This is the one- The big bad, the doctor evil, the emperor, The Thanos, the greater demon prince, the Red Dragon, the god. This is the person who has slaughtered their way into the PC's hearts. This is the top shelf scotch of evil. Writing a compelling villain can be tough. You don't want them to be cookie cutter bad guy who is interested in wealth and power for its own sake. A compelling villain will have a motivation that is very human. Here are some things to remember when crafting your big bad. In the beginning, you may not even have a big bad yet. You might have a false trail to someone who isn't the final evil. This is all fine.
1. Define roughly their motivation. Are they seeking an ancient magic to stave off death? Are they trying to unite nine temples in order to open a dimensional prison to release the rest of his or her kind? Is he trying to kill the god responsible for the flooding of his village? Is he trying to destroy everything his emperor father built? Is he trying to unite the people under one banner before he lets a host of parasites into their food supply to supplicate them? A compelling villain started with good intentions, but along their way, they crossed a line and never looked back. A truly amazing feat if you can pull it off is to craft a final villain out of the pc's actions. Find the one person they screwed over in their incessant search for rainbows and golden happiness, and give them a grudge...and power.
2. Know their philosophy. Every villain should have a rough philosophy on life. Think of it as alignment from DND. It should be a rough set of morals or lack thereof. This will help inform what tactics this villain uses. Is he brutal but spares children? Are her forces comprised entirely of robots because he doesn't trust organics? Does he always leave a calling card behind? Philosophy should be informed by her past. This will help cement this NPC in your head, and begin show tracking patterns for the pc's to follow. It should be noted that some villains won't leave a trail, and won't have a discernible motivation. You can do this purposefully, just to keep the pc's on their toes. So long as you keep a strong motivation. Even the Joker has a motivation, and a philosophy.
3. Know roughly what they can do: You should have a rough idea of what class or species informs the majority of their powers. Are they a magic user? A powerful fighter? Do they command a mighty starship? Are they a dragon in disguise? Are they an ex mercenary with full conversion cybernetics? Its important to only know one thing in the beginning, the pc's can't kill him yet.
4. What are the forces they control? What do their minions look like? Do they have entire clans of giants under their sway? Do they control a hives of hunter killer drones, swarming from asteroids to destroy unsuspecting ships? Are they master shadowmancers, commanding ethereal spirits to murder everyone wearing green shoes? Do their forces shift and change, implying the conquering of other species and organizations?
5.What ground do they control? Are they the leader of an entire nation? Do they have fortresses spread out across the mountains? Do they command a fleet and their own starport? Do they travel through dimensional rifts to destroy their enemies? Are they spreading grave blight over the land to nourish and maintain his forces? Defining some of the ground they control will help you form an idea of the resources at their command.
6. How does this guy get around? The more mobile you make this NPC, the better. They should be able to get away most of the time until the end. In case the pc's do get the drop on this girl (trust me, they will try). Do they teleport? Do they have the ability to transfer their consciousness into a living vessel? Do they slip in and out of reality? Or do they have a super fast car (don't make it a car)?
7. Final showdown- You should have a rough idea of how the final showdown is going to go, and where it will happen. It will excite you about the game and the journey. Be prepared to throw this out, because no plan survives contacts with the pc's.
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