AID for gamemastering Major Villains

No one is born a major villain, even if they are a staple of any fantasy setting. A major villain is not a
nemesis ; the latter is quite a « mirror image » of the playing character, with a similar level, for example his
main rival or his wicked twin. But a major villain can be completely different from the playing characters,
even « less powerful », statistically speaking.

A major villain has of course a « master plan ». If you use an Adventure Generator like the one in « Beasts &
Barbarians » for example, the category and the goal of the villain should be obvious, since it's the backbone
of the adventure itself. Otherwise, depending on the Villain's background, I can suggest :

– immoral scientifical experiment (mutants, philosopher's stone which would undermine the gold
standard...)
– trigger a war and lay the blame on the neighbour country
– major robbery or other felony
– assassination of a leader
- open a demonic portal

But how does one become a major villain ? Here are guidelines which you can use even with pre-existing
characters (ex. former allies of the Pcs....)

– A major villain is at least slightly powerful ; I mean he is not of « Level 1 » but has a minimum of
one completed level behind him. Nevertheless, a major villain is not obligatorily the highest ranking
character in the surroundings.
– If you use a system with « alignments », he'll be either « evil » or « chaotic », of course. Notice that
the major villain, even obsessed by his master plan, is not always « mad » from a psychiatric point of
view (he's not always a « gothic villain ») and may look, at first sight, like someone highly
respectable according to the standards of urban « civilization ».
– (what may be more surprising) : the Major Villain has no « benny » nor « fate point ». On the
contrary, this lack thereof is his incentive to achieve his master plan (whose completion shall reward
him with such a benny...)

The consequences of these preconditions are that the Major Villain, in order to reach his goal, has the power
to attract a retinue of « followers ». Depending on the game system you are using, taylor the values to that
principle :

In a « percentile » system (a value measured on 100), the Villain shall be able to attract a number of
« henchmen » equal to his percentile value of « Charism » or « Commanding Power » (take the most
appropriate value). Likewise, he has a number of « Lieutenants » equal to the tenth of that value. For
example, a Major Villain with « 40 » in « Commanding Power » shall have 40 Henchmen and 4 Lieutenants.

If you have to handle the recruiting period, consider it takes one Month and 200 gold coins. (But money
mustn't be an unsurmoutable obstacle : the villain might benefit from wealthy supporters and moneylenders).

« Henchmen » are basic 1st level followers, « mookies » or « cannon fodders » who will sacrifice their lives
for their master (unless something very powerful makes them change their minds).

« Lieutenants » are (often) skilled non-playing characters. A major villain shall have at least one « right
hand », i.e. his most trusted/efficient/intimidating servant. He might be a mundane human with some high
capacities in a specific field (ex : fighting) or a semi-mutant/robot (think at Jaws, Oddjob in the « James
Bond movies »).

Other « lieutenants » may not be entirely loyal to the Major Villain but they « gravitate » around him, if the
course of the adventure implies this (see the « encounter table » below).
The first category are « beautiful foils », i.e. « beautiful » characters that are « sexually » attractive to the
playing character ; this may apply to the major villain but not necessarily so, this may be another kind of
« love », for example, the story's beautiful foil is the daughter of the evil tyrant.
Beyond romance, a beautiful foil is an interesting concept in the story's development if the playing character
has to rely more on his physical appearance than on his fighting abilities.

The other category are « technicians », i.e. people very skillful in one field that serves the villain's objective.
The technician might not be aware of his employer's evil scheme and therefore be honestly loyal to him. For
example, in a modern setting, imagine a great scientist entirely dedicated to the construction of the first
fusion power plant ever, who doesn't realise that the villain is more interested in getting thermonuclear
bombs.

Therefore, arrange the different statuses of « lieutenants » according to the guidelines set in this document :
no more than two « right hands », beautiful foils and technicians according to the requirements of the
« encounter tables » ; if any remaining « slots », consider there are « pets » or « robots » (ie. no real NPCs) .

It is quite possible that, at the beginning of an adventure, the heroes don't know who the major villain is,
where he is, or that he is actually a villain. They'll have to lead their investigation to uncover both the villain
and his evil master plan. The following encounters tables are from the « James Bond rpg » by Victory
Games. I cannot reproduce here the full contents of the chapter on encounters, but the two following tables
may give you a clue on how to prepare a game session. The « hot area » is the area directly linked to the
villain's lair/place where he's about to perform his master plan, while cold areas are places not directly linked
to it (though they may not be very distant and contain some interesting evidence).

(of course, these results must be adapted to your fantasy universe)

So, the gamemaster shall roll two encounters for « cold areas » and one for the « hot area ». These pre-
generated events shall help the playing character in uncovering the master plan. For example, I rolled
« soldiers » (i.e. Basic henchmen) and a Beautiful Foil (though not directly linked to the Villain, according to
the details given for this roll in the « James Bond rpg » but it will « spice up » the adventure) for the cold
areas ; and the Privileged Henchman (right hand) for the hot one. Imagine the Major Villain has a mansion
downtown and 40/100 as « Commanding Power ». This beautiful foil and these henchmen shall be
encountered in other parts of the city, while the Privileged Lieutenant will be in the mansion or its vicinity.
These two rolls (Beautiful Foil & Privileged Lieutenant) count again the « 4 » limit for the « major
lieutenants », so that there are still 2 slots left. These could be dangerous animals or aberrations found in the
mansion or in its backyard garden....

Major Villians consider themselves as geniuses and want to convince the rest of the world of this. When the
playing character, as always happens in James Bond movies (but not only, remember in the Conan movie the
speech of Thulsa Doom, including the suicide of a cult member in front of Conan, in order to belittle him : «
It's me who gave you that force, but you wasted it ! »), is prisoner of the Major Villain, the latter must
succeed a Will or will expose in a lengthy self-praise most of his Master plan to the hero, with a lot of details
that he shall take advantage of if he can escape later (or during the speech).

Finally, we've seen that Major Villains have no Bennies/Fate points ; for this reason, they have at least one
« trick » to help them escape the final ordeal with the playing character. These are examples found for
sorcerers in the « Secrets of Skelos » of the Conan RPG by Mongoose and can be adapted to any setting.
Once again, remember the final scene of the Conan movie : the Cimmerian faces Thulsa Doom who tries to
make him believe he is his « real » father but the Barbarian resists and simply decapitates the evil sorcerer
(who obviously hadn't any « Benny/Fate point » anymore!).

1. Flame-powder (or Kothic demon-fi re, or Acheronian

demon-fi re, or blue devil’s fl ame, depending on the skill
of the sorcerer), coupled with an especially fl ammable
wall-hanging and a hidden rope that causes the hanging
to fall on attackers.
2. A false panel in a chest or wall, which conceals a
weapon or magical device.
3. A ring with a poison needle, coated in Purple Lotus
Juice.
4. A gemstone that the sorcerer offers to a dishonourable
character as a ransom. (Possibly a globe of Yezud or globe
of the amber serpent.)
5. Claiming to know a secret of the player characters. ‘I
know who your true father is!’ ‘I know who killed your
lover!’
6. Offering to serve the characters as their abject slave.
7. The characters have not actually caught the sorcerer at
all – it is a decoy, a slave disguised as the sorcerer (or, at
higher levels, an alchemical duplicate).
8. The sorcerer reveals a chest of gold and jewels hidden
in his sanctum. The gold is poisoned (or cursed).
9. The sorcerer screams that he knows the curse of Yizil
and will use it if attacked.
10. The sorcerer opens a cabinet, and a swarm of
poisonous spiders scuttle out.
11. The sorcerer claims that he has prisoners or slaves
hidden in a secret vault in his sanctum – if the characters
slay him, they are condemning those prisoners to starve
to death.
12. The sorcerer begs a fi nal boon before the characters
slay him – a draught of wine. The wine is actually a
potion that makes the sorcerer appear to be dead, so
it looks as though the sorcerer committed suicide with
poison rather than die at the hands of the characters.
13. Claiming to have trapped the soul of one of the
character’s loved ones. ‘Slay me, and she will never love
you!’
14. Escaping through a secret passage.
15. Loosing a wild animal, like a pack of dogs or nest of
serpents on the characters.
16. Throwing a handful of leaves on a brazier, fi lling the
room with thick smoke.
17. Suddenly revealing some secret that one of the player
characters thought was known to him alone. ‘That man
there – he is the one who betrayed you to the King of
Koth!’
18. A voice rings out from a statue, saying ‘I am a god
– this man is under my protection, and ye shall not harm
him.’ The voice is actually a dwarf servant of the sorcerer,
hiding in a hollow statue. If the characters fail to fall
for the ruse, then the dwarf goes to the backup plan of
bursting out of the statue waving knives.
19. The sorcerer vanishes in plain sight – he was never
there at all, and the last several minutes or hours were all
a lotus-dream.
20. The sorcerer risks severing the silver cord that binds
his soul to his body. His body becomes an empty husk,
which will starve to death. His spirit wanders the world
until it fi nds a way to affect the physical
realm again.

(note : for another kind of « villain », the « gothic villain », look at Joseph Manola's excellent
post : http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2019/03/new-bx-class-gothic-villain.html ; IMO, this kind of villain
should be an insane character – at least one major madness -, evil/chaotic and (previously ?)
filthy rich, owning his private estate)