GMs, Keep Your Threats De-Centralized To Maintain Long-Term Plot

There is a question I see time and time again from game masters and storytellers in RPG groups, and it applies across games and editions. While it comes in several different forms, the underlying query is always the same.

"My players went after the big bad, and killed him way sooner than I expected. What am I supposed to do now?"

What indeed. But Specter has many heads, why don't your villains?

What I would suggest is that you take a deep breath, let it out, and consider the idea of a de-centralized threat. Because you want your players to still have their victories, but if you want to keep the game going no matter which particular bad guy they pop in the eye, your villainous threat needs to be able to absorb the loss without crumpling beneath its own weight.

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Call of Cthulhu, World of Darkness, and More!

A lot of game masters and storytellers can get overly focused on a single bad guy. Whether it's the one evil wizard, the singular wicked queen, or the head corrupt priest, there is a particular villain who is going to be the end game threat. The story, in a lot of ways, is leading in a roundabout route to the PCs eventually having a showdown with that Big Bad Evil Guy (trademark), and then once that is accomplished the campaign story is complete!

As was just alluded to, though, the worst thing that can happen is if the PCs jump the gun with regards to the one bad guy. Maybe they unmask the shadowy traitor at court five levels too early, calling out the duke in front of everyone. Perhaps you wanted the big bad to cross swords with the party once or twice before the final bout, and they got absolutely wrecked by lucky criticals from the barbarian. Your party might have concocted a brilliant strategy that let them teleport into the villain's lair for a decapitating strike, skipping right over a dozen fights and two dozen traps to spike the big bad in the head before they could retreat out the trapdoor.

The solution, in this case, is not to hang the plot off of one NPC's shoulders.

To solve that issue, spread out the villains!

For examples you need look no further than games like Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Call of Cthulhu, or Changeling: The Lost. In these games players are a part of bigger, ongoing events that often affect them personally, but which you can't just barrel into and solve with the swing of a blade, or the pull of a trigger. While individual victories can be won (and should be won, in order to keep players interested), that one victory will not end the threat entirely, thus allowing you to keep the game going, moving onto a different plot point.

In Werewolf, players take on the role of shapechanging warriors who fight a secret, ongoing battle against the corrupting forces of the Wyrm; a creature that would cast the world down in darkness, and end life as we know it. Players will find themselves facing evil werewolves who've gone over to the enemy, corrupted spirits, mutant humans and animals known as fomori, as well as mortal threats like corporations that want to reap the planet for profit no matter what sort of harm it will cause. While bullets, blades, claws, and teeth can fight many of these threats, there is no one evil spirit, no singular monster, and no individual oil tycoon who is orchestrating everything; they're all a part of the same web of threats you have to deal with.

The same de-centralized threats are key to Call of Cthulhu and Changeling as well. In Call of Cthulhu, you cannot kill the old ones any more than a flea could murder a grizzly bear. You can disrupt rituals, kill or break up cults, and destroy items of power (sometimes), but these victories do not render the overall threat gone. In much the same way, Changeling has the forces of the True Fae arrayed against you and your compatriots. And though you may thwart the agents of a particular True Fae, outsmart a Huntsman, or reach an understanding with an antagonistic fetch, none of these things by themselves are going to undo the threats against the PCs, and their world.

Because these threats are so vast, so wide, and so varied, there's always going to be another head of the hydra to rear up when they manage to burn one off.

How Do You Apply That To Traditional Fantasy Games?

All three of the examples above are very different from your traditional, level-based games. However, that doesn't mean you can't take the lessons from those games and apply them to what you're trying to run.

The only thing you need is a little creativity.

And notes... copious notes.

As an example, let's take the traitorous duke. In a game of cat-and-mouse, the party is going to have to work their way up until they eventually discover his identity, leading to a final confrontation. You know how you stop early discovery from being an issue, though? You make it an entire cabal of traitors, not just one. So that way even if the PCs manage to uncover one, and kill him, that doesn't end the threat. There are still others in the court, each moving on their own machinations. Who they discover first, and what steps they take, will affect the actions the cabal takes as a whole, but one early discovery won't wrap up the entire plot.

The same thing can happen with the other scenarios. The villainous swordsman who thought he could take on the whole party at once? Well, what if he's just one black knight among a dozen, each with their own specialties, powers, and role to play? Even if the PCs manage to kill the one, that doesn't stop the others from enacting their overall plans... and it might make them particularly vengeful because the party killed one of their own. That wizard who got taken out by a lucky strike, or because the PCs evaded their traps and minions? That ceases to be an issue if there's a coven of eight wizards, and if the death of one triggers a warning to the others that something is amiss.

In the end, having one big villain behind everything is the same as expecting one big monster to go toe-to-toe with the party. A lot of the time it works just fine... but when it doesn't, it can lead to a seriously premature end to the fight, or to the entire campaign. If you want to draw things out, put more threats in the air so that even if the PCs unexpectedly manage to solve one, there are still others hovering that need to be taken care of before the credits can officially roll on this adventure.

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