fair share of iconic villains, but who was the first enemy that plagued the original adventuring parties? The term used by many groups to refer to the villain in a D&D campaign is BBEG. It is often used when describing the final encounter of an adventure, where the party takes on their foe in a battle.
The term BBEG stands for Big Bad Evil Guy, with the word Girl often being swapped out for female villains. The BBEG is generally the strongest D&D enemy in the campaign and is the mastermind behind all of the evil events that have taken place. When the final battle with the BBEG takes place, it's time for the players to burn through all of their abilities, use all of the charges on their magic items, and call every extraplanar ally they have, as they are about to face the biggest challenge of their adventuring career.
There are a number of iconic D&D villains, including the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich, the lich-turned-demigod Vecna, the half red dragon/half-fiend Ashardalon, the evil dragon goddess Tiamat, and Borys of Athas. The creators of D&D were developing a new form of gaming as they went along, which raises the question of who the original D&D BBEG was? There are several answers to this question, depending on different criteria.
Stephen The Rock Was The First BBEG In An Official D&D Supplement
Two of the first official D&D rulebooks were Greyhawk, which was named after Gary Gygax's personal campaign world, and Blackmoor, which was named after Dave Arneson's personal campaign world. Gygax and Arneson were the two original creators of D&D and they had their own individual visions for the future of the game. The Greyhawk and Blackmoor supplements were published in 1975 and mostly contained new rules and stats, rather than fleshing out their respective settings. Blackmoor also contained a mini adventure, called "Temple of the Frog," though its design is rooted in the wargames that inspired the creation of D&D.
The Temple of the Frog is a well-defended location, where priests breed killer frogs as part of wicked experiments and perform raids against neighboring villages. The current high priest is Stephen the Rock, who runs the temple and commands its soldiers. What's interesting about Stephen is that he's an alien. The first-ever D&D villain came from an advanced civilization and he used his tech to take over as the leader of the temple. Stephen and his allies were sent to police the region, as it was meant to be near a dimensional nexus, but he enjoys his newfound power and is trying to extend it through military force. Stephen sports a +3 sword that can fire lightning bolts, a +3 shield that can reflect all D&D spells and mental attacks, a high-tech medkit that can heal four people at once, and a communications module that can teleport its to any location on the planet.
The issue with running "The Temple of the Frog" is that it was made with wargaming in mind, as it has a ridiculous number of foes for the players to face, in of both regular soldiers and monsters, to say nothing of Stephen's overpowered magic equipment and items. There are some who dispute the "Temple of the Frog" as being the first true D&D adventure, as it's part of a larger rules supplement, rather than being its own standalone book.
The Vampire Queen Was The First Unofficial D&D BBEG
It's standard for D&D to have official campaigns released early in the lifespan of a new edition, in order to give groups something to play while they get their head around the new rules. It took several years for the first official D&D adventure to be released, but that didn't stop others from releasing their own adventures. The first unofficial D&D adventure was Palace of the Vampire Queen, which was released a year after Blackmoor. Palace of the Vampire Queen was created and published by a company called Wee Warriors, which worked with TSR (the company that originally owned and published D&D content) to publish unlicensed D&D books, though this relationship ended two years later.
As the name suggests, the foe of Palace of the Vampire Queen is an unnamed female vampire. The adventure is set on the island of Baylor, which is home to a kingdom of dwarves. The dwarves have been raided for three centuries by the Vampire Queen and her minions, who are known to steal children from the streets. The Vampire Queen has captured the princess of Baylor, and it's up to the party to get her back. Unfortunately, the adventure itself consists of a brief backstory, maps, and basic information about the contents of each room, so the DM has a lot of work to do. The Vampire Queen herself is just a standard vampire in of stats, which means she isn't that impressive in of being a villain. Despite this, she is the villain of the first-ever unofficial D&D adventure that was published and deserves to be considered among the original BBEGs of the game.
Chief Nosnra Was The First D&D BBEG In An Official Adventure
Two years after the release of Palace of the Vampire Queen, TSR released the first official adventure that was created wholly by the company. Steading of the Hill Giant Chief was created by Gary Gygax and could be used as a standalone adventure, or as part of a campaign using the other entries in the G series of modules (Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl and Hall of the Fire Giant King). These three adventures would later be combined into one campaign, called Against the Giants, which has been adapted for different editions of D&D.
The villain in Steading of the Hill Giant Chief was Chief Nosnra. The hill giants in the region had been raiding and slaughtering the locals, causing a call for adventurers that the party has answered. Taking on Nosnra in a fight is unadvised, as he's as strong as a frost giant, is accompanied by his hill giant wife, his sub-chief, 22 hill giants, 3 stone giants, a cloud giant, 8 ogres, and a cave bear. The party will have to play it smart if they want to take down one of the original BBEGs of Dungeons & Dragons.
