Villains - Make Way For The Bad Guy

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Villains - Make Way For The Bad Guy

 

In this guide I am going to discuss playing an Antagonist.  The Bad Guy.  The Villain.  The Scoundrel.  The No-Good Rotted-To-The-Core Evildoer.  I am here to tell you how to be Good and being Bad, and more importantly, how to do it in an RP.  I've seen more than my share of evil characters, but that doesn't make them villains, and I've seen my share of villains who were a little TOO good. 

 

I've also seen people who wanted to play The Bad Guy but take it to an adolescent view of 'I can get away with this because I'm the badguy!'.  The ones who are just bad at being the bad guy.  If you feel you may have gone down this route, consider it a growing pain and let's see if we can't bring your villainous ways up a notch, shall we?

 

 

First Rule of Villainy:  Where is the Villain good?

I know, you thought we were talking about bad guys, so why are we asking about how they are any good?  Well, the crux of the problem lays in most people when they decide to create an ne'er-do-well, they want to make them as bad as possible, but in doing so, they never create something with real drive than to do rotten for the sake of it.  The best of villains of classic literature always had something that made us empathize with them, and in doing so we see a part of us in them. 

 

So let's start with how is your character good.  I am going to go with my personal favorite:  Queen Chrysalis.  She is first and foremost a Mother, and cares for her children who are needing to feed.  Dispite anything you would say, this is one of her driving goals. 

 

How about another.  Discord.  Discord may be Anti-Authority (Primarily the Authority of Reality), but in that you also get someone who is very inquisitive (Peering through Twilight's diary), because when everyone else is asking 'Why', he asks 'Why Not?'  This is something I think everyone can relate to.

 

A sense of justice can be pushed too far into ruthlessness, a sense of love can become obsession, a sense of peace can force an aggressive climb to power.  Find those things that are good in your character, and make that a focal point, as it will become the motivation you need.

 

 

Second Rule of Villainy:  You WILL Lose.

Here's the big pill to swallow for many people who do try to take on the dastardly role of the Bad Guy.  You ARE going to lose in the end.  Before considering playing a Bad Guy, you have to accept in most RPs, you are designed to lose.  That doesn't mean you can't have your moments of gloating or laughing with thunderbolts striking in an ominous way, but you are the obstacle for the protagonists to overcome, not the other way around.  There may be RPs that try to keep in the morally grey portion, but if that's the kind of game you are playing, understand that you should be very careful towards other players.

 

 

Third Rule of Villainy:  The Protagonists are the Focus of the Plot!

You're a liar, a cheat, a leader of black robed cultists who worship you as a god figure and you have the power to crush everything in your way.  In the end though, these tools of villainy are there to promote the Protagonists.  Your villain should be designed around the kind of story you are trying to tell, and should serve as a way to reflect the Protagonist's strengths and weaknesses by you testing them as you move forward with your plots.

 

Discord is a wonderful villain for slapstick, but makes for a very poor villain for a mystery as his loud and boisterous nature makes it very difficult for him to not be up and in your face.

 

Queen Chrysalis makes for a wonderful mystery villain though, as she and her brood could be anyone.  She is however not a cataclysmic type villain.

 

Tirek on the other hand makes for a great villain when talking about sheer might.  He however is straight forward, and doesn't offer a lot of subtlety, kind of like Discord, but their natures are quite opposed.

 

Be the right kind of villain for the story you are trying to portray, and find how you can use your devilish ways to promote the Protagonist's strengths and weaknesses. 

 

Speaking of which....

 

 

Fourth Rule of Villainy:  Talk to the Other Players

I can not tell you how many times I've seen attempts at Villains in RPs end with a lot of name calling and table flipping Out Of Character.  Your golden rule here is, the Worse you give it to a player in game, the Better terms you better be with them Out Of Character.

 

Talk to them about their characters, try and find that one or two things you REALLY like about their characters, and figure out how you can use it against them.  Remember, in the end they will win, but you're here to give them something to aspire to, a weakness to overcome, and showcase how that weakness can get the better of them.  You are the person responsible for showcasing the Protagonists, not the other way around, and because of that you need to set up the board for them.

 

You also want to know and respect the game's and player's limits.  While the tragic back story has been done to death, and I certainly want you as the villain to bring that level of tragedy to your Protagonists, you need to remember there is another human being writing and they may have particular things that they are sensitive to. 

 

One of my own blunders as a villain in another game was to kill off a players family, but I didn't know that the player I did this to had just lost their mother in a car accident a few days prior.  Because of that blunder and me not communicating, I lost one of the best players I've had in that venue, and it took a long time for hurt feelings to be mended. 

 

Be the magnificent bugger in the game, but keep close to those you are playing with.  There has to be a clear divide between the villain you are playing, and who you are outside the venue.  When those lines start to blur, problems can arise.

 

 

Fifth Rule of Villainy: Knock em down, not out.

While many may want to play the type of villain who would just end his enemies without a single thought, the only time this should happen is when a player wants to leave the venue, and wants to leave a lasting impact.  Treat this with the respect it deserves, because they have just given their character's death to you, to make an impact on the rest of the players and raise the stakes.  The least you can do is give it your all to make it something worth remembering. 

 

Aside from that, lock them in a dungeon, seal them in another dimension, anything that they can eventually come out of.  Don't do anything to sideline a player intentionally (Unless they need to be gone for a bit and they want a reason they aren't there).  You are trying to defeat them, utterly, and you can't do that if they aren't there.  Be a little egotistical in character, make them know you beat them and there is nothing they can do.  While a trope for writing, in RP it actually makes more sense.

 

Sixth Rule of Villainy:  Motivation, Motivation, Motivation

Look, you're the Bad Guy for a reason.  You best have more than one.  The world has burned you and has created you into this ne'er-do-well, so make that a central focus of your plot.  Revenge while cliche is always a good one, because everyone understands that feeling of needing some payback. 

 

Maybe your Bad Guy thinks he can make a better world, if only the ruling body could stop stepping on the downtroden.  You raise an army to go to war, having to do alot of guerilla actions to overthrow the government, and now they are calling you the bad guy because you brought war, when in reality you've been trying to make a better place for everyone, but you're too far down that rabbit hole and need to keep going.  You sacrificed too much to stop now, so you keep going, no matter the cost.

 

Or maybe your family was heir to the kingdom, if it wasn't for those meddling in affairs and not respecting rule of law.  Usurpers have taken your family legacy, but you intend to get it back, and anyone standing in your way is just as much a traitor as they were.  You demand justice, and no amount of pleading will stop you!

 

Both of these lead to very different stories, and will bring about different challenges and decisions the Protagonists need to make.  Consider them carefully, as they can change the whole direction of a story.

 

 

 

 

 

[Castle Bleck 19,166]

Linkara (reviewing Catwoman: Guardian Of Gotham): "This is the worst kind of villain, folks -- he has no motivation, no credible backstory, no emotional connection that makes us sympathize or understand why he does the things that he does; he's just some @$$hole who wants to kill the hero because he's the villain!"

 

Granted, I myself used to be guilty of creating such OCs.

 

Of course, I was only 10-12 or so back then, so...

Edited June 4, 2017 by A.V.