Making a villain
Good stories need villains, and role-playing games
are no exception. Sometimes you can get by with bad guys of the week, but a
more permanent antagonist can be a huge Plus to your campaign. Central villains
give the story a sense of continuity. They provide a focus for the PCs’
actions, turning a bunch of gaming sessions into one coherent story. Because
central villains are so important, some thought should be put into making them.
Step One: Give Them Goals
It’s vital that you know what your villain trying to
accomplish, because that’s the core of their ability to provide opposition. As
the GM, you’ll be constantly reacting to what your players do, and knowing your
villain inside and out will make you adaptable when the group throws you a
curve ball.
Your villain can and should acquire new goals as the
story progresses, but having some from the get-go is vital. It’ll provide the
story with direction, and give you something to fall back on when you get
stuck. Ideally, your players should be able to look back on the campaign once
it’s finished, and see signs of what the villain was up to from the very start.
Despite their role as antagonist, your villain’s
goals should not be to kill the PCs. First, this is something they will try to
do anyway. Second, the villain needs goals that can be accomplished without
ending the game. If your play it right the players should be worried about the
villain succeeding at their goals, and most players will know their RM isn’t
prepared to arbitrarily kill their characters.
Also note that goals are not the same as plans. How
the villain will go about getting what they want should be decided as the game
progresses, but their most important desires should be known from the start.
Let’s say the villain wants power, that’s his
defining characteristic. To get that power, he wants to take over the city of
Seacon, and then expand his influence to the entire Great Islands! Figuring out
how he plans to do that will happen as the game goes on and the players show
the GM what they’re interested in.
Step Two: Give Them Power
A villain must be powerful, otherwise there’s no fun
in defeating them. How does your villain influence the world? What nefarious
obstacles can they throw in the PCs’ way? In this step, you must get a basic
idea of what your villain can do. Extra abilities can be added later of course,
as the player’s level up so does your villain, but the more you can get down at
the start, the better. Note that these are not actual game stats; those will
come later, if at all.
There are many different powers your villain can
have, depending on the kind of game you want to run. Does your villain excel at
hand to hand combat? Are they a master of occult sorcery? Do they control a
powerful political machine? Some villains act almost exclusively through
minions. Decide on the mix that’s right for you! One hint is to have a means of
escape if your players ever corner your villain to soon. Like a ring of
teleport just remember that whatever items you give the villain your players
will most likely end up with one day.
What resources can your villain call on when they’re
in a bind? Do they have any major lieutenants that need their own names and
abilities? Knowing this ahead of time will make using your villain much easier,
because you won’t have to pause the game to figure out what they’ll do next.
You’ll already know that their first instinct is to release the hounds so to
speak, and that they only go for their sword of death rays as a last resort.
As much fun as this step is, it’s important not to
go overboard. Give your villain too many powers, and it won’t be credible for
the PCs to defeat them. Players should always feel like they have a chance, even
if it’s a slim one. Otherwise they’ll get discouraged, and find some other way
to spend their Saturday evening.
Step Three: Make Them Bad
Villains need to be bad, (unless your party is than
your villain will be good) otherwise there’s no impetuous for the PCs to oppose
them. Since stories thrive on conflict, villains who stay home and care for
their sick parents aren’t going to cut it. They must have dastardly plans and
selfish desires! They must disregard or actively hinder the well-being of
others in pursuit of their goals!
Some of fiction’s greatest villains have been
irredeemably evil. These enemies are scary because their thought process is so
far removed from that of a decent human being that they become some sort of
other. They are so malicious, they unnerve us despite not being real. If you
make a villain like this for your campaign, then the PCs will soon be shaking
in their boots.
At the same time, there’s a lot to recommend a more
sympathetic villain, someone the players can more easily understand. No one in
real life thinks of themselves as being evil, and bringing that realism into
your campaign can help players invest in the story. There are great moments of
drama to be had when the PCs look at a villain and ask if they are really so
different.
It’s up to you were on this continuum your villain
should fall, depending on the game you want to run. A hack-and-slash dungeon
crawler might need an evil lich who wants to annihilate all creation, while a
game of political intrigue should have someone with a bit more nuance to them.
Step Four: Give Them a Connection to the PCs
While you could probably get the PCs to oppose a
villain who’s doing something bad in a context unrelated to them, it’s much
more fun to make things personal. The villain should affect the PCs’ lives in a
direct manner, otherwise the players may lose interest in the conflict.
PCs should be the center of any roleplaying, and
that’s even easier to do if the villain is personally related to one of them.
There’s also a bit of extra kick to a story about opposing your childhood
friend or beloved sibling.
On the other hand, it can feel a little hokey to
have a villain too closely related to the PCs. Instead, they can share
something that’s important to both of them. Like that of polluting a local
water supply.
It’s also possible for the villain to have a
connection with the entire party. This can work even if they don’t know each
other.
Step Five: Put on the Finishing Touches
The previous four steps have all been important under-the-hood
decisions. They are primarily for you as the RM to know who your villain is and
how to use them. In this final step, you add on the bits that the PCs are most
likely to see. This is the presentation stage, where you try to impress your
players with all the work you’ve done.
What does your villain look like? Because
roleplaying games aren’t a visual medium, focus on a few essential details that
will be easily remembered. You don’t need to describe an evil queen’s entire
costume, but the coat that’s sewn from banners of her defeated enemies is
pretty important. These details are a visual shorthand that will give your
players an introduction to the villain. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can
even send contradictory signals. Perhaps the murderous serial killer has a
kind, grandfatherly face.
You should also decide on a few mannerisms that will
make your villain stand out from other NPCs. Do they have an advanced
vocabulary? Do they always drum their fingers when speaking? Don’t go overboard
on these, because you’ll have to roleplay them. A French accent is great, but
only if you can actually speak in one. Unless, of course, your villain is
supposed to have a bad French accent, which opens up entirely new
possibilities.
This is also where you write down any necessary
stats. Write down the stuff that your villain is most likely to use, and leave
the rest for later. Even the stats you do record aren’t set in stone, but it’s
good to have guidelines so your villain will stay consistent.
Once you’ve followed these steps, your villain will
be ready to be unleashed upon your players while you cackle in glee! Of course,
no plan ever survives first contact with the PCs, so you’ll need to stay
flexible. But you’ll have a solid foundation upon which to build.
Bonus
Have you ever wanted to have a drawing your character, or perhaps your a GM and have made a new monster and need a prop to show it off. all art in this blog post was made by Neil Anderson and artist that works at Manabu Games. that on the side does art for Roll-players and game masters. you can find out more about him and his art here Have your ideas turned to art
