Why you should consider creating a villain for your next RPG character and how to ensure it's safe at the table.
I’m currently sitting in a really nice tea place in my city drinking a roasted, mint matcha. It’s quiet, snowing, and altogether a peaceful day. So, naturally, I decided to write about villainy.
I — The Nature of Villainy
The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.
What a wonderful first sentence by Stephen King. The Gunslinger is the first of King’s Dark Tower series. It’s western, it’s fantasy, it’s sci-fi, it’s horror, and somehow it all works together without feeling gonzo. The titular gunslinger is a Clint Eastwood, man-with-no-name type. But unlike those heroes, the first time King’s gunslinger interacts with another human he contemplates killing him. An old man freely offers him shelter, food, and water. The gunslinger still wants to kill him. Why? Simply because it is easy, and it is safer for him to sleep that way.
This is villainy. Plain and simple. Rationalized by the gunslinger perhaps (the world has moved on), but murdering an old man without cause is beyond “kick the dog” level villainy. Even more villainous is the casualness with which he considers the murder. I admit, he does not end up killing the man, but even then it’s not a question he grapples with much.
Instead the two begin to talk. The gunslinger asks the old man if he has heard of the town of Tull. The old man answers yes. The gunslinger tells him “I killed it.”
Have you seen Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood (2010)? It was panned for its overly gritty, modern action and Saving Private Ryan take on medieval warfare. But it had a really interesting take on Robin Hood that I have not seen before. Some depictions of Hood have him born of nobility, others he is a member of the yeoman class. In Scott’s film, he is a common archer who later impersonates the noble Loxley. He lays claim to a noble’s lands, riches, and even his wife. While he treats them with respect, the act is still morally dubious at best.
However my favorite part follows a brawl in the army camp where the King in disguise is accidentally struck. He deems Robin an honest man for admitting to starting the fight and begins to question him.
What is your opinion of my crusade? Will God be pleased with my sacrifice?
Robin answers no, citing the Massacre at Ayyadieh and declares all of the army, including himself, godless for the murder of unarmed women and children. Gone is the peppy, tight-wearing, bright-green archer of Sherwood Forest. Here is a penniless killer who impersonates nobles.
Sandor Clegane, The Hound, is a favorite character for many Game of Thrones fans. For the purpose of this analysis I’m only considering the HBO show’s character, not the book character (who is far darker). His crimes include beating innocent children, kidnapping innocent children, murdering innocent children, and other children related villainy.
Despite this, he ends up as a pseudo-father figure for Arya Stark, saving her from a massacre and protecting her from Frey and Lannister soldiers. When a Septon saves the dying Hound, he tells the Septon that he should have been punished for his crimes. Clegane goes on to help build a new sept and defend the North from White Walkers at great personal risk.
Prior to his last confrontation with his brother, the Hound convinces Arya that Cersei will die to Daenarys’s dragonfire and she should give up revenge, flee the city, and continue to live. He is committed to his revenge, and his death. He does what he can to repent and convinces another to not make his same mistakes.
II — Against Anti-Heroes
We are not discussing anti-heroes here. The above characters are not flawed, but ultimately heroic. Each has committed villainous acts which they cannot defend, and they know it too. The thing they have in common though is that they want to, or learn to, do better. Their stories are about trying to make up for their villainy, and bar that, bettering those around them.
They often fall short.
These are my favorite types of characters. Perhaps that says something about my psyche, but I find most anti-heroes fairly heroic but, oh no! they have one dark trait. Or some imperfection, like they’re selfish or just mean. Han Solo is sometimes cited as an anti-hero that turns into a true hero when he returns to help the rebellion. And look, I like Han Solo, but he’s pretty heroic to begin with. I would also want money to pay off my bounty if hunters like Boba Fett were after my head. Pretty reasonable to try and avoid being frozen into a big rock sculpture.
III — My Villains
When I play tabletop RPGs, I almost always start as a villain. Then when I play, I think to myself, how can I do better? Here are some examples:
- Jack, a pirate.
I wrote a long, fantastical and clearly exaggerated backstory from Jack’s POV in a nautical-looking journal. Some of his acts may be viewed as heroic, but for the most part he only took actions that benefitted himself. He was a murderer, he abandoned his family, and he was eventually imprisoned for years. The campaign began with a sort of “work release” where he would act as a guide for an expedition. He only agreed to leave because of a letter from his wife revealing his daughter had run off to the Southern Isles where this expedition was heading. In his first truly good act in years, he joined the expedition to get a chance to go and find his daughter. - Zachariah “Spade” Bridges, a mech pilot outlaw.
A character for a short Lancer campaign. He was born the son of a notorious outlaw and raised in his gang. They abandoned him when he was sick, and he later becomes a deputy. He killed when the sheriff told him to. They called him hero. He didn’t see why. He shot the sheriff when he tried to take a woman. They called him a villain. He didn’t see why. He fled and rejoined his father’s gang. He convinced himself he only kills law enforcement in self-defense. He ignored that his thefts provoked them. Spade fell in love with the Madam of a Bordello, and as the years passed he tried to settle down there to his gang’s chagrin. Waking one morning from a drunken stupor, Spade found a member of his gang had accidentally killed the Madam while drunk. Unable to remember who is responsible, Spade killed every member and when authorities investigated, they assumed he died in the gunfight as well. Twenty years passed. Spade’s beard was long and grey. He saw a starship of Lancers recruiting on the edge of town and signed up. Nothing left to lose. Maybe he would do something worth doing. - Ælfward, a ranger.
A character for a friend’s low fantasy game. As a young and ineffective hunter, Ælfward accidentally killed a forest spirit. As it lay dying, it announced he was now responsible for the protection of all forests and ordered him to make a bow, cloak, and knife from its bones and skin. Ælfward aged unnaturally slowly, giving him plenty of time to regret his crime. Later, in his folly, he helped the empire in a war with Giants. Trusting they wouldn’t expand their reach and logging if the Giant threat was eliminated, he guided imperial forces to a reclusive chieftain. With the chieftain killed the war ended. But the Empire lied, and expanded. The campaign began with a request from the villagers of Forge. Giants raided their village and promised to return again soon. Ælfward decided to come to their aid. Maybe to help protect the Giants and find peace. Maybe that’s a lie he told himself though. The truth is: he had killed Giants before, and he could kill Giants again.
And now, an admission: these characters may not be villains, but they do view themselves as villains. You may view them as villains. Certainly some of their actions are villainous, but does that a villain make? I’ll leave that conclusion to you reader.
When I play a “villain” like this though, it forces me to reflect on my actions in a way that playing a hero doesn’t. So many tables struggle with murderous player characters who are supposedly “good” or heroic. I have never had this problem while playing as a villain. Even when my villainous character chooses an easier, darker path, it is a conscious choice made with the full context that they’ve been there before. It’s much harder to murder when you’ve already done it and decided to try and move past it.
In the game with Ælfward, our party ended up brokering peace with the giants. It was harder, far more dangerous, and ultimately Ælfward had to offer himself up with the knowledge that the Giants were likely to kill him and he would never return to his tortoise wife (a Witch turned her into a tortoise of course). The adventure my GM was running was very much set up to provoke a violent confrontation with the Giants, but because of my character’s villainous backstory, I pushed extra hard to try and avoid that.
Some of you may notice a similarity to knife theory, a concept where players provide the GM with “knives” that the GM can use to “stab” your character down the road. Knife theory is really a way of just saying “this is my character’s emotional stakes in the game”, whereas what I am proposing here is a way to give yourself emotional stakes to think about as you roleplay.
IV — Crafting a Villain
I’m not saying playing a villain will make you a great roleplayer, or make your character act like a better person. I will say that it encourages me to weigh my actions in imaginary games more heavily than I normally would. If you’re curious, here’s how you should go about creating a villain for your next game.
- Establish your Villainy
Decide what you care about in the present (people, place, or thing), then write how you wronged it in the past. This should be an actual, indisputable act of villainy. - Create a Flaw
All good characters have flaws, but your villain needs at least one flaw tied to their crime. If you were a mercenary fighting wars for wealth, you could be greedy or apathetic to violence. - Decide how you will Repent
In your present day, you should want to find a way to try and repent your crime (even if this is impossible). I knew the game with Ælfward would feature a conflict with Giants, so I wrote into his backstory an instance where he wronged Giants. The Hound kills an innocent, young boy early in A Game of Thrones and later goes out of his way to protect Arya, a child. The present behavior does not erase the past, but it’s not trying to. It’s about repenting and moving forward.
V — Villains at the Table
I want to be clear as you read this: I am not recommending you play some murderous, thieving, edgelord who does whatever they want and ends up initiating PvP and siding with the Big Bad because “muahahahaha”. I am advocating for playing a character with a villainous past, who no longer wants to be a villain. They may become an anti-hero, but they do not start there.
Some folks may still feel uneasy with this premise for a character, so here’s some advice that you must strictly follow:
Play a villain…
- when you feel comfortable with the idea that your character has performed horrible acts in the past
- when you are at a table of friends that you trust
- in games with darker or more serious genres/settings
Don’t play a villain…
- when the idea stresses you
- when you are playing with strangers
- in games with light-hearted, campy, or casual genres/settings
When you play a villain, do…
- get buy-in from your GM
- put effort into your backstory
- apologize and possibly rewind if you upset other players
- try to be better
When you play a villain, don’t…
- break safety rules with your table
- use this an excuse to say vile shit
- engage in PvP unless the table has consented at the start of the game
- ever say “it’s what my character would do” when someone at your table is upset
If you’re still concerned with the concept, I can’t blame you. I listen to NADDPOD’s Dungeon Court podcast and oh my god there are so many fucked up people out there playing RPGs. This advice is strictly for mature adults at trusting tables!
If you end up making a villain and enjoy the experience, feel free to send me a message about the character and how the game went.
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The Dolent Chronicle is an RPG blog produced by Dante Nardo. If you liked this post, please consider sharing it on whatever doomed planes you reside.