Need some help brainstorming a story idea

[anim8or2000]

I have a story idea that involves a hunt for buried/hidden treasure - it starts very much like the goonies with a map found hidden in a loft that details a treasure hoard hidden for ages. there should be an antagonist with lots of resources looking to stop the heroes/get to the treasure first

here's where my narrative hits a snag if you are a villain with vast amounts of wealth to hire henchmen/ninjas robots etc, why are you bothering hunting for treasure probably worth less than the cost of finding it? there's no magic here.

how can I make sure that the antagonist knows that the protagonists have the map and they are actively looking for the treasure? The antagonist could be anyplace in the world and not necessarily knows that another team has started looking for the treasure. I did have an idea of a spy satellite that saw the heroes looking at the map outside their house and it would alert the antagonist that someone was looking for the treasure

[J.Lovelace]

if you are a villain with vast amounts of wealth to hire henchmen/ninjas robots etc, why are you bothering hunting for treasure probably worth less than the cost of finding it?

Then the treasure must be something you can't buy with money. It can vary from an ultra rare antique piece, something one of a kind that's priceless, an artifact (like the Holy Grail for example) or something pretty much magical. Something that can either grant a wish, grant awesome power or make one immortal.

how can I make sure that the antagonist knows that the protagonists have the map and they are actively looking for the treasure?

I don't know about this one, but maybe the protaginists have one half of the map, and the antagonist has the other. That way he'll either have a hint where to look at for the other half - in which he'll stumble upon the protagonists, or they stumble upon him at some point. Like meeting in the middle. The rat race can start from there.

[KateGrove]

Maybe they have a common backstory? For example, they've been challenging the other since elementary school or something like that. Or they both liked a woman and in the end both of them lost her and blame each other. I think that would give more motivation for the villain to stop the hero from finding the treasure AND an explanation how he knows what the hero is doing.
The spy network is a great idea. And I'm with Lovelace, the treasure must be something other than money if the villain is so wealthy.

[TheThoughtfulBoxful]

I can see exactly where your narrative hits that snag.

why are you bothering hunting for treasure probably worth less than the cost of finding it? there's no magic here.

You need to establish character motives. WHAT is it about this treasure that makes this villain want shell out so much cash just to find? WHY is it special to him/her?

• What did the villain in Indiana Jones want? The Holy Grail. Why? So he could live forever.

• In Disney's Aladdin, why did Jafar want the lamp for himself? So he could use the three wishes granted to him to becoming more powerful than he already was as a sorcerer and take over the kingdom.

The fact that you can't "find the magic" in your villain's desire for this item is because you need to understand a) What the item is b) What the item does that motivates your villain to obtain it.

You should also consider where the atagonist ties in with the protagonist. Let's say, for example, the treasure map leads to a fountain of youth. Let's also say that you're protagonist has a dying friend or relative who cannot be cured any other way. That's one motive. Let's say your villain wants to live forever so he can wreck havoc upon the earth. That's the second motive.

Tl;dr - Understand your characters, understand what they want, and you'll understand your story.

[shazzbaa]

I do agree with the "make it something money can't buy," but there's a lot of magical suggestions here for a story with no magic, so let's see....

• Villain wants the thing for part of his collection -- like, in Toy Story 2, Woody would not have been worth stealing all on his own, but for a toy collector who has the whole set other than this last missing piece and the knowledge to refurbish it, that was worthwhile to him. While for the protagonists, recovering the toy by itself was enough

• The Villain could have a personal beef with the hero, like KateGrove mentioned, and be in it not because he wants the treasure for himself, but because he wants to stop the protagonists from winning.

• There could be acclaim attached to the treasure. If The Person Who Finds The Treasure is going to be famous or go down in history, that might be worth pouring financial resources into to someone who wants that acclaim, or, frankly, just doesn't wanna be beaten by some kids

• The treasure could contain proof of something that one of the two wants to hide. Like, if contained within the treasure is the proof that the villain's wealth is ill-gotten, the villain would absolutely pull out all the stops to beat the heroes to it.

• The villain might just want to destroy it. If it's some priceless idol to an ancient god or something, and the villain is either superstitious or Conservative Religious and strongly believes it needs to be melted down and destroyed rather than sold or displayed.

[NickRowler]

-Maybe the villain is related to the person who hid the treasure, so he thinks it must belong to him. You can have an interesting twist with the MC be also related to the person who hid the treasure, hence why his/her family would own a map.

-Maybe the treasure hold information on the antagonist which could ruin his reputation. Maybe the treasure was his ancestors blood money or they stole it. The town and streets could be named after the villains family, so the town's people love and respect him. In history class, the MC could learn about a false version of villains ancestors that said they were good. The villain maybe doesn't know where the treasure is due to his family trying to cover up the truth and distance themselves from their ancestors.

-Maybe the villain wants all the gold to melt it down and sell it at some lame or make something dumb for himself. The MC could respect history and reserving artifacts and finds what the villain wants to do to be appalling.

[DiegoPalacios]

The villain may want the treasure for many reasons:

Here are some ideas for non-supernatural treasure
1-He is a collector. He wants it because without it his collection would be incomplete.
2-Ego. Just because he can. To become a legend, to be able to brag about it with his rich friends.
3-He is really bored and perhaps this search would entertain him. Maybe the protagonist is a worthy opponent.
4-A gift for a loved one (even the bad guy may want to give his daughter/wife/anything an unique gift)
5-Out of spite. Maybe one of the protagonists is his rival or hates him so much he just want to take the joy away from him.

[Croik]

Are there steps along the way to get to the treasure? Because if the map just points directly to it, it might be a stretch to say the villain finds out he has competition before they both find themselves there. But what if the map only leads to the first clue? Then both sides could run into each other, realize what the other is after, and still have plenty of adventure left to race for the treasure.

Setting aside the villain for a second, why do the HEROES want the treasure? Is it just money/adventure? It could be interesting to play with how their motives clash or compliment what the villain is after.

[Arvo]

You know, you could also just use that as the main joke for the villain. Wasting more money just to get a meager amount of money/treasure would be a pretty hilarious thought for a villain. You can portray him going bankrupt or hunted by loans-sharks or something. As for the map, what if he accidentally gave it to them or something, that pretty funny, no? Like what if the map was inside a bottle and the protagonist was buying wine/liquor at a pub and a switch was made somehow. Well anyways, good luck.

[anim8or2000]

some great suggestions here you guys- I am going with the ego thing because I could craft a character whose wealth is based on finding these hidden treasures and this last treasure is the most obscure.
Arvo love the idea of using it as the main joke for the villain, the story should be funny the antagonist will have a sidekick character who is his accountant asking him ' Boss, do you realise how much it costs to hire ninjas?' or 'Robots are too costly, why not hire a few more henchmen instead?'