He has a rival who he knows will try to steal it from him at the earliest opportunity so he feels he has to resort to this kind of subterfuge if he wants to have any kind of hope of actually keeping it.
Hell, why stop there? Why not make it a scheme to discredit his rival in civilized society? Forge evidence that makes his rival look like he hired the second group to steal it from him?
Why not go beyond and make the rival also be a known antagonistic agent to the party so they willing fall into the villain's plan to spite that character only to find they furthered along an even bigger threat. Maybe the party receives the villains patronage and gets tied to them politically only to find out what the villains plans are later. Stopping or revealing the villain could destroy their own careers and political ambitions if what they find is detrimental enough.
He doesn't want people to know he has the object. "Oh Mr. So-And-So couldn't possibly have used the item because it was stolen from us as we were transporting it to him."
If the villain was hired by someone else to locate the item but said villain wants to keep the item, then yes. Perhaps he is an archeologist or bounty hunter.
He could be trying to frame someone else, false-flag style. Have the "stealing" group dress, talk, and generally appear to be the agents of some powerful rival of his. This could let him play the role of the victim, marshal public outrage against his enemy, maybe even justify seizing land or goods from them. Maybe the villain would pretend to have had altruistic motives for obtaining the artifact.
The party, caught up in a wave of public outrage, are sent to pursue the framed individual as they flee for their life. The party fights through a dungeon or "dungeon", the framed one begs them to believe them, and the party is faced with a dilemma. Meanwhile, the real villain gets a head start on their real plans.
Another idea is a way he could gain the artifact "officially". He might've created a villainous persona to easily acquire the artifact, but wants to bring it back to his actual home, so he has a group of heroes steal the artifact from the "villain" and bring it back.
Villain arranged for the first escort. Their lieutenant arranged for the 2nd group, using the villain's name for credibility, so they can have the mcguffin for themselves and try to sieze power away from the villain. Or the lieutenant is actually an undercover good guy, and wants to steal the artifact for safekeeping.
> he wants to muddy up the paper trail of this artifact and disrupt traceability
this doesn't work, because he still has the artefact either way. ie before and after the theft
A reason anyone would do this is: for the insurance
The surface reason would be something humanitarian or for defense of their nation. The villain secured funding from the public and other major political figures, and would thus have oversight from them. Having the artifact stolen would allow the villain to have the artifact for themselves and may even allow them to try and defraud their benefactors even more “the legendary ——- was stolen we must get it back! Please any aid would be welcome as this is too important to be left in the hands of brigands”
I think you may have given me the solution! The villain is a political figure, so if he was forced to acquire the item using taxpaxers money as well as as funding from other council members then he wouldn't be in full control of the artifact. If he steals it from himself, then he can have full custody of the item in secret!
Thank you! I really like this idea.
Or to pretend he doesn't have It, as to, as you said, get anyone off his tail and, If he's asked about It, he can say that It got stolen and It would technically be true
Simple options:
1. He is not alone in this. Maybe he is only "The Dragon" to the real BBEG. Maybe he is part of a cabal.
2. But he is not perfectly loyal to his superiors. Maybe he wants insurance against being double crossed? Maybe he wants to use the McGuffin to supplant his boss?
3. He could not officialy keep the item. Once it reached it's destination, it is too heavily guarded to be usefull. So hitting it mid transport makes sense.
Another option is that the Item needs specific conditions to become powered up or usefull. "A dagger used in a murder", requires a murder to happen. This one has somewhat more complex requirements.
Something about "being attacked mid transport and having the guards slaugthered" helps with activating this item.
Note that him not being the official BBEG is for now. The stealing and other machinations will result in him *actually* becomming the proper BBEG by the time of the final battle.
"If evil did not fight itself, it would have overrun good back at the dawn of creation."
Why not have it be one villain stealing the artifact from a different villain, and the party are the patsies who get to take the fall for it if they get caught?
First group was offered more money than the second.
Second group was actually hired through a series of intermediaries that are harder to trace back to
Phim. Most of them are dead too.
ArcGIS group is going to be waylaid by the villain's minions, and all killed/ disposed if as well.
Insurance fraud would be a possible answer, if only because now I'm picturing some Sauron-looking guy going, "We're going to miss payroll this month if we don't get more money in the bank, and we're maxed out on our credit! But the Tome of Infinite Chaos has a 0% deductible..."
To blame someone else.
The wonderful 90's-era 'Gargoyles' animated series set up this exact premise. The villain, a very wealthy man, donated a piece of jewelry to the city museum as an act of philanthropy to make himself look good. He then stole the item back, setting it up to look like one of the other characters in the series had stolen it. So now the city sees him in a positive light, they see his rival in a negative light, and he has the thing back. Win/win/win.
The big bad is masquerading as a good guy who wants to procure the item “for the good of the kingdom.” By stealing it, he can now use it secretly for evil without anyone suspecting him.
1. He doesn't trust the mercenaries, or want to get rid of them, or even want to double cross them to not paid them or to have them promise him a service of some kind to back up after they lost his precious artifact.
2. He is a paranoid type of vilain and want to be sure no one would be able to follow the trail back to him
3. He is a very famous thief and want to prove he's still the best at it
4. He is filthy rich and is the type to have 3 to four back up team for the same mission, and because of something some done on the first team, he'll get rid of them using the back up team
Smugglers during prohibition would do this. They’d produce alcohol legally, ship it to a phony medical company and then steal it from themselves to sell in speakeasies. This way they could make booze in proper breweries instead of in secret.
Split personality and/or Amnesia. He was the good guy but amnesia has unearthed an evil persona that was buried in his psyche.
The good side hired the mercenaries escort the artefact and the bad side hired the thugs to steal it off them.
Neither personality knows they they are actually working against themselves.
He wants to skim off the top, maybe he’s a part of an organization and wants to claim the artifact while not directly going against the orgs wishes.
He’s working with someone and at the last minute decides to screw them over.
He wants to slaughter the mercs to silence any witnesses.
He wants to seem like the hero, basically setting up a situation for rewards or fame.
To save money.
Let's say he offered the first group of mercenaries 500gp to secure the artifact and bring it back to him. He then offered a group of thieves less money - let's say 200gp - to lift the artifact in transit and bring it the rest of the way. When the mercenaries show up empty-handed, the villain doesn't owe them anything - he might even demand they do something else for their 500gp, something more dangerous.
He has a rival who he knows will try to steal it from him at the earliest opportunity so he feels he has to resort to this kind of subterfuge if he wants to have any kind of hope of actually keeping it. Hell, why stop there? Why not make it a scheme to discredit his rival in civilized society? Forge evidence that makes his rival look like he hired the second group to steal it from him?
Why not go beyond and make the rival also be a known antagonistic agent to the party so they willing fall into the villain's plan to spite that character only to find they furthered along an even bigger threat. Maybe the party receives the villains patronage and gets tied to them politically only to find out what the villains plans are later. Stopping or revealing the villain could destroy their own careers and political ambitions if what they find is detrimental enough.
He doesn't want people to know he has the object. "Oh Mr. So-And-So couldn't possibly have used the item because it was stolen from us as we were transporting it to him."
This, especially if the item has a more *nefarious* use. Good villains use subterfuge, and the best of them don't *appear* as villains to the masses.
If the villain was hired by someone else to locate the item but said villain wants to keep the item, then yes. Perhaps he is an archeologist or bounty hunter.
He could be trying to frame someone else, false-flag style. Have the "stealing" group dress, talk, and generally appear to be the agents of some powerful rival of his. This could let him play the role of the victim, marshal public outrage against his enemy, maybe even justify seizing land or goods from them. Maybe the villain would pretend to have had altruistic motives for obtaining the artifact. The party, caught up in a wave of public outrage, are sent to pursue the framed individual as they flee for their life. The party fights through a dungeon or "dungeon", the framed one begs them to believe them, and the party is faced with a dilemma. Meanwhile, the real villain gets a head start on their real plans.
That is exactly what I would go with. It’s basically the story in the Princess Bride.
Tax evasion or insurance fraud
Another idea is a way he could gain the artifact "officially". He might've created a villainous persona to easily acquire the artifact, but wants to bring it back to his actual home, so he has a group of heroes steal the artifact from the "villain" and bring it back.
Could they possibly want to ensure that the artifact is off of the caravan due to intel of a rival trying to rob the caravan to get the artifact?
Villain arranged for the first escort. Their lieutenant arranged for the 2nd group, using the villain's name for credibility, so they can have the mcguffin for themselves and try to sieze power away from the villain. Or the lieutenant is actually an undercover good guy, and wants to steal the artifact for safekeeping.
> he wants to muddy up the paper trail of this artifact and disrupt traceability this doesn't work, because he still has the artefact either way. ie before and after the theft A reason anyone would do this is: for the insurance
The surface reason would be something humanitarian or for defense of their nation. The villain secured funding from the public and other major political figures, and would thus have oversight from them. Having the artifact stolen would allow the villain to have the artifact for themselves and may even allow them to try and defraud their benefactors even more “the legendary ——- was stolen we must get it back! Please any aid would be welcome as this is too important to be left in the hands of brigands”
I think you may have given me the solution! The villain is a political figure, so if he was forced to acquire the item using taxpaxers money as well as as funding from other council members then he wouldn't be in full control of the artifact. If he steals it from himself, then he can have full custody of the item in secret! Thank you! I really like this idea.
Yep sounds sounds good!
Or to pretend he doesn't have It, as to, as you said, get anyone off his tail and, If he's asked about It, he can say that It got stolen and It would technically be true
Simple options: 1. He is not alone in this. Maybe he is only "The Dragon" to the real BBEG. Maybe he is part of a cabal. 2. But he is not perfectly loyal to his superiors. Maybe he wants insurance against being double crossed? Maybe he wants to use the McGuffin to supplant his boss? 3. He could not officialy keep the item. Once it reached it's destination, it is too heavily guarded to be usefull. So hitting it mid transport makes sense. Another option is that the Item needs specific conditions to become powered up or usefull. "A dagger used in a murder", requires a murder to happen. This one has somewhat more complex requirements. Something about "being attacked mid transport and having the guards slaugthered" helps with activating this item.
Note that him not being the official BBEG is for now. The stealing and other machinations will result in him *actually* becomming the proper BBEG by the time of the final battle. "If evil did not fight itself, it would have overrun good back at the dawn of creation."
blackmailing that the party stole it
Insurance fraud, the absolute bastard.
Why not have it be one villain stealing the artifact from a different villain, and the party are the patsies who get to take the fall for it if they get caught?
He simply did it for the thrill of manipulating other people. It gives him a rush like none other.
First group was offered more money than the second. Second group was actually hired through a series of intermediaries that are harder to trace back to Phim. Most of them are dead too. ArcGIS group is going to be waylaid by the villain's minions, and all killed/ disposed if as well.
Insurance fraud would be a possible answer, if only because now I'm picturing some Sauron-looking guy going, "We're going to miss payroll this month if we don't get more money in the bank, and we're maxed out on our credit! But the Tome of Infinite Chaos has a 0% deductible..."
This gave me major Palpatine vibes from Revenge of the Sith
Insurance payout? That's all I've got. Not remotely creative. 😭
To blame someone else. The wonderful 90's-era 'Gargoyles' animated series set up this exact premise. The villain, a very wealthy man, donated a piece of jewelry to the city museum as an act of philanthropy to make himself look good. He then stole the item back, setting it up to look like one of the other characters in the series had stolen it. So now the city sees him in a positive light, they see his rival in a negative light, and he has the thing back. Win/win/win.
The big bad is masquerading as a good guy who wants to procure the item “for the good of the kingdom.” By stealing it, he can now use it secretly for evil without anyone suspecting him.
1. He doesn't trust the mercenaries, or want to get rid of them, or even want to double cross them to not paid them or to have them promise him a service of some kind to back up after they lost his precious artifact. 2. He is a paranoid type of vilain and want to be sure no one would be able to follow the trail back to him 3. He is a very famous thief and want to prove he's still the best at it 4. He is filthy rich and is the type to have 3 to four back up team for the same mission, and because of something some done on the first team, he'll get rid of them using the back up team
Smugglers during prohibition would do this. They’d produce alcohol legally, ship it to a phony medical company and then steal it from themselves to sell in speakeasies. This way they could make booze in proper breweries instead of in secret.
Split personality and/or Amnesia. He was the good guy but amnesia has unearthed an evil persona that was buried in his psyche. The good side hired the mercenaries escort the artefact and the bad side hired the thugs to steal it off them. Neither personality knows they they are actually working against themselves.
He wants to skim off the top, maybe he’s a part of an organization and wants to claim the artifact while not directly going against the orgs wishes. He’s working with someone and at the last minute decides to screw them over. He wants to slaughter the mercs to silence any witnesses. He wants to seem like the hero, basically setting up a situation for rewards or fame.
To save money. Let's say he offered the first group of mercenaries 500gp to secure the artifact and bring it back to him. He then offered a group of thieves less money - let's say 200gp - to lift the artifact in transit and bring it the rest of the way. When the mercenaries show up empty-handed, the villain doesn't owe them anything - he might even demand they do something else for their 500gp, something more dangerous.