Good Bad Guys Okay, so you're going to make a scenario. Presumably you're going to have a villain. This guy will be one of the most important characters in your scenario - after all, it's usually the villain who sets the action going in the first place. The function of the villain is generally two-fold. First, he gives the scenario focus. "The bad guys" is a pretty vague entity. Usually there's hundreds of them, and you couldn't care less about them either way even when you're fighting them. Having a central villain gives the player someone to hate and someone to chase. Second, he provides the party with a "silver bullet". Usually, once the villain is dead, that's the end of the road. His underlings can't do anything without him. This of course means that the biggest fight is the last, and your scenario finishes with a nice bang. If you think you can fill these dramatic needs without a villain character, you're welcome to try. For the rest of us, here's what it takes to make a villain good. First off, you have to see him. It's very easy to have a villain who sits off in his tower and who you never see until it's time to kill him. However, the best you can hope for with a villain like this is that he'll be okay. He can never be great. This presents a bit of a problem for scenario designers. After all, if the villain gets close enough to talk to the party or be seen by them, why can't they just kill him there and then? Unfortunately, it's up to you to answer that question. There is no fix-all solution. In my scenario Revenge, you can kill the Nightmare Guardian as many times as you like - it just comes back. In Tomorrow, the Wickerman pops in and out at will, throwing obstacles in your way and taunting you as he does so. In Spears, Nath flees the battle if it looks like he's going to lose. Perhaps you could make a scenario where the villain is some kind of psychic - telepathically watching your progress and speaking to you as you go. However you solve this problem, solve it you must or your villain will be given no opportunity to be anything more than a bunch of statistics and an evil laugh. Once you've found a way to get the villain close enough to talk, you then have to decide what they say. Some hardly say a thing at all - their actions speak loud enough (Cornell, for example). Others are very chatty - the Wickerman loves to taunt and sing. But whatever you do, please, please avoid Shakespearean Monologue Syndrome. Any point where a villain says more than a couple of lines at a go is usually bad (though there are exceptions). First, because it's just plain stupid. Say you're fighting someone - you aren't going to stop and wait for him to finish speaking, you're going to keep fighting him! He should keep any comments short and sweet so he can focus on the important things, like not dying. Secondly, when players see a big lot of text, their eyes kind of glaze over. They have to get their minds into reading mode and digest all the stuff in front of them. It breaks the flow. If you keep it very short, that text has gone through their eyes straight to their brain before they've even thought about it. Instant impact. Of course, maybe you think your scenario doesn't need an excellent villain. After all, Selene in Falling Stars was nothing special, but that scenario did fine. The Leaving has no villain at all, and it's still a good scenario. And maybe you're right. It does depend on your scenario. But if you're going to put a lot of focus on one bad guy, make sure he's a good one. - The Creator