These final four points are probably the most important that I can make about a villain, and I am referring not only to tabletop villains but to all antagonists when I present the three theses listed below. When a GM is creating a bad guy to use in their campaign, these three things are simply not questionable; they make the difference between a random encounter and a foe worth taking down. Should a writer fail in the pursuit of any of these concepts, the result will be a subpar villain, one that will wind up being mocked by the players rather than feared, and one that will likely go down in a cheap way rather than dying slowly and climatically in a grand finale.
Now the theatrics are over with. Let's get down to the big four traits.
10. Be Effectual
The quickest path to world domination is just like the quickest path anywhere else: it is a straight line. When you have big plans in mind that you have already committed a whole lot of time and manpower towards, you should be trimming down the necessities of your plan to what is absolutely essential, keeping everything under control and ensuring that no time is wasted in accomplishing whatever you need accomplished. When faced with a problem, pride shouldn't factor into the methods of war unless you are absolutely assured of victory; if you see an opening, seize it as quickly and as effectively as possible. Getting the job done with minimal hassle should come before any sort of honor code or personal vendetta (these things can work, but it is important that a good villain keeps them in perspective). By the same virtue, don't waste time and money on minions or fortifications that are going to be worthless to you. Invest in blindsense-packing monsters if you are up against a stealthy opponent, or dimensional locks if they like to try and teleport into your private space. Heck, don't give the good guys an opportunity to stop you at all, just cut straight to the chase and put your master plan into effect with minimum possible delay. On the topic of those master plans, any good villain should compose one that is concise, to the point, and has as few variables as possible. While something absurdly byzantine and convoluted can be fun for confusing the PCs for a while, it almost never works, and something that winds up a hair out of line can throw a wrench in the scheme and leave your whole evil endeavor pointless. Any good large-scale bad guy has plenty of resources at his disposal, and if he had the brains to get them in the first place, he should have the brains to utilize them to their full potential. That means not spending gratuitous amounts of money on low-level minions when a few strong ones can do the job better, and not investing tens of thousands of gold pieces into a doomsday machine when some well-placed spells can wreak more destruction and panic at a fraction of the price (I mean, think about the infrastructure you could ruin with a single well-placed stone to mud spell, or the casualties you could cause by poisoning the right water source). Why would you spend years trying to sway thousands of citizens to your side when you could simply puppet an existing leader and obtain whatever you need in the nation? Why build an army when one or two well-placed assassinations will accomplish what you want in a much more subtle manner? Why go to all the trouble of tracking a person down with men when you would far more successful with a simple scrying? Why involve more than the bare necessity of people in a plot that you are gambling your life on? Why put a crazy plot into action at all without spending a few hours thinking "how can I iron out the kinks here?" The point I am trying to make here is that Occam's razor is the deadliest weapon the titanic nasty can have in his arsenal. Every villain is on some level an engineer of sorts, and no self-respecting engineer puts his work out in the field without asking "what can I do to use my resources a little bit better?" If an antagonist is going to have any shot at getting what they want, those 12 words need to be echoing in their head at least once every hour. Elsewise, your dastardly scheme becomes haphazard and unnecessarily complex, and your ambition will be doomed to the dark pit where the most pathetic comic book villains rot away.
11. Be Purposeful
Evil is a hefty undertaking; one doesn't just wake up one morning and decide that he's going to massacre a town or two and open a portal that will bring an ancient dark one into the world. It takes time, resources, and a whole lot of effort to be a good villain, so the important question that you have to ask yourself is "why in the nine hells am I doing this?" What does the villain have to gain from brutality and treachery, and what can he do with it that couldn't get done with a simple kind asking? Before a villain commits to the dark side, they should have something happen to them that gives them some conviction in it. Maybe they saw that Good isn't as good as it sets out to be, or that the only path to providence or survival is paved with butchery and deceit. Maybe they just want something and feel that negotiating for it is below them. Heck, maybe they dedicate themselves to ruining the heroes because of something the heroes did to screw them over (nobody said that the best villains always start the campaign as villains). As alluring as evil may seem, nobody wants to be evil just for the sake of being evil. Cruelty has its purpose and its intent, and those are both things that any villain the PCs interact with should formulate before going to war. Every blackguard has his justification, every tyrant his excuse, and every madman his logic. Remember this or else your campaign will crumple like tissue paper. He who stands for nothing falls for everything, so if you need to hesitate and ask yourself why the man with the spear is okay with skewering the feisty rogue on cold steel, something is in urgent need of fixing. By the same token, there should be no such thing as a random encounter, or a faceless mook who is intended as nothing but padding for the adventure. Nothing exists without an origin, and that holds especially true for villains. If the PCs run up against a bad guy who is there just to slow them down, its worthlessness will be obvious, as will your lack of preparation. Every moment spent in an encounter should be ratcheting up the tension, building up to the intentions and abilities of the big bad or dropping information about the setting and people within it. Random events that lead nowhere are a hallmark of bad storytelling in film and literature, and the same standard should apply for games. Combat encounters are a big investment of time, so make sure that time spent rolling dice is also time spent continuing the story. Where random encounters might bog down the game, either skip over them or turn them into a meeting with some meaningful contemporaries (even stone golems have a reason for being in the dungeon. They aren't exactly natural landmarks). The bottom line is that everyone that is out doing bad things needs a Raison d'etre, a reason for their existence in the campaign and an explanation for why their acts of debauchery and aberration are the right thing for the world.
12. Be Unique
While I'm throwing around french phrases, I should mention that a generic monster is always worse than a villain a la mode. What I mean by that is that each bad guy should have something that sets him or her apart from the pack, a trait, motive, or ability that makes them a unique individual in a world full of wizards, fighters, and bard/oracle mystic theurges (you weren't the first person to think of a combination like that, so stop pretending that it's all you need to make your character one of a kind). The best kinds of villains are the ones that you are afraid of because you have never seen it before, the type of bad guy who you can't really guess how to fight or talk down because you've never seen their motives or tactics before and you are running blind against. On top of this, an original motivation and skillset has the side effect of making your campaign much more interesting, as players will be up against something they have never seen before and will typically want to see what they are up against. The players' engagement will rise as they are forced to question everything, pondering if the doorknob they use could be poisoned or the fruit cart could in fact be a giant obese land-dwelling octopus minion in disguise. As with in the mystery entry, what players don't know is what makes them want to explore. Unfortunately, originality is something that is difficult to pull off, and attempts to force it are usually quite obvious and result in ideas that don't often make too much sense. As a result, I cannot give too much good advice on how to be original, since the very basis of it is that nobody else has come up with what you are about to try. The best information I can bestow upon ye is to take a look at sources that your players wouldn't typically know about, so that your inspirations are so obscure that your players won't know what to think when you start mixing and matching themes from them. Crack open some obscure religious texts and start grabbing monsters and storylines from there, or check out some unusual art, poetry, writing, or movies that your players are not likely familiar with (if any of you try a dadaist campaign, please let me know how it goes. I would love to hear about it). Take on some philosophical ideas and entities that aren't really represented in most mythologies, and see how your players respond to such out-there concepts. Heck, just use some strange monsters from later bestiaries or adventure modules if you want to go nuts with some encounters, or come up with alternative uses of existing abilities that force players to play in a way they had never anticipated (a pyromancer in a munitions factory would get nasty real quick). Templates also deserve special mention, as they can change how a monster functions immensely while keeping the bookkeeping to a relative minimum. Finally, refluffing is a great way for a GM to give a players and experience they've never had before without struggling with the rules. Simply change the word "sword" to "barbed-wire-coated shovel" or "displacer beast" to "spectral cthonian" and the situation ratchets up memorability by a major margin. Uniqueness can come from simple changes, not rewriting the book entirely but punching things up enough to make it your own.
13. BE RATIONAL
I cannot stress this enough, because it is just so essential to making a good antagonist that the plot completely falls apart if this tenant is not met. Whatever your villain is doing, regardless of whether or not it is original or mysterious or lethal, it absolutely must make sense. The path to evil should be an understandable one, with the baddie being able to justify why he is doing things that others will most likely hate him for. If a villain is expected to be a threat, he shouldn't just be someone that the PCs can simply talk or bribe out of his ways. As much as such a solution may break suspension of disbelief, it is one that you must prepare for when cooperatively telling a story with sapient beings. If this evil genius is even close to the intellect that his 20+ mental ability scores indicate, he should be able to defend his position or else not do reckless evil things in the first place. If he is intelligent, he should be able to figure out some sort of tactic that enables him to get what he wants with minimal risk of skin or reputation If he is wise, he should be able to pick up any quandaries or fallacies in his logic and be able to correct them. If he is charismatic, he should be able to convince others that what he is doing is the right thing to do. If he is none of these things, he should at least have the self-preservation instinct not to do something boneheaded and pointless when it results in a whole lot of bad karma. Every creature with at least baseline mental faculties should be able to explain why they do what they do, perhaps convincing others to do they same as they vocalize their concerns. Petty revenge, spite, or "the thrill of it" are not full justifications for mass-killing years-long plots in the real world, so they shouldn't be adequate in a fantasy world either. Nobody sees themself as a villain no matter how radical or vindictive they are, and "villainy for the luls" is the most brutal detractor from immersion that I've ever seen a GM throw out. Every character, good or bad, should have a philosophy that guides their life and makes their actions seem worthwhile, even if it is as alien or absurd as "the rest of humanity is best suited to exploitation in my interest". Not all antagonist logic needs to be in the human scope (just look at Lovecraft), but it should at least be logic that can be followed. Even the most chaotic evil of demons can make sense of why debauchery is the best use of existence for a creature like itself, as easily as an angel is able to explain why it lives to protect others. No creature exists in a setting with no idea of what it should or shouldn't do, and those expectations of good and bad should be raised and challenged every time the players and villains come into conflict, with questions emerging on both sides as to what they are fighting for and why they are fighting for it. Villains exist in stories to create this conflict, the challenge the audiences conceptions of what is good or useful and to make them wonder why two differing aspects are driven into conflict. When the players beat the villain or vice versa, it should be an instance of a virtue trumping a vice, a clash of ideas that engages participants on a level deeper than "is he dead yet?" Designing adventures is an art, after all, and you wouldn't want an art piece you spend dozens of hours creating to dissipate without a thesis, wouldn't you?
Thanks for reading everyone. This has been one heck of a time typing.
Friday, October 28, 2016
Monday, October 17, 2016
From Baddie to Badass: How to make your Villain More of a Menace, part 2
So, Starting where we left off last time...
5. Be Creative
Fun fact: all that stuff in additional rulebooks and on the SRD isn't just for players. A GM is allowed to use stranger content just as much as a player is, so never should a villain be compelled to stick with the predictable. Regular skeletons not scary anymore? Animate some Crypt Things, Berbalangs, and Pharaonic Guardians and see how the heroes deal with them. Fireballs starting to lose their gusto? That's what Ice Spears and Ball Lightning are for (throw on dazing spell for extra danger). Party already prepared for anything a sorcerer or barbarian could throw at them? Surprise them with a killer alchemist, mesmerist, or vitalist who forces them to rewrite their tactics from scratch. Heck, most monsters can easily be tweaked to be made more menacing or to pull of radically unpredictable tricks; A few switched feats or properly applied templates can go quite a ways from turning a ho-hum monster into a deadly threat (have the powerful wizard train his giant soldiers to fight with reach weapons and utilize tripping. The results go a long way). If the PCs figure out the trick, have the big bad hit the books and pull out a few new weapons to win the day with. Anything that the PCs can use exists in the world, so there is no reason that the villains shouldn't be using the best feats and spells that your bard cribbed from an obscure sourcebook. Not only does this unpredictability factor make the villain more dangerous, it also keeps them interesting, because the heroes get to see a lot of things at work that they never would have come up with or prepared for.
This doesn't just apply to game statistics, but to actions as well. As I mentioned before, doing something unexpected and unprepared for can give the bad guy a huge head start in the strategy department, so the villain shouldn't just be resorting to conventional military tactics to get his way. This is a fantasy game, and fantasy games rewrite the rules of war all the time. If you figure out some way to bypass the city walls with an unusual spell usage or to move your forces in ways no real-world tactician would anticipate, then invoking your wild card is the perfect course to the situation. Hannibal didn't nearly take Rome by using conventional tactics, and Scipio didn't beat him with the regular playbook either. Effective command requires innovation, and innovation shouldn't be too hard for an evil genius to figure out.
6. Be Inspiring
In the words of Alan Moore's classic madman, "Ideas are bulletproof". You can kill a leader and burn down everything he stood for, but his cause will most certainly live on so long as others share in his plight. Loyal disciples, more than any phylactery or clone spell, are the ultimate backup plan, the assurance that your mission will continue long beyond your demise. Sauron failed because he made his entire plot dependent on himself, and the same principle applies to the Emperor. V, however, knew that the best way to keep a revolution going is to recruit people to your cause, showing them why they should take up arms to fight for you and thus starting a pyramid scheme of bloody revolution. By the time that you bite the dust, thousands of souls will be ready to take up your mantle and keep the dream alive. In the context of the villain, this means that a plot to take over the world is doomed from the start if it is obviously beneficial to only the big bad. Rather, a proper villain creates a philosophy, a set of ideals that he can convince people to place themselves behind. They write and orate, explaining to the world why it is flawed and why their evil plan must be put in place for the good of the world. Rather than needlessly butchering their followers, they treat them, ensuring that it is in their best interest to keep serving the dark side. Rather than killing their enemies, they recruit them, adding more and more firepower to the cause. Rather than fostering hatred, the best bad guys are widely liked by their followers, creating a sympathetic or inspirational position that stirs the ranks to greater loyalty. Rather than taking the heroes on alone, the villain brings some friends to the slaughter-fest, giving him the upper hand while also ensuring that his posterity idolizes him in death. That way, the heroes are tasked with defeating not a figure but a symbol, a symbol which will unify the legions in the face of crisis rather than dissuading them. That symbol may have a thousand faces and personalities before it eventually dies out, but so long as it maintains an agenda and a following it cannot truly be defeated. In time, this symbol may even become immortal. Now, imagine how pathetic the PCs will seem as they try again and again to put down the evil cult only to find it rebuilding with a new patron. Likability is the oldest tool in the handbook of Tyrants, and no evil cause is truly capable of surviving without it. With the right words, however, a villain can ensure a legacy that will overwhelm the air with bloody screams for centuries to come.
7. Be Intimidating
On the other side of the coin, a good villain should be as feared by his opponents as he is loved by his underlings. Heroes should be afraid to take this guy on, constantly questioning how badly the big bad is capable of kicking their collective posterior. In my game, the most memorable and dangerous villains were the ones that were built up slowly, never accessible but at the same time always sort of present. When the PCs attempted to gather information on the gal, most of it was cobbled together from enemies who were burnt to a crisp (assuming the records weren't ash as well). Every NPC that the heroes sent to scout was either eliminated or sent back as a stir fry of mutilated body parts. If someone asks what this person and her forces are capable of, all one of the players needs to do is point to the country she turned into a wasteland. When a particularly hard-headed character wanted to try and take her prematurely, the intelligent members of the party quickly got in the way and told him that moving against her was a death sentence; they had seen what she had done to some of their comrades, and they could easily discern what could happen if things went south. All of this was done without the GM intervention, as it should be. If heroes want to know how big a threat is, the setting should display it, with knowledgeable NPCs getting the hell out of dodge whenever the big bad comes a-calling. Their name should be dropped somewhere at least once a session, and the threat of them swiftly and effectively obliterating the PCs should be lingering every time that the heroes march in to fight them off. An effective villain should have a reputation for power and danger, keeping opponents down just by mentioning that they could step out and reduce them to a stain on the pavement should they fail to play along. You don't need a single rank in intimidate to strike fear into the hearts of your enemies, you just need to display the consequences of opposition. Rumors of your wrath have a larger area-of-effect than any spell you can muster, and may be just as effective in ending a fight. As the PCs get stronger, they should dread fighting the big bad more than they look forward to it. If the villain is not scary, they become irrelevant, and I'm sure that no GM wants that to happen. Meanwhile, if everybody knows what Baron von Badguy did to that one heavily-guarded city that didn't pay taxes, you can bet that they will pay their dues. If you want to make sure that your villain becomes the stuff of legend and not the stuff of jokes, let everyone know what he can do and why he is worthy of being a villain. Force the heroes to sleep with one eye open for fear of this bastard finally coming to take them down. One of the best ways to do this is to...
8. Be Mysterious
You know that big bad that I've been talking about all last paragraph? The players haven't even figured out her level, much less her build. All they know is that she is a wizard who can cast some high-level spells and that she has an appetite for destruction. Beyond that, their minds fill in the rest, and whatever they came up with was certainly enough to make them turn tail and run when she force-punched through their front door. This is a lesson picked up from the Xenomorph in Alien, the White Walkers, Maleficent, half a dozen Worm villains, and Kenny Loggins: You never count your money (or resources, or soldiers, or spell slots) when you're sitting at the table. If people never see you sweat when your 40th legion gets mown down, they assume that you have about 500 more, most of which they will not stick around to fight off. Bypass all the defenses with a time stop spell, and people won't assume its a scroll you spent half your WBL on, they'll think that it was the real thing and they will huddle in the corner when they think that a 17th-level wizard has stepped into town to ruin their day. Smart players tend to assume the worst, and that is certainly something you can leverage. That way, the party will be quaking in their magic boots when it comes time to deliver justice. My favorite way to handle this sort of enigma while still giving the villain an active role is by handing out resources to their minions. Have the lieutenants and underlings come at the heroes with high-end gear, information, and maybe some high-level buff spells thrown on for good measure. I can tell you that nothing makes a 4th-level character flee the field with breeches full of chocolate faster than realizing that the ogre they are up against somehow got stoneskin and extended haste cast on him before he rushed them. When extreme minions are not needed, have the villain act through proxy, utilizing summons or long-range attacks while keeping himself out of the fight. If the heroes ever see the villain, they will dogpile them, so it is best never to let that happen. If a public display is inevitable, some illusions and maybe a body double or two can get the job done in a pinch. The number one rule, however, is that the heroes should never be able to figure out everything that the villain, be they mage, warlord, or assassin, is capable of doing to thwart them. Caution makes any game more engaging and more interesting, and that is exactly what a little bit of properly placed mystery can bring to the table. What the PCs don't know is what is most likely to kill them.
9. Be Tenacious
The number one piece of advice I can give to any GM is that things are assured not to go as planned when you put your adventure into action. Plot hooks can be ignored, NPCs can be ganked, and unexplored paths can be forced open. When these things happen and your villain's epic plot gets thwarted by a genre-savvy player not falling for a simple trap or a particularly lucky character sabotaging a crucial part of the master plan, the big bad should have at least one trick in their back pocket to deploy when things go south. Did that priestess you were going to kidnap and sacrifice get murdered prematurely? Either save up some cash for a resurrection spell or find some other heir who can do the trick just as well (it's a big world, so there has to be one). Did the PCs escape your clutches and kill a bunch of your best men? Bide your time and take revenge when they least expect it, or maybe take advantage of the fact that they have family members you can take out (that psychic warrior can take hits, but I'm guessing that sort of durability isn't really shared by his 6-year-old daughter). When you set out to take over the world, you should have at least five different methods of accomplishing your goal, otherwise you're effectively beaten before you even begin. Villains exist in most stories to be thwarted by the heroes, so you should count on every sort of opposition that could come your way smacking you right in the face. If you wind up flat on the ground, you should be able to get back up with yet another plan, accounting for what you did wrong the first time and making sure that your next plan won't fail for the same reasons. Remember that the best leaders and soldiers of history took plenty of losses, and the best villains will as well. What matters is not that your first attempt is successful, but that you are able to roll with the punches and get back up every time some adventurer sticks his sword in your business. Eventually, you'll be able to figure out something that the heroes don't have a countermeasure for, and that's the point where they are getting shoved out of the picture for good. The best part about doing this in a fantasy world? You have all the time in the universe to plot your comeback, either from the comfort of your phylactery/personal demiplane or from the big fire below. A good villain will never be truly defeated, just delayed until he gets things right. In the words of Thomas Edison, "When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven't." There is always another path to getting what you want, be it revenge, power, or glory for your nation or god. Never stop fighting and always plan for what could go wrong, so that you can ensure that failure in a certain regard will do nothing to stop you from succeeding in the long term.
5. Be Creative
Fun fact: all that stuff in additional rulebooks and on the SRD isn't just for players. A GM is allowed to use stranger content just as much as a player is, so never should a villain be compelled to stick with the predictable. Regular skeletons not scary anymore? Animate some Crypt Things, Berbalangs, and Pharaonic Guardians and see how the heroes deal with them. Fireballs starting to lose their gusto? That's what Ice Spears and Ball Lightning are for (throw on dazing spell for extra danger). Party already prepared for anything a sorcerer or barbarian could throw at them? Surprise them with a killer alchemist, mesmerist, or vitalist who forces them to rewrite their tactics from scratch. Heck, most monsters can easily be tweaked to be made more menacing or to pull of radically unpredictable tricks; A few switched feats or properly applied templates can go quite a ways from turning a ho-hum monster into a deadly threat (have the powerful wizard train his giant soldiers to fight with reach weapons and utilize tripping. The results go a long way). If the PCs figure out the trick, have the big bad hit the books and pull out a few new weapons to win the day with. Anything that the PCs can use exists in the world, so there is no reason that the villains shouldn't be using the best feats and spells that your bard cribbed from an obscure sourcebook. Not only does this unpredictability factor make the villain more dangerous, it also keeps them interesting, because the heroes get to see a lot of things at work that they never would have come up with or prepared for.
This doesn't just apply to game statistics, but to actions as well. As I mentioned before, doing something unexpected and unprepared for can give the bad guy a huge head start in the strategy department, so the villain shouldn't just be resorting to conventional military tactics to get his way. This is a fantasy game, and fantasy games rewrite the rules of war all the time. If you figure out some way to bypass the city walls with an unusual spell usage or to move your forces in ways no real-world tactician would anticipate, then invoking your wild card is the perfect course to the situation. Hannibal didn't nearly take Rome by using conventional tactics, and Scipio didn't beat him with the regular playbook either. Effective command requires innovation, and innovation shouldn't be too hard for an evil genius to figure out.
6. Be Inspiring
In the words of Alan Moore's classic madman, "Ideas are bulletproof". You can kill a leader and burn down everything he stood for, but his cause will most certainly live on so long as others share in his plight. Loyal disciples, more than any phylactery or clone spell, are the ultimate backup plan, the assurance that your mission will continue long beyond your demise. Sauron failed because he made his entire plot dependent on himself, and the same principle applies to the Emperor. V, however, knew that the best way to keep a revolution going is to recruit people to your cause, showing them why they should take up arms to fight for you and thus starting a pyramid scheme of bloody revolution. By the time that you bite the dust, thousands of souls will be ready to take up your mantle and keep the dream alive. In the context of the villain, this means that a plot to take over the world is doomed from the start if it is obviously beneficial to only the big bad. Rather, a proper villain creates a philosophy, a set of ideals that he can convince people to place themselves behind. They write and orate, explaining to the world why it is flawed and why their evil plan must be put in place for the good of the world. Rather than needlessly butchering their followers, they treat them, ensuring that it is in their best interest to keep serving the dark side. Rather than killing their enemies, they recruit them, adding more and more firepower to the cause. Rather than fostering hatred, the best bad guys are widely liked by their followers, creating a sympathetic or inspirational position that stirs the ranks to greater loyalty. Rather than taking the heroes on alone, the villain brings some friends to the slaughter-fest, giving him the upper hand while also ensuring that his posterity idolizes him in death. That way, the heroes are tasked with defeating not a figure but a symbol, a symbol which will unify the legions in the face of crisis rather than dissuading them. That symbol may have a thousand faces and personalities before it eventually dies out, but so long as it maintains an agenda and a following it cannot truly be defeated. In time, this symbol may even become immortal. Now, imagine how pathetic the PCs will seem as they try again and again to put down the evil cult only to find it rebuilding with a new patron. Likability is the oldest tool in the handbook of Tyrants, and no evil cause is truly capable of surviving without it. With the right words, however, a villain can ensure a legacy that will overwhelm the air with bloody screams for centuries to come.
7. Be Intimidating
On the other side of the coin, a good villain should be as feared by his opponents as he is loved by his underlings. Heroes should be afraid to take this guy on, constantly questioning how badly the big bad is capable of kicking their collective posterior. In my game, the most memorable and dangerous villains were the ones that were built up slowly, never accessible but at the same time always sort of present. When the PCs attempted to gather information on the gal, most of it was cobbled together from enemies who were burnt to a crisp (assuming the records weren't ash as well). Every NPC that the heroes sent to scout was either eliminated or sent back as a stir fry of mutilated body parts. If someone asks what this person and her forces are capable of, all one of the players needs to do is point to the country she turned into a wasteland. When a particularly hard-headed character wanted to try and take her prematurely, the intelligent members of the party quickly got in the way and told him that moving against her was a death sentence; they had seen what she had done to some of their comrades, and they could easily discern what could happen if things went south. All of this was done without the GM intervention, as it should be. If heroes want to know how big a threat is, the setting should display it, with knowledgeable NPCs getting the hell out of dodge whenever the big bad comes a-calling. Their name should be dropped somewhere at least once a session, and the threat of them swiftly and effectively obliterating the PCs should be lingering every time that the heroes march in to fight them off. An effective villain should have a reputation for power and danger, keeping opponents down just by mentioning that they could step out and reduce them to a stain on the pavement should they fail to play along. You don't need a single rank in intimidate to strike fear into the hearts of your enemies, you just need to display the consequences of opposition. Rumors of your wrath have a larger area-of-effect than any spell you can muster, and may be just as effective in ending a fight. As the PCs get stronger, they should dread fighting the big bad more than they look forward to it. If the villain is not scary, they become irrelevant, and I'm sure that no GM wants that to happen. Meanwhile, if everybody knows what Baron von Badguy did to that one heavily-guarded city that didn't pay taxes, you can bet that they will pay their dues. If you want to make sure that your villain becomes the stuff of legend and not the stuff of jokes, let everyone know what he can do and why he is worthy of being a villain. Force the heroes to sleep with one eye open for fear of this bastard finally coming to take them down. One of the best ways to do this is to...
8. Be Mysterious
You know that big bad that I've been talking about all last paragraph? The players haven't even figured out her level, much less her build. All they know is that she is a wizard who can cast some high-level spells and that she has an appetite for destruction. Beyond that, their minds fill in the rest, and whatever they came up with was certainly enough to make them turn tail and run when she force-punched through their front door. This is a lesson picked up from the Xenomorph in Alien, the White Walkers, Maleficent, half a dozen Worm villains, and Kenny Loggins: You never count your money (or resources, or soldiers, or spell slots) when you're sitting at the table. If people never see you sweat when your 40th legion gets mown down, they assume that you have about 500 more, most of which they will not stick around to fight off. Bypass all the defenses with a time stop spell, and people won't assume its a scroll you spent half your WBL on, they'll think that it was the real thing and they will huddle in the corner when they think that a 17th-level wizard has stepped into town to ruin their day. Smart players tend to assume the worst, and that is certainly something you can leverage. That way, the party will be quaking in their magic boots when it comes time to deliver justice. My favorite way to handle this sort of enigma while still giving the villain an active role is by handing out resources to their minions. Have the lieutenants and underlings come at the heroes with high-end gear, information, and maybe some high-level buff spells thrown on for good measure. I can tell you that nothing makes a 4th-level character flee the field with breeches full of chocolate faster than realizing that the ogre they are up against somehow got stoneskin and extended haste cast on him before he rushed them. When extreme minions are not needed, have the villain act through proxy, utilizing summons or long-range attacks while keeping himself out of the fight. If the heroes ever see the villain, they will dogpile them, so it is best never to let that happen. If a public display is inevitable, some illusions and maybe a body double or two can get the job done in a pinch. The number one rule, however, is that the heroes should never be able to figure out everything that the villain, be they mage, warlord, or assassin, is capable of doing to thwart them. Caution makes any game more engaging and more interesting, and that is exactly what a little bit of properly placed mystery can bring to the table. What the PCs don't know is what is most likely to kill them.
9. Be Tenacious
The number one piece of advice I can give to any GM is that things are assured not to go as planned when you put your adventure into action. Plot hooks can be ignored, NPCs can be ganked, and unexplored paths can be forced open. When these things happen and your villain's epic plot gets thwarted by a genre-savvy player not falling for a simple trap or a particularly lucky character sabotaging a crucial part of the master plan, the big bad should have at least one trick in their back pocket to deploy when things go south. Did that priestess you were going to kidnap and sacrifice get murdered prematurely? Either save up some cash for a resurrection spell or find some other heir who can do the trick just as well (it's a big world, so there has to be one). Did the PCs escape your clutches and kill a bunch of your best men? Bide your time and take revenge when they least expect it, or maybe take advantage of the fact that they have family members you can take out (that psychic warrior can take hits, but I'm guessing that sort of durability isn't really shared by his 6-year-old daughter). When you set out to take over the world, you should have at least five different methods of accomplishing your goal, otherwise you're effectively beaten before you even begin. Villains exist in most stories to be thwarted by the heroes, so you should count on every sort of opposition that could come your way smacking you right in the face. If you wind up flat on the ground, you should be able to get back up with yet another plan, accounting for what you did wrong the first time and making sure that your next plan won't fail for the same reasons. Remember that the best leaders and soldiers of history took plenty of losses, and the best villains will as well. What matters is not that your first attempt is successful, but that you are able to roll with the punches and get back up every time some adventurer sticks his sword in your business. Eventually, you'll be able to figure out something that the heroes don't have a countermeasure for, and that's the point where they are getting shoved out of the picture for good. The best part about doing this in a fantasy world? You have all the time in the universe to plot your comeback, either from the comfort of your phylactery/personal demiplane or from the big fire below. A good villain will never be truly defeated, just delayed until he gets things right. In the words of Thomas Edison, "When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven't." There is always another path to getting what you want, be it revenge, power, or glory for your nation or god. Never stop fighting and always plan for what could go wrong, so that you can ensure that failure in a certain regard will do nothing to stop you from succeeding in the long term.
Monday, October 3, 2016
From Baddie to Badass: How to make your Villain More of a Menace, part 1
When you are a GM, there is always one thing that you are pressured to get right: the Villain. Be he an evil wizard, megalomaniac warlord, shadowy serial killer, or horrific entity from the great beyond, the PCs always expect their main opponent to be dangerous, unique, and most of all memorable. In spite of this, I frequently wind up playing or engaging in games where the villain becomes little more than a petty annoyance, a bump in the road that plays a background role to the heroes' antics.
Now, while this can work in more protagonist-focused adventures or stories, those are not usually the types of games that GMs and adventure path writers usually set out to create. Beyond the PCs, a larger story is usually taking place, and as this is an adventure game that story will very likely involve some sort of villain that the heroes will foil and be foiled by. Unfortunately, GMs who assume too much often wind up in scenarios where much more of the former is going on than the latter, and the immersion into the story and its characters starts to strain as the PCs feel that there is nobody interesting or powerful enough to test their might against.
Fortunately, many of the most common issues of insufficient villainy can be remedied if you remember a few simple rules. Although not all of these need to be implemented and some may not fit all villains, the suggestions listed below can go a long way from turning a generic baddie of the week into a legendary monster that your players will be reflecting on for years to come. Likewise, it isn't a necessity that every minion or random encounter be fleshed out in these ways, but when it comes time to face the big bad that you've built up for the last dozen sessions, carrying out at least some of these steps will have a tremendous payoff.
Without further ado, let's get right into the nitty-gritty that separates the Schmoes from the Saurons.
1. Be Knowledgeable
In the words of G.I. Joe, knowing is half the battle. If a person is going to pose a legitimate threat to a state, nation, or people, they need to have some idea of how they are going to succeed. Now, beyond the "evil plan" by which the villain is going to force his will upon the world, a successful tyrant should do a little bit of research on how to best achieve his goals. If he wants to take a city, he should figure out how the city prefers to fight and upend this (for example, fighting a war of attrition when the opponent's firepower is too great, or using stealth and guerrilla tactics when the city would rather deploy their huge army in open warfare). If the hero recognizes the PCs as a notable threat, they should get some info on them, maybe listening to accounts of how the heroes fight and organizing their forces accordingly (let's see how well the gunslinger steamrolls encounters once the bad guys learn of his limited range, or how deadly the wizard's fireballs are once the evil emperor invests in a few golems). Information can change the tide of a battle, and a big bad who knows what he's doing is far more of a threat than a nutball who only uses one or two strategies. This concept is especially applicable to casters, who usually have access to divination spells and can use them to figure out exactly what they are up against. A well-placed Scrying or day spent at the library can give the villain plenty of tools to work with, thus increasing his odds of success astronomically.
2. Be Proactive
Picture this: the fate of the world is in balance, the doomsday device is almost ready, the villain's evil plan is almost complete...and the heroes don't feel any sense of urgency whatsoever. After all, it's not like the big bad would really try to do anything before the big climactic encounter can get rolling. This sort of storytelling slaughters any sort of tension that has been built up, turning the potentially catastrophic master plan into an annoyance that can be put off as easily as the laundry. Not only is this trope a total mood-killer, it is also unrealistic. Regardless of whether or not they are actively being foiled, any sensible bad guy is going to keep his momentum going, cinematic value be darned. If the PCs take a day off to shop for magic items, put the villain one day closer to the completion of their master plan. If he seizes the initiative and obliterates the heroes in their sleep, it will have been the PCs' fault for not respecting the gravity of the situation. Real generals don't stop because their enemies want to take a siesta; if anything, they will spring at the chance to catch the enemy flat-footed. When the PCs actually get a sense that the clock is ticking, you can bet that they will get their priorities straight and save the world. Carpe Diem takes on a whole new meaning when the heroes can be trounced in a single night for taking too long.
3. Be Lethal
Saturday Morning Cartoon Villains, Bond Villains, and unsatisfying RPG Villains typically have one thing in common: they take too long to deliver the killing blow and as a result get royally screwed over for their negligence. If you want a bad guy who is a cut above the rest, the quickest and easiest way to show this is by killing his enemies rather than taking them hostage. Now, it may make sense for a few people to be kept alive for ritual purposes, but if they don't have anything that can't be obtained with a simple Speak with Dead spell, there is no reason that any intrepid heroes should be left intact. Don't gloat over the protagonists, don't give them a sporting chance, and don't take prisoners unless absolutely necessary. If you are going to do any of these things, at least be sensible about it and strip those defiant little idiots of their weapons, armor, and spellbooks beforehand. Every step of the way, make the heroes fight to survive, because very little can cramp somebody's style faster than watching their best friend get eviscerated for being a tad too careless. If the heroes learn just how far the bad guy is willing to go to get what they want, the threat level and hence interest level suddenly shoot through the roof.
4. Be Unpredictable
So let's say that the heroes have their hands on some sort of MacGuffin that the Mighty Evil Emperor needs for his Mighty Evil Plan. Suspecting that he will try to take it by force, the heroes head to the most fortified location on the continent and pray to their respective gods that the walls are strong enough to hold an invading army off. A foolish villain would do exactly what the PCs are expecting, expending copious resources trying to break in and take the doodad the old-fashioned way. On the other hand, any commander worth his salt would consider that the PCs have likely invested substantial resources in pushing off a forward assault, and so rather than wasting his time on that will instead slip a few talents to some mages or spies. Suddenly the Helm's Deep encounter becomes a frantic game of cat and mouse as elite agents are smuggled inside the battlements to take the unsuspecting protagonists out in close quarters, taking what their master needs with minimal hassle. This form of lateral thinking is the kind that wins wars, and it's the kind of approach that villains should take if you want them to be considered a threat. There is always another way to get what you want, and an effective villain should have a toolkit diverse enough to keep the heroes guessing. If one base is covered, hit another, and then go for a third way once the second becomes obsolete. If the heroes know exactly what you're going to do before you do it, the sense of danger drops by a fair margin. New weapons, new soldiers, and new strategies should be regularly employed to gain the upper hand, forcing the opposition to either adapt or perish. After all, nobody has ever won a fight by doing exactly what their opponent expects.
Now, while this can work in more protagonist-focused adventures or stories, those are not usually the types of games that GMs and adventure path writers usually set out to create. Beyond the PCs, a larger story is usually taking place, and as this is an adventure game that story will very likely involve some sort of villain that the heroes will foil and be foiled by. Unfortunately, GMs who assume too much often wind up in scenarios where much more of the former is going on than the latter, and the immersion into the story and its characters starts to strain as the PCs feel that there is nobody interesting or powerful enough to test their might against.
Fortunately, many of the most common issues of insufficient villainy can be remedied if you remember a few simple rules. Although not all of these need to be implemented and some may not fit all villains, the suggestions listed below can go a long way from turning a generic baddie of the week into a legendary monster that your players will be reflecting on for years to come. Likewise, it isn't a necessity that every minion or random encounter be fleshed out in these ways, but when it comes time to face the big bad that you've built up for the last dozen sessions, carrying out at least some of these steps will have a tremendous payoff.
Without further ado, let's get right into the nitty-gritty that separates the Schmoes from the Saurons.
1. Be Knowledgeable
In the words of G.I. Joe, knowing is half the battle. If a person is going to pose a legitimate threat to a state, nation, or people, they need to have some idea of how they are going to succeed. Now, beyond the "evil plan" by which the villain is going to force his will upon the world, a successful tyrant should do a little bit of research on how to best achieve his goals. If he wants to take a city, he should figure out how the city prefers to fight and upend this (for example, fighting a war of attrition when the opponent's firepower is too great, or using stealth and guerrilla tactics when the city would rather deploy their huge army in open warfare). If the hero recognizes the PCs as a notable threat, they should get some info on them, maybe listening to accounts of how the heroes fight and organizing their forces accordingly (let's see how well the gunslinger steamrolls encounters once the bad guys learn of his limited range, or how deadly the wizard's fireballs are once the evil emperor invests in a few golems). Information can change the tide of a battle, and a big bad who knows what he's doing is far more of a threat than a nutball who only uses one or two strategies. This concept is especially applicable to casters, who usually have access to divination spells and can use them to figure out exactly what they are up against. A well-placed Scrying or day spent at the library can give the villain plenty of tools to work with, thus increasing his odds of success astronomically.
2. Be Proactive
Picture this: the fate of the world is in balance, the doomsday device is almost ready, the villain's evil plan is almost complete...and the heroes don't feel any sense of urgency whatsoever. After all, it's not like the big bad would really try to do anything before the big climactic encounter can get rolling. This sort of storytelling slaughters any sort of tension that has been built up, turning the potentially catastrophic master plan into an annoyance that can be put off as easily as the laundry. Not only is this trope a total mood-killer, it is also unrealistic. Regardless of whether or not they are actively being foiled, any sensible bad guy is going to keep his momentum going, cinematic value be darned. If the PCs take a day off to shop for magic items, put the villain one day closer to the completion of their master plan. If he seizes the initiative and obliterates the heroes in their sleep, it will have been the PCs' fault for not respecting the gravity of the situation. Real generals don't stop because their enemies want to take a siesta; if anything, they will spring at the chance to catch the enemy flat-footed. When the PCs actually get a sense that the clock is ticking, you can bet that they will get their priorities straight and save the world. Carpe Diem takes on a whole new meaning when the heroes can be trounced in a single night for taking too long.
3. Be Lethal
Saturday Morning Cartoon Villains, Bond Villains, and unsatisfying RPG Villains typically have one thing in common: they take too long to deliver the killing blow and as a result get royally screwed over for their negligence. If you want a bad guy who is a cut above the rest, the quickest and easiest way to show this is by killing his enemies rather than taking them hostage. Now, it may make sense for a few people to be kept alive for ritual purposes, but if they don't have anything that can't be obtained with a simple Speak with Dead spell, there is no reason that any intrepid heroes should be left intact. Don't gloat over the protagonists, don't give them a sporting chance, and don't take prisoners unless absolutely necessary. If you are going to do any of these things, at least be sensible about it and strip those defiant little idiots of their weapons, armor, and spellbooks beforehand. Every step of the way, make the heroes fight to survive, because very little can cramp somebody's style faster than watching their best friend get eviscerated for being a tad too careless. If the heroes learn just how far the bad guy is willing to go to get what they want, the threat level and hence interest level suddenly shoot through the roof.
4. Be Unpredictable
So let's say that the heroes have their hands on some sort of MacGuffin that the Mighty Evil Emperor needs for his Mighty Evil Plan. Suspecting that he will try to take it by force, the heroes head to the most fortified location on the continent and pray to their respective gods that the walls are strong enough to hold an invading army off. A foolish villain would do exactly what the PCs are expecting, expending copious resources trying to break in and take the doodad the old-fashioned way. On the other hand, any commander worth his salt would consider that the PCs have likely invested substantial resources in pushing off a forward assault, and so rather than wasting his time on that will instead slip a few talents to some mages or spies. Suddenly the Helm's Deep encounter becomes a frantic game of cat and mouse as elite agents are smuggled inside the battlements to take the unsuspecting protagonists out in close quarters, taking what their master needs with minimal hassle. This form of lateral thinking is the kind that wins wars, and it's the kind of approach that villains should take if you want them to be considered a threat. There is always another way to get what you want, and an effective villain should have a toolkit diverse enough to keep the heroes guessing. If one base is covered, hit another, and then go for a third way once the second becomes obsolete. If the heroes know exactly what you're going to do before you do it, the sense of danger drops by a fair margin. New weapons, new soldiers, and new strategies should be regularly employed to gain the upper hand, forcing the opposition to either adapt or perish. After all, nobody has ever won a fight by doing exactly what their opponent expects.
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