“When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend”
– William Blake
We have discussed on more than a few occasions that the lack of baked-in morality structures (like alignments in D&D) is a key feature of the Fantasy Trip. While any thinking creature might act evilly, almost none of the entities listed in the game are categorically evil.
But every group of heroes needs a foe to take up arms against, and here we suggest groups of people (or monsters) that choose nefarious purpose, or at least a purpose at odds with the player characters. These groups might be large or small, sneaky or overt, wealthy and powerful, or lurking around the lowest edge of society. And they can provide ready enemies or foils to your players’ designs.
But more than providing a buffet of experience points for PCs to feast on, adversaries should have their own goals, tactics, and problems to overcome. This gives the GM more opportunities to hang plots on them, and makes it more satisfying to defeat them. While the best adversary groups would be founded in your campaign lore and make sense in the stories you like to play out, we might not always have the time or the inspiration to make that happen. So we tried to pin down the most important aspects of a villainous group, and build out some charts to help a GM flesh them out. As always, these charts are more inspirational than mechanical and will need more thought to make them ‘real’. And, and any result that does not work for you should be discarded, or replaced by one that works better.
Foe-Matic: The Random Adversary Generator
Size
The first question we should ask is how large the group is. Are they a small local band of bandits, or an international conspiracy? Roll 1d and consult the table.
| 1d Roll | Group Size |
|---|---|
| 1 | Small committed cadre |
| 2 | Group limited to single class or group/race |
| 3 | Group found in a limited region or terrain |
| 4 | Group not uncommon, but membership is not acknowledged |
| 5 | Group common but not popular |
| 6 | Common throughout society |
If you are having trouble deciding on a class, region, or race, there are a number of online randomizers that can help you. Or simply roll 1d, and the higher the number the more uncommon the choice. For a racial example, 1 or 2 would be humans and 6 could mean trolls.
Organization
This descriptor gives you a handle on the structure of the group and how others see it. Even with the same goals, a religious group will act differently than a secret society.
| 1d Roll | Group Organization |
|---|---|
| 1 | Anarchic |
| 2 | Strict hierarchy |
| 3 | False front |
| 4 | Public |
| 5 | Religious |
| 6 | Secret Society |
Leadership type
Similar to its organization, a group’s leadership will affect many aspects. Do all its members serve the whims of its beloved leader, or does a shadowy group of greybeards dictate its actions?
| 1d Roll | Group Leadership |
|---|---|
| 1 | Competing factions |
| 2 | Charismatic leader |
| 3 | Mysterious figure(s) |
| 4 | Elected group |
| 5 | Outside entity |
| 6 | Elder masters |
Both the mysterious figure and outside entity are kind of wildcards. The mysterious figure could be the king’s own sister trying to undermine his reign or the king himself in disguise. The outside entity could be anything from foreign influence to a dragon manipulating humans out of cruel pleasure.
Goals
This is why the group exists in the first place. it may not be the only thing it is involved in, but it is what its members signed up for.
| 1d Roll | Group Goals |
|---|---|
| 1 | Power over target |
| 2 | Wealth from target |
| 3 | Destruction of target |
| 4 | Revenge/Justice for target |
| 5 | Acceptance of beliefs |
| 6 | Fulfill prophecy/long-term plan |
Target
You can’t have a goal without a target. You want to rule? Over what? You want revenge? Against who? These options are also fairly abstract, and will need additional work from the GM.
| 1d Roll | Goal Target |
|---|---|
| 1 | Regional Rulership |
| 2 | Class of society (nobles, artisans, traders, workers, etc.) |
| 3 | Type of being |
| 4 | Single person |
| 5 | Legendary object |
| 6 | Strategic area |
Methods
This is how the group goes about meeting its goal. Are they roving bands of marauders or clever manipulative spies? There is room for all (and more) in the landscape of your campaign.
| 1d Roll | Group Methods |
|---|---|
| 1 | Secrecy and stealth |
| 2 | Threats and intimidation |
| 3 | Murder |
| 4 | Military action |
| 5 | Theft and extortion |
| 6 | Political maneuvering and bribery |
Assets
Beyond the skills and tactics above, the chart below gives additional tools to your groups’ arsenal as well as additional character. A murderous group of well-respected people will be treated much differently than one that relies on mob violence.
| 1d Roll | Group Assets |
|---|---|
| 1 | Wealth |
| 2 | Access to powerful people |
| 3 | Intelligence / Espionage |
| 4 | Sorcery |
| 5 | Mob violence |
| 6 | Public perception |
Shortcomings
While not absolutely required, giving your villains a handicap can make them more interesting and give your heroes the edge. If the powerful villains are undermined by their own politics, maybe one of their leaders’ can be convinced to switch sides?
| 1d Roll | Group Limitation |
|---|---|
| 1 | Group of sworn enemies |
| 2 | Competitive organization |
| 3 | Internal squabbling |
| 4 | Lack of information |
| 5 | Prophesied nemesis |
| 6 | Hubris |
Adversarial output
To explore the idea a little further, we rolled a few groups on the charts above, and tried to expand the results into groups that could work in your games. To simplify things, we created a Google spreadsheet that generates single-sentence descriptions from the inputs here.
A religious not uncommon group, whose membership is not acknowledged led by a mysterious figure(s) is working for the acceptance of their beliefs from a legendary object, primarily using threats and intimidation, aided by public perception, and thwarted by a lack of information.
A cult common among working people across the kingdom believes that only the enlightened will survive the coming harvest when their chosen Tiller will strike down those who do not follow their strict doctrine with the legendary Adamant Harrow. Their relentless pursuit of this lost artifact is accepted by those in power out of fear of the masses of believers hidden in plain sight and the general popularity of the faith. The real question for the devoted is where the Harrow might be found, and if it exists at all.
A secret group limited to a single class or group/race led by an outside entity is working to achieve power over a class of society, primarily using secrecy and stealth, aided by intelligence / espionage, and thwarted by a prophesied nemesis.
The increasingly murky lines of succession among the nobility are being further muddled by the moves of a secret cadre of lesser nobles manipulated by an octopus wizard maneuvering to put its minions into positions of power to aid its push to command both sides of the coastal region. Between their machinations and the wizard’s powers of perception and coercion, the reins of power are close to their tentacled grasp. Only the return of the lost heir long claimed by loyalists could put an end to their scheming.
A secret common but not popular group led by a charismatic leader is working to fulfill prophecy/long-term plan against a class of society, primarily using theft and extortion, aided by wealth, and thwarted by a lack of information.
The Red Hood is a feared group of smugglers and thieves that has been working to break the hold that the crafting guilds have over commerce by flooding markets with illicit goods or undermining enemies with theft and threats. Their leader — by common acceptance — is a surprisingly prosperous caravan master known as Thom the Hostler who does not claim control but vocally supports these ends. It’s greedy and violent members have had limited success but they have so far been unable to infiltrate the guilds and bring them down from within.
This is great!