There are so many to choose from so who ended up being a signature villain in your campaigns? They showed up again and again, were they vanquished, did the PK's get their revenge? Tell us your tales of HATE (insert)!

Ironically enough the Roman catholic church has been a villain numerous times in my games. Heck the whole situation with the destruction of Bran's Head in 529 has seen my players go to war against Arthur, and on one occasion they went and burnt the great cathedrals, abbeys and monasteries of Catholicism to the ground for destroying it.

I do have to say this though a number of the players themselves on many occasions where Roman Catholic and were standing up for what the church should represent not what the corrupt body had become and that is why they fought against the church.

For those who wish to say that I am anti-christian I am not. I just happen to have studied history and am representing the Roman Catholic church as it was for the periods of time the game periods represent. Which unfortunately for the catholic church puts it in a time were it was at its most zealous, arbitrary and selfish. Though my portrayal of the individual priests and such changes from person to person. Mainly with the lesser fathers and friars being good representations of Roman Catholicism. While the hierarchy i.e. Bishops,Arch-bishops,Cardinals and the Pope being on the more corrupt side though with the pope its depend on which pope it is.

After that any culture/race/religion is fair game. I have had villains of all flavors.

Hmm. I think in our campaign, the recurring villain was actually a sword. :)

We started the campaign in AD 503, with Gorboduc's Tower adventure. Just to keep things thematic, I gave the villain of the piece, Gorboduc the Field, a black sword to go with his black armor. You know black swords are never a good thing... Anyway, they defeated Gorboduc and as it happened, one of the players quit (she was an exchange student). As it had been her character who killed Gorboduc it was decided that the knight would get Gorboduc's property, including the estate, and hence was written 'out of the story'.

Until a couple of years later, when the PKs, still adventuring around Forest Sauvage, started hearing these news of a black-armored robber knight terrorizing the neighborhood... It couldn't be... but yes, it was, their old friend had become a robber knight, and had to be put down. The sword found its way to the hands of one of the allied NPK knights, while the PKs were expressing some concerns.

Well, that NPK didn't have as dramatic a fall, but the PKs did get some commentary from his wife about how he was becoming more aloof and withdrawn, as well as short-tempered. When they met him ten years later before the Battle of Badon Hill, he was practically a berserker himself, delighting in slaughter. He found his death at the Badon Hill, ontop of a mound of dead Saxons.

Naturally, the sword was inherited by his son, Aedan, and he was the recurring villain in the next generation. He made his appearance when the PKs needed some extra muscle to free their captured friend from a Saxon warlord, and they remembered that Gorthyn (the earlier NPK) had led a band of merry cutthroats in Forest Sauvage. Aedan proved to be a bit colder and more mercenary than his father, and seriously creeped out the group's lady healer, exhibiting some stalkerish tendencies. Anyway, that stalkerism then blossomed into a full-blown obsession, complete with a kidnapping attempt. that was foiled by the Lady's NPK husband. Alas, Aedan managed to blame it all onto his 'cursed sword', which was delivered to a monastery for safe-keeping... Unsurprisingly, the monks were soon found slaughtered and Aedan was back to his old tricks, but this time becoming a real threat to other PKs as well, arranging ambushes to draw them away and then trying to kidnap the Lady again, etc. Eventually, he died in a judicial duel against one of the PKs, after having organized a huge raid.

The black sword is now in Arthur's treasury, waiting for its next owner... I am so so tempted to bring it out to rest across Arthur's knees in some Pentecost. :P

The players are getting so creeped out by that sword that they actually destroyed the Ghost Lance (a magical lance) from another adventure, simply becaue the lady character (half-faerie) was getting a 'bad vibe, akin to the one you get near the black sword' from it. The only reason they didn't toss the black sword to the bottom of the Channel was that they morosely predicted that it would get swallowed by some whale anyway who would then get beached, and the sword would find its way to some other hands...

I have to say, I don't often see players turning their backs on magical swords, let alone destroy magical weapons. :P

The Story of King Balor of the Evil Eye

515
King Balor is first met in the battle of the Plains of Joy, where he burns everything with his poisonous eye. At the end of the day, the Good are victorious and the Evil are driven away, along with Balor.

532
Balor (now appearing in more humanlike form because of faerie magic) and his beautiful daughter Ethlinn arrive to Camelot in King Today’s company. One of the PKs falls in love with Ethlinn, but the Earl of Salisbury agrees to take her as his wife instead.

533
Balor wants bride money fitting for a princess before he will release her. The Earl sends a ship full of silver to Monster Island but it is “lost to the sea”.

534
Balor extracts more and more bride money from the love-stricken Earl, until it becomes clear that he will never release Ethlinn.

535
The Earl falls in love with another faerie lass and tries to forget the whole Ethlinn incident.

537
The PK who is secretly in love with the princess launches a private bride stealing expedition to Monster Island. They kill Balor’s principal adjutants (an unseelie blue elf knight who can travel in time and a depraved 6-handed fomorian Hercules) and steal the princess from a crystal tower.

538
The PK buys off his wife to make room for Ethlinn, who gives birth to a boy named Luc (or Lugh). She reveals that according to a legend, the son (Balor’s grandson) is the the only one who can kill him.

543
Balor’s war party (a necromantic high priest of his death cult, a war mammoth and a pack of Fachans) have finally pinpointed Lugh and waylay his family and the Earl while they are hawking. In the ensuing battle the Earl is killed but Lugh survives.

547
Lugh’s father dies. The unhappy former wife drives Ethinn and Lugh away and they are smuggled to Cleopolis by knights traveling to the Tournament of Overthere. Lugh grows up at five-fold speed in elf custody.

551
PKs meet Lugh, now a grown man, again during the Grail Quest finale in the city of Sarras, in Holy Land. Again, the archenemy sends forth his strongest ally, King Balor. Balor’s flying longboat hovers over the battlefield while his eye burns men without mercy. Lugh leaps into the boat from a castle tower, fights off a flock of Fomorians and drives a spear through his grandfather’s eye, killing him as prophesied. At the of the day, the Grail is attained and Good and Evil are revealed to be mere instances of one’s ability to forgive.

552
The Ship of King David reaches the healing Britain. Onboard, the last and the best knight in the world, Lugh, is found sleeping.

There are so many to choose from so who ended up being a signature villain in your campaigns? They showed up again and again, were they vanquished, did the PK's get their revenge? Tell us your tales of HATE (insert)!

Mine ended up being the Saxons, thier chieftians, and warriors.

It varied based on campaign and what part of Britain they were in.

Uther Period mainly Octa, Eosa, and King Alle with the an-gals invading Anglia.

Anarchy and boy king was King Cerdic, plus an earley cambrian war between the Circle of Gold with King Fallagantis taking on natelad of Escavlion, king Cadway of Summerset taking on Idres of cornwall, and Duke Herves taking on Cwichhelm in Anglia plus the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Clarence went at it I had wars all over the place lol. every one wanted to be King but no one wanted to do the right thing until Arthur came along lol! Then it was King Farion Duke of Cambria vs King Arthur who Farion refers to as simply the duke of logras. Niether gave an inch in the last Cambrian war finally the coligulam met and sued for peace and voted for arthur instead of Farion who returned to the Kingdom of Gold and told Arthur if he wanted his land he had to take up the challenge every time King Arthur went into the Circle of gold he was defeated lol! you can find the Circle of gold adventure in the
Tales of Mystic Tournaments book available at drive through rpg found here http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/1417/Tales-of-Mystic-Tournaments?it=1&filters=0_0_44536_0_0
and the Cambrian war adventures can be found here http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/3247/Savage-Mountains?it=1&filters=0_0_44536_0_0 I also used http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/1420/Saxons?it=1&filters=0_0_44536_0_0 as well as http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/3245/Perilous-Forest?it=1&filters=0_0_44536_0_0 for the north country. All these books have great Villians and Adventures in them!

I am using this pic for my King Arthur Pendragon Role Playing game as King Farion in Blue squares off against King Arthur!
found here https://www.pinterest.com/pin/475622410625396505/

I had several Villains.

But the main ones was the Lord of Warminster and one of his puppets, the Banneret of Naddar Valley. The base story is stolen from one of Skarpskyttens campaigns (in which I was a player), but it expanded a lot. https://a-tale-of-blood-and-honour.obsidianportal.com/wikis/elwain

TL;DR: The first player knights uncle, managed to betray the family and take control over what was left of it. Over many years, the players managed to get most of the family back in their control.

The second biggest villain (and the worst, depending on who you ask). Was Sir Elad the Mad. Elad botched a passion roll in a very crucial moment, and become a complete monster over time after several horrible rolls. This is a perfect example of where the random rolls of a GM can take the story in weird directions. It was quite horrible at times.

Long story short. He started as a Castellan of Vagon, but ended up surrendering his castle to a rival lord. He then shut himself in his castle with his closes family. His madness grew worse over the years... here is a short few examples of his endevours. (NSFW)


He kidnapped a famous bard from the area, and cut out his tongue and his fingers. Since he was "sick of the bloody singing".
He impregnated his own daughter, at least twice. Both times, he threw the children from the castle walls, because he could not stand "the constant yelling".
He imprisoned his own squire in the dungeon and starved him to death because he dropped a sword. Again, the sound of the metal hitting the floor drove him mad.
He kidnapped the daughter of one of his old friends Sir Amig and kept her as a "wife" in his chambers. She became pregnant, but she tried to cast herself from the tower to avoid carrying his child to term. She was stopped and brought several children to life. In the end, they were all killed in the raid.
He captured and tortured several npcs of note from the area.
He caught one of the players wives during a raid on his manor, she was pregnant and he cut the living child from her stomach, believing it was his. It all ended in a climactic and cinematic scene where the players raided the Vagon castle to try to save the child and get vengance. The players got their revenge, but was unable to stop Elad from throwing the infant of the edge. Here is a player summary of that last event. https://a-tale-of-blood-and-honour.obsidianportal.com/adventure-log/the-fall-of-vagon And here is another recount of the events: https://a-tale-of-blood-and-honour.obsidianportal.com/wikis/assault-on-vagon-castle

Not a villain, but an anti-hero: Sir Pellinore

Every time he showed up, things went sideways for the PC's. Even when he was helpful they hated him.

So far it's been the Praetor Syagrius. He came back to Logres after the betrayal at Bayeux and first desecrated the grave of Prince Madoc, then became an outlaw known as the Silver Centurion — a bandit who dressed in Roman armor and one of those fancy silver face masks. He gathered other outlaws as well as knights from Cornwall who refused to bend the knee to Uther to his banner, and eventually allied himself with some the lords of the Midlands (which I call the Middle Lands in my campaign) when Uther started looking weak (following the birth of Arthur). He robbed people on the roads all over the Middle Lands and there was wide speculation about the bandit lord's identity. Some said he was the ghost of Syagrius, bent on revenge. Other thought it was flesh-and-bone Syagrius, bent on revenge. Others thought it was a rebellious lord of the Middle Lands, in disguise. At any rate, his campaign was pretty successful, since he was indeed aided and abetted by these unhappy lords. The Silver Centurion started trying to rob several of the old burial mounds on the Salisbury plain. Which brought him into conflict with one of the PKs, Bran, whose manor was Winterbourne Stoke.

Bran's brother, a knight mercenary, was fighting under Cornwall (whom Bran killed at Terrabil), and was one of those knights that fell in with the Centurion. He told Syagrius of the old burial mounds, which were natrually said to be filled with the gold and treasure of ancient kings. Syagrius and the brother tried digging into one not far from Winterbourne, but were dissuaded by some pretty awful traps. In frustration, the brother rode to Bran's manor, intent on kidnapping his brother's wife for ransom (Bran still being garrisoned at Terrabil). Fortunately she wasn't home either, and the bandits left empty-handed, though they burned a few buildings, etc. So this put Bran squarely at odds with The Centurion and his Bran's own brother (who'd always hated him anyway).

The Pks tried to catch the bandits of the Silver Brotherhood for the next few years, when they could. Glythvyr (the other PK in my two-player campaign), had much of his whole extended family captured by the bandits when they were returning home from his wedding in Lambor. Turns out the Brotherhood was in league with Baron Warcastle (who becomes another recurring villain, but centered on my other player), who had recently started a blood feud with Glythvyr when he mistakenly thought G had killed Warcastle's son and heir over a dispute involving the bride and a past relationship and certain promises made. Oh, my. So now Glythvyr had to track down his kidnapped family and rescue them if he could. He was only partially successful (he found the ladies in one of the bandit's strongholds) but along the way managed to uncover alarming clues to an upcoming catastrophe. Alas, there was not enough information regarding the time and place, or the other players (who always used code names) to stop the tragedy at St Albans.

So Syagrius, and some of the lords of the Midlands were behind the Infamous Feast, in my game. Salisbury managed to capture Queen Ygraine and Morgan in the choas of the aftermath.

Following St Albans, Syagrius and his allies (who also included the Baron of Sparrowhawk) invaded Salisbury in the north, taking the Castle of the Borders pretty easily. They also took all of Roe Deer, Studfold, and Beautyfields hundreds. Syagrius announced himself as the King in Silver, the new king of Logres, and invited lords to join his banner and usher in a new age. He tried to take the Royal Treasury at Llud's Hall, but was thwarted by a relief force which included the PKs. At any rate, he also married Ygraine, hoping to give his claim some legitimacy, so she has not yet ended up in a nunnery.

So now it's the second year of the Anarchy and the King in Silver, which everyone now knows to be Syagrius, is ensconced in northen Salisbury. I'd like him to be recurring throughout the Anarchy, but he has two very Big Problems and one somewaht smaller one:

1.) Ulfius, the Duke of the Vale, is coming to rescue Ygraine and put down this would be usurper and kingslayer once and for all. That might have to wait a year, though, because the Duke's own sister has troubles of her own in Rydychan with those Wallingford boys. Ulfius has already moved into Salisbury in 496 and raised a castle at Restwell in Swans hundred. He leaves Sir Brastias as castellan while he diverts himself to Rhydychan. But when that business is finished, Ulfius will ally with the Countess of Salisbury (perhaps) and try to crush Syagrius. Of course, the knights of Salisbury are trying to find a way to take the Castle on the Borders while Ulfius is in Rydychan, but have not been able to develp a suitable ruse, which is really their only chance of taking such a strong castle quickly. But they fear that, if Ulfiius should take Borders alone, he might keep it for himself.

2.) During the Anarchy, all kinds of hell is about to erupt on Syagius' flank as the denizen's of Faerie begin to emerge from the Forest of Glamour and start taking over those western hundreds that lie in the eaves of the forest. So he'll be beset on both sides.

3.) At some point Morgana will prove to be a wild card as she asserts her power for the first time with disastrous consequences.

I haven't developed all the details for these three threads, and welcome ideas, as I'm going to play 497 next. I know Syagrius can't last forever, because I want his stolen lands returned to Salisbury and Ygraine and Morgana have to end up in Ambrius Abbey. But I'm not quite done with him yet. I need to build to a suitably dramatic showdown.

The above is the briefest summary of the events since the fall of Cornwall. The GPC is the backdrop for these more personal dramas that I've embroiled my players in. They cause my GPC years to span 10-12 sessions, instead of the prescribed one. No way, can I play a year in one session (even though our Thursday night sessions typically only run about 2-2.5 hours), nor would I want to. Sure, there's a danger that we'll never finish the campaign at this rate, but who cares? It's all about the journey not the destination, IMO.

Thanks to Morien for some of the ideas above, which I shamelessly stole (particularly Syagrius and the "new king" and his moves in Salisbury).


T.