How does one design a good villain? Tell me about some of the memorable ones you've seen in your games.
Design a good hero, then age them up a bit.
You've got to get the right mix of seeing the aftermath of what they've done/word of mouth/respect to leave an impression on the players.
Hell my players are already worried about the mob boss bbeg they've been tasked with taking down andThey don't even know he's an acid spitting half-insect mutant
Villain design, in terms of an RPG, is all about creating interesting interactions with the players. A good villain is one which gives your player characters things to do, which creates interesting situations for them to experience and has an adversarial personality they can play off of.
Beyond general principles though, it's hard to say anything more without knowing the setting and style of a game. What makes a villain good varies massively between a heroic fantasy game, a hard sci-fi game and contemporary mystery game. All have their own genre conventions, requirements and setting conceits which change the way a villain can interact with the PCs.
Design everyone around them, then figure up someone who can hold them together and what he would be working for over all.
>>47793204
Well, first of all you're going to have to determine what TYPE of Villain you want, because that's crucial to making a good one.
>A good villain has an understandable motivation, but one that is often taken to irrational extremes or has been corrupted into a parody of itself. This can be something as simple as plain old greed, or as complex as wishing to avenge the death of a friend or loved one or instituting a new form of government. At the end of the day, however, there needs to be a "logical" way said villain got to that point.
>A good villain is extremely powerful in a way that benefits his station or position. A Kingpin may be a physically powerful individual, but his ultimate weapon is his mind and his ability to manipulate reality from the shadows through cats paws and information warfare. A Warrior can be cunning and smart, but he should ultimately be a very powerful warrior imbued with great physical strength and skill. This isn't to say you CAN'T mix and match (you honestly should be doing that to give him depth) but just remember that your villain needs to be good at his job to be where he is.
>Good villains have allies. These can be people who legitimately believe in the villains cause, people who are absolutely terrified of the villain and therefore serve him, or people who simply don't care about anything but money. At the end of the day, though, they've always got friends they can call up should they REALLY need them (though there's often a price for this allegiance...)
>Good villains have a reputation of some form. It can either be a reputation as a stand-up guy (to throw people off the scent) or one as a big, bad motherfucker (to bolster his clout), but at the end of the day people typically know who he is (It's also possible, however, that he has NO reputation whatsoever - but this is much more difficult and situational).
Make a character that wants something that either the players don't want them to have or don't want them to do what they have to do to get it. Everything else is difficulty level.
>>47793204
Well, I tried to create a memorable BBEG in a campaign years ago, but her second in command actually became more hated by the players. He was a general with his own set of ideals and took a lackadaisical approach to his tasks, often making sure he could put the heroes in a situation where he didn't have to fight them. Drove the players up the wall that they couldn't engage him and in the rare chances that they did fight him, he'd take off in the middle of it after leaving them in a worse state, gear wise. At one point, he ran off with their tricked out party bus and left it parked in the bad part of town.
>>47793204
I loved that show growing up. Best part of every morning.
My villains are always the innkeepers and shopkeepers, temporarily defeated by the party coming back with a sack of gold, but back again next month.
>>47793854
I can't explain but the filename for that pic has me in tears.
Also an excellent post.
just don't make them chaotic evil really
>wanting to destroy the world
>doing evil things for the sake of being evil
>killing his own minions
>backstabbing conga
>using literal DARKNESS and EVIL powers
these are things garbage villains do
>>47794833
As long as the Resolute can maneuver, she can still fight!
