REVIEW – PART #2
The Complete Book of Villains
The second part of the article about The Complete Book of Villains is here.
Previous Article…The Complete Book of Villains #1
Chapter 2 is short, too short in my opinion.
However it talks about Henchmen, Flunkies and Lackeys. Every villain worth of her name should be sorrounded by followers, and not necessarily they have to be a bunch of idiots.
A wise villain sorrounds himself with advisors, mentors, specialists and of course some cannon fodder.
How many of them are available mostly depends on the amount of resources the villain can dispose of, and how much loyalty she is capable to raise.
Personally, I think a good villain should possess a good charisma or at least a high capacity to inspire others to join her cause.
This last is especially true if we want to elaborate a sophisticated campaign that leads the players to middle-high levels.
Beyond my personal opinions, the book advise to split the followers in two categories, those who are close to the villain, and those who are “anonymous”
Take as an example Cobra Commander of the Cobra terrorist organization. This villain has access to tremendous resources, he is capable of raising small armies equipped with high tech weapons.
He is sorrounded by characters that possess names and backgrounds, as well as a bunch of faceless and nameless soldiers that are repeteadly beaten by Gi Joe commandos.
A good and wise villain always has minions that play the role of key people to help the organization to work properly.
This is useful in the middle and long term, where you can have the players meet a low level “sub-villain” who represents the arm of the misterious master mind hidden behind the courtains.
This is important because a villain usually does not enter the scene until the key points of her plans are put in motion.
Sub-villains traits
The book then suggests to characterize every sub-villain with some traits, following the same method we employed for designing the main villain.
It stimulates us to think about traits that complements the villain’s traits.
Some banal examples.
Our villain is cruel, and one of his lackeys is sadistic. The villain adopts cruel methods to persuade people to follow her way, while the lackey finds pleasure in physically inflict pain or kill the poor sods.
Our villain is rich and resourceful. One of her lackey, being unable to amass wealth, follows the villain because he thinks he can get a good share of power or gold.
Our villain is extremely intelligent, let’s say genial. One of her lackey is intelligent enough to be aware that he is stupid, so he admires the powerful mind of her boss, a mind that he will never possesses.
Filmography
Movies present us a bunch of villains and their minions.
Basically almost all movies possess one bad guy and her minions.
Because conflict is the essence of every story.
If I try to make a movie with the purpose of telling or explaining the truth, I’m probably making a chronicle or a documentary, but not a movie.
Who are a villain and his followers?
A villain is basically a gamechanger. Someone who is aware of her potentiality and decide to play the game as an “outsider”.
A villain is someone who plans to change the so called status quo.
She is not necessarily evil, but the consequences of her successes can be destructive.
Of course many villains are really bad guy, due to their methods and cruelty. However it’s not always like this.
So, if you bestow your villain the clothings of gamechanger the music changes.
You, as the Game Master, can have the villain achieve many of her goals and then deal with the consequences.
Who can tell if the evil wizard that is planning to overthrow the king is right, because the actual king is as evil as him and a complete idiot. The evil wizard may turn to be a best option compared to the evil – and stupid – king.
In such a scenario the player characters may support the king at the beginning, and then change their mind once they learn more about the evil (and stupid king) and the evil wizard.
Next Article…Old School Review – AD&D DMGR6 The Complete Book of Villains #3
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