What quests would a Dark Lord give his monsters?

[gatorized]

While figuring out a villain game to run for my players, I decided I didn't want to do the usual modern setting that I run, and eventually settled on the idea of a dungeon keeper inspired game where they would each play a monster. The first drawback I identified was, it probably wouldn't be very interesting for them to just sit around waiting for heroes to show up - no doubt they could roleplay beating the **** out of each other in a tavern for a while, but I need to do better than that.

So my idea was, what if we include the overworld for them to interact with? I can have the Dark Lord send them out to do stuff for him, with the implication of not nice* things happening should they fail. And as a bonus, since there's no character death in the system we're using, should they be defeated, I'll just have their evil presence reform in the dungeon, where they can take control of another monster - either the same type they were playing, or a new one; so nobody has to be tied down to a particular concept if they want to try something new. But in either case, they get to retain their memories. This has the advantage of reducing the fear of failure, especially since they can always try to complete the same task again, which hopefully will encourage them to do more goofy / risky stuff, in keeping with the theme of cartoon villainy.

* In reality, they just don't get the reward (character points / meta currency) until a quest is completed - but the players get to describe what kind of wacky evil **** happens when they disappoint their master.

Anyway, point being, I've never been all that creative and I would really like this game to actually be fun if at all possible, and I was hoping to get your guys' input on what sorts of "quests" (evil schemes) you would concoct. I've got the obvious, such as tempting adventurers or good creatures to evil, seeking powerful magic items and knowledge, poisoning food or water supplies (stealth mission - theoretically) to make invasion easier, and the classics, like just stealing everything valuable and / or shiny, and kidnapping princesses. If you were a Dark Lord, what would you have your minions do? Be as imaginative as you like - I haven't nailed down anything too specific about the setting, and there's almost no restriction on the kinds of creatures the players can be, or what they might encounter.

[King of Nowhere]

Go kidnap the hero - stressing that he MUST be taken alive - so that he can be put into an easily escapable death trap.

Attack the hero one at a time. The other party members will have to make a perform check to pretend to fight. The overlord will check that they will put up a good performance.

Set up easily escapable death traps. May include subduing some monsters, or even testing the traps themselves to ensure they are escapable

[Morgaln]

This sounds like the "Dungeon" series of video games could be great inspiration for you, you might want to look them up.

One idea I immediately had: maybe the Dark Lord wants heroes to come to the dungeon to capture them/eat their souls/sell them a pyramid scheme/whatever. So the players could get tasked with going out and somehow increase the number of heroes coming to the dungeon. Just causing mayhem and destruction would of course be the most direct way, but they could also try to run a kind of advertising campaign, put up signs saying "Loot this way" or infiltrate the nearby villages and spread rumors about the riches in the dungeon.

They could also be tasked with trying to find out information about the heroes coming to the dungeon so they can devise specific countermeasures for the next raid. Complete with designing traps.

The Dark Lord might also require specific ingredients for a ritual; unicorn horns, plants, an orb charged with sunlight on a mountaintop, whatever can't be gotten underground.

Or they need to go and recruit more monsters for the dungeon. Could be played for laughs with the Dark Lord telling them how he needs more recruits because they are all so incompetent. This might also give you the opportunity of slowly increasing the roster of available monsters for the players.

[KorvinStarmast]

Task to PC monsters:
Go out and wreck stuff with the express intention of attracting heroes whom the Dark Lord wants to have killed or captured. He needs the essence/blood/spirit/brain cells/hearts of heroes to help in the manufacture of a Frankenstein=like monster (a bit more complex than a flesh golem) that will become his most powerful servant once he has finished the ritual based on an ancient arcane formula from thousands of years ago.

Once this creation made/finished, he will task it to kill the monsters / PCs who have been helping him (final boss battle and back stab at the same time) which gives them a climactic battle after X number of sessions.

Yes, he's a Dark Lord, so he's not necessarily loyal to his minions: he uses them until he has no use for them. :smallyuk:
Plus, he needs an Op Eval / Operational Test / Verification on this new creation/monster.

If the PCs win, they then need to figure out what they want to do about their backstabbing boss.
if they lose/flee/TPK, either roll up / create new characters or start a "we shall get our revenge" adventure arc.

[Mastikator]

Go kidnap the hero - stressing that he MUST be taken alive - so that he can be put into an easily escapable death trap.

Attack the hero one at a time. The other party members will have to make a perform check to pretend to fight. The overlord will check that they will put up a good performance.

Set up easily escapable death traps. May include subduing some monsters, or even testing the traps themselves to ensure they are escapable

Also: kidnap the hero's family/best friend.

Terrorize a village by stealing resources and killing a person or two. This quest should be explained to the minion on a piece of parchment with mysterious and vague writing that includes a clue to the dark overlord's ultimate goal. Doesn't matter if the minion doesn't need to know.

Corrupt a monarch, undermine their rule and turn them into a puppet, this is best achieved by a dark knight or evil wizard, ie some higher tier minion. They should look evil and have some evil name like "Grima Wormtongue".

[AcerbicOrb]

I'd take the dungeon as a starting point. A typical fantasy dungeon is a very impressive place, architecturally, the wealth it contains, the complexity of the traps. So how does it become that way? What does the dungeon's master need from the outside world to build his dungeon?

Expertise - The dungeon's master needs the best architects, trap designers, and so on - so he sends out his minions to kidnap them.

Materials - Dungeons are built of something, after all. Even if it's mostly excavated stone, less abundant materials are needed for traps, armaments, and so on - so he sends out his minions to pillage them.

Workforce - Dungeons take a lot of labour to build, given their size. Minions could be used for this, but when they're needed elsewhere, slaves will do - so he sends out his minions to capture them.

Minions - But also, how many minions is too many? No such thing, some would say, more are always needed - so he sends out his minions to recruit them.

Wealth - What's a dungeon without wealth? Fine treasure hoards are needed - so he sends out his minions to loot them.

[hewhosaysfish]

So the players could get tasked with going out and somehow increase the number of heroes coming to the dungeon. Just causing mayhem and destruction would of course be the most direct way, but they could also try to run a kind of advertising campaign, put up signs saying "Loot this way" or infiltrate the nearby villages and spread rumors about the riches in the dungeon.

Give the heroes a quest to save your kidnapped loved-ones from the horrible goblins!


They could also be tasked with trying to find out information about the heroes coming to the dungeon so they can devise specific countermeasures for the next raid. Complete with designing traps.

Give the heroes a quest in the butt-end of nowhere in the opposite direction from the dungeon. Skip town before anyone can claim whatever reward you offered.



Or they need to go and recruit more monsters for the dungeon. Could be played for laughs with the Dark Lord telling them how he needs more recruits because they are all so incompetent. This might also give you the opportunity of slowly increasing the roster of available monsters for the players.

Resolve a dispute with some of the Dark Lord's existing minions. Maybe the ogres are on strike (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0037.html)? Negotiate with them, bully them, re-animate them.... join them?


Corrupt a monarch, undermine their rule and turn them into a puppet, this is best achieved by a dark knight or evil wizard, ie some higher tier minion. They should look evil and have some evil name like "Grima Wormtongue".

Courier run; taking letters to/from a corrupted human and/or corrupter embedded in their entourage. Remember not to blow their cover, especially if you are a dragon in a fake beard trying to pass through a human settlement.

[gatorized]

Man these are so good, thanks to everyone

Btw I have specific mechanics in mind for stuff like prisoners, construction, other things mentioned in here that will have tangible benefits for the players

[J-H]

Disrupt a royal wedding.

Ambush a diplomat. Use only weapons stolen from a third party. Don't let the diplomat see you during the attack.

Sneak a magic thingie into a town and drop it in their water well.

Prevent the local druid from blessing the crops on time, so people get worried about the harvest.

Poison the beer at two taverns without getting caught, so that the guards who drink there are sick / shorthanded / inattentive when the important smuggled shipment arrives the next day.

Sneak inside the bedroom of the local Prince at night. Leave a message on his pillow, and take a lock of his hair. Spill no blood.

Retrieve the Ruby of Reversal from its place on the monument to High Wizard MuckyMuck in the Royal Graveyard.

Harvest four unicorn horns for alchemy. Ensure that nobody sees you do it.

Find a local tribe of Tucker's Kobolds. Survive their traps long enough to intimidate them into working for the Dark Lord.

[Sapphire Guard]

Raiding forests/quarries etc for construction materials to update the dungeon.

Recruit a good labyrinth builder to work for him. They live in a labyrinth which must be traversed to make the pitch.

[Slipjig]

Does your Dark Overlord have some sort of overarching goal? Gathering resources or McGuffins needed to enact his evil plan is always a solid starting point. Bonus points if the resource they need to collect is a person and needs to be brought in a cooperative mood.

If the Keeper has Rivals, try to frame a Rival for whatever shenanigans they get up to.

The Keeper is a lich who fashioned their phylactery to look exactly like an important holy relic of a Good church. The minions need to leave the phylactery where the Forces of Good will collect it, and then presumably store it under EXTREME security measures. For an even bigger challenge, they need to break into the cathedral reliquary and swap the phylactery for a real Holy Relic without getting caught.

The Overlord has a massive crush on a particular Hero or Prince (or Heroic Prince). Have the players eventually figure out that all of their boss's schemes are a desperate bid to get the Hero's attention. The campaign ends with the PCs trying to Parent Trap the Overlord and the Hero.

[GeoffWatson]

Vague, cryptic instructions.

Hey, they make perfect sense to the Dark Lord, but he's a bit crazy.
Or it gives him an excuse to punish the PCs when they ask questions or mess things up - he is EVIL after all.

[Kardwill]

Looking at the Dungeon Lords/Dungeon Petz boardgames for inspiration ^^

- Shopping. Yeah, sure, burning and pillaging is traditional, but sometimes, you just want someone to buy the latest "Necromancer Monthly" or pay an artisan to build your new skullthrone, without making it a whole Thing, you know. Burning villages tend to attract paladins. and that carpenter's chairs are really comfy.
Of course, going to the town and simply buting stuff might be complicated for your average dungeon monster.

- Spy the villagers. Are there new adventurers in town? Or worse, a suspicious cloacked stranger looking for help at the inn? A suitably lootable caravan? Interesting gossip about an evil princess? Time to hit the pub spy the local populace

- Spreading rumors might be useful too. Time for another bar crawl infiltration mission.

- Recruit more dangerous monsters. That dragon might like to live in an actual evil fortress instead of a dank cave. A kobold tribe would be perfect to forage for food in the local countryside. And the ceiling is desperately in need of a few cloakers. The Overlord has decided to risk a few worthless goblins' lives offer a few trusted minions some exciting new responsibilities in the HR department. The recruitment may take place in another Evil Overlord's domain (The fact that Evil-Steve cheated during the last poker night at the Overlord clubhouse has, of course, nothing to do with the fact you're sent to steal his monsters and scribble insulting haikus on the walls of his Dark Lair)

- Raise and entertain the younger/more excitable monsters at the dungeon-nursery, so that dragon-momma is free to burn the countryside during office hours while her kids are happily chewing on you.

- Oh, by the way, the Overlord's niece is spending her summer vacations in the Evil Lair, and she's bored.

- Design/build/setup/reload/crashtest deathtraps. Hazard pay optional.

- Adventurers attack! Bad news, they're the dangerous, high level kind. Good news, they're headed for the old abandoned fortress rather than the current main dungeon, and they don't look too bright. Give them a convincing adventure so that they think they "vanquished evil" and leave. Oh, and try not to get killed in the process.

[gatorized]

Does your Dark Overlord have some sort of overarching goal?

Acquire sufficient Malevolence to incarnate permanently into the physical realm, assert total dominion over all the mortal races, become supreme evil and cast down the rulers of the supernal realm, usurping the position of ultimate ruler of the cosmos

(after a thousand years and one of darkness, a plucky hero and two to five of his quirky friends will use a forgotten ritual to seal him away once more, fulfilling the prophecy and starting the cycle anew)