The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Villains

A quick seven tips for running effective villains for your DND/RPG game!

Define Motivations and Plans Upfront

Having an overarching plan and motivation in place before the game even starts is critical; this will make the villain seem organic, as everything they do is in service to their overarching philosophy and mission. This will make it more fun for the players to uncover the villain’s plan, too, as they will be able to put the pieces together in their heads and make their own conclusions about the villain’s behavior. And remember: the lack of a philosophy is still a philosophy! Motivation, furthermore, is very complicated, and while villains can be motivated by almost anything, keep in mind Active vs. Passive in terms of motivation. Active is the villain attempting to succeed at a goal with the heroes reacting to them, while passive is the villain attempting to stop or halt the goals of the heroes.

Counterpoint: Sometimes, a villain with no goal to start can be just as fun and threatening, as a villain who doesn’t know what they want, but are willing to do anything to get what they want when they figure it out is both unpredictable and exciting!

Be Distinct!

The villain needs to be distinct somehow! Give them a theme song, or a particularly memorable voice. Make them known for a specific spell or combat maneuver; just make them have something memorable. It can be tough not to ham it up if you’re going for a more serious villain, but if that’s what you’re going for, maybe be sure to give them a unique description. Everyone somehow manages to take Thanos seriously despite his oversized pink head, and Darth Vader’s almost comical ‘hooper hooper’ breathing device only adds to his intimidation factor in retrospect because the creators went all in on design and character choices.

Counterpoint: If you’re going for a secret villain, or a villain in plain sight, it can be advantageous to have your villain not standout, avoiding as much scrutiny from your players as possible. Give them a distinct and notable character trait that is disarming or silly, then hide them in plain sight. Players have a tendency to suspect everyone, but they are a naive and foolish lot, ruled by knowledge of tropes. Put the villain in plain sight, give them just enough to be suspicious, then make them a bartender, or make it so they’re really into macrame. That way, when you reveal your true villain, it is all the more surprising!

Make It Personal

Give your villain some kind of connection to the players. Nobody cares about some random, powerful guy from a faraway place with zero connection to them. You don’t have to make the villain their long lost brother or something, and you don’t have to have the villain even aware of this connection. The villain personally ordering the destruction of one of the players' hometown, for example, could serve as a good, further motive why they want to stop the villain. In a lot of games the connection is as simple as the party needs to stop the villain from doing something they don’t want them to, but it’s important that there’s a reason beyond saving the world. If your villain is going to destroy or conquer a city, give the players something they care about in that city, whether it’s a beloved NPC, their loot, or an important clue or item they’ll need for later. They’ll want to save the people and their interests.

Counterpoint: There is no one good exception to this rule. Having the villain not have any kind of personal connection to the players is almost always a bad choice, as the players will have no real emotional incentive to get involved in the main plot.

Show, Don't Tell

Is your villain extremely manipulative? Are they a ruthless warlord? How about a super powerful witch? No matter what, someone telling the player how powerful they are is nowhere near as interesting as seeing the villain do their thing. Let the heroes see first hand the manipulative, destructive, or downright world-endingly powerful abilities of your villain. They don’t have to be there first hand, but the consequences of the villain’s actions should be felt. Remember: players are assholes that will mock and belittle your villains at all times, but they’ll take them seriously if you do. It never hurts if they understand just how much the villain can fuck them up, too.

Counterpoint: Sometimes telling is showing. Humans tend to believe eachother, and much more easily when in a crowd. If a whole village is abuzz with scary stories or an encampment is full of refugees cursing your villain's name, that can be effective, too. Most important is building the presence of the villain. Afterall, Sauron has a total of four minutes and forty five seconds of screen time, yet no one has any doubts as to who is the villain in Lord of the Rings!

Face Outside Challenges

It can be easy to fall into the trap of letting all major victories against the villain be attributed to the players, but a good villain is probably making waves with plenty of other people, and if that is the case, then it would stand to reason that they will need to respond in kind to these external threats. Maybe a rival gang is pressing in on your villain due to their recent unchecked growth, or perhaps your villain is preoccupied with something bigger than a small band of heroes. It is both an excuse for why your villain doesn’t eliminate your players right away while they’re weak, and a way to establish a multi-faceted world with many threats kicking around.

Counterpoint: A villain who is solely preoccupied with the heroes, if played right, can be a truly terrifying villain, creating an atmosphere of claustrophobia, constantly being hunted and running away from the same villain. This is difficult to execute, but is so rewarding.

Use Appearances Selectively

Heroes, like people, will ultimately end up fearing that which they do not see far more than fearing what they do see, so it is best to save your villain’s appearances for when it will really matter. Overusing a villain in a campaign will make them start to feel worn out or even mundane after a certain point. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself “does my villain absolutely need to be here for this?”. If your answer ends up “no”, don’t use them. If the answer is ‘maybe’ or ‘they could’, then it is generally better to not have them be there, instead sending a minion or simply letting their presence speak for them.

Counterpoint: A villain who shows up all the time is a villain the players are used to, and the more used to something the players are, the more likely they are to underestimate the villain, or associate everything terrible with the villain. One easy way to help with this concept is to put a lot of work into the character being likable or interesting, thus making the character exciting for the characters to interact with.

Learn How to Win in Defeat

It can be difficult to make the villain exciting or fun to play and engage with if you know he or she is going to lose from the beginning. It’s important to remember that characters are just like storylines and plots: more about the journey than the destination. Villains are no exception. As long as your villain manages to strongly impact your players, whether through the terrible things they do or the distinct nature of their personality, you’ve done your job! When it’s time for the final bow, players want to feel a sense of catharsis, like their struggle was valid, and thus, they’d like to win. But that doesn’t mean they can ignore their scars!

Counterpoint: There are occasions, rare they may be, but they do exist, where it is much more interesting for the villain to win. This victory could be symbolic or literal, but either way, only use this with extreme caution and with the right kind of play group.