[Channel Teaser]
How A Player Turned Out To Be The Secret BBEG Of The Session
I joined a “west march” game about a year and a half ago.
For those who don't know, a west march game is one where there are multiple DMs and many
players.
Players usually have no information about the world's geography, and must work together
to make their own map.
The point of these games is to give life to the world.
Not all players will be of the same level; you won't always have the roles you want or
need; and the dungeon could be made for level 1s or level 10s, you never know.
The way the server was constructed was there was 1 super-DM, 9 DMs, and about 40ish players.
When we first started, the super DM stated he will PM one player, and that player will
be the secret big bad evil guy, or BBEG from here on out.
That player will work with the other DMs to design dungeons, move troops, set traps, make
encounters, etc.
Of course there would be content not made by that player as well.
Most of the content, in fact.
It's just the secret BBEG is "the real story."
Well, I set up a bit of a min-maxed character.
It was a half-elf with 3 levels into champion fighter, 5 levels of hex-blade, 2 paladins,
and whisper bards the rest of the way.
I also picked up elven accuracy and mounted combatant, with an elephant mount (something
the loxodon, who was a common companion in my party, wasn't a fan of).
Lo and behold, the super DM pm'd me, and said I had been chosen.
I would be the one to tear this world asunder.
I was given a collection of NPCs.
A few spell casters, a few craftsmen, a small army of kobolds, goblins, and orcs, and a
few bigger baddies like a beholder, a dragon, and an elder brain.
I was asked to distribute the NPCs and tell them what they had built and where.
I couldn't look at the map, but I could describe what type of features I would like nearby--like
a town, a mountain, a waterfall--and the DMs would place them for me.
Three weeks later the game kicked off, and I was excited.
I loved building traps and I knew my dungeons would be an amazing challenge.
I abused the hell out of spells like arcane lock and magic mouth to make information systems,
pitfalls with untamed undead underneath, water flooding traps, false chests, the works.
During the sessions I was a normal player, smiting my way through hordes of random dungeons,
killing necromancers, slaying goblin outposts.
Often times, I had to raid one of my own towers and I would make attempts to mitigate the
damage.
Between sessions the DMs would tell me what new troops I got, what damage had been done
to where, and other such things and I would tell them how I would have my troops fix it.
This whole time the players were trying to figure out who the BBEG was.
Fingers were pointed and many PC's were killed; the rogues, warlocks, and spell-casters that
had zombies were the first to go.
The players would then roll up new characters at level 1.
It was harsh, but well received.
On the plus side the dead players got double xp so they didn’t feel so useless.
My character became known as one of the "Heroic 5.”
We were the most effective players in combat, had a number of boss monsters under our belts,
and were the de facto leader of any group we were in.
This campaign went on for a number of months, everyone leveling about once every 5 sessions,
and people playing 2-3 sessions a week.
It was about 4 months into the campaign when another player accused me of being the BBEG.
They were an arcane trickster/cleric who had been spying on each of the players, and caught
me sending messages to my troops via crow at night.
They had managed to shoot one down and read my message.
He waved the letter around as concrete evidence and a PvP fight broke out between, myself,
him, and some other players, resulting in that player’s death.
No one questions the Heroic 5.
Upon looting the body, they did find a letter I had written… and a few more.
This player had letters of their own, written with their own instructions to troops.
It was written in Thieves’ Cant so it took a while to decipher it.
Luckily my letter was waved away as a hoax by the other players, but now I was suspicious.
Somehow this player had set up their own minions.
We followed the lead.
As it turns out the people he was writing to had been having turf wars with other local
tribes… including a goblin camp under my control.
I went about systematically slaughtering the player’s troops and tortured the ones I
kept alive, and learned there was more.
A vast army, in fact.
After this fact was revealed, the dominoes started to fall.
More players were outed for secretly conversing with armies of their own.
But I noticed a pattern: the locations the letters were being sent to wasn’t random.
They were stationed at, or near, places we had visited--near dungeons and strongholds.
Had the DMs planted an anti-BBEG as one of the players?
Had we killed him and now his troops were disorganized and without a leader?
Was I destined to win this land?
Was I to stand upon the pile of corpses of the people who put their faith in me as the
survivors looked on in horror, finally realizing that I was against them this entire time?
No.
Months passed once again, and now only 5 players had their "original" characters, myself, 2
more of the heroic 5, a druid, and a player who was playing a wizard and had set himself
up in their own nigh- impenetrable super dungeon.
This wizard player had their first character die in the first week of the campaign, and
he made this wizard replace him, but since he had died so early we sorta agreed he'd
level up normally and be treated as the player’s original character.
This wizard had gone under the radar, and was the first to reach 17th level.
The first to get a 9th level spell.
The first to get wish.
The first to learn the truth.
Before I go any further I should mention some lore about this world.
In the world the DMs were considered in-universe gods, each correlating to an alignment, and
the super-DM being akin to the unbiased judge high up of the celestial landscape.
The knowledge that the gods shaped the world and narrated the lives of its inhabitants
was common knowledge, and an integral part of the world’s primary faith.
A bit meta-gamey, but it fit for this game.
Anyway, the Wizard decided to cast wish and their wish was this: "I wish to know the true
identity of the one pulling the strings.
He who control this worlds true evil, and he who is the enemy to man."
The DM who was leading the wizard’s party at the time stopped to PM him.
The player then rolled on a D3, and got a 1.
They could never cast wish again.
But in the player’s own words, "The great truth that my wish has given me is worth all
the magic I know."
The player then makes a beeline for one of the other original 5, one that had been online
at the time, the druid, and threw them into the elemental plane of fire.
The session ended there, but that player posted a PSA to all players.
“The ones we call heroes are those who wish you dead!"
In other words, all original players were chosen as the secret BBEG, and any characters
that resulted from a death of a player were the real heroes.
When this was revealed, me and the remaining 2 BBEGs were shocked, but more so scared.
But most importantly… at war.
The three of us agreed to a truce, and colluded together to build the final base.
The end-all be all dungeon to this world.
It had all of our troops, all of our quirky designs and traps, and all eyes on us.
One final point I should mention is that we were using a homebrew version of spell points,
not spell slots.
It’s essentially a pool of mana.
I bring this up because the wizard uses multiple 9th level spells in the final fight.
The final session was a glorious spectacle.
About 20 of the players showed up for it.
The super DM talked directly to us 3, and other players went in groups of 5 to other
DMs.
In the end there were 4 players who had made it all the way to us, 1 was a lucky level
8 rogue, 2 were cleric-somethings in the mid teens, and the last was the now level 20 wizard.
The rogue was dropped in the first round of combat, the clerics both sent buffs the wizard's
way, and the wizard casted invulnerability.
By the end I had died, and so had the clerics, leaving the wizard to fight against the other
2 BBEGs alone.
But the player was very resourceful, and managed to use an illusion to trick one into walking
into another portal (once again, the plane of fire), and finally casting power-word kill
on the last one.
The super DM added everyone who had stuck around into the same chat, and narrated that
the wizard had "won" the campaign, and they would receive one limit-free wish that the
judge on high would grant.
The player said how his character looked at the impressive view of the tower and then
said to the DM, "I like this world.
I think I’ll keep it for myself.
I wish to be named the unquestioned lord of this realm."
And it was in that moment that the secret BBEG had truly been revealed.
This is the kind of game that I want to be a player in!
What an incredible twist at the end!
The wizard played the long game and came out on top.
Have you ever played a game like this?
Were you ever the secret BBEG plotting against other players?
Please let us know and comment below!
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