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What Makes a Great Villian
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<blockquote data-quote="Herpes Cineplex" data-source="post: 1815874" data-attributes="member: 16936"><p>Ain't that the truth?</p><p></p><p>I was lucky enough to play in a game once where the main villain got a fantastic introduction. It was one of those setups where the good guys are uncovering the evil plot in the time-honored "kill your way up the bad guy ladder" method: you know, where they stumble into one evil plot and take down the henchman-in-charge, then read through the henchman's orders to figure out where they need to go and wreak havoc next.</p><p></p><p>In this particular game, all the orders were being written and sent out by the main villain, and they were awesome. The first few henchmen we slaughtered had fairly typical evil-guy documents, but as we kept mowing 'em down and working our way up, the villain's letters began to just OOZE with frustration. At some point, his orders began to become extended and very insulting rants directed at his henchmen, telling them in no uncertain terms that he was sick and tired of flunkies who promise that they can keep their operations secure but can't deliver. He started making fun of the way his henchmen talked, the equipment and tactics they used, the base of operations they selected. He started daring them to show that they were worthier associates than the dozen or so other clowns we'd already bumped off. A few times, he started a threat in the best "If you fail, I shall boil your family and feed them to a manticore" fashion but stopped in mid-stream and ended with "actually, never mind, if you fail, these adventurers are going to do something even worse to you, and they'll do it at their own expense and without me even having to ask them...why my enemies seem to have no difficulty finding agents of this caliber and I'm stuck with trash like you is a mystery of epic proportions."</p><p></p><p>I swear, every time we found another set of orders written by the main villain, we would all laugh about what was in them and say, "Oh man, this guy RULES. I'm almost sorry we're going to take him down."</p><p></p><p>Then we finally worked our way up to his Inner Circle of lieutenants, and the last few documents started to have comments in them that were specifically directed to us. Then paragraphs. Then, finally, an actual sealed letter addressed to us, which started off by slagging the lieutenant we'd just mauled and then made the obligatory "hey, come work for me" offer that he knew we would spurn but had to try anyway.</p><p></p><p>I can't really describe how funny these orders were, and how much the villain's personality shone through in them. Honestly, we started looking forward to the end of a quest more for the opportunity to find out what he'd said than for the experience or the treasure.</p><p></p><p>It was the first game I've ever been in where, upon confronting the main villain face to face, the only thing most of the party wanted to do was talk to him; we felt like we knew the guy, after all. We felt sympathy for his frustration, if not for his goals. And the main villain, for his part, almost felt the same way: he wanted to let us know in no uncertain terms just how incredibly irritating we were at the beginning of this whole ordeal, and how utterly loathsome we were here at the end. It was a kick-ass, show-stopping "You are my eternal enemies, I shall stop at nothing to destroy you right here and right now, and years from now the gods themselves will tremble at the memory of this battle" villain speech, and there wasn't a single one of us who didn't think that he'd earned the right to make it without interruption, ridicule, or pre-emptive assault.</p><p></p><p>And after the smoke cleared and we'd won, naturally the first thing someone said was "And that oughta hold him until he comes back from the dead and we get to do this all over again."</p><p></p><p>--</p><p>in a tone which made it clear that we looked forward to it</p><p>ryan</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Herpes Cineplex, post: 1815874, member: 16936"] Ain't that the truth? I was lucky enough to play in a game once where the main villain got a fantastic introduction. It was one of those setups where the good guys are uncovering the evil plot in the time-honored "kill your way up the bad guy ladder" method: you know, where they stumble into one evil plot and take down the henchman-in-charge, then read through the henchman's orders to figure out where they need to go and wreak havoc next. In this particular game, all the orders were being written and sent out by the main villain, and they were awesome. The first few henchmen we slaughtered had fairly typical evil-guy documents, but as we kept mowing 'em down and working our way up, the villain's letters began to just OOZE with frustration. At some point, his orders began to become extended and very insulting rants directed at his henchmen, telling them in no uncertain terms that he was sick and tired of flunkies who promise that they can keep their operations secure but can't deliver. He started making fun of the way his henchmen talked, the equipment and tactics they used, the base of operations they selected. He started daring them to show that they were worthier associates than the dozen or so other clowns we'd already bumped off. A few times, he started a threat in the best "If you fail, I shall boil your family and feed them to a manticore" fashion but stopped in mid-stream and ended with "actually, never mind, if you fail, these adventurers are going to do something even worse to you, and they'll do it at their own expense and without me even having to ask them...why my enemies seem to have no difficulty finding agents of this caliber and I'm stuck with trash like you is a mystery of epic proportions." I swear, every time we found another set of orders written by the main villain, we would all laugh about what was in them and say, "Oh man, this guy RULES. I'm almost sorry we're going to take him down." Then we finally worked our way up to his Inner Circle of lieutenants, and the last few documents started to have comments in them that were specifically directed to us. Then paragraphs. Then, finally, an actual sealed letter addressed to us, which started off by slagging the lieutenant we'd just mauled and then made the obligatory "hey, come work for me" offer that he knew we would spurn but had to try anyway. I can't really describe how funny these orders were, and how much the villain's personality shone through in them. Honestly, we started looking forward to the end of a quest more for the opportunity to find out what he'd said than for the experience or the treasure. It was the first game I've ever been in where, upon confronting the main villain face to face, the only thing most of the party wanted to do was talk to him; we felt like we knew the guy, after all. We felt sympathy for his frustration, if not for his goals. And the main villain, for his part, almost felt the same way: he wanted to let us know in no uncertain terms just how incredibly irritating we were at the beginning of this whole ordeal, and how utterly loathsome we were here at the end. It was a kick-ass, show-stopping "You are my eternal enemies, I shall stop at nothing to destroy you right here and right now, and years from now the gods themselves will tremble at the memory of this battle" villain speech, and there wasn't a single one of us who didn't think that he'd earned the right to make it without interruption, ridicule, or pre-emptive assault. And after the smoke cleared and we'd won, naturally the first thing someone said was "And that oughta hold him until he comes back from the dead and we get to do this all over again." -- in a tone which made it clear that we looked forward to it ryan [/QUOTE]
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