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Post by Daos on May 15, 2007 10:50:35 GMT -8
I was working on the game, and started to wonder: Who do you guys think is my best villain?
By villain, of course, I mean an individual or group that opposes the PCs in some way. They don't necessarily have to be evil (the Rebels were good, although they opposed the party in NC1; likewise, Adolfo in NC2 was evil but did not oppose the party) nor do they have to be the Big Bad--any villain, major or minor, can be chosen.
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Keith
Dicemaster
Level 4
Posts: 2,307
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Post by Keith on May 15, 2007 14:41:12 GMT -8
Probably The Wyvern, I think. Although he was part of just trying to get Eddie to RP, he was certainly thought-provoking and could inspire some good RP at of anyone.
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Post by Daos on May 15, 2007 14:59:43 GMT -8
What about him was thought-provoking?
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Keith
Dicemaster
Level 4
Posts: 2,307
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Post by Keith on May 15, 2007 21:16:09 GMT -8
Well, there are several stimuli:
- He's a PC's relative - He had the potential to be turned good - He was a troubled sort, mage without a hand - He had committed crimes, but seemed capable of penitence
So he was pretty thought provoking, looking back on it I wish I had given him more thought.
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Post by Daos on May 15, 2007 21:35:11 GMT -8
I suppose Wyris was unique when it came to villains, because the party was able to interact with him in a non-hostile way.
The problem I have with villains is that no matter how much work I put into them, they tend to get killed by the PCs too quickly. None of their backstory really comes up then.
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Keith
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Level 4
Posts: 2,307
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Post by Keith on May 15, 2007 21:51:14 GMT -8
For me (nowadays), what makes a villain good is not how fun he is to fight, but by thinking on how easily the PC's could have ended up in his shoes. Compelling motivations and backstory really help, but in order to showcase all of this you kinda have to have the villain not meet the PC's in combat first.
So I believe you've done it, introduced a friendly NPC who it turns out is a villain or some such thing.
However, the main problem with your doing that (from what I've seen) is that the villain is just plain 'ol vanilla evil instead of performing evil acts for an understandable and especially relatable reason.
EDIT: Of course this can smack of soap opera. "Oh no, an evil twin! I thought he was you when I cheated on my husband with him! Also I have amnesia!"
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Post by Daos on May 15, 2007 22:02:02 GMT -8
That tends to work out, as the PCs in my games tend to be fairly hypocritical (when they are Good aligned). I did in OC2, although a couple of players (Eyal and I think Gren) highly suspected he was the villain right from the get-go, somehow. I'm not sure how, it's not like he wore all black and twitched his mustache while grinning evilly, or anything like that.
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Keith
Dicemaster
Level 4
Posts: 2,307
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Post by Keith on May 15, 2007 22:04:21 GMT -8
Oh, don't worry about that hypocritical part, I remember OC3.
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Post by Daos on May 15, 2007 22:13:00 GMT -8
As far as motives and vanilla evil go, I generally do give my villains good motives, but rarely do they ever get to be revealed.
OC1: The Big Bad here was the Dark Moons. They came off as crazy bad guys who were just being evil for no good reason, but they were actually anarchists who just didn't believe in the government.
OC2: Lyaros and Benjamina were the Big Bads here. Benjamina was a fallen cleric of Ark who had gone mad. I suppose you could say she was a reflection of what Abigail could become if she didn't overcome her hypocrisy. Lyaros was just trying to help his mother.
OC3: Hmm...the Codex Chaos. They weren't evil evil, just CN. They were anarchists like the Dark Moons. They just took their anti-government stance a little too far.
NC1: There really wasn't a villain here. The closest I can think of is the Bone Lord. He just wanted to be wealthy. I guess you might consider Frilothan, who wanted power.
NC2: The Overlord just wanted to maintain order in his country. The party saw him as bad news, but the truth was, if he had been killed he probably would have been replaced by someone far, far worse. I tried to play up the 'human' angle with him (like his having a son) but it never really came into play. There was also Kassaroff, and he wanted to be a god.
NC3: That just leaves our current game. The only real villain has been Santeria, but he didn't really get to interact with the party. But I didn't really expect him, too.
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Airellian
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Sunny Greenhaven
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Post by Airellian on Jan 22, 2008 10:46:39 GMT -8
Even though he wasn't intended as a villain, the Nightmaster was still pretty cool to fight. Having the schtick as the most powerful cleric in the city is nothing to sneeze at either.
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