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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tharivious" data-source="post: 3403180" data-attributes="member: 28105">Considering where I went to school, trust me, I'm the last person you need to remind of that.  But, it remains an option nonetheless, and having it on record as a concern can prove helpful should it continue, as it establishes a pattern of behavior.Happy to answer, since I've probably studied the concept of thought-out villainy more than most people would consider healthy.In simple terms, he's a good villain because he's been consistent and uncompromising in who and what he is.  He plays to his strengths without going to excess, he forces other characters to think by leaving it to them to react to what he does, and he never flinches visibly, in spite of his weaknesses.  He's got more depth than many villains I've seen wander through the chats, and he uses his resources wisely.  Most importantly, though, he knows his limits, and manipulates his situation to make the most of those limitations, by which I mean he knows where his weak points are and takes his time to cover them when it fits.Villains don't become successful by sticking their necks out on a regular basis, simple suspension of disbelief suggests that after so many appearances, they will be cut down.  By taking advantage of the logic behind this, villains can reasonably last through several years and several story arcs, simply by letting less patient villains burn out in the meantime.And this method of handling it works because, as a storyline co-ordinator, I'm in contact with the people being affected at any given time.  Simply put, he doesn't need to be involved in direct day-to-day conflicts, because he's using his brain instead of his spell-list or weapons rack.  Rather, he lets his messages and unseen actions deliver the hooks and barbs.  What fun is the horror movie when the monster is part of every scene?  It's all about the build-up if you want suspense, about doing things with subtlety to make the heroes really strive to figure out how to stop him before it's too late.  Sure, you can play the direct arms race game if you want, but for me, I'll take a psychological thriller any day over a more visceral slasher flick.As far as the passage of time...  The main three events he's been part of still hold several of their component players in the ISRP roster.  He helped a Lemarg during a kidnap and torture spree (again, handled off-screen - all the more suspenseful when the identity of the man assisting the kidnapper is kept quiet), he helped an ice-lich delay heroes during a rescue mission (again, at a distance - smart enough to use minions to actually detain them, rather than sticking his own neck on the line), and now he's setting his own pace.  Most of the players from the two past storylines are still around, or in contact with me and ready to step into the new storyline when the point reaches them.  Sure, a lot of characters seem to be gone, but this is, again, where having strong out-of-character contact lists comes into effect - you can get people to come back for more stints at the ISRP when a storyline would call for them.</blockquote>

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