Just how villainous do you like your villains to be, Veeky Forums?

Just how villainous do you like your villains to be, Veeky Forums?

Personally, I generally only like the main antagonist to be absolutely corrupted. The lesser opponents can be various shades of evil.

What say you?

I like to give them a relatable backstory/motivation (X killed their family/dog/village), but make their reaction to that loss totally overblown and evil (X killed my family/dog/village, so I'll kill every X in the land and everything that helped X).

Once, our DM made the BBEG some random peasant we had fucked over while murder-hoboing our way across the countryside. Turns out, he had super secret sorcerous powers that were unlocked by our wizard accidentally setting his village on fire. So he became a necromancer and made an undead army to hunt us down and kill us, ended up making a crusade against all adventurers.

I kind of want to make a tier list of various villains, going from more evil to less, but that's too much effort.

For a much simpler answer, I prefer them to be at least Baron Harkonnen evil.

Book or movie Harkonnen?

There was a movie?

In the 80s. I want to say 84, but I'm not sure. It had some big names, including Patrick Stewart.

In the movie version, Harkonnen is just as conniving as he is in the book, but he is mentally far less stable. His Household more openly practices their sadistic tendencies, going so far as to drink the blood of their subordinates.

Understandable, but still clearly in the wrong. They have a good case to make for why they do what they do and the conflict comes down to differences of opinion.

Do your players ever figure our the villains motives? I often have a difficult time goading them to actually discover the reasons behind the villains actions.

Imagine if the CEO of whatever company makes band-aids tricked a bunch of wannabe good samaritans into pushing children off of the swings in order to create more demand for his products.

Now apply that diamonds in D&D 3.5.

give them a reason to do so

I generally like my villains, or at least the main one, to be beyond redemption at the time of the story but having originally, at least, had noble goals, even if misguided.

I think his point was that the movie sucked so much that he'd rather pretend it doesn't exist, not that he didn't actually know about it.

>Just how villainous do you like your villains to be, Veeky Forums?

saturday morning cartoon villain. I don't good with stories and chracters but no one want to be dm so fuck it

I am firmly of the opinion that, for the vast majority of skill-levels (as far as GMing goes), your campaign will be fine whether your bad guy is conflicted, mostly-good, doing the wrong things for the right reasons, or plain old pure evil, as long as they are a jerk.

You see, all of that other stuff--when taken alone--is delicate and difficult to deal with. The vagaries of PC shenanigans can warp events and plans, they can make the murky grey-area guy look like a saint or the Devil, they can do all sorts of things that can turn your villain into something other than a villain. But if you make him a jerk?

He is fucked. Players can tolerate some pretty evil shit, but they will absolutely not tolerate a douchebag.

For me, the villain's actions have to make sense FROM THEIR PERSPECTIVE.

I try very hard not to lean to heavily on the crutch of "he's crazy/a religious zealot".

Immortan Joe's a good example. He's a repulsive old man who demands to be worshiped like a god and sends countless warriors to die in order to get his rape-slaves back. Completely despicable.|

And yet, from his perspective he is the savior of the Wasteland, a benevolent god giving protection and succor to the weak, shepherding the young into eternity and ensuring the survival of humanity by breeding his superior genes and ensuring a continuity of rulership into the future.


That's how I like my baddies: totally evil when you look at what they're doing from the outside, but from the inside everything is perfectly rational and the best possible decision to make in their situation.

Ubermench villains underrated.

How can you possibly hope to defeat a being that, by definition, is superior to you cattle? Now run along and pretend you're people, I've real work to do. WORLDS TO FIX.

Well my world's tend to be on the darker side where everyone is kinda a douchebag (including and especially the players). The villains just tend to be very successful douchebags.

This is the key, good villains are the heroes of their own narrative.

Pic related.

>Is it not a magnificent thread that I, the user Vladimir Harkonnen, post?

Assuredly, Baron

he always gets drawn like he weighs a fucking ton, when in reality, he's like 200 kilos.

If I'm playing in a setting where Evil is a thing, I like to wallow in it.

Depends on how I'm feeling.

Right now I'm jonesin for a villain who is a super-powerful asshole and bully

Eh, depends. Ive been seeing A LOT of that in stuff recently and I'm getting real tired of the "IF YOU WERE IN MY SHOES YOU'D BE AN EVIL FUCK TOO!" story

>doesn't know about David Lynch's Dune

Lucky you, you can watch it! It's not a perfect adaptation but it's an awesome movie in it's own right

post modernism is shit but people havent figured that out yet

But that's the trick.
The heroes *wouldn't* be evil fucks in the villain's shoes, because they're heroes.
The villain thinks he's being reasonable, but that doesn't mean he is. Immortan Joe is a degenerate old man trying to get his rape slaves back. No amount of empathy and tragic circumstances will change that fact.
But in his mind, from his perspective, he's a hero ensuring the safety of the world.
That, in my opinion, makes for a good antagonist. He's internally consistent and has a solid chain of logic dictating his actions, even if his basic assumptions are completely monstrous and grotesque.

I like thoroughly corrupt and evil people. Are they reasonable? No, they're evil. Just stab them and take their shit.

>Just how villainous do you like your villains to be, Veeky Forums?
I've always wanted to make a villain so evil, so monstrous, that it made the player's blood run cold. but without becoming a cartoon villain.

like even Veeky Forums's stereotypical paladin of "we must deliver him to justice no matter what" can't kill this guy fast enough.

which is how you can get irredeemably evil villains,
you can't forgive someone if they themselves don't want to be forgiven; especially if believe they have done nothing wrong to warrant forgiveness.

"repent what? those orphans NEEDED to die! we did you a service getting rid of those wastes of resources! you should be thanking us!"

bump

it aint the trick faggot

sometimes unfathomable evil is fine, you're not profound

see

objective morality is for faggots

I'm on the "That ain't a trick" boat.

That's just a different kind of villain and can fall under the "IF YOU WERE IN MY SHOES YOU'D BE AN EVIL FUCK TOO" clause.

There are all kinds of wonderful villains, it's about the story you want to tell.

If you want to tell a story, write a fucking novel. RPGs are about creating a game world.

There is a difference.

Veeky Forums does not understand the difference.

roleplaying games are literally collective storytelling you nigger

the real difference is that as the DM you should recognize the story of a novel is entirely written by yourself, while the story of an RPG is a group effort and your job as DM is to facilitate a great story told by everyone. not to force the players to experience your story.

b....b..b.b.bb.b..but Games Workshop isn't a game company, they are a minuatures company
11!!!!!

No they aren't. They are dungeoneering simulations.

That philosophy about RPGs is cancer for the entire genre.

>No they aren't. They are dungeoneering simulations.

According to your millennial ass who is everything wrong with the hobby.

RPGs are about creating a story with your friends. A game world is hollow and nothing without stories to tell.

ahahahahaha.

I bet you don't keep track of food or torches in your games because that "isn't fun."

what if I instead play various types of games which may or may not require such a thing

stories are closed and preplanned systems with discrete elements.

RPGs are not.

You are RPG cancer

Then you are the cancer that is killing RPGs.

yeah I guess they're called "role playing games" because they're actually video game simulations and wargames

really makes ya think

>arbitrary definitions with nothing to back it up
>stating opinions as fact with nothing to back it up
>cancer

/v/ plz leave

>video game simulations
kek, try harder
>wargames
those are in the same family of games as RPGs

>learned about RPGs from railroaded vidya games
>thinks a JRPG is actually an RPG

kek, you and yours killed the entire genre.

and what "family" is that? the family pulled from you ass?

watch out we got a ludologist over here boys

>grognard insults
cancer confirmed

>creating strawmen
>most likely transitioning to full troll mode now that argument has crumbled

Welp at least I know not to respond to you anymore, troll.

I hope this board starves you, but it looks like you got another fish on the line.

>I ask for facts
>you just shitpost insults

who is really the cancer though, ask yourself why you posted this. you posted it because you wanted to express a feeling of dislike, as if anyone cares about your feelings. your post doesn't contain an idea, it contains feels. please try posting an idea or facts next time.

Doesn't sound evil or bad.

Sounds like a moral and sensible thing if your setting has adventurers.

I already won. Thanks.
>facts
>Veeky Forums
bwahahahahaha

Wake the fuck up.

this post doesn't contain any facts or ideas either, please do not post on Veeky Forums unless you post enriches the discussion. you are literally breaking the rules right now

>6. The quality of posts is extremely important to this community. Contributors are encouraged to provide high-quality images and informative comments.

It's not my fault that you can't jive my angle, bro.

Morally justified

ghioaagrio;ag;ouiauo;gragrahiowghhwgh9'343-1efqhi9pefq'heqhipeg'e'hip!!!!

>gets mad about facts
>posts literal nonsense in response to sensible words
kek

Ridiculously evil. The final session in my 3 year campaign is tomorrow.

In it the party fights against The High Priest of Tiamat who has been possessed by the spirits of every child of Bhaal.

The fight takes place on The Moon, (in a secret Yuan-ti Moonbase), which has been Spelljammed towards the sun (Bhaal wants to murder the moon). The Spelljamming works because of powers collected by The Party to fight some other evil plot.

Hoard of the Dragon Queen / Rise of Tiamat took a very weird turn around Castle Skyreach when the Party was defeated by the dragon.

Okay I'm confused...

Are you the dumbass who thinks RPG's are not a form of storytelling?

or the dumbass who thinks JRPG's are shit at storytelling?

it all blurs together at the end.