Do you always have a BBEG in your campaign? Or is it possible, or even preferable, to play a campaign without a BBEG?
>BBEG
I just call it the archvillain. Or just the villain.
>>46692874
>>46692764
Ah, fuck, you've gone and done it. Now we'll be stuck here listening to this shithead again.
>>46692932
Are you the guy hoping to sell these "us gamers lol" shirts?
>>46692874
Fuck off.
>>46692764
It's possible, but usually stories have a main antagonist. While strictly not necessary for a successful campaign, it does have its benefits.
>>46693074
What could substitute for a BBEG in a campaign to still have a main story arc?
Currently, I'm using a mystery story, but I'm not sure how long I can keep it going. I gotta give my players some information at the end of every chapter, and sooner or later they'll figure it out.
>>46692764
You need an antagonist, but they don't have to be big, bad, or evil.
Rivalry is great. Have another group snatching up quests the party was considering. Have them be successful where the party has failed. Have their names gain renown while the party remains a ragtag bunch of nobodies.
Or have a big competition the players take part in. It could be a tournament. Could be a race. Could be the annual thief guild nationals. There is no need to introduce too much foul play, corruption, and mass deception; it runs fine without. Just play it straight and make sure the players understand that there is no hidden layer moving against them.
The more villainous you make the opposition the more you give the players license to violate common decency, ethics, laws, and even logic. But it's a freely sliding scale that goes all the way to slice of life.
If you still want it to have epic scale you can construct something where the central threat is themed man vs nature and brave adventurers have to face a quest to construct the survival machine before the extinction level event occurs. Like a prophecy foretells the volcano to erupt and the challenge is to get everyone together and build a lava ditch that protects the city.
Of course players will spot villains everywhere, even if you don't prepare for it. So the real question is actually what do the players expect.
>>46693242
>You need an antagonist, but they don't have to be big, bad, or evil.
Or a guy for that matter.
>>46693150
Don't have an arc. Just a series of quests/missions/episodes with a monster of the week. A better option would be a so called "journey" campaign. Something where victory isn't the goal, but to reach some place, focusing the campaign on daily hardships, survival and character interaction. Works well in post-apoc or scifi settings, though I don't see why not in fantasy as well.
>>46693150
Have an overwhelming destructive force without it being a person manipulating events.
Think of story structures in movies. In most action movies, there is a bad guy that the hero needs to defeat. This is your BBEG role.
But you also have disaster movies, where there is no bad guy that is the cause of all of your ills. The tidal wave isn't evil, but it can still kill you.
So you can have a game without a BBEG, you just need to set up a situation that takes the whole campaign to play out which is a major destructive force that the players are trying to find a way to contain or reverse or cure, or even just outlast and survive or escape.
>>46693286
We take it to mean either guy or gal, even group anyway.
>>46693700
Please don't speak for multiple people.
>>46693845
We don't like your kind around here.
>>46692764
What the fuck is written in tiny there?
>>46693479
>A better option would be a so called "journey" campaign.
I like this. Great excuse to also introduce different environments and creatures every few sessions.
>>46692764
Multiple villains with their own goals, who needn't have anything to do with the others. Variety is good.
>>46694005
probably something stupid and memeish like "I prepared explosive runes this morning"
>>46692764
>CBGB nerd parody
Are you fucking kidding me
>>46693479
?
>>46692764
Depends on the game. Stuff like 3.PF almost needs it. Or any game where you're adventurers fixing the world's problems.
Games like Shadowrun can do without them entirely. Just Sandbox it, let the players create their own enemies as they act like, well, player characters.
Then other games, like adventure or exploration focused ones shouldn't have a BBEG really. Detracts from the feel of the game, in my opinion.
>>46692764
Got no BBEG as my current game is just after the players have come out of their bunkers after a magicpocalypse, so it is more the players vs the enviroment and world at large
