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TTRPG THREAD TIMEAs promised, here is a thread about my perspective on villains, antagonists, and morally gray characters in general. This will be based on my #TTRPG experience and perspectives but can, in all honesty, be applied to any piece of storytelling.
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P.s. If you’re interested in making a character matching one of these descriptors, this thread is probably also for you!
Without further ado, this thread will be divided into three parts:
Understanding Villains
Deploying Villains
Villains and Character Development
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Without further ado, this thread will be divided into three parts:
Understanding VillainsDeploying VillainsVillains and Character Development2
Understanding Villains:People, sentient monsters, and even concepts are complex and it isn’t my goal to psychoanalyze every single archetypal villain. Instead, my goal is to minimise the amount of parameters you need to understand your villain as a “living” entity.
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The parameters I’ve chosen to highlight are the following:
STATUS: ranging from Strife to Privilege
IDEOLOGY: ranging from Relatable to Detached
INSTINCT: ranging from Measured to Volatile
ACTION: ranging from Scheming to Impulsive
IMPACT: ranging from Local to Universal
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STATUS: ranging from Strife to Privilege
IDEOLOGY: ranging from Relatable to Detached
INSTINCT: ranging from Measured to Volatile
ACTION: ranging from Scheming to Impulsive
IMPACT: ranging from Local to Universal
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STATUS is the most basic concept you need to define from the get-go. Where is this villain in the fabric of their own environment? Acting from a position of superiority to reinforce their power? Or are they the underdog, attempting to claw at the system to be above others?
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IDEOLOGY is a more nuanced concept since it will vary depending on who you ask. I recommend assessing this form the point of view of your protagonists (the players). What drives this antagonist? Are their actions perhaps justified from a slightly twisted moral point of view?
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Would the party be empathetic towards them but condone their methods? Or would they simply find their reasoning so outlandish and vile that they would never begin to understand it?
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INSTINCT in this context is what I call primal reactions to danger, insult, etc. What’s their guttural reaction? To calmly prioritise survival? Ignoring insults and slights that do not impact the greater picture? Or will they lash out physically at the mere hint of anger?
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ACTION is their longterm reaction to what happens around them. It’s WHAT they do to drive their agenda and HOW they do it. Do they act from the shadows, planning and waiting for THE moment? Or immediately exert power and declare war on a nation without second thought?
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IMPACT is less connected to who your villains are and more to what purpose they serve. How important you want them to be? Adjust Impact accordingly. Two antagonists can have the same characteristics and be very distinct if their Impact is different (see images/alt text):
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If you explore these concepts, you will find that you can plan most of your villains very quickly without resorting to countless hours of grinding your brain, writing tedious backstories for them which you’ll have to eventually archive as soon as your players go off track.
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Here are a few examples of villainous/antagonistic archetypes described via these 5 concepts (see images/read alt text) (thanks @naomithinksit for the suggestions!):
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Deploying VillainsNow we have a decent understanding on how to use these 5 concepts to characterize your villains, but the question remains on how to use them to fulfill our needs.
Different villains will serve different purposes and will challenge in different ways.
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Here are examples.
Example 1: Feed the players’ sense of heroism
You would want to have a villain which is inherently seen as “the baddie”. Someone who leans towards Privilege, Detached, Volatile, and Impulsive. For example, K’largath the Ravager mentioned above.
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Example 1: Feed the players’ sense of heroism
You would want to have a villain which is inherently seen as “the baddie”. Someone who leans towards Privilege, Detached, Volatile, and Impulsive. For example, K’largath the Ravager mentioned above.
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Example 2: Challenge players’ morals
A morally gray antagonist is what you need. What would that look like? Someone coming from Strife, very Relatable and Local impact. A good example of someone who would fall under this category would be a Robin Hood-esque bandit leader.
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A morally gray antagonist is what you need. What would that look like? Someone coming from Strife, very Relatable and Local impact. A good example of someone who would fall under this category would be a Robin Hood-esque bandit leader.
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Example 3: Take them by surprise
To build a long-lasting antagonist who has the capability to challenge players constantly and unexpectedly you’ll need someone: Measured, Scheming and slightly towards Universal on Impact. A kingdom's master spy perhaps?
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To build a long-lasting antagonist who has the capability to challenge players constantly and unexpectedly you’ll need someone: Measured, Scheming and slightly towards Universal on Impact. A kingdom's master spy perhaps?
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Example 4: A would-be-ally under different circumstances.
Someone on the "wrong" side of history that could easily be an ally if things had gone differently. This could be someone who’s Relatable, Measured and who sits right in the middle between Impulsive and Scheming.
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Someone on the "wrong" side of history that could easily be an ally if things had gone differently. This could be someone who’s Relatable, Measured and who sits right in the middle between Impulsive and Scheming.
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Example 5: Awaken the players’ sense of Justice
Homework time! You’ve definitely got the hang of it by now. Comment below what concepts are important to build a villain/antagonist/anti-hero who awakens the players’ sense of justice!
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Homework time! You’ve definitely got the hang of it by now. Comment below what concepts are important to build a villain/antagonist/anti-hero who awakens the players’ sense of justice!
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Villains and Character DevelopmentNow, how can you as a player make the most of your experiences with the villains that are presented to you? I’ll try to keep this one short because it all boils down to facing your character will only benefit from not being immutable.
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Let the environment and the story shape your character.
Let the relatable villains’ teachings stick to you. Let your character have feelings of doubt about how they handled the situation. Let it haunt your future decisions and let your character feel regret.
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Let the relatable villains’ teachings stick to you. Let your character have feelings of doubt about how they handled the situation. Let it haunt your future decisions and let your character feel regret.
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Let your violent villains force your character to reflect on how their own violence may have made them the villain once. Have these conversations ingame with your fellow players. Show that the enemies you’ve defeated made everyone grow and they weren’t just a checkpoint.
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In media, even nuanced antagonists raising good points/teaching valuable lessons are often brushed aside after a specific arc. Fight that! Have past enemies shape how you interact with the world, how you deal with new threats, and most importantly how your character grows.
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Summary:
I’ve presented a concise web of concepts that, to me, represent core understanding of your antagonists. It’s not meant to be an extensive analysis but it is meant to be *just enough*.
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I’ve presented a concise web of concepts that, to me, represent core understanding of your antagonists. It’s not meant to be an extensive analysis but it is meant to be *just enough*.
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Hopefully you’ve learned how studying these core concepts help you in deploying your villains efficiently and how understanding them should be reflected on how your character develops throughout the story you’re telling.
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As per usual, the final tweet is reserved to tell you these are my opinions, based on my experiences and you’re welcome to disagree. Nevertheless, I hope it’s useful to *some*!
If you enjoyed reading, consider Liking and Retweeting so it can reach more people!
Thanks
If you enjoyed reading, consider Liking and Retweeting so it can reach more people!
Thanks
