Your Favorite Villain

[RoloGutwein]

I haven't had a lot of exposure to other people's Star Wars campaigns- my own existed in a kind of 'vacuum' in the middle of South Dakota. Therefore, I am always curious about the way other people have run them.

In this case, I want to know:

Who was/is the most memorable (effective?, dramatic?) villain in your Star Wars campaigns? And why?

I'll start it off with a few my own:

Lord Stromm was my first home-brew villain. Essentially a less powerful version of Vader. Big guy, scary black armor (based it off of the Dead Boy armor from the Rifts RPG). Yes. I know. Very cliche. But what made him really memorable was the fact that he very quickly became a 'joke' to my players. Due to downright bad luck (bad rolls on my part) he seemed to get his butt kicked EVERY time he went up against the players. Thus, my 'big bad' became just 'sad'. And you know what? That's alright. My players STILL remember him to this day.

Rina Nothos. For those familiar with the original D6 adventure modules, Rina Nothos was the niece of Bane Nothos (from Strike Force: Shantpole, Otherspace and Otherspace II). She was one of those rare, competent imperial officers. I specifically designed her and her crew to function like an adventuring party- only evil. They clashed with my players on numerous occasions- and more than once, they soundly defeated my players. Again, the party felt a great deal of personal enmity with Rina and her crew and their final clash will be will remembered.

Lord Qar. After the abject failure of Stromm, I created Qar (pronounced 'kar'). I decided he would be the exact opposite of the Stromm/Vader archetype. Though his origins go back to the early 90's, his personality can probably best be summed up as the character 'Reaver' from the Fable II and III video games: foppish, arrogant, narcissistic, sociopathic, completely amoral, lewd, lascivious, dangerously 'playful' and quite amusingly terrifying. I almost picture liberace with a lightsaber (though perhaps with not so many rhinestones). He was particularly frustrating in that 'joker' kind of a way. There was very little you could do that would 'hurt' him, as he found life itself to be a rather pointless thing—something to play with in an attempt to stave off boredom.

Anyway, those are just my top three. How about you folks?

[Whill]

Ah, so many over the years! The more memorable ones for my players (and thus me also) are some of the the reoccuring villains over the course of a campaigns, but there are a few catagories to consider.

* The boss type of villains that are manipulating events that effect the PCs, often behind-the-scenes until some final confrontation. Crime bosses, Imperial officers, etc. But some of these often aren't the best because they remain known but invisible throughout the campaign until the climax.

* I personally enjoy the boss villains where their identity is not known to the players more. There existance is eventually discovered but it is an ongoing mystery to discover their true identity. This is the type of drama used by Lucas in the prequels: The "phantom menace" was the Master Sith Lord manipulating things from the shadows (of course this drama was not nearly as effective for those of us who had seen the sequels and realized that Darth Sidious was Palpatine before it was explicitely revealed in the third film). So in the game, as long as the players don't know the identity of the phantom, this is a lot of fun and can be very memorable. I've done this few times to great effect as players get more into the mystery as it gets closer to the climactic clash with the villain.

* Then there is the reoccuring villains that do interact with the PCs more directly. These aren't as insolated by the plot so the danger is that the PCs may get lucky and take them out earlier than you intended (it's happened). Perhaps the most memorable for me is the first villain I ever created, a Twi'lek named Treet who was revealed to be the main antagonist of the first adventure of my first campaign. He was a freelance spy who worked for he Empire, criminal organizations, or anyone (even opposing interests) who paid for his services. His quotation was "Trick or Treet" although it more accurately would have been Treet and Trick. Because of his many dealings he would pop up in several different adventures. I have used variations of this character in multiple campaigns.

Another memorable reoccuring antagonist was one that was not originally planned to be, a film character, Dr. Evizan (the bully with the messed-up face who tried to pick a fight with Luke in the cantina in ANH). I only used him in one campaign, a solo-PC campaign that broke-off from a group campaign that had ended. I first used him just for fun and expected him to get killed, but he survived so I used him again several adventures later where he survived that encounter too. So it became a joke to have him show up as a mercenary outlaw taking various jobs that put him into contact with the PC in crazy ways. The player seems to enjoy playing his PC as annoyed, "Him again?!" and I played Dr. Evizan the same way (so the PC and him became arch-nemeses of each other). I think the campaign ended before any final confrontation occured, but the last one I remember was where the PC was killing time for a mission in his ship docked in a starport, and decided to order a pizza for dinner. Who was the pizza delivery guy that showed up knocking on the hatch? Dr. Evizan's reputation as a screw-up in the underworld from being foiled so many times by the PC had reduced him to be a low-grade spice dealer with a pizza delivery job. Needless to say the confrontation escalated and a firefight broke out in the starport and that severely complicated a Rebel mission that was supposed to be cake. Good times.

I used the Fett-wanna-be Jodo Kast as a reoccuring villain in a couple campaigns because so many players think Boba Fett is so cool but they can't eventually kill him if the particular campaign maintains continuity with the films. Also, Kast is a lower-powered version of Fett so the players have a much better chance of survival. But like Dr. Evizan, I didn't create this character either.

* Then there is the rare reoccuring villain that actually changes sides and joins the PCs' cause in the climactic confrontation. I haven't used that one that much because I didn't want to over play the "Vader/redepmtion" card too much.

I remember I had a Wookiee bounty hunter who had lost his honor (trimmed his fur and wore clothes to boot) and worked for the crime boss the PCs had gotten into trouble with at the beginning of the campaign. After a PC was separated from the group he got into a final confrontation with the Wookiee alone, the PC tried to rekindle his sense of honor. After narrowly avoiding death and then getting the upper hand (likely with the help of a Force Point), the PC mortally wounded the Woookiee. Surprising the other players and myself, the player declared that he was going to attempt to save the Wookiees life. When I asked the player why, he didn't try to metagame and instead admitted that he thought their group could use his help escaping from the crime boss base - the Wookiee may be inspired by the act of kindness from someone who he tried to kill and that might bring him back to the "Wookiee side" by feeling that he owed a life dept to the player's PC. Since the Wookiee had clearly turned his back on Wookiee culture, it was a gamble and the dramatic clock was ticking for the PC to get back with the group and escape. Feeling that was creative thinking and that helped the story, I allowed the player to roll an Alien Species check to confirm that his character knew that info about Wookiee culture, and he passed it (but he lost a round and the Wookiee was getting closer to dying). The first aid check was successful and the Wookiee stayed conscious long enough to tell the PC a secret exit from the complex they were in. The human PC had to figure out a way to lug a heavy unconscious Wookiee around because he could just leave him to die since the Wookiee had helped them. He did, and 7 out of 8 PCs in the group did destroy the crime boss and escape (the 8th simultaneously killing and being killed by Jodo Kast).

* The final catagory I'll mention is probably a rare one in gaming community and I haven't used this since 1990. In high school, I ran multiple campaigns at the same time (three at one point), but for the ease of reusing some of the adventures and NPCs, I declared them all to take place in alternate realities so I wouldn't have to maintain continuity between the campaign-worlds. Some of the players of the various groups were friends with players in the other groups (which is how more players wanted to play and I ran multiple groups in the first place). It became a common occurance in the players of different groups to compare their exploits and the characters themselves against each other in a friendly competative nature. So that sparked the idea of having antagonists in a campaign be alternate-reality-NPC-versions of PCs in other groups. That was very memorable for many players as they got to "take on" their reality's version of their friends' characters, sometimes on a reoccuring basis and sometimes once. Fun stuff.

And I have also used PCs from previous campaigns as villains in later campaigns (although the current players don't always know that). Those characters are memorable for me since I still used them a couple decades later.

In the campaign I am planning right now, one of the main villains is an evil-alternate-realitiy version of a Force-PC from my very first campaign (the PC ironically being one of the only Force-characters I have even ran that did not cross-over to the Dark Side before he died). The villain-NPC-version only appeared in one adventure many years ago where the original player of the hero was playing a different character against the evil-version of his former character, but the villain survived and is going to have a major comeback. The original hero was an alien with the appearance of a D&D elf with green skin, and the villain (Lord Kazan) is a red-skinned drow elf-looking dude. He is a completely maniacal renegade Sith Lord who is not above massacring entire sentient species or even destroying the universe in his quest for power.

[janus methedor]

Emoin Gul-Human-Old Sith: This guy is from the TOJ era around the time of the Freedomnad Uprising. Due to the way his life went he wanted to change the Galaxy into a Communistic-ish society were everyone would innately have some baseline survival. However he could enact his plan in the past so with a combination of life support systems and Hibernation Trance he slept until the rebellion Era. This guy was meant to be a villain where good intentions taken too far don't have good results.

In the beginning he was with the party and even taught one of the PCs, but he eventually broke off to make his own Empire (The Unity Dominion). This was in counter to some of my players building there own Star Nation. he only appeared about five times, but they were fun ones. The ultimate battle actually wasn't with him (he was a sub battle) it was with another player who during over half the campaign was setting everything up to destroy the a life in the Galaxy(notes below). Emoin with his fount of powers actually helped in the final confrontation.As a person he was Emotionally driven, just wanting family and a stable environment. By the end his Dominion was disbanded.
His Force stats were (by the End) Control 11D Sense 11D Alter 12D Sith Sword Combat/Parry 13D+1/11D (with Sith combat up: 24D+1/22D)



Nymph (Nymphallia) Ario-Twi'lek-Cyborg-PC: She believed that the Galaxy itself was needing rescue from all of the ambient evil known as people. It's all very complex, but needless to say it was a battle of three ideologies.

Campaign: A changing Universe
The Star Wars Universe turned out rather differently in my game. The Emperor is dead, now sealed in a Force artifact. The Empire's Warlord Era had been kick started Early. The PCs have created their own small Empire in the Outer rim starting from the Tempresto planet (The Teryidactal species from the scout book). The Hapans thanks to some devious planning got involved with Galactic affairs. The rebel Alliance was further en shambles than it all ready was thanks to Unity Dominions War. The various sides sought a Celestial ship which slightly after the end was destroyed. And, the funny thing is... by the very End the PCs Star Nation genesised the New Republic.

(Sorry for the low quality summaries The entire game was rather complex and at times ... strange)

[brettski]

Villains!!! Do I select the fun Dr. Evil type villain who gives his schemes away to the players just as he’s about to capture them, or the small, quiet , unassuming type who ends up becoming the unexpected Combat-Monster? So many varieties of Antagonists to choose from in the Star Wars universe I love it. Let’s face it, every campaign needs that “Final Boss” archetype, it’s just a matter of what suits the theme or feel of your campaign. One of the standard jokes from my players (and it still happens to this day!) is that when the villains I run are revealed, the music often “changes” much like it did when you went up against the final stage bosses in the old school, classic 8-bit Nintendo games.

My favorite Darksider/Force-User: Zallard the III – a Dark Jedi clone, lost and forgotten from the Clone Wars. He was entombed in Carbonite when my players stumbled across him when their Freighter unexpectedly had their Hyperdrive malfunction. His Carbonite-slab was found among the wreckage of an old Republic-era cruiser and once they “thawed” him out, he agreed to help tutor one of my players who was playing a Young Jedi. After some hiccups in her training, and once Zallard’s sinister nature was reveled, he attacked the players and fled only to become a reoccurring villain who aided a local Pirate Lord (A Chiss - same species as Grand Admiral Thrawn) who my Smuggler was in debt to. The Pirate Lord also had a Mandalorian Warrior/Mercenary at his disposal and together, those three villains made my Player’s lives a living hell. Zallard never, ever used a Lightsaber and favored Force Lightning.

My favorite Con-Artist: Kay’all Navric (Coreillian) (or just Ka’y) an Older Brother to one of my oldest, longest running players – Ray played a former guild hunter, House Tresario turned independent Bounty Hunter because he was tired of sharing the cuts from his Bounties with his House. Ka’y would always show up during the most inappropriate of times, typically blowing a scheme they were planning or to trade information, which wasn’t always accurate if his prices weren’t met. They developed a history of constantly trying to out-do one another until Mithius (Ray’s character) blew up a Star Destroyer that contained an Imperial Admiral who was their father. Afterwards Ka’y formed a team of Bounty Hunters and went after Mithius because it was now personal.

My favorite Aliens: Kidjac the Hutt vs. Liyzzara Coft: Post-Return of the Jedi era Tatooine in my Universe saw much hardship due to these two Criminal empires warring against one another. These two HATED one another with a passion and my characters would often wind up caught in the middle. That is until they started becoming powerful enough to openly challenge the two established bosses and started their own, creative bid for power. Kidjac loved his wealth to the point where he felt the need to build a Skyhook in the middle of Mos Eisley just to “show off.” Liyzzara was a Faleen who desired to kill Kidjac herself over a personal humiliation which she received from my players who manipulated the blame over to Kidjac’s camp. Much fun was had with this setup!

Those are some of the few… over the years we had many, many more minor villains, minibosses and main villains who all had their plans thwarted one way or another. Some went as planned, most did not and I hear you on the bad die rolling!! Some of my most epic encounters were results of bad die rolling, typically as the result of my dice misbehaving. This is where we’d all have that laugh most gaming groups are familiar with, then I’d quickly say to my players, “no, no, no – this isn’t about me trying to kill you! This is about all of us telling a good story...”

[angel lord]

By far the best villain in my campaigns was actually a player's character, who started out as a Lieutenant and leader of the 'Rebel troubleshooting team'.

Quin was a softy who fell for the older of two twin sisters on his home world. Both were the daughters and apprentices of a Jedi in hiding, but when Vader came to call the father was killed. One daughter survived and escaped (as a character on the team) and the other was presumed dead. Only she wasn't dead of course, and she showed up right after the first story arc as a student of Lord Vader.

Quin's player was torn and came to me in secret to discuss options (Taking the GM out to the local family restaurant for coffee and a meal isn't a bad bribe btw) then came up with the idea to act as a spy and assassin for Tamara. We hashed out the details and then the player become more like an assistant GM than a normal player. Because his character was giving up the plans of the team only at just the right moments, they succeeded slightly more often than they failed - but it was played very well, and no one seemed to notice that some of the most important missions were losing propositions.

It all went well until Quin started knocking off members of the team, facilitated by using separate rooms to play in when the party split. Usually it was made to look accidental so that no one would suspect it was assassination, but after so many characters died even the most trusting became paranoid. If a player lost a character in this manner, then he was initiated into the hidden story, and given extra characters to run when needed.

At the end we had to bring everyone in on what was happening so we could decide how to resolve the betrayal. My players were awesome, and concocted a plan that basically insured that the group would be annihilated at the end. The very last member of the party died with a blaster shot to the back of the head. Quin went on to become the right hand to Tamara in the next campaign, and I told my players that they were welcome to create and run NPC's (with my approval) but we weren't going to have a PC villain again because it made extra work for me (although a good cheesecake bribe might have swayed me eventually).