Twilight Sparkle: Hey, DM? You said this cave is mostly crystal. Can I try blasting the walls with Force magic?
Princess Cadance: When Cadance sees you charging up your horn, she says: Well, I'll leave you to your heroic escape! I've got a husband to brainwash and a capital city to sack! Have fun with my body doubles! Try not to cause a cave-in! Toodle-oo!
DM: The impostor's image disappears from the crystal walls, leaving your own face staring back at you from dozens of angles. To answer your question, yes, you can try to create an exit, but like Cadance said, there's a risk of cave-in if you just start blasting wildly.
Princess Cadance: Sorry to check in so much, but... Are we still good? I didn't go too far?
Twilight Sparkle: We're still fine. I mean, I *hate* this villain with a fiery passion already, but in a good, fun way.
Princess Cadance: Phew! Excellent, thank you.
Rainbow Dash: It's been a while since we were all on the same page in terms of face-punching. It's a good feeling.
There's a lot of literature on the subject of what ingredients make a good villain, but I'd argue that, especially at the tabletop, one of the most important factors is that being angry at them and fighting against them feels like fun, not frustration. Which is nowhere near as simple as it sounds.
In unrelated news, our group's pony cyberpunk campaign has reached session 7!
Shadowtrot, Session 7 - Trotters Without Borders: Podcast | Video
Note: Guest comic submissions are now open! Guidelines here. Current deadline: 4/1/21.
Ugh, the volumes I could write about all the villain's I've had and what works and doesn't... and the real crime is that it isn't as consistent as you might first guess because players all have different tastes on face punching. XD
I think... I think that if anything, villains feel more satisfying if they don't have the rules to escape. So if you need your villain to live a while, have a minion deliver a message, like say by video conference in a laptop.
After too many times watching dragons run away when they knew they weren't going to win the fight, though, it was very satisfying when I realized that I could now chase one down and keep shooting it.
Uh question: Did Imposter!Cadence send the invasion threat warning to Canterlot? Because then, her whole plan seems to have been to brainwash Shining to take down the giant force-field around Canterlot, that is only up in the first place because of the warning SHE sent? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense?
It makes sense if her thought process is "I'd rather have the Royal Guard aware of an attack and fatigued from being constantly on high alert than face them when they're surprised but not fatigued".
In unrelated news, our group's pony cyberpunk campaign has reached session 7!
Shadowtrot, Session 7 - Trotters Without Borders: Podcast | Video