so whats the best way to introduce a reoccurring villain in a ttrpg?

As a friend

>>52574984
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNUib1YcgyY
Remember that random bandit who you've sliced open? Yeah, he lived, and he wants revenge now.

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Have them be attacked and overwhelmed by the bad guy on their way into a city but he just walks off laughing at them, and then when they reach the city they hear rumours about a highly influential lord who is looking for adventurers to explore shit for him and he holds a grand party for all the adventurers interested and then EITHER the big bad shows up as a guest and a rivalry develops as they try and quest faster than each other OR more interestingly, it's HIS PARTY and he sends adventurers on quests and then tries to fuck them over without getting caught to escape from his ennui he experiences in his daily life as a noble. Only the PCs know this, but no one will believe 4 people trying to portray their most beloved noble as a monster so the party has to work their way up the social ladder and become even more respected than him (if you want more intrigue than combat), or send a blade in the dark to take care of him and risk getting caught. Definitely getting caught. Then either way, they end up in jail, and the antagonist visits them and taunts them outside their cell for killing his simulacrum and freeing him from having to pretend to be a law abiding citizen and then he just says he'll be seeing them around and just leaves, to return and fuck them over at random times. That's 2-3 sessions worth of familiarity at least, and a reason to hate him if nothing else. I only meant to write a line or two for this. It's very much a string of seperate ideas written in a row, sorry.

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>>52574984
>this isn't even my final form

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>>52574984
As an employer.

>>52574984
Introduce them as some distant entity that wants to harm the players but just sends minions after them every so often. If they get mentioned around NPCs make the NPCs react. Eventually have them meet the villain in a position where they would have a hard time hurting him. If they try, make it obvious that it isn't working. Have him laugh and leave. Eventually, let them fight him when they are almost on even terms. Give him an escape method that can be foiled in the future, but is not an option now. Perhaps make him escape far before he needs to. Keep sending minions.

>>52574984
More than once.

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>>52574984
MEANWHILE IN THE LEGION OF DOOM

They meet a mysterious person (or whatever) who picks a bit of a fight but if anything keep it to a shouting match or pissing contest without it coming to blows using secondary npcs to alleviate the tension if need be. It's important that they do not learn the character's name in this scene.

Have the mysterious character leave the scene, maybe trying to pull a last minute snarky comment and that may very well be enough. Whoever they made angry will likely hunt them down to the ends of the earth to settle the score.

If your group is the more forgiving type have the character run back into the party after a serious battle and nonchalantly commend them for pulling through. Just to remind them not only that this character is out there but they hold similar virtues to the party and may be pulling for them.

Later, maybe 2 sessions later, so they have just enough time to forget about the mysterious figure they hear about the actions of someone going only by an epithet doing something peripheral but terrible. Whether they decide to engage this story or not the mysterious figure is this epithet and they'll keep making bigger and bigger waves until they're thrust directly into the spotlight.

If the party does engage immediately, they find the character trying to achieve some goal beyond their scope, but the presence of the party and their interference could make the figure lose out on their goal.

The character curbstomps the team, singlehandedly or with their own team depending on their personality and resources but don't bother finishing them off in order to complete their primary goal.

NOW the team will go to hell and back to bring this fucker down and all you'll have to do is give them space to get on the baddy's level.

>>52574984
They don't start as "villains".

They should be introduced on either on neutral ground, vaguely friendly, or just politically/ideologically opposed.

Enough that your players can get acquainted with them outside of wanting to murder them. The villain should be working toward his goals and it intersects with the players, but not in an overly hostile way.

One of the recurring villains in my current game is a huckster that's weaseled his way from the face of a monster gang, to head of the gang, to now a city councilman. They saw him in passing several times before ever speaking, and when he did it was actually to hint they should leave an area before being ambushed.

He's feigned compromising with them several times so they're on shaky neutral terms, but all the while he's setting them up for several crimes while still advancing his gang's goals. They'll soon learn the assassin that killed on of the PCs employees and burned their base was actually sent by him.

>>52574984

You have to have them be a distant threat, rather than one they are fighting constantly. If you have your party encounter them directly you run the risk of many problems.

- If you allow it, they will probably just kill him.
- If you don't allow them to damage the enemy, you are frankly just a bad GM. That is a technique for bad GMs to railroad their party, and should be avoided at all costs.
- If you make it so they get away, the party WILL find a way to make it so that they can't get away without you pulling some bullshit GM handwaving