizard from a whole different module called Glasstaff, but we were so bad that he actually was the main helper of the plot
Every character should be trying to either help themselves or help those that they care about. For villains, there’s an easy option: They want power and control. But they don’t have to be that simple, they could: Try to rebuild their kingdom to return it to its glory days. Get revenge for someone they care about. Prove their conspiracy theory right (pairs well with insane characters). Follow the edicts that they have committed to. Stop a force that they perceive to be evil. Give somebody something that they think they would want - if only they would accept it. And many more! Whatever your character is, the key is consistency. That doesn’t mean that they can’t change, but they need a reason to.
Had this happen in my Pathfinder campaign BBEG wanted to become an evil god so he was performing a ritual to do just that. We tried to stop him, but after a few turns of combat he turned into an Earth Elemental and burrowed 30 feet underground with no hole. Our party was stumped, we lacked a druid or any way to fight him. After a short discussion I had the bright idea of ripping pages out of the of the Codex hoping it'd help. The first was going to summon thousands of Wraiths that would terrorize the entire plain so I quickly ripped another which resulted in a meteor shower. The meteor shower nuked all the incoming wraiths (over 250 incoming damage), our psionic was able to teleport the whole party to safety cept me and the paladin (a force will saved stopped it) meanwhile the safe BBEG just laughed at the show. I danced, dodged, and teleported around and thanks to Improved Evasion plus being level 19/20 I survived at half health meanwhile the poor Pali was disintegrated. So it was only me and the BBEG so after talking to him I decided that since I couldn't stop him or the ritual I would just let him become a god (luckily he was lawful evil so I knew he'd do the job fine) in return he let me take the Codex - which was the main point of the quest - as I teleported away.
Ok I LOVED the skit but can I say the ad was great too? You are so creative at putting an ad in your videos. Honestly, some creators just kinda throw it in and i kinda wanna skip it, but you make a whole thing out if it. And make it entertaining! (Plus I loved “don’t thank me just thank..me.” 😂) Keep up the amazing work Duke! Doing great! Love ya dude! ✨🤍
I love the fact that the real BBEG is actually just the king the paladin swore an oath to and the "Evil king" is actually a sweet heart considering he wished Paladin good luck and loves
My party would so go with the bbeg here, they are big on talking it through, they would probably find a way knowing that to broker peace between the bbeg and the king that hired them.
This was almost my group when they discovered why the BBEG was doing what he was doing. They spent the entire next session discussing whether they should help the BBEG or just let them finish their scheme or whether to fight them. The party almost got split over it. Players decided they wanted try to change the way things were without using what they described as excessive force and opted to defeat the lich before essentially doing what the lich was going to do anyway. They're almost at the point where they get to fight it.
"Oh be careful. Love you." That had me dying of laughter. Also I love putting "BBEG's" into games like this. My players never know if the person who claims to be the "Good and just" ruler really is that or not.
The best villains are the ones who aren’t “Ooo, look at me! I’m doing bad things because I’m bad!”, but the ones who have a valid reason for their actions, even if it’s from a twisted point of view. Sephiroth: I want to stop people from hurting. (Good on you, guy!) Life is pain, so if I just eliminate life, I will get rid of all pain! (Wait, what?) Magneto: Humans perform horrors on the oppressed “other”; I’ve seen the Holocaust, and how mutants are treated now. I will protect my mutant people from the genocide the “normals” desire, by any means necessary! Syndrome: Why should super powers be limited to those who just happened to win the birth lottery? My inventions will let anyone have these powers! Boy Scouts in my troop: We’ve found a way to stop any bleeding wound, and the suffering from any injury; just use a tourniquet around the neck, and all their problems will be over! He he he he… (Okay, they might just be sociopaths.) You have this kind of quandary in Fable 3: an ancient evil is coming to obliterate the kingdom, and the only way to prepare is to tax heavily and do stuff that makes everyone hate you, for their own good!
On that note, I realize a good villain is the twisted version of one PC, or their idea. Ex: my last campaign featured 2 villains: 1. Lena - a bandit leader that terrorizes Phandalin town. She wants to bring peace to it, while her boss - an evil drow wizard called Nezzar wants to destroy the town. So in a sense, she's saving it. Technically she oppresses the people, but would they rather be dead? 2. Nezzar - the BBEG, power-hungry wizard that believes in the drow's way, conquest and domination. What he really wants is simple: Fame and glory, much like the PCs themselves. Well, the final battle was tough, and the ending was tearful, to say the least
Sargeras (World of Warcraft): The universe has been infected with cancer, the cancer is spreading, must nuke the places of cancer to stop it from spreading and make the universe well again. Other people; Hey that's bad, mhkay - we happen to live on this cancer.... Well written "Villains" are usually the good guys if you just look at the bigger perspective.
I disagree, there's just as much room for pure evil villains a la disney, the Joker, and other such iconic villains. The best villains are the ones that have the most impact, and that doesn't inherently need a motivation beyond wanting to do it.
Yeah, that happened to my campaign. A wizard somehow rewrote reality and became the emperor of the sword coast. It made a heaven for magical researcher and lore keepers. Me, Drow lore bard, NE, who wanted to free the drow from the underground found this a wonderful idea; since in his new reality the plan to do so was already underway. The vengeance paladin from Luskan, LN, was on board because, hey he's the emperor, and not all of the coast hates Luskan now. The Tabaxi rogue, TN, who was sightseeing the human lands thought, "eh, let's go with the flow". And that's how we joined the BBEG. It was a fun campaign.
It would be a great twist if this was a BBEG, but it isn't. Also, unless he was funding all his plans on orphan blood and trapping the souls of those orphans to permanently and silently reside in their parent's bedchambers, there isn't a reason why this guy just isn't just bringing these plans to the King, or, better yet, gaining the support of a group of people and just building his own utopia anywhere else in the world. So...this would be a terrible campaign twist because this guy would paradoxically be extremely intelligent, yet woefully stupid. Having the intelligence, drive, and, possibly, the support to achieve everything he'd want without stepping on any toes...but he just doesn't.
@@Nickle_King yes, there is a reason why this guy isnt just bringing these plans to the king. Maybe the King is in truth evil and doesnt care for the Children/Commoners and the BBEG is one of the few who know that truth. Which is why he does it on his own instead of involving the king.
@@Nickle_King Just like in real life; the good guys aren't always the ones people drone after. Some people follow extremely volatile and horrible stuff, just because they've been told it's "the good side", so they hurl insults and ban/ignore/remove anyone who brings an argument to the table against it. This is why the "BBEG" isn't always the actual evil person, sometimes it's just the single reasonable and logical person in the room who has a broader perspective than "hurpdurp-he said we are different". There's just sooooo much to it and you're assuming every person ever is voting with intelligence, or that the person in power (king) is actually a good guy.
@@tobinator1767 The king doesn't even have to be evil, per se, they just have to perceive the BBEG as a threat, for whatever reason, or be uninterested in any such projects, whether from neutrality, or incompetence.
@@Nickle_King In what world can you just walk up to the king of a country and show them your plans and expect to be taken seriously? Even if you had the best plans in the entire world nobody would take you seriously just doing that.
Ran a weekly campaign that lasted for 2 years, and ended with the BBEG talking the players down. He convinced them to switch sides and join him, turning on their former allies... but you see, he was the progenitor of all vampires, who wanted to put the sun out so that he would be unstoppable. Through one of his minions (whom killed a well loved NPC just to get them to talk to her), he set up a meeting. She convinced them that he really wasn't *that* bad and that the world was a mess anyway. Because ofc, she'd been fooled a hundred years ago by the same lies he was using on the players now, but with someone to back him up... the players actually listened. It was glorious.
The final villain of my campaign wasn't evil. He was just the _assholiest good guy_ -- He had been responsible for _a lot of fucking deaths_ but everything he did was justified in his greater plan and he legitimately saw himself as a necessary evil in order to save the world. And the players redeemed him and forced him to work in reparations for the families whose lives he'd ruined.
i'd like to be in a campaign where the bbeg does have a nice plan that will help out a lot of people that have been neglected by the current rulers but also has plans to use parts within that nice plan to further his own dark ambitions and evil plans.. like, maybe hes a servant to an evil deity or old god who secretly plans to make the citizens part of his cult and used in sacrifices or binding their souls to the deity but to do so he has to improve the city (like the examples given in the video).. he'd have the funding to really help the city out and killing him would cause the city to lose access to said funds so the party would have to make a choice to help improve the lives of the citizens or to doom them to live in slums in order to stop an evil deity from gaining power... (maybe not the best example as any good party would probably choose to save them from the evil deity as that'd have eternal consequences on the citizens souls but it gets the idea of needing to decide on what to do with a bbeg who will both help and hurt the people)
Now I have to run a campaign where the "heros" are constantly thwarting the "villain" as he attempts to undermine and overthrow the "good" king. I build up to a swift and decisive confrontation and then he does exactly this. Then the rest of the campaign is the party helping the ex-villain. That would be an amazing campaign I think
Yeahh accidentally made a "sub arch" that became the binding of two civilizations resurrecting a God causing world Pease with the bbeg.. damn sexy ass bards
ive been in a party turn before. Where we played an entire campaign helping a kingdom fight back against various invaders. But it wasn't until the end we found out that the kingdom was the invaders and we just helped an evil king conquer four peaceful kingdoms. so we played a second campaign where we literally undid everything we did in the fist campaign.
![When the Zyzz Music Kicks In [Regular Show Pops]](/img/1.gif)
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Is it okay if I stea- BORROW this concept for my BBEG?
@@mythologyfreakmythologyfre8399 it's called a ode or shout out.
Wth 😕😳😂😂😂😂
i hope you dont mind me asking, i do without ill intend, but the thing in your eyes, what is it? are you ok? everytime i see your videos i ask myself.
also besides that, i would love a game like in the video
Thanks Me
This is actually kinda how my last DnD character went. He was a politician who was only saving the kingdom with the party to advance his own career by becoming a hero. After, the campaign ended he was so annoyed by our low Int cleric who seduced the queen, that he created a public education system just to insure he'd never have to meet another idiot like that again.
I love it.
Wait relly
TMW: You are so stupid, you literally make other people smarter.
Só he BECAME a better person out of *spite*
*ensure
No kidding, till this day, my favorite moment at the table was that my players sympathised so much with my BBEG, that they actually joined him and made the Peninsula a better place, I wanted my players to feel conflicted, but never expected that turn of events. Made a rather interesting revelation about 3/4th into the fight. Nothing will probably topped how I felt back then.
Nice
I would love to play in such a game.
I had a Campaign where all NPCs were such ungrateful bastards, our characters chose to accept serving the Evil God as his Servants rather than save the World.
We literally brought upon the End of the world because we were so done with the Setting and our DM was surprised we would do that XD
After talking to him he agreed that he wrote the NPCs a bit too similiar and that all of them were indeed just jerks.
@@MikayaAkyo That's amazing & hilarious xD
I have a campaign I'm working on for my group inspired by actual exploits by people in history like Oda Nobunaga and King Kamehameha. I'll have a few areas that are at constant war because they all have some resources the other wants and then I'll have my BBEG be a conqueror fighting a cruel war of unification to establish trade so there can be prosperity in the area.
I need the Ev-Good King to become a recurring character
Same that love you at the end made me want him more
King: Some villain is brainwashing our women.
Villain: Welcome to the women's occupational center.
@@thegmredditor1573 Cool.
Welcome to janitronics, your mop and broom are over there.
@@peacemaker63604 Kitchesteria is over there, there are plenty of sandwich supplies in the cupboard.
@@alithanar8 welcome to international paper, hope you like folding boxes 8 hours a day, also I hope you like working in a warehouse with dodgy cooling and heating. And by dodgy we mean two big fans in summer, and central heating in winter
@@peacemaker63604 Howdy! This is universal bulbs, you can work in either light or plant bulbs... choose your poison.
I've actually thought about running a campaign like this where all the "villains" actually have plans that will improve everyone's lives but depend on some bad things to be done first in order to make it happen. Just to have a campaign where the players are constantly having to deal with and make decisions where they're stuck thinking "if I stop this person from doing this thing that will hurt some people, I'll be sentencing countless people to suffer". Make them have to always think about whether they're actually doing the right thing or not.
Not having a justified motivation against the main villain(s) often leaves the players sorta feeling dissatisfied after killing them, there isn't much of a "horay we did it" but more of a "well that's over".
(from personal experience)
@@Valsorayu There is a justified motive, the "villain" is doing something bad for a good reason the players experience the bad without knowing the reason. So they develop a point of view that this person is bad and most be stopped. This gives them a justified motive. Then over time depending on their actions and choices might start to learn bits and pieces of the truth and eventually either in the final confrontations or before realize the truth of what's been going on. And they are now left in a position of do they stop them, leave them, or help them. They have to weigh the actions with the intentions and decide. They have a motive and overtime that motive can change
Here's an example campaign: There is an ancient myth of something known as Genesis of Divergence. A myth passed down throughout the ages that through the interactions of magic and magical energy an imbalance begins to grow within the worlds magic. Over time this imbalance grows to a point in which magic becomes unstable and in this instability a Genesis of Divergence can occur. When it does the unstable magic can collapse and cause the worlds magic to rupture. This causes extreme magical catastrophes around the world as magical energy separates from itself and bursts into the material plane. Such as elemental magic condensing in areas converting lush and verdant forests into volcanic hells; bursts of magic that can wipe out cities; or condensing and merging with animals, monsters, or even people.
In the present day this is a myth few know about, long since forgotten by the masses. The king of one the worlds kingdoms learns about Genesis of Divergence and tasks his mages to delve into it. Eventually it's learned that they are real and in the most recent one to occur 1,200 years ago it fused with a powerful Mind Flayer and drove her mad twisting her into an abomination, seeking out to consume all life. A group of heroes joined together to stop her and had thought they succeeded. However in a near death state had escaped and found a place to hide and recover. Using her magical and psionic power she closed off her sanctuary from the world and bound the magic to the bloodlines of the people born within it's region. Discovering that a beast that would seek to consume everything was within his kingdom he set out to stop it at all costs. However that cost would be the lives of everyone connected to the region. So in secret the king begins to search out everyone in the kingdom from the region and kill them in secret. This leads to the players getting their first connection to the story they hear about these people being randomly killed or going missing. Over time they would begin to learn that the killings and disappearances are happening all over the kingdom. At any point they can begin looking into what is occurring and eventually discover the people are all connected and even find out the King is behind it. They could choose to reveal it to the people which could lead to a revolt or the King taking his actions into the light and sending his troops in to kill no longer keeping it secret and hidden. Or they could keep it secret and fight against him in secret. Eventually they could discover that there is some kind of being in the region and the people have something to do with it. And when they confront the king finally learn the final pieces that he's killing these people to gain access to the Sanctuary before the creature can regain it's strength or while it still slumbers. The players would of experienced a whole campaign of people going missing and being killed building up anger and resentment to this and when it finally culminates in the confrontation with the King they're left with a smack in the face that the King was doing it to save everyone else. So what do they do? They could stop him and hope the beast never awakens, leave him to what he's doing, or help him stop it. So the final confrontation no matter how it ends is a grey area leaving the players with tons of conflicting emotions about do the ends justify the means, is the easiest solution really the best, did they do the right thing, and more. And if they choose to help it can bring them to the true final confrontation where they fight the entity. And this fight has even more emotion and weight to it because the lives of countless people were paid to lead up to it and should they fail all those innocent peoples lives were wasted for nothing. (Don't be too harsh on this just came up with it in a couple minutes)
@@-Offstar That's a lot and I'm not reading it all but, as a whole I call this a 'Grey Campaign' and I'm trying to run one now. It's pretty hard. You have to really be able to judge the moral compasses of your players, and you'll always get that one guy who is just twisted for the sake of being twisted. But yeah, even something simple - this group wants to stop knowledge of (nuclear weapon equivalent) from reaching the masses, this group wants the opposite and suggests that knowledge should be open and shared; and they both want your help. Or, this group seems to be evilly dominating the governments of the world, but later you find out they're just doing what's necessary to prevent eldritch horrors from invading, a few sacrifices a month is nothing compared to what could come through
@@Dimencia yeah imo the "grey campaigns" only work if you introduce both decisions to the players, both decisions has some good and bad things, and the players will have to weight those things to decide. If you introduce just one BBEG of that type, the decision is fight him or stop the campaign basically
My solution was always, “They aren’t evil and there’s actually another villain who’s doing everything”
That ... was literally the ploy twist I did with my friends last campaign wtf.
Also that was a great video
The Matrix has you.
So how did your players react to that? They stoped fight and abandoned everything that they have done? I think it's very controversial thing to do in real campaign. Also XP to level 3 have video about twists like that and he says that this is a bad idea
@@ВалентинПрокопец-з9ю Well yeah xp to lvl 3 is a nice guy but never say never. You don't know the people OP ist playing with.
If its just a midway twist i dont See any harm done. But yeah.
Making the endboss too sympathetic can be dangerous because players feel dissapointed If they have nothing left to do or If THEY are the evil guys now for trying to stop the Boss.
Depends in what follows next
Shore did they join, I would
@@ВалентинПрокопец-з9ю well the warlock and the bard listened to him while the ranger was bleeding out in the previous room from fighting the bbeg's main guard and as they were going to accept the offer the rouge rolled a Nat 1 going to shake his hand so I may okay have not used his addiction to assassins creed against him (cuz his character was basically Ezio so he had a hidden dagger at his wrist and at the previous session he put poison on it) so I said that the dagger flew out at high speeds and stabbed him right into a blood vien killing him on the spot. Later on they found out that not only his death stopped all the good he was doing but also the bbeg was the ranger's long lost son. I know I'm a horrible person :)
“Oh, be careful! Love you.” “Love you too.” This was the best! The ending to the video still has me giggling. One of my favourite videos of yours ❤️ Thank you for all the hard work you do! 😁
Twists like sympathetic villains (especially when you get all the important details on them so far into the adventure) can be great if used properly. One Eberron campaign story I had used Erandis Vol/Illmarrow as a major villain. The party's goal became getting into her stronghold and assassinating her. But I took a detour from how she's usually presented in her current lich form as this elf-dragon monstrosity and my characters discovered the ancient, evil lich Lady Illmarrow... in the form of an undead teenage girl. It was a gut-punch realization that this evil being in the world of Eberron was just reacting (admittedly, very terribly) to losing her childhood and everyone she knew, and forcibly turned into an undying lich, just because people were afraid of this kid's bloodline.
ran an Eberron campaign where the premise was, the company was building a rail line to connect two cities, which would bring trade between said cities and allow them to prosper. The problem was it ran across Gnoll tribal homelands, so naturally the Gnolls were not happy BUT the railroad company said they had deeds to the land sold to them by kingdom B otherwise construction would be delayed by several years as they would then have to go around the Gnoll lands. So the Adventurer's job was to go down and settle the dispute.
They could do it several ways, clearing out the Gnolls (quickest, easiest solution) or actually putting in some legwork to find out that the 'deed' sold by Kingdom B was actually sold under false pretenses (the Kingdom did not, actually, own the land at all) and that the company had been swindled. Instead they went an interesting route, convinced the company to hire the Gnolls as guards for that section of the train line and to pay passage rites to travel through the land because they deed proved false. The cost for this was much lower than the company would have to pay for going around the Gnolls AND it meant that train robberies would be limited in scope, effectively reducing insurance costs (yes the party did an actual costs/benefits presentation to the company...was not expecting that).
It also caused an uproar that the King had swindled said company (considering they're the main transit company for the area with ties all over the world) and was an unreliable ruler who had been pocketing the money he got from the company instead of investing it into social issues like he had promised he would. The King then tries to have the party assassinated for 'sullying his good name with lies and slander' using his loyal followers, which failed spectacularly (several nat 1s on my part) and as a result caused the king to be 'removed from office' by a political rival who was being supported by the railroad company and installed to keep their interests as a focus.
Was this a 'good' outcome? Kind of, the Gnolls gained employment and a stead paycheck for just doing what they'd do naturally but there was still a railroad going across their land (which they now definitely owned). The King that had caused all sorts of problems was removed BUT the railroad company effectively installed a puppet leader who was under their thumb.
@@luketfer Possibly the least destructive way that could have gone. The only one that lost anything was that idiot of a king. Was he a bit tyrannical and hoarding money for his own pockets? Probably, could have easily just been some false rumors by the company. But beyond that, no dead Gnolls, no robbed trains, more employment for the kingdom, just a few dead assassins and one ousted king.
How did the group react?
Next you'll be telling me that he intends to use the tax money to build a new hospital or something, or start a wellfare program for the poor.
SEE????????1?11? THIS BBEG IS A COMMIE!!!!!1!1!11!!!!!!!
HE WANTS BIG GOVERNAMENT TO CONTROL US (irony)
@@thereita1052 Well, yes? Everyone on welfare is essentially dependent on someone else for their wellbeing. Giving over your wellbeing to an entity that you aren't directly involved in can lead to catastrophic consequences.
Take a modern example. Everyone wants universal healthcare. Tax hikes for the middle class and the rich to have "free" healthcare. Sounds great! Now they're suggesting if you aren't vaccinated you shouldn't get care. Okay. 75% of the black American population isn't vaccinated.
See where this is going? If we give total control of your food, health, and housing to an entity that's historically the most corrupt institutions that have ever existed, then bad things may, and probably will, happen.
That isn't to say things like that are inherently a bad idea. Utopians tend to forget the human condition.
At the end of the day, taxing people to have a welfare state is the same thing as saying "We will steal money from productive people and give to the people who are less productive." That's historically not actually helped anyone except make them dependent on the government. Then the government uses that to leverage policies that garner more and more control.
In this specific case you'd be allowing a monarch complete control over your life. Don't like what the king is doing and you speak out? No more welfare for you. 🤷🏻♂️
@@gogeta667 dude this Is A DND PUN VIDEO not a political channel.
Fr don't.
There Is an appropriate location and time for evry discussiom but not here and now.
@@thereita1052 Politics is everywhere. What I said was just true. Also potentially useful for people who like to do political dramas in their games. If you want to be taken care of by anyone, you should first trust that person/institution, right? Not really a controversial statement to say that the governments of modern and historical nations and states have been, for the most part, kinda terrible.
@@gogeta667 THIS WAS A JOKE.
I was acually making joke of pepole who think healthcare Is communism like you! (you didn't exactly reply that bit by the fact than you responded approving My comment in a serious way and the way you think your opinion is the Absolute truth I am gonna guess you are like that).
Politics Isn't fun. It might be intresting or culturate but It Isn't fun and right now It Isn't (well i guess It WASN'T) the topic of the subject. Even the pepole who put like support what I say.
Learn to read the room.
PS: won't responde of you want to be political cz right now it's 11p.m where I am and I am tired.
See, this is why you're expected to know the BBEG so you don't misidentify them for a civic developer.
What does BBEG stand for?
@@Kyle-gw6qp Big Bad Evil Guy
@@JM-mh1pp Thanks.
@@Kyle-gw6qp no problem.
@@JM-mh1pp I thought it was Big Bad Evil Government but I am obviously thinking too modern for this scenario, Thanks.
This is genius.... any ideas on how we can get the king into this timeline?
(Also love adbarian as usual!!!)
He already was in our timeline…
Many, many years ago
@@blueyindustries8503 Somewhere that is not *here*
... damn it, this is a briliant idea ._.' having the BBEG be actually a guy with incredible plans on how to improve lives of people and just using not very moral methods for it.
Damn.
is it tho? Why would the party be against them then?
@@OnetastyJoe 1. They would only know the bad stuff and not the reason behind it as the building part would be still ahead 2. Some players just love to watch the world suffer and burn down orphanages and churches and I am still upset with them for doing so.
Code Geass anyone?
I'd say I'm having flashbacks to Pathfinder's Council of Thieves, but I'm still playing it.
Main villains: "We're going to make people's lives miserable for a few months to create a crisis that will let us take over the underworld thieves guild, and then before the federal navy shows up to declare martial law since we cause the last leader to flee and the two military organizations in town to be more concerned with each other, we'll solve the city's problems ourselves, look like the heroes and then get acknowledgement from the military for saving the day! At that point we'll run the city. Then we're have a government has that a close hold of the major criminal organization and be more tolerant towards a race that has been spat on for nearly a century and improve this city that has been in a state of decay for seventy years!"
Heroes: "No! We will stop you from- wait, what was that last part?"
Main villains: "You heard us!"
NPCs: "No. You have to stop them! If they win the city will be under the influence of an infernal entity!"
Heroes: "You mean the one the country is already forced to worship?"
NPCs: "No! A different one!"
Heroes: "... So we're breaking up the monopoly and causing two bad guys to be at odds with each other rather than having one rule completely over the people with no opposition."
NPCs: "Right."
Heroes: "... Hold please. So, bad guys, what is other devil going to do with this down-trodden city?"
Main villains: "Well, he's based on greed. So we're going to focus on pulling more and more wealth into our clutches from everywhere we can extend our vile reach."
Heroes: "So.... you're going to improve trade and pull in wealth from afar. You're not going to like tax the locals into oblivion or something."
Main villains: "What? You mean the people here who don't have much to begin with? How are we going to get rich off of them? They see a single silver piece and think they've won the lottery. Other than the temporary crime going on in the street to cause the crisis, most of our targets have been those in power: the former corrupt mayor, the noble families that were running the crime syndicate, the same evil knighthood you attacked way back when you were level 2, the local guards that haven't done jack-shit to help you guys out or anybody since this campaign began, etc. Heck, we've only been attacking you because you keep getting directed by those two NPCs to get in our way."
Heroes: "But we did find a lot of wealth in the guild house robbed from the general populous."
Main villains: "You mean the trove with a chunk of stuff from noble families in the guild house that up until a week ago was run by not-us but several noble families, many of whom we damaged the power of and executed? Heck, the most I took from the poor was from that one time you played in that gladiator fight and I was one of the few people to actually bet on you to win. I made frickin' bank that day. Thank you for that. I remember so many people in the stands pissed off over your win."
Heroes: "............................ You hiring?"
@@MrChocolateDinosaur Yes, if you look at lelouch he won because he got the world he wanted but it came at a price.
What happens when the party did not realize the quest giver that gave out the murder hobo missions was not evil.
That wouldnt be murderhobo. Those are assassinations.
@@spencervance8484 The difference being one is a job and the other's mental sickness
@@10Neon remember, kids, don’t assassinate. It’s a mental sickness.
YES A NEW MASTERPIECE BESTOWED UPON US
No, I actually didn't think about the children
So reasonable
This is amazing we need a full series about this
Reminds me of the one about the benevolent necromancer who thought he was playing a solo campaign, but his GM was using him as the BBEG for his other group.
ok, noted
That sounds pretty cool.
How did that end?
@@midnights2631 Here's a link to where I read it: i.imgur.com/rAdm2.jpg
I honestly appreciate the content. Going through a really rough time and binging your videos has honestly been helping me through it.
It's gonna be alright m8
whatever it is that you are facing, I am sure that you can endure and overcome. IT WILL get better, trust me.
You know if my Dnd character met this “Evil” king he would be hell of confused on what to do
hella
I made my bbeg so relatable my players almost sided with him into taking over the world 😭
But if they did you would have run with it right?
@@shealupkes of course as big a pain as that would be
@@ethanwright7040 GM: Mwahahahaha I've given them a moral quandry now they - HEY HEY NO DON'T PICK THAT SIDE THAT'S A MULTI YEAR CAMPAIGN EXTENSION YOU"RE WALKING INTO! ALL THAT WORK!!!!
(Technically better then my own personal experience. GM: Okay I set up that a character known by the players has gone missing in the area to lead to some bandits and that there are remnants of the slave traders in the area as well so they can go for either hoo-....NO WHY ARE YOU GOING TOWARDS THE DEADLIEST DESERT IN THE WORLD ON A LARK INSTEAD?!?)
@@Sandman382 and a bit of NO DONT TAKE OVER THE WORLD OR ILL HAVE TO MAKE A NEW ONE (proceeded by a lot of crying)
@@ethanwright7040 new one? No now they are the bad guys and must strike down up and coming heros. But now GM you can give the heros plot armour. Let the GM run the heros and have the players run the evil org
That “love you” to the paladin at the end was so cute.
When the evil king's plans influence the Wizard into multiclassing into Artificer:
I expected this one to end with the rogue backstabbing the BBEG for triple-digit damage and ending the conversation early.
You know…I should really do this to a party
Assuming the players won’t attack on sight.
This reminds me of when we were fighting this wizard from a whole different module called Glasstaff, but we were so bad that he actually was the main helper of the plot
This hurts
Huh...?
Wasn't he like a miniboss in mines of Phandelver
@@dragonmothership1714 Yeah but the DM put him on another adventure because why not
@@StarfruitGamer123 I feel like yall were probably meant to kill him and loot his sweet staff lol
"oh, I actually didn't think about the children... fixed!!!"
When the villains evil plan is just comprehensive and effective infrastructure
Every character should be trying to either help themselves or help those that they care about. For villains, there’s an easy option: They want power and control. But they don’t have to be that simple, they could:
Try to rebuild their kingdom to return it to its glory days.
Get revenge for someone they care about.
Prove their conspiracy theory right (pairs well with insane characters).
Follow the edicts that they have committed to.
Stop a force that they perceive to be evil.
Give somebody something that they think they would want - if only they would accept it.
And many more! Whatever your character is, the key is consistency. That doesn’t mean that they can’t change, but they need a reason to.
Funny thing is, a certain Adolf did exactly what you described.
Awww I want this kind of wholesome campaign 💜😂
I hope your eye heal well..
Also, wonderful to see new context!
Edit: Ad-barian. HAH!
Yeah, the bloody eyes in this video were super distracting.
@@CerealNommer not really.. given that it's a surgery and nothing you can really mask you'll have to look past it
So basically he is the main character from Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim
Had this happen in my Pathfinder campaign BBEG wanted to become an evil god so he was performing a ritual to do just that. We tried to stop him, but after a few turns of combat he turned into an Earth Elemental and burrowed 30 feet underground with no hole. Our party was stumped, we lacked a druid or any way to fight him. After a short discussion I had the bright idea of ripping pages out of the of the Codex hoping it'd help. The first was going to summon thousands of Wraiths that would terrorize the entire plain so I quickly ripped another which resulted in a meteor shower. The meteor shower nuked all the incoming wraiths (over 250 incoming damage), our psionic was able to teleport the whole party to safety cept me and the paladin (a force will saved stopped it) meanwhile the safe BBEG just laughed at the show. I danced, dodged, and teleported around and thanks to Improved Evasion plus being level 19/20 I survived at half health meanwhile the poor Pali was disintegrated. So it was only me and the BBEG so after talking to him I decided that since I couldn't stop him or the ritual I would just let him become a god (luckily he was lawful evil so I knew he'd do the job fine) in return he let me take the Codex - which was the main point of the quest - as I teleported away.
Ok I LOVED the skit but can I say the ad was great too? You are so creative at putting an ad in your videos. Honestly, some creators just kinda throw it in and i kinda wanna skip it, but you make a whole thing out if it. And make it entertaining!
(Plus I loved “don’t thank me just thank..me.” 😂)
Keep up the amazing work Duke! Doing great! Love ya dude! ✨🤍
I want a campaign where this is the BB"E"G because it'd be funny
And I will make my next BB"E"G exactly this way.
The second B stands for bad also.
@@J0hnB09 no it doesn't, BBEG is big bad evil guy
@@osmacar5331 Big *bad* evil guy
It'd have to be the BCGG or Big Chill Good Guy
@@osmacar5331 have you read your own reply?
I love the fact that the real BBEG is actually just the king the paladin swore an oath to and the "Evil king" is actually a sweet heart considering he wished Paladin good luck and loves
My party would so go with the bbeg here, they are big on talking it through, they would probably find a way knowing that to broker peace between the bbeg and the king that hired them.
the plot twist of a story that everyone like. we need more of this.
"Looks like I'm breaking my oath!" The delivery on this line is absolutely perfect
Ah yes, the aquaduct. A fine structure.
Just found your channel and am having a blast binge watching your stuff. Hope your eye gets better and have a good day!
I think my favorite part is he's like, "yeah, for my contraption, but it's so wholesome!"
We need more BBEG’s like that. Heck, I would also turn against my king if I met one like that.
The most evil things are always done in the name of good. That's why methods do matter.
0:18 - This "chuckle, yeees" is actually really good acting.
This was almost my group when they discovered why the BBEG was doing what he was doing. They spent the entire next session discussing whether they should help the BBEG or just let them finish their scheme or whether to fight them. The party almost got split over it. Players decided they wanted try to change the way things were without using what they described as excessive force and opted to defeat the lich before essentially doing what the lich was going to do anyway. They're almost at the point where they get to fight it.
"Oh be careful. Love you." That had me dying of laughter. Also I love putting "BBEG's" into games like this. My players never know if the person who claims to be the "Good and just" ruler really is that or not.
The best villains are the ones who aren’t “Ooo, look at me! I’m doing bad things because I’m bad!”, but the ones who have a valid reason for their actions, even if it’s from a twisted point of view.
Sephiroth: I want to stop people from hurting. (Good on you, guy!) Life is pain, so if I just eliminate life, I will get rid of all pain! (Wait, what?)
Magneto: Humans perform horrors on the oppressed “other”; I’ve seen the Holocaust, and how mutants are treated now. I will protect my mutant people from the genocide the “normals” desire, by any means necessary!
Syndrome: Why should super powers be limited to those who just happened to win the birth lottery? My inventions will let anyone have these powers!
Boy Scouts in my troop: We’ve found a way to stop any bleeding wound, and the suffering from any injury; just use a tourniquet around the neck, and all their problems will be over! He he he he… (Okay, they might just be sociopaths.)
You have this kind of quandary in Fable 3: an ancient evil is coming to obliterate the kingdom, and the only way to prepare is to tax heavily and do stuff that makes everyone hate you, for their own good!
Or spend a month realtime playing the lute, and investing in real estate 😂😂
I don't think syndrome's quote fits the list because all the hero murdering and stuff isn't really for that but just his grudge against heroes.
On that note, I realize a good villain is the twisted version of one PC, or their idea.
Ex: my last campaign featured 2 villains:
1. Lena - a bandit leader that terrorizes Phandalin town. She wants to bring peace to it, while her boss - an evil drow wizard called Nezzar wants to destroy the town. So in a sense, she's saving it. Technically she oppresses the people, but would they rather be dead?
2. Nezzar - the BBEG, power-hungry wizard that believes in the drow's way, conquest and domination. What he really wants is simple: Fame and glory, much like the PCs themselves.
Well, the final battle was tough, and the ending was tearful, to say the least
Sargeras (World of Warcraft): The universe has been infected with cancer, the cancer is spreading, must nuke the places of cancer to stop it from spreading and make the universe well again.
Other people; Hey that's bad, mhkay - we happen to live on this cancer....
Well written "Villains" are usually the good guys if you just look at the bigger perspective.
I disagree, there's just as much room for pure evil villains a la disney, the Joker, and other such iconic villains. The best villains are the ones that have the most impact, and that doesn't inherently need a motivation beyond wanting to do it.
Has someone done obligatory "what have the Romans ever done for us?" yet?
Aqueducts!!
Roads! Wine! Sanitation!
Yeah, that happened to my campaign.
A wizard somehow rewrote reality and became the emperor of the sword coast.
It made a heaven for magical researcher and lore keepers.
Me, Drow lore bard, NE, who wanted to free the drow from the underground found this a wonderful idea; since in his new reality the plan to do so was already underway.
The vengeance paladin from Luskan, LN, was on board because, hey he's the emperor, and not all of the coast hates Luskan now.
The Tabaxi rogue, TN, who was sightseeing the human lands thought, "eh, let's go with the flow".
And that's how we joined the BBEG.
It was a fun campaign.
That "Careful, love you" just put a smile on my face
That would be a great campaign twist. It would have to be a fairly long running campaign and the right players, but it would be great.
It would be a great twist if this was a BBEG, but it isn't. Also, unless he was funding all his plans on orphan blood and trapping the souls of those orphans to permanently and silently reside in their parent's bedchambers, there isn't a reason why this guy just isn't just bringing these plans to the King, or, better yet, gaining the support of a group of people and just building his own utopia anywhere else in the world.
So...this would be a terrible campaign twist because this guy would paradoxically be extremely intelligent, yet woefully stupid. Having the intelligence, drive, and, possibly, the support to achieve everything he'd want without stepping on any toes...but he just doesn't.
@@Nickle_King yes, there is a reason why this guy isnt just bringing these plans to the king. Maybe the King is in truth evil and doesnt care for the Children/Commoners and the BBEG is one of the few who know that truth. Which is why he does it on his own instead of involving the king.
@@Nickle_King Just like in real life; the good guys aren't always the ones people drone after.
Some people follow extremely volatile and horrible stuff, just because they've been told it's "the good side", so they hurl insults and ban/ignore/remove anyone who brings an argument to the table against it.
This is why the "BBEG" isn't always the actual evil person, sometimes it's just the single reasonable and logical person in the room who has a broader perspective than "hurpdurp-he said we are different".
There's just sooooo much to it and you're assuming every person ever is voting with intelligence, or that the person in power (king) is actually a good guy.
@@tobinator1767 The king doesn't even have to be evil, per se, they just have to perceive the BBEG as a threat, for whatever reason, or be uninterested in any such projects, whether from neutrality, or incompetence.
@@Nickle_King In what world can you just walk up to the king of a country and show them your plans and expect to be taken seriously? Even if you had the best plans in the entire world nobody would take you seriously just doing that.
Ran a weekly campaign that lasted for 2 years, and ended with the BBEG talking the players down. He convinced them to switch sides and join him, turning on their former allies... but you see, he was the progenitor of all vampires, who wanted to put the sun out so that he would be unstoppable. Through one of his minions (whom killed a well loved NPC just to get them to talk to her), he set up a meeting. She convinced them that he really wasn't *that* bad and that the world was a mess anyway. Because ofc, she'd been fooled a hundred years ago by the same lies he was using on the players now, but with someone to back him up... the players actually listened. It was glorious.
1:53
That one awkward moment when you’re on the phone with the wrong person
the "evil" speech got ten times better with the bloodshot eyes. great work man.
This was my favorite skit so far! Keep it up my man!
You have legit given me a great idea for a campaign thank you I've been stuck on what to do
I loved the take care love you part. That was great!
How fast it turned around to "love you" 🤣
Thank you. You have given me fuel for my next campaign.
Fantastic video. This is possible the best one you've made!
glad to see your right eye has cleared up
That sudden change in vibe... 😂😂😂
These videos only get better. Best short so far! Keep it up!!! (Also still love adbarian)
Something tells me that the Ad-Barian is a subclass of the bardbarian.
I’m kinda worried about that sacred river thing though. Could lead to anything from angry river monsters to a full on god being pissed at the party.
Went from bad guy to good guy in 5 seconds and suddenly they're saying I love you lol that was great!
ooooh oathbreaker was NOT expecting that! love you
The final villain of my campaign wasn't evil. He was just the _assholiest good guy_ -- He had been responsible for _a lot of fucking deaths_ but everything he did was justified in his greater plan and he legitimately saw himself as a necessary evil in order to save the world.
And the players redeemed him and forced him to work in reparations for the families whose lives he'd ruined.
The love you at the end got me lmao
So the BBEG is Dr. Stone
Evil king smirk is adorable.
Pretty sure BBEG isn't even evil, he's just a genuinely good guy who speaks like an evil person.
The love you at the end really sold it
Wow, nice. I need to do this in my next campaign!
This “evil” king is that one really cool uncle/grandpa who cares for everyone
Wizard: **Dies of 1d4 logic damage**
Fantastic video as always
Evil's just an alignment after all.
i'd like to be in a campaign where the bbeg does have a nice plan that will help out a lot of people that have been neglected by the current rulers but also has plans to use parts within that nice plan to further his own dark ambitions and evil plans.. like, maybe hes a servant to an evil deity or old god who secretly plans to make the citizens part of his cult and used in sacrifices or binding their souls to the deity but to do so he has to improve the city (like the examples given in the video).. he'd have the funding to really help the city out and killing him would cause the city to lose access to said funds so the party would have to make a choice to help improve the lives of the citizens or to doom them to live in slums in order to stop an evil deity from gaining power... (maybe not the best example as any good party would probably choose to save them from the evil deity as that'd have eternal consequences on the citizens souls but it gets the idea of needing to decide on what to do with a bbeg who will both help and hurt the people)
Now I have to run a campaign where the "heros" are constantly thwarting the "villain" as he attempts to undermine and overthrow the "good" king. I build up to a swift and decisive confrontation and then he does exactly this. Then the rest of the campaign is the party helping the ex-villain.
That would be an amazing campaign I think
"Waaaait, are we the villains...???" 😂😂😂
Me: What about the elderly?
BBEG: Does this spot work?
Me: Very, I am now your minon.
I love it when the Big Boy Epic Gamer actually makes sense
Great video and good laughs! Gonna have to try to twist the next campaign like this!
Now, thats a chaotic good BBEG!
My son sent me this video, my goodness it is hilarious and great! Thank you!😂💖
The love you and love you too was the funniest part
Yeahh accidentally made a "sub arch" that became the binding of two civilizations resurrecting a God causing world Pease with the bbeg.. damn sexy ass bards
ive been in a party turn before. Where we played an entire campaign helping a kingdom fight back against various invaders. But it wasn't until the end we found out that the kingdom was the invaders and we just helped an evil king conquer four peaceful kingdoms. so we played a second campaign where we literally undid everything we did in the fist campaign.
What completly does it for me is the silent wow from the wizard 1:00
And this is when the D&D campaign, becomes a monopoly city builder
I want the Adbarian to do a Breath of the Wild 2 commercial. "Bokoblin got you down? Link it!"
Well that escalated with a quickness.
I will use my necromancy powers to raise an undead army to do my bidding!
And then have them build new schools and medical centers
Nice work again sir!
This is like that scooby doo movie were a guy makes a secret society by stealing the nile river using his knowledge as a civil engineer.
I need a campaign that leads up to this encounter
I wish someone would make such a nice BBEG in the books... Even though it will sound like a comedy than... Amazing.
What a great sketch.
What they need to do is make them have a good goal but is going about it the wrong way.
This is inspiring for my skyrim campaign thanks
0:35 I like the fact that wizard is the one who first noticed that King's speech actually makes sense