Villain Spotlight #9 The Nihilist

It’s often said that the most dangerous type of person is someone who has nothing to lose.  But what kind of villain does it take to force the player characters to go that far? The Nihilist is dedicated to tearing everything down.  Civilization, Law and Order, People, or even the Planet, everything has got to go.  Nihilists are some of the blackest of the black hats because they’re out to make things bad for everyone, and the Nihilist knows exactly how he’ll go about it.

Villain Spotlight #8 The Conqueror

Next to the Catasrophe, one of the most intimidating of all villains is the Conqueror.  Possessing not only a brilliant mind, but also an army to back him up, and loyal lieutenants to make up for his possible weaknesses, a Conqueror is a force to be reckoned with.

Villain Spotlight #7 The Temptress

Welcome back to Villain Spotlight, a series of articles that examines various villainous archetypes and dissects them and their variants for use in a RPGs.

Today we examine the Temptress, a classy villain that relies not on strength of arms or an army of henchmen, but instead uses guile and charm, two of the most constantly underestimated threats to any hero.  After all, it’s easy enough to turn down demands from an ugly hobgoblin overlord, but much more difficult to not give in (just a little bit) to that bombshell nibbling on your ear.

Guest Villain Spotlight: The Henchman by Dirty Yasuki

Just yesterday, Dirty Yasuki had a brainstorm and posted the following entry as a comment under Villain Spotlight #6: the Sentience.  Insightful and simultaneously funny, I figured the article would serve better as its own entry rather than to languish under the fold.  And so without further ado, a guest article from Dirty Yasuki.

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I have an idea for the next villain spotlight. And it will blow your minds!!!

I submit for the next villains spotlight:

THE HENCHMAN!!!

*crickets*

….What? No villain would be complete without them.

Villain Spotlight #6 The Sentience

Most of the villains are easy enough to defeat if given the opportunity via straightforward methods.  Poison, a crossbow bolt, a shot from a sniper rifle, a bomb, being run through by a sword.  All of these are fairly permanent methods of making sure they never threaten you again.  But what if the villain doesn’t have a physical form? What then?

Villain Spotlight #5 The Traitor

Of all the people that can do us harm, those that are capable of the most damage are none other than our friends, comrades and loved ones.  The Traitor is at it’s very core, a reflection of the characters, and as such represent a truly insidious and dangerous threat.

Villain Spotlight #4 The Catastrophe

Some villains are intimidating because we can understand them.  Their motivations, their goals… all of these reflect things that we all see in ourselves.  However, there are some things that are simply beyond our scope of comprehension.  Whether it is because of their immense scale, the fact that they are so remote, or just because they are so incredibly different from us, these villains are less beings, and more of walking (un)natural disasters… enter the Catastrophe

Villain Spotlight #3 The Demon’s Seed

What is it about children that scares us?  Is it their inherent lack of a true moral compass if left alone in an isolated environment?  Is it their almost nonchalant approach to applying cruelty to those that they dislike?  Children have been used as elements of horror gaming and fiction, often to powerful results.  Today, we focus on evil child archetype, the Demon’s Seed, children that weren’t misraised, or ill-taught.  They were born evil, and they know it.

Villain Spotlight #2 The Thrill Killer

Welcome to the second installment to Villain Spotlight, where we go through the various villain archetypes that can be used for any game and any scale. Today, we’re looking at the Thrill Killer, one of the more common and diverse kinds of villains to be used in an rpg.  The Thrill Killer comes in all sorts of motivations, methods and madness, but they’re always good for a target of worthy adventurers.

Villain Spotlight #1 The Cardinal

Welcome to Villain Spotlight.  For the next few days, I’ll be going over the various villain stereotypes, their variants, and how to use them in a game as centerpiece antagonists of any scale.  The advice in this article is system generic, but may have examples for 4e, nWoD or other more obscure games just to give an idea of how the stereotypes are implemented in a game.

That being said, let’s hit the ground running with The Cardinal.