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Heroes, Villains, and Supporting Cast (view source)
Revision as of 09:38, 31 July 2024
, 31 July 2024no edit summary
(Created page with "Any MythCraft campaign should revolve, first and foremost, around the heroes and villains of the story. The Heroes will be the characters played by the various players at your table, while the villains are their direct or indirect adversaries. This page provides tools for thinking about your campaign’s heroes and villains, along with fleshing out the supporting cast of NPCs that are not necessarily for or against your heroes. If you need to quickly improvise an NPC,...") |
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Any MythCraft campaign should revolve, first and foremost, around the heroes and villains of the story. The Heroes will be the characters played by the various players at your table, while the villains are their direct or indirect adversaries. | Any MythCraft campaign should revolve, first and foremost, around the heroes and villains of the story. The Heroes will be the characters played by the various players at your table, while the villains are their direct or indirect adversaries. | ||
This page provides tools for thinking about your campaign’s heroes and villains, along with fleshing out the supporting cast of NPCs that are not necessarily for or against your heroes. | This page provides tools for thinking about your campaign’s heroes and villains, along with fleshing out the supporting cast of NPCs that are not necessarily for or against your heroes. | ||
If you need to quickly improvise an NPC, use the [[NPC Roll Tables]] for | If you need to quickly improvise an NPC, use the [[NPC Roll Tables]] for inspiration. | ||
== Heroes == | == Heroes == | ||
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* Is the villain supposed to be sympathetic or redemptive in any way? | * Is the villain supposed to be sympathetic or redemptive in any way? | ||
When creating your villains, take some time to consider how they might act and react in different situations. What might they say or do when your campaign reaches key milestones? Using the [[Values, Drives, & Quirks|Values, Drives, and Quirks]] can help you create much more nuanced and realistic villains. Think about what motivates your villain and what event in their past led them down the path that they are on now. Even if the villain never tells their story to the heroes, it will be very helpful for you to know why they make the decisions that they do. Consider a list of things that will trigger them to act in certain ways, or events and circumstances that might give them pause or even make them reconsider their | When creating your villains, take some time to consider how they might act and react in different situations. What might they say or do when your campaign reaches key milestones? Using the [[Values, Drives, & Quirks|Values, Drives, and Quirks]] can help you create much more nuanced and realistic villains. Think about what motivates your villain and what event in their past led them down the path that they are on now. Even if the villain never tells their story to the heroes, it will be very helpful for you to know why they make the decisions that they do. Consider a list of things that will trigger them to act in certain ways, or events and circumstances that might give them pause or even make them reconsider their actions. | ||
=== A Villain's Driving Motives === | === A Villain's Driving Motives === | ||
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Mastermind villains can be difficult to run because they will usually be significantly more intelligent than you, the MC, are in real life. To play a villain that is smarter than you, you can use a few tricks. Plan for specific plot twists that negatively impact your adventurers, but don’t plan when you will use them. Instead, spring them when they will give the adventurers the greatest setback. | Mastermind villains can be difficult to run because they will usually be significantly more intelligent than you, the MC, are in real life. To play a villain that is smarter than you, you can use a few tricks. Plan for specific plot twists that negatively impact your adventurers, but don’t plan when you will use them. Instead, spring them when they will give the adventurers the greatest setback. | ||
Between sessions, you can consider what your adventurers did, and think about if the mastermind would have any way of learning this. If so, how might the mastermind change their plans? While the mastermind is clever enough to | Between sessions, you can consider what your adventurers did, and think about if the mastermind would have any way of learning this. If so, how might the mastermind change their plans? While the mastermind is clever enough to adapt to the adventurers in real time, you have the luxury of planning the next mastermind’s moves between sessions, which will usually give you a week or more to think about how to next outmaneuver your players. | ||
If the mastermind has observed the adventurers in | If the mastermind has observed the adventurers in combat a few times (either directly or indirectly), then when it comes time to fight the adventurers, the mastermind will be intimately familiar with their capabilities and can come ready with minions, items, or spells that will specifically counter the heroes’ capabilities. | ||
Finally, a trick that you can use sparingly is the monologue. If you want to make the heroes feel like they have been puppetmastered by the mastermind all along, then think back on your campaign as a whole, and think about the actions that the heroes have taken. How might those actions have benefitted the mastermind? How can you justify the mastermind secretly orchestrating that to happen? While the heroes acted of their own volition in previous sessions, you can secretly retcon these events so that they appear to have been the mastermind’s diabolical machinations all along. | Finally, a trick that you can use sparingly is the monologue. If you want to make the heroes feel like they have been puppetmastered by the mastermind all along, then think back on your campaign as a whole, and think about the actions that the heroes have taken. How might those actions have benefitted the mastermind? How can you justify the mastermind secretly orchestrating that to happen? While the heroes acted of their own volition in previous sessions, you can secretly retcon these events so that they appear to have been the mastermind’s diabolical machinations all along. | ||