The man behind the man. Doing it right?

[dethkruzer]

So the latest session of the now-epic D&D 3.5 campaign ended last night with the BBEG going down in a ball of fire, detonating in a blast no one could survive. The fight before the fire-works lasted well over an hour in real life, and had her going One-winged angel, twice.

Normally, I'd consider going up in an explosion big enough to wipe off a mountain-top a proper way to exit for any villian, but this gal has essentialy been the driving force behind the plot for about 26 levels, and because of the fact that, she was never intended to be the unredeemable, omnicidal, puppy-kicking nutjob who has no moral-qualms turning every living being on the prime material plane into an incubator.

Also, the player never really learned much of her motives, which I intend to explain as the true evil behind her is revealed. This brings me to my dilemma, I wish to portray her as having fallen in love with the real villian, with the real villian simply having played along, using her to furthen his own schemes. I need to have the real villain get rid of her(preferably while mentioning about having outlived her usefullness), and really just seal the deal that, while there may have been some redeeming qualities to this previous villians, this new villian has nothing good to say about, no redeeming qualities, no soft spot for baby penguins, no nothing.

So, I was hoping some ideas, on how should I do this?

[Hel65]

Also, the player never really learned much of her motives, which I intend to explain as the true evil behind her is revealed. This brings me to my dilemma, I wish to portray her as having fallen in love with the real villian, with the real villian simply having played along, using her to furthen his own schemes. I need to have the real villain get rid of her(preferably while mentioning about having outlived her usefullness), and really just seal the deal that, while there may have been some redeeming qualities to this previous villians, this new villian has nothing good to say about, no redeeming qualities, no soft spot for baby penguins, no nothing.

So, I was hoping some ideas, on how should I do this?

Big explosive exit is good, so it should stick. So, if the players haven't really learned much of her motives, then that's on them and you. Still, nothing wrong with doing it posthumously, with the player( character)s exploring their... misconceptions about the villain.

Also, the bolded fragment is a no go, don't cheat the players out of their grand victory to have a cliche. The real villain can explain to the player characters that they did him a favour in getting rid of her when she outlived her usefulness and it should work just as well from your perspective, but much better from the players'.

[TheThan]

This sort of thing tends to be best handled when during the campaign. You should be dropping hints, (not overt ones, but hints non-the-less) about the real big bad behind the scenes.

Take starwars for example. They mention the emperor in A NEW HOPE, even though we don’t see him. Then later in EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, he gets mentioned again, and we even get to see a glimmer of the character. But then finally, in the last act in RETURN OF THE JEDI, we finally get to see him in his evil, mad cackling glory.

You know what, it worked. Vader takes up so much screen presence that the emperor is easy to ignore. He’s mentioned and even seen, but he’s not taken as a threat till the very end of the series.