If you have invested time and effort in a really good antagonist, you and the players should get the maximum benefit from them! In essence, this plot hook is best placed a fairly long line. The ultimate defeat of a particular antagonist makes a good campaign story arc that can unfold over many sessions. Here are a few tips to help maintain that suspense:
1) Secrecy & Misdirection: Initially, events within a campaign may appear unrelated to the players. The identity of their foe need not be immediately obvious. It can be quite entertaining if your party actually trusts and believes the antagonist is their friend… at least for a while!
2) Build A Network: Creating layers of organization and characters around your antagonist forces the players to work through identifying a range of characters before identifying the real target. Conan Doyle's Professor Moriarty is an example of this type of opponent. He controls thugs who operate at street level via proxies and underlings. A few trusted lieutenants forward instructions and are the only individuals with direct links to Moriarty himself.
3) Mix Things Up: Solving the puzzle and defeating the antagonist can require a wide mix of skills and adventure types. You can allow all your party members to apply their own skills at different points to make eventual success a team effort.
4) Take A Break: If you are working the players quite hard, mix in a few sessions of light relief or side-plots. For example, if you have run several problem solving/dialog heavy sessions, give the party some weapon practice as a change of pace.
Happy Gaming,
-Stolph
PS: Scabard aims to help with this type of planning, especially connections and
secret connections. If you have any questions or feedback on using the site to create this type of story arc, please reply to this email and I'll be happy to answer.
