A Newbie's Pocket Guide to Villainy RP

[Merkaken 516]

So, You've Decided To Be Evil...

 

So, you've decided to join the long tradition of various people on LotC and become evil. Great! However, it is rather easy for every villain to be swept along the massive stream of cookie cutter cultists, sadists, and all around villains.

 

Say you've just made a character. What's their backstory?

 

Is he/she a master thief? Someone who craves blood and must cover themselves in it? Someone who will go into the middle of Felsen and cut down a helpless child before they can even reach for their mother and then cackle and proclaim yourself the king of evil?!

 

If so, stop, look at yourself, and realize you have done something very wrong. It's true, lots of villains are murderers. But just being someone who kills people just for the sake of killing people is about as original as Michael Bay's films. Quite simply, it's not.

 

If you intend on this character being someone the people know, recognize and fear, know that there is a MASSIVE amount of work that will be going into it.

 

How to start

There are no villains who start off from birth being evil (Depending on your point of view, of course). You don't come out of the womb swinging a butcher's knife at daddy and trying to carve up your sister. There should be a reason for your evilness. Did your father beat you? Were you raised around crime? Have to steal to survive? While these are not particularly unique areas in which to base your villain, they are the starting point. Very rarely is there one event in which sends you straight into the mind of a mad man. You must ease into it, not just say "My parents didn't love me, so now I have to cut your throat!". That's just not believable, original, or fun.

 

Perhaps, start off simple. Your father beat you, so it made you have a negative outlook on life, perhaps you feel insignificant, worthless. Roleplay with that for a bit. Then, perhaps you get into a barfight, or a street brawl, and enjoy how much it feels hitting others. The point is to make progress somewhat slower, more natural, step by step heading towards your goal to be a villain. I guarantee it is far more interesting.

 

Roleplaying the Villain

Roleplaying a truly amazing villain can be very difficult. Do not be afraid to make mistakes and experiment. Get creative with the roleplay, whether it's with magic or just a regular old person. However, there are a few key things to truly make your villainy great and stand apart from the others.

1. Villainy roleplay is not solely about you, it is about the person you are committing.
2. Make sure people are comfortable with what is happening.
3. DO. NOT. KILL.

 

Villainy Roleplay isn't about you

Villainy roleplay isn't just about you, or even majorly about you. It's about your target. If they are not having fun, you have failed your job as a villain. Ensure that people involved are enjoying themselves. While it is mainly about your target, you also should try to have fun as well. Just make sure you don't make it about just you and ruin it for everyone else involved.

Make sure people are comfortable

Not everyone enjoys the very descriptive and gory RP. If things start turning to torture, meaning sawing off limbs, gouging out eyes, things like that, or even before hand, ask them if they are comfortable with torture RP. If at any point someone says they are not comfortable with the RP happening, stop. Again, don't ruin others RP so you can enjoy yourself and your RP.

 

DO NOT KILL

Know that rule that says once you die in RP or PVP, you lose all memory of your attacker and the events that took place during your death? Whelp, guess what happens to the RP experience of the player who is being tortured and then is killed? Yep, that all goes right out the window. If they wish to progress their character, and you wish to have them enjoy the experience, how can they if their character's memory just goes poof? There is nothing learned, nothing gained, and no fun. Besides, what's more terrifying? Some guy throwing a corpse with its throat cut at you or a living person crawling at you with no eyes or legs trying to beg for help but cannot because they have no tongue?

 

Now, obviously, you don't have to go THAT far. But who will tell the people of your horrors if no one can spread the message? Not to mention, if you leave them alive, that furthers their character's motivation.

 

One final note on being evil: Do not be flashy about it if you can avoid it. If you're being a villain, don't make it obvious. Don't say it, don't hint at it, don't leave bread crumbs (Unless you're using your villain as an event character). A true villain will keep his nature under wraps, able to decieve those around him, having others believe he is nothing more than a simple peasant. Of course, there may com a time in which your bloody past catches up with you. In which case, you may wish to lay low. Or go out in a blaze of bloody glory.

 

 

FAQ

None yet!

 

 

Have any comments? Questions? Suggestions? Post below! Hope you enjoyed this guide! Happy hunting!

[Smaw 2368]

I like this post. It was needed, and highlights some of the key issues with most of the "Villain" RP on this server.

[AGiantPie 3169]

My guide;

 

Don't do it.

[Taketheshot 3834]

******* finally someone said it!!! THANK YOU!!

[excited 10833]

My guide; villainy is majorly about you and the impact you make, not the individual you're RPing with. It's hardly about their enjoyment nor should that be the main focus, nobody enjoys losing -- the impact of your decisions count and matter. 

[TavernLich 324]

1 hour ago, Aerial said:

My guide; villainy is majorly about you and the impact you make, not the individual you're RPing with. It's hardly about their enjoyment nor should that be the main focus, nobody enjoys losing -- the impact of your decisions count and matter. 

 

I’ll have to strongly disagree with this, PD. The moment a villain starts RPing for himself and directs RP majorly about himself and the impact he makes, which is what you are saying, they lose the fundamental ability to actually create or add to a story, which is what villainy and the entirety of LotC SHOULD be about. No one forces you to be a villain and when you become one then you admit to being a catalyst or agent for RP, driving it and allowing it to change and ultimately become dynamic. In this aspect, when you say that “it’s hardly about their enjoyment,” their being the victims or the general population, and say “nobody enjoys losing,” then you’ve essentially made villainy RP more about individual gain and winning and losing, which it is NOT. While a villain’s “decisions count and matter”  it should not undermine the importance of the victim. Keep in mind that your ideals may be worthwhile in a world where people are expendable but in LotC, where the mass population is comprised of a couple or few hundred players, that way of thinking will always cease to work and will inevitably collapse in on itself, which frankly as a GM and an (ex?) ET you should know a lot about.

 

DISCLAIMER: This was not meant to offend in any way. 

[excited 10833]

8 minutes ago, Redxophos said:

 

I’ll have to strongly disagree with this, PD. The moment a villain starts RPing for himself and directs RP majorly about himself and the impact he makes, which is what you are saying, they lose the fundamental ability to actually create or add to a story, which is what villainy and the entirety of LotC SHOULD be about. No one forces you to be a villain and when you become one then you admit to being a catalyst or agent for RP, driving it and allowing it to change and ultimately become dynamic. In this aspect, when you say that “it’s hardly about their enjoyment,” their being the victims or the general population, and say “nobody enjoys losing,” then you’ve essentially made villainy RP more about individual gain and winning and losing, which it is NOT. While a villain’s “decisions count and matter”  it should not undermine the importance of the victim. Keep in mind that your ideals may be worthwhile in a world where people are expendable but in LotC, where the mass population is comprised of a couple or few hundred players, that way of thinking will always cease to work and will inevitably collapse in on itself, which frankly as a GM and an (ex?) ET you should know a lot about.

 

DISCLAIMER: This was not meant to offend in any way. 

I didn't say anything about directing all the RP out about yourself, the impact being made however is the point of villainy. The point of being a villain is to drive role-play, and the victim is hardly important as opposed to the situation they've been forced into and victimized by. There are hundreds of potential victims in a role-play setting. 

[TavernLich 324]

4 minutes ago, Aerial said:

I didn't say anything about directing all the RP out about yourself, the impact being made however is the point of villainy. The point of being a villain is to drive role-play, and the victim is hardly important as opposed to the situation they've been forced into and victimized by. There are hundreds of potential victims in a role-play setting. 

 

Dude, you are basically saying that you can force villainy RP into another person’s face and they don’t matter so long as you make an “impact.” What’s the point of having RP if no one is having fun except you? And when you say hundreds of potential victims I hope you really do not believe that, what you are doing is belittling the average player in order to accomplish a scheme or some sort of “huge impact” plan. Which, by the way, has rarely worked out well in this server’s history because you are forgetting that your victim is another person behind another computer screen and if they don’t enjoy it you may as well not RP villainy. I’ve seen it happen way too many times, people just give up on RPing with villains because they don’t realize that the peasant they are trying to mess with wants enjoyable RP as much as the villain does. 

[AGiantPie 3169]

The moment a character is labeled a 'villain' is the point where the rp becomes unsalvageable. 

[E__V__O 1984]

I personally believe villain roleplay is about the person you're with and also yourself. It doesn't always have to have a reason why you engage in a villianous activity with the person nor could it be a potential for your character to grow as a person, sometimes it's just for the fun of it or you're in the wrong spot at the wrong time.

 

Villain roleplay is something that comes from the both, the villain might loose or the victim might loose. You should write a guide on "When is it the right time to loose in role play" as that'll be a better concept to write then a general "Villain guide". It should be fun for both sides, not adjusting your role play to fit for someone else. 

 

People need to learn how to loose a fight then rather how they can win else that promotes powergaming and potential metagaming. As always if you don't like the role play you have some choices, give up, accept it or just walk away.

 

No one can force you to roleplay.

[zaezae 1097]

51 minutes ago, AGiantPie said:

The moment a character is labeled a 'villain' is the point where the rp becomes unsalvageable. 

Yeah, all good plots lack villains and antagonists. 

[Cave_Creature 466]

This server is about people, not villains or heroes. People are people, evil is subjective, and hurting others doesn't make you a bad person automatically. And role play between anyone should be equal, not done in favor of one party or the other.

[AlmondTree 418]

8 hours ago, Merkaken said:

Villainy Roleplay isn't about you

Yes it is, it's 50/50. I had this mentality that you seem to have that villainy should only be to provide but..what's the point then? We are all here because we choose to spend our time here to have fun, if what you suggest villains do is to only provide fun and not getting then why spend time here? Highly disagree with this.

 

8 hours ago, Merkaken said:

DO NOT KILL

Disagree here as well, it is all up to the character and the situation. You would not in a sane mind leave a witness if you are doing a serious crime. Petty robbery yes. If you like my character is a witch then no you kill, you kill to survive. In my characters case she does not want fear to be spread, she wants to survive, there are many example of this in dark arts.

 

8 hours ago, Merkaken said:

One final note on being evil: Do not be flashy about it if you can avoid it. If you're being a villain, don't make it obvious. Don't say it, don't hint at it, don't leave bread crumbs

Feels like the point of this is to simply undermine villainy when you say "DO NOT KILL" but at the same time mention to not leave and loose ends. I do not understand this.

[WuHanXianShi14 0]

1 hour ago, AGiantPie said:

The moment a character is labeled a 'villain' is the point where the rp becomes unsalvageable. 

Don't make a character for the sole purpose of being a villain. Make a character who has a distinct personality, motivation and goals and let him then develop organically. Making a character for the sole purpose of being a villain often leads to one-dimensional boring-ness.

 

 

[excited 10833]

1 hour ago, Redxophos said:

 

Dude, you are basically saying that you can force villainy RP into another person’s face and they don’t matter so long as you make an “impact.” What’s the point of having RP if no one is having fun except you? And when you say hundreds of potential victims I hope you really do not believe that, what you are doing is belittling the average player in order to accomplish a scheme or some sort of “huge impact” plan. Which, by the way, has rarely worked out well in this server’s history because you are forgetting that your victim is another person behind another computer screen and if they don’t enjoy it you may as well not RP villainy. I’ve seen it happen way too many times, people just give up on RPing with villains because they don’t realize that the peasant they are trying to mess with wants enjoyable RP as much as the villain does. 

That's my point entirely, because villainous or evil actions are shoving it in their face and it doesn't matter unless there's an impact, if there's no impact it won't be remembered and they won't tread with more caution.