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Why Villainous Rants?
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<blockquote data-quote="Trickstergod" data-source="post: 1560598" data-attributes="member: 10825"><p>"I did it 35 minutes ago."</p><p></p><p>Ahh, the wonders of villain speeches - when done right. </p><p></p><p>Honestly, they're good - when they make sense. Generally, I think a show of power <em>followed</em> by a speech is one of the better ways to get the players to listen. Hit them with something hard, then show that the villain is willing to talk. Let the players know that he isn't fooling around, and he's in a position of power, and I've found that, at least when the show of force is strong enough, they'll listen. Show them that he's perfectly willing to fight - but that the PC's dont' have to. You need to be quick on the attack, and quicker on the "Let's talk" line that grabs them immediately afterwards, but part of what makes the PC's jump to kill the villain right away is that they hope to get the jump on him, some surprise, be able to move in to flank, dispel - whatever. </p><p></p><p>Don't afford them that opportunity. Show that the villain's already ready to kick their sorry behinds left and right and that they're not going to get any advantage by not listening to him. I don't really consider conversation something that would prevent someone from readying their action for when things hit the fan, so the PC's moving in to attack mid-speech isn't necessarily going to catch him unawares. Swat the PC's once, say the villain is ready to talk. Swat them again if they persist, say he's willing to talk. If they're hit hard enough, they might listen - particularly as being able to rest a little (and possibly sneak in a little healing or the like) gives them an ability to recover from the intermittent hammer blows. </p><p></p><p>I try to put my villains in a position of power that is very, very clear to the PC's if I intend on them chatting much in any aspect. Otherwise, if the PC's know who to gun for, they probably will - even if it might mean them losing out on some integral knowledge. Especially if the PC's have <em>speak with dead</em> or similar spells. Then they figure they can just get what they need at a safer time - which isn't always an inappropriate guess.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Trickstergod, post: 1560598, member: 10825"] "I did it 35 minutes ago." Ahh, the wonders of villain speeches - when done right. Honestly, they're good - when they make sense. Generally, I think a show of power [i]followed[/i] by a speech is one of the better ways to get the players to listen. Hit them with something hard, then show that the villain is willing to talk. Let the players know that he isn't fooling around, and he's in a position of power, and I've found that, at least when the show of force is strong enough, they'll listen. Show them that he's perfectly willing to fight - but that the PC's dont' have to. You need to be quick on the attack, and quicker on the "Let's talk" line that grabs them immediately afterwards, but part of what makes the PC's jump to kill the villain right away is that they hope to get the jump on him, some surprise, be able to move in to flank, dispel - whatever. Don't afford them that opportunity. Show that the villain's already ready to kick their sorry behinds left and right and that they're not going to get any advantage by not listening to him. I don't really consider conversation something that would prevent someone from readying their action for when things hit the fan, so the PC's moving in to attack mid-speech isn't necessarily going to catch him unawares. Swat the PC's once, say the villain is ready to talk. Swat them again if they persist, say he's willing to talk. If they're hit hard enough, they might listen - particularly as being able to rest a little (and possibly sneak in a little healing or the like) gives them an ability to recover from the intermittent hammer blows. I try to put my villains in a position of power that is very, very clear to the PC's if I intend on them chatting much in any aspect. Otherwise, if the PC's know who to gun for, they probably will - even if it might mean them losing out on some integral knowledge. Especially if the PC's have [i]speak with dead[/i] or similar spells. Then they figure they can just get what they need at a safer time - which isn't always an inappropriate guess. [/QUOTE]
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