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Old 10-10-2017, 11:50 AM   #21
hal
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Buffalo, New York
Default Re: Advice sought for fleshing out a major villian

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Originally Posted by jason taylor View Post
One of the better villains(and this would be a good cross-reference to the Competent Villains thread) was La Grenouile in NCIS. He sold arms to anybody who would buy but treated it like business and himself like a businessman. He was ruthless in defense of his patrimony because he was in a trade where he couldn't trust the law's protection for the obvious reason that his trade was illegal besides being Not Nice. But he prided himself on having an aesthetic taste in the way he protected himself being more likely to say ruin someone's life by digging up a secret then to break their leg. In the meantime he made a point of being cultured and refined as if somehow knowing things about cognac makes up for sponsoring gang wars and tribal bloodbaths.
In retrospect, the parallel should have been obvious. Maybe giving the Villian a daughter, and having her be someone that the player character has met would prove to be interesting - especially if she were a doctor. To her, he hides his villainy well. To everyone else who knows better, she just collateral damage in the attempts to take him down. I doubt the player enjoys "NCIS".

Hmmm. Something to think about for sure. Sophisticated, likeable when he wants to be (and wants something), and Rich enough to have his own boat, his own plane(s), and several homes throughout the world.

So, what is his primary motivation? If it were simple greed, then he'd likely to have screwed up somewhere. Recognition? The power that Wealth brings? The power that a criminal organization brings him? Maybe the delusion that he's one of the Illuminati? Always manipulating things behind the scenes - propping up one dictator here, toppling another there, funding a small insurgency to drum up business needs for specific weapons, and perhaps funding sufficient activity with corruption inducing bribes in the form of high society activities?

Looks like I may have to break out GURPS BOARDROOM AND CURIA for this one...
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Old 10-10-2017, 01:59 PM   #22
L.J.Steele
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Default Re: Advice sought for fleshing out a major villian

If you have some commuting or treadmill time, pull the CrimeTown podcast on Providence, Rhode Island. There are interviews with various mob guys, cops, victims, etc., which will give you a range of motives or justifications at least for being a mob guy. It also paints a picture of the rise and fall of Providence's most colorful mayor.

The true crime genre is your friend here, particularly books by former bad guys. Take, as always, with a huge grain of salt, but even the lies one tells oneself are useful to the writer, or GM.
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Old 10-10-2017, 05:25 PM   #23
hal
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Buffalo, New York
Default Re: Advice sought for fleshing out a major villian

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Originally Posted by L.J.Steele View Post
If you have some commuting or treadmill time, pull the CrimeTown podcast on Providence, Rhode Island. There are interviews with various mob guys, cops, victims, etc., which will give you a range of motives or justifications at least for being a mob guy. It also paints a picture of the rise and fall of Providence's most colorful mayor.

The true crime genre is your friend here, particularly books by former bad guys. Take, as always, with a huge grain of salt, but even the lies one tells oneself are useful to the writer, or GM.

Oh how I WISH I could enjoy podcasts. :(

I was born hard of hearing due to being the tail end of the American generation that yet to discover the joys of RH + and RH - blood genetic factors. That I survived childbirth is a minor miracle in an age where the shots were not available. First and second born children get by without having to deal with the built up antigens from the mixing of the mother's and child's blood during childbirth. By the third child, the antibodies are present in force, by the fourth, it is a hit or miss kind of thing. By the fifth child (that's me!)... well, total blood transfusion saved my life at the time. I also had nerve damage to my auditory nerves (why, has always been a mystery to me!). Long and short of it is - I generally tend to miss words spoken on computer speakers, etc, and often have to fight just to carry on a phone conversation.

So - unless those podcasts include transcripts, which I will be more than happy to read, I'm going to have to pass.

As for true crime stuff, that's one area of my appetite for books that I've largely not gotten into. Perhaps I should start cultivating books outside of Medieval History, Age of Nelson period of sail, Science Fiction, World War II history, Vietnam History, etc.

While I do enjoy movies to a degree and can lip read I still don't get 100% the benefit of movie dialog.

Oddly enough? The only time I was ever close to serving on a jury, having made it through three waves of dismissals, I explained to the judge that although I was hard of hearing, I could read lips and that I expected that I would still make for being able to do my duty. It was immediately after that - that I was dismissed from the Jury. Most people want OUT of jury duty, me? I wanted to at least experience what goes on in a Jury and felt a certain civic obligation. But even then, I couldn't serve not because of my hearing, but because of lip reading! ;)

Ah well. Time for me to start looking for "True Crime" material. With the advice I'm getting here, and a desire to take a look through Netflix at some of the movies (at least they have close captioning) - maybe I'll get some more inspiration.
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Old 10-10-2017, 09:11 PM   #24
hal
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Buffalo, New York
Default Re: Advice sought for fleshing out a major villian

Just experienced the first Episode of DEXTER. It was decidedly "odd". Not certain if I liked it or what. In trying to analyze the aspect of what the show is/was, I could see the lead in for explaining why Dexter is as he is. Not sure how I feel about the character as a protagonist. I'm not certain if I'm supposed to feel sympathy for him as an implied victim, nor do I know how to process the the idea of Harry's Code from a father who is/was a cop.

I think what struck me the most about the first episode wasn't that it was a murder mystery or a police procedural or what have you. It felt more like a travelogue of scenery, only the scenery is the inner thoughts of someone who doesn't believe they feel emotions. Well, maybe one or two episodes more will clear this up, otherwise, it is a bit too "oddball" overall.
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