Hey Game Fans, we’re going to keep on keeping on with our discussion of Antagonists and how to get the most use of them in your adventure writing. Every Antagonist has a specific role to play in the narrative you’re putting together. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of them gives you a leg up in finding the spot to put them and how to utilize them to maximum effect. Last week we talked about the minions that make up the rank and file of the bad guys, today we’re going to take a look at the Lieutenants that carry out the Antagonist's plans. Remember the Pyramid example we talked about last week. These antagonists are the next level up, and perform a specific task for the Antagonist directly. Let’s dig into that idea and see what we can come up with.
Plot Point 12 The Antagonists (Part 4)
I have probably played too much D & D in my lifetime and after a certain point, things start to blend together. I can’t remember how many dragons i’ve fought, or the number of times i’ve been caught by sneaky traps. The dungeons start to bleed together after a certain point, and i can probably call the encounters back if i tried, but there are other encounters that stick out in my mind because they featured memorable villains. I don’t remember every tribe of goblins i’ve ever encountered or every beholder i’ve dealt with, but i do remember the time we were suckered into trying to kill Xanthalar underneath Waterdeep in his super secret underground thieves guild lair...
The Antagonists you choose to build/include in your campaign/adventure/encounter are one of the things that make it memorable for any number of reasons. I remember fondly the time we finished our campaign by slaying the Red Dragon in its Volcanic Lair. I have less happy remembrances of the time the kobold tribe decided it would be a great idea to douse us in lantern oil and then throw matches at us while we were trapped in a twenty feet deep pit. I still remember both of those encounters because the antagonists were memorable opponents in the context of the adventure.
Some critters work very well in specific locations. Orcs and Goblins are pretty omniversal as antagonists go, and you can bump into them all over the place. Other critters need specific reasons to be found in places that aren’t their home territories, like Drow outside of the underdark, or Devils outside of the 9 Hells. Sure, you can put them wherever you like, but they make better villains if you tailor the encounter/adventure/campaign to make them fit into the story you’re telling.
There is another important thing to consider when you’re putting Antagonists together. What role do you see this critter fitting into? Are they minions in nearly inexhaustible supply like the Draconians from Dragonlance or the Stormtroopers from Star Wars? Are they specialists in a key area like assassins or Necromancers that fit a specific role in the adventure/campaign? Are the Lieutenants or key servants of the main Antagonist? Are they the Key Antagonist of the entire story? Some monsters/npcs/antagonists serve in specific roles better than others. It’s possible that the goblin is the Mastermind of the entire campaign, but if he has Dragons of various types, a pet Lich, and Mind Flayers as his go to servants, then explanations are going to be required.
Lieutenants
Why does an Antagonist need a Lieutenant? Most Antagonists can’t be everywhere at once. This means they have to delegate some level of authority to run whatever plans and schemes they are pursuing to other creatures. These creatures operate in the Antagonist’s stead and further their plans and ambitions. These trusted lieutenants are usually competent enough to handle the project they are working on and survivable enough to handle the challenges in front of them (barring a sudden outbreak of adventurers). There are a lot of potential usages for a lieutenant, so we’re going to talk about some broad roles and some exemplars.
Project Manager
These lieutenants are the key agents that pursue a specific agenda for the Antagonist. Whether it’s unearth an ancient city beneath the surface world, or turn a forest into a fleet of ships, or go burn this town to the ground, every single one of these specific objectives has a specific creature in charge of the operation that manages the specialists and minions assigned to this specific task.
These creatures have three important characteristics. First, they all have a specific expertise in the specific project they are working on. The lieutenant assigned to crafting a fleet of ships probably should have relative knowledge of woodworking and ship construction, for example. Most Antagonists will put their best people for the task at hand on said task, unless there are other factors at work.
Secondly, the creature assigned to be the boss is expected to be able to wrangle the minions and specialists working under them. Not every creature is going to get along well with its co-minions, and whoever’s actually in charge has to be able to get them to work well enough to finish the job. Whether it’s a carefully reasoned argument or an assortment of clubbing blows about the heads and shoulders of the noncompliant members is entirely up to the lieutenant in question and their minions.
Finally, whoever’s in charge has to be capable of defending the mission/project in question. These are usually capable of handling business in combat situations, even if they aren’t a typical combat character. The master smith for example probably can hold his own against normal npcs, but has other advantages that make him a danger to player character adventurers. There are also dedicated combat lieutenants who spend their days looking for good guys to put in the ground.
Good Lieutenants fill these three criteria. Great Lieutenants are capable of weaving these three factors together and can very easily carry the story by themselves. If you are looking to build an adventure or a story arc, these are the characters that typify your end boss for that piece. Extremely capable and motivated with a specific task, Lieutenants are ideal characters to give powerful abilities, magical treasures, and even more advantages to. They are also worth investing more time into their backstory and personality than the more regularly occurring minions and specialists you populate the rest of the adventure with.
Example 1: Skarrus Hoarhammer
Deep beneath the surface lie a group of sinister dwarves. Warped by the powers of ancient magic that bound the elemental planes to the rest of creation, these dwarves desire freedom from their prison. Tasked with expanding their tunnels that lead outward into the rest of the world, Skarrus Hoarhammer is a terrible Dwarven warrior with powers stolen from the elemental plane of Air. He drives his warriors hard, hoping that success at this task will give him command of an army to attack the surface world beyond.
Example 2: Denara Seabreeze
The Dark Lord of Arisoth has bent his entire country to the pursuit of locating the Diabolos Grail, a legendary artifact that is supposed to grant him immortality and command of the legions of the nine hells. His scholars and diviners have located the supposed location of the Grail. He’s sent his best scout, Denara, to investigate the Isle, recover the Grail, and destroy any who get in her way. With her crew of fierce reavers and an entire fleet at her command, she’s perfectly equipped to do the job.
Example #3: The Fellheart
An infiltrator of legendary skill, The Fellheart has been tasked with breaching the wards around the temple of the Sun King in Helion, and stealing the secrets of the Sun King’s Bride. An enigmatic creature, it’s tasked its entire group of spies, assassins and infiltrators to weakening the security so it can complete this task for the Lunar Hearts.
Example #4: Gorruk Ironjaw
The lord of an Orc tribe, Gorruk has been convinced by his fellow chieftains that the time is right to spill out of the mountains and into the lowlands of Gerrada. The humans will have no idea what’s hit them if Gorruk and his tribe can disable the northern watch garrison and destroy its signal beacons. The prize is even greater, because if Gorruk’s goblin allies can figure out how to work the controls of the ancient dwarven waterway, they can control the river that supplies Gerrada with most of its freshwater.
How to work through this Plot Trap?
This is a Plot Trap that’s fairly easy to handle. When you sit down to build your encounter/adventure/campaign, you need to decide who your primary antagonist is and what minions they are likely to use. This is an area of design where i am inclined to say embrace the Cliche. An Orc Warlord likely has Orc minions, just as Lich likely has skeletons by the hundreds. Don’t worry about the cliche, it’s actually fun one.
Lieutenants are one of those things that should be encountered sparingly. They are reasonably popular assets with the Antagonists that use them (until they have failed them for 1 too many times). They are also used in situations that play to their expertise, so finding one on a shopping holiday is unlikely (though it could be an interesting story). Once you have decided what the Antagonist’s plans are, you can build your story arc and the villainous henchman who’s keeping an eye on the project for the Big Bad Boss Monster of Ultimate Doom.
Variations
There are a couple of variations on this theme that all work roughly the same way. Let’s take a closer look.
Headhunter
These are the Lieutenants who go out and look for good people to gut like trout. Some Antagonists have a high enough profile that good people rally to oppose them on principle. These Antagonists often dispatch utterly loyal killers to take care of problem people, towns, or regions. These are some of the scariest lieutenants to deal with because they have absolutely loyalty to their cause/overlord and have no qualms about killing a LOT of people in the process.
Seneschal
These Lieutenants are often tasked with securing the Antagonist’s home/personal dwelling space. Often the person the Antagonist trusts the most, the Seneschal is personally responsible for guarding their home, hearth and whatever else the Antagonist considers personally important. These characters can have a bewildering variety of skills and capabilities, depending on what the Antagonist considers to be important. Encountering one of these is as close as most player characters might come to actually challenging the power of the Antagonist in most settings.
Conclusions
Antagonists are an important part of any RPG or Fantasy experience and they deserve a lot of thought and planning to implement. There are a lot of ways of looking at how to build your antagonist elements, but i typically go with a pyramid structure. The Lieutenants are among the most powerful members of the organization that most player characters are going to encounter, and are often the end bosses of a specific adventure or story arc. The only thing more dangerous is the Antagonist themselves
I hope this gives all of you some insights and ideas on incorporating this style of a Plot Element into your game without it becoming a burden to your fun. If you’d like to see more of these, or have a question about a specific plot element that you’d like to know more about, drop me a line on twitter, which you should be able to see over there on the right side of the screen. Game On,
Game Fans.
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