I Understand, You're Still A Jerk

Villains are a tough thing to develop. They’re a really tough thing to develop in tabletop.

I’d argue they’re hard to make work in tabletop because they’re difficult to keep alive, but that’s a subject for another post.

They’re also tough because a good villain requires an emotional investment, and well. As I’ve stated, that’s something you can’t really ‘compel.’  And a lot of bad writers, bad artists and bad adventure designers, try to force it.

A bad guy you can connect to, is one who has a better chance of grabbing onto the heartstrings. Or more to the point, villains and antagonists have as a defining part of their function, the need to provoke and represent things about the protagonist/hero.

Batman’s rogue’s gallery, at least the better parts of them, are mirrors on him.

Bane is a representation of Batman’s preparation and skills, turned to thuggish brutality by his baser aims. A sort of warning to Batman when his high minded crusade turns to an ideal of self satisfaction.

The Riddler is a representation of Batman’s skill with the mind, and skill as a detective, but twisted and pushed to the nth by a desire to show off his intellect to the detriment of those around him.

Two-face is a representation of the duality of Bruce Wayne and Batman, except when those two forces are adversarial and thus pulling someone ‘in two directions, ‘as opposed to the unity of purpose between Bruce and his alter-ego.

And so it goes.

But again, that’s a villain in writing. And way too many DMs try to emulate writing. See, in tabletop, you don’t control the characterization of the hero and the villain, just the villain.

The way the player views the hero might also be tricky to determine, and a lot of players don’t appreciate when someone tries to make clever narrative asides about them. Therefore, a better angle is to harken back to the antagonistic angle.

The villains’ jobs thus become to be warnings along a road, as well as threats to overcome. They’re catalysts the heroes can use to better define themselves. Whether as shining incorruptible knight or tempted anti-hero, bad guys serve to provide that ground work.    

And to accomplish that, you need two things.

Firstly, the villain’s modus operandi and goals need to be sensible.

Secondly, the villain needs to be a villain.

Lack the first, and you have an evil underwear gnome. Lack the second, and your players have either little reason to enjoy beating the guy, or might even feel bad about it.

I hate how it seems every post of mine turns into a Matryoshka doll of other posts, but I’d rather unpack those two ideas a bit more in their own threads.