Playing as the BBEG

[The Insanity]

With my player we were thinking about playing a game where the player would be the BBEG (and mind you, I don't mean anti-hero, but the actual Villain/Dark Lord/whatever).
Did any of you do something similar in your games? How did it go?
Any suggestions for interesting motivations for the character to become the Bad Guy?
I'd also appreciate ideas how to incorporate leveling up (the character will start at low or mid level). I know that Bad Guys don't start as the Dark Lords, but how do they get there?
Also, what kind of adventures/things to do would a Dark Lord have? Probably managing your evil organization/cult/army/etc. would be the primary thing, but we wouldn't want to turn the entire campaign into a strategy game.

[Ettina]

Is the whole party going to be evil, or are you planning on an evil guy infiltrating a good-aligned party?

[Takewo]

With my player we were thinking about playing a game where the player would be the BBEG (and mind you, I don't mean anti-hero, but the actual Villain/Dark Lord/whatever).

Well, if they are the actual BBEG, I guess that their most common activity will be wait in a room in the middle of a dungeon filled with traps and monsters and fighting half worn out adventuring parties.

Now, if what you want is to play with an evil character who wants to become a Dark Lord or is a Dark Lord, then it's a complete different issue. Then I guess the adventures would be pretty much the same as with a default party, but working on their own vile plans, as in getting rid of a good, wise counsellor in the kingdom of Humbugland, destroying a caravan of rations going to a fortified place, and making everything more dull in general.

[Bard1cKnowledge]

What's the alignment? CE is okay, but a LEBBEG can really be fun. I got a neutral aligned party to work for a LE guy (and one guy was good) the only reason they were not smashing each other was due to the fact that there was a greater force to be dealt with that was beneficial for both parties

[The Insanity]

Is the whole party going to be evil, or are you planning on an evil guy infiltrating a good-aligned party?
There's only one player.


What's the alignment?
Not determind yet.

[Red Fel]

My advice? Running an empire is, generally speaking, boring and time-consuming, and nowhere near as glamorous as everything leading up to that point. So make that the end of the campaign, rather than the beginning.

The two things you want to focus on, then, are the type of BBEG, and the context of his ascent. I will explain.

First, the type of BBEG. Put simply, what kind of character is the player playing? Here is a short list, but hardly an exhaustive one: The warlord. Perhaps he organizes bandits or soldiers. Perhaps he's a peasant or ex-military or disenfranchised noble. Whatever the background, he grows by slaughtering. This is perfect for someone who likes a hack-and-slash style campaign. The dealer. Perhaps he sells drugs. Perhaps he sells information. Perhaps he provides some other service which eventually becomes indispensable, or perhaps he's simply a truly gifted blackmailer. Whatever the reason, he grows by getting people dependent upon him, and then leveraging that into power and influence. This is perfect for someone who enjoys social games of influence-peddling and deception. The leader. Perhaps he is (or was) a general, or influential noble. Perhaps he is a zealot with a fiery personality and temper. Perhaps he's simply a gifted orator. Whatever the background, he grows by amassing followers to his side. This is also a good social gamer archetype, but while the dealer coerces people into helping him, the leader makes them want to.
Once you've settled on a play style, it's time for a path to power. Again, a short list which is not exclusive. Bloody conquest. The BBEG achieves his goals by covering the continent with his sword. As he crushes villages, then towns, then cities, then kingdoms, people flock to his banner, to serve at his command. Victory comes when the last king takes the knee. Intrigue. The BBEG achieves his goals by being the power behind the power. To the rest of the world, nothing has changed. But either the BBEG has replaced the ruler, or he has insinuated himself into a position of absolute authority over the ruler. Victory comes when he can give any order and have it enforced by the king's authority. Diplomacy. The BBEG achieves his goals by a combination of keen wits, economic tactics, military influence, and nationbuilding. Arguably the least Evil method, but no less effective. Victory comes when any world ruler will answer the BBEG's phone call on the first ring.
After determining the type of BBEG and the context of his ascent, everything else falls into place. If he wants to play a Warlord Conqueror, simply give him battles against increasingly large military forces until he crushes everything, or is crushed in return. For a Dealer Conspirator, start him off by digging up dirt or providing services to lesser merchants, and have him work his way up to blackmailing nobles. A Leader Diplomat is particularly open-ended; whatever he can do to increase his prestige, influence, and the respect the world has for him is an effective rise to power.

Assuming he makes it to his goal intact, give him a satisfying epilogue. Describe the bloodied battlefields left in his wake, the way people tremble as he walks through the palace halls, the way world leaders willingly fall to one knee in his presence. That's the payoff - the acknowledgement of his ultimate victory.

[Callak]

Thus far from playing DnD for years I have had 3 characters turn evil. Usually some monstrous deformity that slowly alters personality and power level ( players love this phase) until a group shattering betrayal/ act of evil and then from that point on they get NPC'd and the player gets minor input on their characters future plans until the party meets up with them for a show down. Then I let the original PC play the villian for the final fight as I sub in his character. That's how to do it

[Braininthejar2]

I can give an example of how an intrigue based character might grow into a villain.

My character (also one player - one GM campaign, modified Dragonlance setting) started as a human brought up among elves. This left him with some inferiority issues, so when he was discovered to have magical talents, he very eagerly left his home behind in search of power.

Come the events of the Dragonlance saga - Marcus got sent out by one of the factions within his tower to find out what is going on. During the prologue of the campaign, he had a brief contact with a powerful artifact, which showed him a vision of the Cataclysm - the gods wrecking the world in anger, disgusted by the evil wrought in their name by their high clergy.

For Marcus, the vision became a motivating force - what he saw in the vision was gods unworthy or ruling humanity, losing control over their own servants and then setting the world on fire to cover up their mistakes. He continued with his task of gathering information, but as he travelled, he used every opportunity to undermine the new priests of the re-emerging gods.

During his travels he gathered an adventuring party around himself. For obvious reasons, it would not include a priest - instead he delved into mundane medical knowledge (I managed to persuade the GM to allow it as a knowledge skill instead of heal). Soon he discovered that being more competent than the local quack can open a lot of doors (the rest could be opened with a couple alchemy checks - it's not as good as being an actual distiller, but enough to improve the quality of home made booze) With a handy hat of disguise, he became a master of the subtle approach.

While Marcus' mission turned out largely inconsequential, (all he was supposed to learn about was taken care of by the canon heroes) his own exploits launched him in a different direction: During his travels he acquired a certain reputation as a doctor (hiding his magical powers to keep his options open) and it just so happened that the enemies of the kingdom he was passing through sought to undermine it by purposefully spreading jaundice. At his level of skill Marcus was able to limit the spread of the disease with mundane means, attracting the attention of the local ruler in the process. - when the epidemic ended, he found himself a count, as well as a head of the local excuse for a hospital - clearly the king saw some promise in being able to keep his taxpayers healthy and productive without indebting himself to priests.

A lot of stuff has happened since then, with count Marcus getting increasingly pulled into the local politics (largely as an unofficial advisor) while trying to turn the band of quacks and herbalists under his command into something akin to respectable medical institution, something unheard of before in the setting. As the result the game sessions turned into something half way between Game of Thrones and House MD.

Of course, touching politics meant getting his hands dirty. Espionage, political murders (either thwarted or coldly observed, depending on the situation), heroically defeating the enemies of the crown to fill the hospital's needy budget with the loot, all the while hiding behind the facade of the eccentric medic elevated to nobility.

It was natural that the crime world came next. It turned out Marcus had inadvertedly saved enough poor people, that people launching schemes to hurt the hospital started getting thwarted by unfortunate accidents. Putting the party bard in the local thieves' guild was the next logical step.

Right now, Marcus is slowly building power, growing in influence with the king (he know knows he's a mage, which makes him a sort of unoffocial court wizard - unlike the official ones who keep getting murdered whenever some new sinister plot starts in the castle). He has a network of spies hijacked from one of his past enemies, and his agents in the thieves guild are training kids to become his next line of spies when they grow up. He also takes actions to recruit any interesting NPCs that come his way, usually using his new, improved hat of disguise to pull a Keyser Soze, making sure nobody has the full picture of him being in the center of the network.

He's also still looking for ways to increase his magical power. His greatest achievement so far has been a custom spell combining his medical knowledge with transmutation and necromancy to effectively re-sculpt bodies, allowing him to pull off medical miracles (handy for getting people's loyalty) or give his agents plastic surgery for a disguise that can't be dispelled.

But he is researching into more esoteric things. He has recetly discovered that Railstin's canon plot was executed and subsequently retconned from history. This proved to him that with enough magical power a god can be killed. Now he's looking for any knowledge that could tell him how to do it without messing up reality in the process.

I'm fully expecting to end the campaign trying to pull off something epic and getting interrupted by heroic adventurers at the last moment.