PDA

View Full Version : Give me... cliche'd awesomeness!



whiskytangofoxt
2010-07-25, 06:43 PM
So, I'm wanting to run a D&D game for a mix of old hands and new faces.

I fancy doing something that will make the old-timers smile and remember how dumb D&D used to be (in an amazing way) and to show the new guys why D&D is amazing (in a dumb way).

So come on, throw me some of the most cliche, overused setting elements, plots, villians, anything - if it happened in your games, you thought it was awesome at the time, but have now realised how goofy they really were, I want to hear it!

Suggestions for actual awesome stuff are also allowed, but I'll need to keep an eye on them...

(Not decided what system to run this with, either 3.5, Microlite20 or maybe 4e, so try not to make them too edition specific, but any suggestions are welcome)
Some suggestions from me-

Clearing out Kobold infestations at the local abandoned keep as level 1 adventurers.

Orc raiding parties.

Lizardfolk-swarmed jungle ziggurats. (I really want to run this one, cause I have a great idea for a big ziggurat model done in 3D)

Zombie-filled crypts.

A highly unique and weird BBEG templated to all Hell (a fiendish half-dragon ogre mage, a pseudonatural Aasimar necromancer etc).

Races being obviously single-traited (Elves are Uptight and Smart, Dwarves are Drunk and Agressive, Halflings are Sneaky and Fun)

Paper minis (for huge battles!)

akma
2010-07-25, 06:46 PM
Adventure starts in an inn.
A dragon in the end.

Draconi Redfir
2010-07-25, 06:48 PM
something about a chosen one and/or a magical mcguffin needed to defeat an enemy

onthetown
2010-07-25, 06:51 PM
Adventure starts in a tavern and ends at the bottom of the deepest dungeon, possibly elemental-themed, where your "final boss" is a red dragon. Your reward is the treasure pile it was sitting on.

Edit: This is actually one of my favourite kinds of adventure.

balistafreak
2010-07-25, 06:52 PM
Tucker's Kobolds. (http://www.tuckerskobolds.com/)

More niche, but well-known on these boards, That Damn Crab. (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20040221a) (Scroll down until you find the 7 HD Monstrous Crab... at CR 3. What.)

Skeletor
2010-07-25, 06:54 PM
defeat the evil necromancer.

Volthawk
2010-07-25, 07:33 PM
This may help. (http://chaoticshiny.com/clichegen.php)

mucat
2010-07-25, 07:45 PM
Adventure starts in a tavern and ends at the bottom of the deepest dungeon, possibly elemental-themed, where your "final boss" is a red dragon.

I haven't worked out the details, but I definitely want to run a campaign in which the characters all meet in a dungeon, where they encounter a mysterious old man who sends them to a tavern.

Only it's got to make enough sense in context that the players don't notice the backwards cliché until after the session is over, when it suddenly hits them.

arrowhen
2010-07-25, 08:08 PM
The treasure chest is actually a mimic!

Illusionary floor -- you fall in a pit!

The mirror is magic; you have to fight a copy of yourself!

sciencepanda
2010-07-25, 09:46 PM
Have the villains be a secret order of bartenders, who plan on grouping all the adventurers of the world together so they can be wiped out in one fell swoop.

Lhurgyof
2010-07-25, 10:02 PM
Lurkers above and Lurkers Below, all in the same room.

I remember an NPC accountant in Mechanus, he was an Umberhulk in a suit and tie, and his name was Mr. Bumblebux.

Oh, and Cultists summoning Demons?

Superglucose
2010-07-25, 10:11 PM
Adventure starts in a tavern. There is a princess who's in danger because she's trapped by an evil Wizard who has sealed his tower by magic that can only be broken by a combination of holy macguffins. The fist is some rock statue held by an Orc tribe that knows nothing of its power, the second is the first Sovereign Glue ever, and the third is a staff that lies in the treasure of a Great Wyrm Red Dragon.

This campaign starts you fighting orcs, then moves on to finding the eccentric wizard who made the first Sovereign Glue, then you fight the titular "dragon", and finally the evil wizard's dungeon-esque tower.

Biffoniacus_Furiou
2010-07-25, 10:49 PM
"You suspect there may be more kobolds hiding in the bushes waiting to ambush you. They're trying to hide, but you can see their little spears sticking up."

Safety Sword
2010-07-25, 10:50 PM
This may help. (http://chaoticshiny.com/clichegen.php)

Er...

Meanwhile..
The dying adventurer is trying to go on a long quest or else die trying.

Seems like he wins?

tcrudisi
2010-07-26, 04:59 AM
Something I stole from someone here, actually:

The adventure started in a tavern.

Doesn't it always? Oh, oops, I forgot to mention that you are actually waking up in the tavern. In water. That's very hot. And you are tied up. Looking around you realize that it's an Orc tavern... and you are being cooked.

What would you like to do?

It has the classic element to make the old-timers go, "Yep! It always starts in a tavern." Then the look of horror crosses their face as they realize what's really happening.

Volthawk
2010-07-26, 05:05 AM
Er...

Meanwhile..
The dying adventurer is trying to go on a long quest or else die trying.

Seems like he wins?

Yeah, the stuff pumped out is kinda funny sometimes most of the time.

UnChosenOne
2010-07-26, 05:40 AM
So main Villain is templated to hell. I think that I've got few ideas: Main Villain could be a NE Death-Touched (human subrace with few undead in family tree) Half-Vampire Nercromancer Lich.

Farlion
2010-07-26, 05:57 AM
Adventure starts in an inn.
A dragon in the end. And ends in a dragon.

Fixed that for you :smallbiggrin:

I'm suprised nobody mentioned liches and beholders yet.

Or are these to new for "old school" D&D?

Cheers,
Farlion

Psyx
2010-07-26, 06:09 AM
Secret door behind the throne.

Bad stuff happens if you mess with the evil altar.

Several water-features. All of which are hazardous in various manners (amoeba at the bottom, etc).

Room with 3 levers on the wall.

Dead-end passages with secret doors.

Magical dagger in the kitchen drawer.

Secret door behind tapestry.

10' pits.

A rumour table.

Monsters have prison cells. One contains disguised succubus/doppelgänger/werewolf that infiltrates the party if released.

Room full of surprised statues. Medusa in next room.

Green slime, black pudding, grey ooze.

Stirges

Shadows (best used when there's only 1 magic item in the party. Preferably that dagger from the kitchen)

Poison needle traps

Silly dungeon ecology.

Monsters in rooms never hear sounds of combat from other rooms.

Minator in a maze.

whiskytangofoxt
2010-07-26, 06:11 AM
I'm thinking of having a lich as the main baddie (or at least as the Dragon) - they're too stereotypical not to include :D

And some kind of extradimensional Beholder castle is a must for a high-level dungeon. Possibly accessed from the top of the aforementioned Lizardfolk- covered jungle ziggurat...

Morph Bark
2010-07-26, 06:56 AM
Obligatory (http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html).

Nihb
2010-07-26, 08:56 AM
That guy in a dark cloak, smoking from his pipe, in the corner.

big teej
2010-07-26, 09:26 AM
I remember an NPC accountant in Mechanus, he was an Umberhulk in a suit and tie, and his name was Mr. Bumblebux.


first I had an Ettin doorman for a tavern...... I must now have an umberhulk accountant


thaaaaaaaaaaaankyou

I LOVE IT!!

-maniacle cackle-

Iferus
2010-07-26, 09:41 AM
The mirror is magic; you have to fight a copy of yourself!

I have done this no less than four times.

DM's always suck at playing my characters.

the humanity
2010-07-26, 10:20 AM
what about a dracolich? its definitely in 3.5, some has to have transferred it to 4th though...

arrowhen
2010-07-26, 10:32 AM
The otyugh in the garbage pit.

The hidden cave behind the waterfall.

The Elven treehouse city.

The town with more sewers than streets.

The side trip to present day Earth.

Trasilor
2010-07-26, 02:44 PM
When fighting in the city, make sure the city guard shows up (if ever) just after the fighting has stopped.

Thieves guilds...not exactly sure where or how, but I always find myself at the local theives guild...

And, don't forget the local mage guild sends you on a quest for a rare magical component...that for some reason they just can't get themselves.

klemdakherzbag
2010-07-26, 03:03 PM
Sphere of X in the statues hand/mouth

balistafreak
2010-07-26, 03:09 PM
Sphere of X in the statues hand/mouth

Oh, Gygax, you magnificent bastard.

"I carefully walk into the darkness."

"You die, no save."

"Buh?"

Dr.Epic
2010-07-26, 03:11 PM
Adventure starts in an inn.
A dragon in the end.

The dragon should be in a dungeon. That never happens in D&D! :smallbiggrin:

arrowhen
2010-07-26, 03:30 PM
Call every "dire" animal a "giant" animal instead. And practise saying "female lizardman" with a straight face.

hamishspence
2010-07-26, 03:31 PM
How about a dungeon in a dragon? A super-sized dragon, and the adventure involves getting around inside it?

Living Dungeon is a pretty common trope.

Devils_Advocate
2010-07-26, 08:45 PM
The heroes' (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeroicFantasy) great quest (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheQuest) takes them on a journey (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ptitleh1ltpj3ph282?from=Main.TheHerosJourney) across the globe (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WalkingTheEarth).

An evil chancellor schemes to claim the throne.

Added bonus to the above: The chancellor and other members of the court are just being manipulated by a mind flayer in order to study the dynamics of court intrigue, power struggles, and (if all goes well) social upheaval.


Races being obviously single-traited (Elves are Uptight and Smart, Dwarves are Drunk and Agressive, Halflings are Sneaky and Fun)
Those are two traits apiece. :smalltongue: Plus, you left out (1) Gnomes are Geekier, Less Athletic Halflings and (2) every "enemy race" has "evil" as one of its two allocated traits. :smallwink:

Also, there are many different groups of elves. There are wild, passionate, singing, dancing, fey elves. There are are stoic, intellectual, highly advanced elves who live in great shining cities. There are stealthy, woods-dwelling, quick but tranquil elves who live in peaceful harmony with nature. Almost all elves in a given population of elves will conform to the norms of that population, however. Despite elves supposedly being usually Chaotic. These different populations may be so specialized into their distinct niches as to have different racial traits. Regardless, what they all have common is that they're better than you (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurElvesAreBetter).

Given that they have hundreds of years more experience, that's to be expected. Mechanically, this means that the typical elf has more levels than a typical human and/or a better class. (Most humans are Commoners, remember.) PCs, as a rule, are allowed to become if not start out as at least as awesome as the average elf, and have just as much potential to be elitist upper class pricks.
On the other hand, dwarves are all the same (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame). Personally, I see dwarves in D&D as generally being Lawful Good without being jerks about it. They'll sit and drink with you instead of railing against drunkenness; they're mighty warriors, but their wars are largely defensive (and they're well-appreciated for serving as a sort of buffer between surface-dwellers and the horrors of the deep); they're distrusting of but nevertheless respectful towards outsiders.

Part of why they're relatively nice is that they don't really expect non-dwarves to have what dwarves consider honor. Like elves, they justifiably tend to regard humans as a bunch of overgrown kids, but they tend to assume that boasting about their superiority will just tick humans off. Or, to put it more harshly, that think that getting humans to understand their place in the world is a lost cause.

Dwarves who fail to act like stereotypical dwarves in most ways, on the other hand, can expect to be treated like crap by most dwarves. A solid chunk of dwarven adventurers are off doing random quests due to a general feeling of either "I'll show them" or "Forget those jerks" towards their own people. (And yet, even these dwarves are typically Lawful and typically Good.) But most dwarves are too adverse to being ostracized to fail to live up to dwarven standards. And this is a big part of why Dwarves Are All The Same.

something about a chosen one and/or a magical mcguffin needed to defeat an enemy
Specifically: It is ORDAINED BY PROPHESY that only THE CHOSEN ONE can recover the ANCIENT ARTIFACT needed to prevent the EVIL OVERLORD from CONQUERING THE WORLD.

Deviating slightly from this formula is acceptable. For example, Lord of the Rings: It is ORDAINED BY PROPHESY FORETOLD BY A GREAT WIZARD that only THE CHOSEN ONE can recover destroy the ANCIENT ARTIFACT needed in order to prevent the EVIL OVERLORD from CONQUERING THE WORLD.


DM's always suck at playing my characters.
Ah, but that means that they're good at playing doubles whose personalities are each in some way opposite those of your characters.


And, don't forget the local mage guild sends you on a quest for a rare magical component...that for some reason they just can't get themselves.
I'll bet that powerful spellcasters avoid emptying their own chamberpots and cataloging their own libraries, too. Whatever this quest involves, the guild probably isn't paying someone else to do it because it's too difficult for its members.

Not every adventure is gonna be glamorous.

BooNL
2010-07-27, 01:24 AM
Specifically: It is ORDAINED BY PROPHESY that only THE CHOSEN ONE can recover the ANCIENT ARTIFACT needed to prevent the EVIL OVERLORD from CONQUERING THE WORLD.


Speaking of prophecies, the PCs should at some point in the game be told some folkfore, prophecy or old wives tale, about five minutes before said story is about to happen to them.

See here (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PropheciesAreAlwaysRight).

Schylerwalker
2010-07-27, 01:42 AM
The King's vizier is "obviously" evil; has a goatee, talks slowly and with a sinister accent, sends the party on suicide missions, harasses them with anti-adventurer laws. The King just "happens" to be sick.

Safety Sword
2010-07-27, 02:01 AM
A dragon in the end.

Is that because when you fight dragons you have to bend over and take it like an elf?

Randel
2010-07-27, 02:03 AM
All characters have names based on their profession, possibly puns.

King Andi
Queen Bea
Princess Indanger
etc.


The party starts in a tavern where someone announces that the Princess has been captured by a dragon. The party meets the King who sends them out to rescue her.

(just to spice things up, maybe the King sends out multiple teams in the hope that it will be more effective but the various adventurer teams all fight against eachother along the way to make sure they are the one to rescue the princess. Make it fairly obvious that if some teams would just spend their time heading for the princess then it would all get done that much faster. Kind of like Wacky Races accept adventuring).

The adventurers have to make their way past various minions of the Dragon who are along the path. Maybe a witch who specializes in illusions who meets them at an inn along the way, an ogre who is very strong and meets them in a forest or valley, and a necromancer who uses an army of undead formed from previous adventurers who meets them in a cave or crypt. (If there are teams of other adventurers going along then be sure to show the corpses of the unlucky ones who had fallen into their traps before).

The Dragon rests in a castle that it had conquered before and it sleeps in the tallest tower on a pile of gold. The heroes fight it and rescue the princess. Possibly have some way to weaken it before the fight... like bring several large barrels of fine wine to the princess so that she can give it to the dragon and either make it sleepy, drunk, or lower its fire breath for the duration of the battle.

Thus, the adventurers rescue the princess and get the pile of gold (If there are other adventurers then make a diplomacy check or something to get the other teams to just help you haul off the gold instead of fighting over the princess. If the princess is in good enough condition she'll shame them all into not trying to steal any gold from the piles.)

In the end, the Princess is saved, she possibly marries one of the adventurers, and the rest have the opportunity to reclaim the castle the dragon once made his lair and protect the nearby villages and lands.


Maybe toss in a few minor characters like talking birds that need to be rescued from traps, or old ladies that need help or food, or talking animals who claim to be cursed by the various villains. Helping them will result in rewards or provide ways to beat the bad guys easier.

UnChosenOne
2010-07-27, 04:20 AM
How about a dungeon in a dragon? A super-sized dragon, and the adventure involves getting around inside it?

Why just 've dungeon inside of a dragon, when you can 've a dragon in a dugeon inside of a dragon.

Any vizier, chancelor or anyone in similar profession is evil. Nobody expect PCs notice this ever. In fact only good (actually LE, but loyal and doesn't want to a emperor) vizier serves the Evil Emperor of the Empire of EVIL.

Every evil thing that PCs meet has a goatee. Mind Flayer. Has a goatee. Red Dragon? Has goatee in both his human and dragon from. Evil Artifact? Is a EVIL fake goatee. Succubus send to seduce heroes? Has a goatee, and don't even ask why.

Volthawk
2010-07-27, 05:39 AM
Why just 've dungeon inside of a dragon, when you can 've a dragon in a dugeon inside of a dragon.

Any vizier, chancelor or anyone in similar profession is evil. Nobody expect PCs notice this ever. In fact only good (actually LE, but loyal and doesn't want to a emperor) vizier serves the Evil Emperor of the Empire of EVIL.

Every evil thing that PCs meet has a goatee. Mind Flayer. Has a goatee. Red Dragon? Has goatee in both his human and dragon from. Evil Artifact? Is a EVIL fake goatee. Succubus send to seduce heroes? Has a goatee, and don't even ask why.

And the eviler the person, the bigger the goatee.

whiskytangofoxt
2010-07-27, 07:22 AM
Until we get to the Big Bad, who is himself an Awakened Goatee Golem!

Ethdred
2010-07-27, 09:08 AM
Secret door behind the throne.

Bad stuff happens if you mess with the evil altar.

Several water-features. All of which are hazardous in various manners (amoeba at the bottom, etc).

Room with 3 levers on the wall.

Dead-end passages with secret doors.

Magical dagger in the kitchen drawer.

Secret door behind tapestry.

10' pits.

A rumour table.

Monsters have prison cells. One contains disguised succubus/doppelgänger/werewolf that infiltrates the party if released.

Room full of surprised statues. Medusa in next room.

Green slime, black pudding, grey ooze.

Stirges

Shadows (best used when there's only 1 magic item in the party. Preferably that dagger from the kitchen)

Poison needle traps

Silly dungeon ecology.

Monsters in rooms never hear sounds of combat from other rooms.

Minator in a maze.

Great news! Gary gygax isn't dead, and he's posting on this forum!! :)

You missed out the magic pool that has a random effect on everyone who enters/drinks from it. Bonus points if the first person it affects gets something good, and the next person something nasty.

And for extra-bonus-TSR goodness, a magic weapon that is potent against a certain really tough monster - that can only be found after defeating that monster. (And you'll never find another monster of that type.)

Monsters that are too big for the room as it appears on the map (not so common now everyone uses minatures)

arrowhen
2010-07-27, 10:13 AM
Succubus send to seduce heroes? Has a goatee, and don't even ask why.

Or where. :smallwink:

Vantharion
2010-07-27, 02:07 PM
I love this thread.

Big Cliche' - Chaotic Good Rogue

Low level goblins

Successive Traps

'He's not a bad guy, he's just misunderstood... no wait, he's definitely a bad guy' (Example, the goblin teenagers from early OotS)

Evil Necromancer in a graveyard or crypt (Bonus if he was once a functioning member of society)

Unicorn is trapped and needs help.

The oldest heir is a jerk and a tyrant, second oldest heir is actually a good leader. (Works the reverse if the jerk/tyrant heir plots to take rulership from the rightful heir)

Empires are evil, Kingdoms are good.

The abundance of strange chemical gases (Chlorine for green dragons, etc) never does any harm to the dungeon ecosystem.

Instances where the player in full-plate needs to sneak by. (Double whammy if its a paladin who confronts the problem instead of sneaking and gets their butt whooped.)

Gnome illusionist disguising himself as something more dangerous/bigger (Baldur's Gate 2 Circus anyone?)

If the DM gives you a mount in the beginning of the game, it WILL GET DESTROYED No matter WHAT the players do. (My DM gave me a horse... it hasn't died yet... Perhaps the cruelest thing he's ever done to me as a player was give me that mount... Wait... No, the shadow creatures that healed HP whenever they did damage and the cleric kept summoning low hp celestial monkeys was definitely worse.

Wizard in a tower.

Blood magic is EVIL. (A game could be cliche-free and entertaining if blood magic was considered good and holy magic is considered evil...?)

Players don't really encounter any sort of standing army or camp until the campaign's siege sequence.

Players turn the tide of a siege or arrive just in time to save it.

Last dungeon collapsing after the boss was defeated (Tvtropes: Load Bearing Boss)

Opponent forces are disabled by targeting their single key weakness (Keystone Army)

Room with spiked closing/falling walls/ceiling

Players stumble onto rare and powerful long lost artifact that they didn't know they would need later (I'm terribly guilty of this)

Some of mine tended more towards tropes but they are very true of basic DND plot structure. :smallsmile:

Crossblade
2010-07-27, 02:28 PM
The heroes meet in a tower, where they're approached by a Dragon who asks them to save a Wizard, trapped in a Tavern, that was kidnapped by a Princess under the control of an Old Man.

arrowhen
2010-07-27, 02:34 PM
The mad wizard with a tower full of his half-this/half-that experiments.

The honor-obsessed, Klingon-esque hobgoblin empire.

The king/barkeep/beggar/random kobold tagalong who's actually a polymorphed dragon.

The demon statue with huge-ass rubies for eyes.

The obligatory underwater adventure.

The conveniently placed chest full of silver weapons, found immediately after the first encounter with a were-something.

The blacksmith who just happens to have a +1 version of every character's preferred weapon lying around to give them as a reward for dealing with his orc problem.

Maho-Tsukai
2010-07-27, 02:44 PM
Have the BBEG have hair that is either blond, silver,white or black and/or long and flowing. He must wear either a black cloak wardrobe or black full plate with lots of spikes. Bonus points if the black spiky full plate comes with large, pointy shoulder flares of doom and a giant evil cape. His main goal must be to either take over or destroy the world, and he should have no justification of this goal beyond that he's evil and and power-hungry. His plans all must be overly complicated yet have a glaring flaw that a 5 year old child could spot. He must gloat whenever possible, but especially when he has the heroes in an "inescapable" situation which would most likely kill them if he did not take the time to stop and gloat.

His disposable mooks must be either undead, an always chaotic evil race, rampaging barbarian hordes or warriors in spiky black full plate that is less spiky then his. If this is a typpeverse/industrial campaign add constructs/"robots" to the list of possible mook choices. The BBEG must also indulge in evil laughter as much as possible, and when an evil laugh is not posible but an evil giggle would be alright, he can engage in an evil giggle instead. However, he, at some point in the game, must have a long, drawn out evil laugh that would put Light Yagami to shame, and if he's done it before the final stages of his plan, he must have an even longer evil laugh at the point his plan reaches it's final stages. During the last fight against him, he must change forms at least once, and the final form he takes, as well as every form beyond his first must be monstrous in some way. He also must have some form of immortality which can only be countered by either having some special artifact or destroying an artifact which gives the BBEG his immortality.(bonus points if his immortality is from lichdom). Finally, he should make his lair one of the following: A giant, black, pointy evil tower, A giant, black, pointy castle, A giant, black, pointy evil temple or if you are in a typpeverse/high-tech campaign a highly industrialize city that is heavily polluted despite having magi-tech which has a giant, black, pointy factory at it's center.

Man...I feel like I just wrote the code of conduct for an "evil overlord" class.

arrowhen
2010-07-27, 04:08 PM
Finally, he should make his lair one of the following: A giant, black, pointy evil tower, A giant, black, pointy castle, A giant, black, pointy evil temple or if you are in a typpeverse/high-tech campaign a highly industrialize city that is heavily polluted despite having magi-tech which has a giant, black, pointy factory at it's center.

Feel free to append "...in a volcano" to any of those.

whiskytangofoxt
2010-07-28, 05:14 AM
Man, I never even thought about the whole "Industrial wasteland" kinda thing... that's pretty sweet! Also very cliche... I love it!

Skeppio
2010-08-04, 10:34 PM
Until we get to the Big Bad, who is himself an Awakened Goatee Golem!

I think I just cried tears of sheer joy.

MightyTim
2010-08-04, 10:50 PM
Include a Gladatorial Arena style sequence.

Kaww
2010-08-05, 05:37 AM
A cleric says: "We have slight problems in the crypts..."
Town crier: "Our dear lord mayor's brother was bitten in a hunt by a werewolf, the only way to save him is to slay the foul beast..."
Maybe a classic with a vampire that uses the same graveyard.
And if it's a comedy: a necromancer using the same graveyard.
And if you want to make the joke last - the said necromancer as a lich...

Tyndmyr
2010-08-05, 05:39 AM
"The dragon rages"

Evil the Cat
2010-08-06, 09:10 AM
Have the BBEG have hair that is either blond, silver,white or black and/or long and flowing. He must wear either a black cloak wardrobe or black full plate with lots of spikes. Bonus points if the black spiky full plate comes with large, pointy shoulder flares of doom and a giant evil cape. His main goal must be to either take over or destroy the world, and he should have no justification of this goal beyond that he's evil and and power-hungry. His plans all must be overly complicated yet have a glaring flaw that a 5 year old child could spot. He must gloat whenever possible, but especially when he has the heroes in an "inescapable" situation which would most likely kill them if he did not take the time to stop and gloat.

His disposable mooks must be either undead, an always chaotic evil race, rampaging barbarian hordes or warriors in spiky black full plate that is less spiky then his. If this is a typpeverse/industrial campaign add constructs/"robots" to the list of possible mook choices. The BBEG must also indulge in evil laughter as much as possible, and when an evil laugh is not posible but an evil giggle would be alright, he can engage in an evil giggle instead. However, he, at some point in the game, must have a long, drawn out evil laugh that would put Light Yagami to shame, and if he's done it before the final stages of his plan, he must have an even longer evil laugh at the point his plan reaches it's final stages. During the last fight against him, he must change forms at least once, and the final form he takes, as well as every form beyond his first must be monstrous in some way. He also must have some form of immortality which can only be countered by either having some special artifact or destroying an artifact which gives the BBEG his immortality.(bonus points if his immortality is from lichdom). Finally, he should make his lair one of the following: A giant, black, pointy evil tower, A giant, black, pointy castle, A giant, black, pointy evil temple or if you are in a typpeverse/high-tech campaign a highly industrialize city that is heavily polluted despite having magi-tech which has a giant, black, pointy factory at it's center.

Man...I feel like I just wrote the code of conduct for an "evil overlord" class.


I usually try very much to limit my use of cliches, but I think I'm going to use this for a gnome villain in my campaign in the near future. Even in a serious campaign, I can totally see a gnome doing this.