NPC BAD GUYS IN THE NEW AGE
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by Nekrophidius

In times past, roleplaying games have almost always had good character development (I use the word
"good", not "excellent"). The main character has always been portrayed in the best possible way by
the storyteller. However, the "enemy", or "villian", has not been. This article is all about making
that bad guy of yours just as important as the hero in your roleplaying game's story.

Gone are the days of "anonymous evil wizard kidnaps princess". Nowadays, players want to completely
immerse themselves in the personalities of all the characters of a game. And for the most part,
designers are certainly fufilling the needs. But what about on the other side? Why is there less
attention payed to the one element which fuels the storyline to begin with: the antagonist?

Okay, so maybe you're reading this and wondering "why should the bad guy have his name in lights?".
Villians, by their nature, are designed to be expendable. However, a well-designed villian will
keep its purpose for a long time. Like so many things in the rpg storyline, the villian is a
valuable tool. It's the fault of the villian that the world is gone crazy, or that the next city
from here is on fire. What's going on?

The most effective way to begin the creation of your villian is to actually identify him or her.
And I don't just mean "he's an evil wizard hell bent on ruling the world!". Well, maybe he is. Why?
Did he get picked on in high school, and now he wants revenge against his torturers? Maybe he got
stood up for the prom or something. In any event, there must be a reason for his mission. After
all, the "good guy" has a reason for HIS mission, why doesn't the bad guy?

Okay, let's assume your all-powerful evil wizard has a hatred for fluffy bunnies. Let's say the
main character loves fluffy bunnies and wants to protect them all. So, now there's a purpose for
the evil wizard's "madness". It may be silly, but it's more than 99% of the bad guys out there. Why
does he hate fluffy bunnies? Hrm. Maybe he got bitten by one as a child and grew to hate them.
Maybe he thinks fluffy ones are ugly, preferring the shaved ones (so maybe he's going around
shaving all the fluffy bunnies). Maybe in his quest to rid the world of fluffy bunnies, he runs
into something which likes the fluffy bunnies and tries to help them out. Now, the evil wizard guy
has another enemy! So now he's going to hate whatever it is that helps the bunnies (maybe...two-
tailed deer? Okay, works for me). So now, we've got an evil wizard who hates fluffy bunnies and
two-tailed deer. Now we're getting somewhere, our bad guy has a purpose in life, which is to hunt
down fluffy bunnies and two-tailed deer.

Is the evil wizard going to torch an entire town because of his hatred for fluffy bunnies? Probably
not, unless it was populated by fluffy bunnies (or environmentalists, take your pick). As insane as
people get, there are just certain things that do not make sense. The bad guy's actions should
reflect his motivation. No action should be "just coz he's evil", that's dull. He should go around
putting fluffy bunny's heads on pikes, kinda like shown in the ending of DOOM. Now that's true evil
(and a fitting representation of his hatred for fluffy bunnies).

Now, how does the main character even find out about the bad guy's mission? Does he read it in the
latest issue of "Villian Digest"? Probably not. Perhaps the hero had a bunny, and the evil wizard
guy took his bunny away, so now the hero's pissed. Or maybe the hero's girlfriend has a bunny that
was taken. Whatever the case is, the hero has to be informed of the bad guy's actions somehow.
After all, this is what sets him out on his journey to begin with. Make it believable...and
sensible!

So, we've established that the bad guy hates bunnies. Okay. So now, what does the bad guy LIKE? I
hear dozens of groans right about now, with the same thing: "oh man, who cares? it's the bad guy,
who gives a rat about what kind of person he is". Wrong! The player cares! Does the villian like
music? What kind? How about flowers? Sure, it seems crazy for the bad guy to like flowers, doesn't
it? But it isn't crazy. I mean after all, everyone has likes and dislikes. Maybe the bad guy likes
this one flower which grows only by this one certain pond. Hell, maybe the bad guy likes spending
time by the pond in the evening, watching the sun set in the presence of his favourite flower. I'll
make a case in point here...if you've played "Lunar Silver Star Story" on the Playstation console,
the main villian, Ghaleon, had a love for music, and even played a musical instrument.

Well then, another set of details come to mind here. Where does the bad guy live? Sure, you can be
cliche and say "a big castle atop of a mountain with a skull carved into the side!". ****snore****
been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Okay, so maybe you really do want a castle for the bad guy.
How'd he get it? Did he just magically make it appear out of nowhere? Wouldn't the locals get kinda
pissed about that? Even in rpgs, there are laws! I'd have to say that making a castle just sit down
anywhere has got to be against someone's laws. So, how did he get it? Maybe he inherited it. Maybe
he paid for it himself. If so, how'd he get the money? What does he do for work? Is he only a bad
guy during his time off from his job? If he doesn't work anymore, did he get fired for his
obsession with bunnies? Maybe he missed too many days of work chasing down the critters, got fired,
and now he's really mad. "Damn bunnies are ruining my life! They must PAY!" So now, he's in danger
of losing his castle, since he has no income and can't pay the taxes or whatever. Okay, mad killing
spree! Not. How is a mad killing spree going to help things? Think about it. Well, maybe if he
finds enough fluffy bunnies, he can just sell their fur or something. Just to make some money to
keep his pad, while at the same time, ridding the world of these "gruesome furry monsters".
Although the thought of the bad guy just going postal is kinda cool, it's an overused cliche that
should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.

I think by now you're beginning to understand the importance of the bad guy's character
development. But there's just a few more things I'd like to cover before I call this a wrap. First
of all, we've established that our bad guy is a big evil wizard. Now, how did he become a wizard
anyways? Did he go to school for it? Who were his teachers? What do they think of him now that he's
a big bad bunny slayer? Do they look at his yearbook picture and shake their head in disbelief? And
what about his parents? Maybe his parents sent him to magic school as a punishment for his
arsonistic obsessions. Yes, antagonists can have more than one obsession, in fact, the more the
merrier. Well, now the evil wizard is all powerful, and comes back to punish his ungrateful parents
for their "cruel treatment". And while he's at it...he eats their bunnies.

Second of all, eventually the bad guy and the good guy are going to cross paths, you can't avoid
this. Let's say the good guy is travelling with a cute chick. The bad guy sees her and falls in
love with her. He forgets his obsession with bunny murder and relentlessly pursues the good girl.
Well, now we've reached a dilemna...is he still a bad guy? C'mon, bad guys are sposed to be BAD!
They aren't supposed to have emotions! Right? Right? Wrong. It's no mystery that opposites attract.
And what if the good girl suddenly develops a crush on the bad guy? What if the bad guy has no
interest in her? hrm...imagine the problems that can arise in this situation. And right there,
you've got a vehicle for creating a storyline within a storyline. Now, what happens if the bad guy
and the good girl both fall in love with each other, and the good girl betrays the hero? Is the
former good girl suddenly a menacing legion of doom? Maybe, maybe not, that's up to you to decide.
BUT! It doesn't have to be that way. Most people just automatically assume that just because the
good girl has gone astray that she's now evil too. Bad assumption. Downright evil, even.

The final consideration is the end of the villian. Does the villian die in the end? Usually. But
does this have to happen? I mean after all, all we're trying to do is stop him from doing what he's
doing. What if we were to convert him? Make him see the error of his ways? Let him know that his
bunny murder is breaking the hearts of hot sexy women everywhere? Okay, maybe he repents. Now, the
hero puts a knife in his head. HAHAHA! Now who's the bad guy, biatch! *cough* Anyways...consider
the end of the story. If you deem that the antagonist must die, it must be for a very good reason.
And again, don't fall back on "coz he's evil". After all, killing in itself is a necessary evil,
and makes the hero no more a good guy than the bad guy. But once you balance the WHY, you'll know
what you have to do to end the story. But consider this one final point. There is no better way to
vanquish an enemy than to make him an ally. You'll avoid that one final killing and you'll
accomplish your goal all at once. Of course, at the same time, nothing beats a good bloodbath of a
final battle, good versus evil!

If you've absorbed even half of what I've outlayed here today, you're off to a good start at
developing excellent villians. If you're one of those AD&D players (as many RPG developers are...or
were), I recommend reading Kirk Botula's excellent "Complete Book Of Villians" (ISBN 1-56076-837-1),
as it goes into much more detail of the concepts I've covered here. Just say NO! to cliche bad guys!

"Virtue untested is innocence." -Anonymous