At the end of the first campaign arc of my next homebrew the PC's are going to be gifted with unique powers in an explosion beneath a prison. However, a bunch of hardened criminals will have survived as well and are now roaming the land; the next portion of the game sees the PC's putting an end to the escapees evils. My question is: how many should there be?
At first I was just going to have 1 - a mastermind type using some kind of compulsion power to gather minions and followers, but then I thought it'd be fun to have it be more like a tv show: each week the heroes are hunting down a new villain while building to some inevitable climax with the mastermind or something else.
So from a player's perspective (or at least, someone with a fresh brain) how long would it take for this concept to get annoying? Hit me w/your advice and if you want more details let me know.
I was thinking of having the characters be able to "sense" when their foes are present, like Buffy's cramps or what have you, so that would at least give the PC's something to go on but my group isn't usually the most investigative type, so I figured on adding in a director for the team; someone who hands out assignments. "This week gang, your target is Uthden "The Crusher" Creel. He was imprisoned for murdering an Abadaran priest for what he called "oppressive" taxes and it looks as though he's returned to his old stomping grounds..." or something like this.
I like the 5 baddies and the mastermind. I also like the subplots. I think I'll either modify my stuff to your idea if my players get the sleuthing bug or else make them another tv favorite: the "I thought we handled this baddie?" maneuver
PC's start the adventure, director gives them good directions, they find the evil lady and take her out in the first hour of the game. But it turns out that her power is still manifesting; maybe in an item, or a clone, or a lover or whatever. Now they've got a subplot of dealing with the ramifications of the this spinoff and comedy hijinx ensue!