Role Playing Tips - By Johnn Four
READERS' RESPONSE: 14 GREAT VILLAIN TIPS
1. Villains Plan Ahead & Learn From Their Mistakes
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From: Django Dunn
Something that always made me scratch my head was the GI Joe
cartoon. In just about every show, Cobra basically had the
world by the short and curlies. GI Joe saved the day only
by some fluke discovery of a fatal flaw in the villain's
plan. What confused me was why didn't Cobra just try the
plan again but correct the flaw - you know - if at first you
don't succeed...
So, with that in mind, have your main villain set a plan
into action that's a small scale version of what he/she/it
really wants to accomplish. The villain is basically
waiting to see what the PCs can bring to bear against
his/her/its idea. If the plan fails, he/she/it makes
adjustments and tries again - and this time should meet with
more success.
If the PCs manage to barely fend off one of the villain's
experiments then when they see the same pattern of events
start to occur again they'll know they're in for a rough ride.
They know they've succeeded before but they'll have to step
up to the challenge and become even more resourceful and
tricky than ever before.
2. Use Phony Villains To Fool The PCs
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From: Kenneth Gauck
Sometimes you don't know if so-and-so is a villain or just
some eccentric. Sometimes you don't know why he's a
villain.
Imagine your RPG involves the Washington Press scene in the
early 1970's. Your PC's are Woodward and Bernstein. You
must figure out what is going on. Who broke into the
Watergate building? Why? Players may decide that Nixon
must be the story's villain. But if they go off too soon,
they'll find that they're making unproven accusations
against one of the most popular (to judge by his re-election
margin) presidents in history.
The same is true if you're James Bond. You can't just start
killing eccentric characters. Everyone is eccentric. Which
one is the villain? Is it the gold hoarding fat man who
cheats at cards? Or is he nothing more than a rich man who
happens to own a lot of gold?
When Bond went after Goldfinger, all he knew was that
Goldfinger was smuggling and hoarding gold. His job was to
find out why. His mission only changed to stopping
Goldfinger when Bond figured out what Operation Grandslam
really was.
Obviously Bond could not have shot Goldfinger in Miami or at
the golf course, no matter how much Goldfinger smelled like
a major villain. Bond could not have explained to M why
Goldfinger was a villain, and killing eccentric rich guys is
bad press.
His job was to find out what Goldfinger was up to. Until he
had done that, he had to play golf, or cards, or roulette,
or whatever game the villain wants to play, and try to
acquire information.
From: Tom Bisbee
Play on the assumptions of your players. This may seem
obvious at first, but can be tough to pull off. But when
done well, it is a really effective plot device. For
example, the players know that demons from other dimensions
are bad. Let the PC's run in to the handy-work of some of
these bad demons, a ruined village, bodies, etc... Then
have the PC's encounter more demons from the same dimension
who have nothing to do with the first group. They could be
hunting the first group down, or maybe "just passing
through". Do your players shoot first and talk to demons
later? In my RIFTS campaign, one of the players ran in to
several duplicates of herself from alternate Earths. She
assumed that all of the doubles were the same alignment as
her, and most of them were. Most of them...
3. Play It Smart: Killing Heroes Just Raises The Stakes
For The Villain
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From: Kenneth Gauck
Villains don't want to just leave a trail of corpses. People
come looking for dead heroes. Maybe not right away, but 007
was assigned any number of cases because another agent
turned up dead, or failed to check in properly.
What every villain wants the heroes to do isn't die right
away, but report back, "I'm really not sure I know what's
going on over there."
If the hero escapes from the villains lair ignorant of his
villainous plan, he's just another member of the opposition
who has lost his cover.
"Gee Bond, we're glad you escaped Goldfinger's horse ranch
hideout. What did you find out about his gold smuggling?"
"Umm, not much really, he is involved in something called
operation Grandslam, but I don't know what that is."
Not much good as the gas cannisters are being loaded for
delivery to Fort Knox, now is it? This is what every villain
goes for.
Killing the heroes just escalates the stakes for the
villain, and villains often depend on a bit of secrecy. If
they anger the powers that be they might arrive with the
Marines before the death ray is built.
4. What To Do If The PCs Kill Your Villain Too Early
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From: SRCS
The cure for this is to let the players think they won for
the moment, then invent a correspondence, clue, or other
pointer to the fact that the "Master Villain" was really only a
flunky herself... Then you can spend the next few adventures
letting the PCs discover the hidden links in the chain.
5. Love Your Villain
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From: Qalat
One other tip is to love your villains -- not so much that
you can't let them go, but enough to make them a memorable
experience.
[Johnn: I agree Qalat. The more care and attention you give
your villain the more you will find he/she/it will drive
your story and make it truly challenging and entertaining
for everyone.]
6. Give Your Villain A Plot Twist
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From: SRCS
In many movies and films, the villain has turned out to be
either a trusted friend working behind the scenes (even to
the extent of staging fake attacks on herself). Or, better
yet, the trusted friend is yet another flunky, and the real
mastermind is the shady majordomo/bodyguard she's never seen
without that to date has gotten the "Trusted Friend" to
safety for the PCs while they fight off the threat.
From: Tom Bisbee
Give credit to Vader. Star Wars portrayed one of the best
villain plot twists ever. The arch-villain? He's your Dad!
Or your Mom, or your mentor, you get the idea. This is a
great "reward" for players who are too lazy to make any
details whatsoever about their character's past. Who
trained you? You don't know? You'll find out...
7. Get The Players Emotional About The Villain
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From: Anon
Create confusion, fear and hate of the bad guy. Get players
emotional about the bad guy. Emotions intensify the
roleplaying experience.
8. Make Your Villain Unpredictable
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From: Anon
Do unexpected things. Be in surprising places. Seem to be
everywhere at once. Genius intelligence means the ability to
calculate the PCs' next move and get there before them, and
only occasionally being wrong.
9. Use A Gift From The Villain To Confuse The Players
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From: Anon
Have the villain give the PCs something useful. Something
they want but of minor value to the villain's overall
scheme. If you give the PCs something valuable out of the
blue it creates doubt, suspicion, confusion.
The PCs will probably sabotage themselves in paranoia!
And the more useful the gift the greater the party's
confusion.
10. Villains Don't Have To Be Evil Or People
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From: Source Unknown
The hero is a constructive force in the story, whereas the
villain is destructive.
Unlike the Hero, however, the villain doesn't have to be a
person. It can be a force of nature, or merely something as
abstract as life itself. The villain can be the Hero's
insecurities, it can be an addiction, it can be poverty, or
an illness or bigotry
Villains don't have to be evil, or even bad. They can be
well meaning individuals. After all, some of the worse
crimes in history were caused by well meaning individuals.
The Inquisition was supposed to weed out the sinners, the
Missionaries tried to save people around the world by
destroying their culture, the U.S. Government interred
Japanese Americans during World War II to make our country
safe. We know now that all these people were wrong, but at
the time, they had "good" intentions.
11. Villains Believe In Themselves & Their Actions
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From: Source Unknown
I guess what I like are believable villains - I don't think
anyone goes out and thinks "I'll be evil today!", so I like
them to have a good reason for doing what they're doing -
they have to think they're right, and have something to back
that up; and ideally that should be something plausible,
rather than wimping out and blaming it on insanity - both
sides should consider themselves justified.
12. Use The KISS Method For Villainous Plans
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From: Source Unknown
KISS. Keep It Simple Silly. Simple is better. Go directly to
the path which accomplishes the villain's goals quickest.
Give villains simple plans and let the players create
complexity for themselves.
13. Villains Aim For Weak Spots
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From: Source Unknown
Aim for the weak spots first: Mages, familiars, family
members, wounded, villagers, etc. This weakens morale,
reduces a large number of threats quickly and makes the
characters hesitate before crossing the villain again.
14. Give The PCs Ownership And Then Jeopardize It
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From: Source Unknown
Give the PCs ownership or control over something. This makes
them attached to it and therefore provides great villain
leverage.
Have more fun at every game!
Johnn Four