How do you like your villains, /tg/?
Campy?
Smug fuck loved by the populace?
Complete psychopath?
Post examples if you got 'em
>>46043967
I love thematically appropriate villains.
>dark overlord wizard in fantasy
>corrupt military/ceo in modern
>rogue Ai in scifi future
Than again, I'm always a fan of "the man who sold his soul for power" in direct or indirect means. The sorcerer who bartered with a devil for power, only to be betrayed by his avarice. The rebel leader too invested in his ideals to see he's betrayed them for the cause. The doctor so he'll bent on life saving results he falls down the slippery slope of nazi superscience
The one thing I like in my villains is villainous-ness.
None of this 'but what if they're right, shades of grey' crap. The can be complex, they can have understandable motives, but at the end of the day, when you call someone a villain, I expect a mother fuckin' villain.
>>46043967
It depends on the game of course. In general though I enjoy either (i) cowardly, throwing all their henchman at the party and then running away, type of recurring villains, and/or (ii) powerful villains which you only encounter during the end of the game.
>>46044039
You play black in MtG, don't you?
A person who pretends to be a generic mentor figure or someone higher up on the social ladder who is well respected, but they're really someone who would sell out everyone for money or power if they had a chance. Basically a jew.
>>46043967
Completely deluded with an absolute lack of impulse control.
>>46044135
This.
The trick to making good villains is making them villains.
>>46043967
I prefer to make villains that are sympathetic and at least as morally justified as the party. My favorite so far was during a Rogue Trader game, where I had the party involved in the politics of a non-Imperial human interstellar democracy.
There were three major parties, a liberal democratic majority who held the equivalent of the presidency and a majority in the senate, a conservative business-controlled opposition leader that formed the opposition in the house, and the upstart populist militarists who were the opposition in the senate. Separatist terrorists were bombing the governing party's offices on both the capital world and elsewhere, demanding independence for the world that the populists were based out of. The players undertook an investigation for the crown as a neutral third party and decided instead to basically frame the populists for it, since they thought it was their doing anyways. They arranged to do a false flag assassination on the house majority leader, a lib dem, blaming it on the separatists and planting evidence that linked the separatists to the populists. Thing is, the terrorists had actually infiltrated the congressional building and planted bombs, meant to kill schoolchildren (including the siblings of various members of the government) who were due to tour the place later that day. So the players have their plan go off seemingly without a hitch, as the death cultists they're using to frame the populists "misses" and kills the majority leader's bodyguard, which immediately prompts evacuation protocols, which coincidentally prevents nearly anyone, including the children, from being in the building as the bombs go off.
The actual sponsor of the separatists were the Tau, but the house majority leader was also sponsoring another wing (the bombers) to ensure that the populists (and the naval influence behind them) stayed out of government and preserved the democracy. Basically, everyone including players were corrupt.
>>46044209
He Does.
>>46043967
Fallen heroes, and black knights who think they're white.
>>46046659
Shit, that reminds me I still have to play through the Special Ending.
Is that where you seehis true form?
Also, gonna be honest here, I didn't understand any of that shit.
>>46043967
The best villain is the one who is right
>>46043967
>Lex
>villain
If they're sympathetic or not exactly evil you should still want to fight them. If not, then make sure there is *something* to fight, maybe with the sympathetic former bad guy wanting to team up with the party. It's not grey villains people hate, it's that mopey forced sympathy sprung on the PC whilst still having the confrontation play out as if they were just a normal asshole villain.
That aside, I prefer hammy pure evil types who enjoy what they do.
>>46044135
This. I really hate when people try to make you root for the villain.
>>46047376
>special ending
Hehe yeah, "secret form".
Look it up on YouTube man, it's not worth all the trouble.
>>46043967
>>46048193
It's too late, actually, I just did it.
It didn't really clear up anything, though. I don't want to replay the game to try and wrest the meaning from it. Have to admit, I'm a little disappointed, but I guess it was an enjoyable enough bizarre adventure taken at face.
I like villains that are remarkably cool. You aren't sympathetic to them, so much as respectful of how enormously ballsy and stylish they are. Andrew Jackson is a pretty good example. Trail of Tears was fucked up, and I don't want to derail the thread with no survivors (also Bane was a pretty cool villain, had that ballin fur coat), but Jackson had massive balls, led a pirate army in New Orleans, and dueled anyone that talked shit about him.
The end result is a villain that you can fight without any moral dilemma shit, and they aren't that stock creepy edgelord of pure evil.
>>46043967
Hmm...
Well, I want them to be interesting, for one thing, so no one-note villains.
It's good if they're menacing, but I don't like the GRRM level of "RAPE RAPE RAPE" all the time. The villain should be more than a psycho-brute with no impulse control. I also dislike the rather popular British inversion of the trope, in which the villain is a stereotypical mincing fag who expects you to be frightened when he throws a hissy fit. Even if he's not a big guy, the villain should feel dangerous to the characters.
The villain should have a clear-ish internal motive, and a life outside the characters. They can have sympathetic aspects, but they should usually be firmly on the side of "Evil" in some way or another.
Finally, a villain has to have style. Skull mask, business suit, whatever, they gotta have flair in their appearance and manner. Even if the villain prides himself on being bland and unmemorable, his blandness has to be so precise and deliberate as to be impressive when it's recognized.
>>46048230
I keep forgetting, there are two endings at the "end". Yeah, I think the idea is that you became the monsters you were fighting blah blah blah but still, trippy shit. I learned some new words, at least.
But what I had in mind was the third "secret" ending, obtainable by jumping through a couple hoops.
I don't like villains too much. They're boring.
I prefer antagonists who simply have goals that are aligned in opposition to the party.
>>46048405
>46043967
I'm not a big fan for evil done for evil's sake
>>46048405
I like villains who "play games". Those who consider the protags/PCs as opponents, not enemies.
>>46048355
Is pic that from Götterdämmerung? I recognize it.
Likeable, charming, relateable, but just too fucking evil to side with. You gotta kill 'em to save the world but damn you'll be sad doin it.
>>46048405
Yes, good. Very good
>>46046659
Is that Malal daemon?
I think Handsome Jack was everything I could have wanted in a villain, though my favorite type is by far the ones who know that they are doing the wrong thing, but are trying to do it for the right reason.
>>46043967
Understandable, realistic motives. Villains that are just evil for the sake of being evil are incredibly boring. I'm not saying they have to be sympathetic, they can be totally irredeemable, but they have to make sense as a person. You have to be able to understand why they want what they want.
>>46052802
No, not exactly.
It's from a game called OFF, it's surrealist as fuck.
>It's just an obscenely strong dude who wants to be king of the world
Alternative:
>Overzealous cultist who has bit off far more than he can chew and ringed up the real BBEG
>>46054334Grigori wasn't the big bad, though.Neither was the Seneschal.
>>46054409
Still, I loved the introduction of Grigori at the Greatwall; and Grigori was a fucking fantastic antagonist.
>>46054444
I fully agree that Grigori was fantastically done and not many stories have the seemingly evil creature actually be there to test the hero's power of will and prepare them forbecoming God.
>>46043967
While my personnal preference goes to morally complex villains in general, there is ONE thing that will set apart Villains from BBEG Super-Villains.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehc2x4BleQI
This is why Gregory is fucking awesome, why the Joker is so memorable. Same goes to Dark Vador, Sauron or Eliphas. These are well-done villains that clearly look really cool.
>>46043967
Not so evil, simply uncaring/unaware/incapable to conceive the wrong they do.
>My current BBEG is the result of a great conclave of mages transfering their minds into a crystal as a last ditch effort to survive, over the decades their minds merged and my BBEG was born.
>With the minds merged only the ideas they shared remain, BBEG is now driven by a need to pointlessly accomplish the last will (finding ways to be immortal, other setting-related stuff..) of the conclave, like trying to start without the CD by clicking retry until it works, except it wields plot-sized power-levels and fucks around the continent players are in with an army of golems
>>46054825
*Grigory
God, I wasn't very awake...
>>46043967
I push the players into a terrible setting, running a few secondaries(minor one off villains, flavour quest, etc..) until the players are used to the setting. Then come the BBEG, as they go against him at the request of the major NPCs they find out they are the vilain and they are fighting the big good nice guy. Whether they join or not is up to them, idc it's fun to run either way.
I like them to be John Travolta.
>>46043967
I like all of the above and then some.
I like sympathetic villains that are almost justified. I like sympathetic villains that actually *are* justified. I like heroes who just don't agree with you, and there's no other way but to have a fight about it. I like evil psychopaths with no redeeming characteristics whatsoever. I like cunning liars who lie, cheat, steal, and manipulate. I like brutes who aren't smart, but are uber-strong forces of nature and destroy for the sake of destruction. I like alternate-dimension versions of my character, whether they be forced to make a choice that set them on the path of evil, or whether they did a swan dive off the moral compass and never looked back. I like campy villains. I like punch-clock villains. I like mind-controlled good-guys. I like sad villains who consider loitering a noteworthy crime. I like guys who think they're doing the right thing, but aren't..
And I like them all at the same time, manipulating and being manipulated by each other.
>>46043967
I can work with most other then really campy.
For some reason though I have a big thing for false messiah figures powered by unknown powers that be. I also tend to like really realistic villains and ones that plot a lot.
Also the one that sells his soul for more power without thinking of what he is truely doing is a good classic
Im fond of manipulative bastards that seem stupid or harmless and are below suspicion .
Basically evil Columbo.
>>46043967
Thematically and setting appropriate villains. I like a campy villain as much as the next Anon but they gotta make sense in the context of the setting.
I like malfunctioning AIs as villains. Damn hard to kill, can turn your entire way of life against you and not necessarily be malicious but certainly dangerous.
>>46052624
No idea on the pic, sorry senpai. Just grabbed it and thought he'd be a good villain.
>>46055849
I prefer it when they're Nicolas Cage.
How do I make a serial killer an interesting villain?
>>46048355
Hit the nail right on the head. A example of that is pic
>>46063177
Generally, if you want a serial killer to be interesting, you have to find what makes them kill. What's the impulse? "All women are whores" is worn out. "Revenge on the Christ-Killers" is similarly silly, though, if handled correctly, could make an interesting opponent.
I'd go with something more esoteric/simple.
Party Hard's Serial Killer goes to parties because "He just wants some peace and quiet".
A guy who murders whistleblowers or something, with his murders always tying to the mouth or throat could be interesting, especially as a secondary villain to some sort of conspiracy. Like a war vet protecting a Haliburton-esque group, because he believes that such technology will prevent other men from suffering like he has (he could have lost an arm, or be burned, or some other clear distinction of "other" from his duty) and he views whistleblowers as hurting America, as killing good men like he was.
More context would definitely make things easier. What's the setting, the PCs, the general plot?
>>46063623
Sci-fi setting, PCs are trying to make their way in a big city and the frontier around it. Kind of like Shadowrun but no magic and less emphasis on corporate/cyberpunk stuff.
I like my hero tropes to, outright, just fuck everything up and my Villains to be the ones to help while furthering their own goals
