Evil adventurers guild as antagonists. thoughts?

[Sir-Carlos]

(I made a lot of posts in the last couple of days, I hope I am not being annoying)

I had another idea for a big bad, and that is an evil adventurers guild! Think of a group of adventurers that was very successful in their time, and who got corrupted by their own wealth, power and greed. They are like a kingdom-wide mafia now, arranging themselves with a lot of evil creatures and organizations, in the intent to get even more powerful and wealthy. those who oppose them, they crush. either openly, putting on a great show if their enemy is publicly seen as evil, or in all discretion, if it is a good hero, or a normal noble. But few know that they are evil. They are revered as heroes who once saved the realm, and as an example to look up to.

Thoughts on this? I think this idea could make for a decent campaign-long antagonist.

[Sorinth]

The TV show The Boys might offer some inspiration. I think you'd want the PC to very early on discover that the guild founders/leaders are in fact selfish megalomaniacs. But you'll have to figure out whether they are actually evil and have some sort of evil plot afoot or if they are simply greedy selfish pricks. Keep in mind if it's a guild then most guild members would be good-aligned people because the outward appearance of the evil adventurers are being good heroes.

I do think think this could be an interesting campaign and would be nice twist to the classic evil guy trying to assemble a McGuffin that is broken into multiple parts since the evil adventurers could present the front as the guys who are protecting/guarding the pieces.

Also make sure the evil adventurers have access to something along the lines of modify memory, as that should be key to them keeping their cover as the good guys.

[Unoriginal]

(I made a lot of posts in the last couple of days, I hope I am not being annoying)

I had another idea for a big bad, and that is an evil adventurers guild! Think of a group of adventurers that was very successful in their time, and who got corrupted by their own wealth, power and greed. They are like a kingdom-wide mafia now, arranging themselves with a lot of evil creatures and organizations, in the intent to get even more powerful and wealthy. those who oppose them, they crush. either openly, putting on a great show if their enemy is publicly seen as evil, or in all discretion, if it is a good hero, or a normal noble. But few know that they are evil. They are revered as heroes who once saved the realm, and as an example to look up to.

Thoughts on this? I think this idea could make for a decent campaign-long antagonist.

Do you intend to have a "twist reveal" moment where the PCs learn that the supposed heroes are evil criminals, or is it more a Lex Luthor situation where the PCs are aware they are bad guys with good PR from basically the start?

[KorvinStarmast]

(I made a lot of posts in the last couple of days, I hope I am not being annoying)

I had another idea for a big bad, and that is an evil adventurers guild! Think of a group of adventurers that was very successful in their time, and who got corrupted by their own wealth, power and greed. They are like a kingdom-wide mafia now, arranging themselves with a lot of evil creatures and organizations, in the intent to get even more powerful and wealthy. those who oppose them, they crush. either openly, putting on a great show if their enemy is publicly seen as evil, or in all discretion, if it is a good hero, or a normal noble. But few know that they are evil. They are revered as heroes who once saved the realm, and as an example to look up to.

Thoughts on this? I think this idea could make for a decent campaign-long antagonist. If you read the Order of the Stick, book 5, Blood Runs in the Family, you get a little bit of that. :smallsmile: