Troll Lord Games

Forgotten Realms has it's drow, Middle Earth has the Orcs and Uruk-Hai, Wheel of Time has Trollocs, and Shanara has Gnomes to name a few. Nearly every world has a badguy that the author has taken and made his own. Who are the badguys of your world?

In the campaign that I'm working on I'm thinking of making Hobgoblins the major badguys. Though physically not the strongest of the humanoid races their discipline and dedication to mastering the art of killing things has allowed them to forge a powerful empire with numerous subject races held in thrall underneath them. They are fanatically xenophobic and exceptionally disciplined, ruling through terror and violence. They are sort of a combination of roman technology and Nazi racism relying on their ability to fight as a unit to overpower their foes. Everyone in their society serves the military in one way or another and they are the only army that fully integrates spellcasters into their ranks on a permanent basis with wizards, and clerics training along side their more mundane brethren until each is comfortable with the other's presence on the battlefield and knows exactly how to best support their comrades be they magical or mundane.

In my campaign setting its never that obvious. There are no clear cut villians. Its a place full of the myriad shades of grey that make up many a culture.

Good and evil aren't steriotyped by race or culture, but instead by actions and intent.
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"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley

In my campaign there are no iconic bad guys. Bad guys range from priests of evil deities, tyrannical barons, overbearing thugs and so on. The closest I have for an all-out 'bad' race are the gargun (or Hrnic orc), but these are almost mindless thugs that swarm over the land from time to time.
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They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

- Benjamin Franklin

Right now I have two. The Winter Queen (Unklars Consort/wife) and Vale (from Palace of Shadows). They are two of the big movers/shakers, plus there is a third the group is only begining to find out about, that is actually an allie of the Witch Queen. As much of an allie as truly evil people/creatures can be, anyways.

no iconic baddied in my campaign either, but the typical races are almost always the badguys... just not on an epic scale: Orcs, goblins, gnolls, hobgobs, etc. Even though it's been done to death. orcs, orcs, orcs are the mainstay enocunters either in the wild or in bands or armies.

NOW, that being said I have introduced into my campaigh world a few races of bad guys that are not oft found in traditional RPG fantasy.

The first are the Vagla. Essentially this is a race of 6'-7' humanoid wolves (based entirely too much on Palladium Fantasy's wolven). However, where my race differs is that they are highly barbaric, violent and agressive. They worship a "Vagla mother" who is a terrible creature about 8' tall. Her body is completly covered in a writhing form of rats. Underneith the rats is the undead looking, husk of a wolf-like body. These Vagla mothers are very rare and each "tribe" sees their mother as their god/ruler.

The other race that is not so iconic, but makes appearances are a race called the Blood Elves (human names for these people). They are 6' tall elves who are completely xenophobic, appear to be mildly vampiric, and very strong and resilliant. These elves are typically druidic, and worship the stars, supposedly from a mysterious hidden city called Star Heaven. No history from any of the races ever records such a race of elf. None have been captured and very few have ever been seen or spoken to.

Just some of the "different" baddies I use.

........................................Omote

FPQ
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> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

The Death Cult of Begnus. A secret society.
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CK the CK
"My goddess touched me at an early age."

-Grikis Valmorgen, Paladin

The beginnings of my homebrew campaign world and info for my play by chat game:
http://kbdekker.googlepages.com/home

Most of my villains tend to be humans...

In most of my Wilderlands campaigns, it has been the Viridians, who I model in many ways after the vile cultist Ehleens in Robert Adam's Horseclans series decadent in terribly, nasty ways. Sometimes, it is the orcs and goblins of the Majestic Mountains; very Tolkienesque, though the Mokmalla goblins are something entirely different... make the Viridians seem prudish and polite by comparison.

In my Mystara campaigns, it tended to be the Glantrians or the Hattians... always meddling around in other people's countries for their own reasons. Humanoids were always side interests, henchmen, or dupes, generally.
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James Mishler

Main Man, Adventure Games Publishing
jamesagp1@gmail.com
http://adventuregamespublishing.blogspot.com/
http://jamesmishler.blogspot.com

Draconians.

'Nuff said.
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Trampas Whiteman
---DragonHelm--->
Dragonlance Nexus

Goblins and orcs at the low levels as your everyday armies of evil. All under the influence of Unklar the Horned God in the World of Aihrde.

Soon to be faced or encountered:

Ungern

Morgrl

Dark Fairies

Evil priests

Vampires

Dragons

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Count Rhuveinus - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Franqueforte

"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax

"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth

Halflings.
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Never throw rocks at a man with a Vorpal Sword!

I am the game master. I AM the iconic bad guy in my realm. *insert evil laughter here*
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"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley

Maliki wrote:
Halflings.

Just kidding . (Although the thought has crossed my mind, once or twice)

I'm still working on an overall campaign arc for my next campaign, I don't have anything decided yet. Most of the low level adventures have various humanoids (these might be condensed into 1 or 2 types). I'm considering a behind the scenes force but am undecided on what to use.
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Never throw rocks at a man with a Vorpal Sword!

Maliki wrote:
Just kidding . (Although the thought has crossed my mind, once or twice)

Hey no need to stray away from the little buggers as possible villains! I ran a few Darksun adventures where ravenous, barbarian halflings were the main badguys. A lost civilzation of inbred and chaotic halflings is not to be trifled with.

...............................................Omote

FPQ
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> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

Looks like the Cult of the Horned One (Unklar) is shaping up to be a recurring baddie in my campaign. I can't wait to spring Ungern and Mogrl upon my players when the time is right. Anyone have updated stats for a Mogrl, btw?

I'm also playing with the idea of making the Fraonoth (as introduced in 'Assault on Blacktooth Ridge') a recurring friend/foe (ala 'Q' from STTNG).

Ink
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C&C: Blissfully devoid of gestalt neko-hin rogue/fighter/mages!!

Omote wrote:
A lost civilzation of inbred and chaotic halflings is not to be trifled with.

*begins Deuling Banjos music as the PC's take a canoe ride into the wild, untamed halfling lands*

I am currently toying with several optional badguys which really is dependent upon what the party decides to do.

They just rescued a High Elf who had been trapped underground for nearly 400 years, subsisting mostly in meditation and a very small amount of food she stashed away. (High Elves only need to eat every 25 or so years and can meditate that to longer periods, if under duress.)

As they decided that they would take her to the nearest wizard who could maybe, magically get word to her people that she is okay, I am toying with the idea that once they reach the end of this quest the response will be very vague and not altogether warming for her.

I am considering having certain members of the High Elf Leadership be corrupted by evil and have plans in motion to cause the downfall of all the other kingdoms have man have accomplished to usher in an era of High Elf Dominance, because their long lived (immortal) lives have given them the vision, the knowledge and the wisdom to properly manage the development of the races of man.

To reach their goal, they are secretly working with some of the truly evil humanoids and have their hands in a number of plots across the world, all working towards destabilizing whole kingdoms. This quest would take them far to the Northern Reaches, introduce them to the Snow Elves and probably the Mountain Dwarves

If they go another route, I am thinking of having them battle a massive dragon who wishes to rule over a large tract of land in the Kingdom they began their journey in. This quest would take them to the Southern Kingdoms and they would need to find Lesser Wyrms, the fabled mounts of the Dracknights who once filled the skies and did battle with many raging dragons in ages past.

After finding these mounts, training themselves and the Lesser Wyrms, they would have to find a way to communicate with and gain the trust of the Mountain Dwarves, in order to obtain their skilled artistry in crafting special weapons and armor that would help them in the fight against the dragon.

There's plenty of other ideas I have. It all depends upon where the party decides to do and what they decide to latch onto.

Those are cool sounding ideas. Do you have a full write up on your High Elves in case I want to steal them for a future campaign?

Treebore wrote:
Those are cool sounding ideas. Do you have a full write up on your High Elves in case I want to steal them for a future campaign?

I am still working on the full write-ups of many of the races. Having a need to craft the NPC that has just joined the party, I am going to be working more heavily on fleshing out all there is to know about the High Elves. Such as ability score modifiers and similar.

The storyline would tie into the "birth" of the world and the creation of the various people that populate the world. These corrupted High Elves would be secluded from many of their own people working out their plans and meeting with their nefarious allies. This seclusion would not only be because of who they are meeting with, but also because of the physical changes that are beginning to show in these once great, but now soulless First Elven Lords of the High Council. This council is made up of the first handful of High Elves the gods crafted from man, they remember the days the gods first approached their primitive human encampments and how the gods lifted them up and made them akin to gods themselves.

The High Elvish society is mostly made up of scholars, historians and librarians who spend their time recording the events that happen in the world and in ages past had become involved in those events, which caused them to lose an unacceptable number of their ranks. It was thus that they became more secluded, rarely traveling the rest of the world of man and implemented their policy of having at least one child every 200 to 300 years, instead of rarely reproducing.

In the last 300 years, they began to travel the rest of the lands of man even less often and instead relied more upon difficult to use scrying magic and hired agents, in the form of the Snow Elves that border their Northern homes and through them individuals across the rest of the lands of man in order to complete their work of recording the world.

It was during this time that they began to grow more and more fearful of the great advancements the kingdoms and empires of man were beginning to reach. This reminded them of the time when the gods walked the land and tore everything asunder as man had abandoned the gods because man believed it didn't need the gods any longer. This drove the First Elven Lords into their seclusion as they scryed and sought out a solution, which came to them in the idea that they could keep that all from happening again by taking control.

Their fear of what the gods had done before, all the knowledge the gods destroyed and all the history that was almost forever lost has blinded them from the actions they are taking.

By the end of the story, I plan on the High Elves almost disappearing from the world. Very few would be left walking the world and the rest would be "changed" as humans once were corrupted and changed into goblins, many of the High Elves will be corrupted and changed as well.

The party.

Currently... Strahd

But in the many campaign I DMed/CKed, usually it was one or two players.. especially in a all Evil campaign.. Trust is non-existent.

Maliki wrote:
Halflings.

One deadly and unpredictable midget (from "Firefly")?

Brian Miller
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"The adventure continues"

Zool!

Moriarty the Red
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"You face Death itself in the form of... 1d4 Tarrasques!"

Partner to Brave Halfling Publishing
http://www.arcanacreations.com

moriarty777 wrote:
Zool!

Awesome! Me too.

...................................................Omote

FPQ
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> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

Omote wrote:
Awesome! Me too.

...................................................Omote

FPQ

Yes... there is only Zool!

Moriarty the Red
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"You face Death itself in the form of... 1d4 Tarrasques!"

Partner to Brave Halfling Publishing
http://www.arcanacreations.com

Cult of Thasmudyan....Lord of Undead from the Complete Book of Necromancers.

They PC's will run into the cult in several cities in Darkon as a Dark Prophet has arrived from the Mists and is seeking to rebuild the Cult.

That and lots of undead.

Oh yeah and the Vistani. Cause that will make the PC's lives much more interesting.

Maliki wrote:
Just kidding . (Although the thought has crossed my mind, once or twice)

I'm still working on an overall campaign arc for my next campaign, I don't have anything decided yet. Most of the low level adventures have various humanoids (these might be condensed into 1 or 2 types). I'm considering a behind the scenes force but am undecided on what to use.

I have a sort of Halfling mafia...I figure their iconic class (thanks to Tolkien and Bilbo) tends to be the thief so it would make sense that they are guildmasters, it just sort of went from there.

They aren't the villainous icon though, mostly they are a hassle, who will work for anyone who pays them but their loyalty is to none but themselves. The real villains are the the Humans. They are also the real heroes as well.
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I'll tell you what I do like though: a killer, a dyed-in-the-wool killer. Cold blooded, clean, methodical and thorough. ~Zorg

THE SHADOW!

(Just watched The Gamers last night.)
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'Nosce te Ipsum' -Delphic Maxim

'Follow your bliss.' -Joseph Campbell

Right now, I am using the party as its own iconic bad guy.
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If it matters, leave a message at the beep.
Serl's Corner

Joe wrote:
THE SHADOW!

(Just watched The Gamers last night.)

What evil lurks in the hearts of men?...The Shadow knows !
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I'll tell you what I do like though: a killer, a dyed-in-the-wool killer. Cold blooded, clean, methodical and thorough. ~Zorg

Paris Eidolon, Elven Wizard/Cleric of Skatha (Goddess of undeath and black magic in my homebrew campaign)

He's actually appeared in a few different manifestations over the years (the character was originally conceived about a decade ago), but usually his shtick revolves around breaking the chains of fate and death. And the only way to achieve true Free Will is to bend the universe to your whims. He's rather fond of twisting creatures (wolves, bears, even once a young red dragon) into horrific aberrations. He also tends to take a personal interest in adventurers and enjoy manipulating and toying with them. In the past he's even arranged for the formation of a particular group of heroes because they were the reincarnations of people that slew a past version of himself- and were necessary to accomplish his ends.