- 63. I recently had four black helicopters circling my house for about an hour. If this is my last ever post, I want you to know I love you all. Except that guy. He knows who he is.
I haven't made up any random characters in this blog in ages (see the first couple of posts I did), so in lieu of anything interesting or informative (ha! Like this blog has ever been those) I decided to make up a character.
First few characters I did this for were Superheroes, now I'll go with fantasy, since I've been playing fantasy games lately. However, since I am inherently lazy, I am once more going to let someone else do the hard work for me.
In this case, Rich Burlew, the genius behind the Order Of The Stick webcomics. Google him, and nerds will enjoy. Under the 'Gaming' section of his site is one part called the Villain Workshop (http://www.giantitp.com/articles/rTKEivnsYuZrh94H1Sn.html, for those too lazy to find it themselves). In this part he describes an easy way to create villains for a roleplaying campaign, but it can be adapted to create villains for any medium. You can read through this side by side with Mr Burlew's work, but I'll be describing the steps as I undertake them.
Step X: What is the villain's race or class?
I prefer antagonists who can be understood, personally. While the 'utterly alien unempathisable monsterous' kind of villain can be amusing (I'm looking at YOU, Joker), in general I prefer a villain who, if the circumstances were just a little different, could have been a hero. Since there won't be "classes" I'll go with just the race here, for which I'll choose human. No matter the fantasy setting, humans are always there, and they're always the race we relate to most (since MOST of us are humans.)
Step 1: Start with two emotions.
The idea behind this step is that there is a driving emotion behind the villain, something that inspires and motivates them to do evil. Greed is a good starting point. All villains have some degree of greed, but greed for what? I'll go with power, but not in the abstract form, I'll narrow it down to personal power. He wants to become the most powerful being. Does he want to just be the most powerful he can, or does he want to be the most powerful ever? What the hell, I'll go the whole hog and say 'ever'.
The second emotion is what the villain is supposed to inspire in people (in the original text, the players who encounter him. This could be terror, anger, fear, hatred, pity, or anything really. I'll go with Anger, for reasons that just occured to me in the writing of this.
So the human character so far desires personal power (physical? Or physical and something else?) and inspires anger from those who meet him.
Step 2: What events in the villain's past brought about this emotion?
I want the villain to be somewhat empathisable, to have the feeling that he could have been something far more then he is. I'll say some great tragedy. The villain was originally a great man, we'll make him a ruler of some kind, let's say Duke. He was a fair and wise Duke, who took care of all those beneath him, but loved his wife above all. They had many happy years, in which she even bore him a daughter. They all aged somewhat, as time does to people, before the king demanded the Duke aid him in a war effort. Though it pained him, he left his loved ones behind. The war dragged on, until the Duke heard of a raiding party heading towards his home town. Though he rode like the wind, when he got there his band was not enough to hold off the raiders, and he was left for dead. Most of his people killed, including his wife, tore from him the kindness and decency he had been honoured for.
How does this make him greedy for personal power? I'll get more into that in a following section.
Step 3: What is the villain's scale?
Part of me is tempted to make him enormous in scale, but that isn't entirely appropriate. Instead I'll make him semi-local. The scope of his villainy is currently local, but has the potential to affect other areas in a remarkably short time. For now he isn't a global threat, but he is definately working his way up there.
Step 4: What is the villain's goal?
Here is where things start to come together. As we've described, the villain has a lust for personal power. This isn't some wu-shu style fantasy game, where through super-training a character can stand on bamboo leaves (or at least, it isn't intended for that. It could quite easily be used for it). So he must have a method for advancing his personal power (possibly to over 9000). I'll go with a ritual, they're always good for fantasy games.
WHY does he want the power is a question I haven't answered yet. Let's say the loss of his wife has led him to want to preserve all that remains of her, their daughter (a useful plot hook for later on in the medium). He's seen how being a mere man isn't enough to protect that which you love (or once loved, in his case) so he must be more then that.
Step 5: What does the villain need to be able to achieve this goal?
Instead of simply having him become super powerful the moment the ritual is complete, I'll complicate things. The ritual has already happened, his personal abilities are linked with how others feel about him. The stronger the emotions, the more powerful he becomes. As Machiavelli said, love is much harder to control then fear and hatred, and so he set out to be hated and feared. High taxes, regular raids on his own villages, executions at offenses so slight they seem almost random.
Through this he is gathering power, and through that in the future he plots to overthrow the kingdom, and spread the reign of terror until he is feared and loathed throughout the land, becoming more powerful then any other mortal ever known of. All for the noblest of goals, to protect his daughter.
Step 6: What obstacles must the villain overcome?
Early on the obstacles aren't much trouble, just possible rebellious peasents who could be put down by his army. But such possible rebels could be used later in the story somehow, and the tales of how he brutally dispatched their leaders could spread to attract attention.
The most obvious obstacle for later on in his plan to overthrow the king is the fact that kings don't like usurpers (for some weird reason). Obviously such a scheme required the support of a large portion of the ruling class of the kingdom, something not easy to get for someone who goes from being a just and honourable nobleman to a vicious and cruel dictator. So he must find a way (either persuasion, blackmail, intimidation or threats) to get the support required for taking over the kingdom.
Just to make things interesting, let's say this kingdom has an alliance with a 'noble' order (could be anything, Paladins in Dungeons and Dragons, a martial arts temple in a wu-shu style game, a secret organisation of scholars elsewhere, whatever) of people, in which the members of this order are allowed to come and go as they please in the kingdom, doing whatever it is they do. To accomplish the ritual, the villain needed to ally himself with some kind of dark wizardry, who happen to be in opposition with the noble order. This means there is yet another obstacle for him to overcome.
Step 7: What is the villain's primary means of projecting influence?
This is a tricky one. He's obviously somewhat sneaky, able to hold back from acting until he knows it's the right time, but I didn't want him to be too underhanded. I'd prefer if he had some degree of honour or nobility left in him, and that he was somewhat straightforward. To that end I'll make him a leader, he lures others to his side and convinces them to act with him, probably with promises of power and wealth.
But he had to have some degree of manipulator, in order to be forcing the various nobles to support him. Or did he? I've already established a link with some group of evil wizards. Maybe there's someone advising him, luring him down this dark path. This underhanded wizard can be the manipulator in the scheme, the one making the cogs behind the curtain turn.
Step 8: What are the villain's resources?
As established, this villain has some degree of political and personal power, so let's get around to defining what precisely he's got backing him.
- Skillful warrior backed up by magically enhanced abilities.
- Fine strategic mind for warfare
- Some understanding of the subtleties of politics
- Personal army appropriate for someone of the standing 'Duke'.
- Social status appropriate for someone of the standing 'Duke'.
- Agents of various skill levels working for him.
- Alliance with band of evil wizards, including a highly manipulative and cunning adviser
- Alliance (willing and forced) with numerous nobles of various standings throughout the kingdom
Step 9: If no heroes were to interfere, what would the villain's plan to achieve this goal be?
Most of this is explained above, but I'll go into a little more detail here. The villain (I'll give him a name. Blackguard. It's temporary, but describes him well) undergoes a horrific ritual (let's make it really horrible, something making people physically ill if they knew all the details) that binds his 'soul' with his perception. The more he is thought of within the context of powerful emotions, the more powerful he becomes. The Blackguard then subjugates his entire plot of land, oppressing all the peasents he can and letting his name be known, to grow in personal power.
Once that is accomplished he needs to move outside his sphere of influence. Let's give him a degree of honour, let's say he's not even necessarily the power behind this whole situation. He wants to become king so he can do the whole thing to further areas, becoming even more powerful for the sake of his daughter. His adviser is the one taking care of most things. The adviser has his agents (let's make the agents mostly the adviser's, the king is left in the dark) do some spying and reports back on what nobles can be persuaded by the Blackguard, and what nobles cannot. Those who can be persuaded find themselves visited by the Blackguard who either persuades them or leavess the unspoken threat remain in the air, to persuade them. The others either are blackmailed, silently threatened, or in the case of those impossible to alter, eliminated. If the heir is more open to suggestion, he's left in place. If not, the entire family is slaughtered to destabilise the group and deny the king his allies.
Once this is all acomplished, the Blackguard moves on the king, killing him and taking the throne, letting the entire kingdom fall under the same oppression all for his own benefit. From there he plans to accomplish similar things throughout the world, basically conquering it.
Step 10: What are the villain's boundaries?
As stated in the above step, the Blackguard is not the manipulative one. Let's take that to the extreme. Let's say he ALWAYS keeps his word, taking a promise as something incredibly important. He may be a vicious, evil cad, but in some ways he is still honourable. He will only kill those who are a threat (or armed, since most armed people won't be a threat). Maybe even, out of some bizarre need to test himself, he lets worthy opponents live so they may test him again in the future, to make sure he is the most powerful he can be.
Of course, this is only his own personal honour system. He isn't stupid, he knows what his army and his adviser is doing to people, but somehow he reconciles it with himself, since HE isn't the one burning down villages.
Step 11: What is the villain's personal threat level?
Quite impressive. As we've established, he's a skillful warrior who is growing supernaturally powerful with the aid of this ritual. He is a quite genuine threat, and one that most likely cannot be defeated by physical means (at least not without considerable effort).
Step 12: How does the villain treat his minions? How do the minions feel about the villain?
Obviously normal peasents trained as men-at-arms aren't going to be emotionless killing machines, they're going to oppose the idea of wholescale oppression of people they may be related to. My first thought is that he somehow brainwashes them (or more likely, his adviser does), but that closes the ability to relate to some of his soldiers who may be forced into situations they dislike. Let's make it a bit more complicated.
About 10-20% of the army is made up of 'dead' soldiers. They've been stripped of all human emotion, the need to eat, sleep and numerous higher brain functions. Through magic they've been made into the ultimate loyal warriors. 50% of the soldiers are normal people, men-at-arms recruited from the peasentry, they're unsure about what's happening, but a fear of being 'stripped' (as the 10-20% are), fear of 'the stripped', and fear of the Blackguard keeps them in line. The remaining portion is made up of mercenaries caring less about morality and more about the payday.
So we've established a lack of care over his soldiers.
Step 13: What are the villain's visual quirks?
Hmm, I haven't considered this step much so far. Let's look at it. His current placeholder name 'The Blackguard' illicits a certain image. Warrior in pitch black heavy armour. Let's start with that, it works. But let's flip it a bit, let's make him a fighter focused on speed rather then strength. Instead of heavy armour, let's make it light-to-medium, chainmail at most, maybe leather with a few sewn on metal plates. Most important should be the helmet. This allows him to present a physically imposing image quite easily, a very visually distinct helmet.
Next let's consider his actual body. We've established the ritual was quite painful, let's make that show. Heavy bags under his eyes, pale skin, possibly a sinewy appearance. Let's alter it a little further with stark white long hair. It's all a little cliche, but in this case it works, makes him incredibly visually distinct.
Step 13a: What would the villain's theme music sound like?
No clue, I'm not very good at music. Let's just go with something more mournful then terrifying.
Step 14: What is the villain's escape plan?
Again, a little less required then normal. Let's say since the Blackguard is a leader, he never ventures out without a bodyguard. In the rare occasions he needs to flee, he simply leaves his bodyguard behind to delay his foe while he flees on foot (or mounted if available).
However that's a bit mundane and easy to catch. Let's make it difficult. Let's say part of the ritual renders him nearly immortal. He has X number of 'lives'. If he dies, he is recreated by an artefact held within his castle, but let's make it even more unusual. Let's say this is the same artefact that 'strips' his soldiers of their emotions, and each time he revives through it, he comes back with a little less humanity. Sooner or later it won't be able to work, and so he'll be too inhuman to come back. But even worse, soon he'll be unable to remember why he is seeking the power, he just remembers that he's seeking it.
So what do you think? I'm liking this character. He's different, and provides a HUGE number of story hooks.
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