LARP QUESTION TUESDAY: Favorite Villain
- Thread starter Gunnar
- Start date
Gunnar
Squire
For me, it will always be Smiling Rasheed. When I originally read the New Jersey packet, the thought of a puppeteer character who had this chesire cat smile was appealing to me.
When I ended up meeting him face to face for the first time, I felt that plot and the NPC had outdone themselves; turning to suddenly be face to face close with him, I actually had a moment where Ali was legitimately frightened, and then remembered I was playing Zehnyu, and puffed up.
From the plotlines they ran, the makeup and costuming they gave him, to the way Will Hawkins played him, he is absolutely one of my favorite villains of all time.
Thank you NJ Plot staff and Bill Hawkins. I loved to hate that guy -so- much.
-Ali
When I ended up meeting him face to face for the first time, I felt that plot and the NPC had outdone themselves; turning to suddenly be face to face close with him, I actually had a moment where Ali was legitimately frightened, and then remembered I was playing Zehnyu, and puffed up.
From the plotlines they ran, the makeup and costuming they gave him, to the way Will Hawkins played him, he is absolutely one of my favorite villains of all time.
Thank you NJ Plot staff and Bill Hawkins. I loved to hate that guy -so- much.
-Ali
JADE SKELETON!!
He was just so masterfully conceived and played, props to Collin and Tom!
He was a manipulative, tragic, "helpful, benevolent" abhorrent necromancer. He targeted my slow-paced, zealot, insecure dryad character specifically, as well as a handful of other new-ish characters, which gave us a ton of agency and importance in regards to plot discussions with the whole town as well as RP opportunities for personal growth and intimate fellowship. (Man, I love my skelebros.)
But he always spoke in vague prophecy, and he always showed up at the last possible moment to upset everyone and give us urgent choices to make. Do you know how incredibly frustrating that is for a barkskin scholar? I NEED TIME TO THINK AND RELIABLE INFO, AAAAHHH.
ALSO, he had some wacky manipulative mind powers that got the whole town paranoid with each other, added to frustration, and was only revealed upon his death as a tragic, unintended consequence that he never intended and could not control. BAH.
Seriously, my dryad will be writing some sort of scholarly essay this winter as a reflection and analysis of her experience and opinions about that freaking guy!!
Thanks again to Collin and Tom! <3
He was just so masterfully conceived and played, props to Collin and Tom!
He was a manipulative, tragic, "helpful, benevolent" abhorrent necromancer. He targeted my slow-paced, zealot, insecure dryad character specifically, as well as a handful of other new-ish characters, which gave us a ton of agency and importance in regards to plot discussions with the whole town as well as RP opportunities for personal growth and intimate fellowship. (Man, I love my skelebros.)
But he always spoke in vague prophecy, and he always showed up at the last possible moment to upset everyone and give us urgent choices to make. Do you know how incredibly frustrating that is for a barkskin scholar? I NEED TIME TO THINK AND RELIABLE INFO, AAAAHHH.
ALSO, he had some wacky manipulative mind powers that got the whole town paranoid with each other, added to frustration, and was only revealed upon his death as a tragic, unintended consequence that he never intended and could not control. BAH.
Seriously, my dryad will be writing some sort of scholarly essay this winter as a reflection and analysis of her experience and opinions about that freaking guy!!
Thanks again to Collin and Tom! <3
mikestrauss
Squire
Fangthorn!
He was such a truly epic villain, especially when introduced to a game that didn't have epic powered characters. His storylines were intense as were the various ways he "permanently" died, including a romp through time itself to try to finish him once and for all. And, amazingly, the three artifacts destined to destroy him almost perfectly mirror the three artifacts in the Harry Potter series, despite the fact that they were invented long before Harry Potter was written.
R.I.P. JTF
-MS
He was such a truly epic villain, especially when introduced to a game that didn't have epic powered characters. His storylines were intense as were the various ways he "permanently" died, including a romp through time itself to try to finish him once and for all. And, amazingly, the three artifacts destined to destroy him almost perfectly mirror the three artifacts in the Harry Potter series, despite the fact that they were invented long before Harry Potter was written.
R.I.P. JTF
-MS
RavenSis
Newbie
I have a few:
- Pardano (from Caldaria's Shadow plotlines). Man, did I hate that guy. He hit so many of Alyssa's buttons, and Karl played him perfectly. He was constant motivation to get things set right, and got that terrified little elf to make something more of herself.
- Sandman (from first season Syraandor's Shadow plotlines). Eric Gibson used his psychological knowledge for evil - and completely warped the mind of my first PC until she was pretty much unrecognizable. She permanently died all twisted up, and I love to think that she ended up being a Shadowlord somewhere, somehow.
- Smiling Rasheed (From NJ). I only met him once, but he was so well played and so well written that Alyssa hated him at first sight. I will never forget that dream sequence when he walked through us as a crowd and I saw him for the first time. I turned and hissed at him, he looked confused at this elf acting like a sarr and took me down. I am reasonably certain Rasheed is the ONLY bad guy I have insta-hated in the past 15 years.
- Pardano (from Caldaria's Shadow plotlines). Man, did I hate that guy. He hit so many of Alyssa's buttons, and Karl played him perfectly. He was constant motivation to get things set right, and got that terrified little elf to make something more of herself.
- Sandman (from first season Syraandor's Shadow plotlines). Eric Gibson used his psychological knowledge for evil - and completely warped the mind of my first PC until she was pretty much unrecognizable. She permanently died all twisted up, and I love to think that she ended up being a Shadowlord somewhere, somehow.
- Smiling Rasheed (From NJ). I only met him once, but he was so well played and so well written that Alyssa hated him at first sight. I will never forget that dream sequence when he walked through us as a crowd and I saw him for the first time. I turned and hissed at him, he looked confused at this elf acting like a sarr and took me down. I am reasonably certain Rasheed is the ONLY bad guy I have insta-hated in the past 15 years.
Imagos Pyatt. Soft-spoken, deliberate in his vagueness, and insanely manipulative. Brilliantly played by Tom, and I had the privilege of interacting with him a LOT while he was around, and got to first hand witness time and time again a very intelligently played character who did suuuuper icky things in the name of trying to save the world. Such a well thought out and fun to interact with villain. A truly well done villain is the kind who in his own story would be considered the hero, and the Jade Skeleton met that criteria with aplomb.
Junyper
Newbie
My favorite villain was from many years ago when I first started playing. It was actually not a plot NPC villain either. It was a PC that turned on the town during the big wave battle and sided with the baddies. (I will not say who player was or what character was named). That was my favorite cause it was so unexpected and out of left field. Also since I first started playing it really took me by surprise cause though it is mentioned in the rule book I never thought someone would actually do it.
My favorite plot villain is tougher cause generally I am their minion cause I NPC 98% of the time. The one I was a PC for was probably Jack the Fae Dave played in NJ. My romani hated Fae due to backstory reasons and Jack really enjoyed messing with her. It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it so much cause it tied into my character very much and the person playing the character knew my backstory and as the Fae would have known too so he picked on Zoya more so just to torment her. It was a ton of fun RP (I am not a stick jock by any stretch so I live for RP). It made me as my character angry and wanting to get him even though as a healer I wouldn't be able to do much against him so I was torn there and as a player it was immensely fun for me cause it was more than just a fight physically but a mental battle of wits between the two.
My favorite plot villain is tougher cause generally I am their minion cause I NPC 98% of the time. The one I was a PC for was probably Jack the Fae Dave played in NJ. My romani hated Fae due to backstory reasons and Jack really enjoyed messing with her. It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it so much cause it tied into my character very much and the person playing the character knew my backstory and as the Fae would have known too so he picked on Zoya more so just to torment her. It was a ton of fun RP (I am not a stick jock by any stretch so I live for RP). It made me as my character angry and wanting to get him even though as a healer I wouldn't be able to do much against him so I was torn there and as a player it was immensely fun for me cause it was more than just a fight physically but a mental battle of wits between the two.
EricMarsters
Fighter
I have two.
Stahn Revan. He is truly the antithesis of my PC. I play a dual school formalist, that truly believes that magic, when used as a force for good, can solve most of life's problems (the rest, a hearty meal). Stahn is a Quiet One, from beyond the mists, in Sadeen Moore. He presents his views with such conviction, and looks for any cracks in others to push his agenda. He doesn't do things because they're evil, but to oppose anything that is magical.
The other is Reinious Thargathian, or Targus, as he's known. A gypsy that became a greater vampire, and simply wanted to conquer the world to ensure a safe place for his blood, and would do anything to ensure that the Romani were protected, and would lay waste to any that would oppose him. I loved the slow burn to realize he was the BBG for a five year arc, before he really took power, and put the screws to the PCs.
Stahn Revan. He is truly the antithesis of my PC. I play a dual school formalist, that truly believes that magic, when used as a force for good, can solve most of life's problems (the rest, a hearty meal). Stahn is a Quiet One, from beyond the mists, in Sadeen Moore. He presents his views with such conviction, and looks for any cracks in others to push his agenda. He doesn't do things because they're evil, but to oppose anything that is magical.
The other is Reinious Thargathian, or Targus, as he's known. A gypsy that became a greater vampire, and simply wanted to conquer the world to ensure a safe place for his blood, and would do anything to ensure that the Romani were protected, and would lay waste to any that would oppose him. I loved the slow burn to realize he was the BBG for a five year arc, before he really took power, and put the screws to the PCs.
Draven
Count
The vampire Leticia. Zeth tends to be fairly paranoid about what he's walking into, but this spider had a particularly excellent web. Long story short, the circumstances involved had my guard -entirely- down, so when I got hit with "Magic Pin! Magic Enslavement!" I looked over at the NPC who I'd mentally written off as some townie, my eyes blinked, my brain processed..."Uh...spell shield...taken?"
If I'd had my wits about me, I had a brief moment to do something about the situation, but I was just so lost in "What the heck just happened?" that my window closed.
Now, all vampires must die, forever and ever. Forever.
If I'd had my wits about me, I had a brief moment to do something about the situation, but I was just so lost in "What the heck just happened?" that my window closed.
Now, all vampires must die, forever and ever. Forever.
I think there is something about the unknown, the villain you only hear about for years subtly, then you hear more about them, but they are never there. You hear and feel his power through others. You know he's there to destroy your world but he's still got that allure to him. All his minions and citizens speak about him like the greatest thing, the impossible person formed from imagination and wonder; yet there is no room in their minds for anything greater than this person. That's the kind of Villain that is simply terrifying when it's finally revealed and you see their grand entrance.
In this case, it's the BBG of a long plot line in SoMN called "The Empire" and the major player was this ageless, powerful human who became the embodiment of that empire. He was The Emperor. His influence cause a great deal of RP in many people, and really provided the PCs with a Villain that couldn't be ignored, but more importantly one that allowed the town to come together as a whole and achieve a true victory in his defeat. It also helped the person playing him could channel that overconfidence and smugness about him when he first came out to annihilate us.
In this case, it's the BBG of a long plot line in SoMN called "The Empire" and the major player was this ageless, powerful human who became the embodiment of that empire. He was The Emperor. His influence cause a great deal of RP in many people, and really provided the PCs with a Villain that couldn't be ignored, but more importantly one that allowed the town to come together as a whole and achieve a true victory in his defeat. It also helped the person playing him could channel that overconfidence and smugness about him when he first came out to annihilate us.
hbirdgirl
Newbie
Aw, *blush!* One of my greatest joys is knowing the mental and emotional damage I inflicted on those characters that I caught in my web