04-11-2020, 05:44 PM | #21 | |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Re: Villains worth Stealing!
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Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo |
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04-12-2020, 10:32 PM | #22 |
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Re: Villains worth Stealing!
I agree, if it's used as a direct antagonist. But that sort of character can be useful as part of the background, an NPC who might be on your side today and the antagonist's tomorrow, then neutral after that.
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HMS Overflow-For conversations off topic here. |
04-16-2020, 03:02 PM | #23 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Re: Villains worth Stealing!
It occurs to me that Claude Frolio as depicted in the Disney Animated Hunchback of Notre Dame is a fairly dangerous villain on multiple levels. As a purely physical threat Frolio is able to attack two PC level figures ( Esmeralda and Quasimodo both of whom have to be substantially above normal in both ST and DX) and they were in serious danger. The guy is older but still an excellent horseman and a brutally dangerous if inelegant swordsman. He has skill and speed.
As a social political threat, the guy is a High Court Judge in Medieval Paris. He could simply have you seized and thrown in a dungeon (probably the actual oubalette "place where they forget you" ) and leave you to rot without explanation. It happened in the period. Add to that the fact that he could have the Guards simply cut you down in the streets no questions asked. Rank has its privileges. Finally, you don't get Frolio's status and authority in that Paris without years of desceplined study, and the will and intellect to back it up. Frolio's passions do get the better of him, but he is far from brainless. All in all, a very dangerous villain. Reactions?
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Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo |
04-16-2020, 06:21 PM | #24 |
Join Date: Oct 2014
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Re: Villains worth Stealing!
The last Palace Ruler from Persona 5 Royal. Even if you agree with him, it's clear he didn't think his plan through (what happens when he dies?).
He is a very sympathetic figure that if even if you disagree with him, you can't help but understand him and sympathize with him. Don't spoil others please. Last edited by WaterAndWindSpirit; 04-16-2020 at 10:03 PM. |
04-16-2020, 07:14 PM | #25 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Villains worth Stealing!
Actually we are missing something. Some of the best antagonists are not villains at all. That is they are not evil but simply happen to be on the other side. Laslo Almasy was a grand fellow for that. He was a commando and spy as well as a true Indiana Jones type explorer. He wasn't evil, fact is, it is said he helped smuggle several Jews out from Eichmans maw. But he is a good player for the opposing side.
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
10-17-2021, 08:26 AM | #26 | |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Re: Villains worth Stealing!
Quote:
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Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo |
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11-09-2021, 11:00 AM | #27 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Villains worth Stealing!
Firebrand was one of the more interesting villains in Honor Harrington. However it is hard to think of situations where you are directly pitted against him (when you are cleaning up his mess he is long gone and even if he is there you do not know it).
Actually that brings up another possibility. Use a character from fiction (or someone based on them). But frame it in a way that the PCs do not know he is their opponent.
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
11-11-2021, 12:26 PM | #28 |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Villains worth Stealing!
Thinking of some web serials, Jack Slash from Worm was a fascinating villain. A decent (albeit often twisted) sense of humor and a surprisingly-charming demeanor, but an absolute sadist and master manipulator who managed to lead a group of markedly-more-powerful* individuals than himself. Morgunov the Mad Demon from The Zombie Knight Saga (currently on one of its extended, unannounced hiatuses - hiati?) is also interesting, a tinkerer with, again, a peculiar sense of humor (one of his inventions is a vending machine that you pay for with pain and potential maiming**). You'd need some fairly powerful characters to be able to be any sort of threat to him, however.
*As is eventually revealed, while his known power isn't great (but isn't terrible either - he can use any bladed instrument to strike from a distance; he favors straight razors and knives, but does use swords or - on one occasion - basically rides another super who is largely made of blades), he has a more subtle one that basically lets him detect nearby supers and what they're doing (and probably how their powers work), which likely contributed to his longevity. **"A slap to the face for a pack of gum seemed fair, as did a boxing of the ears for a bag of chips and a purple nurple for a candy bar. He wondered if anyone would go for the bag of mini-donuts, though. Maybe a needle in the eye was too much to ask."
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11-13-2021, 11:17 AM | #29 |
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Denver, CO
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Re: Villains worth Stealing!
I really liked The Master from classic Dr. Who. He had his own agenda and didn't care who got hurt in the process.
The key was not caring. If it was easier to not hurt people, he didn't hurt them. If killing was easier, people died. He didn't care about The Doctor (or anyone else) except as their status as help or hindrance toward his objective. This meant they occasionally worked together, and sometimes worked at unrelated things near each other. And betrayal was not a given. If it wasn't in The Master's best interest, it wasn't going to happen. It wasn't until later that one of his objectives became the elimination of The Doctor who was a frequent obstacle. This kind of indifferent superiority and calm calculation made him very chilling. |
11-15-2021, 02:48 PM | #30 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Denver, Colorado
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Re: Villains worth Stealing!
I've liked the antagonists (hard to call most of them "villains") in the TV series version of The Expanse.
Each of them, in their own, believes they're doing the right thing. -Sadavir Errinwright genuinely fears that Earth, hobbled as it is by a huge and needy population, will surrender its primacy to people grown so alien that, to his perception, they care little about the vast majority of humanity. -Jules-Pierre Mao clearly recognizes the profound potential of the protomolecule to move humanity forward into the future, and considers any lives sacrificed in the short term to be worth the benefits gained for billions of people in generations yet unborn. (Sometimes, big-picture guys make the best villains -- just remove from them any sense of compassion for lives ruined, in the short term.) -Antony Dresden has all of Mao's understanding, but also a genuine terror of the motives of the aliens who dispatched the protomolecule, and perceives any sacrifice made to understand it as part of a race against time to counter an existential threat. -Anderson Dawes genuinely wants what's best for the majority of Belters, but accepts without question that what's best for him is also what's best, for them. -Marco Inaros claims to share the same goals as Dawes; and has all of Dawes' hubris, but dialed up to, "11." He beautifully captures the screaming frustration that drives extremist political violence, and then twists it with hefty dollops of both charisma and malignant narcissism. Just great, great foes to steal.
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-- MXLP:9 [JD=1, DK=1, DM-M=1, M(FAW)=1, SS=2, Nym=1 (nose coffee), sj=1 (nose cocoa), Maz=1] "Some days, I just don't know what to think." -Daryl Dixon. Last edited by tshiggins; 11-15-2021 at 02:52 PM. |
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