[Recruiting] Descent into Darkness [D&D 5E]

Have you ever experienced a work of fiction with a two-dimensional villain? (In fact, if you haven’t experienced a work of fiction with a two-dimensional villain, please DM me - I have a lot of content to point you to!)

Descent into Darkness is a single-player RPG / work of collaborative fiction with the aim of creating a compelling, believable, multi-dimensional villain to be used as an antagonist in other campaigns or in other works of fiction, whilst also being an enjoyable process in itself.

How it works

As the Games Master I will be responsible for building the world around the villain, and creating the events that pave the dark path of the villain's descent into darkness. The Player will be responsible for creating the backstory for the villain, including any hooks to be explored in the villain's descent, and to explore the thoughts, emotions and motivations of the villain as they progress.

Games System

The game will use D&D 5E for rules and magic system, although the game will be largely narrative in content. The reason for using D&D 5E (other than my familiarity with the system) is to enable the creation of a villain to be used in future D&D campaigns. There will be a fair bit of homebrew content too - a chance for you to do some (somewhat nefarious) things that you've not been able to do in a normal D&D game.

Mature Content / Controversial Themes

This game is by its nature controversial - it is about exploring the fall of a character into villainy. But it will be tailored to what the player is comfortable with.

This game is not intended to be an exploration of any pre-existing bigotry, racism, anti-semitism, islamophobia, sexism, misogeny, homophobia, ableism, xenophobia, ageism or any other form of discrimination. It is accepted that no human is free from cognitive bias, but the intention of this game is to gain an understanding "evil" from the perspective of someone who is generally progressive and open-minded, and therefore struggles to really roleplay "evil". This game is also not intended as an exploration of any sexual fantasy, sadism, cannibalism or similar. Discussion of sexual violence is strictly prohibited. Discussion of torture is permitted (as it may well be relevant), but will not be explored in graphic detail.

Character Restrictions

Any 5E official content. Or even homebrew. It doesn't matter that much, what matters is the character's motivation.

Game Duration and Post Frequency

I'm aiming to post 2-3 times per week. The game will continue for as long as it takes to create an interesting and believable villain - we will leave them of the cusp of executing their masterplan. I estimate it will take 3-6 months.

Player Experience Requirements

Game system experience is not required. Some TTRPG experience is required to understand the flow of the game. Ideally the player will have had experience of two-dimensional villains and a desire to create something more interesting.

How to Apply

Please pitch your character ideas in response to this thread, and I will invite accordingly. If this exercise is a success, I may look to run again, so don't be disappointed if you don't get picked this time.

Marginalized Groups

Are very welcome. But please let me know in case we stray into an uncomfortable territory.

I would love to build a villain. I often play the type of character expected in TTRPGs... a team player (or at least someone with reasons to work with the others), so being able to tap into a creatively darker side has a lot of appeal.

So many ideas...

But I think the one I'd pitch would be a human, terrified of death and looking to cheat it by any means necessary. The fear started with humans already having short(ish) lifespans, especially compared to elves and other creatures... which was compounded by having lost friends and family to war and disease and famine, only serving to propel that fear into an obsession.

Magic use would be essential, and I feel like Wizard would be the best fit... although I fully expect a touch of multiclass.

Someone who will stop at nothing to save themself with no regard for anyone is a fearsome foe, who is sure to create plenty of victims... which justifies their actions, because people really are out to get them.

This sounds like good fun! I like villains. I love playing them too. :)

Here's my idea. Watcher Armat, Paladin of Helm, had always been a dedicated protector of the kingdom. He started humbly as a city guard where he found his divine calling, then answered it through persevering service to He Who Is Ever Watchful. He failed nefarious plots within the capitol and when war came, he set out to vanquish the evil general behind it with his order. In his absence, the royal family was assassinated, but Watcher Armat managed to defeat his nemesis. He was lauded a hero, the man who saved the nation from a terrible fate. As the people turned to rebuilding, Armat was asked to take on him the burden of leadership. He gracefully accepted, seeing it as a continuation of his duty to protect his people.

At first, all was well. Armat was the champion of the people after all. He made sure that the city's defenses were rebuilt thrice as strong and many men were drafted to protect the nation. When his outwards defenses were secure, he turned inwards and systematically began rooting out all organized crime, then the corruption among the city's nobility and officials. All the while the people applauded him. Many still did when he sought new goals for his endless crusade and went after smugglers and small-time criminals. He judged them all firmly but fairly. The prisons were well filled and the land secure. But Armat could not stop seeing potential threats to his people. Even now the noose of order slowly tightens around the freedom of his citizens. With every decree he slips further into changing his nation into a tightly controlled police state. Dissent among the more freedom-minded folk is at first condemned and later punished. Helm is perfectly fine with this, for Armat's intentions are pure. Today the nation stands on a precipice before falling into tyranny. All the while Armat is still lauded as the people's hero by many who remember the terrors of the war. But every day, more and more people are robbed of freedom as the nation is slowly turned into a bastion of absolute order by one of the most powerful paladins in the world.

Any room in this for a lieutenant / sub-boss? The character would be somewhat dependant in which villian you pick. Basically the lieutenant would be a right hand of the boss with complimentary skills. There are 2 ways to go with this
1. Loyal and faithful the lieutenant could be the face the players encounter earlier at lower level or with other henchmen and drop clues that lag to the boss fight
2. Envious but intimidated by the BBE the lieutenant hates the players for interfering but sees them as an opportunity to create a vacancy higher up in the organization

Either way I am picturing a typical bully who cling to their boss and organizing as a greater power and enjoys abusing those who are weaker or challenge them or the organization as they are secretly very insecure and afraid

This looks like a great campaign idea to explore the story of a villain.

Please allow me to apply with my pitch and add to this little rogues gallery we are creating here.
This person can also work as a lesser villain working with or independant from the main antagonist depending on who it is.

Talbot Haber, a genius scientist in the field of demonology.

One day he had a theory. It was wrong.
The Theory was that even if demons are evil, their demonic magic is merely energy akin to all other forms of magic.
Thus it should be possible to harvest it from demons and use it for good.
He found a way to harvest the magic from a demon and distill it into a serum.

The serum would give him magic power, but it has side effects.
Talbots body would be warped by demonic magic, making him gain traits of the beings the serum was harvested from.
The demonic magic also affects the soul, slowly corrupting it and taking control.

At first the side effects where mild. Sure he was growing horns and looking less alive with each dose, but he was gaining magic power. He could do great things with this.
This led Talbot to venture out to find more demons to harvest for his experiments.
He would be a hero. He would defeat the world's evils and harvest their magic to become more powerful.

Unfortunately the more he gained power, the more his soul was corrupted and the more the demonic part of his soul took over.
Slowly he became a heavily mutated beast, roaming the world looking for any magical being that it can turn into more serum.
Its form is mutated combining traits from al manner of creatures. The essence of which was harvested for power.
The beast is ravenous and inhuman, yet it is surprisingly intelligent and capable of casting magic.
The beast can plan and perform complex actions, but is unable to communicate beyond incomprehensible screams and simple gestures.

A part of Talbots soul still remains in the beast. He has no control of what the beast does and only gets brief moments of consciousness where he can see an be horrified by the monster he made himself into.

Wow! There are some great ideas here. Thank you all so much for your responses.

I had assumed it would be easy to pick the player, but not so.

@Khulod - your order-obsessed paladin concept is fantastic. I think some of the best villains are those that begin with noble intentions, only for their plans to run-away with them, and draw them down a dark path. The idea that it is fully endorsed by Helm is brilliant. Unfortunately, I think the world-building required for this concept is beyond my skill as a GM - as a champion of the people, Watcher would be connected with a large number of NPCs across the kingdom: the merchant guilds; the aristocracy; the clergy; the army / guard; etc. A very large cast to be created. If Descent into Darkness Story 1 is successful, I would be keen to revisit this idea.

@MaJunior, @Sterfteerst - I love both of your concepts, and so I will let the dice decide.

1. MaJunior
2. Sterfteerst

@Psybermagi (and @Sterfteerst) - I hadn't envisioned having more than one player as I was concerned that any secondary player would be bored with the primary player's "main character syndrome", which will be deliberately allowed/encouraged in this game. However, it may prove an interesting angle to add in a lieutenant as the story unfolds. If any opportunity presents itself, I will message you.

With MaJunior as the lead then his "loyal" lieutenant could be a Reborn (orZendikar Vampire so he can make Null undead slaves) Paladin oathbreaker with the option to add a warlock hexblade with an undead Patron if the campaign is high enough level for a multiclass lieutenant.
The Reborn race makes him inherently attractive to the wizard and the paladin gives some combat and healing to counter the mages spell focus.

Background : Back from the dead and full of hatred and loathing for those who "let" him die he uses the wizard to gain access to his knowledge, networks, and forces all while acting the faithful servant. An all too easy role with his pathetically naïve former life to draw experience from. If you want an instant hook, make this guy a former party member who died, he blames them, and haunts their dreams. Revealing himself from across the room only to disappear. Playing the tortured victim of the wizard if the party finds or captures him, only to stab them in the back but leaving them alive so he can further torture them. (Dreaming of making them into his undead slaves that remember their lives and are conscious so they can feel regret and remorse)

Until the next one then!

Ps. Watcher is a title in the clergy of Helm. Not a first name. :)

Thanks! The amount of lore I don't know is endless...