Villains

Every story has a villain, be it a big bad, an evil organization, or just the force of nature. They can be player controlled, or be NPC's. What is your favorite RP villain, and what did you like about him/her so much? Do you prefer a NPC villain, or do you like to read the villain's perspective as a PC?

I think Vincent in Crossroads; A Johto Story is a good villain. Angsty, tragic backstory, family problems, easy to hate etc.

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Actually, I enjoy playing villains as the GM, without shoving the whole plot in the players' faces at once. I like to keep them in suspense. The kind of villains I prefer are also proper human beings with their own stories and reasons for doing things. Not the completely evil ones who do mean stuff just to be evil. Or something like that. I like shades of gray and having to make decisions and not seeing the world in black or gray. So, roleplays where players are on opposite teams playing characters who believe that their cause is the good one, are very interesting!

I can't help but love Villain that generally couldn't give two *****- See Joker from the dark knight film
Though I do have a soft spot from incredibly pretentious and condescending villains, since I like to make heroes who have massive egos as well as chronic 'inferiority complexes'.
Another type of villain I love is the 'don't worry it's still going according to plan' villain. The type of guy that'll sit on his ship that's blowing up and just grin like nothings wrong. Only problem with those guys is that they're hard to get right and can easily be screwed up if they become impossible to beat.-see Aizen from bleach(He's stupidly and boringly overpowered)
As for RP villain specifically, I can't say I've interacted with too many. (Unless you count Anima from Gunpowder)

In Gunpowder half of the player characters are technically villains xD

But yeah, I love playing villains just as much as I enjoy playing heroes. However I get tired of villains who are evil just for the sake of being evil. I enjoy multi-faceted villains who have a reason for being the way they are or at least have some sort of interesting history/personality.

The villains in Gunpowder, the ones played by actual players, such as Emmett, Sophia and Anima are all really awesome characters and are extremely fun to read. So basically the cast of outlaws from Gunpowder are my favourite villains at the moment.

Also Disco from Titans. Just because.

Adventure said:

I think Vincent in Crossroads; A Johto Story is a good villain. Angsty, tragic backstory, family problems, easy to hate etc.

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Heeeeeey. He's not supposed to be the villain. :x

Anyway, on topic.

My favorite RP villain may be one that has not actually debuted yet in any of my projects, being the villain that believes what he/she is doing is the right thing. It is a fantastic shift that gives the villain a sense of justification to his/her actions, and provides a great deal of depth in my opinion. Primarily in that their psychology is complex, and as my one friend would say "provides conflict in the reader" since part of them would almost want to cheer for the villain.

My favorite one that has debuted has been one of my own villains in Kasumi Kobushi in OP. I am slightly biased because she is just fun to write, but her archetype is that of the "I'm a lot smarter than you" villain. She is always a few steps ahead of the RPers and her elaborate plan was so fun to design. As far as villains played by other GMs, well, honestly none of the RPs I have joined had either clearly defined villains or got far enough to really flesh them out. It's a sad truth.

I personally prefer NPC villains, permitting they are written by an omniscient narrator who can provide some perspective into the mentality of the character. The villain is meant to pose as the antagonist so there is some purpose for them not to be a PC, or anything like that. They can cause some drama in all the wrong ways if I am understanding the question in that respect. Giving the villain some perspective posts and treating him/her like a PC is a great idea and one I intend to utilize in my own RPs.

Raikiri said:

Heeeeeey. He's not supposed to be the villain. :x

Anyway, on topic.

My favorite RP villain may be one that has not actually debuted yet in any of my projects, being the villain that believes what he/she is doing is the right thing. It is a fantastic shift that gives the villain a sense of justification to his/her actions, and provides a great deal of depth in my opinion. Primarily in that their psychology is complex, and as my one friend would say "provides conflict in the reader" since part of them would almost want to cheer for the villain.

My favorite one that has debuted has been one of my own villains in Kasumi Kobushi in OP. I am slightly biased because she is just fun to write, but her archetype is that of the "I'm a lot smarter than you" villain. She is always a few steps ahead of the RPers and her elaborate plan was so fun to design. As far as villains played by other GMs, well, honestly none of the RPs I have joined had either clearly defined villains or got far enough to really flesh them out. It's a sad truth.

I personally prefer NPC villains, permitting they are written by an omniscient narrator who can provide some perspective into the mentality of the character. The villain is meant to pose as the antagonist so there is some purpose for them not to be a PC, or anything like that. They can cause some drama in all the wrong ways if I am understanding the question in that respect. Giving the villain some perspective posts and treating him/her like a PC is a great idea and one I intend to utilize in my own RPs.

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Kasumi was/is pretty amazing I have to admit. I enjoy seeing characters who use their brain as their weapon and when you make those characters evil, that's a recipe for awesome.

I enjoy immensely playing the villain, both as a player and GM (most people that have RPed with me a long time know this, haha). I enjoy it in my own RPs when I get to play the villains for the most part, but I also mix it up a little and give RPers a chance to dabble on the other side. It makes for a variety which can prove useful in a long RP.

As far as favorites go, I have a few. Just like Raikiri, some haven't made their debut yet (but they will, soooooon!). There are two or three in One Piece that I'm just waiting on that'll be amazing. I know it. One of which is mine, and two of which are my Co-GM's.

As for favorite villains that have already been shown, I'd say I have a few.

Leon Nef from Atlantis Arising: The best word to describe him would be ass hole. Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

Alexander Azrael from Darkness Reigns: I go between disliking the RP to finding it amusing, but it was a pretty interesting ride while I was on it. Definitely had its ups, but also had its downs. One of the ups were the characters interactions, particularly from Alex, who I believed had the potential to make a pretty amazing character story. In a roleplay where everyone was eager to jump ship and move to a single side, Alex had some code of honor for a villain, a belief in remaining by the side of his people, even with people he cared for on the other side.

Gabriel from Pokemon Odyssey: The idea for this villain was created all the way back in the first Pokemon Odyssey. Ever since, pieces of his story and influence have spread across the series, with it finally culminating in this latest RP. He's as mad as he is a mastermind, one who could be mistaken to simultaneously plan ever meticulous detail and to make no plans whatsoever. It's the unpredictability that I like about him. The fact that many believe they understand the type of villain he ought to be and what he does to constantly disprove adds even more onto that. He is, in my opinion, the best villain I've created, and he's just getting started.

There's a few others that have 'villainous' traits in them, but which would be hard to label as actually villains, given what side they're on. Nonetheless, here are a few I really enjoy:

Razathiel the Dreadmage: A ralts villain. You have to see it to believe it. Trust me, he's great. I mean evil.

Bridges L. Skellen: Specialist. Doctor. Assassin. It goes so well together.

The Blackguard/Paradox duo: Good memories came with these two when they got going. They changed the outcome of an entire RP with them together.

It's strange, but I generally like villains more than heroes, despite almost always choosing heroic actions. I guess I enjoy watching the villains more than playing them.

My main problem with playing villains is maintaining their power level. I personally think that villains should be stronger than heroes, but weaker than the combined strength of the team. In the games I run, if any hero tried to take the villain solo they'd probably fail, but if they work together as a team, they should win.

Of course, in most games, the players all need to be on equal footing. We can't give one player more power than the others, even if they're evil. Plus, it defeats one of the main points of playing a game: having fun. If someone plays the villain while everyone else is a hero, that one person is excluded from the group, and everyone else is against them. And we're all friends here, and don't want to turn on each other.

Godzil said:

It's strange, but I generally like villains more than heroes, despite almost always choosing heroic actions. I guess I enjoy watching the villains more than playing them.

My main problem with playing villains is maintaining their power level. I personally think that villains should be stronger than heroes, but weaker than the combined strength of the team. In the games I run, if any hero tried to take the villain solo they'd probably fail, but if they work together as a team, they should win.

Of course, in most games, the players all need to be on equal footing. We can't give one player more power than the others, even if they're evil. Plus, it defeats one of the main points of playing a game: having fun. If someone plays the villain while everyone else is a hero, that one person is excluded from the group, and everyone else is against them. And we're all friends here, and don't want to turn on each other.

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I used to be quite hesitant about placing players on opposing sides myself after having some issues with trying to create competitive RPs. This has become less of the case now though that I've gotten better at creating RPs where being on opposing sides doesn't always create a competitive atmosphere.

In Gunpowder, which is becoming my go to example a lot I'm noticing haha, a lot of the posts are JPs by Fox and Sonata whose characters are on opposite sides of the law but have developed a bizarre alliance.